In the first installment of this series we raised the questions of how the church should relate to the commands and promises in the Old Testament. It can be hard to know how Christians today are to relate to all the rituals and rules that fill the pages of the first testament in God’s Word. In order to understand how we relate to the Old Testament we need to understand the idea of a “covenant.”
This post may be a little technical, but it’s really important in understanding how Christians today are to understand and obey the Old Testament laws. I will do my best to keep things short.
What Is a Covenant?
Simply put, a covenant is an agreement between two parties/people. In the Bible a covenant can also be an unbreakable promise given by God to his people. While there are several covenants in the Bible, here are a few that we need to understand.
The Abrahamic Covenant was a promise that God made to Abraham to give him a family that would grow into a whole nation. Today we call that nation Israel. God promised not only the nation, but also land, government, blessing, and a messiah who would save the people from their sin.
The Mosaic Covenant was the agreement that God made with Israel through Moses at Mt. Sinai. The covenant included promises of blessing for obedience, discipline for disobedience, and a messiah who would save the people from their sins. Along with this were extensive instructions about how the nation of Israel was to approach, worship, and relate to God.
The Davidic Covenant was the promise of God to David that he would have a descendent sit on the throne forever.
These covenants all see their fulfillment and realization in Jesus. He is the promised messiah who would save people from their sin and the king who will sit on the throne forever. All of these covenants were given to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament.
The New Covenant is the promise of God for the forgiveness of sins and eternal blessing in heaven to those who believe in Jesus. It is NOT a promise given to one nation, but a promise given to all who trust in Jesus for forgiveness regardless of nationality, age, gender, economic status, etc.
Who Are the Covenants for?
The first three covenants were given to the nation of Israel. The New Covenant is given to all who trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus for their sin. Thus all of the promises of government, land, blessing, prosperity, etc. that were given to the nation of Israel are NOT promises that belong to the church.
This may seem tedious and/or obvious but as we consider this in future posts it is an important matter.
An Example
Let me see if I can give an example of how an Old Covenant promise might be understood today…
I frequently hear 2 Chronicles 7:14 quoted in regards to American politics.
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
An improper application of this verse would be to say that if the nation of America will heal and turn from their sin that God would heal our nation, cause our crops to be abundant, and remove poverty and division from our land. The reason that this is improper is that Israel, not America, is promised a prosperous land if they humble themselves, pray, and seek God’s forgiveness.
A proper application of this might pertain to the church, who is promised forgiveness of sin. So it would be a proper application to say that a hurting and broken church would find healing if they were willing to humble themselves, pray, and seek God’s forgiveness.
I’ll stop here for today. This might not be the most inspiring post you have ever read, but next week we will look at some specific principles for understanding Old Testament laws. This discussion will help us to better understand the application of those principles to God’s Word given to us in the Old Testament.