A covenant is a legal binding of two parties; a means of creating a legitimate relationship between two unrelated parties. “Covenant is ….a widespread legal means by which the duties and privileges of kinship may be extended to another individual or group, including aliens.”(Scott Hahn, Kinship by Covenant) After the fall, God sought to restore man’s relationship with Him by a means familiar to the Ancient Near East culture: covenant.
There were several different types of covenants that vary based on the parties entering into covenant, and which party fulfills the obligations of the covenant and which receives the benefits. A kinship covenant is entered into by two parties of equal status. The obligations of the covenant are shared equally by both parties. A vassal covenant, also called a suzerain-vassal covenant, is one in which a greater party enters into covenant with a lesser party, imposing obligations upon the lesser party in exchange for protection. This covenant was typically entered into when a king conquered a nation. In this covenant, all the power was in the hands of the greater party and a large number of obligations were to be fulfilled by the lesser party. The third type of covenant of the Ancient Near East was a grant covenant. This covenant is also between parties of disparity, a greater party and a lesser party. Unlike the vassal covenant, in the grant covenant, the obligations of the covenant rested upon the greater party “who accepts responsibilities toward the lesser party in response the [lesser party’s] faithfulness or meritorious service.” (Scott Hahn, Kinship by Covenant)
The second covenant God initiates with man is with Abraham. When God first comes to Abram, He promises to renown, blessing, and to make him a great nation. Not only would Abram be blessed, but all the nations on earth would be blessed through him(Genesis 12). God appears to him years later and initiates a blood covenant ritual, calling down destruction upon Himself if He did not fulfill His obligations to the covenant(Genesis 15). However, after the initial preparations, Abram fell asleep and never participated in the ceremony. Therefore, the covenant did not hinge upon Abram fulfilling his part, making it obvious this is a grant covenant. We are given insight as to the faithfulness and meritorious conduct of Abram that God was responding to in the offer of a grant covenant various times in the New Testament. In summary, Abram believed God, by faith. God’s response to his faithfulness is the offer of a covenant.
In Genesis 17, God comes to Abram again, confirming the covenant He had made in Genesis 15. In this ceremony, God introduces circumcision as a sign of the covenant. It is also at this time, God changes his name from Abram(honored father) to Abraham(father of many nations.) God comes to Abraham again in Genesis 22 with a test.
“Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering…”(Genesis 22:2 ESV)
This appears to be a command, but some scholars have pointed out that in the Hebrew it is actually phrased as a question. It is almost as if we could insert the word ‘please.’ God is making a request and Abraham had a choice. God’s promises were not on the line, because God had made a grant covenant with Abraham. Abraham need only to choose whether or not he would honor this request from his covenant partner.
The Mosaic Covenant was different in various ways from the Abrahamic. It starts as a kinship covenant when the Israelites reject God’s offer of a grant covenant, promising them His protection and inviting them to be a nation of priests unto Him. Later in their history, when leadership changed to Joshua, there was a change in the covenant to a vassal covenant. This is the covenant most people associate with the Mosaic Covenant. It contains a list of 613 covenant obligations that Israel must fulfill to stay in covenant with God. This list of obligations became known as the Law of Moses.
Part of the Law is number of Feasts that are to be observed as worship to God. One of these is the Day of Atonement. It was a renewal ceremony, restoring the relationship between God and Israel. It the sacrifice of one lamb, and the release of another, often called the ‘scapegoat’, into the wilderness. The blood of the sacrificial lamb was sprinkled on the mercy seat. It was done in faith that their sins were forgiven for another year. “When Aaron entered the holy of holies, he put the blood on the ark in faith toward the reality of the coming Messiah in the future.”(Jonathan Welton, Understanding the Whole Bible) While the one lamb covered the sins of the people, the other lamb carried away the sins of the people.
