The Six Covenants of Scripture – Selected Scriptures

Let me turn now to Hebrews chapter eight, please. Hebrews chapter eight. Hebrews chapter eight, and we're gonna read verse seven through the end of the chapter.

Hebrews eight, verse seven. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.

For finding fault with them, he says, behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which

I made with their fathers on the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, for they did not continue in my covenant, and I did not care for them, says the

Lord, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, says the

Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts, and I will be their

God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen and everyone his brother, saying, know the

Lord, for all will know me from the least to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.

When he said a new covenant, he has made the first obsolete, but whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.

Let's bow our heads. Our Father, we pray for understanding in your word today. Help the communication that I'm seeking to give be clear, and I pray concise, and also that our understanding may be fruitful, that you would help us to be discerning and wise and to see your word as it should be seen.

Pray that you grant us understanding in these things as we look at the grand sweep of your redemptive purposes, that you would be glorified to encourage the hearts of your people in them.

We thank you for this mercy and this grace of having your word, and we pray your blessing upon our time of study and thinking around it.

We ask this in Christ's name, amen. So in Hebrews 8, we come across this reference to the new covenant.

There's a quotation here from Jeremiah 31, where God promises that he will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. And so as thoughtful Bible students, we have to ask ourselves, what is the new covenant, and how is it related to the other covenants that we read of in scripture?

And we have been seeking for the last couple of weeks to set a little bit of context to that, some theological context as to what separates those who are part of covenant theology from those who are dispensational, as well as seeking to understand the context of the broad sweep of the covenants themselves, as we are going to be taking a look today at all of the six covenants that are mentioned in the

Old Testament. And as I'm going through this, let me briefly say this.

If you're new here today, then I want you to know that this is, I promise you, this is the last, no,

I can go ahead and promise you this, this is the last of the preparatory, ground -laying sermons that we're going to have on this issue.

Starting next time we are together, we're going to jump into Hebrews chapter eight and look at what Jeremiah and the author of Hebrews says about the new covenant.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago when we started this sort of study on the covenants and our relationship to the covenants that I was going to try and avoid falling into either of two ditches.

Do you remember what they were? The ditch on the one hand that we would get so far into the weeds and the minutia of the differences between covenant theology and dispensationalism that we would get lost in that and that we would all sleep through it and it would bore everybody.

The ditch on the other hand that we would go so quickly through these things that we really didn't answer anybody's questions or deal with anybody's concerns or what they're thinking in their minds concerning the need to understand these things.

Those are the two ditches. Too much detail and too little detail. I want you to know today that I'm going to steer, veer dangerously close to both of those ditches as we are going to begin by getting off very close into the weeds, not quite into the weeds, but very close into the weeds and then we're gonna veer back to go through all six of the

Old Testament covenants in one sweeping moment at the end of the sermon. So hopefully you're somewhere in the middle of that road and you're gonna see us zip by at some point and you're gonna catch something that makes a little bit of sense.

If this is not your first time here, then thank you for sticking with us all the way to this point.

You deserve in itself a medal. So let's begin with a couple of definitions, a couple of definitions because when you take preaching class at seminary, the very first thing that they teach you is include a couple of deep theological definitions right away in the introduction to your sermon because nothing engages an audience quite like defining some terms.

And so I'm gonna give you a couple of definitions here and this will sort of set the tone for the nap which is to follow. So last week we described covenantalism and covenant theology briefly.

Today I wanna begin by giving you a definition of dispensationalism and then

I want to contrast the dispensational perspective on interpreting scripture with the covenantal perspective on interpreting scripture.

So here is loosely defined or described dispensationalism which if you're wondering, am I one?

Yes, I am one. That's not a secret to anybody who is familiar with this. Yes, I am a dispensationalist.

I'm not part of covenant theology. I don't believe in covenant theology as an interpretive paradigm or a theological system so I'm dispensational.

Here's what a dispensationalist is. Loosely described and then I'll give you a definition. Here it is loosely. Dispensationalism is a label of a theological perspective that sees

God working at different points in human history with men in different ways.

That's as loosely as it can be described. We see God in different eras, dispensations, epochs of human history relating to men, dispensing as it were his kingdom program in different ways with men in different periods of time.

Both covenant theologians and dispensationalists will recognize that there are different dispensations.

The only question is how is it administered in those dispensations and how many dispensations are there?

And I'm not gonna get into any number of this. Look, we have to recognize that there are different dispensations. Man's relationship with Adam in the

Garden of Eden before the fall is different than his relationship with us today. And God's relationship with the

Israelites in the Old Testament under the old covenant is different than the way he relates to us today. We don't have an

Aaronic priesthood. We're not offering animal sacrifices. Therefore, we recognize that God relates to different groups of people in different ways and administers or dispenses his kingdom purposes at different periods of human history.

That's all a dispensationalist is. So here is a definition of dispensationalism.

Oh, by the way, God always relates to men on the basis of grace and saves men through faith.

We don't believe that he saves men in different ways at different periods of time. That is not a dispensationalist perspective. He always by grace and always saves us on the basis of faith.

So here is a definition of dispensationalism. Now I'm gonna rattle this off and then I'm gonna break it down into basically three essential components.

So if I lose you in the rattling it off, give me a second and I'll break it down. Dispensationalism, quote, is a system of theology primarily concerned with the doctrines of ecclesiology and eschatology that emphasizes applying historical grammatical hermeneutics to all passages of scripture, including the entire

Old Testament. It affirms a distinction between Israel and the church and a future salvation and restoration of the nation of Israel in a future earthly kingdom under Jesus the

Messiah as the basis for a worldwide kingdom that brings blessings to all nations, close quote. That's from Michael Vlock in his book

Dispensationalism, Essential Beliefs and Common Myths. That's the definition of dispensationalism. You say, Jim, you lost me after dispensationalism is.

