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Word of Encouragement
Vol. IV, Issue 25
God's Covenant House: A Sketch of God's Construction Project,
Pt. 1
Introduction
Today,
I want to start a new study on the Biblical teaching of covenant. I
have entitled this: "God's Covenant House: A Sketch of God's
Construction Project". We will view the covenant revealed in Scripture
from various aspects and angles. I imagine that if many in Christ's
Church have a difficult time understanding biblical eschatology, they have
an even more difficult time in understanding the biblical teaching of God's
covenant. The way I will approach this study on covenant is from the
aspect of a house, or building project, as it is laid out in the blueprint
given us in chapter 3 of the Book of Hebrews. Let's begin with a
passage from Hebrews 3:1-6 to lay a foundation for our attempt at
constructing a better understanding of what God has been "up to"
throughout history, and the practical day-to-day benefits that go along
with a better understanding of God's covenant!
Hebrews 3:1-6 (ESV) Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling,
consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who
was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in
all God's house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more
glory than Moses- as much more glory as the builder of a house has more
honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by
someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was
faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that
were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God's
house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our
confidence and our boasting in our hope.
In
beginning our study on God's covenant house, notice from the above passages
some extremely important foundational truths that we need to understand
before we explore an overview of the Old and New Testaments. This
passage gives some instructions that will help us in our approach, as well
as our interpretation of the relationship between the Old and New
Covenants.
(1)
First of all, notice that God is called the builder of this covenant house (vv.3-4). It is God's
covenant promises to Abraham, to Abraham's Seed, to Abraham's people
(those of the faith of Abraham) that lays the foundation for all of
Redemptive-History (or all of God's salvation revealed progressively
throughout history). The focus in this summary passage is on God's
promises to us! God's promises of what he was going to do in
Genesis 12, 15, 17 precede, or lay the covenantal
foundation for all of God's revelation in history. This means that
God's promises always precede
his commands. The promises of God to Abraham and to His Seed came
long before the Law of Moses was given in Exodus 20, after the people of
God had been redeemed from slavery in Egypt, and called to serve
the Living God as the Nation of Israel. Read the practical
implications of God's promises from Paul's Letter to the Galatian congregation:
Galatians
3:16-26 (ESV) 16 Now the
promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say,
"And to offsprings," referring to many,
but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. 17
This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does
not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise
void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer
comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. 19 Why
then the law? It was added because of transgressions,
until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made....Is the
law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had
been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the
law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so
that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who
believe. 23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under
the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So
then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be
justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no
longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons
of God, through faith."
(2) The second truth we notice
from Hebrews 3:1-6 is that it is not only God's building project, but it is one building project.
God has built, and is building one covenant house (vv.2-3). This
means that although we make a distinction between the "Old" and
"New" Covenants (as we should), we never
want to separate them. We want to keep them distinct, but we want to
see them as a progressive building of one covenantal house. We need
to make distinctions in the different ways God administered, or
managed this covenantal building project throughout history, but
we should never forget that there is only ONE covenant of God's grace
and salvation presented to us here in Hebrews 3:1-6 (note: some have
mistakenly thought in the past that God saved his people in different ways,
and these well-meaning people have thought that the way God saved
Israel was different from how he saved people in the Church. This
reminds us that we can make distinctions between Israel and the Church, but there is only ONE people of God, or house (cf. Heb.
3:6).
As we trace God's salvation
revealed in the Old and New Covenants, we want to pause and appreciate the different
and creative ways God revealed himself in space and time, while never
forgetting that there has always been a unity to the project as well.
As the people of God who oftentimes feel unimportant in this world, you
should feel greatly important! Rather, you should not only feel, but
know how important you are to the Living God. If you ever want to
know how important you are, just remind yourself that all of history has
gone according to God's specific plan, and his specific plan was the salvation
of His people in Christ. This means (and brace yourself) that all of
history has unfolded the way in which it has because of YOU (cf. Romans 8:28-31). YOU have been extremely
influential in the history of the world, because God has been building a
house, providential overseeing all things that have occurred in history
just to redeem YOU! Amazing Love, How can it be????
Some have mistakenly supposed
that the New Covenant has replaced the Old Covenant because it is called
"better" in the Book of Hebrews (cf. Heb. 9:23; 10:34; 11:16 et
al). I think it would be better to understand this as referring to
God's progressive revelation in history. There is certainly more
revelation and glory in the New Covenant, and in this way the New Covenant
is certainly "better". God made covenant promises to
Abraham. Many years later, through Moses, God brings in the Law as he
calls the visible Nation of Israel (Abraham's seed at this point in
history) to be his covenant people. However, during the progress
of God's redemption, there always seems to be a supplementing rather
than a supplanting.
In other words, the Law of
Moses, according to Galatians 3 was to be a "guardian" (or
"teacher") to bring us to Christ, the fulfillment of the
covenant. The Law of Moses was still the clear manifestation of God's
will to his people and the Law of God still had to be fulfilled (cf. Matt.
5:17ff). The Law was fulfilled by Christ (cf. Galatians 3:11ff), and
Christ opened up a "better" way of knowing God, but circumcision
of the heart, by the Spirit was always needed to fulfill God's Law (Deut.
30:1-6; Ezek. 36:25ff; Jeremiah 32:39). So, although there have been
a diversity of ways whereby God has communicated the covenant to his people
over time, there has also been a grand "blueprint", one unity,
one House being built. From these verses in Hebrews, we can learn to
make distinctions between God's administration of
the covenant, while avoiding separations. There is diversity in the
covenant, as well as unity, and there seems to be a supplementation of
each "story" or "floor" of God's house,
rather than a supplanting. Perhaps it is best to view the
covenant primarily from God's point of view, or perspective.
There is One God with One purpose and nothing shall frustrate his construction
project!