The Mosaic Covenant, with its 613 obligations, was the covenant in existence throughout Israel for generations. But, it veiled God’s heart and never fully expressed the desires of His heart for relationship. It set Him up as punisher. Furthermore, God repeatedly found Himself in a covenant with an unfaithful partner. The Old Covenant was not a good one. If it had been, there would have been no need to look for another.
This New Covenant, which is far better and based on better promises, was not just Plan C but was prophesied and foreshadowed numerous times. Jeremiah prophesied to the people of Israel that this new covenant
“will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves a wife….I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people…everyone, from the least to the greatest will know me…I will forgive their wickedness and I will never again remember their sins.”(Jeremiah 31:31-34, NLT)
The New Covenant fulfilled the Abrahamic Covenant. Matthew opens up the New Testament with the words, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”(Matt. 1:1, NASB) In his second sermon, Peter tells us that Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenant God made with Abraham when he quotes from the Covenant, “And in your seed all the families of earth shall be blessed.”(Acts 3:25, NASB) Not only Peter, but also Stephen and Paul, preached that the Jesus whom they crucified is the fulfillment of the covenantal promises.
In Galatians, Paul is addressing the fact that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant.
“Know then that it is those of faith who are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God wold justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”(Gal. 3:7-9, ESV)
Later, Paul reminds the Galatians that the promises were made to Abraham and his seed, not seeds, meaning one, not many.
When God made a covenant with mankind, He also gave them a sign to remember the covenant. For Abraham, the sign was circumcision. Though it later became a burdensome part of the law, in the beginning it was a constant reminder to Abraham of his covenant relationship with God. Circumcision is a type of what occurs when we enter into the New Covenant. Deuteronomy foretells it by prophesying that God would one day circumcise their hearts. The circumcision of the flesh identified a person as belonging to the nation of Israel; the circumcision of the heart identifies a person as belonging to the true Israel, Jesus.
The sacrifice of Isaac is another type of New Covenant reality that we find in the Abrahamic Covenant. Abraham was a type of God; Isaac, a type of Jesus and the New Covenant; Ishmael, the type of the Mosaic Covenant. Abraham, as God, was willing to sacrifice his own son in a covenant ceremony. Isaac, as Jesus, meekly and willingly submitted to being bound and led to the altar. Ishmael, as the Mosaic Covenant, was cast out.
A less conspicuous type, or similarity, is that when God gave Abraham the sign of circumcision, He also gave him a new name. In the same way, when our hearts are circumcised and we enter into a covenant with God, He gives us a new name(Rev. 2:17) Also, when God cut the covenant with Abraham, Abraham was sleeping. We too, were “asleep” in our trespasses when God initiated the New Covenant.
The New Covenant rendered the Mosaic Covenant obsolete. The Mosaic Covenant was full of types and shadows of the New Covenant. The author of Hebrews tells us that the Mosaic Covenant, with its feasts and sacrifices, served as a copy and shadow of heavenly things. It had regulations for worship and an earthly place of worship, with furniture and items necessary for worship. Certain animals and procedures were necessary for carrying out the sacrifices. The high priest had certain duties in the offering of worship. Just as the high priest entered the Holy of Holies to place the blood of bulls and goats on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant, Jesus entered into the holiest of places, a tabernacle not made with hands, and placed his own blood, superior to the blood of bulls and goats, on the mercy seat, securing eternal redemption.(Hebrews 8)
In the New Covenant, we realize the fulfillment of God’s desires for relationship with man. He begins by entering into a grant covenant with Abraham. When He initiates a covenant with Abraham’s descendants, they reject a grant covenant and enter into a kinship covenant that later, upon renewal, is changed to a vassal covenant. When it is time to renew His covenant with man, God returns again to the covenant that best reflects His heart for us, a grant covenant. In the New Covenant God, as our superior covenant partner, assumes all the obligations of keeping the covenant and we receive the privileges and benefits of being His covenant partner. It is a permanent covenant, never needing to be renewed. The forgiveness of our sins and restoration into relationship with God is now forever. The New Covenant is indeed a far better covenant with better promises.