The Covenant of Grace in the Old Testament | Theocast

Welcome to Theocast, encouraging weary pilgrims to rest in Christ. Conversations about the Christian life from a reformed perspective. Our hosts today, at least in this portion, are John Moffitt, Pastor of Grace Reformed Church in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and myself, Justin Perdue, Pastor of Covenant Baptist Church in Asheville, North Carolina.

Today's episode, this week's episode of the podcast is a unique one, and Jimmy Buehler will be featured in much of that recording that you'll be listening to. Jimmy is the Pastor of Christ Community Church in Willmar, Minnesota.

And before we get to teeing up what you're gonna hear from us today, John has a very important update. This is not really a pro-con, this is kind of a cultural update. Oh, it's definitely a pro-con.

At a minimum, we can say something, say, excuse me, that it's something that John is quite excited about. So, brother, talk, celebrate, rejoice.

For those of you that don't know, I was born and raised in sunny California. And when I was a small, small child, I joined the Blues Crew, which, for those of you that don't know, that's a program that I don't even know exists anymore for the Dodgers.

And so I was a massive Dodger fan. Oral Hochschizer was my hero. And, you know, I haven't really seen the Dodgers win since 1988 was the last time that they won the World Series. Kurt Gibson, man. And to be complete, yeah, that was amazing.

To be completely honest, I haven't really followed baseball since high school and even college, just because of what happens when you get married and seminary and all that kind of stuff. But when I saw the Dodgers were doing really well and they made it to the World Series, I started, I watched them beat the Braves and then I did watch the entire World Series.

And I have to say, it was quite enjoyable to announce that the Los Doyers are world champions. Amen. Praise, praise be to whatever, I don't know. I don't even know how you can make that. I don't even know how you make that spiritual.

But I am happy as a Dodger fan. So go Los Doyers. And if you don't know why it's Los Doyers,.

It's, I guess you have to look it up. The Doyers. So you're not saying that the Doyers are the Lord's team? You're not saying that? You're not gonna go so far as to say that? Okay. Just trying to be clear.

Not gonna say that. Not gonna say that, but. Can I make a brief comment about that? That whole thing with sports? So I used to think this in high school and college playing ball, when we would pray and stuff before games and position coaches would pray and all this stuff.

Sometimes the way guys would pray, I in my own mind would be thinking, do we assume that there are just no Christians on the other team? Like I don't understand what we're doing here. Because do we think that the Lord is somehow like uniquely with us, like the way he was with Israel or something?

Like that we're gonna go out here on the gridiron and just absolutely like smash the other team because God is with us? I don't understand. Anyway, that's just one comment about that. I did appreciate.

I think it's fine for us to pray for safety, to pray for various things. Yeah.

Yeah, my football coach, his prayer was always that we'd be honoring in our actions and deeds. And that was it. It was like, hey, look, we just pray that both teams are honoring in actions and their deeds and that we would demonstrate love.

Play the game well.

People would remain safe. All that's great. That even the fans in attendance would enjoy themselves. I mean, all that's cool. But then, yeah, anyway, I don't know that God's pulling for one team or another.

Though I do believe he has ordained all things since before the world began.

So there that is. Now let's pivot, John. I do think it's a sin to use David though. I mean, I think that should never be allowed.

To be used ever again. Okay. Like I said, we're gonna pivot before this spirals even more out of control. So this week is a special treat, I think, for our listeners. This is content that our members have already had access to or people have had access to that have donated and have in one sense, I guess in that way, gained access to the content.

I'm not quite sure the right language to say and I'm fumbling at my words. So this today is another one of the sessions from the teaching series that we did on covenant theology. So if you're not familiar with that whole teaching series, we did five sessions on covenant theology from a 1689 Federalist perspective.

And you can find that whole teaching series on our website over at theocast .org. And the whole teaching series can be yours for a donation of any amount. Am I correct in saying that, John? Yep, yeah.

Beautiful. And yeah, please donate and support this ministry so that this message of rest in Christ can be spread to as many people as possible. So this week, we are releasing session number four of those five sessions.

And this is on the covenant of grace in the Old Testament. And again, this is from a 1689 Federalist perspective of covenant theology. So what we do in this episode is essentially trace the promise of the covenant of grace all the way from Genesis 3 .15 through the end of the book of Malachi.