So here let me break it down. There's three essential elements to this. Number one, dispensationalism is a system of theology that primarily deals with two doctrines, ecclesiology and eschatology.

Ecclesiology is the doctrine of the church. What is the church? What are we? Are we related to Israel? Are we Israel? Are we the new

Israel? Have we replaced Israel? What is the nature of the church? The second doctrine it relates to is eschatology. What is going to happen in the future?

That's the eschatology of the end time events. So dispensationalism is not concerned with salvation by grace through faith necessarily or the doctrine of the gospel or predestination or the scope of the atonement or any of those issues.

Dispensationalism deals with two essential doctrines, ecclesiology and eschatology. What is the church and what's gonna happen in the future?

That is the essence of dispensationalism. Second, according to that definition, the approach to scripture that it emphasizes is a historical grammatical approach to scripture, sometimes called a literal hermeneutic.

That is our approach to scripture is to read the passage and take it in the straightforward, literal sense that it seemed that the author intended and the audience would have understood that.

We don't allegorize scripture, we don't spiritualize scripture, turn it into a metaphor or a story or anything like that.

We just take it in the straightforward sense that it is written. That is the literal historical grammatical approach to scripture and dispensationalism emphasizes that point even with the

Old Testament prophecies. In fact, with all of the Old Testament prophecies. And third, here's the third thing, we affirm that Israel and the church are different, that there is a future salvation and restoration for the nation of Israel, and we affirm that there is a future earthly kingdom ruled over by Jesus, which will be a blessing to all the nations.

Primarily concerned with ecclesiology and eschatology, what's the church, what's gonna happen in the future? We take a literal grammatical historical approach to scripture and we affirm that there is a difference between Israel and the church, and we affirm that there is yet a future kingdom for the world that will be a blessing to all the nations.

That is the essence of dispensationalism. Now you say, how does that differ from covenant theology? Covenant theology has a different interpretive approach to scripture.

It is a different interpretation of scripture, and as I mentioned last week, covenant theologians and us do not disagree on the nature of a covenant.

We would both define covenant the same way. We don't disagree on who mediates the covenant or the fact that a covenant needs to be mediated.

We agree on that. We agree that God is a promise -keeping, covenant -making God. We agree that God is working out his redemptive plan throughout human history.

We agree on all of those things. Where covenant theologians and us would disagree, and by us, I'm using the corporate us, me.

You don't necessarily have to be in that camp, okay, but me, and me, if you agree with me, then that's me as you as well.

Where we would disagree is on our approach to scripture, whether or not we should take those passages literally that refer to Israel in the

Old Testament or not. It is a different interpretive approach in covenant theology. A literal understanding of Old Testament promises would lead you to the conclusion that there is yet a future program for the nation of Israel and that there will be a kingdom and that it will be ruled over by a son of David who will establish that kingdom and rule and reign in that sense for all of eternity.

That would lead you to that conclusion if you took the Old Testament passages literally. Covenant theologians would be forced to agree with that.

Don't take my word for it. Frederick or Floyd Hamilton says in his book, The Basis of Millennial Faith, listen, quote, now we must frankly admit that a literal interpretation of the

Old Testament prophecies gives us just such a picture of the earthly reign of the Messiah as the premillennialist pictures, close quote.

That's a covenant theologian saying we must admit that if we take the Old Testament promises literally, it leaves us with a premillennial dispensational perspective just as the premillennialists admit.

It is a different approach to scripture. Now, you say, why don't then covenant theologians take the Old Testament promises literally?

It is because covenant theology as an interpretive paradigm will not allow them to do so. I said last week that in covenant theology, you begin by defining and describing these covenants which are not mentioned in scripture that you think took place in eternity past and you impose that upon scripture and read it through the grid of that.

That's what covenant theologians have to do is read scripture through the grid of covenant theology. It then becomes the interpretive or hermeneutic paradigm in which scripture is read.

Covenant theology becomes the interpretive paradigm through which scripture is read. I said that last week and people may say you're misrepresenting covenant theology.

Well, don't take my word for it. J .I. Packer in an online article called

An Introduction to Covenant Theology in the introduction to that article, he answers the question, this is at monergism .com.

If you wanna look up the article, you can see it yourself. J .I. Packer is a covenant theologian, has been for decades. J .I.

Packer in that article asking the question what is covenant theology and this is what he says, quote, the straightforward if provocative answer to that question is that it, that is covenant theology, is what is nowadays called a hermeneutic.

That is, it is a way of reading the whole Bible that is itself part of the overall interpretation of the

Bible that it undergirds, close quote. And here's what he said, covenant theology is the hermeneutic.

What is a hermeneutic? It's your interpretation of Scripture. It's your method of interpreting Scripture. Covenant theology is what we call nowadays a hermeneutic.

It is part of the overall way of reading the Bible. Covenant theology is the way we read the Bible and it is the interpretation of the

Bible that undergirds the Bible. So he's saying we read the Bible through the lens of covenant theology because we believe that that is what

Scripture teaches. Now this is putting the cart right before the horse. He goes on to describe a successful hermeneutic as one that if you apply it to all of Scripture, you come out with a consistent interpretation of Scripture.

Now listen, I could say that about any interpretation of Scripture. I could take a liberal approach to Scripture and say the miracles are not real. I'm anti -supernaturalist,

I have a materialist bias and guess what, if I begin with that premise at the beginning of reading through all of Scripture and I start in Genesis 1 .1

and I explain away all the miracles and I interpret it all with my anti -supernatural materialistic bias, guess what

I'm gonna end up with? A consistent interpretation of Scripture that reaffirms the conclusion that I wanted to come to. If I begin with that conclusion,

I'm going to end up with what? That conclusion. So J .I. Packer says covenant theology is the interpretive paradigm, it is the hermeneutic, it is the interpretation of Scripture.

