This weekly feature is dedicated to Adventists who are looking for biblical insights into the topics discussed in the Sabbath School lesson quarterly. We post articles which address each lesson as presented in the Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, including biblical commentary on them. We hope you find this material helpful and that you will come to know Jesus and His revelation of Himself in His word in profound biblical ways.
Lesson 3: “The Everlasting Covenant”
BY JEANIE JURA
This week’s lesson is so twisted and contradictory that it is difficult to know where to begin. Perhaps it would be best to start with the overarching theme that permeates the entire week, and apparently the entire quarter: the un-Biblical idea that there is only one covenant, restated to different people at different times, but still all just one and the same covenant.
As an example of that idea, we read in the lesson:
“This week we will look at the idea of the covenant as expressed in the book of Deuteronomy, where the covenant and all that it entails is made manifest.”
The author repeatedly says “the covenant” as if there were only just one and never differentiates between the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, usually called the Old Covenant, and the covenant found in the New Testament (although foretold in Jeremiah and Ezekiel) called the New Covenant.
Hebrews 9 is quite clear that He, Jesus, “is the Mediator of a new covenant”. I don’t know Greek, but I am told by those who do that “new” in this case means new or different in kind, not just new in time or a restatement of the same thing. It is something entirely different.
The Old Covenant was ratified by the blood of animals and could not forgive sin, but could only set aside the penalty. The New was ratified by the blood of Christ which was so much better, just as the covenant itself is called “better” (Hebrews 7: 22 and 8: 6), and it is the only effective remedy for sin.
If you are going to combine all covenants into one, you will never understand the difference between Law and Grace. This confusion is illustrated by the way the author of the lesson ignores the Biblical statement that Abraham was counted righteous simply because he believed.
He believed. Nothing else.
Then the author further cheapens that faith by saying that the real reason Abram was counted righteous was because he obeyed on Mt. Moriah where he offered Isaac, not because he simply believed:
“Abraham believed God, believed in God’s promises to him, and thus he was justified before God. This declaration, however, was not cheap grace: Abraham sought to uphold his end of the covenant by obedience, such as seen in Genesis 22, at Mount Moriah.”
But what does the Bible say and how does it lay out the story?
First, in Genesis 15, when Abraham had no heirs, God told him that his heirs would be more numerous than the stars:
“And He took him outside and said, Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
No action or obedience required—just faith—and it was counted as righteousness.
After that, God made the covenant with Abraham. First He put Abraham in a “deep sleep”, and then God alone “walked the covenant” meaning that it was one-sided, and its fulfillment depended entirely on the faithfulness of God and not on any kind of obedience on the part of Abraham.
I found an excellent description of the method and the meaning of this covenant in an article titled “The Covenant” by Jack Kinsella.
“In Genesis Chapter 15, we find Abram questioning Gods promise that his seed will be numbered as the stars of heaven and that they would inherit the land to which God had led him.
“And he [Abram] said, LORD God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” (15: 8)
It was then that God proposed a blood covenant after the manner of the Chaldeans.
“And he [God] said unto him, [Abram] Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. ”
Abram knew what to do next, since this was something he was familiar with. He recognized the elements necessary for a blood covenant.
“And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.”
The blood covenant worked this way. The animals were slaughtered and cut up. The pieces were intermingled and then carefully arranged to form a kind of aisle through which the two parties to the covenant would walk together, hands joined.
The principle of a blood covenant and the symbolism of the rended animal parts was clearly understood to Abram. Whoever broke the covenant would end up like those piles of animals.
A blood covenant was, by common custom, a joining of 2 or more persons, families, clans, tribes, or nations, where the participants agree to do or refrain from doing certain acts.”
This event occurred before Abraham had a son by Hagar, an event which was quite a few years before Isaac was born. Abraham’s obedience in being willing to sacrifice Isaac was some years after that; so being counted righteous because of his faith came many years before Mt. Moriah, not after as claimed by the lesson’s author.
So all attempts to label Abraham’s righteousness as the result of obeying, even appealing to the New Testament to back it up, is completely the opposite of what the Bible actually says.
And it is all downhill from there!
So why blur the lines between the covenants and claim that they are the same thing?