And this was, John, a spirited, joyful, exuberant, just great conversation that I know the three of us, you, myself, and Jimmy, we enjoyed doing it. And at the end of it, we were just like, oh my gosh, like what a worshipful experience that was as we thought about the promised seed of Eve, the promised seed of Abraham, the one through whom, like who is he?

And when's he coming? And how is it that God's gonna accomplish redemption? And we see how that unfolds by farther steps from the promise made in Genesis 3 .15 through the covenant God makes with Abraham, the covenant God makes with Moses, the covenant God makes with David.

We see all that unfold as we are making our way toward the arrival of Christ in the New Testament. So I highly commend this to people. I hope it's encouraging. I hope it's clarifying. And if you've got questions about covenant theology, really consider purchasing, donating, and getting access to those five teaching sessions.

I think you'll find it accessible, but yet robust enough that you'll really be introduced to the topic.

Yeah, no, that's good, Justin. And we do provide for those that are able to get the series, we do provide a glossary where there's an outline of each session. We give you key terms, all of the verses that we use.

And then very soon, as soon as we can raise enough money, we're gonna provide an entire book that goes with it along with a study guide for small groups and churches. So we're pretty excited, but I will tell you that this, if you like Reformed theology, if you like Calvinism, this is new for you.

And I remember the first time I heard covenant theology, I really didn't know what it meant other than I knew I didn't believe in it. And it was bad, or that it means you baptize babies. That's all I knew covenant theology meant, or that you're an all-millennialist, meaning that you're not a pre...

There was just all of these horrible preconceived ideas. What we're trying to help you understand is that covenant theology, understanding the purpose of the Bible, understanding how God communicates, interacts, and fulfills his promises of salvation is through this covenant theology.

And I can promise you, if you don't know this, or even if you do, you'll be encouraged because you'll see the beautiful design of God's grace and how it just flows through the Old Testament, giving you assurance and hope and clarity in the midst of sin and chaos.

God's faithfulness is completely unfolding. And that's the design of the Bible. And if you don't see God's word that way, stay tuned, I think you'll be encouraged. Yeah, word.

Last couple of comments, man. Reformed theology is covenant theology. I mean, so historically speaking, to understand yourself to be reformed theologically would mean that you were covenantal in your understanding of Scripture.

And two of the things that we talk about a ton here on Theocast that are inextricably linked to covenant theology, one is the redemptive historical framework of Scripture. That and covenant theology go together.

But then even more importantly, in terms of the foundation of this ministry, the sufficiency of Christ and the rest that is ours in him is absolutely inextricably tethered to and linked to covenant theology.

And an understanding of the Bible in that way, as Scripture presents itself on its own terms. And so if rest in Christ and a redemptive historical framework of the Bible have been helpful to you, then dive deeply into covenant theology because it will only aid you in your life, I think, but it will deepen your understanding of these things.

So yeah, we commend it to you and we hope it's helpful.

One last thing for our members, one of the things that we are offering to you as well is we'll be doing week three of a book study that Justin and I have been holding for pastors for around the world.

So we offered this freely to these pastors who wanted to learn more about covenant theology. So we did a small book review by Sam Rinehan's book, The Mystery of Christ. And that third session, which is gonna be about an hour, hour and a half long, that will be available on our website.

So go to theocast .org slash members and you can get all three sessions that are available there. We encourage you to get the book and go along with us. And one more thing. No, I'm just kidding. We've done that enough.

Enjoy the episode. In this section, we are gonna be covering the covenant of grace. And I can tell you, we are excited. We are trying to figure out how to get everything we wanna say into such a small time.

So, because this is an introduction, we're not going to give you an exhaustive view of this.

So let's jump right in. We're trying not to just fire hose everybody down.

We talk about this all of the time. And so we are gonna do our best to keep this as an introduction. As we've done with the covenant of works, we're going to do again. The covenant of grace is actually different.

It's an unconditional covenant. Meaning that if we look at the two parties involved, we have God and us, the elect people of God. And then the one acting is God. And all of the conditions are placed upon God.

He will do this. He is the one who has all of the conditions that must be met, which we will get into. And then for us, the reason why it's unconditional, the second party members, is that there's nothing placed on us.

