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An Evaluation of Covenant Concepts in Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology

Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Volume 12 Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2000

by Fred Bischoff

for the Gospel Study Group November 8, 2002

General Observations 1. I am indebted to Jerry Finneman for providing most of the computerized text from the Handbook. 2. The sections evaluated on the covenants are mostly those referenced in the General Index under the heading "Covenant(s)." No general search was done on the word covenant, though in the last section (LaRondelle) many more references to the covenant were found (and included) outside the page referenced. 3. This evaluation does not purport to cover what else these authors have written on the subject. 4. The evaluator's intent in his comments will be best understood if the text being evaluating is considered on its face value, with no personal attachment to the original authors. There is no guarantee that the evaluator always understood the authors. 5. The evaluator's frame of reference is his two-dimensional understanding of the covenants as presented in the March 2002 meetings. 6. An apology is due for the lack of in-depth analysis. My assignment was received a scant four weeks before our meeting, and I had two out-of-town trips booked during that time. 7. The text has been highlighted by bolding the word "covenant" and by underlining key sections. All of these format changes are supplied by the evaluator. 8. The purpose of this evaluation is not to criticize the authors reviewed, but to highlight areas where as a people we are vulnerable to misunderstanding, and even misrepresenting the all-important subject of the two covenants. While no one is expected to say everything about any one subject in one setting, yet this evaluator is convinced that with the biblical view of the covenants passed down to us from our own history we can simply and with few words be more complete and accurate whenever we touch on this topic. Authors Covered Ivan T. Blazen Angel Manuel Rodriguez Mario Veloso Raoul Dederen Gerhard Hasel Hans K. LaRondelle

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Author and Passage Comments

Ivan Blazen (pp. 276-278) Chapter Title: SALVATION

B. God's Covenants in Time 1. The Essence and Unity of God's Covenants The way by which God's eternal decision for human salvation is effected is through God's covenants in time. Although the Bible speaks of covenants in the plural (Rom. 9:4; Gal. 4:24; Eph. 2:12), there is only one basic covenant of salvation in Scripture. It is promissory in character-the blessings and salvation of God are given by God, not earned by human beings-but looks for humanity's response of faith and obedience. The heart of this covenant is God's steadfast love, spoken of throughout Scripture and at times equated with the covenant (Deut. 7:9; 1 Kings 8:23; Neh. 9:32; Dan. 9:4). The plural, covenants, means that God advances His saving purpose by restating His covenant in various ways to meet the needs of His people in different times and settings. Each form of the covenant plays its part in His unitary purpose of salvation.

Promissory: = Containing a promise or binding declaration of something to be done or

forborne. The sequence is fairly clear here: (1) The blessings and salvation are the promise, which is given by God, not

earned by human beings. The contrast is between a gift and a wage. (2) The goal of the promise is that it looks for human response of faith and

obedience. "Heart of this covenant"= God’s steadfast love

Only one basic covenant Plurality = "restating His covenant in various ways to meet the needs of His

people in different times and settings"

2. The Adamic, Noachic, and Everlasting Covenants The Adamic covenant refers to God's promise in Genesis 3:15, called the Protoevangelium (first announcement of the gospel), according to which, in its ultimate meaning, Christ the seed would conquer the evil one (Rom. 16:20). The Noachic covenant is a promise of grace and life. God vows to preserve creaturely life upon the earth (Gen. 6:18-20; 9:9-11). As a promise of mercy for all, this covenant is called an everlasting covenant (verse 16). The "everlasting" concept is also used for the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 17:7, 13, 19; 1 Chron. 16:17; Ps. 105:10), the Sinai covenant with its Sabbath emphasis (Ex. 31:16), the Davidic covenant (2 Sam. 23:5; Isa. 55:3; Eze. 37:26, 27), the new covenant promise of the restoration of Israel (Jer. 32:40, restating 31:33; Eze. 16:60), and the sacrifice of Jesus (Heb. 13:20).

Adamic covenant God’s promise – Gen. 3:15 Noachic covenant - everlasting "promise of grace and life" "promise of mercy for all" Abrahamic covenant - everlasting Sinai covenant - everlasting Davidic covenant - everlasting

new covenant - everlasting

3. The Abrahamic, Sinaitic, and Davidic Covenants The Abrahamic covenant of grace (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:1-5; 17:1-14) is fundamental to the entire course of salvation history (Gal. 3:6-9, 15-

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18). Through Abraham's seed, referring not only to his numberless descendants, but in particular to his one descendant, Christ (verse 16), God would bless the world. All who would be a part of Abraham's seed would find God to be their God, and they would be His people. Circumcision would be a sign (Gen. 17:11) of this already existing right relation to God constituted by faith (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:9-12).

This would be better stated as "all who would be a part of Abraham's Seed

would find God to be their God, and they would be His people." Only thus can we avoid the tendency to state the covenant in fleshly terms.

The Sinaitic covenant, given in the context of redemption from bondage (Ex. 19:4; 20: Deut. 1-3) and containing God's sacrificial provisions for atonement and forgiveness of sin was also a covenant of grace and a reiteration of major emphases in the Abrahamic covenant (special relation of God to His people: Genesis 17:7, 8 with Exodus 19:5, 6; a great nation Genesis 12:2 with Exodus 19:6 and 32:10; and obedience: Genesis 17:9-14; 22:16-18 with Exodus 19:5 and throughout the Pentateuch). When the people broke the Sinai covenant, Moses prayed that God would remember His promises made in the Abrahamic covenant (Ex. 32:13). The special emphasis upon the law at Sinai indicated that the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant awaited a people for whom the reality of God's grace would be exhibited by obedience. Israel could not become a blessing for the world until it first lived as God's people and a "holy nation" (Ex.19:6).

The passage fails to differentiate between the two covenants at Sinai, which EGW clearly mentions. So the covenant that was broken at Sinai was as follows:

"The people did not realize the sinfulness of their own hearts, and that without Christ it was impossible for them to keep God's law; and they readily entered into covenant with God. Feeling that they were able to establish their own righteousness, they declared, "All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient." Exodus 24:7. They had witnessed the proclamation of the law in awful majesty, and had trembled with terror before the mount; and yet only a few weeks passed before they broke their covenant with God, and bowed down to worship a graven image. They could not hope for the favor of God through a covenant which they had broken; and now, seeing their sinfulness and their need of pardon, they were brought to feel their need of the Saviour revealed in the Abrahamic covenant and shadowed forth in the sacrificial offerings. Now by faith and love they were bound to God as their deliverer from the bondage of sin. Now they were prepared to appreciate the blessings of the new covenant." (PP371)

While the goal of the covenant is a people restored to God's image, yet the primary fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant as evidence by NT passages is not an obedient people but the "obedience of One" (Rom. 5:19).

The Davidic covenant is interconnected with both the Abrahamic (Eze. 37:24-27) and the Mosaic (2 Sam. 7:22-24). In this covenant David would be a prince and king over Israel (verse 8; Jer. 30:9; Eze. 37:24, 25) and would build God's house or sanctuary (2 Sam. 7:7-13; Eze. 37:26-28). In this place God, who in the Abrahamic and Sinaitic covenants wanted to be their God and them to be His people, could dwell with them.

"My servant David shall be their prince for ever." (Eze. 37:25). There was no way David of the OT could be the fulfillment of these promises. David did not build God's house. Dan. 8:14 is the ultimate fulfillment of such a building. This is likewise the fulfillment of the throne prophecy, as Daniel's parallels reveal. The "Son of David" (Matt. 1:1) would be the One sitting on the throne forever. "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David." (Lu 1:32)

4. The New Covenant The promise of a new covenant first occurs in Jeremiah 31:31-33. It is lodged in the context of Israel's return from exile and the

"The Sinaitic covenant was not outmoded or old, but broken." There was an "old covenant" at Sinai which was both old and broken at

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blessings that God would grant. As the breaking of the covenant at Sinai (verse 32) brought Israel into exile, so the remaking of this covenant would preserve them and be their hope for the future. The content of this new covenant was the same as that of Sinai. There was the same God-people relationship and the same law (verse 33). The Sinaitic covenant was not outmoded or old, but broken. Reconstitution of this covenant would be premised upon forgiveness of the people's sins (verse 34) and the guarantee that God would place His covenant law (and reverence for Him, Jer. 32:40) within the hearts of His people (Jer. 31:33). This would bring about the intimate knowledge of God among all God's people (verse 34) and the full and lasting actualization of the covenant at Sinai. In Ezekiel 36:25-28, the internalization of God's law is because of God's renewing the heart and putting His Spirit within it as the motive force of the new obedience.

