BOOK STUDY: The Mystery of Christ, His Covenant, and His Kingdom (Part Three)

Abraham, the Covenant of Grace, and the Promise to the Nations

Welcome part three, um, hopefully you guys got a chance to read the chapters. If not, that's totally worth reading. Probably some of the best sections of the book are in those chapters. Um, I really enjoyed kind of refreshing going through it.

I think it may have been, I would agree. Maybe in the third time I've gone through these chapters, um, I've really enjoyed, I've enjoyed it so much. So what we're going to do is we're going to, because there's so much material, um, we're going to kind of walk through it.

So I'm going to let Justin start with Abrahamic covenant, and then he and I will kind of just, uh, work with each other as we walk through the three major covenants and then towards the end, we'll start asking or answering your guys' questions as it relates to, uh, anything that has to do with the, in these, um, four chapters.

So Justin, start us off with an overview of the Abrahamic covenant and the connections between the covenant of grace, because that's kind of where we're picking up covenant works, covenant of grace. Now we're getting the Abrahamic covenant.

Yeah, cool.

So I'm going to try to, to set the table for the conversation quickly and then what we want to do is give a summary of the content of these four chapters where we might not be just regurgitating exactly what Sam says.

Cause John and I, even before we, we came on here tonight, chatted briefly and, and we are in agreement with Sam in terms of his understanding of covenant theology in particular, as it pertains to these three covenants, we in having conversation naturally, I think are going to say a lot of what Sam wrote in our own language, which we hope will be helpful to you.

And if you have particular questions about anything that Sam wrote specifically, we can always handle that in the Q and a time. So, uh, in the, in the last session of this number two, session two, we considered the kingdom of creation.

And in particular, the Adamic covenant or the covenant of works that God made with Adam, as well as the covenant that God made with Noah. And now tonight we are going to consider the kingdom of Israel as Sam will define it, and we are going to be considering tonight, the old covenant, which is comprised of the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, and the Davidic covenant.

The three of those together make up what is referred to as the old covenant. So that in and of itself is an important and useful thing for us to understand when we are talking about the old covenant versus the new, that's what we mean.

The Abrahamic Mosaic and Davidic covenants together comprise that old covenant. So we'll begin with Abraham. The Abrahamic covenant is of course, the covenant that God makes with Abraham. Abraham is the federal head or the covenant head of that covenant.

And I would want to begin by trying to articulate the two things, the two main high level things that are going on with Abraham. So God does in Genesis 12, 15, 17, God does make the promise to Abraham of the covenant of grace.

And so what we mean by that is that the covenant of grace that we will understand or we understand to be accomplished and fulfilled, established in Christ in the new covenant is promised to Abraham, though the Abrahamic covenant is not the covenant of grace proper.

So the promise is there, and we are going to learn a lot about the new covenant and about the Christ, the Messiah who would come to accomplish the new covenant through Abraham, Moses, and David, though we would not understand that the Abrahamic covenant is the covenant of grace.

So that promise exists. And then God makes a covenant with Abraham to do several things. He is going to make a nation out of him. He is going to make kings come from his line, and he is also going to give that nation a land that will be theirs.

So a people, kings, and land is what he promises to Abraham. The covenant sign that he gives to Abraham is the sign of circumcision, and that is how the people of God, those who are a part of the Abrahamic covenant are marked off from the rest of the world.

And we know that God will unconditionally accomplish those promises that he makes to Abraham on behalf of the people, though there are individuals who are cut off from that covenant through their disobedience, and we can unpack some of that more.

So it's important that we understand that the promises that God makes to Abraham are fulfilled immediately, and they are accomplished through what God does in Israel, the geopolitical reality. The nation of Israel is a part of that fulfillment, that accomplishment of the Abrahamic covenant.

The fact that kings, namely the line of David, would come from Abraham is an accomplishment of fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant and the conquest of Canaan, God giving Israel a land is accomplishment and fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant.

And of course, we're going to talk about this in a minute. All of those things point to greater realities to come that are of eternal significance, and they point to Christ and the new covenant that will usher in those eternal promises and accomplish them on behalf of the elect.

So that was a lot. Hopefully that wasn't me shooting from the hip there, and I hope it's helpful. John, please jump in.

Yeah, some helpful things. I think it'll also help you in your teaching of the Bible and understanding how God interacts with humanity in the Old Testament underneath the old covenant compared to the new covenant.