The good news is that as God's
covenant people, we can be assured of God's
commitment to us. Whenever we feel tired, alone, depressed,
frustrated, empty, and afraid here in this world, we can be reminded that
God's promises to us are sure. He will never fail us and we have his
great manifestation of grace revealed in the Person and Work of Jesus
Christ on our behalf! Jesus's blood paid
our debt owed to God of law-breaking and covenant-breaking, because
Jesus was the Great and Gracious Law-Keeper and Covenant-Keeper.
Thanks be to God for His indescribable Gift and
that he was faithful to Him Who
appointed Him on our behalf (cf. Heb. 3:2).
There is a third truth from
these verses we shall look at in the next few days!
To be continued...
Word of Encouragement
Vol. IV, Issue 26
God's Covenant House: A Sketch of God's Construction
Project, Pt. 2
Introduction: This is a study on the Biblical teaching of
God's covenant with his people. We will continue today by looking at
another truth revealed in Hebrews 3:1-6 concerning God's
'Redemptive-Historical' construction project. So far, we have
considered two important truths found in these six verses: (1) God is
called the builder of this covenant
house (vv.3-4). (2) It is not only God's building project, but it is one building project which reminds us to
see the unity between the Old and New Covenants, as well as appreciating
the diversity of administration of the one covenant of redemption.
Let us read the text from Hebrews, then consider
an important third truth we should consider from these verses.
Hebrews 3:1-6 (ESV) Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling,
consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who
was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in
all God's house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more
glory than Moses- as much more glory as the builder of a house has more
honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by
someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was
faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that
were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God's
house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our
confidence and our boasting in our hope.
(3) The third important truth is
that Christ's people are his house
(v. 6). The context of Hebrews chapter 3 is theologically nestled
between Hebrews 2:14-18 and Hebrews 3:7-4:12. Hebrews
2:14-18 speaks of Christ as God who became man (Heb. 1:3), or a
"little lower than the angels" in order to suffer and taste death
for his people, those who believe (Heb. 2:9-10). This Christ who
tasted death was the covenantal representative of those who believe.
Hebrews 2:11 says that "he who sanctifies and those who are
sanctified all have one origin", meaning that both of them are of
human origin and thus he is a perfect representative as the unique and only
one who was truly God and truly man. Since he was truly man, he
called those he represented his "brothers" (Heb.
2:11b).
The Savior and High Priest of
both the Old Testament people and the New Testament people of God is
one. He was made like his brothers in every way, tempted in every way
on our behalf, yet without sin (Heb. 2:17). And importantly, he helps the
offspring of Abraham (Heb. 2:16). Jesus Christ as representative
High Priest of the covenant lived perfectly for his people, those who
believe like Abraham believed, dying a perfect death to shed his
precious blood, to propitiate God's wrath for covenant-breakers, and
to pardon them of their sins, so that he might sanctify, or make holy a
people for himself.
In other words, Christ's people
are his house because the representative of the house (Heb. 3:6- "Christ
is faithful over God's house as a son") has fulfilled all of the
covenant demands that were revealed in God's law through Moses because he
is the Great Covenant-Keeper! (Note: The priority of truth in this
passage is that although Moses was faithful within the house, the same
Covenant-Christ, who is Son, is always over the house as representative of
his "house-people"). Also, this same gracious Christ as
representative of his covenant house-people has also taken upon himself all
of the curses for sinners (both in the Old and New Testaments), when he
laid down his life on the cross, and offered himself up once-and-for-all as
a sacrifice for sin- - thus paving the way for us to enter into a
relationship with the Living and Holy God, to be united to this Christ by
faith, so that his covenant obedience is given to us, and we can become
like him, that is conformed to the image of the Glorious Son over the
house! Consider the following New Testament verses in light of this
glorious truth:
Galatians 3:9-16 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the
man of faith. 10 For all who rely on works of the law are under
a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by
all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." 11 Now
it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The
righteous shall live by faith." 12 But the law is not
of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them." 13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse
for us- for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a
tree"- 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham
might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit
through faith. 15 To give a human example, brothers: even
with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been
ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his
offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings,"
referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring,"
who is Christ.
From the verses in Hebrews 3:16, as well as the verses in Galatians 3,
we see that God's people are redeemed from the curse of the Law, that is the curses for covenant disobedience.
Remember, when God revealed the Law to Israel in Exodus 20-24, the Israelites
responded in a covenantal oath to God: Exodus 24:3 Moses
came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And
all the people answered with one voice and said, "All the words that
the LORD has spoken we will do."
The Israelites covenantally promised that they would be obedient to
God's revelation in the Law. (Remember, the purpose of the law was to
point Old Testament people, as well as New Testament people to Christ! cf.
Gal.3:21-24). The Law was a "teacher", or
"guardian" at a particular time in redemptive-history, to turn
sinners away from themselves, their own works, back to the promises of God
to Abraham, and forward to the fulfillment of the Messiah, or Christ who
was to come that was prefigured in the bloody sacrifices that were offered
up to God for sin. The sacrifices of bulls and goats were not
sufficient to take away sin, because God's people are not bulls and goats,
but human beings. Therefore, Christ became man to lay down his life, a
lamb without blemish, to take away the sins of his people, once and for
all!
When the Israelites failed to
keep their covenant promises to God, that is, to keep his revealed
will in the Law, they were punished with curses for disobedience (which is
fully explained in Deuteronomy 27-28- blessings for obedience, curses for
disobedience). Therefore, when Jesus came as the SEED (singular) of
Abraham, the promise which God had made to Abraham, Jesus was the only and
True Israelite to keep God's covenant, his Law fully! Because Jesus
fully obeyed every jot and tittle of God's
commandments, and did this perfectly, he represented all of God's covenant
people, both Jews and Gentiles, who believe the promises of God by faith,
as Father Abraham! As Galatians 3 says, Jesus was cursed on a tree,
on the cross, because he represented God's covenant house-people, and
therefore he had to take the full punishment of God's wrath and curse upon
himself in order to make those who believe covenant-keepers (in Christ),
rather than covenant-breakers!