It undergirds all of Scripture, it is what we think Scripture teaches, but J .I. Packer admits we front load it, put that up at the front and then we read all of Scripture through that interpretive paradigm.

And he says after defining successful hermeneutic as something that yields a consistent interpretation of Scripture, J .I.

Packer says this, quote, covenant theology is a case in point. It is a hermeneutic that forces itself upon every serious

Bible reader, close quote. Covenant theology is what? It's the way I interpret Scripture.

That's what covenant theology is. Now, don't take J .I. Packer's word for it, he's just a covenant theologian, what does he know?

Let's quote Ligon Duncan, he is the chancellor at Reformed Theological Seminary and Ligon Duncan in a podcast with the

Gospel Coalition when asked to define covenant theology, here's what Ligon Duncan said, quote, it, that is covenant theology, is the recognition that that theme of the covenant is so important in the

Bible that Protestants in the 16th century Reformation felt that our whole understanding of the Bible needed to be shaped by an understanding of these covenants, close quote.

Our whole understanding of the Bible needs to be shaped by our understanding of these covenants. So what is it that shapes your understanding of the

Bible in covenant theology? It is your understanding of these covenants. Which covenants? The covenant of grace, redemption, and works which are not mentioned in Scripture.

Our understanding of Scripture must be shaped by our understanding of the covenants which is our covenant theology.

In other words, our interpretation of Scripture is guided and driven by our commitment to covenant theology.

That is what Ligon Duncan is saying. Now this is putting the cart before the horse. J. I.

Packer says that covenant theology is the hermeneutic through which they read Scripture. Ligon Duncan says covenant theology is the way that we approach

Scripture on the basis of those covenants. It shapes our understanding of Scripture. This would be, to give you an illustration, this would be like me putting on a pair of red glasses with red lenses over them, right, red lens glasses.

And then I look around and I see, don't you see red everywhere? The walls are red, your face is red, the carpet is red, the linen is red, my hands are red, the ceiling, the lights are all red, the sun is red, everything is some shade of red.

I see red everywhere I look. And then you would say, but Jim, you only see red because you have the red glasses on. Take off the red glasses and you won't see red everywhere.

And then I say, do you know, but seeing red is the way that the world needs to be seen. I can't see red,

I can't see the world as it should be seen unless I'm looking at it through red glasses. And you say, what is the proof of that?

The proof of it is that when I put on the red glasses, I see red everywhere. This is covenant theology.

When you read Scripture through covenant theology, you see covenant everywhere. What is the proof that that is the proper interpretive motif?

The fact that when I do that, I see covenant everywhere. This is question begging at its finest.

That is a logical fallacy where you take the conclusion of an argument and you front load that at the beginning and you say, see, when

I understand all of this in light of my conclusion, it makes sense because it leads me to that conclusion. If you start with covenant theology as your approach to Scripture and you interpret and read all of Scripture into that and you shoehorn all of the passages into that paradigm, into that structure so that it all must fit, guess what you're going to get at the end?

Covenant theology. Ta -da. You're going to get what you begin with 100 % of the time.

So a covenant theologian may say, how is it, Jimmy, you can agree with us on election, the scope of the atonement, the sovereignty of God, man's fallenness and sin?

You can agree with all of that salvation by grace alone, through faith alone and Christ alone. You confirm all of those doctrines of Scripture with us and agree with us so wholeheartedly on the gospel, but you cannot embrace the idea of a covenant.

It is because I cannot accept the idea of taking a theological system and making it the grid through which we read Scripture.

In covenant theology, the theology determines the hermeneutic, the approach to Scripture. You may not like that, my covenant friends, if I have any left, but that is in fact what

J .I. Packer is saying. That is in fact what Ligon Duncan is saying. That is in fact what your scholars say because that is in fact what is going on.

You may not like that assessment, but that's what they say. That paradigm must determine our approach to Scripture.

In dispensationalism, my understanding of Scripture results in my theology. In covenantalism, my theology determines how

I approach a certain passage of Scripture. That is the key difference. Now, wake up and let's go through the six covenants of Scripture that we've laid out that approach.

How are we going to approach these six covenants of Scripture? So I read through the Old Testament covenants and I don't begin.

Oh, by the way, one last thing. No extra charge for this example or illustration. If you want an illustration that this is in fact how covenant theologians approach the perspective of the covenant,

I would commend you Louis Burkhoff's Systematic Theology in that when he gets to the section on covenants, he spends 30, 30 pages describing the covenant structure, covenant theology, talking about the covenant of works, the covenant of grace, and the covenant of redemption, describing all of those.

30 pages framing the entire covenantal perspective and talking about children in the covenant and representation in the covenant and the adults of the covenant and all of these things based upon these three covenants which are not found in Scripture.

And then, very briefly, three or four pages on the Noahic covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, and the

New Covenant, and yeah, those covenants, the Davidic covenant. So what does he do for 30 pages?

He prepares you to see it the way he wants you to see it and then briefly deals with those covenants. Why? Because in covenant theology, it is the structure, the theology, the paradigm that drives your understanding and interpretation of Scripture.

Now, to the six covenants. Turn back with me to the book of Genesis and we're going to take a zip tour through redemptive history,

Genesis chapter six. This is going to be a brief overview of the covenants in Scripture as they are and the purpose of this is simply to set the, the purpose of this is simply to set the stage for understanding of the

New Covenant because when talking about the New Covenant, which is in Hebrews 8, Jeremiah 31, we have to recognize there are a bunch of other covenants that preceded this.