This is why we use the language of grace. Just in case you may not, sometimes people confuse mercy and grace. Mercy is to not receive what you deserve. And grace is to receive that which you don't deserve.

So when we talk about the covenant of grace, God is making this promise. He's putting conditions upon himself, and we are the recipients of it. And what that is, is we are going to receive forgiveness of our sins through Jesus Christ, and we're going to receive the righteousness or the obedience of Jesus Christ.

And all of that comes to us by grace through faith alone. So that's what we'd say is a quick definition and an overview of the covenant of grace.

In particular, in the covenant of grace, when we talk about what it is that we are receiving, we are receiving the merits of Christ. He has satisfied for our sin. He's atoned for it. He has provided us positively with righteousness, and everything that is his is ours.

And that includes an inheritance of a new creation. And we will be a part of his people forever in that sense. It might be good right now too, to explain the term covenant of grace even further in that someone may ask legitimately, why do you guys call it the covenant of grace?

Why don't you just call it the new covenant or the old covenant? Why do you use this language? Well, a couple of thoughts here. One, the covenant of grace is a helpful term in that it makes very clear the contrast of grace and works that we see found throughout the New Testament.

But one other thought here too, is that the covenant of grace is promised before the new covenant comes. And so it's helpful for us because there is one covenant of grace in all of scripture, right, through which all of God's people from all time are saved, under which all of God's people of all time are saved, right?

And so it's useful to use this covenant language, the covenant of grace, because it helps us to explain that united one plan of salvation that God has always had.

Right, so old and new people, Old Testament and New Testament people are saved.

By the same covenant. Exactly, they're trusting in the promises of God realized in Messiah. Right, which we'll explain. Which we'll explain further, yeah.

So as any good Bible student or theology student will go, we, I think, need to explain or show where this covenant of grace is revealed in scripture, taught about in scripture. And where we need to begin, I think, is in Genesis 3.

In specifically Genesis 3, verse 15, where what we see is what is known historically as the Proto-Ewangelion, or the first gospel. It is the announcement or the promise that is made to The revelation.

That's right, that is made to Adam and Eve that though the serpent has, quote, won the battle that day, he will ultimately not win the war. That there will come one from the line of Eve that will crush the head of the serpent, right?

And so in essence, this contrasts it with the covenant of words, that there will come someone from the line of the woman, there will come someone who will do this for his people. And so I think that's the first place to go.

And this kind of really kicks off this whole idea that we see throughout the Old Testament. We've mentioned this before in previous sessions, of this idea of types and shadows. Yeah, that's good, Jimmy.

Before we even start talking more specifically about types and shadows, for the sake of clarity, we wanna be really precise in how we understand the covenant of grace. We understand that the covenant of grace is promised and revealed beginning in Genesis 3 .15, as Jimmy just stated.

And then it is continued to be revealed through farther steps throughout the rest of the Old Testament. And then the covenant of grace proper is established and accomplished through Christ in the new covenant.

So it's promised and revealed in the Old Testament beginning in Genesis 3 .15, through farther steps, it becomes more clear. It's increasingly clear, as we get into, we're gonna talk about this more in a minute, as we get to Abraham and Moses and David, it becomes more clear until finally we get to Christ.

And the covenant of grace is established and accomplished through him in the new covenant. That's right.

So that language of promise becomes really important. So just to even kind of start the role and moving it forward, in this promise to Adam and Eve, in the Old Testament, you will always hear the seed of, the seed of the, and it's always in reference to the man, the seed of the man.

What's interesting is that in this promise that God gives Eve, he does not say the seed of Adam, because if it was, that means that the sin of Adam would be passed down and he couldn't be the replacement.

He would have to pay for his own sin, right? So he says something very fascinating. He says the seed of Eve, it will be the child of Eve, which, you know, jump to Luke two, you have a virgin who comes and says, the spirit will come and bring that seed.

I mean, it's Because the question is, well, who's the father going to be? Exactly. So you begin to already have, I mean, you're seeing a connection now between the covenant of redemption and the covenant of grace.

Exactly. Right? So the covenant of redemption says, God will come and save his people. And then you see this little tiny promise. It's not there yet. The covenant of grace is not there. The actual covenant that saves people, it's not there yet, but it's promised to Eve.

