Covenants

THE PRACTICES OF COVENANT REVIEW AND COVENANT RENEWALAND THEIR RELATION TO THE NEW COVENANT

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Dr. Paul Manuel—2007

Because God takes a long view of history, much of what He plans is relevant over several generations. This is especially true of His covenants, the contracts the Lord establishes that indicate what He expects from His people and what they can expect from their God. Each new generation must recognize whatever covenant is in effect and follow its provisions or forfeit its protection. That decision may entail a simple review of the covenant or, after a period of apostasy, it may involve a formal renewal of the covenant.¹

I. The Abrahamic Covenant

Before Israel became a nation, God established a covenant with Abraham promising to bless him and his descendants if they would recognize the LORD as their God.²

Gen 17:1 Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.... 7 I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. 8 I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.... 10 This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.... 11b it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.... 12a ...throughout your generations.... 13b for an everlasting covenant."

The terms of this contract were straightforward, and Abraham's descendants generally heeded their part,³ because God simply reiterates the promise later.⁴

A. Covenant review

1. To Isaac, prohibiting his departure from Canaan

Gen 26:2 The LORD appeared to l Isaac l and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; 5 because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws."

2. To Jacob,⁵ permitting his departure from Canaan

Gen 28:13 ...the LORD...said [to Jacob], "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. 14 Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in Your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

3. To Moses,⁶ predicting his departure to Canaan

Exod 6:2 God spoke...to Moses and said to him, "I am the LORD; 3a and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.... 4 I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned.... 8 I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you [for] a possession; I am the LORD."

B. Covenant renewal

• N/a

II. The Mosaic Covenant

After the exodus from Egypt, God makes a more extensive covenant with the people of Israel at Sinai⁷ through His servant Moses.⁸

Exod 24:3 When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice, "Everything the LORD has said we will do." 4a Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said.... 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, "We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey." 8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."

The Mosaic covenant seems to subsume the Abrahamic covenant, in that Israel's realization of the earlier promise depends on the peoples' obedience to the expanded terms of the later agreement.⁹

Deut 28:1 Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today.... 11 The LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give You.... 15 But... if you do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today.... 63b the LORD will...make you perish and destroy you; and you will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it.

The Mosaic covenant, thus, becomes the chief contract governing the relationship between God and Israel. Because Israel does not remain loyal to the covenant beyond the generation of the conquest, though, the only instances of covenant review are from that period. The nation's propensity to stray from God creates greater need and, therefore, more frequent occurrence of covenant renewal.¹⁰

A. Covenant Review¹¹

1. Under Moses before entering Canaan (c. 1500)

Deut 29:1 These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He had made with them at Horeb.... 10 You stand today, all of you, before the LORD your God: your chiefs, your tribes, your elders and your officers, [even] all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the alien who is within your camps, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12 that you may enter into the covenant with the LORD your God, and into His oath which the LORD your God is making with you today, 13 in order that He may establish you today as His people and that He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

2. Under Joshua after conquering Canaan (c. 1450)¹²

Josh 24:1 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and their judges and their officers; and they presented themselves before God.... 14 "Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." ...24 The people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and we will obey His voice." 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

B. Covenant Renewal¹³

1. Under Joshua after the sin of Achan (c. 1450)¹⁴

Josh 8:30 Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal, 31 just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones on which no man had wielded an iron [tool]; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings. 32 He wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written, in the presence of the sons of Israel. 33 All Israel with their elders and officers and their judges were standing on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, the stranger as well as the native. Half of them [stood] in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had given command at first to bless the people of Israel. 34 Then afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers who were living among them.

2. Under Samuel after reclaiming the ark¹⁵ (c. 1075)

1 Sam 7:3 Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, "If you return to the LORD with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your hearts to the LORD and serve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines." 4 So the sons of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth and served the LORD alone. 5 Then Samuel said, "Gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray to the LORD for you." 6 They gathered to Mizpah, and drew water and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day and said there, "We have sinned against the LORD." And Samuel judged the sons of Israel at Mizpah.

