Genesis 3:15: "And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his heel."
After Adam and Eve sinned they were given a divine promise that one of Eve's
descendants (Christ) should destroy sin and the serpent (Satan - Revelation 12:9).
To all men this covenant offered pardon and the assisting grace of God for future
obedience through faith in Christ.
Revelation 12:9 "And the great dragon was cast
out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world:
he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."
Genesis 17:1-2, 7: "And when Abram was ninety
years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty
God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and
thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. . .. And I will establish my covenant
between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting
covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee."
Genesis 22:18: "And in thy seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice."
Galatians 3:16: "Now to Abraham and his seed
were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And
to thy seed, which is Christ."
Though this covenant was made with Adam and renewed to Abraham, it could not
be confirmed until the death of Christ. It had existed by promise and had been
accepted by faith; yet when made a reality by the sacrifice of Jesus, it is called a
"new covenant", because the blood (Christ's) by which it was sealed was shed after the
blood (animal sacrifices) of the "first" covenant. The ten commandments were the
basis of this covenant (Genesis 26:5), which was simply an arrangement for bringing
men again into harmony with the divine will, placing them where they could obey
God's law.
Genesis 26:5 "Because that Abraham obeyed my
voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."
Hebrews 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."
Deuteronomy 26:17-18: "Thou hast avouched
(confessed) the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his
statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: and
the Lord hath avouched (acknowledged) thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he
hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments."
Exodus 19:5-6: "Now therefore, if ye will obey
my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me
above all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of
priests, and an holy nation. . . ."
Deuteronomy 4:13: "And he declared unto you
his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he
wrote them upon two tables of stone."
[Further Study]
Exodus20:3-17
3 Thou shalt have no other
gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto
thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that
is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5 Thou shalt not bow down
thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation
of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto
thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
7 Thou shalt not take the
name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh
his name in vain.
8 Remember the sabbath day,
to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou
labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the
LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter,
thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within
thy gates:
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the
LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy
days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
13 Thou shalt not kill.
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Thou shalt not steal.
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against
thy neighbour.
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house,
thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor
his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Exodus 19:7-8: "And Moses came and called for
the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the
Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, All that the
Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord."
Exodus 24:3, 7-8: "And Moses came and told the
people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered
with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do. . . .
And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and
they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took
the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant,
which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words."
[Further Study]
Hebrews 9:19-24 "For when Moses had spoken every
precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of
goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all
the people, Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the
ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding
of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in
the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with
better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with
hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the
presence of God for us:"
Exodus 24:18: "And Moses went into the midst of
the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and
forty nights."
Exodus 32:7-8: "And the LORD said unto Moses, Go,
get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have
corrupted themselves: They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded
them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed
thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of
the land of Egypt."
Exodus 24:7: "And he took the book of the
covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD
hath said will we do, and be obedient."
The book referred to in this verse had to do with directions relating to the duty of the people to God, to one another, and to the stranger, and were only the principles of the ten commandments amplified and given in a specific manner, that none should err. They were designed to guard the sacredness of the ten precepts engraved on tables of stone.
Romans 10:3: "For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not
sumbitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."
[Further Study]
John 15:4-5 "Abide in me, and I in you. As the
branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except
ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."
Matthew 26:41 "Watch and pray, that ye enter not
into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
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. Feeling they were able to establish their own righteousness they readily entered into covenant with God. Only a few weeks passed before they broke their covenant with God, and bowed down and worshipped 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 a Saviour revealed in the Abrahamic covenant and shadowed forth in the sacrificial offerings. Now they were prepared to appreciate the blessings of the "new covenant".
It must be remembered that the law had not in itself the power to save, but on the
contrary could only condemn.
Romans 8:3 "For what the law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:"
Galatians 3:24 "Wherefore the law was our
schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith."
Jeremiah 31:31-33: "Behold, the days come,
saith the LORD, that 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 that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which
my covenant they broke although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this
shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days,
saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts;
and will be their God, and they shall be my people."
[Further Study]
2 Corinthians 3:3 "Forasmuch as ye are manifestly
declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with
the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart."
Hebrews 8:7-10 "For if that first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. 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: 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 continued not in my covenant, and
I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with
the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their
mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be
to me a people:"
The new covenant was also based upon the ten commandments. It not only involves heart obedience by divine power instead of human power, but also the sacrifice of Christ and His shed blood instead of animal sacrifices.
Matthew 26:26-28: "And as they were eating,
Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and
said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it
to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
[Further Study]
Hebrews 9:12-15 "Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the
ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
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?
And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death,
for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they
which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance."
Psalms 40:8: "I delight to do thy will, O my
God: yea, thy law is within my heart."
Jude 24: "Now unto him that is able to keep
you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy."
Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through
Christ which strengtheneth me."
[Further Study]
Read the Further Study texts and the remaining paragraphs of this lesson by clicking on Part 2.