Am I Under A Covenant
(continued)

It is crucial in any marriage, whether one is a husband or wife of a human spouse, or whether one wants to be “The Bride of Christ,” that a person understand and accept what the other partner in the marriage desires and expects. This is what the Torah did for Israel, and since the groom hasn’t changed, neither have his desires and expectations.

Num 23:19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

The conditions of the Covenant were simple. If a person or a nation kept the commandments of God and walked in his ways, then they would be blessed. If they violated the commandments, and walked in the ways of the pagan nations around them, they would be cursed. The details of the blessings and the curses can be found in Deut. 28.

There were also signs given of this covenant. The first was the same as that given to Abraham; the circumcision of all males. This was renewed as a sign of obedience to the covenant. It was not the covenant itself. The second sign is the Sabbath, to be observed on the seventh day of the week. In Exodus 31:17 it is given as a sign of recognition of the day in which God rested after creating the world.

Exo 31:16 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. 17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.'"

Note however that although this isn’t explained until the book of Exodus, God set up the principle when he hallowed the seventh day in Gen. 2:3. The third sign is the annual observance of Passover and the feast of unleavened bread, which was to be a sign of the deliverance God wrought in bringing his people out of Egypt (see Exodus 13:3-l eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD. 7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you.

Ex 13:3-10
3 Then Moses said to the people, "Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the LORD brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast. 4 Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving. 5 When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites — the land he swore to your forefathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey — you are to observe this ceremony in this month: 6 For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the LORD. 7 Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. 8 On that day tell your son, 'I do this because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.' 9 This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For the LORD brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand. 10 You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year.
NIV
Note that all three signs are accompanied by language that makes it plain that these are eternal signs to identify the people of God, not merely transitory celebrations that would be superceded shortly. Also note that two of the signs were pre-existent prior to the giving of the commandments on Sinai.

Notably absent from this covenant is any mention of eternal life or of salvation as we think of it. Most of Christianity assumes that Israelites living in this covenant were saved by their works, or by keeping the law. This however is simply not true. Nowhere in the Torah does God promise eternal life to those who keep the commandments. While it is true that in later generations certain Jewish Rabbis began teaching that one could earn his way into heaven by living righteously and performing mitzvot (good deeds), this is not a biblical teaching. Israelites who lived in this period were saved the same way all sinners must be saved, by Grace, unearned and freely granted by God through faith and repentance. Salvation through good works was never possible, nor is it today.

The fifth covenant was made with David and his descendants. This was a conditional promise that as long as the sons of David walked according to God’s

Torah, there would never cease to be an heir of David on the throne of Israel.

1Ki 2:4 that the LORD may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, 'If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.'

This covenant was violated by many of David’s heirs, and finally during the reign of Zedekiah, the line was broken and the throne destroyed. (See 2^nd Kings chapter 25.) However God promised that the throne would one day be restored and that a Son of David would one day rule forever. This will be fulfilled when Messiah returns to establish his Kingdom on earth.

And finally, we get to the Covenant most talked about, the New Covenant. Unlike the misnomer of “Old Covenant,” when Jeremiah introduces this Covenant, he calls it “New.” We are first given the promise of this new Covenant in Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 31.

Jer 31:31 "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

Jeremiah first qualifies that this covenant will be made with the house of Israel and the House of Judah (not with the Gentiles, as some believe) We are told that this covenant is different from the covenants that Israel broke in that this time God himself will put the Torah into the hearts of his people and be their God and they will be his people. This is an unconditional Covenant of promise from God to forgive their sins and remember their iniquities no more. However, there is also the promise that all men will know the Lord and there will be no more need of teaching about Him.

Our Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) initiated or founded this Covenant with his own shed blood on his final Passover, and he also initiated a sign of the covenant. The Passover meal of matzah (unleavened bread) and wine was given new meaning when Yeshua explained that the wine represented the blood of the New Covenant, and that the matzah represented his body, broken for us.

1Co 11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.".