We need to understand maybe who were these covenants made and how were they structured? What has God been doing since the flood in Noah's day?

Well, he's been advancing his and moving along his kingdom plans through these various covenants that he makes with men and nations throughout human history.

So that's why we start back in Genesis chapter six and here's what we're going to do. It's going to be quick. We're going to deal with each of these covenants in a very quick fashion because I, well,

I should say this. I know that there's going to be some people, maybe half a dozen of you would say, look, I really want you to stop and just camp on the

Noahic covenant. You could spend three, four weeks on the Noahic covenant and then move on to the Abrahamic covenant. We could do 10 weeks on the

Abrahamic covenant and then the Mosaic covenant and then the priestly covenant and then the Davidic covenant. We could do 12, 14 weeks on the covenant with David.

That wouldn't be fascinating. It would be fascinating, but when we got all done with that, it would just be you and me here talking about a covenant on a Sunday morning.

Nobody else would stick around through that and that's really not our purpose is here today. Our purpose is to get to the new covenant in the book of Hebrews so that people will be encouraged to come back next week and figure out what all that's about.

Hebrews chapter, no, not Hebrews, Genesis chapter six. Genesis chapter six, verse 18 is the very first mention of a covenant in scripture.

But I will establish my covenant with you and you shall enter the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. That's the first mention of covenant in all scripture.

And there God is just simply announcing that with Noah, he would eventually make a covenant with him. So after the flood, turn over to chapter eight, beginning in verse 20, here we read the terms and details of the covenant.

The context of this is after the fall, so man has been disobedient, God has destroyed the entire world and saved only eight persons on board the ark and two of every land animal and preserved them through the ark.

Noah has now gotten off of the ark and God has wiped out the entire world, all living creatures except Noah and his family.

And in the context of that, God makes this covenant with Noah and here are the provisions of the covenant, starting in chapter eight, verse 22.

While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, sorry, starts in chapter eight, verse 20. Go back up to verse 20.

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took every clean animal of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. So there's the sacrifice of blood and animals there.

Verse 21, the Lord smelled the soothing aroma and the Lord said to himself, I will never again curse the ground on account of man for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth and I will never again destroy every living thing as I have done.

While the earth remains, seed time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease. And God blessed

Noah and his sons and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky with everything that creeps on the ground and on the fish of the sea into your hand they are given.

Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you. I give all to you as I have given the green plant, only you shall not eat the flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

Surely I will require your lifeblood from every beast I will require and from every man, from every man's brother

I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood by man, his blood shall be shed for in the image of God he made man.

As for you, be fruitful and multiply, populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it. And God said to Noah and to his sons with him, behold,

I myself do establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that is with you, the birds and the cattle and every beast of the earth with you, all that comes out of the ark and every beast of the earth.

I establish my covenant with you and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.

And God said, this is the sign of the covenant which I am making between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all successive generations.

I set my bow in this cloud and it shall be a sign for the covenant between me and the earth. That's the

Noahic covenant. Now here, the persons of the covenant is with Noah and really all of creation or all creatures after him.

And here are the provisions of the terms of the covenant. In chapter eight, verse 22, God provides stability for nature.

He promises that the seasons will continue and the earth will continue seed time and harvest, planting and sowing and all of that from now on and forever.

It's a perpetual covenant. God promises a stability in nature unlike what he had experienced with the flood of the waters.

Now that's necessary, that type of stability in the created order is necessary for God to carry out his redemptive plans all the way through to the kingdom age.

There has to be stability in nature. So those of you who think that the whole earth is warming up and we're all gonna die because it gets warmer, by one degree, read the

Noahic covenant. These things are gonna continue just as they are and always have been from now on and forever. That's the first provision.

Number two, Noah's commanded to multiply and fill the earth, which is a restatement of God's program in the garden with Adam.

Number three, God caused animals, birds, and fish to fear man, that's chapter nine, verse two.

And then number four, animals become food for man, chapter nine, verses three and four. Now, if you're a covenant theologian,

I'm a dispensationalist, we can have fellowship on this good point, can't we? That God gave animals for us to eat.

Isn't that something we can get together in and rejoice in and be glad with? There's the provision that you shall not eat an animal with its blood in it.

That seems to be a prohibition against eating animals while they were still alive. Has nothing to do with enjoying your steak medium rare.

Okay, so that animals become food for men. Number five, man's life is sacred. He's created in God's image, that's chapter nine, verse five.

Capital punishment was authorized and instituted in chapter nine, verse six. And then there's the promise that God will not destroy the world again by water.

This is an everlasting covenant, it is still valid today. It still continues today, we still see rainbows.

God still is not going to destroy the earth by water. Doesn't mean he's not gonna destroy the earth. It just, it won't be water, but it'll be fire next time.

He is gonna destroy the earth, next time by fire. And then there will be a recreation of new heavens and new earth after that.

Now, that's the Noahic covenant. Now, let's fast forward to the Abrahamic covenant. Flip over to Genesis, chapter 12.

Though we're only moving a couple of chapters ahead in scripture, we're moving forward several centuries. Chapter 12, verse one, now the

Lord said to Abram, "'Go forth from your country and from your relatives "'and from your father's house to the land "'which I will show you.

"'I will make you a great nation and I will bless you "'and make your name great and you shall be a blessing "'and I will bless those who bless you "'and the one who curses you

I will curse "'and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.'" That's the promise that God made to Abraham.

Abraham then left his people and left his country and went to the land of Canaan and here are the promises of the covenant that God made with Abraham.

