On Sunday morning, our plan is to continue our series of lessons about believing God’s story. The next chapter that we need to consider in God’s story is the covenant that He makes with the nation of Israel. When God brought the Israelites out of their slavery in Egypt through the leadership of Moses, God made a covenant with them at Mount Horeb, which is also called Mount Sinai (Exodus 19-20; Deuteronomy 5:1-3).
What is a covenant? A “covenant” can be defined as a binding agreement between at least two parties with conditions to be met and promises to be fulfilled. Within the covenant that God made with Israel, there were very specific conditions to be met. The Ten Commandments were the basis of the covenant that God made with Israel (Deuteronomy 4:13; cf. Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 5:6-21); about 603 other commands were to follow concerning every area of life. Within this covenant, there were also promises to be fulfilled. Israel would be blessed if they obeyed God (Deuteronomy 28:1-14) and cursed if they disobeyed God (Deuteronomy 28:15-68). Israel was to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6), reflecting God’s glory to the nations. God chose Israel to be His treasured possession out of all the nations on earth, not because they were great in number but because God loved them and was being faithful to the promises that He had made to Abraham (Genesis 12:2-3, 7; 15:13-16; 17:5-8, 15-19; 22:16-18), Isaac (Genesis 26:3-5), and Jacob (Genesis 28:13-15) (Deuteronomy 7:6-8).
The greatest promise that God made to Israel was to bring the Messiah into the world. As we look to Jesus, we see that God was faithful in fulfilling that promise. Shortly after the fall of man, God promised that the offspring of woman would bruise the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise (Romans 16:20; Hebrews 2:14). God promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed through his offspring (Genesis 22:18). As the “Son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1), Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise (Galatians 3:16). God promised David that his house, kingdom, and throne would be made sure forever (2 Samuel 7:16; cf. Isaiah 9:6-7). As the “Son of David” (Matthew 1:1), Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise (Luke 1:32-33). God promised that a ruler would be born in the city of Bethlehem, whose coming forth was from ancient days (Micah 5:2-3). Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise (Luke 2:1-7). God promised that there would be one who would bear our griefs, carry our sorrows, be pierced for our afflictions, be crushed for our iniquities, be chastised for our peace, and be wounded for our healing. Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise, as He bore our sins in His body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24). God promised that He would not allow His holy one to be abandoned to Sheol or see corruption (Psalm 16:10). Jesus’ resurrection on the third day is the fulfillment of that promise (Acts 2:24-32). God makes a covenant with Israel with the ultimate purpose of bringing Jesus into the world in order to provide salvation for all people.
In Jesus, God has established a new covenant that is not exactly like the covenant that He made with Israel (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:6-13). By establishing a new covenant, Jesus made the old covenant that God made with Israel obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). Jesus brought the new covenant into effect at His death (Hebrews 9:16-17). Now that Jesus has come and established a new covenant, we are no longer under the authority of the covenant that God made with Israel. Today, we live under the New Testament, not the Old Testament. While the Old Testament is for our learning (Romans 15:4), the New Testament is our guide for faith and practice today.
God’s covenant with Israel is a very significant moment in God’s story. As God works to bring His creation back into relationship with Himself, God enters into a covenant with one nation, Israel. He gives Israel conditions to meet. He gives Israel promises that will be fulfilled. Through the nation of Israel, Jesus comes into the world in order to establish a new covenant that is open and available to all people. Words cannot even express how great it is to be a part of the covenant that Jesus mediates. Under the covenant that God made with Israel, there were people who longed to hear and see what we hear and see but were unable (Matthew 13:17; cf. 1 Peter 1:10-11). Angels longed to look into the Gospel and salvation that has been proclaimed to us (1 Peter 1:12). The one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than any person who lived under the covenant that God made with Israel, simply because of what we experience in Jesus (Luke 7:28). What a blessing it is to live on this side of the cross and the empty tomb. Let’s allow that fact to control everything about who we are and what we do.
-Tyler Alverson
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