God's promises to Abraham were to the nation, but not individuals. So there was one individual to Abraham, and then from his seed, his one seed, these promises would come, but it didn't mean that every single person that was in the covenant or that was circumcised had the guaranteed promise they would enter into the promised land, because we do know that Moses and an entire generation died before they were allowed to enter into the promised land.

So there's an unconditional nature to the promises, but that was to the nation, not necessarily individuals. We know right afterwards in Exodus, God goes out after the golden calf incident, and he wanted to kill all of Israel.

And of course, what does Moses do? He reminds them, you can't do that because you promised that you're going to bring them into the land and they would be this great nation. So he kills some of them. So his interactions with them, he is dealing with a particular unconditional promise to the nation, but not to the individual, which is very different when we get to the new covenant.

Yeah.

One other thing to say about the Abrahamic covenant. It does make way for the new covenant, the covenant of grace as well. And what I mean is this, through Abraham, God promised to make a nation from whom the seed would come through which God would save the nations.

So the point and the purpose at the most basic fundamental level of not only Abraham, but even Israel itself as a nation is to produce, to give birth to, to make way for the Christ to come. And so this is how God is continuing to unfold his plan of redemption on the pages of scripture as it plays out in time and space.

So this is when Reformed Baptists, Particular Baptists, Covenantal Baptists, whatever we want to call ourselves, when we will use the language of farther steps. The promise of the covenant of grace is given at first in Genesis 3 .15, and then it is revealed through farther steps through the rest of the Old Testament, and that it is accomplished and established through Christ in the new covenant.

This is a big piece of those farther steps, what God does through Abraham, and certainly through Moses and David, which we're about to talk about.

The Mosaic Covenant, Covenant of Works, and the Uses of the Law

Yeah, that's good. So you have the establishment of the Abrahamic covenant, and then on the heels of that, the way in which I think Sam explains this, I think it's helpful. You have the Mosaic covenant, and really the Mosaic covenant is what governs and brings you the promises of the Abrahamic covenant.

So you have the promises of the land, right? And so you have God using the Mosaic covenant as a form of guidance and governance of who it would be to receive the blessings and the protections while they're in the land, or going into land and then while in the land.

So I think a lot of that setup is there. I think that, and this is where we would say our understanding of covenant theology is slightly going to be different, but the Abrahamic covenant and the Mosaic covenant do work hand in hand and do work together and are both part of the old covenant because of the way in which of the nature of the promises.

So there's a promise of the covenant of grace, but the actual covenant that's going to come, these ones. So we're going to go ahead and skip ahead a little bit because this is going to make it easier.

The Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic are all making a pathway for the new covenant. I mean, God even says this in Deuteronomy. He says, you're all going to fail this covenant. I'm just going to warn you ahead of time, and there's going to be a necessity for another one.

So the Mosaic covenant, like John said, governs and controls the Abrahamic covenant. It's also going to govern and control the Davidic covenant too, and we'll get to that in just a moment. So God is giving his people the law, and we would understand, again, as 1689 Federalists, we would understand that the Mosaic covenant is a covenant of works with gracious provision.

So it is not the covenant of works proper, meaning it's not the covenant that God made with Adam, but it is a type of it. It is a kind of covenant of works with gracious provision, namely the sacrificial system, atonement for sin, where people can be ceremonially clean under that law, unlike the covenant of works God made with Adam, where one transgression meant it's over and done, and there is no way to be made clean again once you've broken the covenant.

So it's not exactly like the covenant of works. It's a type of it. Some Reform Baptists, some 1689 Federalists will use the language of republication or reissuing of a covenant of works with respect to Moses, and John and I are fine with that language in our own understanding of it.

There's even some Presbyterians who use it.

They will, though we would argue they're inconsistent in that. We can maybe talk about that later.

Yeah.

So the Abrahamic covenant and Mosaic covenant are pointing us forward, but they also do point back. Sam points this out as an example on page 108. He says, if Israel obeys the Mosaic covenant, they will enjoy the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant.

So if Adam would have obeyed the covenant of works, he would have enjoyed staying in the eternal state or staying in this relationship in the garden. And so there's, you can see this, why we would say there's kind of a reissuing or giving another example of this covenant of works, of course, no one could ever fully obey the Mosaic law and live.