Sinai. The law plus self-dependence is this old covenant. The covenant from Sinai Jeremiah refers to was called "My covenant", God's marriage covenant with His people. It was His law. The only way not to break it is by faith. This covenant, in the context of Jeremiah's day, they had broken; they had left their "Husband". They had been unfaithful. In contrast the new covenant of which Jeremiah speaks must be understood in light of the Messiah and His faith.

As is noted here, the everlasting covenant is ever the same, even when it is called "new". It is "new" in the sense of "remaking" and "reconstitution" but also in the sense of ultimate fulfillment, "full and lasting actualization."

The contrast that Jeremiah draws between the new covenant and that of Sinai ("not according to") is based on the experience of Israel, not on God's intent, because the heart change has always been God's goal. "O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!" (Deut. 5:29). Jeremiah thus is predicting that God's intent will ultimately be met. That clearly occurs under the preaching of the gospel, Jesus Christ and Him crucified, which takes place as Revelation tells us when the "ark of the covenant" in seen in heaven in the end-time setting. (Rev. 18:1 introduced by 11:19) Thus the final "return from exile", the final coming out of Babylon (Rev. 18:4), occurs with the final fulfillment of the everlasting covenant.

In harmony with the emphasis on forgiveness (Jer. 31:34) and the Spirit (Eze. 36:37), the New Testament extends the concept of the new covenant to the blood of Christ, which brings forgiveness of sins (Matt. 26:28; Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25; Heb. 9:15; 12:24) and to the ministry of the Spirit, which brings life (2 Cor. 3:6).

Forgiveness speaks of cost, and the blood reveals the cost. The Spirit is the agent by which the poured-out life is mediated. God's giving of Himself becomes the means by which sinners are cleansed of self-seeking, which bring death.

Heb 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Heb 10:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

1Pe 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

Only a Spirit-empowered appreciation of the cross of Christ will result in the forgiveness that is the goal of the gospel (the positive outcome to the Matt.

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18 parable). 5. The Old Covenant The concept of an "old covenant" is explicitly referred to only in 2 Cor. 3:14, but is implied in Paul's use of "two covenants" in Galatians 4:24 and in the references in Hebrews to a "first covenant" (8:7, 13; 9:1, 15, 18), "second covenant" (9:7), and "better covenant" (7:22; 8:6).

This text is referenced but its explicitness is missed: Heb 8:13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now

that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

Paul's statements on the covenants in 2 Corinthians and Galatians can be properly understood only in terms of his polemic against Judaizing opponents whom he saw as making the law, rather than Christ, central. Within this polemical context the old covenant in 2 Corinthians 3:14 stands for the Mosaic code of Sinai (verse 15) as read with a veil over one's eyes, that is, read non-Christologically as mere letter. As such it kills (verse 6). When the veil is removed in Christ (verses 15, 16), and one perceives the law's true content and meaning, what is seen is the life-changing glory of the Lord (verse 18) rather than the glory of the law. And to be related to the Spirit of the Lord, in contrast with the letter alone, brings freedom (verse 17) and life (verse 6; cf. Rom. 7:6).

Single underlining = old covenant Double underlining = new covenant These observations show the experience of the disciples before the cross to

be old covenant. Only after the experience in Luke 24 was the veil removed from Moses, for they were enabled by the testimony of Jesus to see the glory of the Lord "in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms" (Luke 24:44). That is, in contrast to the theme of the Messiah being "who is the greatest" (which spirit veiled from them the real Christ), it was seen that the theme of Scripture was self-sacrificing love, which Calvary has just demonstrated, and Christ was now showing them in Scripture.

In terms of Galatians it is clear that stress on obedience to law must never be separated from the primacy of a faith relationship with God. When that happens the law does not achieve its goal of leading to life (as originally intended, Deut. 6:24; Rom. 7:10), but leads rather to condemnation (Gal. 3:10, citing Deut. 27:26). Paul's equation of the Sinai covenant with bondage in Galatians 4:24, 25 should be explained from this perspective. The Sinai covenant, originally resting upon the reality of God's redemption of Israel from bondage, His promise to be their God and they His people, and containing a sacrificial system teaching atonement and forgiveness, was not a system of bondage. However, when law is separated from promise and faith from works, the covenant is perverted, and slavery rather than freedom results. The proper relationship between promise and law is found in Galatians 3:15-4:7. Here Paul argues that the only way to be justified is through the Abrahamic covenant of grace received through faith. The law of Sinai was not contrary to the promise to Abraham (Gal. 3:21), but fostered it by leading to Christ (verse 24) so that "what was

While the two-covenant experience is clearly outlined (the law without faith, and the law with faith), there is no mention that the experience of Israel at Sinai was that of law without faith. The consistent implication is that the only covenant at Sinai was God's, which was perverted by lack of faith. But just as Abraham reveals the two covenants, so we can see both in Israel's experience at Sinai, though Paul does use Sinai to represent only the covenant of works. (Gal. 4:24, 25; Heb. 12:18)

Israel at Sinai heard the law, and said they would obey, in self dependence and faith in self, rather than self distrust and faith in God. It is thus that Paul equates Sinai with bondage. That was Abraham's experience with Ishmael. The evidence points to this being not merely a perversion of the everlasting covenant, but actually another covenant, another gospel, another purported means of salvation.

The author here fails to make clear (though would certainly agree) that due to sin, all humanity has lost "the primacy of a faith relationship with God", and thus all are under the law's condemnation. For sinners, this is the law's function, the knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:20). It is in the gospel we find the faith that begins the restoration.

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promised to faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe" (verse 22). The law's function as "custodian" ceases when a mature relationship with Christ is formed (verse 25; 4:1-5).

The author plainly describes two conditions, and does not even hint at two dispensations. He never here implies that the law without faith and the law with faith cannot exist at any point in time.

For Hebrews the reason for a second or better covenant is that God found the promises of the people at Sinai faulty, for they broke them (Heb. 8:8, 9). There was need for better promises (verse 6), and Hebrews explains these in terms of the new covenant promises of Jeremiah 31:33, where God reaffirms the covenant of Sinai and promises divine enablement to keep it. Further, there was need for a better sacrifice (Heb. 9:23) that could bring the reality of cleansing from sin (Heb. 10:2-4). The sacrificial laws of the Sinai covenant were indeed a shadow of the good things coming, but not the "true form of these realities" (verse 1). Thus, the first/second covenant motif of Hebrews is related to promise-fulfillment and type-antitype modes of thought.

The promises were faulty not merely because Israel broke them, but because they were made in self-dependence. Thus the better promises are also not merely better because they are kept, but because they are God-dependent in the ultimate sense: God Himself made them (ultimately in the person of His Son). And the people under the new covenant accepted God's promises (in His Son) and kept them with the whole heart. Thus in seeing the promise of God as that which is essential and to be kept, we can better see the faith of God (expressed through His Son) as the same reality, essential and to be kept.

God's promise to the human race was wrapped up in the poured out life of His Son, the "better sacrifice". What an promise! What faith!

The author gets close to stating that there is a faith dimension to the shadow dimension of the covenant, that the first/old covenant can be seen in that perspective as well as the unbelief dimension. As he implies in his Hebrews type/antitype analysis, it is in Hebrews that we are most explicitly forced to accept "old covenant" as one way of describing the everlasting covenant seen in symbols that eventually became "old" as they met the "better" Reality.

Angel Manuel Rodriguez (pp. 381-384, 388-390) Chapter Title: THE SANCTUARY

C. Functions of the OT Sanctuary System To better understand the typological significance of the sanctuary and its contribution to the understanding of Christ's high priestly ministry, the different functions of the sanctuary should be studied in detail.

1. Theological Aspects of the Israelite Sanctuary God's request for a tabernacle among the Israelites came after they left Egypt and made a covenant with God (Ex. 25:8). This suggests that redemption precedes access to the sanctuary because only those who have been redeemed and have entered into a covenant relationship with God can enjoy full communion with Him. The sanctuary is, in a sense, an attempt to restore to the Edenic state of close fellowship with God.

The leaving of Egypt and the making of the covenant should be stated in terms of what God had done, not the people.

The question is, is there a dimension to redemption and access, and thus to covenant relationship, that is universal? So we can ask, is there a sense in which all "can enjoy full communion with Him"? EGW describes this vividly:

"No distinction on account of nationality, race, or caste, is recognized by God. He is the Maker of all mankind. All men are of one family by creation, and all are one through redemption. Christ came to demolish every wall of partition, to throw open every compartment of the temple, that every soul

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may have free access to God. His love is so broad, so deep, so full, that it penetrates everywhere. It lifts out of Satan's circle the poor souls who have been deluded by his deceptions. It places them within reach of the throne of God, the throne encircled by the rainbow of promise." {COL 386.2}

We must avoid the ditch the Jews fell into of exclusiveness. While the blood on the doorposts clearly represents the individual acceptance of what God provided, yet Calvary (and all the symbols of it) clearly reveals universal dimensions to the "passing over" of sins.

