The Everlasting Covenant

It is often said that the Old Covenant was the keeping of the commandments, and the New Covenant is freedom from God’s law. However, there is only one Everlasting Covenant based upon the promise of redemption and victory over sin through Jesus Christ. God’s Ten Commandment law forms the basis for both the Old and the New Covenant; it is the way in which obedience is achieved that is different, as we will come to see.

The first thing for us to understand is that a covenant is an agreement between two parties based upon mutual promises. Both the Old and New Covenants are founded upon promises between God and His people. With this in mind, it is helpful for us to uncover what the Old Covenant is and is not. This covenant was handed down to Israel at Sinai,

And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” Exodus 19:3-6

Here God is laying out the premises for the Old Covenant, that Israel should obey all that He tells them, and if they do this He promises to bless them in return. Once this agreement was made, God went on to speak His holy Ten Commandment law from the burning pinnacle of Sinai. It is clear to see that this law is a foundational component of the Old Covenant. A New Covenant was introduced because God found fault with the Old and that fault lay with the people, not the law upon which it was based.

So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him. Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” So Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord. Exodus 19:7-8

Israel promised to do all that God had commanded them. This seems good, right? The problem is that it is impossible for us in our own strength to keep God’s law.

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. Romans 8:7

Israel’s response was “we will do” all that God commands. This is works-based salvation; earning righteousness through our own works of obedience. Notice the issue that God had with the Old Covenant:

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. Hebrews 8:7-9

God immediately found fault with the people, being unable to keep His holy law.

While Moses was yet on Mount Sinai with God, the people went about making and worshipping a golden calf (Exodus 32:7-8). It was not long after they had sworn perfect obedience that they were committing idolatry. God does not say that the fault was with Himself or His law, but with the people who were unable to keep it, and so God disregarded them. God planned to solve this problem by instituting a New Covenant based on better promises.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbour, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Hebrews 8:10-12

Here we can see that God’s law remains the foundation of His New Covenant, for this was never the problem with the Old Covenant He made. As a matter of fact, where the Old Covenant is said to be ‘faulty’ the law is said to be ‘perfect’ (Psalms 19:7). The Old Covenant stated obey and live (Ezekiel 20:11), disobey and be cursed (Deuteronomy 27:26). The New Covenant is based on salvation by grace through faith and not of ourselves (Ephesians 2:8). The difference with the New Covenant is that it is now God who is working in us, and not us working out our salvation for ourselves. Not only are we offered forgiveness for our sins through the atoning blood of Christ, but God promises to now write His law in our hearts and minds. What does it mean for God to write His law in our hearts and minds?

But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16

For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:13

For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:3-4

Under the New Covenant, we have the promise of divine aid. Through receiving the Holy Spirit, God is able to work out His will (Law) in our lives. No longer do we strive to achieve salvation through the works of the law, now we are able to keep the law because we are saved and have the mind of Christ. Jesus came in our flesh and conquered sin so that He might work out His will in our heart, that we might fulfil the just requirements of the law through perfect obedience to it. Hear what King David said on this matter:

I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. Psalms 40:8

Here we can see that David understood the fundamental principle of the New Covenant. When God writes His law in our heart this becomes our will and desire, and we are then moulded after the divine pattern and partake of the divine nature.

As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 2 Peter 1:3-4

Here is why the New Covenant is also the Everlasting Covenant. Never has salvation been achievable through works, because our righteousness has always only ever been as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). Jesus is the only way of salvation, works have never saved anyone.

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12

One might ask why God would institute a covenant that He knew the people could not keep and which could not save them. The Israelites had been in Egypt, surrounded by idolatry and sin, for a very long time. As a result, they had lost a sense of their own sinfulness and insufficiency. It was God’s desire to lead them to see their own helplessness and need for His divine saving grace. Without learning this important lesson through the principles of the Old Covenant, the Israelites would never have been able to enter into the New Covenant promise and find salvation through Christ alone.

Even in Old Testament times, they were able to enter into the New Covenant promise. Just as King David had the correct understanding of salvation, Abraham is also recorded as having entered into the Everlasting Covenant by faith.

Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Galatians 3:6

Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. And this I say, that the law [old covenant], which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant [new covenant] that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise [new covenant] of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law [old covenant], it is no longer of promise [new covenant]; but God gave it to Abraham by promise [new covenant]. Galatians 3:16-18. (Words in brackets added).