It is important that we see the
Christ-centered, or Christocentric, or
Christological unity of the Old and New Testaments. The covenant
house God has been building is his
people who believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, the Great
Covenant-Keeper, by faith alone! All people who believe, Jew or
Gentile, are welcome as partakers of his grace! Let us therefore, in
light of this glorious truth as the people of God continue our journey by
his grace, keeping our eyes on the Author and Perfector
of our faith!
To be continued...
Next:
What is a covenant community?
Word of Encouragement
Vol. IV, Issue 27
God's Covenant House: A Sketch of God's Construction
Project, Pt. 3
Introduction- What is a Covenant Community?: In the last two studies,
we have been considering God's Covenant House and God's one covenant
house-people, as we looked at Hebrews 3:1-6. Since we are using the
metaphor of a house to speak of the covenant, we want to begin today
understanding the different "heads of household" within this one
house. As we consider the heads of God's household who served
within His Covenant House, we want to try and narrow
the focus to defining what is a covenant community. Allow me to begin with a
statement that is rich with Biblical import. Biblical faith is family faith. The
salvation of God's grace is always proclaimed and believed within the
context of the family -- the Household, or God's covenant community.
Within this context, you have those who believe and those who do not believe
(cf. 1 Cor. 10:1-14; Hebrews 3:7-4:11), yet the
promises are made known, promoted, promulgated and proclaimed in the
covenant community of the family.
I
want to start considering the covenant community, by considering first the
family, or the first
family. From here we shall proceed to discuss the formal definition
of covenant, as well as explore the significance of the covenant community
to us today. Before we do this, let us go back and consider the first
family, when God revealed himself to the climax of his creation (Gen. 1:26-28). Keep in mind
that Biblical faith is family faith.
In
the creation account (Gen. 1-2),
the family was the first community. When God taught Adam and
graciously told him what he required of him, he spoke to the head of the
human family. This is implied in several scriptures, particularly in Romans 5:12-21 where Paul speaks
of Adam as covenant representative. Adam was covenant representative
of the whole earthly family. Acts
17:26 says: "...And he made from one man every
nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined
allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they
should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and
find him." Adam failed as covenant representative, as the head
of the human family. When God made Adam, he created Adam to be his
prince, or vice-regent over creation (Gen. 1:26-28). This means Adam was to rule and
to have dominion, to be fruitful and multiply as the representative of God
over the earth. The father of the first family, or the head of the
first covenant community, failed in keeping the covenant God had made with
him. He disobeyed the Living God and followed his own will.
Because of his disobedience,
he and his family
were subjected to the curse of the fall: separation from God, the miseries
of this life, death, and the pains of undergoing God's wrath. Romans 5:12 says: "Therefore, just as sin came into the
world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to
all."
However,
God in his great and sovereign grace to his people,
also promised hope to Adam, the father of all humanity. In Genesis
3:15, God promises that one who comes from his own seed will crush the head
of the serpent who deceived him, and although the serpent will eventually
be defeated, he will produce seed as well as the woman (cf. Matthew 12:26-28; 13:24-30; 36-43).
Eventually, there would be another covenant representative to come from
Adam and Eve's seed who would restore, as well
as to fulfill the covenant Adam had broken. Simultaneously,
throughout history the same Satan (or Devil) who
tempted Adam to be a covenant-breaker, would nurture and admonish his own
seed of covenant-breakers. However, God's plans would not be
thwarted! By His grace, he covered Adam and Eve
with the coverings taken from an animal God
killed. God graciously and mercifully accepted the
slaughtered animal as a substitute for them so that they might live, and so
that they might be a redeemed covenant household in which the promises of
God would continue to be known.
When
defining covenant community, we want to start with the family, for this is
where God's hope and promises are first made known to individuals who will
hopefully hear the Word of God and His gracious promises and will respond
by faith. Adam is the first example, but although Adam made known
God's promises to his children, sadly not all of his children believed by
faith. Cain killed Abel because of his trust in the Lord and because
he obediently sacrificed what the Lord had commanded of him. Both of
these within the same household were taught the about the same God, told of
the same gracious promises, yet some did not believe. Many years
later, the whole earth would be filled with wickedness and violence, due
ultimately to the influence of the seed of the serpent. However, God
chose Noah from all the other men in the world, and Noah found favor, or
grace in the eyes of the Lord, not because of anything good or bad he had
done, but simply because the Lord wanted another family-head, or covenant
representative whereby he might continue to show forth his goodness and
mercy.
Noah
found favor and as representative of his family, he built an ark that saved
his entire family and the world of the animals
(creation). Hebrews 11:7 says: "By faith Noah, being
warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed
an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the
world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by
faith." The rest of the world, God decided to
destroy by flood because their sins deserved his
punishment. After the flood, Noah was promised by God that he would
never again destroy the earth with a flood. He told Noah, as the head
of his family, as well as the head of all the families of the earth,
to have dominion, to be fruitful and multiply, and to fulfill the task
of being obedient to God out of gratitude for what God had done in his the
life of his family. He was to teach this to his family so that his
family would know the goodness and promises of God. God continued to
show forth his grace through the head of a family, who represented God's
rule on the earth in a small covenant community known as Noah's
family (cf. Eph. 3:14-15).
Many
years later, God calls a pagan from the Land of the Chaldeans,
whose father worshipped false gods (cf. Josh 24:2), and tells him
to go into a new land. It is here where God gives promises to one of
Eve's seed (Abram is one of the fruits of Eve's womb- - her
"seed"), whereby God continues his promise to Adam and Eve and
enlarges and expands on his original promise, by promising a seed to Abram,
Adam and Eve's "seed" (read the "These are the
generations" in Genesis 2:4;
6:9; 10:1; 11:10, 27). God says to Abram in Genesis 12:3: "I will bless
those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I
will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
God
promises to the head of a new family that he will bless all the families of
the earth through him. In other words, God would reveal his powerful
Word, and graciously promise to another family-head that he would show him
favor. Biblical faith is family faith,
and this promise was to be declared and proclaimed in the covenant
community of Abraham's family. But there was a problem! Abraham
had nothing to offer God. He was from a pagan background, who had
worshipped pagan gods, been part of a pagan family without the grace of the
LORD's Word to teach him, he was a liar and a
sneak (cf. Gen. 13-14), and he had no son, no seed to continue his
family! This was an impossible situation for a family, for a covenant
community. They had God's Word declared to them, God had promised,
but their was nothing Abram and Sarai could do to fix their problem. How was
Abram to bless all the other families of the earth, if he could not produce
his own family and teach them God's promises?