And then you have this big question. Well, how do we know which, like, how do we know which one? Which one?

Who is this promise seed? And that's really what the rest of the old Testament is getting us ready for. Right. Is bringing increasing amounts of clarity to that question.

And there's drama in the story too, because all these people start getting born. I mean, the world is growing and all of them have the rebellious nature of Adam. Right? So it's clearly none of these people.

And it gets so bad that God wipes out the earth, but still keeps the promise. Because what did he say? It has to come through the line of Eve. Yeah. So Noah is preserved. So now we know it's coming at least through Noah.

And God said, I'm never going to destroy everyone. Otherwise he would go back on his promise. Right. When he's going to sustain the creation.

Because the Redeemer is coming. That's right. I mean, the seed of Eve is coming. So I'm going to make sure that the world into which that seed is going to be born is going to be sustained. I mean, that's the purpose of the Noahic covenant in that regard.

So all those who believed the promise that came from Adam and Eve, which I'm sure they told their children, all those who believe that promise is, I mean, when we say the first mission of the gospel, if they believed that, then it was accounted to them and they were saved.

And we'll learn more about this as we get into the New Testament and Romans, when he says that God passed over former sins,.

Reenacting the covenant of grace. So shortly after Noah, we get to Abraham.

And so the next big, massive moment. I mean, it's like huge mile marker here.

So beginning in Genesis chapter 12, we hear of a man, initially his name is Abram. God changes his name later to Abraham. And we'll just refer to him as Abraham throughout this time.

And I want to make one little interjection here before we go forward, because what we're about to explain to you is our perspective of the covenant of grace and our perspective of the covenant of Abraham.

And I will tell you up to this point, if you were to take the confession, the Westminster confession, the Savoy,.

If you take the Declaration, the 1689,.

Reformed theology and understanding covenant theology with very small, maybe adjustments on how things are said, we are in almost 100 agreement on covenant of works, covenant of redemption, that there's two covenants by covenantalism.

Where you're going to see a little bit, and this is where in the 1689, there's even some more broad language that would allow some variance here. Because during the time of it being formulated, there was some slight, there was a full, for Baptists, there was a full commitment to understanding how the new covenant works.

So where you're going to see is us, there's going to be some differences in how we're going to explain the Abrahamic covenant. And our view, if you want to know, it's a historic view called the 1689 federalism view.

That's the one, and it was the view that was held by the majority of those during the time of the confession being made. And this is also where you're going to see some change between us and the Presbyterian view.

And you can make that comparison later. That's not really what this podcast is for. We want to give you an overview of what we would say the majority view of the 1689. So before we go into Abraham,.

This is where we can pick up. Sure, so let's pick up with Abraham. Beginning in Genesis 12, we see that God, he calls Abraham out, and he makes a promise to him in Genesis chapter 12 that we would see as the promise of the covenant of grace.

Because Paul will even pick up on this in Galatians chapter three and say, the gospel was preached beforehand to Abraham, and he cites Genesis 12, three, right? He believed and he was justified. That's Genesis 15, yeah.

So there is the promise of the covenant of grace made to Abraham. And then there is a covenant formally made with him, Genesis 15, Genesis 17, in particular Genesis 17, where there is land promised to Abraham.

He has promised that kings will come from him, from his line, and rulers will come from him, right? And so it's important that we see that God promises that these things will happen. I'm gonna make sure that a nation comes from you, that rulers come from you, and that a land will be given to your offspring.

Yeah, so you could say it's unconditional in that sense.

Right, but then there is a conditional piece of this covenant of circumcision that's established in Genesis 17, where it's very clear that individuals may be cut off from the people of God through disobedience.

If they are not circumcised, they are cut off. So there's an unconditional promise to the nation, land, rulers, people, and there is a conditional promise to individuals underneath the covenant of circumcision.

And alongside that with Abraham, we see the promise of the covenant of grace that is unconditional. And it is to the elect, to the spiritual seed of Abraham. That's our understanding.

So when he makes the promise from you, from your seed, singular, all the nations of the world will be blessed. He's talking about Jesus. Right, so you're hearing that language of seed again, right? Eve, it's protected in the Noahic, and now we're knowing, oh, now it's coming through Abraham through this nation.

