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By: Brian G. Chilton, Ph.D., M.Div. | October 12, 2023
S7E6 Divine Covenants: Revelation of God Through History on YouTube
Over the past few weeks, we have discussed the revelation of God. We spoke about how God has revealed himself through theophanies, Christophanies, the Holy Spirit, his Word, impressions, and various other means. Tonight, we want to discuss divine covenants.
The revelation of God is progressive, meaning that God revealed more to his people over the course of time. Future revelations were built upon previous ones. There are many examples of God’s progressive revelation. For instance, the previous physical temple structures symbolize the spiritual and eternal temple of Almighty God in heaven. The inner sanctum represents the throne room of God.
The same is true when we speak of divine covenants. A covenant is an agreement between two parties, especially when one of the parties is God. The Hebrew word for covenant is berit. The Bible gives several examples of covenants, or promises, that God made with people over the course of space and time. Ultimately, these covenants progressively increase to the point that we reach the new covenant found in Christ. Several covenants are mentioned in the Bible, but among them, five stand out as the most crucial and the most important. They include the Noahic Covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and the New Covenant. Let’s take a look at these major covenants and what God reveals about himself in the process.
The Noahic Covenant
First, the Bible mentions the Noahic Covenant in the book of Genesis. As previously mentioned, the word berit is used for covenant. The word is first used in connection with the flood in Genesis 6:18 and 9:8–17. In case you are not familiar with the story, the world had become extremely wicked. God decided to destroy all that was evil. However, he wanted to spare a handful of righteous people to repopulate the earth. Therefore, he calls Noah and his family to build an ark large enough to house them and a large array of animals.
God made a covenant with them, saying, “But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives” (Gen. 6:18, CSB). This covenant formulated an agreement between Noah and God. Noah built the ark and entered it with his family. And God kept his end of the bargain, as he saved them amid a global catastrophe.
After the flood, God directs the ark to land on Mount Ararat. Noah and his family, along with the animals, departed the ark. God made a pact with Noah, humanity, and the entire earth that he would never again destroy the world by water (Gen. 9:8–17). The sign of this covenant is the rainbow. The rainbow is not only a reminder of God’s covenant with humanity, but it also stands to remind the entire world of God’s promise.
Lessons from the Noahic Covenant
The Noahic Covenant reveals several things about God and his interactions with the world. First, the Noahic covenant speaks to God’s holiness and justice. Sinfulness impacts not only the person committing the sin, but it also damages others and God’s creation. God holds people accountable for their actions. While God is love, he is also holy and just.
Second, the Noahic covenant speaks to the loving grace and salvific nature of God. Even though God would have been completely justified in destroying humanity and creation for good and all, God saved a remnant. Even when all is lost, God has a way of saving a remnant. There is much more that could be said. But let us leave this here for now.
The Abrahamic Covenant
Second, the Abrahamic covenant further reveals the grace of God. The apostle Paul even argued that “the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations will be blessed through you’” (Gal. 3:8, CSB). In the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 15:1–21), God promised Abraham that he would have offspring even though he was childless. God assured Abraham, then known as Abram, that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars (Gen. 15:5).
Abraham offered a sacrifice and cut it into two. The Lord himself passed between the two halves. God also gave the land to Abraham from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River (Gen. 15:18). God also promised Abraham that he would be the father of numerous nations (Gen. 17:1–27). Ultimately, God’s covenant with Abraham was fulfilled in Christ. Through Christ, Abraham’s spiritual descendants are found in every nation, tribe, and tongue. Surely Paul was right. The Abrahamic covenant was the gospel before the gospel. Theologically, the Abrahamic covenant provided a glimpse of what God would eventually do through Christ.
The Mosaic Covenant
Third, the Scripture speaks of the Mosaic covenant. The Mosaic covenant is perhaps one of the largest covenants as it involves the law that God gave Moses on Mount Sinai. In many respects, the Mosaic covenant is God’s agreement to be Israel’s God if they promised to be his people. There was a reason for this. It was not as if God needed their worship. Rather, the people would be a witness to the nations.