Number one, that Abraham would receive a land. Abraham would become a great nation. Abraham would be blessed and his name would be great and it is.

Abraham would be a blessing to others. God will treat others the way that they treat Abraham. The nation would be a blessing to all the families of the earth.

Now, those basic promises are reiterated later again in chapter 12, verses six and seven. They're restated again in chapter 13, verses 14 to 17 where they are told that they will get the land forever, that they have a right to that land forever, chapter 13, verses 14 through 17 and then that covenant is ratified in chapter 15 where Abraham brings the animals to God and God splits them in two, puts

Abraham asleep off to the side and then God walks between the parts of the animals that have been killed and split and God swears that he will do this, that and the other thing for Abraham and for his descendants so that all the nations of the world will be blessed.

That is the evidence that it is a unilateral promise, not conditioned upon Abraham's obedience. Further, that it is an unconditional promise or that it's not conditioned upon Abraham's obedience but unilateral in that Abraham does not agree to anything.

He was asleep. God put him to sleep, killed the animals, shed the blood and then said, here's my promise, here's what

I'm doing. I swear by myself and no other. There's no higher name, there's no higher authority by which

God could swear and God said, I'm gonna do this for you and for your descendants so that they will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth.

And who were the parties of Abrahamic covenant? There were three of them. There are promises that were made to Abraham, specifically to Abraham himself.

There were promises that were made to Abraham's descendants, his physical seed and then there were promises that were made to all the nations of the earth.

Promises to Abraham, his descendants and then all the nations of the earth. Now some of those promises to Abraham have been fulfilled.

Abraham's name is great. Abraham did receive a nation. God has fulfilled some of the promises that he made to Abraham.

Then there are promises that God made to Abraham's descendants, his physical seed. Now it's obvious as you read through Genesis that the promise is not to just anybody who comes from Abraham's loins because God then specifies that the promise would be through Isaac and not

Ishmael and then after Isaac through Jacob and not Esau. So God narrows it down. It's not everybody that receives these promises but there is the child of promise,

Isaac and then there is one of Isaac's sons, Jacob, who receives this promise. That's Israel later on. So it becomes a very narrowly focused group of people that God has in mind when he promises certain blessings to Abraham's descendants.

And then there are promises that are made to all the nations of the earth or all the peoples of the earth who will be blessed in Abraham. So this covenant is unilateral.

It is unconditional. Abraham did nothing to deserve it. He did nothing to preserve it. He was asleep when it was made and it was made to him on terms that God himself fulfills.

Now by this point in God's redemptive plan, we're getting a glimpse that God's redemptive purposes and his kingdom purposes, though they are not exclusive to the nation of Israel, they are centered around the nation of Israel.

Not exclusive to Israel but centered around the nation of Israel so that all the peoples of the world will eventually be blessed because of what

God will do for and through the nation of Israel which is Abraham's descendants. Now skip forward to the next book, the book of Exodus chapter 19 and we'll take a look at the

Mosaic covenant. Now we can't look at all the terms and conditions of the

Mosaic covenant because that would take weeks to do that and unfold it because really the Mosaic covenant, though it is cut or promised in Exodus, the book of Exodus, all of the terms and conditions of the

Mosaic covenant are unfolded in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. So in Exodus chapter 19, beginning of verse one, we'll read the first six verses.

This is made with Israel through Moses. Moses himself is the mediator of the Mosaic covenant. This covenant is intended to govern the life of the

Jews as they dwelt in the promised land. Chapter 19, verse one. In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.

When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness and there Israel camped in front of the mountain.

Moses went up to God and the Lord called to him from the mountain saying, "'Thus you shall say to the sons of Jacob "'and tell the sons of Israel, "'You yourselves have seen what

I did to the Egyptians "'and how I bore you on eagle's wings "'and brought you to myself. "'Now then, if you will indeed obey my voice "'and keep my covenant, "'then you shall be my own possession "'among all the peoples of the earth, mine.

"'And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests "'and a holy nation. "'These are the words that you shall speak "'to the sons of Israel.'"

That just kind of mentions the fact that God is making a covenant with the children of Israel at Mount Sinai. That covenant includes the 10

Commandments. The covenant includes the rules that guarded or regulated the social life of Israel, their worship.

The Sabbath was given as a sign of that covenant. And it is connected to the Abrahamic covenant because Israel is what?

Abraham's descendants. So God made a promise to Abraham. He made a promise to certain of Abraham's descendants, that is the nation of Israel.

And then he made a promise to all the families of the earth. Now God now is making a covenant with Abraham's descendants. It's a separate and distinct covenant because this covenant is not unilateral, it's bilateral.

That is the children of Israel shed the blood and they say, we promise to keep all of the conditions of this covenant.

Did God ask Abraham to do that when he made his covenant with Abraham? No, not at all. It was a different covenant. This is not an extension of the

Abrahamic covenant. This is an entirely separate covenant made with a nation. It is Abraham's descendants, so it overlaps in that sense.

But this covenant is not unilateral, it is bilateral. And further, it is conditional and nullifiable.

Because if they were obedient, then they could possess the land and live in the land. But if they were disobedient,

God promises in Deuteronomy 28 and 29 to drive them out of the land. But this Mosaic covenant, which is conditional with the children of Israel, does not negate or abrogate the

Abrahamic covenant. In other words, in the Abrahamic covenant, which was made before this, God promised, I'll give you the land and you have a right to it, it's yours forever.

You will possess it forever. But Israel's enjoyment of that land depended on their obedience to the

Mosaic covenant. So when they disobeyed, they were run out of the land, which they were in Assyria, taken captive, and then they went to Babylon and they forfeited their right to enjoy the blessings of God in the land that God gave them.