How
many times have you been in a situation like Abraham that looked
hopeless? You knew God had promised to be your guide, your hope, your
helper in times of trouble -- but how could he possibly help in this
particular situation? You think: "Perhaps, in other situations
God would be a help to me, but in this one, I have no one to blame but
myself." How many times have you been weak in the face of fear,
or given into a temptation, when you realize God's goodness to you,
and you did not want to sin against him, yet you do not believe he would
provide a way for you to escape? These are the times,
we must remember to lean NOT on our own understanding, but to trust in the
LORD with all our heart. With
man it is impossible! But with God all things are possible!
In
the next study we will continue to sketch out the covenant community revealed
throughout Scripture, and how God not only helped Abraham, but helped the
whole world through Abraham! Praise the LORD, that because God
revealed himself in households of faith, the promises of God continued
until Jesus Christ, who was Son over the
house (Heb. 3:6), and who would come to redeem those who
believed in God's promises like Father Abraham. And because of
Christ, we are no longer cold, frightened strangers, locked out
of the warm comfort and fellowship inside of God's covenant
house, but we have the great news revealed to us in Ephesians
2:18ff:
"So
then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens
with the saints and members of the
household of God, built on the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows
into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built
together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit."
To be continued....
Word of Encouragement
Vol. IV, Issue 28
God's Covenant House: A Sketch of God's Construction Project, Pt. 4
Introduction- What is a Covenant Community?:
In the
last study, we learned that foundationally a covenant community is a family
community. In simple terms, a covenant community is a
place where God's Word, or his promises, are the
foundation of the life and hope of the family. In this covenant
community, the covenant-heads of the family, teach God's grace and promises
to their children. A covenant community, or
a family community was the context in which God chose and designed from
creation to work out the salvation of those who loved him and believed
his promises by faith. Salvation belongs to the LORD (Jonah 2:9), and
the secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the revealed things in
his promises are given to families (Deut. 29:29), so that they might teach
these promises, both verbally as in God's promises, and later
visually in the covenant signs he would
give to the covenant community in order to encourage
and strengthen their faith. Biblical faith is family faith.
Now back to the story of Abram.
Abram
was childless, yet as the head of his household, God had promised him that
through his seed he would bless all the families of the earth. God promises
Abram in Genesis 12:3: "I will bless those who bless
you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in
you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." This is
important to keep in mind when considering the study of the covenant in the
Old Testament. God's greater plan was for Abram's family to proclaim
his promises and bless all the families of the earth! However, at
this point in redemptive-history, Abram was concerned. How was God
going to bless him and the families of the earth if he had no seed?
How could God use this man with no children? The next time God
appears to Abram is in Genesis 15:1-6, where he has an
important dialogue with the Living God concerning the fact that he
is without a "seed", or heir.
"After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a
vision, "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be
very great." But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what wilt thou
give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abram
said, "Behold, thou hast given me no offspring; and a slave born in my
house will be my heir". And behold, the word of the LORD came to
him, "This man shall not be your heir; your own son shall be your
heir". And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward
heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he
said to him, "So shall your descendants be." And he believed
the LORD; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness."
Abram
knew that if any of God's promises to him were to come to pass, it would
not be based upon his own wisdom and efforts, but it would be solely
because of the LORD's mercy, who had revealed himself to Abram and would
continue to be faithful to him. God had sovereignly
and graciously revealed himself to Abram by promising him descendants as
numerous as the stars in the sky (a lot!!), and all Abram had to do was believe.
This can be quite amazing when you think about it. The LORD, the Sovereign
Creator of heaven and earth appeared to a simple and sinful Chaldean man to bring him knowledge of himself and to
even reward him with a great inheritance and family- -all because of
Abram's faith, and God's sovereign grace!
Then
the unbelievable takes place! The LORD tells Abram to
participate with him in a covenant ceremony. The LORD was not only gracious
enough to promise Abram a great inheritance, he
was willing to show Abram just how great his grace and
promises were to him. The LORD God of heaven and earth was about
to "cut" a covenant with him in order to swear his
faithfulness to Abram, and to assure him that all of his promises to him
were "yes" and "amen". God not only gave his
promise to Abram verbally, he wanted to display it visually, which will be
important to remember later in the story!
Now, before
we continue, allow me to explain what a covenant is as clearly and simply
as possible. Genesis 15 is where God swears by himself to keep
his covenant with Abram, the head of his household and to his seed.
This is where God literally "cuts" a covenant with Abram to prove
to him by his word that he will keep his promises of grace to Abram. Brace
yourself: In these next verses, the King of Heaven, Who is
Holy and Transcendent, will not only stoop to come near and
to communicate his grace to his people, but the Mighty God will
make himself vulnerable.
Genesis
15:9-17 [GOD] He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a
female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a
young pigeon." And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and
laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in
half. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram
drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on
Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him....When the
sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a
flaming torch passed between these pieces.
The
covenantal form revealed in Genesis 15, in the above verses, is patterned
after other ancient Near Eastern covenants, so that Abraham, and later
Moses, and the rest of God's people could grasp what God was doing. It was
unbelievable. God was stooping to communicate to his people in a way
that they could fully understand. What is going on in the above
verses should cause us all to be stunned with wonder at God's
graciousness! When ancient Near Eastern people (Old Testament
people) wanted to promise, or bind themselves to an oath, they would
cut animals in half, then as they were making
their promise, or took their oath, they would simultaneously walk
through the bloody animal carcasses. The point in doing this was to
swear that if they failed to keep their promise, or oath, they would
forfeit their life!
