A covenant denotes an agreement between two individuals (Jeremiah 31:31), a contract of love that is both reciprocal and interactive. In the Bible, covenants were often accompanied by sacrifices and solemn oaths, which sealed the relationship with promises of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.
In Genesis 2:15, God told Adam he was not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, lest he die. The covenant made with Adam was a promise for life if he obeyed, but death if he disobeyed. There is no doubt that Adam knew what was expected of him and what the consequences would be if he disobeyed. In Gen 2:21, God created Eve and after an unknown amount of time, Eve was deceived by the serpent. In turn, she led her husband astray.
Adam, the spiritual leader of the relationship and the one whom God had instructed not to eat from the tree, broke the covenant with God. We often rationalize why we sin, avoiding the fact that we did. We think that if we can explain why we sinned, it somehow justifies the action. Adam was led astray by his wife ~ she is the why. The fact still remains, however, that Adam disobeyed, violating God’s command not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Duet. 17:2). In turn, Adam initiated the curse of ‘death’ when he sinned.
Death is always the penalty of a broken covenant through sin (Gen. 3:3). Adam and Eve were separated from God, which is spiritual death. The length of their human lives now became limited, among other consequences.
God does not take pleasure in death (Ezekial 18:32), but a holy God must separate Himself from anything which is not in harmony with His character. When Adam and Eve sinned, they had to leave the Garden of Eden, the place where God dwelled and walked among them.
Adam and Eve “broke faith” with God. Eve allowed the serpent to place doubt in her mind and she walked in disobedience. Remembering that faith is a combination of belief and trust, we can clearly see that it was by Satan’s seed of doubt that she was led astray. Eve no longer believed or trusted what God had promised, and she took it upon herself not only to taste something forbidden, but also to encourage her husband to do the same.
God never presents a situation that is not reconcilable. He initiates restoration with His children and continues to care for them (Gen. 3:21). The old covenant remains: walk in righteousness and be blessed, sin and be cursed.
Other personal covenants were made throughout the Old Testament. God makes a covenant with Noah (Gen 9), and with Abram (Gen 15). He makes covenants with respect to circumcision (Gen 17), as well as to groups of individuals, such as the people at Mount Horeb who were given the Ten Commandments.
Covenants often had terms (Jer 11:2). “Obey me and do everything I command you and you will be my people and I will be your God.” This bond from God’s view is everlasting, but at times have been restructured to provide a fresh, new approach on behalf of His children.
However, the old covenant was temporary, meant to be replaced by the birth of the Promised Messiah. It was designed to help us see the necessity of Christ, and it was precise in its expectation: sin will bring death.
In turn, the covenant brought condemnation to the believer (2 Cor. 3:9), as it exposes our incapacity to make restitution on our own accord. God’s Law was given to the world as the standard to reveal human sinfulness and inadequacy (Gal 3:24).
The Greek word for law is ‘Paidagogos,’ meaning “tutor.” The Law serves as the teacher. It defines the righteous requirements of God and exposes all people as guilty and unable to perfectly meet every requirement of God’s Law.
The Lord said He put the Law into our hearts and wrote them in our minds. He did this not to bind us in legalism, but to show us the expectation and desire He had for a relationship with us.
The problem with the Law is that no one can possibly obey it at all times, and therefore it puts us under a curse. Galatians 3:10 says, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” The purpose of God’s Law, therefore, is to clearly identify sin in the believer’s life (Rom. 7:7). If you know the expectation, or the Law, then you know when you haven’t met it or ignored it. Knowing the Law means knowing the rules.
Law is also the attempt to control the behavior of the outward man. It doesn’t change his basic nature, but rather restricts him under certain conditions. By itself, Law is simply a curse.
‘...For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.’”
In Old Testament times blood sacrifice was necessary for man to be cleansed of his sins. A blood sacrifice is also necessary in New Testament times, but it was Jesus’ blood that delivered us from the chains of sin, as seen in Hebrews 10:1-18. It is not sufficient, nor applicable to use other ways to obtain deliverance. Confessing to others or man-made sacrifices are not acceptable replacements.
“For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins” Hebrews 10:4.
Animal sacrifices were used during the Old Testament with strict guidelines, but none of them could provide an all-inclusive sacrifice for sin. After clarifying that the blood of bulls and goats cannot remove sin, God establishes what will.
“By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all” (v.10).
Only Christ’s death fulfills God’s will as the viable sacrifice of sin. There is no substitution. Those who believe in God are no longer considered guilty but counted as righteous or justified before God. Christ’s death perfects and “seals the deal” of the sanctification that was placed upon you before your birth. One sacrificial offering by God has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
At the Lord’s supper, Jesus pointed out that His shed blood constituted the basis for a new covenant (Matt 26:28; 1 Cor 11:25). God tells us that our sins and lawless deeds will be remembered no more, because where there is remission of sins, an offering is no longer needed. The problem with many believers is that they want to continue to live in Law and force others to do so as well. This is called ‘legalism’, a strict adherence to the Law with the misconception that “good works” can secure salvation. The legalist believes that what can be seen is real, whereas the unseen is less real. But no one can perfect themselves through legalism (Gal 3:1-3, 5:7). Any attempt to do so will bring bondage. That’s why Scripture tells us that the law of the letter kills (2 Cor. 3:1).
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