And I think it's important, you did a really good job there explaining the difference of the conditional and unconditional parts of it, that he is creating, and Abraham and this land is gonna start becoming a type and a shadow, right?

It's not the actual substance. It's not the actual covenant yet, but it is giving us a shadow. It's not the covenant of grace yet. It's a covenant of circumcision with Abraham that has conditions that the people must meet, but it's a shadow of that which is to come.

Well, and even the fact, okay, a land,.

Canaan is promised. Well, when the covenant of grace comes, what is Canaan a type of?

It's the new heaven and the new earth, right? The land by which Hebrews says they were looking forward to. Rulers will come from you, Abraham.

Okay, well, what is that a type of? It's a type of the great king named Jesus who's gonna come.

We could do this for a while. Right, well, and to that point, even in later on, right before they go into Egypt, you are given through Judah saying, through you, Judah, will come a king. And before that happens

Genesis 49. That's right. Before that happens, you're gonna spend 400 years in captivity, and then I'm going to redeem you out. And so you have these little promises. And if you're reading your Bible and you don't have this covenant, like you're anticipating what's going on, it's kind of a jumbled mess.

It is. It is, that's how I always read it. It was a jumbled mess. But now you're understanding it's all connected. There is this great fine line that's connecting every single word. And it has a purpose and it's rolling along in its narrative.

Yeah, and I think this is where it's helpful to understand and have this covenant of language. And this covenantal framework. Because what does it prevent us from doing? It prevents us from looking at Abraham as an end in himself.

That Abraham is some great hero of the faith. Now, certainly, right? Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.

Right, which is a pattern that Paul sets up for us. Exactly. For redemption.

In the book of Romans. Right. However, what's interesting to note in Jesus's conversation with the Pharisees, what did they appeal to? We are children of Abraham. And how does Jesus respond? Well, he says, I can turn rocks into children of Abraham.

So I think what's important to note is that ultimately, I think in Jesus's mind, in that moment, he's saying, essentially, fools, that's about me. That's right. Like that promise was made to Abraham because ultimately I'm coming from Abraham.

Like Abraham looks to me. Word.

Bro, John ate. All right, so, I mean, I apologize for this. Kind of.

It's all about to start coming around. But it's really, this is dope stuff, if I can say that on a podcast.

Wow. All right, this is really good. So Jesus is on the scene and the Jews, like he's telling them that if you, if the Son will set you, the Son, meaning himself, will set you free. Yeah. And they're like, look, bro, we're children of Abraham.

Like, what do you say? Why do you say we will become free? And he even says to them, I know that you're the offspring of Abraham, but yet you seek to kill me because my words find no place in you. AKA, you are the physical seed of Abraham.

But then he goes on, just a few verses later, this is John 8, 39. They again say, the Jewish audience says, Abraham is our father. And Jesus says, if you were Abraham's children, you'd be doing what Abraham did.

Meaning if you were his spiritual seed. He would believe. Then later on, to your point, Jimmy, he says, your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. You fools are geeked up about Abraham.

Abraham was excited about me, right? And Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it. Well, what is that? The gospel was preached beforehand to Abraham. A seed has come as a promise. Abraham believed the promises of God to be realized in Messiah and therefore was saved.

Well, and I think again, even the story of Abraham shows us how God in the covenant of grace, he works in spite of people, right? Because what does Abraham immediately do? Goes to the servant. Yeah, he goes to the slave woman and essentially takes matters into his own hands.

I'm too old. And that's really what these religious leaders, the Pharisees are contrasting themselves with. We are not sons of the slave woman. We are sons of the free woman. And Jesus says, no, you have no idea what it means to be free.

You are slaves to your own self-salvation and self-righteousness project. And Jesus, again, I can make anything children of Abraham. So it's so important, I think for us again, to kind of circle back to what I said in the beginning is that when we have this covenantal framework, we see one, just how gracious God is that even in light of Abraham, who looked forward imperfectly is still saved under that promise.

And also it helps us, it prevents us from looking at Abraham as the Pharisees and religious leaders. As this great pillar of, he is the one we look to. Where Jesus is like, no, no, no, no, no. Abraham is a mirror that ultimately points to me.

Well, what matters is not,.