The
life-blood that was poured out of the animal parts would form the pathway
on which the one taking the oath would walk, indicating that his own
life-blood would be poured out if the promise, or
oath was not kept. Amazing! God appears to Abram in these
verses as "a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch".
God himself walks on bloody ground through bloody animal
parts, so that he might graciously communicate to Abram that what he
promised, he would do, or he would die making his promise to
Abram come to pass! In Old Testament times, this covenant-making
ceremony was called "cutting" a covenant! In these verses,
in contrast to God telling his people to take off their shoes
because they stood on holy ground when he made his appearance, God is
"taking off his holy shoes" in order to walk on
"earthy-bloody" ground.
God "cuts"
a covenant with Abram affirming his promises to him! At this time in
history, when a king "cut" a covenant with his people, it was the
king's people who would have walked through the animal
carcasses, swearing faithfulness and loyalty to their king. In
contrast, what we have here is not only the unexpected, but the
unbelievable. The Great King of heaven and earth has not only revealed
himself by his grace to a sinful family-head in spite of what he
deserved; he has not only promised literally the world to Abram and his
seed; he has not only reckoned Abram righteous because of his faith and
belief in God's promises; but God covenants with Abram that if the promises
are not kept, God himself would be cut in half, God would have to die!
This is not just amazing grace, but astounding grace! This is
incomprehensible grace, but then that is the Great King in whom Abram
believed by faith! Hebrews 6:13-20 says:
"For
when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to
swear, he swore by himself, saying, "Surely I will bless you
and multiply you." And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained
the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in
all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired
to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable
character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so
that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we
who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to
the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the
soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus
has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever..."
We see this
ultimate death of God not in the imaginations of atheistic and
existentialist philosophers, but in the historical reality of the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ, when God who became flesh laid his life
down for covenant-breakers! Jesus Christ took the penalty and guilt of
covenant-breaking upon himself as he suffered the curses of God in behalf
of his people, and offered life to his people in his resurrection and
ascension from the dead! God suffered and died in the Person and Work of
Jesus Christ! In fact, the Apostle would tell the Ephesian elders many years later, in order to stress
the value and importance of serving God's people: "Pay careful
attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has
made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained
with his own blood"(Acts 20:28).
Good
news: We who believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, the Seed of
Abraham, can base our value and worth not on what we have done
for God, nor on how faithful we are to him, but on the valuable blood
of God which was shed on our behalf because of HIS faithfulness
and committment toward HIS covenant
people! What grace! What hope!
To
be continued....
Word of Encouragement
Vol. IV, Issue 29
God's Covenant House: A Sketch of God's Construction
Project, Pt. 5
Introduction- God graciously stooped
to "cut" a covenant with Abram. In today's study from
Genesis 17, God teaches Abram how he must respond to God's gracious
covenant promises. In Genesis chapter 17, God is teaching Abraham how
to respond obediently to God because of the grace God has shown to him.
Remember, Abram is already "reckoned righteous" because of faith
(cf. Gen. 15:6), his response of obedience to God
was not of works, but the evidence of his true faith. The
covenant response Abraham was to have to God's promises to his household, was the physical sign of circumcision which
would be "cut" in Abraham's flesh, as well as the flesh of those
in his household. God is so gracious in not only giving his people verbal
promises, but to give us visible signs to help nurture our weak
faith.
God
appears to Abram and gives him comfort that he and his
household have found favor with God. He reiterates to Abram, his
promises to he and his family as well as to the families of the
world! He also gives Abram a new name because of his new position the
new Father of the families of the earth:
Genesis 17:4-8- "Behold, my
covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of
nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be
Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will
make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings
shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you
and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an
everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting
possession, and I will be their God."
After
God's declaration of grace, God teaches Abraham how he must respond in
obedience. He tells him that his everlasting covenant in the flesh
will be circumcision. Circumcision was a visible, physical,
and outward sign, or symbol of an invisible, spiritual,
and inward reality of God's grace. God doesn't give full
details here at this point in his unfolding and progressive revelation to
his house-people, but he will later through Moses who will administer God's
gracious Law from "within the house" (Hebrews 3:2). God
says to Abraham in Genesis 17:9-13-
And God said to Abraham, "As for you, you shall
keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their
generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and
your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You
shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign
of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you
shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether
born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not
of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought
with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant
be in your flesh an everlasting covenant."
What
should be pointed out in these important verses of God's revelation and redemption, is that God's covenant promises to Abraham
and to his seed is to be visually manifested on the bodies of Abraham's
sons. The covenant that was "cut" is visualized through the
foreskin being "cut". Also, the representative
"cutter" of the covenant is now with Father Abraham as
representative of his sons. God gave the responsibility of the
cutting of the physical covenant sign to be the Father's
responsibility, but the invisible, spiritual, inward reality of what
the sign represented was to be God's responsibility. Biblical faith is family faith.
Through
this physical sign of the cutting away of the foreskin, fathers would teach
their children of the grace and promises of the covenant promised by God to
their family, while teaching them to look by faith to the God in Whom
Abraham trusted, and remembering that the sign represented God's grace to
them and the responsibility of responding by faith to that grace within the
family! Later, in Genesis 18, God would make clearer that the sign of
the covenant in circumcision implied a responsibility of obedience because
of God's grace and promises: Genesis
18:19- "For I have chosen him [Abraham], that he
may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the
LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to
Abraham what he has promised him."
Also,
the outward representation or sign of the covenant was supposed to show an
inward reality of the heart. Many years later in Jeremiah 9:24-26, the prophet
makes this completely clear, although at this point is not as fully
revealed.
"Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man
boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the
rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he
understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast
love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I
delight, declares the LORD." "Behold, the days are coming,
declares the LORD, when I will punish all those who are circumcised
merely in the flesh- Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the desert who cut
the corners of their hair, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all
the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart."