3. Under Asa after the prophetic encouragement of Azanah (c. 900)

2 Chr 15:9 He gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who resided with them, for many defected to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.... 12 They entered into the covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and soul;

4. Under Jehoiada at the coronation of King Joash (c. 835)

2 Kgs 11:17 Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people, that they would be the LORD'S people, also between the king and the people. [= 2 Chr 23:16]

5. Under Hezekiah at the celebration of Passover¹⁶ (c. 715)

2 Chr 30:6 The couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the hand of the king and his princes, even according to the command of the king, saying, "O sons of Israel, return to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that He may return to those of you who escaped [and] are left from the hand of the kings of Assyria.... 11 Nevertheless some men of Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. 12 The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the LORD.

6. Under Josiah after discovering the book of the law (c. 620)

2 Kgs 23:1 Then the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. 2 The king went up to the house of the LORD and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD. 3 The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all [his] heart and all [his] soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.

2 Chr 34:31 Then the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the LORD to walk after the LORD, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant written in this book. 32 Moreover, he made all who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand [with him]. So the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

7. Under Ezra after the first return from exile in Babylon (c. 440)

Ezra 10:1 Now while Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself before the house of God, a very large assembly, men, women and children, gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept bitterly. 2 Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra, "We have been unfaithful to our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. 3 "So now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God: and let it be done according to the law." ...12 Then all the assembly replied with a loud voice, "That's right! As you have said, so it is our duty to do.

8. Under Nehemiah after the second return from exile in Babylon (c. 445)

Neh 9:1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them. 2 The descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 While they stood in their place, they read from the book of the law of the LORD their God for a fourth of the day; and for [another] fourth they confessed and worshiped the LORD their God.... 38 "Now because of all this, we are making an agreement in writing; and on the sealed document [are the names of] our leaders, our Levites [and] our priests."

Neh 10:28 Now the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons and their daughters, all those who had knowledge and understanding, 29 are joining with their kinsmen, their nobles, and are taking on themselves a curse and an oath to walk in God's law, which was given through Moses, God's servant, and to keep and to observe all the commandments of GOD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes;

9. Under Malachi after a period of spiritual complacency (c. 430)

Mal 3:16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard [it], and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name.

10. Under Messiah at the start of the Messianic Age

Jer 31:31 "Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. 33 "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."¹⁷ [Vv. 31-33 = Heb 8:8-10]

In all past instances, a renewing of the covenant follows and is necessitated by the people's apostasy from the covenant.¹⁸ The covenant Jeremiah describes for the future is no exception, following as it does the one "which they broke."¹⁹ Nevertheless, God states that the new covenant is "not like the covenant" He made with Israel at Sinai.²⁰ How is it different? Is it completely or only partly discontinuous? What is new about the new covenant?

• The difference is not in its precepts, although the commandments of God will become internalized. "My law" (v. 33) is the same law He gave at Sinai,²¹ yet Ezekiel states that God's Spirit will enhance man's ability to obey it.²²

Ezek 36:27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

• The difference is not in its participants, although the community of God will become international. "My people" is "the house of Israel" (v. 33), those who were present at Sinai, yet Zechariah does speak about the addition of gentiles.²³

Zech 2:1 la Many nations will join themselves to the LORD in that day and will become My people.

• The difference is in its pervasiveness, because Israel's commitment to God will become inclusive. That "they will all know Me" (v. 34)²⁴ is the comprehensive change Paul also anticipates.²⁵

Rom 11:26a and so all Israel will be saved....

• The difference is in its permanence, as well, because Israel's communion with God will become inviolate. That "I will remember their sins no more" (v. 34) is the conclusive change Isaiah also predicts.²⁶

Isa 43:25b I will not remember your sins.