2. Sanctuary, Covenant, and the Nature of Sin/Impurity a. Covenant and holiness. God's nature is uncompromisingly holy (Lev. 19:2). His holiness defines Him as singular and separated from the world of sin and death that humans experience. To enter into a covenant relationship with God means to be allowed to participate in His holiness (Ex. 19:6). When the covenant was instituted, the law was read to the people and the blood of the sacrificial victims was sprinkled on the altar, representing the presence of God and the people (Ex. 24:5-8). The people were called to imitate God's holiness through obedience to the covenant law (Lev. 19:2; 20:7, 8). Only through sin and impurity could this covenant relationship be threatened or disrupted.

Sanctuary reveals separateness and connectedness in the same Being. It also call us to holiness. Holiness is the purity of His selflessness.

"To be allowed" is a strange formulation. When the human responds to God's initiative, and accepts the covenant with an intent to keep it, he also commits to become like God, that is, to have His image restored. God desires this and yearns for this, more than allows it.

Was Sinai when the covenant was instituted, or merely renewed? The author uses a puzzling description of covenant, law and sin. The law

was the covenant, an expression of His image, His selflessness, His promise to restore them to His likeness. Thus the covenant (the law as promise) was the way out of "sin and impurity" in which all were. The covenant relationship was established to cure "sin and impurity" rather than these simply threatening the relationship. Those who are uncommitted to a cure are those who threaten the covenant relationship.

b. Sin and covenant. The vocabulary for sin in the OT is rich (see Sin 11. A). Within the context of the sanctuary services three views of sin are particularly important. The first understands sin (het', "sin, fault, missing of the mark") as a failure to perform a particular duty, i.e., to obey the covenant law (Lev. 4:2; Isa. 42:24). The second designates sin ('awon, "iniquity, perversion") as an activity that is crooked or wrong, a perversion of what is right (e.g., Job 33:27). Third, the true nature of sin is expressed with the word pesa` (crime, rebellion). The term was used to refer to the breaking of a covenant between two nations (2 Kings 1:1; 8:20, 22). In a theological context pesa` defines sin as an act of rebellion against the covenant and the Lord of the covenant (Isa. 1:2; Jer. 3:13; Amos 2:4, 6-8). Pesa` describes humans as possessing a naturally

The author connects "covenant" with texts that do not appear explicitly to mention it.

For the first word for "sin" consider: Jos 7:11 Israel hath sinned <02398>, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.

Do we have any evidence of Moab ever having a covenant with Israel

(2Kings 1:1) or Edom with Judah (2Kings 8:20)? For the third word for sin consider: Ho 8:1 Set the trumpet to thy mouth.

He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have

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antagonistic spirit toward God. Because they rebelled against Him (Gen. 3), sin is now mysteriously interwoven in human nature (Ps. 51:5; 143:2). The problem is located in the human heart and from there sin springs to life (Jer. 11:8; 17:9; 18:12). This claim of independence from God brings the covenant relation to an end.

transgressed my covenant, and trespassed <06586> against my law. The word "transgressed" used above with covenant is used repeatedly. (See

De 17:2; Jos 7:11,15; 23:16; Jud 2:20; 2Ki 18:12; Isa 24:5; Jer 34:18; Ho 6:7; 8:1)

c. Impurity and covenant. The main thrust of the cultic regulations revolved around the opposite poles of holiness and uncleanness. Holiness is foreign to humans and to creation in general; it is the exclusive possession of God. He sanctifies objects, places, time, and in a very particular way He sanctifies His people (Lev. 22:9, 16). An improper contact between the holy and the common results in profanation; a contact between the holy/clean and the unclean results in contamination. Impurity and uncleanness threaten practically everything; even the clean can come under their power (Lev. 11:39).

Holiness is foreign to sinful creation, because of what sin has done to destroy agape.

Theologically speaking, "impurity" was a metaphor expressing alienation from God and fellow humans. The unclean person was not to come into contact with other people and was excluded from the sanctuary. Such a person had no meaningful relationships and was, therefore, dead to society. Thus, in Leviticus impurity is fundamentally associated with the sphere of death and disease (Num. 6:6, 7, 11; Lev. 13; 14).

The impure person entered into the sphere of death. Deprived of social interaction with the covenant community and of access to the covenant Lord in the sanctuary, the person became an outcast to the covenant relationship. This understanding of uncleanness suggests that sin and impurity are in essence synonymous. Both terminate the covenant relation through involuntary or voluntary violations of covenant law.

Impurity as portrayed in the law of Moses was to teach the awfulness of sin. But the law of Moses also revealed God's plan for cleansing, by alluding to the real purification brought by the poured-out life of the Creator (Heb 1:3; 9:14,22; 10:2) which contained the new covenant. The author's mention of how to "terminate the covenant relation" is better understood by observing Christ's dealing with Israel during its final years of probation prior to A.D. 34.

Impurity is pollution with self-seeking motives. . It is unfaithfulness to His marriage covenant. One cannot be married to God and to self at the same time

d. God's reaction to sin/impurity. God is not indifferent to the covenant violations of His people. His concern for their loyalty is based on the fact that outside the covenant relationship death reigns. To step outside the covenant is to enter the realm of death, impurity, and alienation from God. The person who breaks away from the Lord incurs guilt and bears his or her own iniquity (Lev. 4:3; 5:2-4). The phrase "to bear one's iniquity or sin" is used in the

The texts the author references do not appear to speak of a dissolution of the covenant relationship, as later in Lev. 26 we find:

44 And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God.

45 But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that

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OT in the sense of being "responsible for one's own iniquity" (Lev. 5:1, 17; 17:16; 19:17; 20:17, 20), and therefore, is liable to punishment (Lev. 7:20, 21; 19:8). God's anger is provoked by the violation of the covenant law (Lev. 26:28). This anger can take the form of redemptive punishment or discipline (verses 14-26). It can also lead to the dissolution of the covenant relationship (verses 27-33), and ultimately to death (cf. Lev. 15:31; 18:24-28).

I might be their God: I am the LORD. Again, do we not need to look to the events of Matt. 21-24 (with Acts 7) to

understand the end of Israel's probation as a covenant nation, along with the clear statements in Gal. 3 for how God's covenant with Abraham was continued?

3. Resolution of the Sin Problem The resolution of the sin problem among the Israelites was not essentially different from what it had been in the patriarchal religious system. God desired to forgive the sin of His people and showed it through the sacrificial system. The forgiveness (Lev. 4:20) and cleansing (Lev. 12:8) needed by repentant sinners was provided at the sanctuary. To be forgiven, those who were bearing their sin brought a sacrificial victim to the Lord (Lev. 5:5, 6). The sacrificial system functioned within a redemptive and legal frame of reference which took seriously any covenant violation. Within that context, forgiveness was a divine gift, a glorious manifestation of God's love. In essence the Israelite sacrificial system was God's gift of love to the covenant people. To the Israelites God gave the sacrificial blood to use as a means of atonement (Lev. 17:11). Out of His grace He gave the priesthood to Aaron and his sons (Num. 18:7). The Levites, chosen to assist Aaron, were God's gift to the priests (verses 8, 9).

The sanctuary services illustrated the way the Lord dealt with the sin problem. Its services consisted of two ministrations: the daily rituals and the annual service on the Day of Atonement. An exploration of these should provide a better understanding of God's plan for the final resolution through Christ.

(p. 388) II. Christ's Priesthood in the NT A. Limitations of the Typical System This examination of the typological fulfillment of the sacrificial system in Christ concentrates on Hebrews and Revelation. But since the sacrificial interpretation of the death of Christ is found throughout the NT, other texts also will be examined. The typical system had serious limitations, the recognition of which is not

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merely a NT phenomenon. The psalmist knew that it was impossible for humans to redeem themselves, to pay a price for their own lives (Ps. 49:7). Only God could pay the ransom (verse 15). Sacrifice was only the expression of a contrite heart seeking forgiveness from God (Ps. 51:16-19). The OT pointed to a time when those limitations would be removed through the perfect sacrifice of the Servant of the Lord (Isa. 52:3-53:12), described as the perfect Lamb who died a vicarious sacrificial death (verse 11). The NT identifies the limitations of the old system in order to magnify the greatness of the new. Thus the covenant with Israel is seen in Hebrews as having a limited temporal function (8:7-13). The Israelite sanctuary was only a shadow, a type, a copy, of the original sanctuary in heaven, not the true one (verses 2, 5). The Levitical priesthood was inadequate because it could not attain perfection (Heb. 7:11), that is, it could not take away the sin problem. To illustrate: The typical Levitical priesthood could only role-play the genuine priestly ministry of Christ, who through His sacrifice and mediation could indeed "put away sin" (Heb. 9:26; 10:4).

