The Gospel and the Covenant
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
God has always dealt with his people with covenants. Beginning with Adam and continuing until the present day, God’s covenants with his people have had specific characteristics. All covenants have a three-pronged structure. They include a promise by God, a condition, and a sign.
| ADAM Genesis 3:15 Original Promise All Covenants are structured PromiseConditionSign ABRAHAM Genesis 15-17 (Everlasting) Promise—Father of Multitudes Genesis 15:1-5 Condition—Faith: Abraham believed Genesis 15:6 Sign—Circumcision (Gen. 17:10-13) | NOAH Genesis 9:8-17 Promise—Never to destroy the earth by flood Genesis 9:8-11,15 Condition—Unconditional Sign—Rainbow (Genesis 9:12-16) MOSES Promise—A Great Land Exodus 2:24-25 Condition—Obedience Exodus 19:7-8 Sign—The Sabbath (Exodus 31:12-18 & Exodus 20:8-11) |
For the focus of this discussion the Mosiac covenant is the most important. The Mosiac covenant was the Ten Commandment Law.
Exodus 34:28
And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
Deut. 4:13
And He declared to you His covenant which He commanded to you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tables of stone.
Also read: Deut 9:9-12, 15; 10:4; Deut 5:2-22; 1 Kings 8:9, 21
The Ten Commandment Law was not given before Sinai. Deut. 5:2-3 says, “The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us.” Then he gives the Ten Commandments in vss. 6-22.
Thus the Old Covenant, the Ten Commandments, had a definite beginning and a definite end. Gal. 3:19 clearly states, “The law was added UNTIL the seed should come.”