That's not possible, but it's being used as that example on a lower level, meaning that if you obey this of the Mosaic law and the sacrificial systems, then you can remain underneath the blessings of God in Canaan.

So there's a picture back. There's also a picture going forward.

A couple of things to add with respect to the Mosaic covenant, and I hope these will all make sense. So Moses is not the federal head of the Mosaic covenant. The way that Abraham is of the Abrahamic covenant or the way that David is of the Davidic or the way that Adam was of the covenant of works or the way that Jesus will be of the new covenant, really the federal covenant head of the Mosaic covenant ends up being the Davidic Kings because Moses is a mediator who gives the law, and we will get to this in a minute, how the King of Israel ends up becoming responsible for not only seeing to it that the people would keep the law and that the worship of God would be pure, but he will represent the nation in obeying or not the Mosaic covenant and the Mosaic law in the place of the people.

So that's an important observation, I think. But the other thing is with respect to the Mosaic law itself, the law contains two categories of laws. One is the moral law of God that transcends any particular context or setting.

The moral law of God is always what he says is right is always right. What he says is wrong is always wrong. And then there are also positive commands, positive laws that God gives in addition to the moral law, which we would call the ceremonial and the civil aspects of the Mosaic law that are contextually situated and are specific to the nation of Israel.

So those are a couple of observations, too, that I think do matter when it comes to even the new covenant and how we're going to think about the law of God and what that looks like moving forward.

Yeah, that's good. So you have, as we get ready to move in to the Davidic covenant, you do have the promises of the Davidic covenant or a king given in the original promises to Abraham later on through Judah.

We're told that at Genesis 49, that through the line of Judah, there'll be one who holds the scepter eternally, who will forever hold the throne. And so there is this anticipation that one day there will be kings.

And once we finally get to the point where they are going to inaugurate a king, of course, they're impatient. They want to choose the king. Israel does. God lets them do that. And then eventually God brings forth his man, which is David.

And in all of these, which we're going to get to here in a minute, all of these are being, there's a foreshadow of what's to come that become these types and shadows. But as David, really throughout his entire life, he begins to demonstrate the victorious king.

He begins to demonstrate that the suffering servant and all of these different areas of his life in his Psalms. But towards the end of it, there's a new covenant that's made with him, and that covenant is in relationship to the king that sits on the throne.

So we have a further clarification of this king that was promised to Abraham, clarified to Judah, and then we see David as a picture of Christ or of the one who is going to come. And the promises that are made is that there's a king that will come, and the king sits on David's throne and perfectly obeys the Mosaic law, will earn for the people, all the people, to be a part of the throne eternally.

So the people can't earn it by obeying the Mosaic law, obviously, they have failed here, and so God's going to bless the nation of those who are in the kingdom, and they will be a part of this kingdom forever because they are part of the Davidic covenant.

And then, of course, in this covenant, he gives some promises of blessings and he gives curses. So if the king does not obey, the nation will then be thrown into captivity and cursed. And so you have the phrase, where the king goes, so does the people.

And this ends up becoming this back and forth of you're watching a king that kind of does well, but he's not perfect. He doesn't perfectly obey the law, and then those who are horrible. And eventually, of course, we know who becomes the perfect king, which is Christ, the foreshadowing of that.

So all of this, as the book has kind of been saying, is pushing us along and kind of carving the road and getting us ready for the new covenant. Sometimes when people read their Bibles, they don't really understand.

And I know that in my own congregation, I'm always trying to help people understand that it wasn't like the old covenant failed and now we need the new covenant, but the old covenant was the preparation for the new covenant.

You can't understand that your need of what God's going to provide for you in Christ until there's this establishment and these promises that are made. And so it's really this beautiful pathway that gets us ready for the newness of this new covenant.

Because in the old covenant, it is based upon our own efforts. It is based upon our own obedience and then not salvation, but as far as how God's going to work with the nations. And then when you get to the new covenant, which we'll get to in our next session, you'll kind of see how all of these types and shadows are being fulfilled in the new covenant.

Justin, are you there? I don't know if you had something you wanted to add to that.

Justin Perdue. Yeah, I'm here, brother. I'm still trying to work behind the scenes here to get back into the webinar. So I'm a little distracted, but I have a couple of comments on the Davidic covenant.