Through
the Prophet Jeremiah later in redemptive-history, God declares
that the house of Israel were the same as all the other
"houses" of the world: Egypt, Judah, Edom, etc. because although
they have a visible, physical, and outward sign, the invisible, spiritual,
and inward reality reflects unbelief and unfaithfulness to the God of
Grace- -therefore their circumcision was of no value!
In
Genesis 17:9-13,
there are also hints of other important truths which would be
progressively developed throughout redemptive-history. We see in
verses 12-13 that God wanted all of those under Abraham's authority within his household to receive the sign
of circumcision, both those of his own blood, and those purchased with his
own money! There are at least two things that are important about
this: (1) All of those in Abraham's family (and implicitly in his
descendents to come as they grew in number) were to teach all those in
their household the truths of God's grace and promises. In other
words, the family community was to be a covenant community because the
people were exposed, as it were, to God's Word both verbally as well as visually.
Those who were inside this covenant community were not all those who
had faith, but they were a covenant community defined by God's Word and
God's sign in the flesh. (2) These verses also show the reality that all of the world was included in Abraham's
covenant, even those not of his blood.
This means that Abraham's slaves, many who would have been what would later
be called 'Gentiles', were included in Abraham's covenant promises from the
start. Yes, they were slaves, but if they believed like
"Father" Abraham, they would be called "sons" of the
covenant promises as well! Those who were "outside the covenant
promises" to Abraham, could come into the covenant community through
circumcision. Upon entering the covenant community and being
circumcised however, was implied that they had already believed by faith in
the God of Abraham. For instance, later on in Exodus 12, when slaves and
"non-Israelites" wanted to escape the angel of death, through the
blood of the covenant, they were to be circumcised first.
Exodus 12:43-48-
"And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the statute
of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, but every slave that is
bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. No
foreigner or hired servant may eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house;
you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not
break any of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. If a
stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the LORD,
let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he
shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of
it."
God
wanted to communicate his promises to each generation, using Abraham's
family as the family-instrument by which God's grace would come to the
world. God never meant that only
Abraham's physical, ethnic descendants would be partakers of his
covenant. God only assigned the beginning task of passing down and
preserving his promises to the next generation in Abraham's family, but
this included both "Abrahamites" (Jews)
as well as "Non-Abrahamites"
(Gentiles)! So God continued his promises through Abraham's seed by
saying in Genesis 17:19- God said, "...Your wife shall
bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my
covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after
him." And so God's promises would continue, through Abraham's
sons, Isaac and Jacob! And like grandfather, like grandson, Jacob
would undergo a name change from 'Jacob' to 'Israel'.
And eventually,
when the times had reached their fulfillment, the Seed of Abraham came into
the world through the overshadowing and impregnation of the Holy Spirit in the
Virgin Mary. In Matthew's genealogy, we see Jesus' descendants who
are made up of both Israelite as well as Gentile women (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, the "wife of Uriah" the Hittite). Matthew purposely
included Gentiles in Jesus' genealogy to show that Abraham's family from
the very beginning, meant hope for all of the believing families of
the earth (cf. Gen. 12, 15). This Jesus would break down the ethnic
and nationalistic dividing lines between Jew and Gentiles, free and slaves,
men and women, to make them all ONE who believe God's promises by
grace. And this Jesus, who was circumcised on the eighth day
according to command of God (Luke 1:59), would also
circumcise his people as Colossians
2 teaches:
Colossians 2:11-14- In [Jesus] also you were
circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body
of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in
baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the
powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who
were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our
trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its
legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before
we continue to sketch God's "House-Building Construction Project"
throughout redemptive-history, allow me to make four conclusions from
the first five studies that help define a Covenant Community even for us
today. A Covenant
Community is:
(1) A community where God's
Grace is Committed to the people and revealed in His Word, both
verbal and visible.
(2) It is a community Committed
to living by the Grace communicated by God, while trusting in the God
Who keeps the community.
(3) It is a community Committed
to one another in love while instructing one another in the privileges
as well as the responsibilities of being a member of the Covenant
Community.
(4) It is a family community, not based on
ethnicity or defined by nationalistic boundaries, but a house-family built
upon the promises of God to those who believe them. Biblical faith is family faith.
To be
continued....
Next:
Moses "in God's House" and His Tutor for the Covenant Community
Word of Encouragement
Vol. IV, Issue 30
God's Covenant House:
A Sketch of God's Construction Project, Pt. 6
Introduction- Moses
"in God's House" and His Tutor for the Covenant Community
God had promised Abraham
in Genesis 15, three important things he would do for him by grace alone:
(1) Make Abraham's name great; (2) Give him a great number of family
descendants; and (3) Give him the land of Canaan to possess for his family. In Genesis 15,
God tells Abraham that this will progressively be fulfilled, but he will
keep his promises and shows Abraham his grace by "cutting" a
covenant with Abraham. However, Abraham's family would be
slaves in a foreign land first. Genesis 15:13-14 says:
Then the LORD said to Abram, "Know for certain that your offspring
will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there,
and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring
judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out
with great possessions.
After Abraham's family
experienced slavery in Egypt, God would call His people out of Egypt to serve him and to possess the land God had
promised to Abraham. Exodus 2:24ff tells us the important truth of
why God redeemed his people from Egypt:
Exodus 2:23-25-
"During those many days the king of Egypt died,
and the people of Israel
groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for
rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God
remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God
saw the people of Israel- and
God knew."
God calls Moses to go
and rescue his people from slavery in Egypt so that they might worship him in the desert and
that he might fulfill the promises he made to Abraham and to his
descendants. Exodus 6:6-8- God says to Moses: "Say
therefore to the people of Israel, 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from
under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to
them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of
judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and
you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from
under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I
swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for
a possession. I am the LORD.'"