So though their right to the land is unabrogatable, if that's a word, it's irrevocable, their possession and enjoyment of that land was dependent upon their obedience.

That's the terms of the Mosaic covenant. Now, here's your Sunday school extra credit question.

If their full and final possession of the land is determined by their obedience, and they have never been obedient, and thus they have never fully possessed all of that land, how will

God fulfill his promise to Abraham to give them that land? I guess it would require that God change their hearts, make them obedient, write his laws on their hearts so that they be his people and obey him fully so that he can give them the land and fulfill that to Abraham.

That's the new covenant. New covenant has not been fulfilled. They don't possess the land.

They don't enjoy those blessings. But someday, as Paul says in Romans 11, all Israel will be saved.

And he will write his law on their hearts and they will obey him fully. Then they will possess fully the land.

Then they will possess and enjoy what God promised to Abraham thousands of years before they actually took possession of it.

Isn't that magnificent? That's the new covenant, but what is our relationship to the new covenant? We're not there yet. Let's move on to the, well, hold on.

This covenant, the Mosaic covenant, obviously overlaps the Abrahamic covenant. It doesn't cancel or change it, but it kind of moves

God's redemptive ball along, as it were. It moves his program along because now we see that the land of Israel is there.

The people are there living in the land. They can't obey the promises of that. Now they need something. They need something else. They need a savior and a redeemer because that law, that covenant, they could not keep.

They were unable to keep it. So that's why they needed a new covenant. All right, now the priestly covenant, Numbers chapter 25,

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and now Numbers. Numbers chapter 25.

This was not something that I had really spent a lot of time on thinking. I always noticed this passage whenever I'd read through my

Bible every year. I'd read through this and think, I wonder what that is. And now I was forced to go back and figure out exactly what this is.

This is fascinating, and like I said, one that I had never really understood until within the last couple of weeks as I was kind of thinking this through.

Here's the context of the covenant. This is called the sin of Peor. There was the children of Israel out in the wilderness. They had joined themselves to a false religion and begun to practice idolatry, and there was some sort of immorality that was involved in their practice of that idolatry.

And then there was a judgment of God. So in verse, let's see, where do we wanna start here? I didn't write this down. Let's just start at chapter 25, verse one.

While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab, for they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.

So Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and the Lord was angry against Israel. The Lord said to Moses, take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the

Lord, so that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel. This is a nation that had just promised to obey all the stipulations of the covenant, right?

Make no other gods, bow down before no other gods, worship and serve God and God alone. And now they have joined themselves in an idolatrous, immoral gathering with pagan idolaters and worshipers.

And God says, that's it, destroy them, kill these people. They had violated the terms of the covenant, and God called for their execution. Verse five, so Moses said to the judges of Israel, each of you slay his men who have joined themselves to Baal of Peor.

So Moses appointed men to go out and to execute these men under the directive of God who had been involved in this idolatry.

Verse six, then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, so this is Aaron's grandson, saw it, he arose from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand, and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and pierced both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman, through the body, so the plague on the sons of Israel was checked.

Those who died by the plague were 24 ,000 people out of a nation of 1 .5, maybe two million people.

All right, so this grandson of Aaron, zealous for God, grabs a spear and executes two people who were in charge of leading the whole nation into this immorality and idolatry.

Verse 10, then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned away my wrath from the sons of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in my jealousy.

Therefore, say, behold, I give him my covenant of peace, and it shall be for him and his descendants after him a covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his

God and made atonement for the sons of Israel. Now the name of the slain man of Israel who was slain with the

Midianite woman was Zimri, the son of Salu, the leader of the father's household among the Simeonites. The name of the Midianite woman who was slain is

Cosbi, the daughter of Zor, who was head of the people of the father's household in Midian. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, and then there's judgment here upon the

Midianites for their part in the sin of Peor. But the focus is verses 10 through 13, where the

Lord says of Phinehas, I make my covenant with him, a covenant of peace, verse 12, and it shall be for him and his descendants after him a covenant of a perpetual priesthood.

God promised a perpetual priesthood to Phinehas. Now that is curious.

Because the priesthood of Aaron has been what? Set aside and it doesn't function anymore.

But to the descendants of Phinehas, God has promised a perpetual priesthood.

Is that fulfilled today? Or does it yet require a fulfillment?

It yet requires a fulfillment. When or how will that be fulfilled? Well, in 1

Chronicles chapter six, verses 50 and 53, Phinehas has a descendant named Zadok, Z -A -D -O -K,

Zadok. In Ezekiel chapter 44, verse 15, and Ezekiel chapter 48, verse 11,

Ezekiel describes a temple that I believe is yet a future temple that will be built in the land of Israel. The dimensions of it and the description of it don't match either

Solomon's temple or the temple of Herod or any temple or tabernacle that has existed in the land of Israel. Ezekiel describes this futuristic temple, and in those two passages,

Ezekiel 44 and 48, he says specifically that only the descendants of Zadok will minister.

Ezekiel mentions specifically the sin of Peor in Numbers chapter 25, and he says that in that temple, only the sons of Zadok shall serve before me as priest.

Zadok is a descendant of Phinehas. God made a covenant with Phinehas for perpetual priesthood.

There is coming yet a future temple that I believe God will build, and that future temple and in that future temple, only the sons of Zadok will serve as priest.

Why? So that God can fulfill the word he gave to Phinehas in Numbers chapter 25, promising him and his descendants this perpetual priesthood.

If that doesn't happen, the promise of Numbers chapter 25 will fail. We don't have to spiritualize or allegorize or in some way get around the covenant promises of Numbers chapter 25.

