God’s final covenant with us

Weekender
FAITH

By GEORGE MOMBI
IN MY first article I discussed the covenant produced during the 2007 All Pacific Prayer Assembly (Appa) which the PNG Government signed between the God of Israel and the people of PNG. In this article I will discuss the six Old Testament (OT) covenants and the New Covenant.
Biblical covenants portray God’s relationship between his people or human race in general. Many horizontal relationships like marriage, pacts between friends and enemies were described as covenants. But the Bible imagery of covenant was between God and humankind initiated by God.
God’s redemptive plan for human beings and the universe permeates the six OT covenants which finds its climax and fulfillment in the New Covenant. We begin with the covenant God made with Adam.

Adamic Covenant – It is sometimes referred to as “covenant of works” God made between Adam and his descendants. The term covenant is not used but the language of ‘command’ in Gen 2:16-17 alludes to it.
In this pact God promised Adam a complete, perfect and a peaceful life-long relationship with him, so long as Adam did not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. To complement that relationship, God gave Adam a helper and commanded them to multiply and have dominion over the entire creation (Gen 1:27-28).
But Adam and Eve failed to keep the covenant of trust and dependence on God by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Their disobedience disrupted the harmonious relationship with God resulting in Adam being banished from God’s presence.
In dealing with Adam’s disobedience, God promised to crush the serpent’s head through the seed of the woman (Gen 3:15). It is the promissory seed utterance that gives us a hint of God’s redemptive plan for humankind and the universe.

Noahic Covenant – It is a covenant with God and the entire creation (Gen 9:9-11).
After the flood, Noah made a sacrifice to God which is a crucial element in making this covenant (8:20-22) and other covenants that would follow.
God accepted his sacrifice and made a covenant with Noah never to curse the earth again. He will never again disrupt humankind’s creational mandate.
He commanded Noah to increase and multiply and fill the earth (Gen 9:7; cf. 1:27-28). This covenant is universal in scope, unconditional and everlasting (Gen 8:22).
It reveals the value of life and its preservation. Here we see God’s redemptive goal encompass every race and the universe (see Col 1:20). The rainbow is the mark of this covenant, a covenant with the entire creation.

Abrahamic Covenant (Gen 17:7). God initiated a covenant with Abraham. It follows God’s call to Abram to leave his family and country and go to a land where he will inherit (Gen 12:1-3).
The two main promissory aspects of the Abrahmic covenant are nationhood (descendants and land) and international blessing. In Gen 15, God again guarantees Abraham of a nation through his offspring.
God’s promise of international blessing will come from Abraham’s line. Through his seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
God’s promise of international blessing moves from focusing on an individual family to the entire world.
So, God’s dealing with Abraham has the seed of the gospel within it. Thus, God’s plan to make Abraham into a great nation becomes subservient to God’s principal desire or plan to bless all the nations of the earth. The sign of the Abrahamic covenant is circumcision (Gen 17:11-14).

Mosaic/Siniatic Covenant (Exo 20:4-6, 8-12; 31:16). The Mosaic or Siniatic covenant portrays a suzerain-vassal covenant where the lord or master initiates the relationship through the covenant.
This covenant is not a pact between two equal parties. Thus, we find the Mosaic covenant makes certain requirements and stipulates blessings and curses for the covenant parties. In this covenant (Exo 19-20), God is the suzerain and Israel is the vassal.
The primary concern of the Mosaic covenant is Israel’s relationship with God and how this relationship should be maintained.
Thus, God gives some instructions (Decalogue, rules, rites, etc.) to sustain the communion between him, the holy God and with Israel as part of fallen humanity in Adam. As they enter the Promise Land (fulfillment of first part of Abrahamic covenant), the Israelites must know how to conduct themselves in the land as his priests and a holy nation.
Obedience to the covenant would lead to blessings and curses for disobedience.
The ultimate objective for Israel taking possession of the land is blessing to all the nations of the earth through Abraham’s royal seed (see Gen 17:6). The sign of this covenant is the sabbatical rest.