Yahweh told the people that if they would “carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine, and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation’” (Exod. 19:4–6a). If the people were faithful to the Lord, then he would use them as a holy nation. Thus, the people would be a light to the entire world (Isa. 49:6).
The terms of the covenant were quite simple. If the people obeyed the Lord’s law, then God would bless them abundantly. However, if they rebelled against the Lord, then they would be cursed, meaning that they would lose the hedge of divine protection given to them.
Lessons from the Mosaic Covenant
So, what do we learn from the Mosaic covenant? The people were unwilling to keep the covenant of God. The book of Judges recounts how Israel turned from God after being established in the Promised Land. Each subsequent judge and accompanied generation became more depraved than the previous one. The law, thus, serves as a mirror showing humanity how incapable they are of being holy enough to enter God’s kingdom. God extended great grace with the Israelites, and, assuredly, many lived holy and righteous lives before God. However, as Paul teaches, the law “was added for the sake of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. The law was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator” (Gal. 3:19). In other words, “the law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith” (Gal. 3:24).
The Davidic Covenant
Built upon the previous covenants, we find the fourth major covenant in Scripture which is known as the Davidic covenant. Notice that each of these covenants tends to build upon the other. As the name implies, the Davidic covenant was made with David himself. God gave this covenant through the prophet Nathan as the prophet spoke to David (2 Sam. 7:8–16). In the Davidic covenant, God promised David that he would have a great name (2 Sam. 7:9), that his people would have a land and would be planted there (2 Sam. 7:10), and that evildoers would not oppress them (2 Sam. 7:10). But the greatest promise of the covenant would come after David’s passing, God promised that he would raise up a descendant who would have an everlasting reign (2 Sam. 7:13), and from his reign, David’s “house and kingdom [would] be established forever” (2 Sam. 7:16).
Lessons from the Davidic Covenant
What do we learn from the Davidic covenant? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the connections made with Jesus Christ, who was a descendant of David. This is why the NT writers placed such a high value on Jesus’s ancestry as seen in Matt. 1:1; Lk. 1:32–33; Acts 2:29–32; Rom. 1:3; 2 Tim. 2:8; Rev. 3:7; 5:5; 22:16. Only a divine person could fulfill the promise of an everlasting kingdom. And only in the heavenly kingdom could one find absolute peace without the threat of enemy oppression.
The New Covenant
As we noted, subsequent covenants are built upon previous ones. This leads us to the fifth and final covenant. In many respects, it is the ultimate covenant. Here, we are talking about the new covenant. The new covenant is far better than previous covenants because, as Wayne Grudem notes, “it fulfills the promises of a better covenant that were made long ago.”[1] Jeremiah foresaw the advent of a new and better covenant when he wrote,
“Look, the days are coming—this is the LORD’s declaration—when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke even though I am their master—the LORD’s declaration. Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of David after those days … I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them … For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin’” (Jer. 31:31–34).
Jeremiah’s promises are later recapped in Hebrews 8:6–13. The new covenant ensures that those who receive Christ and his atoning sacrifice receive the covenant blessings of God. Through the new covenant, a person finds salvation and eternal fellowship with God. Jesus the Messiah came, lived among us, atoned our sins, and rose again. Christ died once for all (Heb. 9:24–28). Additionally, Christ revealed God more fully to us (Jn. 1:14; Heb. 1:1–3) and poured his Holy Spirit on all the people within the covenantal power of God (Acts 1:8; 1 Cor. 12:13; 2 Cor. 3:4–18). As Jeremiah promised, God wrote his law upon our hearts (Heb. 8:10). The new covenant is an “eternal covenant” (Heb. 13:20).
Conclusion
God reveals his plan to save humanity through his five major covenants with humanity. Each covenant progressively increases in intensity and through them, God offers greater blessings, culminating in the promise of eternal life. Much more could be said about these covenants. But as we end tonight and focus on the study of Scripture as a whole, it is important the note the connection found throughout the totality of the Word of God. The Old Testament cannot be separated from the New.
As it has been said, the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. The covenants display the loving grace of God given to people from all generations and time. Furthermore, some people see the God as the Old Testament as mean and vindictive and the God of the New Testament as loving and gracious. In reality, God is the one and same in both Testaments. He patiently extends grace to people and desires the salvation of all people.