Paul is contrasting the works based salvation of the Old Covenant with the faith and grace-based salvation of the New Covenant promise in Christ. The law has the power to reveal sin (Romans 3:20; 7:7), but it cannot justify the sinner (Galatians 3:11). He explains here that the introduction of the Old Covenant at Sinai did not make of no effect the faith-based salvation that God freely offered to Abraham. Abraham understood salvation through Christ and looked forward with faith to the coming Messiah. Jesus tells us that Abraham rejoiced to see His day, and he saw it, and was glad (John 8:56). The problem was that Israel had lost the knowledge of this Everlasting Covenant and so it was needful that God give them the Old Covenant to reveal to them their insufficiency and need for divine help to live a new and holy life.

Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. Galatians 3:24-25

To be under this tutor is to be under the Old Covenant of works-based salvation. When we come to God we are born again into a new spiritual life by the converting grace of Christ through the Holy Spirit. God’s law becomes a delight and His will is blended with ours. We will then walk in the newness of the Spirit (law in our heart) and not in the oldness of the letter (salvation by works) (Romans 7:6).

Paul uses the analogy of Sarah and Hagar, the wives of Abraham, to further explain the nature of the New and Old Covenants. He tells us that Hagar’s son, Ishmael, is a type of the Old Covenant, while Sarah’s son, Isaac, is a type of the New.

For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—Galatians 4:22-25

If we reflect on what we have just learned about the covenants it becomes clear just how appropriate this analogy is. God promised to give Abraham a son through Sarah. This promise was based on God performing a miracle for them, for Sarah was past childbearing age. However, Abraham and Sarah lost faith in this promise and took matters into their own hands; Abraham took Hagar to wife and had a son through her to try to bring God’s promise to effect through his own works. On the other hand, Sarah had a son by God’s power and working in her life. And so Paul clearly presents salvation through faith versus salvation through our own carnal works. But we must also note here that Sarah also represents obedience to the divine will, while Hagar represents disobedience to the divine will. While Sarah represents faith, she also represents obedience to God.

The final point to be made is the ratification of these covenants and the implications that this has on our duty to fulfil God’s law. When something is ratified it is brought into effect and forever sealed. The first covenant was ratified by the blood of animals (Exodus 24:4-8) that were sacrificed to God after this agreement was made to put it into effect. The New Covenant was ratified with the blood of Christ around 1500 years later. In truth, the New Covenant came first and was given to Adam when the promise was made that the Seed (Christ) would crush the head of the serpent (Satan) (Genesis 3:15), and later confirmed to Abraham. The reason that this is called the 'New Covenant' is that it was not ratified until after the Old Covenant.

A covenant only comes into effect once the one who makes the covenant has ratified it with blood. Once the blood is shed, the covenant comes into effect and cannot be changed.

Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. Galatians 3:15

For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. Hebrews 9:16-17

Testament means the same as covenant. Before Jesus died, the grounds upon which the New Covenant were to be established were set. Once Jesus died the covenant came into effect and no one can now change it. It was for this reason that Jesus instituted the communion service with His disciples before His death. He could not have waited until after because His death marked the ratification of the New Covenant.

What implication does this have? At no point during Jesus life did He state that the law was to be done away with. In fact, Jesus told us that not a jot or tittle would by any means pass from the law (Matthew 5:18). After Jesus died, no change could be made to His law as it is now sealed within the New Covenant.

Today, many Christians choose to keep Sunday instead of the Biblical seventh-day Sabbath (Saturday). It is claimed that Sunday is holy because it is the day on which Jesus rose from the dead. The problem is that no changes can be made to the New Covenant after Jesus died. The resurrection, naturally, came after Jesus death. So the concept of keeping Sunday came after the New Covenant was ratified (even if only by two days), and therefore cannot be a part of it. So it remains that the Ten Commandment law, with its seventh-day Sabbath, continue to form the basis of the New Covenant.

When we come to Christ we enter into the New and Everlasting Covenant with Him. Through His atoning sacrifice, we are freely offered forgiveness for our sins and given divine grace to overcome every trial and temptation. Grace implies more than just forgiveness, it is the power of God that is bestowed upon us that we might live a new and holy life. Christ now lives in our hearts and has placed His law there, so that we might delight to live according to its principles. In doing this, God restores us to the divine image from which we fell when sin entered the world.

If you would like to learn more about the Mosaic and Moral laws and which one ended with Jesus death please see our article "The Moral and Mosaic Laws". For more information on the relationship between grace and the law, please view our article "The Law and Grace - The True Gospel". To learn more about the Sabbath and why this day is still relevant to Christians today please read "The Sabbath - A Day to Remember". Please also view our other articles that cover a range of other topics.