It is what it says it is. He has promised to the sons of Zadok a perpetual priesthood. If that does not happen, then

God's word has failed. God's word will not fail. Therefore, I believe that the temple that Ezekiel describes will be built.

We may not understand exactly what it looks like or exactly how it's gonna function, but only the sons of Zadok will serve as priests in that temple, that we are promised.

Why is that the case in Ezekiel? So that God will fulfill his word made back in Numbers chapter 25. That's the priestly covenant.

Now let's look at the Davidic covenant. Don't worry, only 12 more to go through. I'm just kidding. There's only, only this one.

And the new covenant. The Davidic covenant. This isn't, oh, you need a place to turn. 2 Samuel chapter seven.

2 Samuel chapter seven. This is in the context of David was going to build a temple.

He wanted to build a temple, and God said, you can't build a temple. Have your son build the temple because your hands are too coated with blood.

So you're not gonna build a temple for my name. So let's read chapter seven beginning at verse eight.

Here God makes a covenant with David. And we've read this, since we've been in Hebrews, we've spent a little bit of time here, so I'm just gonna read through it and go through the terms of the covenant.

2 Samuel chapter seven, verse eight. Now therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, and this is Nathan who speaks these words to David, Nathan the prophet.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture from following the sheep to be a ruler over my people Israel. I've been with you wherever you've gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and I will make you a great name like the names of the great men who are on the earth.

I will also appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them anymore as formerly.

Even from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and I will give you rest from all your enemies.

The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers,

I will raise up a descendant after you who will come forth from you and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

I will be a father to him and he will be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but my loving kindness shall not depart from him as I took it away from Saul whom

I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever.

Your throne shall be established forever in accordance with all these words and all this vision so Nathan spoke to David.

Now there are other places where that covenant with David is called a covenant like Psalm 89 for instance. I would commend your reading of all of Psalm 89 where the psalmist reflects upon all the glories and the provisions of this covenant.

That is the Davidic covenant made with David, the King of Israel of the tribe of Judah. Here are the provisions of that covenant.

God promises that David's name will be made great and indeed it has been. A land is promised to Israel.

I will settle them in the land and give my people this land. Israel will enjoy the undisturbed rest from all enemies.

A dynasty in the line of David will endure. A coming son will establish this kingdom. Solomon will build a temple.

Solomon's kingdom would be established forever. When Solomon disobeys, God will not remove the kingdom from his hands and David's dynasty and his kingdom and his throne will endure forever.

Those are the provisions of the covenant that God made with David. Now some of those provisions have been fulfilled, haven't they?

David has had a king come from his line. It is the Lord Jesus who is identified as the son of David, the

King of Israel. That has happened. Has Israel received all of the land that they were promised? Do they dwell there safely and free and from all of their enemies?

Do they dwell at peace today in the land of Israel? Have they ever since the day of David dwelt in peace in the land of Israel? The answer to that is no.

They have always been surrounded by enemies and it still is the case today. They don't possess the land.

They don't possess the land undisturbed by their enemies. God promised to David that that would happen someday and God promised to David that Solomon would build a temple.

That's been fulfilled. God promised that when Solomon disobeyed that God would not take the kingdom from Solomon as he had from Saul. That has been fulfilled.

But a lot of provisions of David's covenant have not been fulfilled to this day. Now you can see that this covenant is somewhat dependent upon the

Abrahamic covenant, isn't it? Because God promised Abraham, kings will come from you and I will make of you a nation over whom

David was ruling and they will settle in the land and dwell in the land. That was promised. And that they would possess this land.

That was promised. There's a bunch of promises in the Mosaic covenant, in the Davidic covenant, and in the Abrahamic covenant, all of which overlap.

Because as God is making these covenants with these people throughout redemptive history, he is unfolding one plan.

He is unfolding one redemptive and kingdom purpose. And so we would expect to see that in some of these provisions we would have descendants of Abraham who would have made a covenant like David and this covenant would have provisions of the

Abrahamic covenant that would again be reaffirmed but then we would get some more detail. We would expect that to happen. And that's exactly what we see happening with the covenants.

So that's five of the covenants. The Noahic covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, the Priestly covenant, and the

Davidic covenant. Some of those overlap. All of those are unconditional covenants except one, the Mosaic covenant, which we are told in the book of Hebrews has been set aside.

It's the old covenant. It is passing away. It has been abrogated. It is obsolete. It is no longer binding upon us or its terms or conditions.

But these other covenants, God is still fulfilling some of the promises of those covenants. And in the

Abrahamic and in the Davidic and in the

Priestly covenant, there are still terms and conditions that have not yet to this day been fulfilled.

I submit to you that the only way that those promises can be fulfilled in the way in which they were offered and given is if there is a day when the son of man, the son of David, the rightful king of Israel comes back and reestablishes his throne in Jerusalem and rules over the world in a

Jewish -centric but not Jewish -exclusive nation, in a Jewish -centric reign of David from Jerusalem over the world to the blessing of all of the nations.

And in that time, the knowledge of the fear of the Lord will fill the earth and we will not need to teach one another how to walk in those ways.

The only way that all those promises can be fulfilled is then. That is why covenant theologians say, look, we gotta be honest.

If you take those promises literally, there's gonna be a kingdom just like premillennialists say there will. And it is only a pre -commitment to a theological system that makes you then turn around and say, but we can't take those promises literally.

Why not? There is nothing in the text of Scripture that mandates that we not take those promises exactly as they are stated in Scripture.

And therefore, we are left with the fulfillment of the Abrahamic, Davidic, and Priestly covenant when it all unfolds exactly as we premillennialists would say and there is a kingdom over which

Jesus rules to the blessing of the nations. Now there's one more covenant that we haven't looked at yet and that is the new covenant.