Once God redeemed his
people because of his covenant promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
Moses was to reveal to the people House-Laws, or a tutor within the
house-family of God. These House-Laws would constantly remind them of
their need of grace, their dependence upon God and his promises alone,
their need for a substitute and sacrifices for sin, and to instruct them
into the holy character of God and the holiness he expected from his people
as a response for his grace, mercy, kindness and promises revealed to
them. This covenantal house-family was expected to love their
Covenant Father and God whose character was revealed in these House-Laws,
and they were to depend upon him to provide them the strength and help to
live it, as well as to have their transgressions and sins forgiven.
The covenant God made,
or "cut" with Abraham was wholly of grace, yet it implied
that Abraham was to be obedient in light of God's grace (Genesis
18:19- "For I have chosen him, that he may command his
children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by
doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham
what he has promised him."). As redemptive-history progressed
and God continued to work out his promises to his house-family, he
made another covenant with the people under Moses.
This was a
House-Covenant where the family within the house, who were made a
covenant-community by God's grace to them in their deliverance from Egypt, would swear by oath to be obedient.
This House-Covenant was a two-way covenant. Whereas God's covenant
with Abraham was "one-way" (unilateral), this covenant was
"two-way" (or bilateral). In response to God's grace and
mercy, the covenant family was to hear God's requirements and swear by oath
to follow his ways and to obey his laws out of love for their great God and
Savior. Israel, as a Covenant-Community of God was to live for
God as a light before the world, out of love for what God had done for
them: Deuteronomy 6:4-7 teaches us:
"Hear, O Israel: The
LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these
words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them
diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your
house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you
rise."
After gathering at Mount Sinai for the House-Laws to be revealed to the
Covenant-Community in Exodus 19-20, the Israelites were to respond as a
family and swear by oath to God that they would keep his covenant by faith
and through love. They swore by oath to keep this covenant, and blood
and sacrifice are used in the ceremony to remind the people of their need
for atonement, forgiveness of sins, and the consequences of sin.
Because this was a "two-way" or bilateral covenant, their would be blessings for obedience and curses for
disobedience. Here is the passage which recounts this important
covenant ceremony:
Exodus 24:3-8- Moses
came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And
all the people answered with one voice and said, "All the words
that the LORD has spoken we will do." And Moses wrote down all the
words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the
foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of
Israel. And
he sent young men of the people of Israel, who
offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD.
And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins,
and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the Book
of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said,
"All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be
obedient." And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and
said, "Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with
you in accordance with all these words."
During the next
generation of this covenant family, some had already been punished in the
wilderness for their failure to abide by God's House-Laws and grumbled
against God despite the grace he had shown toward them in His verbal and
visible word (cf. 1 Cor. 10:1-13). The
grumbling and discontentment we learn about in their daily struggles are
still a constant threat against loving God by His grace, and a
temptation that all of those in God's family-house must remember!
Everyday, God's people must learn that we are to rest in God's Work on our
behalf, confessing our sins, and learning contentment in all of our
circumstances, by his grace! Now that Christ has come to fulfill all
of the House-Laws and to unite us to Himself by His Spirit, how much more
strength and grace we have than the covenant family had during the time of
Moses.
In fact, when the second
generation of the family of those who were brought out of Egypt were about
to enter Canaan, the promised land promised by God to Abraham, Moses, in
response to their confessed obedience, told them of a better time to come
when they would have the ability to keep God's House-Laws. In the
following verses, notice how Moses teaches the covenant community three
important truths revealed to him at this point in redemptive-history: (1)
God is gracious and is obeyed from the heart. We are to love
the LORD our God with all of our selves! (2) Israel as a covenant-community will fail the covenant
they made with God and they will be punished because of their lack of
faith. (3) The people of God are to confess to their Covenant
Father their inability to do what he requires because of sin, trust in his
promises to His house-people by faith, because
the righteousness God gives is based upon faith alone in God's work
for his house-people! Notice, before Israel even sets foot into the Promised Land, God
graciously promises that he will circumcise their hearts and the hearts of
their offspring, so that they will have the ability to love the LORD will
their whole being!
Deuteronomy 30:
"And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse,
which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the
nations where the LORD your God has driven you, and return to the LORD your
God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you
today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the LORD your God
will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, and he will gather
you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.
If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD
your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. And the LORD
your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you
may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your
fathers. And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart
of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all
your heart
and with all your soul, that you may live....
...."For this commandment that I command you
today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven,
that you should say, 'Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' Neither is it beyond
the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it
to us, that we may hear it and do it?' But the
word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you
can do it. "
When the fulness of the time had come, when Jesus Christ came to
fulfill the House-Law for those who believe, the Apostle Paul teaches us
that Christ is the end of the House-Law for righteousness to everyone who
believes. The righteousness God requires, he supplies by faith in
Christ alone! The House-Laws God revealed to Israel were to
ultimately show God's house-family of their utter inability to love and
keep his commandments, and that only by God's grace could we ever be
saved. Therefore, God the Great Law-Giver came in Christ to keep and
fulfill the House-Laws for all of those who believe! Christ loved the
LORD his God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength and his neighbor
as himself, so that all of his adopted children might have circumcised
hearts by His Spirit, be conformed to Christ-Likeness, and to be able to
love God and to live God's Law by faith!
Romans 10:4-10 For Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the
righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the
commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says,
"Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'"(that
is, to bring Christ down) or "'Who will descend into the
abyss?'"(that is, to bring Christ up from the
dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and
in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because,
if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the
heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and
is saved.
To be continued....
Word of Encouragement
Vol. IV, Issue 31
God's Covenant House:
A Sketch of God's Construction Project, Pt. 7
Moses "in God's
House" and His Tutor for the Covenant Community
Introduction: Last time we studied the House-Laws that God
gave through Moses to instruct the covenant community in the way of His
righteousness. Today, I want to continue looking at this time in
redemptive-history before we move forward to see the covenant continue to
be progressively revealed. There are many gracious aspects to God's
House-Laws that he gave to the covenant community. First of all, the
House-Laws for God's family were to reveal God's righteous and holy
character. Secondly, they were to reveal the covenant family's utter
inability to keep these Laws except by faith in God's mercy revealed in the
sacrifices he gave to them as a community. Thirdly, the House-Laws
came after the promises to Abraham, as well as after their redemption from
Egypt, so that God's house-family was never expected to be saved through
them, because the Law could not bring life (only God could bring life to
his house family- cf. Galatians 3:20ff). To take a closer look at
this point in redemptive-history, let's look at an important passage in the
Book of Deuteronomy.
