THE SECRET HIDDEN IN THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT
What many are coming to realize is that the New Covenant is the fulfillment of the covenant God made with Abram long ago. Though for natural Jews that would be considered unacceptable.
Galatians 3:17-26 gives us the big picture.
17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
19 Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. 20 A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.
21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
23 Before the coming of this faith,[a] we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,
The Mosaic Covenant, referred to as “the law,” ended when Jesus came and it did not annul the covenant that was previously made by God with Abram and his seed. God did not replace His covenant with Abram. Rather, the law was given to show Israel, and all people, that it is not possible for us to benefit from God’s goodness by human effort or merit. Our perfection is not good enough to attract God’s best for us. From the very beginning of our lives, we have been “confined… under sin” (Galatians 3:22), and only by God’s mercy and grace can we receive the benefits of His promises. God, of course, knew that from the beginning.
So in establishing His covenant with Abram and his seed, God’s grace for all generations was already at work. This was beyond the Jews but for the whole world to be included in this grand plan. Do you remember the story of God confirming the covenant with Abram and his seed? God had promised great blessing to Abram and his descendants (See Genesis 12:2-3; 15:1-6).
God promised to empower Abram and his descendants to prosper and do well for their own good and for the good of all people. So Israel was to be the first partakers of God’s goodness which lead other nations to come and enjoy likewise. But did this work? No. Why? They substituted the Abrahamic covenant that got them out of Egypt with one that would measure God’s standards against their ability to perform.
Now lets realize that any covenant demands faithfulness. And we have seen that, in things pertaining to God, human effort is futile and clearly shows that all of us are nothing but unfaithful. How then can anyone benefit from God’s covenant realizing that we will always be the weak link?
In Genesis 15:8-21, we read the account of God confirming His covenant with Abram, who clearly was familiar with the formalities of ancient covenant. Abram prepared animal carcasses for the covenant ceremony, thus creating a path of blood between the carcasses. Such a path of blood was the place
through which the participants in an ancient covenant would pass as they made promises to each other and pronounced curses that would arise if someone broke the covenant.
But after Abram had everything prepared, God caused a change that was essential for the security of the
covenant. Now let’s be reminded of a few things: A covenant is made between two or more parties; a covenant demands faithfulness; Abram was a sinner from birth, just like every other person born in Adam’s lineage.
Clearly, God could not depend on Abram. But He had a plan which was hidden from the foundation of the world.
Everything was ready for the covenant to be confirmed. But at the last minute, God made the crucial change: He put Abram to sleep (Genesis 15:12). What does this mean? Abram would be a beneficiary of the covenant without bearing the responsibility for the security of the covenant.
Who then would be responsible? A covenant must have more than one party. God is present. Abram is asleep. Is there only one participant? No. According to Galatians 3, everything is fine even while Abram is asleep because:
“to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ.” And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect” (Galatians 3:16-17).
Did you see that? The promises was made to the seed and not just Abraham. This same seed was spoken of by God when He told the serpent that the seed of the woman would bruise his head.
Jesus is the Seed to whom the promises were made, and the covenant was confirmed by God in Christ. Jesus, the Seed, was present when God confirmed the covenant of which Abram and his descendants would be the beneficiaries. We can now see this even in Genesis 15. While Abram was asleep “there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces” (v.17).
Two things appeared and passed through the blood of the covenant to formalize it. God was present. The Seed of Abraham, whom we now know as Jesus Christ, was present. The covenant was confirmed, and it
is forever secure for Abram, for you and for me, because the continuation of the covenant does not depend on you or me, it depends only on Jesus. SO Abraham’s issues did not affect the blessings from reaching Him because it didn’t depend on him.
On the cross we find the same scenario replay. The father and son enacted the New covenant. When humanity was asleep in Jesus there was an exchange that took place and passing between the pieces of the body of our Lord Jesus. His body was spread open and divinity and humanity in Jesus passed through this vessel and the most wonderful transaction took place that ushered in a new heaven and earth that was prophesied by Isaiah the prophet.
Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; 6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. 7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, my God.’”[a]
8 First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Jesus is the faithful one. Jesus revealed himself to John in Revelation as the faithful one.
“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness,…”
He is unchanging. He is God, and He is human. In Him there is faithfulness on God’s part, and in Him there is faithfulness on humanity’s part. His witnessing is for our advantage and for us to benefit of the goodness of the God-head.
The New Covenant in the Lord Jesus Christ is THE UNBREAKABLE COVENANT!
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