Are you related to Abraham physically? What matters is, do you have Abraham's faith? That's the point. And I mean, Paul, that's Galatians three. Those who have faith are the sons of Abraham, Galatians three, seven.

But then you also have Romans four, where Paul says that Abraham was trusting in the one who justifies the ungodly. He's trusting in God who justifies ungodly people, which is a scandalous message that no other religion preaches.

That's right. And that is the pattern of Abraham that is gonna carry over into the new covenant,.

Where the covenant of grace is established. So the story keeps moving. You have these unbelievable promises. Of course, you have a man in his 90s, a woman in her 90s, a baron, they have no children. And the most unbelievable promise, he's going to bless all the nations of the world.

And they're going to have a nation that is larger than the sands of the sea. And Abraham's hearing all this going. You're nuts. You're gonna do that through me? I mean, his wife laughs. It's a wonderful story of the mercy and grace of God using incapable, messed up.

I mean, Abraham was not a moral man. Let's just put it that way. He lied a lot.

Well, it's wild. God says, Abraham, a nation's gonna come from you. And the purpose of that nation is that it will produce a seed that will bless the nations.

That's right. The purpose of Abraham's nation was to produce the seed. Exactly. And the people standing, the Pharisees standing before Jesus, they totally didn't get that. They thought, oh, no, the blessings come through being a part of Abraham.

He's like, no, the blessing comes from the seed of Abraham. So now you have the question of, okay, what's God doing with this nation now? So they move into Egypt through Joseph, which is a beautiful statement from Joseph.

You meant this for evil. God meant this for good. Meaning that God is following his plan, his will. Yeah, famine in the land.

Right, and Jacob moves his family into Egypt. Israel, as they become known. Well, Jacob is renamed Israel. Jacob is renamed Israel. And Jacob's family becomes known as the nation of Israel. The book of Exodus says they grow great in number.

Egypt is threatened, and they become enslaved by Pharaoh. They become enslaved by the people of Egypt. And so what does God do? Well, he raises up Moses. Another failure. Another, well, right. Who also is a shadow.

Yeah, a prophet. He's a prophet. Exactly right. He is a mouthpiece of God. He goes and he mediates, quote, unquote, on behalf of his people. And he goes, and really, the book of Exodus is echoed all throughout Scripture.

Absolutely. The greatest work of redemption before the cross, without question, is the Exodus.

Right, and as you read through the Old Testament, frequently, particularly in the Psalms, what do the song leaders and the writers of the Psalms constantly point back to? The Exodus. They point back. I mean, the Psalms are the contemporary Christian music of their day.

Yeah, they are. Right, as we sing of the cross on Sunday mornings.

And the constant, the shadow of being enslavement. Yeah. And then what do you, what do you celebrate, and we continue to celebrate the shadow of it as well, the Passover, right? It becomes part of their culture that the blood being put over the doorpost, they didn't fully understand.

I mean, do you think they even remotely fully understood?

There's the blood of a lamb that God looks at and sees it and passes over us. We are saved. And those who are not covered by that blood are killed.

What a glory. But at the moment, they didn't want it. They wanted to be out of Egypt and they didn't want to die. So they obeyed, right? But as the New Testament writers go back and explain that, they're using, there's a glorious shadow saying that was pointing to Jesus.

Sure. Whom God passes over our sins because of the blood of Jesus, right?

He's the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Abraham and Isaac up on the mountain. It's the one of glorious shadow that we kind of over, you know, look right past.

So as the story progresses, as the Bible progresses, ultimately Moses leads God's people out of Egypt. As we know from the well-known Bible story, parts of the Red Sea, they walk through, which is later referenced in the New Testament.

And Another type. Yep, another type, another shadow. They pass through A big one. A huge one. I know JP's freaking out right now. I'm freaking, I'm wigging out. Go ahead. They pass through the Red Sea.

The unbelievers, if you will, are drowned in the waters of judgment. And then what we see is Israel, after they get tired of wandering, not having bread, they want to return to slavery. They want to go back to Egypt.

They wander, right? They wander throughout the desert.

And John, do you want to jump in here? Yeah, just to interject real quick. What we don't realize is 400 years, they don't have a Bible. They don't have a system. They have passed down verbally the promises that, hey, listen, your father is Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.