While wrong, there is actually a logical reason for claiming this—the belief in a vile concept called Replacement Theology. That is the lie that God permanently abandoned the Jews because of their rejection of Jesus as Messiah, and transferred all the blessing (oddly enough, none of the curses!) to the Church. Keep in mind that to believe that lie, you have to totally ignore Romans 9–11 which are Paul’s heartfelt cry of love for his native people and his assurance that God has not cast them out.
The idea of replacing Israel with the Church is one of two main reasons for combining the two covenants—it would never do to allow God to actually make an everlasting covenant with Abraham—one that God unilaterally walked, meaning that it depended entirely on His faithfulness and not mans’ obedience or behavior. If, however, the Abrahamic Covenant was everlasting, there would be no basis for removing Israel and inserting the Church. The other reason is the obstinate need to cling to the decalogue, primarily the 4th commandment.
Next the lesson author again tries to drive home the point that there is really just one covenant, not two, and that one, he claims, is for everyone:
“The covenant promises are made to all, Jew and Gentile, who ‘are of faith’ (Gal. 3: 7) and, thus, who are justified by faith without the deeds of the law—however much they are obligated, because of the covenant, to obey the law. ”
Galatians is talking about the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood, but the author is forcing the combination of the Old and the New. The Old Covenant was to be entered into by faith, that is true, but that covenant also included the Law—to many Christians the 10 Commandments and nothing else—but it was so much more than just those 10.
Look at the twisted logic there: “justified by faith without the deeds of the law” then immediately turned on its head to “obligated…to obey the law”. Now compare that to what Paul said in Galatians 3: 23-25:
“But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.”
These are just three short verses that completely cancel out any claim that keeping the Law is necessary after it has done its job and led us to Christ. That was its only job—lead the sinner to Christ. It had no power to make anyone righteous and, in fact, it actually shut us up in sin (Galatians 3: 22) After we are led to Christ, it is God who holds us safely, not our behavior. (See John 10: 28, 29)
Read what Moses said about the 10 Commandments in Exodus 34. This is after the first failure of the Israelites in worshipping the golden calf and after Moses broke the stones containing the 10 Commandments. He went back up on the mountain and God spoke to him. Then Moses says:
“So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.”
This fact is also stated in very similar words in Deuteronomy 9:11.
While the covenant was summarized in the words written on stone, the Law was more than just those 10, and it is one entire unit, one cohesive whole that cannot be separated; and obedience to all its demands was required to demonstrate faith in the promise of the coming Messiah. Paul points out this truth in Romans 9:30-32 when he writes:
“What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works.”
They got hung up on the works part of it and forgot the faith on which it was to be based.
God has given us His word, and it is completely true and reliable. He has also given us the Holy Spirit who teaches us and leads us to understand. God’s word is true from beginning to end and taken as a whole, it gives us the profoundly amazing fact of God’s grace and His love for all mankind.
But the Spirit will not lead us to cherry-pick verses here and there to fit our own pre-determined theology. We must study under His leading, compare verse to verse and accept what we are taught, even if that means we have to change our theology.
In John 6 we read that many of Jesus disciples left Him when they could not accept what He said. When Jesus asked the 12 if they also wanted to leave, Peter burst out with an exclamation of real truth, recorded in verse 68:
Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.”
The entire Bible was “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3: 16) and is the very words He gave to us so we may have eternal life.
And the Bible is more than just some good words that we can take however we please. It is described in several words in the Biblical text itself.
It is complete so don’t add to it.
- Proverbs 30:5, 6
- Deuteronomy 4:2
- 1 Corinthians 4:6
It is unalterable.
- Psalm 89:34
It IS truth.
- John 17:17
Changing it changes it from pure truth to lies.
- Romans 1:25
It stands forever.
- Isaiah 40:8
If you want some help in understanding the Old and New Covenants, here are some resources that may help:
- “A Contrast Of The Old And New Covenants” (found on page 3)
- “The Covenants: The Continental Divide of Biblical Interpretation”
- “The Clear Word On the Law”
- “The Covenants”
- “Jesus IS Not An Old Covenant Priest”
Video:
Podcasts:
- October 9–15 - October 7, 2021
- October 2–9 - September 30, 2021
- September 25–October 1 - September 23, 2021