Obviously, God makes a covenant with David that one of his sons will sit on the throne forever as long as he keeps the law. And as I alluded to earlier, we would understand that the king is responsible for the pure and right worship of God.

If you read the history books, like 2 Samuel, but then especially as you read 1 Kings 1 and 2 Chronicles, that becomes very clear that the king is responsible for the worship of God and how that's conducted.

So even though he's not a priest, he has a role that is somewhat unique. And then in addition, as John has already said, as I've overheard in any way, that the king would represent the nation in terms of his own keeping of the law or no.

So what we've seen as we've made our way through the Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic covenant, we've seen these farther steps continue to unfold in terms of how God is going to accomplish redemption in the covenant of grace that will be accomplished in Christ.

And John, is it cool if we pivot to that maybe and just kind of talk typology high level real quick, and then maybe go forward?

Great.

So, with respect to Abraham, we know that it will be someone from Abraham's line. There is the promised seed, singular, like if we think about Galatians chapter three, there is the seed of Abraham through whom the nations will be blessed and through whom the nations will be saved, and we know that that's Christ.

The way that Abraham serves as a pattern for faith is not insignificant either in that God unconditionally keeps all these promises that he makes to Abraham in terms of the fulfillment of the people, the kings, and the land.

That points to how the new covenant will be unconditional and how the benefits of the new covenant are applied to the people who comprise it by faith. So those things in terms of types, shadows, and patterns are significant.

I can move on to Moses, but before I do, John, do you have anything else just in thinking about Abraham typologically that you'd want to say?

Yeah, I think that, well, you may have already mentioned it, but I think one of the helpful ones is that even in Hebrews, they mentioned they're looking for a greater land, Canaan. They understood Canaan wasn't the final resting place.

So, you hear the writer of Hebrews saying, man, they were looking past Canaan to a heavenly land. So, you begin to see how the nation of Israel, God's plan wasn't Israel. Well, hold on, one other thing.

So, one other thing with Abraham, circumcision. So, you have people who are marked off, who are separated, and this is where I would agree with the Presbyterians, our Pedro brothers, is that baptism is a form in which God marks his people off.

Baptism becomes the sign by which we are marked off by the new covenant. All those who are part of the new covenant are marked off by that sign. Not just males, but all of those who are in the new covenant.

And so, you would even see that foreshadowing through circumcision being carried out in baptism.

Just a brief word on that too. I think that Galatians chapter three, Colossians chapter two, and other places that I might go to in the New Testament, those two may be pointedly, help us understand too that where the people of God were marked off in the old covenant by circumcision, they are marked off effectively in the new covenant by the new birth, which then is accompanied by the sign that would go with that reality, aka baptism, right?

So, that from a credo-baptistic perspective is how we would understand it. That regeneration, the circumcision of the heart now is what marks off the people of God, and they are given the sign of baptism to be that physical sign and symbol of what has happened internally and spiritually for them.

And it's a symbol and a sign of our union with Christ and being sealed with the Spirit, all those things. We can talk about that some other time. But no, that's good, John. That's important. They're not one-to-one, right?

Like circumcision and baptism are not one-to-one. It's not just this flat replacement or whatever, which is sometimes the charge that's levied, but it's not at all. It's a fulfillment situation.

Yeah, just like Canaan is not a one-for-one for heaven. Heaven is not a section of the world. It's not a land, right? So, yeah, a lot of the types of shadows are definitely not even one-for-one. That's why it's a shadow.

It's somewhat symbolizing what's going to happen, but it's not the full substance.

Great. Yeah, I mean, so with Moses, there's a lot of typology going on with the Mosaic Covenant too. Aside from just even Moses being a prophet and a prophet like him would be raised up, a Deuteronomy 1518 kind of reality, that's awesome too.

But in particular, with respect to the Mosaic Covenant, two things that I'd want to highlight that are massively significant are in the Mosaic Covenant, we have the establishment of the priesthood, and we know that that is a pointer to the great high priest who would come.

This is like the book of Hebrews straight up, like think chapter seven through basically like 10, where Jesus is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. He has assumed that role through the power and the virtue of having an indestructible life.

All the other priests died, so they couldn't continue in their post, but Jesus lives forever and therefore is able to save the other most, all those who draw near to God through him, because he always lives to make intercession for them.