The author is not clear here on the parties in the covenants. Heb. 8:8 makes it clear that the new covenant is also with Israel:

Heb 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

The "limited temporal function" is true (as the author alludes to) in that the time for the shadow came to an end. This is not dispensationalism. The taking away of sin was not possible under the shadow system:

Ro 11:27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away <851> their sins.

Heb 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away <851> sins.

B. Superiority of the New Order The pastoral concern of the Epistle to the Hebrews is expressed in expositions and exhortations. The faith of the believers to whom the letter was addressed seems to have deteriorated so that they were attracted once more to Jewish faith and practices. The author of Hebrews exhorts them to remain faithful to the faith they once accepted (3:13, 14; 4:1; 12:12, 13). Throughout the letter the writer argues for the superiority of the work of Christ over the ritual, sacrificial system, emphasizing the ineffectiveness to purge sin and the repetitious nature of its services over against the once-and-for-all sacrifice of Christ "to put away sin" (9:26). Hebrews contrasts the old and new in order to demonstrate that through Christ a new and superior exodus has taken place. The achievements of the new exodus are far better than those of the old, and the redemption it has initiated is eternal, that is to say, unrepeatable, because its benefits are permanent.

1. Better Covenant

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The new system established through Christ brought into existence the new covenant announced by Jeremiah (Jer. 31:31-34 Heb. 8:8-12). The new covenant is superior to the old because its mediator is the Son of God (Heb. 8:6; 9:15). He who is human (Heb 2:5-18) and divine (Heb. 1:1-4) is able to bring God and humans into a covenant relationship. He is also the sacrificial victim through whose blood the covenant was ratified (Heb. 12:24; 9:15-18). Christ is called the "surety of a better covenant" (Heb. 7:22) because He guarantees the permanency of the new covenant. The contrast between the two covenants leads the apostle into a discussion of the sanctuaries under each of the covenant (Heb. 8; 9).

The question here is when was "the new system established through Christ"? At what point did He become mediator? At His death the new covenant was ratified, but it was not then "brought into existence", having existed since the plan was laid "before the foundation of the world."

"Before the foundations of the earth were laid, the Father and the Son had united in a covenant to redeem man if he should be overcome by Satan. They had clasped Their hands in a solemn pledge that Christ should become the surety for the human race. This pledge Christ has fulfilled. When upon the cross He cried out, 'It is finished,' He addressed the Father. The compact had been fully carried out. Now He declares: Father, it is finished. I have done Thy will, O My God. I have completed the work of redemption. If Thy justice is satisfied, 'I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am.' John 19:30; 17:24." {DA 834.2}

" But while God's Word speaks of the humanity of Christ when upon this earth, it also speaks decidedly regarding his pre-existence. The Word existed as a divine being, even as the eternal Son of God, in union and oneness with his Father. From everlasting he was the Mediator of the covenant, the one in whom all nations of the earth, both Jews and Gentiles, if thy accepted him, were to be blessed. 'The Word was with God, and the Word was God.' Before men or angels were created, the Word was with God, and was God. " {RH, April 5, 1906 par. 5}

2. Better Sanctuary a. Heavenly sanctuary in Hebrews. The author of Hebrews follows the Exodus pattern: redemption, covenant, and sanctuary. The sanctuary of the new covenant is superior because it is heavenly (Heb. 8:1, 2; 9:24) Here Hebrews relies on Exodus 25:9, 40, finding there a reference to God's true heavenly sanctuary, which antedates the earthly. The heavenly sanctuary served as a model for the earthly, which could be called the antitype (Heb. 9:24, Gr. antitypos). Inasmuch as the tabernacle is a copy of the original, it is inferior, described as a "shadow" of the heavenly. As a copy and shadow, the earthly sanctuary pointed to the heavenly one and so testified to its own transitoriness (verse 11).

"New covenant" here is in terms of substance versus shadow. The time for the shadow had passed.

While the Aaronic priesthood prefigured Christ's priestly activity, the NT leaves no doubt that the new priesthood would do away with the old. The old covenant would be replaced by the new, the typical

Again, the transition is between the symbol and the reality, not between two dispensations of methods of salvation.

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sacrifices would be concluded by the true, and the Levitical priesthood would give place to the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 7:11, 12, 18, 19; 8:13; 10:3-10). Thus, the priesthood of Christ was not only the antitype of the Aaronic priesthood, but also the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy found in Psalm 110:4, in the light of which Hebrews examines Genesis 14:17-20. In the discussion of the priesthood of Melchizedek, the superiority of Christ's priesthood is demonstrated (Heb. 7:1-28). Mario Veloso pp. 466-468 Chapter Title: THE LAW OF GOD

B. The Ten Commandments at Sinai If the Ten Commandments existed prior to Sinai, why was it assigned explicitly to the Israelite nation? The Ten Commandments were a God-given universal law. They expressed values God expected from every person of the world. However, in selecting Israel as His special people, and entering in a covenant relationship with them, He reiterated the ten-commandment law as a guide for their lives, now in written form.

He gave Israel other laws, civil and religious; however, the Ten Commandments were to provide the basis of Israel's moral life. They were and are the expression of God's character and the foundation of His universal government.

1. Uniqueness of the Ten Commandments The uniqueness of the Ten Commandments, the moral law at Sinai, does not reside exclusively in its content, but also in the fact God Himself wrote the Decalogue or "Ten Words" (the name given the Decalogue in Hebrew [Ex. 34:28]) on tables of stone gave them to Moses.

Because of their unique circumstances origin, the Ten Commandments occupied a position in the Torah above any other Israelite law. They were given by God in the most spectacular divine self-revelation ever in national history. In the Ten Commandments God proclaimed the basis for His covenant with Israel. The Ten Commandments were the only part of the Torah proclaimed with thunder and lightning from a mountain top (Ex.

EGW uses repeatedly the formulation the author states here. (PP348, 370; RH11/9/05, par. 1)

The law as agape encoded, as a transcript of the character of Him who is agape, as a description of the image of God in man, as a promise to all sinners of what He will write in their hearts in salvation—the law as these indeed is the basis of His covenant. However, in Gal. 3 Paul is using law in a different sense when he contrasts the law and the promise.

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20:18-20) later to be written by God's own finger on two stone tablets (Ex. 31:18; 34:28; Deut. 4:13; 10:4).

But the sanctuary shows us clearly that even though the law is the heart of God's system, it is not the means by which sinners are restored. Herein is an essential truth. Faith is that means.

The Ten imperative Words of God were to be honored under all circumstances by every Israelite. At Sinai, the moral law of the universe became the particular law of Israel without changing its general nature. Its universality was unaffected. For Israel it became foundation of all other national laws, some of which were limited to certain specific circumstances and for a given time. For example, certain sacrificial laws required designated sacrifice only in conjunction with specific sin, in effect only until the coming of the Messiah, to whom the sacrifices pointed.

The Ten Commandments were unique. They were located in a prominent place in the Pentateuch. They were spoken by God to the people. They were engraved on stone tablets by God Himself. They formed the foundation of other law codes. They had a specific name. And they were placed inside the Ark of the Covenant (Ex. 40:20; Deut. 10:2-5).

2. Importance of the Ten Commandments The essence of the Ten Commandments is not their form, but the divine authority in their origin: God's transcendence, sovereignty, and will. At the heart of the law was its collective application to all Israel, His people, and to every individual member, His son and daughter. This special relationship gave the law a unique task safeguard and to maintain such a relation.

The importance of the proclamation of the law at Sinai lies not in the enumeration of legal norms, but in the majesty of God's presence and action (Ex. 19:16-25), the nearness of the Creator, and the proximity of the neighbor. The Commandments represented love to God and love to one's neighbor (Deut. 6:5; 30:15, 16), love to one's neighbor. It was not merely external love, nor inward love alone. It was real, living affinity, a love that involved the entire personality and the total experience of life.

The law calls for personal commitment, not to a legal institution, but to God Himself. This is the most comprehensive relationship that human beings can ever live. It touches the mercies of the Lord and produces life, joy, delight, justice, righteousness, and salvation

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for the human being (Ps. 119:142, 156, 162, 174; Isa. 51:4-8). Remembering the experience at Sinai, Moses reminded Israel that God had made a covenant with them at Horeb (Deut. 5:1-5). This covenant had a law (Deut. 4:44), the Ten Commandments. The law in Deuteronomy 5:6-21 is the same law as in Exodus 20. The small differences in detail found in the fourth commandment--liberation rather than Creation as the rationale for keeping the seventh day--were not intended as contradictions but as complements.

