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DOCTRINAL STATEMENT
1] Both testaments record that God made certain
promises to man in the form of specific contracts or agreements with
man. These are called covenants" and define the terms of God's
relationship with individuals or groups in various circumstances and
eras. Of these covenants the best known are the covenants made with
physical Israel and the New Covenant established on "better promises,"
which will be fully confirmed with spiritual Israel after the return of
Jesus Christ. The New Covenant, which also applies to the New Testament
Church from the time of the original apostles, makes God's law even more
relevant by expanding it to include one's mental attitude and spiritual
intent.
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DOCTRINAL OVERVIEW
2] In recording
the history of God's relationship to mankind, the Bible reveals various
examples of covenants made between God and certain individuals or
nations. A covenant may be defined as an agreement, written or verbal,
whereby two or more parties agree to a certain relationship governed by
specific rules and yielding commensurate results. This usually involves
certain conditions to be fulfilled by one or all parties. Therefore, a
covenant is most closely analogous to our present day "contract," though
any such analogy must be an oversimplification.
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3] A contract
implies a clear bilateral agreement with both (or all) sides fully
agreeing to the terms. But God's covenants are not always so bilaterally
equal. In almost every situation it is God who sets all the ground
rules, God who formulates all the conditions, and God who stipulates all
the results. Man is simply given the choice of agreeing to comply and
receiving the tremendous benefits, or not agreeing to comply, in which
case he not only does not receive the benefits but suffers the terrible
liabilities as well. As such, God's covenants could perhaps be better
characterized as "promises" since they are most often unilateral.
As God has defined His covenantal relationship with man, He promises
to do something if man does something, and He promises to do
something else if man does something else.
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4] God's purpose
in making covenants has always been, and still is, to officially and
clearly delineate what He expects from man and what man can expect from
Him. By understanding these covenants an individual may come to a better
knowledge of God's will and desire for mankind and also realize the
conditions which will lead to prosperity and abundance.
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5] In the Old
Testament a number of important covenants are discussed. In Genesis
9:8-17, for example, God promises Noah He will never again destroy life
with a huge flood. Later on in Genesis we read how God made a covenant
with Abraham-which He later reiterated and expanded-which provided
physical benefits to him and eventually to all humanity through
Abraham's descendants (Gen. 15:18-21; 17:1-27). Another covenant example
was the agreement God made with King David (2 Sam. 7:12-16; 1 Chron.
17:11-14). To one degree or another most of the major biblical covenants
interrelate and intertwine. To understand any one covenant wholly, we
must usually have a working knowledge of the others. For example, the
covenant God made with Abraham has as its promises certain
blessings that are reiterated in whole or in part in later covenants.
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6] The best
known of the Old Testament covenants is that between God and the
Israelites made at Mount Sinai. After bringing the Israelite slaves out
of bondage in Egypt, God made an agreement or covenant with them (Ex.
19-24). In return for obedience to the Ten Commandments and other laws
enumerated in Exodus 20-23, God promised certain physician blessings.
Included among these were protection from enemies, removal of sickness,
and abundance of food and water. Noticeably absent from among these
promises was any mention of spiritual benefits, such as forgiveness of
sin and eternal life. The promises of the covenant given were strictly
temporal and physical, as Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 bring out in
clear detail. Conversely, disobedience to these laws would be followed
by curses affecting the same areas of the Israelites' physical lives as
did the promises. Moses served as the mediator of this covenant, which
was then ratified with the blood of animals. Despite temporary periods
of relative obedience, the later history recorded in the biblical
account shows the unfaithfulness of the Israelites who repeatedly broke
their part of the covenant.
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7] In the New
Testament, another covenant is proposed by God to replace this old
covenant that had been made with the nation of Israel. This New Covenant
had already been prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and is discussed in
detail in Hebrews 8:6-13. This New Covenant is to be a "better covenant"
than the Old Covenant since it will be established upon "better
promises" (Heb. 8:6). These "better promises" are spiritual in nature
and far transcend the physical promises given to ancient Israel. These
promises include: grace (unmerited favor in God's sight demonstrated in
numerous ways), forgiveness of sins, eternal life as sons in God's
family, God's putting His laws into our minds and writing them in our
hearts, the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, and other spiritual blessings of
various kinds and of inestimable value.
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8] Through these
better promises God immeasurably extends the benefits of His
relationship with man. For example, by means of the Holy Spirit, it is
now possible to keep the spiritual intent of the law, whereas those
under the Old Covenant did not generally keep even the physical letter
of the law. The New Covenant is also nonethnic, being offered to all who
repent and through baptism become Abraham's spiritual descendants and
heirs (Gal. 4:28; Is. 55:1-3; 59:20-21).
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9] The New
Covenant will not be applicable in its full force and widest sense until
Jesus Christ returns and establishes it with Israel. This is the clear
message of the prophets. All peoples and nations of the world shall then
have an opportunity to enter into this same New Covenant relationship
with God, though Israel will be the international example as God's law
will go forth from Zion (Mic. 4). Nonetheless, since Jesus Christ is
called "the mediator of the New Covenant" (Heb. 12:24), the New Covenant
is already in force for all true Christians today who have accepted Him
as their Savior.
