God's Covenants
There are two types of covenants; universal or theocratic. The first covenant can be considered a universal covenant known as, the Edenic covenant, where Adam was charged to: populate the earth, subdue the earth, exercise dominion over the animal creations, care for the garden of Eden and enjoy its fruit and not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil under penalty of death. This covenant was terminated when Adam and Eve succumbed to temptation and ate of the forbidden fruit. This failure led to what is known as the Adamic covenant.
The Adamic covenant is the second universal covenant. It can also be considered a covenant with mankind in general until the curse of sin is removed. This covenant is a list of conditions and realities in which mankind must live because of the fall. They consist of: the curse of the serpent, Satan is judged, the first prophecy about the coming of the Messiah is given, a lengthier time a child is in the womb combined with a painful birthing process, the woman is made subject unto her husband, the ground is cursed, man will perspire and work all of his days, death enters the world and upon it, man returns to the dust of the ground from which he was created.
The third universal covenant is called the Noahic covenant. It reaffirms the responsibility to re-populate the earth and the continued subjection of animals to mankind. Man is permitted to eat the flesh of animals but must refrain from eating blood. The sacredness of human life is established, it is confirmed by God who pledges to never destroy the earth with water again and a rainbow is designated as proof of this covenant and the majority of it is still in existence.
The covenant with Abraham is the first theocratic covenant. The word “theocratic” means pertaining to the rule of God. It is unconditional and depends solely on God keeping His word. This covenant is the basis for the rest of the theocratic covenants and provides blessings in three areas; national (Gen. 12:2), personal and universal (Gen. 12:3). The national part consisted of a land promise, (Gen. 13:14-17, 15:18-21) which, arguably, is still in existence today. The personal aspects of this covenant had four parts: to be the father of a great nation, to receive personal blessings, to receive personal honor and reputation and to be the source of blessings to others. There are three parts to the universal aspect of this covenant. They are: blessings for those people and nations which bless Abraham and Israel, curses upon those who curse Abraham or Israel and blessings upon the whole earth through the Messiah, who is considered a son of Abraham.
The second theocratic covenant is known as the Mosaic covenant and is perhaps the one best recognized and known as the Law of Moses even though they really are the laws of God. This covenant was given to Israel and is the first conditional covenant because it depends upon the obedience of the people of Israel. There are three parts to this covenant. The commandments governed their personal lives especially as they related to God. The judgments governed their social lives as they related to one another and the ordinances governed their religious lives so they would know how to approach God on His terms. This covenant did not replace the Abrahamic covenant but was in addition to it. Its function was clearly described by Paul in Gal. 3:17-19 – “And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. 18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. 19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.” The covenant was given so that the people of Israel would know that they could not live by its standards and come to the realization that they are helpless and hopeless unless they realize their only hope is faith in the righteousness of the Perfect Sacrifice, Jesus Christ.
The third theocratic covenant is known as the Palestinian covenant. This covenant had two aspects: the legal which were immediate and conditional and the grace aspects which were future and unconditional. Sadly, Israel was not able to abide by the legal aspect and is still experiencing God’s curses and punishments to this day. The grace aspect will be fulfilled when God restores Israel to its former glory and they inherit the entirety of the land that was promised to them. Accordingly, Rom. 10:6 is equal to Deut. 30:12 and Rom. 10:8 = Deut. 30:14.
The fourth theocratic covenant is known as the Davidic covenant. In this covenant David is promised three things: a land forever, an unending dynasty and an everlasting kingdom. Because of a curse placed on the evil king Jeconiah (Jer. 22:24-30), because of him, no one from Solomon’s line will ever sit on the throne. The result is that even though Jesus has a legal right to the throne through his adoptive father, Joseph, it can’t be considered because of the curse. God knew this and this is partly why he chose Mary who was of the line of David’s son, Nathan, thus giving Christ a “blood right” to the throne as well.
God will keep His land promise according to Ps. 105:8-11. There is a prophecy of a covenant with the coming Messiah found in Is. 55:1-7 and there is a precursor to the new covenant and the restoration of the nation of Israel found in Is. 59:21 which is affirmed in Rom. 11:29.
The fifth and last theocratic covenant is known as the New Covenant from Jer. 31:31-34. This covenant has four provisions: regeneration, a national restoration, the personal ministry of the Holy Spirit and full justification. The new covenant was made sure by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. While this sacrifice was originally intended for Israel alone (Acts 3:26), because of their unbelief, this covenant was then offered to the gentiles as well. This was prophesied in Hos. 2:23, affirmed in Eph. 2:12-16 and Gal. 3:28-29. This covenant replaces the Mosaic covenant where salvation is now obtained undeservedly by grace and we are no longer under obligation to the law! However, we obey the ten commandments as summarized by Christ in Matt. 22:37-40.
The New Testament book of Hebrews offers us a greater understanding of the new covenant as it pertains to Christianity. It is presumed to be written mainly to Jewish Christians because of its reference to the OT scriptures and sacrificial rituals. Only Jews would have had the knowledge of the subjects brought up in this book and the full knowledge of the history recorded in chapter 11. The book of Hebrews can also be considered the first book exampling Christian apologetics as it contrasts the differences between Christianity and Judaism with the superiority of Christianity being explained. The reason the author of the book did this was to help prevent them from falling back into Judaism because of the persecution they were experiencing at the time.