Deut. 5: 2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. 4 The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire, 5 … saying, 6 ¶ I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 7 Thou shalt have none other gods before me. …

The Ten Commandments were the heart of the Torah. They were given for all humanity, and specifically for Israel within the particular framework of the covenant, apart from which they would never be understood. If treated as an isolated unit, their importance and significance, as well as God's purpose for them, would be missed.

The covenant required mutual obligation. The people committed themselves to obey the voice of the Lord, to keep the covenant, to obey God's commandments. At the same time, the Lord agreed to treat the people as His special possession among all the nations of the world. This particular treatment would make them: (1) a kingdom of priests, prepared to fulfill God's service or mission in the midst of humanity and to benefit all mankind; and (2) a holy nation, sanctified by a relationship with God and fully committed to Him through obedience (Ex. 19:5, 6). [467]

The author makes a very unfortunate construction here on the story. (EGW never used "mutual obligation" to refer to the covenant.) First, he reverses the events in the story, placing first what the people did, and then stating, "at the same time, the Lord…". This is not the order of Scripture. Secondly, he fails to point out the self-dependence in which the people repeatedly made their commitment, which unbelief becomes an prime example of the counterfeit covenant.

In committing themselves to be God's people under His all-powerful action, God gave them the moral principles on which the covenant would be established. They are expressed in the precepts recorded in Deuteronomy 5:22-33. The Decalogue defined the relationship of the chosen people to God and to one another, both as members of the people of God and as members of the human family.

It is true that God can entrust to people of faith details of His plan that others would not receive. But again we fail to trace back from law to the roots of God's solution for sin and sinners when we do not see clearly, and state plainly, that salvation is of faith, not of law. While indeed the Decalogue defines the agape relationship to God and man, this is an impossibility for agape-less sinners, until faith comes, that faith that works by agape, revealed in and imparted through Jesus.

In addition to the Ten Commandments, designed for all humanity, God gave Israel other laws, intended to govern their special relationship with God. These included civil laws and health laws. But above all, the ceremonial law or sacrificial system was uniquely

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for Israel's spiritual benefit. Raoul Dederen pages 543-545 Chapter Title: THE CHURCH

D. A Faithful Israel There is no question that from the NT evidence the church is vitally related to God's plan of salvation. The question is: How does the church relate to Israel? The matter has been and still is vitally debated.

1. Two Major Approaches Some, seeing the differences between the two, insist that Israel and the church are two entirely separate peoples that cannot be mingled and must not be confused. God has two different programs that He is carrying out in history: one with Israel, the other through the Christian church. They maintain the distinction that recognizes Israel's calling as a nation among nations to the end of time (cf. Num. 23:9; Deut. 7:6-8). This interpretation allows for the literal understanding of OT prophecies portraying a most prosperous future for Israel as a nation.

Another position, emphasizing the similarities between Israel and the church, views the two essentially as one people of God, in continuity. Here, in NT times the term "Israel" represents no longer a national entity but the spiritual people of God, the new Israel. Because national Israel rejected its Messiah, God pursued His work of salvation by giving the kingdom "to a nation producing the fruits of it" (Matt. 21:43). This "chosen race," this "royal priesthood," this "holy nation," "God's own people," is the church (I Peter 2:9).

2. A Covenant Relationship What does appear in the Scriptures is that all of God's dealings with the Israelites in OT times were based on the covenant that originally had been ratified between Yahweh and Abraham (Gen. 15:18; 17:2-7). God had chosen him with a clear purpose in mind, the ultimate salvation of all nations (Gen. 12:3). Mindful of His covenant with Abraham (Ex. 2:24), God renewed it with Israel at Mount Sinai, so that His universal purpose might be fulfilled. Israel was to be his "own possession among all peoples" (Ex. 19:5. 6), a

We here have no mention of a second covenant at Sinai, which Paul used to illustrate the "old covenant" of works, based on man's promises, not God's.

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"kingdom of priests" (verse 6), set apart to represent God to the world and the needs of the world to God. The election of Israel, like that of Abraham, however, did not involve the rejection of any other nation. Israel had been chosen for the sake of the world's salvation, for, said God, "all the earth is mine" (verse 5). He had elected both Abraham and Israel not to privilege but to service, to further His purpose for the nations. The people of Israel pledged themselves to obey God (verses 1 -8; Ex. 24:3-8). On His part, God promised, as a result of their obedience, to give them the land He swore to their fathers (Deut. 1:7, 8: cf. Gen. 15: 18) and to endow them with unique physical, intellectual, and material blessings (Dent. 7:12-16; 28:1-6, 10, 13; 30:9, 10), setting them "high above all the nations of the earth" (Dent. 28:1). All these covenant blessings were predicated on Israel's wholehearted cooperation with God's will (Dent. 4:5-8; 7:12-16). Impressed by Israel's witness and living examples, one by one the nations would unite with Israel in the worship and service of the true God (Deut. 28:1-14; Isa. 2:1-3; 19:18-22; 56:6, 7: 60:1-16; Zech. 8:20-23). It is important to note that this was a conditional covenant, as the introductory clause of the Exodus 19 passage sets forth: "If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant" (verse 5). T.ragically, Israel became disobedient and an unworthy representative. Its defection led to the Babylonian captivity and the forfeiture of Canaan. After the Captivity, God renewed His covenant with Israel and restored the exiles to the land of the covenant as He had promised through His servants the prophets, who reminded Israel that the covenant promises would yet be fulfilled if they would be loyal to God (Isa. 14:1, 2: 27:12, 13; Jer. 16:14-16; 29:10,14; Eze. 34:11-16; Micah 2:12, 13).

No mention is made of their self-dependence at this time. Deut 7:12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments,

and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:

A "wholehearted cooperation" is indeed a new covenant concept, alluding to the obedience that flows from faith in the heart. When it is traced back to that root, then indeed the Abrahamic covenant is seen. Otherwise we have a covenant of works, which Abraham also illustrated.

The conditional verse (Exod. 19:5), must be seen in the light again of faith.

God has spoken ("my voice") and given His covenant ("my covenant"). The only valid human response is that of Abraham, to believe God from the heart. Israel's failure likewise must be traced to its root. It is not simply disobedience; it is unbelief, as Hebrews 3 & 4 so powerfully portrays. Israel's restoration after the captivity was due to a faithful remnant.

3. The Church as Spiritual Israel When the Messiah sent from God came, His own people "received him not" (John 1: 11). Israel, as God's covenant people, was rejected. This time no assurance of reinstatement came from God, but Christ gave a verdict on the Jewish nation: "The kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a nation producing the fruits of it" (Matt. 21:43). The privileges, promises, and blessing of the covenant relationship were transferred to the Christian

We should here also see the equivalency of "received" and "believed" as John 1:12 clearly states. The Jews did not "believe on Him whom He [the Father] hath sent." (John 6:29). They had not the faith of Abraham, so they discerned not the faith of Jesus, nor its value and the necessity to accept it as from the Father. They could not keep something they had not accepted. But the remnant of Jews who did believe became the nucleus of the "called out ones", the "nation" that was grafted in where the natural branches were cut off

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church as spiritual Israel and as God's chosen instrument on earth. because of unbelief (Rom. 11:23) at the end of the 490 years of Dan. 9. (We must see the connection between the unbelief of the old covenant and the self-exaltation at the basis of the desolations of Israel, indeed of all of history.)

Some of the OT prophecies made to national Israel would never be fulfilled, since they were made to a nation situated in the land of Canaan and were strictly conditional upon Israel retaining its status as the covenant people. Other promises that the OT directed to literal Israel are "spiritually" applied by the NT writers to the church. Thus after foretelling the rejection of Israel because of its sin, Hosea foresees its restoration (1:6, 9). God will make a new covenant with Israel (Hosea 2:18) and betroth His people to Himself forever (verses 19, 23). Rejected Israel would be restored. The NT applies the prophecy to spiritual Israel, the church. Referring to this new people that consists not of Jews only but also of Gentiles, Paul writes, "As indeed he says in Hosea, 'Those who were not my people I will call "my people," and her who was not beloved I will call "my beloved"'" (Rom. 9:25). Again, referring to Hosea 1:9, the apostle adds, "And in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the, living God'" (verse 26).

The marriage covenant is indeed the everlasting covenant, the union of humanity with divinity. The theme of faithfulness (or lack thereof) runs through all the marriage metaphors in sacred history. It is thus the church at the end is pictured (in Revelation) as a faithful woman (in contrast to a fornicating one) who "keeps" the law because she "keeps" the faith. This robes her in fine linen that reveals her readiness for the intimacy of the marriage supper. (This metaphor merges with sanctuary imagery as we understand and experience what it means to follow our Bridegroom/High Priest into the Most Holy Place where we encounter the ark of the covenant.)