The Bible is a unified story of love and grace. May you be filled with God’s love and grace as you continue your journey in his name. Coming up next week, we will dive deeper into the notion of inspiration and what Paul meant in 2 Timothy 3:16 stating that God inspires all Scripture. Until that time, we say God bless, and we’ll see you back the next time that we step into the arena of idea. This is Dr. Brian Chilton, and you’ve been listening to the Bellator Christi Podcast.
[1] Grudem, Systematic Theology, 2nd edition, 655.
About the Host
Brian G. Chilton is the founder of Bellator Christi Ministries and the co-host of the Bellator Christi Podcast. Dr. Chilton earned a Ph.D. in the Theology and Apologetics at Liberty University (with high distinction), a M.Div. in Theology from Liberty University (with high distinction); his B.S. in Religious Studies and Philosophy from Gardner-Webb University (with honors); earned a Certificate in Christian Apologetics from Biola University, and completed Unit 1 of Clinical Pastoral Education at Wake Forest University’s School of Medicine. Dr. Chilton is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society and the Evangelical Philosophical Society. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, working out in his home gym, and watching football. He has served in pastoral ministry for over 20 years and serves as a clinical chaplain.
https://www.amazon.com/Laymans-Manual-Christian-Apologetics-Essentials/dp/1532697104
https://www.amazon.com/Conversations-about-Heaven-Difficult-Questions/dp/1666762687
Be sure to catch the last episode by visiting the following link: https://bellatorchristi.com/2023/10/05/s7e5-models-and-theories-of-biblical-inspiration/
Actually, there are two covenants God made with Abram/Abraham. One was the promise to give Abram and his exclusively named descendants the Land of Canaan. It was unconditional on the collective people group, the one “great nation” to come from him, but conditional upon each individual member of that nation based upon their willingness to join in the sign of the covenant, physical circumcision. This covenant was inaugurated by the sacrifice of the animals cut in two and the passing of God between them.
The promise to make Abraham the “Father of a Multitude of Nations” so that blessing may come to all the nations through a promised “Seed” of his, was an absolutely distinct, wholly separate covenant from the Land Covenant. It was fulfilled when Christ came, he being that Seed of the Covenant. Paul revealed this Covenant in Jesus’ Blood was “ratified” 430 years before the Law Covenant, but Hebrews reveals it was only “inaugurated” when Christ was crucified. Jesus established the “sign” of this covenant with the breaking of bread and sharing of the cup before his sacrifice.
Two separate named groups (Israel / All the nations), separate promises (Land / Blessings), separate inaugurations (animals cut in two / Christ crucified), separate signs (circumcision / Eucharist). Two distinct covenants, one made while he was named Abram (Exalted Father), the other made when his name was changed to Abraham (Father of a Multitude of Nations).
Likewise, there are two separate covenants that are both called “New.” One is with the named party “the House of Israel and the House of Judah” exclusively. The promise of that covenant is to place the Law of Moses within their hearts so they never forsake it again. That will happen at the coming of their Messiah to establish the Kingdom of God on Earth. The inauguration will be the death of all the wicked armies that will come against Jerusalem during the Great Day of Wrath. The sign of the covenant is the purchase and granting of deeds to parcels of land in the Land of Canaan so as to legally restore the people to the Land at the time of the end.
The other covenant at times called “New” is in fact the very same covenant of “Blessing Come to All Nations through the Seed of Abraham.” As already noted, its inauguration is the sacrifice of Abraham’s Seed Heir, and its sign is the bread and the cup. It is also known as the “better” covenant, or the “Eternal” covenant.
The confusion about the covenants of God arises when the two covenants made with Abram/Abraham are not defined and recognized as separate, distinct covenants (Abramic – Land / Abrahamic – Blessings to All Nations), and the New Covenant with the House of Israel and Judah tp place the Law of Moses in their hearts is erroneously amalgamated with the New Covenant in Jesus’ Blood, aka the Blessings Come to All Nations Through the Seed Heir of Abraham, aka the Abrahamic Covenant.