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10] The
differences between the promises of the Old and New Covenants extend
beyond their content-there is also a difference in the timing of their
fulfillment, and this difference is instructive in further understanding
the application of the New Covenant under the Old Covenant, the physical
promises of blessings or cursings were fulfilled (within whatever time
period) according to whether Israel obeyed or disobeyed God's law. Under
the New Covenant, God's promises are surely given to His begotten
children, but even such converted Christians will not receive the
promises in their fulfillment until Christ's return. This event is
described in I Corinthians 15:51-53 when:
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"...we shall be changed, in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will
sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be
changed. For this perishable nature must put on the
imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality."
11] Indeed all
the patriarchs and prophets of the Bible have not yet had God's promises
to them fulfilled:
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"And these all, having obtained a good report
through faith, received not the promises: God having provided
something better for us, that they without us should not be made
perfect" (Heb. 11:39-40).
12] God has
determined that He will fulfill His better promises of the New Covenant
to all His people, from all the ages and eras of man, at the same time;
this will be at the momentous turning point of history, the return of
Jesus Christ.
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13] It is
critical to understand that the agreement and acceptance of the New
Covenant commits both God and men to stricter-not lighter-terms. God is
now bound to the spiritual promises mentioned above. Likewise man is
more tightly bound to God's law, the Ten Commandments and Jesus'
expansions of it. Far from being free from obedience to God's law, the
true Christian is now more fully responsible to keep the law in its
complete spirit and intent. As Jeremiah 31:33 states, "I will put my law
in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts." Thus God says His
law shall not be done away but rather become more deeply ingrained in
his people (see also Heb. 8:8ff; 10:16ff).
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14] Note that
God's writing His law "within" His people and "upon their hearts" will
not be some magical transformation or mystical experience by which God
will suddenly and mechanistically rewrite our brains and reprogram our
minds. God, in His wisdom, has determined that true character cannot be
built instantly by fiat, not even by divine fiat. While it is possible
for God to command and enforce instant obedience, that is not at all the
same thing as developing true godly character. Character can be
defined as the internalized desire and determination to obey God, backed
by the mental fortitude and resolve to in fact obey through all
circumstances, however difficult. Character can only be generated by a
process of conscious experience, test and trial, growth and development.
God designed human beings to become His Sons; and sons must do more than
just obey, they must radiate God's character from within. Consequently,
under the New Covenant, God shall make His laws known and His Spirit
available, enabling people to understand and keep those laws. Thus, the
opportunity to enter into the process of conversion-of living
God's way throughout a long, rich physical life-will be available to all
who accept the invitation to be included in the New Covenant. Today it
is only available to the relative few, those who have been called out of
the world by God into His Church. After the return of Christ it will be
available to the vast multitudes-those comprising physical Israel, as
the example, and then every other nation on earth, all people who will
gladly submit themselves to God.,
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15] The
fundamental unity between Old and New Covenants is an essential element
in biblical understanding. The law is principally the same, created by
the same God, but our relationship to it differs. The law of the Old
Covenant required physical obedience and offered physical promises; the
law of the New Covenant requires spiritual obedience, which is far
tougher, and offers spiritual promises, which are enormously greater.
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16] The greatest
illustration showing that God's law is expanded and made more binding
(rather than abrogated) by the New Testament is the "Sermon on the
Mount" (Mt. 5ff). Here Christ, speaking to His disciples (who would
receive God's Spirit and hence enter into a new covenantal relationship
with Him), clearly told them that not one "jot or tittle" would pass
from the law. (This is indeed logical since the Jesus Christ of the New
Covenant is the same being who was the God of Israel in the Old
Covenant. See Jesus Christ.) Jesus further spoke against the concept
that obedience was not necessary by saying whosoever taught this error
would not be in His kingdom (Mt. 5:19). He goes even further and gives
definite examples which conclusively show we must keep the Ten
Commandments more strictly in their spiritual intent than under the Old
Covenant. For example, the commandment against the physical act of
murder is expanded to include the spiritual attitude of anger; the
physical act of adultery is expanded to include the spiritual attitude
of lust, etc. Clearly the concept that the law need not be kept under
the New Covenant is an error. Indeed what God is developing is an
"internalization" of obedience to Him, flowing out of our own intrinsic
mental character rather than through the external coercion of physical
punishment.
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17] The offer of
the New Covenant to the world as a whole is a yet future event. Thus,
its full effect will not occur until the return of Christ and His
thousand-year reign. But God today is calling a few elect individuals to
His Church and the accompanying New Covenant relationship. Upon
repentance and baptism these individuals can receive God's Holy Spirit
and enter into this New Covenant (Mt. 26:26-27, Heb. 10:9-10); and those
who indeed will abide by its terms (acceptance of Christ's sacrifice and
God's grace, obedience, faith, etc.) shall receive its incredible
promises.
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18] God is not a
God who leaves our relationship with Him to chance or doubt. He has
rather formulated covenants through which He makes plain our
responsibilities as Christians toward Him and His responsibility toward
us. If we fulfill our responsibilities toward God, we will surely
receive the abundant physical and spiritual blessings He promises.
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