Joel, like Hosea, foresaw the restoration of Israel: "You shall know that I am in the midst, of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame" (Joel 2:27). This promise is followed by the astounding prophecy of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh (verses 28, 29). This is clearly a promise to literal Israel, for the prophecy continues, "For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judea and Jerusalem" (Joel 3:1). Nevertheless, on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given to the church, Peter, guided by the Spirit, declared, "This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel" (Acts 2:16). It can be concluded that both Paul and Peter meant that promises made to literal Israel were fulfilled to spiritual Israel, the church. Individual Jews would still be able to find salvation, but they would do so as believers in Christ (Rom. 9:6; 11: 1, 2).

Believers in Christ are those who have the faith of Abraham. Christ's lengthy dialogue with the Jews about Abraham (John 8) must be seen in the light of the Abrahamic covenant. "Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham." (vs. 39). If they had the faith of Abraham, they would do what he did. "Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad." (vs. 56)

In many respects the church has taken the place of Israel, even to the point that not all who are descended from Abraham physically

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are his spiritual descendants. Paul stresses this point, for example in his Epistle to the Romans: "For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal" (2:28, 29: cf. 4:16; 9:7, 8: Gal. 3:29). Abraham has been made "the father of all who believe without being circumcised" (Rom. 4:11). It is difficult for language to state more clearly that Abraham's spiritual seed, his true spiritual children, are men and women of faith, whatever their ethnic background. The church has become "the Israel of God" (Gal. 6:16; see Remnant/Three Angels 1, 11)

Gal. 4 must be brought in here to show also that the children of the flesh are not the true children of Abraham, only the children of promise. This has ever been the case. The story of Ishmael and Isaac illustrating the two covenants reveal that at no time has God's everlasting covenant been with those who can claim fleshy lineage, rather with those who can claim nothing but God's promise (which does have universal dimensions, to bless "all families of the earth").

Gerhard Hasel pages 824-826 Chapter Title: DIVINE JUDGMENT

3. Divine Judgment and Grace for Ancient Israel Israel was established as a nation by divine intervention in history. On Mount Sinai God graciously provided a covenant to the wilderness generation (Ex. 19-24). The Exodus generation had experienced redemption, salvation, and liberation from spiritual and physical bondage (Ex. 1-18). The Sinai covenant established a profound relationship with God (Ex. 19:1-6).

We should always reference the covenant at Sinai with it larger setting: Ex 2:24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

Can we in light of their full experience say that "the Exodus generation had experienced redemption, salvation, and liberation from spiritual … bondage"? Heb. 4:17, 18 says "their carcasses fell in the wilderness" because they "believed not". It is here that Christ's dialogue with the Jews in John 8 (see especially vv. 31-37), along with Paul's commentary in Gal. 4:24, 25 ("gendereth to bondage", "in bondage with her children"), and in Heb. 4 reveal that the Exodus generation was an "example of unbelief" (vs. 11). Again, the Sinai experience had two covenants, which much clearly be distinguished, otherwise we have an amalgamation of truth and error. The "profound relationship with God" established at "the Sinai covenant" was God's graciously renewing with Abraham's descendents the covenant He made with Abraham. Tracing the name "Abraham" through the last four books of the Pentateuch established this fact powerfully.

God incorporated in His covenant with them His universal moral law as a way for them to live a successful life. It would regulate their relationship of love to God (the first four commandments of the Decalogue) and their relationship with fellow human beings (the

The author unfortunately formulates a statement ("law as a way for them to live") that can easily be read as meaning the law is the means to that end. If that were the case, then God in His covenant would have merely handed Adam, Abraham, and the Israelites the tables of stone containing the moral

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remaining six commandments). Thus, the Decalogue would provide the comprehensive norms intended to govern all God-human human-human relationships.

code. The law, as essential and eternal as it is, was never exposed in such a bare fashion to sinners. It would have proved deadly. It was in the covenant sanctuary service enshrined behind multiple layers of grace and mercy, illustrating what God had been doing since the Fall. Each layer was a promise, leading for sure to the law, but in a healing fashion.

The ceremonial law given to ancient Israel was to make it possible for those who fell into sin to be forgiven, for sin to be atoned for by a substitutionary sacrifice, and for the sinner to be restored to full covenantal fellowship with the holy God. The ceremonial law intended to take care of Israel's sins until one true Sacrifice of the future Messiah would fulfill it. The dietary law (Lev. 11:2-23, 41 Deut. 14:3-21) reaches back to pre-Isralite times (Gen. 9:2-4) and continues to function after Israelite times (Acts 15; cf. Hasel 1991; see Sanctuary 1. B, C).

The question here, in light of the "covenantal fellowship with the holy God", is how the ceremonial law was "to make it possible for those who fell into sin to be forgiven"? The author appears to contradicts Heb. 10:4 which states that it was "not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins". The symbols never were given "to take care of Israel's sins." They always were but symbols of the Reality to come, through faith in which alone could forgiveness and fellowship come.

All these laws--different in origin, design and function--were basic to God's plan for ancient Israel. "In Israel, then, all law is referred to Yahweh as Lord and Judge. Herein the distinctiveness of the OT relationship to God. The theological use of legal terms is possible only when faith in nature gods is vanquished by faith in the personal God who has established a historical relationship with the people which worships Him" (TDNT 3:925). The covenantal relationship, which includes universal and time-restricted laws, is the basis of and rationale for God to judge Israel when the nation breaks the covenant.

Judgment upon Israel is connected with the covenant blessings and curses. At the end of the long recitation of the covenantal laws, statutes, and ordinances (Deut. 5-26) the covenant blessings and curses appear (Deut. 27; 28). In Deuteronomy 30 Moses admonishes Israel to choose "life and good" (verse 15) and "blessing" (verse 19) over "evil," "death" (verse 15), and "curse" (verse 19) by remaining loyal to the covenant God. The book of Leviticus also contrasts covenant blessings (Lev. 26:3-13) and curses (verses 14-39). Israel's history is the fulfillment of these blessings and curses.

It is true Israel's history traces these realities, but here is where righteousness by faith must be taught in contrast to righteousness by law. Paul clearly draws this lesson in Rom. 9:30 to 10:11, even quoting from Deut. 30:11-14. 6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) 7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) 8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

Israel broke the covenant not merely because they did not keep the law. In themselves, that was all they could do. They broke the covenant because of

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unbelief, because of rejecting "the word of faith" as Paul explained it. In reality this was the Word of faith, present in all of the OT times and scripture.

Tragically Israel rebelled time and again against her beneficent covenant God and His laws. In order to bring Israel back into the right covenantal relationship, God sent His prophets with calls to repentance and warnings of the dire consequences of their actions. Yahweh repeatedly brought against them the "covenant lawsuit" (Heb. rib; Hosea 4:1; Micah 6:1-8).

The key to understanding Israel's rebellion is the truth of "her beneficent covenant God". Paul, in the setting of legal language, asked in Rom. 3:3 "shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect"? Israel rebelled because they were unwilling to become like their God. They refused His gift of faith, poured out of His very heart of faith. They repeatedly disowned Abraham as their father. God had given the covenant to Abraham in faith, and he had received it in faith. Their unbelief was the heart of Israel's failure.

The "covenant lawsuit" of Yahweh against His people is presented in detail in Micah 6:1-8. First comes the summons for Israel to listen (verse 1), for Yahweh has a "lawsuit" (rib) with His people (verse 2). He pleads His case before the mountains, hills, and the foundations of the earth (verses 1, 2). He directs His questions to the accused and pleads for a defense (verse 3). He states what kind of care He has bestowed on Israel and affirms why He has a claim on them (verses 4, 5). Israel responds by asking what sacrifice would be adequate to repair the estrangement from Yahweh (verses 6, 7). The appropriate response is that it should be not empty animal sacrifices but a life of faith in submission to God: "He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice [mispat], and to love kindness [hesed], and to walk humbly with your God?" (verse 8). Israel should live up to the beneficent covenant obligations, its norms and laws. The answer does call for sacrifice, but external animal sacrifices have meaning only if there is first an internal sacrifice of self, manifested in a genuine turning to God.

The author here touches on the heart. In response to God's "care" and "claim", Israel should have been changed into the same image from glory to glory. Only then would the covenant symbolic sacrifices "have meaning" because they would have been offered in faith in the Reality behind them, He who models the "sacrifice of self" for the Universe, not just for fallen sinners.

The expression "the day of the Lord" appears for the first time in Amos 5:18-20. This phrase occurs 16 times in six different prophetic books. But if we consider such expression as "Yahweh has a day," "the day of the anger of the Lord," "that day," "the day of," and "the day when," we find over two hundred usages, primarily in the prophetic books of the OT. There is ample evidence in the OT demonstrating that the expression "the day of the Lord" often expresses a day of judgment against His people Israel.