We're not gonna dive into that, but here's what we learned from our broad sweep of God's work in human history, a couple of things.

Number one, these six covenants are evidence to us that God is a gracious God. He didn't need to bow down, he didn't need to come down,

I shouldn't say bow down. He didn't need to come down and condescend to us to save any of us. And yet, for all of human history, his intention has been to save a people for his own glory and show them grace and to save them by that grace on the basis of faith.

He has been working this out since the garden. When in the garden, he promised that the serpent would be crushed and destroyed and he would bruise the seat of the woman's heel.

And that first promise of the gospel has unfolded all the way through Scripture. So then we see in the Abrahamic covenant how God is intending to call out a people to bring a

Messiah into the world. That Messiah then will bless the nations and save the nations and be a blessing to all peoples through what he would do.

And God reiterates this promise and reiterates some of those promises and establishes them in future covenants that he makes, all the while unfolding this grand redemptive plan.

God didn't have to do any of that. He didn't have to save one of us. But God is a gracious God and a loving God and he offers salvation to us on the basis of grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

That's what those promises demonstrate. Second, the covenants demonstrate that God being a promise -keeping

God will do exactly what it is that he has promised to do. He will keep his word. Listen, if he has promised to the nation of Israel that they're gonna receive a land, they're gonna receive a land.

If he has promised to David that one of his descendants will sit upon the throne and rule the nations, he will sit upon the throne and he will rule the nations.

And if God has promised that he is going to save you when you repent and put your faith in Jesus Christ, he will save you. And there was nothing that would keep him from keeping his promises because nobody can thwart

God's hand. If he has promised you redemption by virtue of your faith in Jesus Christ, God will keep his word.

He will not lose you. He will save you and keep you all the way to the very end. That is his promise.

That is what his covenants guarantee, that he keeps his promises. So now, we focus upon the new covenant. What is the new covenant?

We know that Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread and juice and he said, this is the new covenant. This is my body broken for you, sacrificed for you.

This is the new covenant in my blood. He initiated a new covenant and because of this new covenant and the terms of that covenant that is by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God is continuing to save a people by grace through faith and those of us who have come to Jesus Christ by grace through faith, repented of our sins and believed upon him and have been born again, his promise is that he will save us, that that sacrifice is sufficient for us.

So we observe the terms of the new covenant. We acknowledge the old covenant has passed away and now we are under a new covenant, a new priesthood, new terms, new sacrifice, different blood, different provisions of the new covenant and so we give a hat tip or acknowledge the new covenant when we observe the

Lord's Supper and in doing so, we're recognizing that we are saved under that new covenant which

God made with the house of Israel. So though he made that and he's still gonna fulfill the terms of that new covenant with Israel, in the meantime, while we are here, he is calling us to enjoy the blessings of salvation under the new covenant and we do that because of what

Christ has done. So we're gonna observe the Lord's Supper today when we're back here in a couple of weeks in Hebrews, we'll be looking at the new covenant and some specifically the terms of that but as we prepare our hearts today for the

Lord's Supper, I would just remind you that this is a symbol of what initiated the new covenant. This is the terms of the new covenant, not the blood of bulls and goats which can never take away sin but the blood of the very son of God, the son of David who came the first time to offer his life on a cross for the redemption of many, he is coming back a second time not to bring salvation but to bring judgment and I would beg you if you are not in Jesus Christ and you have never repented of your sin and trusted him for salvation, do that today.

Understand you are a sinner under the wrath of God and if you do not have a sacrifice for your sins, you will pay the full price for all of your sins for all of eternity.

You need a sin bearer, you need somebody to take away your sin to pay that price and only Jesus Christ has done what is necessary to save you from your sins.

Come to him, trust him and be born again. For believers, as we partake of the new covenant, we just encourage you and remind you that we do this in an unworthy manner if we do it harboring sin in our hearts, unwilling to repent of that sin or to divorce ourselves from that sin.

We must have a repentant attitude, confessing our iniquity together and then we will partake together. So let's bow our heads in prayer and we'll have a moment of quiet reflection and prayer and then

I'll lead us in prayer. And Father, you are a holy

God and a righteous God and as we read at the beginning of our service in Psalm 103, if you were to mark iniquities, who could stand?

Who could stand before you if you were to count all of our transgressions and hold them against us? For all of our sins of lying and stealing and blasphemy and idolatry and wrong motives and self -seeking and greed, all of those sins have been heaped up against us and the full weight of them we could not bear, the weight of any one of them we could not bear.

But by your grace, you have provided salvation in your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that your mercy is never -ending.

We thank you that your loving kindness is new every morning, your faithfulness is new every morning, that you are good and ready to forgive, ready to cleanse us from our sins and from all unrighteousness.

So we just confess and acknowledge our guilt before you, knowing again that even though we are sensitive to the presence of sin in our lives, we still fall prey to the flesh and to the world and we still sin against you every day, even sometimes without knowing it, without even being aware of it.

And it's not just the sins that we commit, it's the things that you have commanded us to do that we don't do. All of those sins, if you were to mark them, who could stand?

But because we are in Jesus Christ by his grace and by your doing and because we have his righteousness, we know because you will keep your promise that we will stand before you faultless on that great day, blameless and spotless in robes of righteousness that are not our own.

So we thank you for the forgiveness that you provide in your son and we ask today that as we remember this, which has initiated the new covenant with us, that we would remember the sacrifice of Christ with loving affection, constantly reminded that if it were not for this bloodshed and his body broken, that we would perish everlastingly.

Draw us near to you through this, we pray, and convey to us the grace that is necessary to reflect upon all these things for the glory of Christ our