All these other priests, they work daily, like this is Hebrews 10, they're daily at their work, always making sacrifices for sins, but Jesus made a sacrifice once and for all, and then he sat down at the right hand of God, and he's perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

It's that stuff that is so great, and I can't wait to preach Hebrews. Then in addition to that, you have, and I've already alluded to this, you have the sacrificial system too that points the people to a number of realities that the shedding of blood, the shedding of the blood in particular of a perfect, innocent, sinless one in their place is what is required to atone for sin, and it forces them to look outside themselves to a perfect sacrifice that they might be atoned for.

God is teaching them what it will require for their sins and transgressions to be forgiven, and so we know that Christ, not only is he the Passover lamb, but he is the sacrificial lamb, as it were, who comes and fulfills the sacrificial system, through which, like Hebrews nine, if the blood of bulls and goats, they could make people ceremonially clean, but they never could take away sins, while the blood of Christ does take away transgressions.

These are massive things.

The temple becomes a very big symbol.

There's another one. Beautiful.

Right.

Yeah.

The tabernacle and then the temple.

Yeah.

Right.

So, which Christ often even points to himself, mentioning tearing down the temple, building up in three days. He is the true Israel. He is the true sacrifice. He is the final temple. All of it is fulfilled in him.

So, all these shadows are pointing to the substance.

Yeah, and of course, we have the tabernacle and the Mosaic covenant, and the temple comes under Solomon in the Davidic, where you actually have all of these things realized, where you have God's people in God's nation, under God's law, and you have the presence of God with the people in his house, you have all of these really awesome fulfillments that occur, and there's a reason why it's like, man, is Solomon the Christ, but he's not.

And then there's one coming who is. So, I guess that can move us on to the Davidic covenant. We've kind of already talked about the types there. Obviously, the greater David is coming, David's son. I mean, this is a Psalm 110 reality.

The Lord said to my Lord stuff, and David's son, yet David's Lord, that kind of reality, where he would come, he would represent the nation, and he would, like you already said, John, the temple piece is significant.

Solomon built God a house, but Jesus would literally fulfill the temple. He would tabernacle amongst us, John chapter one, all of those things are huge. And all of the language to me, brother, in the prophets is so beautiful, especially in Isaiah and Jeremiah, where you get the root of Jesse, the righteous branch that I will raise up from Jesse, meaning Jesse being David's father, right?

I mean, so this is all talking about Christ and how he will accomplish righteousness and administer justice in the land, and he will be called the Lord is our righteousness. I mean, it's unbelievable, the language of the prophets with respect to Jesus being a son of David and being the righteous branch from Jesse and David's line that would be raised up.

Anyway, it's wonderful.

Abraham, Circumcision, and the New Covenant Sign

Cool.

All right. Well, we got some questions. I don't know if you have that open, Justin, so you can see them, but we definitely got some questions here. If you guys are interested.

Bro, I'm Zooming. I'm Zooming again. Like I'm here completely.

You're here. All right.

So if you are interested in answering your question, just throw your hand up. There's a way to do that. That'll let us know if you want to come in and maybe even dialogue with us a little bit about your question.

So we have one here from Aaron. If you're interested in further answering or asking this question after I read it, just raise your hand and we'll enable you to chat. So Aaron asks us, are there any types given in the Abrahamic covenant still awaiting fulfillment?

I think he's maybe referencing a dispensational perspective on that with the land promises. Am I maybe reading that, Justin, correctly?

Let me talk. That's not exactly how, let Aaron talk. Let him ask his question.

What do you mean by that, brother?

Yeah, John, you picked up on the land and that's what I had in mind. Um, could the land promise have a typological view towards the new heaven and earth as well, and I'm not taking it from a dispensational standpoint about the thousand year reign.

No, beyond that. I mean, beyond that is still.

Okay.

Yeah.

Um, go ahead, Justin.

No, I mean, I was just gonna say, I think that as we are still in this, you know, to use the language that many use, we're in the already, but not yet where the new covenant has come and Jesus has ushered in the era of the new covenant, the covenant has been established, and yet we await the consummation of all things.

Um, we await namely our bodily resurrection onto an incorruptible and imperishable state where we will live with God forever. I mean, heaven will literally come down, you know, I mean, where it will be a new heavens and a new earth, and, you know, we will be with God.