In light of the universal nature of the future event described, upon which covenant will the lawsuit of which Jeremiah speaks be brought?

Jer 25:31 A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy <07379> with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.

The popular conception of many Israelites in Amos's time was that "the day of the Lord" would be a day of vindication for Israel,

Was this not the disciples understanding in their question in Act. 1:6 "When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou

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because Yahweh would come to their rescue when they were threatened by enemies. However, Amos proclaimed, "Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light; as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned with his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?" (Amos 5:18-20). This reversal of what was popularly believed was intended to shake Israel out of its false sense of security and to cause Israel to consider seriously their intense rebellion. Its aim was to announce what would come upon them and thus to turn them back to the Lord before it was too late. If they insisted in their wickedness, God would judge His people and bring deserved punishment because they had broken the covenant with Him.

at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" It appears they did not yet understand Matt. 23 & 24. And Acts 7 was still future. In the Gospels likewise, Israel's fate turned on Abraham's example with the covenant: John 6: 28 ¶ Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. John 8: 39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

The purpose of divine judgment was to confront Israel with the reality of the path of death, which they had chosen as they departed from His beneficent covenant. If they continued on this path, they must know that it would mean separation from life and the God who gave them life, leading to destruction and death, which their own God would bring them. It would also serve to purify Israel and graciously reclaim His people. Judgment is used by God to function as a refiner's fire that smelts away the dross and removes the alloy (Isa. 1:22-25). Judgment would bring about just and appropriate rewards for their evil deeds. Their sins, transgressions, and evil cried out for justice; wrong had to be righted.

The covenant God made with Abraham revealed a much more awesome, terrible reward for unbelief. It showed a "an horror of great darkness" (Gen. 15:12). While it is true that God uses judgments to reprove, yet the only appropriate reward for their unbelief, for breaking the covenant, is the death Christ died.

Israel continued in the path of rebellion and experienced judgment. The tribes of the Northern Kingdom, after many warnings and messages to return to God, finally went into Assyrian exile in 722 B.C. The Southern Kingdom of Judah came to its avoidable and tragic end in 586 B.C., again after the people had rejected many voices of prophetic warning and counsel.

Daniel's famous prayer (Dan. 9:4-19), speaks of God, who keeps His "covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments" (verse 4) and the "treachery" which Israel has committed against God (verse 7). It also recognizes that they did not obey the teachings of "his servants the prophets" (verse 10). Daniel speaks of the covenant curse "in the law of Moses . . .

The importance of Dan. 9 regarding the covenant, Israel, and the Messiah cannot be overestimated. However, the word "covenant" occurs twice in this chapter, once when Daniel begins his prayer, "O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant" (vs. 4), and once when Gabriel echoes the theme, assuring Daniel that Messiah would "confirm the covenant with many for one week" (vs. 27). Strangely, the author does not mention the second occurrence.

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poured out upon us" (verse 11) and appeals to God's "great mercy" (verse 18), confessing all the sins and pleading for forgiveness (verses 9, 19). Divine compassion, mercy, and grace are shown to Israel by their God in that they are permitted to return to rebuild the Temple and Jerusalem (Ezra 1:2-4; 6:6-12; 7:11-26; Neh. 1, 2). A period of "seventy weeks," or 490 years (111. B. 1. a. [2]) of special probationary time of grace is granted to Israel, at the end of which the coming Messiah would die and do away with "sacrifice and offering" (Dan. 9:24-27). In all of these experiences God showed Himself to be in control of history. He directed His people whenever they wished to listen. He is in ultimate control of the affairs of the world in His own mysterious ways. Today's popular belief that God is a sentimental and loving godling who winks at evil and loves humans regardless of what they do does not agree with the picture of God in Scripture.

Israel's failures are connected as noted to the covenant: Da 9:11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that

they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse <0423> is poured upon us, and the oath <07621> that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.

De 29:21 And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses <0423> of the covenant that are written in this book of the law:

De 7:8 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath <07621> which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

We need better to trace why and how Messiah repeats, according to Gabriel, what Daniel had lived through; that is, "for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate."

Hans K. LaRondelle page 857ff Chapter Title: THE REMNANT AND THE THREE ANGELS' MESSAGES

[Introduction] The ultimate focus of all Bible prophecy and salvation history is the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth. Holy Scripture begins with Paradise created and lost (Gen. I - 3) and ends in the NT with Paradise restored (Rev. 2 1; 22). The election of Israel as the chosen covenant people of God was not an end in itself but God's appointed way to establish a visible sign before the nations of the justice and peace of the coming kingdom of God. Christ Jesus taught the New Covenant people, His church, to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6: 10). Thus the apostolic gospel message received its apocalyptic perspective in fundamental continuity with God's covenant with ancient Israel.

"Fundamental continuity" = one covenant

The humble coming of Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah of prophecy brought the decisive turning point in Israel's redemption history, the crucial and final test of the nation's faith and loyalty to the covenant God.

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(p. 857) [OT] The OT maintains throughout this sacred origin of the name as representing its higher calling. Through the prophet Hosea, God pointed to Jacob's wrestling with Yahweh as an example to be imitated by the apostate tribes of Israel, who were trusting more in the war horses of Assyria and Egypt: "So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God" (Hosea 12:6; see verses 3-6; 14:1-3). In other words, all Israelites must seek basically the same religious encounter with God and its transforming experience as Jacob had, in order to be the light of the world and to receive the covenant blessings.

The victory of Jacob (obviously by faith) was the way the covenant was

kept, enabling one to be a blessing by extending that faith to all with whom they came into contact.

(p. 858) Israel was chosen and redeemed by God's grace at the Exodus in order to be a holy people, that is, set apart to keep God's covenant and to be priests or mediators between God and the Gentile nations. Israel was saved by grace from a deadly enemy, but at the same time saved for God's glory and for the salvation of the other nations. The book of Deuteronomy teaches that the purpose of Israel's election was a deeply religious mission. They had to respond to God's redemptive act as "the sons of the Lord your God" (Deut. 14:1) by loving their covenant God with total commitment of heart (Dent. 6:5), by obeying Him willingly (verses 6-9, 18), and by worshiping Him exclusively (verses 13-15). In this religious sense Israel was as called to be free from idolatry, that is, "blameless [ta-mim] before the Lord your God" (Dent. 18:13: also 13:1-5; Ex. 20:1-3). Of fundamental importance for understanding Israel's election is the priority of divine grace before moral obedience. Moses explained, "Keep silence and hear. 0 Israel: this day you have become the people of the Lord your God. You shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you this day" (Dent. 27:9, 10).

This is the sequence seen in the giving of the words on "the tables of the

covenant" (Deut. 9:9). It is because of what God has done for them that they are called to live for Him.

From the Exodus onward, Israel was more than an ethnic entity: it was primarily a redeemed people, a religious community that found its unity and mission in the divine revelation of Yahweh embodied in the Torah. God's own word and act had elevated Israel into a

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worshiping congregation or assembly (qahal) in order to share its saving and sanctifying knowledge with the rest of humanity. At Shechem Joshua renewed Israel's commitment to the exclusive worship of Yahweh for later generations. In this renewal of the covenant, Israel pledged to revive their hearts and to reform their lives in accord with the revealed will of their Redeemer-God: "And the people said to Joshua, 'The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey'" (Joshua 24:24). Israel renewed its covenant with God continually in the sacred liturgies of the annual festivals centered in the sanctuary of God. Thus the worship feasts called Israel back constantly to a covenant relationship with God in order to revitalize its participation in the Exodus redemption and freedom.

"Before the death of Joshua the heads and representatives of the tribes, obedient to his summons, again assembled at Shechem. No spot in all the land possessed so many sacred associations, carrying their minds back to God's covenant with Abraham and Jacob, and recalling also their own solemn vows upon their entrance into Canaan. Here were the mountains Ebal and Gerizim, the silent witnesses of those vows which now, in the presence of their dying leader, they had assembled to renew. On every side were evidences of what God had wrought for them; how He had given them a land for which they did not labor, and cities which they built not, vineyards and oliveyards which they planted not. Joshua reviewed once more the history of Israel, recounting the wonderful works of God, that all might have a sense of His love and mercy and might serve Him 'in sincerity and in truth.'" {PP 522.4}

(p. 859) God's plan to bless the nations through Israel will be fulfilled, but in God's own innovative way: by means of Israel's faithful remnant. A divinely chosen remnant will inherit the covenant promises and responsibilities to enlighten the world. God's eternal purpose will stand and be fulfilled. The prophetic forecasts of Israel's restoration after the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles focus on God's concern with Israel as a restored theocracy, as a spiritually cleansed and worshiping people of God (Isa. 56; Eze. 36; Jer. 31), not as a secular, political state (Eze. 20:32-38).

