The Covenants between God and man.
Throughout history, God has had a “you do this, I’ll respond with this,” relationship with man, and that is solidified through covenants. By definition, “A covenant is an unchangeable, divinely imposed legal agreement between God and man that stipulates the conditions of their relationship.”
Both parties are active, but because it is divinely imposed, man cannot negotiate or change the terms of the agreement. Covenants never change, but they may be superseded or replaced by another covenant.
At the heart of all covenants is this one, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
Even Adam and Eve can be said to live in the first covenant relationship, “you obey and I will bless you in the garden.”
Other covenants usually have an outward sign attached to them, such as circumcision, baptism, the Lord’s supper. God was not forced to make a covenant, and indeed he made no such covenant with the animals he created, but shows his love for his people when he enters into covenant with them.
The covenant with Adam is still in force with us today, in the sense that perfect obedience leads to life, and “the wages of sin is death.”
Another covenant is called the covenant of Redemption. In this covenant, the trinity agrees that the son will become man, be our representative, pay our penalty for our sin.
Many scriptures point to how the Father prepares a chosen people for the son, sends the son as a representative, prepares a body, accepts him, gives his all authority, etc.
The son agrees to become man, and become obedient, even to death on a cross, and the Holy Spirit agrees to do the will of the Father and empower Christ to carry out his ministry on earth.
The next covenant is the covenant of Grace. God and man have an agreement, and in this case Christ acts as mediator to fulfill the conditions of the covenant. The condition for man is faith in the redeemer. The promise of blessing in the covenant was a promise of eternal life with God. In the Old Testament, this was shown by the sign of continuing to observe festivals and ceremonial laws, and is now shown through participation in the Lord’s supper.
This covenant of grace was in place from the time of Abraham. Galatians 3:8 says,” The scripture preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham…”
The “old covenant,” which is spoken of in the New Testament, points to the Mosaic law, which was a restraint and custodian pointing people to Christ.
So Old Testament people looked in faith to the promised Messiah as a step in their redemption. The sacrificial lambs in the Mosaic covenant did not actually take away sins, but foreshadowed the bearing of sin by Christ.
What a joy to be part of the new covenant (and the other covenants) of God!
No comments:
Post a Comment