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Colleen Tinker, Feature, Letters to the Editor

A Question About the New Covenant

I have a question about the new covenant. If the new covenant was established at the cross, how do we understand its relationship to the everlasting covenant that God established with Abraham and the promise of salvation through faith?

Just seeking clarity—many thanks. I am so appreciative of your ministry to Adventists who have seen the extra-biblical problems with Adventist doctrines. I trust in our Lord Jesus Christ and his complete atonement and resurrection. He is my pearl of great price!

—VIA EMAIL

Response: Thank you for writing! The biblical covenants truly are the key to understanding the role of the law and of Jesus’ blood.

God made an unconditional covenant with Abraham, promising him seed, land, and blessing. In Genesis where God ratified the covenant Himself while Abram slept, part of God’s promise to Abraham was that his descendants would be enslaved 400 years and that He would bring them out of slavery with great wealth and bring them back to the land where He had covenanted with him. 

When God delivered the Israelites from Egypt, He fulfilled that promise to Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved and then delivered from slavery. 

As Israel went into the land, God made the Mosaic covenant with them. It was unlike the Abrahamic covenant which is unconditional. This covenant was made between God and the nation of Israel. It did not undo the covenant God made unconditionally with Abraham but operated UNDER the overarching continuity of God’s unconditional covenant to give Abraham Seed, Land, and Blessing. It was a separate covenant, not a replacement covenant nor an addition to the Abrahamic covenant. It was distinct and discreet, made between God and Israel. The entire Mosaic covenant was God’s constitution for the nation of Israel, establishing the nation’s relationship to Him as their sovereign, suzerain King. The Mosaic covenant established Israel’s civil laws, worship, identity, and its place among the nations.

The book of Galatians explains that the law given to Israel (the Abrahamic covenant did not contain the Law) was exclusively for Israel and foreshadowed the work of the Messiah. At the heart of the Mosaic covenant/Law was a death sentence: blessings for obedience, curses for disobedience. All who broke the law were under a death sentence—and that meant every single Israelite—except One. Jesus had no sin, and He was never under its death sentence. He perfectly pleased the Father.

Yet Jesus took the sins of the nation and also of all humanity into Himself by imputation. He atoned for the sins that separated mankind from God, and after His death, trial, and resurrection, whenever a person believes and trusts in the Lord Jesus and His completed atonement, he passes from death to life (John 5:24). 

Jesus’ blood inaugurated a NEW covenant that is also UNCONDITIONAL. His blood ushers believers into eternal reconciliation and peace with God. The new covenant has become the means of partially fulfilling the promise of Blessing which God gave to Abraham. The promised Seed came, borunder the law and covenant of Moses, but His perfect fulfillment of the shadows of the Mosaic law inaugurated a new covenant—one that is not two-way. When we believe, we enter that new covenant with the Lord Jesus and experience spiritual life and rest. 

Yet the Abrahamic covenant is STILL being fulfilled. The promise of Abraham’s descendants being brought back to the land is yet to be fulfilled. There will be a literal kingdom on earth when the Lord Jesus comes to reign. 

Here is a video that may help with the big picture of the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, and the new covenant.

Here is a set of podcasts that will be helpful in explaining the relationship of the covenants. 

Finally, I suggest that you read the book of Galatians every day for a month. It’s short—only six chapters—but it explains the ongoing validity of God’s promises to Abraham while the law was fulfilled. The Mosaic covenant was temporary, having a beginning 430 years AFTER God’s covenant with Abraham and lasting UNTIL the Seed—Galatians 3:17–19. This temporary covenant did not get added to the Abrahamic nor remove any part of the Abrahamic covenant, but it did foreshadow and identify the Lord Jesus as the One who fulfilled the Mosaic covenant and inaugurated the new one in His blood. The old covenant functioned as an entirely separate covenant made with a specific nation while God’s eternal plan given in the Abrahamic covenant continued unbroken! The new covenant, also unconditional, now functions as the means of our reconciliation with God while He still is fulfilling His unconditional promises made to Abraham millennia ago! †

Write to: proclamation@gmail.com

Colleen Tinker
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