The similarities and differences not withstanding, forgiveness for sin is not an innovation of the new covenant;²⁷ God's pardon has always been available. In every age people have turned to God in faith and have found forgiveness, regardless of who they are (gentile or Jew), what they follow (natural or revealed law), where they reside (outside or inside the land of Israel), and when they live (before or after Calvary, Manuel 2007). In other words, salvation is not inextricably linked to the covenant but is available to gentiles (by grace, through faith) independent of any arrangement God makes with Israel (Manuel 2004).²⁸

The terms of the covenant God will enact in the Messianic Age will be essentially the same as those He ratified at Sinai, the same as those Israel reviewed and renewed several times thereafter. The terminus of the covenant God will enact in the Messianic Age, however, will be different. No longer prone to periods of national apostasy, the people will enjoy uninterrupted fellowship with the Lord, and God's pardon will extend to the entire nation, not merely to some individuals or groups.

What will enable such a change? Man's depravity led to his apostasy, to his breaking the covenant and, thus, to his need for renewing the covenant. The deficiency was not in the commands of God, as if His demands were unreasonable,²⁹ but in the character of man, whose desires were unrighteous.³⁰ To change those desires requires a fundamental change in man's nature, a regeneration that only God's Spirit can accomplish. Paul describes this change and its result.³¹

Titus 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to [the] hope of eternal life.

This is the same process Ezekiel and Jeremiah depict. It is the change of heart that attends conversion and that enables obedience.³²

Ezek 36:25 ...I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

When will such a change occur? Whereas the number of Israelites who were regenerate at any given point in the nation's history varied widely, as the country swung back and forth between loyalty and apostasy, that will change with the culmination of God's plan. The advent of the messiah will signal a national repentance that will lead to a national regeneration (see n. 19).

Zech 12:10 "I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

Zech 13:1 "In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.

As a result, "all Israel will be saved" (Rom 11:26a).

Better able to keep the terms of the covenant, because all participants will have the indwelling support of the Holy Spirit, God's people are then able to extend indefinitely the duration of the agreement, so that it can be an "everlasting covenant," uninterrupted by periods of rebellion.

Jer 32:38 They shall be My people, and I will be their God; 39 and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for [the good of] their children after them. 40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me. 41 I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.

At that point, the Mosaic covenant will become co-terminus with the Abrahamic, Aaronic, and Davidic covenants.³³

At Jesus' last Passover seder before the crucifixion, he linked the (third) cup of redemption to the covenant, an event New Testament writers record differently. Matthew and Mark report a similar statement by Jesus that simply mentions "the covenant."³⁴

Matt 26:28 ...this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

Mark 14:24 ...This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

Luke and Paul report a similar statement by Jesus that specifically mentions "the new covenant" (presumably the same covenant Jeremiah describes in 31:33)³⁵

Luke 22:20b This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.

1 Cor 11:25b This cup is the new covenant in My blood....

Both versions may be correct, for Jesus could have made the pronouncement both ways as the cup circulated among the disciples, and each New Testament writer selected one version to recount, perhaps the one he had heard.³⁶

Was Jesus renewing the covenant here, ahead of the Messianic Age, or was he anticipating its renewal in the Messianic Age? The latter is more likely the case: Jesus may be explaining the new covenant not establishing it, telling the disciples that his passion is God's provision for their pardon.

• On all other occasions, covenant renewal followed corporate rebellion, and the disciples had not been unfaithful, so there was no need to repair their relationship with God.

• Jesus' order of an annual review ("do this, as often as you drink [it], in remembrance of me" 1 Cor 11:25c) was for them to recall his crucifixion not to renew their commitment.

• Likewise, when Paul instructs believers at Corinth³⁷ to "celebrate the feast" (1 Cor 5:8), it is not in contrition for their sin³⁸ but in anticipation of Jesus' return.

1 Cor 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

Therefore, when believers today observe the Lord's Supper, they are doing what Jesus' disciples did—reviewing the covenant not renewing it, and anticipating its ultimate fulfillment in the Messianic Age.

For the Bibliography and Endnotes, see the pdf here.