Some mistakenly view covenants like contracts, and while there are some similarities, covenants go much deeper. Contracts are typically entered by one or both parties for personal gain. Contracts have expectations that each person meets, and if those conditions are not met, the contract is void. Contracts are for a set period of time. Covenants on the other hand are entered based on the initiator’s love for the other party. For example, God entered into His covenant with Abraham because of his love for him not because of anything Abraham did to deserve it (Genesis 12, 15, 17). God did not enter it for any personal gain. Covenants are based on love, commitment, and forgiveness; covenants are not easily voided. Covenants are for an infinite amount of time, not a set amount of time. Contracts are signed with ink, covenants are sealed with blood.
The biblical covenants are crucial because they are the backbone of the story-line of the Bible. The Bible isn’t a random collection of laws, moral principles, and stories. It is a story that goes somewhere; it is the story of redemption, the story of God’s love, His faithfulness, and His kingdom. And the story unfolds and advances through the covenants God made with His people. It culminates with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ which ushered in the new, better, and final covenant between God and His people. If we don’t understand the covenants, we won’t understand the Bible because we won’t understand how the story fits together. The best way to see this is by quickly surveying some the covenants that led up to the new and better covenant we have today.
The Creation Covenant – Genesis 1-3: God created the world and everything in it (Acts 17:24; Genesis 1-2), showing He is the sovereign ruler of all. He created Adam and Eve, in His image, to “rule over” His creation (Genesis 1:28). As God’s son and daughter they would be confirmed in life and righteousness if they obeyed the Lord, but they would be cursed if they disobeyed the command not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17). In other words, there was covenant blessing and a covenant curse. As we know, they couldn’t keep this one simple command; they ate from the forbidden tree and experienced the covenant curse (Genesis 3).
By God’s grace the story doesn’t end there, for the Lord promised to triumph over the serpent through the offspring of the woman. Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” The rule originally given to Adam and Eve would be restored through the offspring of the woman.
The Covenant with Noah – Genesis 6:18; 9:8-17: As history unfolds, the horrific consequences of the sin of Adam and Eve became evident. Evil and corruption permeated the world. By the time of Noah there were only eight righteous people left in the world, and the promise of redemption through the offspring of the woman seemed like a distant memory. Every living thing, except for Noah and his family were wiped out from the earth (Genesis 7:23). God made a covenant with Noah (Genesis 9:9), promising that the human race wouldn’t be annihilated again insuring the plan of redemption through the offspring of the woman would be fulfilled. Noah was in some ways a new Adam on a new earth, and thus the creation covenant with Adam was rejuvenated. Still, salvation would not come through Noah.
The Covenant with Abraham – Genesis 12, 15, 17: After Noah the world again slid into sin, with the tower of Babel as the signature of that sin (Genesis 11). In this dire situation God called one man, Abram (Abraham Genesis 17:5), and made a covenant with him.
The Lord promised Abram a blessing that would extend to the ends of the earth. Abraham was like a new Adam and Canaan was to be a new Eden where God dwelt with his people. As the children of Abraham trust in the Lord and obey him the promises would be fulfilled. At the same time, the Lord promised in a dramatic covenant-ceremony recorded in Genesis 15 that the promise would certainly be fulfilled. God pledged that He would keep his promise but He would do it through the obedient offspring of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac who begat Jacob and God would later change Jacob’s name to Israel (Genesis 32:28). Israel (Jacob) was God’s son and Abraham’s offspring and the means by which blessing would flow to the whole world.
The Covenant with Israel – Exodus 19:5; 34-27-28: Exodus 34:27 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” A covenant was made with Moses and the nation of Israel after leaving Egypt. Israel was supposed to mediate God’s blessing and rule in the world. They lived in Canaan, the Promised Land, located geographically in the center of the ancient world. It was to be like a new Eden, a place where God ruled and dwelt in the midst of a holy people. The stipulations of the covenant with Israel are summarized in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5), and the Lord promised blessing if they obeyed but penalties if they broke the covenant (Deuteronomy 28-30).
The Covenant with David – Psalm 89:3-4 You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, 4 ‘I will establish your line forever and make your throne firm through all generations.’” The promise of victory over the serpent and his offspring will come through a child of Abraham (Genesis 3:15; 12:1-3), but in God’s covenant with David a new feature of the promise appeared, though if one reads the story carefully there were indications of this promise all along (2 Samuel 7). The new feature is that victory over the Satan (the serpent) would come through a king. The child of Abraham who will conquer sin and death will be a son of David. The promise of universal blessing will be secured through David.
The king, then, was a kind of new Adam, and for a brief time it almost looked as if all the promises would come to pass during Solomon’s reign. The covenant with David, however, had conditional and unconditional elements as well. If the kings transgressed, they would face God’s judgment. As history progresses, it becomes evident that something was radically wrong with the kings and with the nation. In fact, the sin of the kings of Judah (and Israel) was so significant that Israel was expelled from the land. God had pledged that the world would be transformed through a son of David, but the promise was going backwards!
Israel and Judah were thrown out of the land in 722 and 586 BC respectively. What was happening to God’s great promise?
The New Covenant – Jeremiah 31:31-34: The Mosaic Covenant gave Israel the law, the sacrifices, and the choice of blessing or curse (Exodus 19). The Davidic Covenant promised an everlasting dynasty, a perfect ruler, and the Promised Messiah (2 Samuel 7). But Israel had made a mess of things, and it almost seems as if the promise of triumph over the serpent had been withdrawn, but we remember that the promise in Genesis 3:15 was unconditional, and that the Lord also guaranteed that victory would come through a child of Abraham and a son of David.
Still, there was a problem with the covenant made with Israel, and the cancer resided in the people: they failed to keep God’s commands and thus experienced the curses of the covenant. The Lord however would establish a new covenant with His people that would fulfill the promises made to Adam, Abraham, and David.