The Book of
Deuteronomy is the collected last words of Moses given to God's
covenant family before they enter into the promised land, promised many
years prior to their father Abraham. It is a covenant document revealed
to the second generation of family members, who lived forty years after the
great redemption and exodus from Egypt. These last covenant words of Moses, as
well as the "last words" of the covenant family in response to
the commands of God, would be the foundation for the rest of the covenant
family's history. In fact, one of my teachers used to say that
the Book of Deuteronomy was extremely important for
understanding the Old Testament because it was the "sun around
which all the OT historical books orbited". Deuteronomy, chapter
29 is an important chapter within this important book, so today I want
to look at the passage together as we continue our understanding generally
of life in God's covenant house, and more
particularly of life during the time of Moses "in God's House".
Deuteronomy 29:1 These are the words of the
covenant that the LORD commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in
the land of Moab, besides the covenant that he had made with them at Horeb. 2 And Moses summoned all Israel and
said to them: "You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in
the land of Egypt, to
Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 3 the great
trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 But
to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see
or ears to hear. 5 I have led you forty years in the
wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have
not worn off your feet. 6 You have not eaten bread, and you have
not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the LORD your
God. 7 And when you came to this place, Sihon
the king of Heshbon and Og
the king of Bashan came
out against us to battle, but we defeated them. 8 We took their
land and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites,
the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9 Therefore keep the words of
this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in
all that you do.
From Deuteronomy
29:1-9 above, we see that this is a covenant that is related to,
yet distinct from the covenant made with the covenant community at Horeb, or at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20; 24:1ff).
This is a covenant ceremony made with the entire house family, or community
that is being held responsible to keep all of God's commandments (Deut. 5;
Ex. 20), based on God's graciousness to them (verses 29:2, 3, 5-8).
God recalls his graciousness to the covenant family and reminds them that covenant privileges implies covenant
responsibilities. However, the LORD has yet to give
them hearts to understand and eyes to see (29:4; cf. 30:6).
The hope of the covenant
people (in the future as well as in the past), is God's gracious
"stooping" to redeem them, to save them according to his power
and not their own works. Yet, because they have the sacrifices given
to them in the tabernacle (Ex. 25-40; Book of Leviticus), the sacrifices
cover their sins as they look to them by faith, believing in the future
vindication by the LORD. The sacrifices that the covenant community
had to continually offer had external, as well as internal
significance. Outwardly, the sacrifices showed the shed blood for
covenant-breakers. These animal sacrifices could not fully atone for
sins, yet God accepted them as a substitute for the sins of his house
family. Inwardly, the sacrifices were means of grace. That
means, God used the sacrifices to communicate his grace to those
members of the house family who believed God's promises by His grace, so
that they would persevere in their faith "not seeing fully what was
promised" (cf. Hebrews 11), yet passing on their faith to their
children in the nurture and admonition of the LORD. As we briefly
studied before, God's way of salvation is the same in the Old and the New
Covenant, but God administers the covenant (that is, he "manages"
the covenant) differently in time periods of redemptive-history. This
is one reason why the New Testament refers to Moses "in the
House" and Christ "over the house" in Hebrews 3. This
we will speak more about later.
10 "You are standing
today all of you before the LORD your God: the heads of your tribes,
your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your
little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the
one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12 so
that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the LORD your God, which the
LORD your God is making with you today, 13 that he may establish
you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you,
and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 14
It is not with you alone that I am making this sworn covenant, 15
but with whoever is standing here with us today before the LORD
our God, and with whoever is not here with us today.
In the above verses,
29:10-15 we see other important truths revealed to the covenant family at
this time through Moses. First of all, the covenant is not made with
those who fully understand all of the covenant implications (such as the
children), but with the entire family as the covenant is communicated to
the heads of the households, or families (29:10-13). Notice in verses
10-11, the covenant extends from the heads of the twelve tribes, to the
elders, to the officers, to all of the heads of the individual households,
or families. Because the covenant representation is the heads of
households, it represents the "little ones", "wives",
"strangers", and "slaves" (29:11). This entire
concept of covenant representation revealed in Scripture is contrary to any
concepts of individualistic decisions to follow the Lord. The
covenant is ratified, or promised on oath to be kept, and the heads of the
family represent the remainder of the house family. In other words,
God always reveals himself in the plural "you" because he makes
promises to His house family, not merely to individuals.
Also, this covenant God
is making with his house family is a covenant made with members of the
family, both living and yet to be born (29:14-15). This means again
the idea of representatives within the one covenant family are extremely
important to keep in mind. God was forming a community based on his
grace, and teaching them to walk in his ways. He was revealing here
in the time of Moses that Biblical faith is family faith. That
means that the covenant community was made up of families founded upon the
gracious promises of God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (29:13), with all
those who would be born into this covenant family in the future,
as well as anyone who was under the representative headship of the house
family, such as strangers outside the family or slaves, merely because they
were given the privileges of taking part of the promises of God with the
responsibilities to believe in the promises as well so that they might live.
Since the very beginning at creation, God has used family heads or
representatives to communicate his grace as we learned in our study on Adam
as the head of all the families of the earth.
16 "You know how we
lived in the land of Egypt, and
how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. 17
And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and
stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. 18 Beware lest
there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning
away today from the LORD our God to go and serve the gods of those nations.
Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, 19
one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses
himself in his heart, saying, 'I shall be safe, though I walk in the
stubbornness of my heart.' This will lead to the sweeping away of moist
and dry alike. 20 The LORD will not be willing to forgive him,
but rather the anger of the LORD and his jealousy will smoke against that
man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the LORD
will blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And the LORD
will single him out from all the tribes of Israel |