Aaronic/Priestly Covenant (Lev 24:8-9). The context of Aaron and his sons’ ordination is covenantal. A number of passages in the OT use covenantal language for the Levitical priesthood (Jer 33:21-22; Neh 13:29; Mal 2:1-9).
God’s covenantal arrangement with Aaron and his descendants was intended to be permanent (Num 18:19). The Aaronic Covenant is closely related to the Mosaic covenant.
Its purpose is same as Siniatic covenant – maintenance of divine-human relationship. The sign of God’s covenant with Aaron and his descendants is the budding of Aaron’s staff.

Davidic Covenant (2 Chro 13:5; 21:7; Jer 33:19-22). God made a covenant with David that one of his descendants will sit on his throne and his rule will be everlasting (2 Sam 7:12-16).
The Davidic covenant is somewhat closer to the Abrahamic covenant. Both Abraham and David are promised a great name (Gen 12:2; 2 Sam 7:9), a special divine-human relationship (Gen 17:7-8; 2 Sam 7:14; cf. Ps 89:26) and a special line of “seed’ through which their name will be perpetuated (Gen 12:12; 2 Sam 7:12-16).
Given these connections, these two covenants are related but in the Davidic covenant, the promises made to Abraham become more focus on the royal seed.
Later we find the Davidic covenant in Genesis – kings identifying the promise line of ‘seed’ will mediate the international blessing to every nation. The Davidic covenant is also connected to the Siniatic covenant because the king will be a mediator between God and his people.
The covenant God made with David to establish a kingdom forever is a messianic prophecy of God’s redemptive plan for the human race through Christ.
Subsequently, the prophets especially Jeremiah introduced God’s plan to make a new covenant (Jer 31:31-34; see Ezek 34:25-32).

New Covenant. The language of the new covenant is associated with Jer 31:31-34 (see also Ezek 34:36-37) and is applied to the enigmatic servant of Yahweh whose mission closely parallels that of the seed of Abraham and David.
The future new covenant as described in the OT draws together various treads of the six covenants discussed above.
At least, we can deduce the following points about the new covenant. (a) The scope of new covenant is both national and international. It is national as prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel predicted the new covenant against the background of Israel’s captivity in Babylon. Whilst the national blessing is envisaged, this covenant extends to the ends of the earth, encompassing all nations (Isa 42:6; 49:6); (b) The new covenant is a continuity of the previous covenants. It continues with Torah (Jer 31:33), Abraham’s seed (Jer 31:36; Isa 63:16) particularly the royal seed (Jer 33:15-26) and the covenant formula – “I will be their God and they shall be my people” (Jer 31:33).
The new covenant is also a discontinuity of the previous covenants as it emphasises the removal (forgiveness) of sin (Jer 31:34), inward transformation of the heart (Jer 31:33), and an intimate relationship with God (Jer 31:34a; Ezek 36:27). (c) The new covenant is both climactic and eternal.
The new covenant is the climactic fulfilment of the covenants that God made with the Abraham, the nation of Israel and the dynasty of David.
The promises of these earlier covenants find their fulfilment in the new covenant, and in it such promises become ‘eternal’ in the truest sense.
The New Testament witnesses show that the new covenant was ratified by the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ (Matt 2627-29; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Cor 11:25). They present Christ as the fulfilment of the OT covenantal promises.
Through Jesus Christ, the promises made to Abraham find their ultimate fulfilment (Matt 1:1, 17; John 8:31-59).
He is the fulfilment of the covenant blessings and curses (Gal 3:13-14). Jesus is the anticipated Messiah, the one through whom salvation comes to everyone who comes to him in faith.
Hence, the writer of Hebrews stressed the superiority of the new covenant over the old covenants showing that in some sense the old covenants were inadequate, thus they were rectified in the new covenant by the Holy Spirit (Heb 8:10-12; 10:16-17).
Whilst the new covenant has been inaugurated, its ultimate eschatological reality awaits the new heaven and the new earth.
If the New Testament testifies that the new covenant is the fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan for every nation and the universe, why does PNG need another covenant with the God of Israel when we already have it in Christ?

  • Dr George Mombi PhD is a lecturer at the CLTC Port Moresby campus.