(p. 860) In summary, the OT always portrays the future remnant of Israel as a faithful religious community that worships God with a new heart created by the Spirit of God, on the basis of the new covenant. The prophets Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel center the eschatological remnant of Israel and the nations around the Messiah, the Servant of Yahweh par excellence (Isa. 42:1-7; 49:6).

[NT] Israel's relationship with Yahweh was determined by its response to the advent of Christ and His atoning self-sacrifice. For Jesus, the

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true descendants of Abraham were defined, not by the blood of Abraham, but by the faith of Abraham. Sonship and fatherhood are primarily determined not by a physical but by a spiritual relationship (Matt. 12:48-50).

This is better referenced by Christ's dialogue with the Jews about Abraham as father in John 8 (as the author does later).

(p. 863) Jesus Himself identified the "people" whom God had chosen. To His disciples He said, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32; cf. 22:29). That Christ unmistakably identified His disciples as the true Israel is strengthened by the fact that the Israel of God was called the flock or sheep of God by Israel's prophets (Isa. 40:11; Jer. 31:10; Eze. 34:12-14).

By calling the disciples to form the little flock who would receive the kingdom, Christ formed the nucleus of the new Israel (Luke 12:32). Christ created His church, not besides Israel, but as the faithful remnant of Israel that inherits the covenant promises and responsibilities. Christ's church is not separated from the Israel of God, only from the Christ-rejecting Jewish nation as a whole. The immediate consequence of Christ's taking the theocracy away from the nation of Israel was the imposition of the covenant curse, as specified by Moses in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.

Christ expressed His longing for Jerusalem under the figure of a mother hen who tenderly cares for her chicks. They had not been willing; therefore. He affirmed, "your house is forsaken and desolate" (Matt. 23:37, 38). Weeping intensely over the city's horrible future under God's curse, Christ described the destruction it would stiffer at the hands of its enemies because they had not recognized the day of their "visitation" (Luke 19:42-44).

It is not clear why the author reverses the events of Matt. 23 and Luke 19. The weeping in Luke 19 occurred as He entered Jerusalem at the beginning of Passion week. The woes of Matt. 23 leading to the desolation foretold in the covenant curse centered about the temple and the Temple. That week was a week of weeping for Jesus, from the entry on the first day, to the garden on the sixth day. Do we understand the heart of the covenant-keeping God, who is rejected by His bride?

(p. 864) Peter addressed the Christian churches of his time, scattered throughout Asia Minor (I Peter 1: 1), with the honorable titles of Israel: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:9; cf. Ex. 19:5, 6). Although the apostle does not use the name

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"Israel," all that Israel stood for as the covenant people of God he now applies to the church. This is Peter's ecclesiological interpretation of God's covenant with Israel (Ex. 19:5, 6). This application is the outgrowth of the Christological interpretation of the Messianic prophecies. The ecclesiological application is only the organic extension of the Christological fulfillment. As the body is organically connected to the head, so is the church to the Messiah. The ecclesiological interpretation completely removes the ethnic and national restrictions of Israel's old covenant. The new covenant people is no longer characterized by the bonds of race or country but exclusively by faith in Christ. This people Peter called spiritual Israel, a "holy nation."

Could this reference to "Israel's old covenant" be understood to be the

covenant of Abraham's flesh instead of Abraham's faith? The everlasting covenant has ever been a covenant of faith, never restricted to one people group. It is important to see the exclusiveness of the old covenant, versus the inclusiveness and universal dimensions of the new.

Paul actually calls the churches in Galatia, in Gentile territory, "the Israel of God" (Gal. 6:16). Although some commentators have interpreted this phrase to mean the Jewish members of the churches, the historical context of this Epistle indicates that Paul was vehemently rejecting any status or claim of the Jewish Christians different from or above that of Gentile Christians before God. Baptized Jews and Gentiles are all one in Christ, "all sons of God, through faith" in Christ Jesus. Consequently, "there is neither Jew nor Greek" in Christ (Gal. 3:26-28). Paul's expression "the Israel of God" (Gal. 6:16) is a synonym of his earlier description of all Christian believers: "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise" (Gal. 3:29).

Through the cross Christ reconciled both Jews and Gentiles "to God" (verse 16). He thereby destroyed also the barrier, "the dividing wall of hostility" between Jews and Gentiles, "by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances" (verses 14, 15). This is an apparent reference to Christ's abrogation of the Mosaic law. Christ's mission was the formation of a Messianic Israel made up from all believers in Christ. His purpose was to "create in himself one new man in place of the two [Jews and Gentiles], so making peace" (verse 15). This purpose was realized through the cross of Christ (verse 16) and made known to God's holy "apostles and prophets" (verse 19). "This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together, with Israel, members together of one body' and sharers together in the promise

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in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 3:6, NIV). With the word "together" Paul stresses three times that Jewish and Gentile Christians are totally equal within the Israel of God and the covenant promise. No one is justified, therefore, in rebuilding the dividing wall between Israel and the church. (p. 865) He [Paul] portrays the conversion of Gentiles to Christ as the ingrafting of wild olive branches into the one olive tree of the Israel of God (Rom. 11:17-24). In this way Paul visualizes the spiritual unity and continuity of God's covenant with Israel and His new covenant with the church of Christ. Through faith in Christ Gentiles are legally incorporated into the olive tree, the covenant people of God, and share in the root of Abraham (verse 18). The lesson of the parable of the cultivated olive tree in Romans 11 is that the church lives from the root and trunk of the OT Israel (verses 17, 18). Paul's specific burden in Romans 11 is the revelation of a divine "mystery" concerning ethnic Israel: "A hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number [the pleroma] of the Gentiles come in, and so [houtos, in this way] all Israel will be saved; as it is written" (verses 25, 26).

The statement regarding "unity and continuity of God's covenant with Israel

and His new covenant with the church of Christ" clearly speaks of one covenant, which is the everlasting covenant.

Paul does not suggest an order of successive dispensations. He sees many Jews responding favorably to the salvation of many Gentiles who rejoice in God's mercy through Christ. And he sees it happening "now."

"Just as you [Gentile Christians] were once disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience [Jewish rejection of Christ], so they have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may ["now," NIV] receive mercy. For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all" (verses 30-32).

Paul allows no other way for Jews to be saved than the way all the Gentiles by faith in Christ, by the confession from the heart that Jesus is the risen Lord of Israel (Rom. 10:9, 10). He explicitly states God's condition for Israel's salvation: "If they do not persist in their unbelief, [they] will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them (Rom. 11:23). Ethnic Israel had largely come to claim God's covenant promises by its blood relation to Father Abraham and

Here the faith of Abraham versus the flesh of Abraham is clearly contrasted,

as noted earlier. These indeed are the two covenants of Gal. 4.

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thus to expect God's eschatological blessings an unconditional guarantee (see John 8:33, 34). Against this attitude of boasting in Israel's ethnic advantage (see Rom. 2:25-29), the apostle proclaims, "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek: the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him. For, 'every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved' " (Rom. 10:12,13). The church now fulfills the mission of ethnic Israel, the lopped-off branches 11:17, and is therefore endowed with Israel's covenant, blessings, and responsibilities, as well as curses if apostasy occurs. The spiritual blessing of God's presence among His people is intended to arouse the jealousy of natural Israel, because God's redemptive calling of Israel is irrevocable (verse 29). Though as a nation and God's agent, Israel lost its special status, the door of salvation remains open to the individual Jewish people if, as individuals, they repent and respond to the call.

(p. 866)

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Issues in the Covenant ("Covenant" used alone indicates the everlasting, new, second covenant.) Parties 1. Who are the parties in the covenant? 2. What role does each have in the covenant? 3. Can a covenant ever be one-sided? 4. Can role confusion explain the attempt at an alternate to the everlasting covenant? 5. What is the heart of the covenant? Law 1. What is the relation of the law and the covenant? 2. Did the law predate the covenant? 3. What does the law have to do with the old, first covenant? 4. Can the law and the covenant be equated? 5. What does lawlessness have to do with the covenant? Promise 1. What is the relation of promise and the covenant? 2. What role does human promise have in the covenant? 3. Can God's promise be equated with the covenant? Faith 1. What role does faith have with the covenant? 2. Is faith ("before faith came") in Gal. 3 referring solely to the human response, or is it also used to refer to Jesus Christ's historical coming? Righteousness 1. What relation does the covenant have with righteousness? Time 1. Why is the covenant "everlasting"? 2. Though everlasting, does the covenant change with time? Are there distinct time periods or dispensations? 3. Does "everlasting" mean unbreakable? What can changes and what doesn't? Reminders 1. How are we reminded of the covenant? Are there signs and symbols? 2. What metaphors in scripture are used to explain the covenant?