We'll feast with the Lord, the marriage supper, the lamb, all these wonderful things we see in revelation. So on the one hand, I would want to say that if we're talking about Canaan being a type of the new heaven and the new earth, then sure, we're still waiting for that.

Uh, but in terms of the Abrahamic covenant itself, in terms of the promises that God made to Abraham, we would understand that the Abrahamic covenant proper has been fulfilled completely and what it points to, you know, in terms of like the final consummative redemption and restoration of all things, yes, we still wait for that, though it is already secure and it's as good as done because of what Christ has accomplished and God will see it through.

That's, that's sort of my best shot there. John, thoughts?

Yeah.

Aaron, is that helpful?

Yeah.

Yeah, that's helpful.

Awesome.

Awesome.

So I had another one on the Abrahamic covenant.

That's a great, great question.

I had another one on the Abrahamic covenant. You guys mentioned circumcision.

Yeah.

You guys mentioned circumcision as a sign. Uh, and I don't know if you mentioned seal, but, um, I get that part, but in the book, it seemed like he was saying that that is part of the obedience that, um, Abraham's descendants had to perform.

And that made that a conditional covenant. Um, as the first time I came across something like that. So, uh, would it be a sign or a condition or how can we look at it?

Yeah.

I think this goes back to what I had mentioned earlier is that there is a, there is an unconditional nature to the, there is an unconditional nature to the covenant, to the nation, but to the individual, um, that could, you could be removed from the covenant.

For instance, not, um, performing the sign of circumcision, obviously it says take them out and kill them or cast them out of the, of the camp and then not holding to the Mosaic law would also eventually, uh, depending on what it is that you didn't do could get you removed from the covenant, but the covenant promises of the fulfillment to the, to the nation was unconditional, but yes, there were individual, so this is what's so different about the new covenant versus the old, and this is why we'd say Abrahamic is part of the old is that yes, there is an, there's a nationwide to Abraham and there's a nationwide, uh, unconditional promise, but there are conditions by which the people inside the covenant must hold to.

Otherwise they are not going to remain in the covenant.

Yeah.

He's picking up, um, Sam is, and we would agree with him. He's picking up the language of Genesis chapter 17 in verse 14 in particular. Um, but I'm going to read verse 11 first and then verse 14 of Genesis chapter 17.

So Genesis 17, 11, you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. But then verse 14 reads this way. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people.

He has broken my covenant. So yeah, we, we would understand that circumcision is absolutely a sign of the Abrahamic covenant, but that the Abrahamic covenant itself, it's not the covenant of grace. So the Abrahamic covenant is a conditional covenant that God makes with, you know, through Abraham, with individuals that descend from Abraham.

And at the same time, it is an unconditional covenant that he makes to accomplish all of these things that he promises to Abraham and the nation high level. So that's what John is saying is that the promise is unconditional to the nation in that God will give Abraham a people, he will give them kings that come from there from them and he will give them land, but there will be individuals who will be cut off from it.

Whereas we would then understand that the covenant of grace that is established and fulfilled and accomplished through Christ in the new covenant is completely unconditional and is received by faith. And anybody who has been marked off by the new birth as a part of that new covenant and given the sign of baptism will never be cut off.

This is part of what makes the new covenant new and better is it is like the Abrahamic covenant in some ways, but it is different than in other ways. This is where we would differ from our Presbyterian brothers and sisters because they would equate, most of them anyway, would say that the Abrahamic covenant is the covenant of grace.

And they would basically say that the new covenant is like the Abrahamic, you know, and where we're going to say, yeah, it is, but it's also quite different. And of course they're going to say it's different as well.

But I would maybe want to speak into that situation and say, okay, well, brother or sister, explain to me exactly how it's different. Whereas I think in our view, it's quite clear how there's a lot of continuity and there's a lot of similarity, yet there is a difference.

So when we hear that Jesus is the guarantor and mediator of a better covenant, a newer one, a new one, it's like, okay, yeah, we get that.

Cool. Wow.

That's helpful, Justin. And just a thought hit me. And in addition to that is like, and when you come to the new covenant, there's no talk of, if you don't get baptized, you've broken the covenant. Um, not I'm saying that it's off, but yeah.

And again, brother, I would understand that to mean most be fundamentally true because it is the new birth that marks people off. And then the sign is just given, you know, as a, as a sign and a symbol of that reality and baptism means something.