Clifford Denton offers some reflections on Good Friday.

This weekend we will celebrate the most important event of all history, an event only to be equalled by the Lord Jesus' return to bring the Kingdom of God fully in. It is more important than the created universe (Luke 21:33). As deep as was the Flood to drown a sinful world, deeper still is the love of God who sent his own Son into the world to redeem from sin all who would believe.

The sky darkened, the earth shook, the curtain in the Temple was torn from top to bottom and many saintly people rose from their graves as Jesus defeated the power of sin and death on that eventful day (Matt 27:45-56).

What Abraham Looked Forward to!

2,000 years before, Jesus' sacrifice had been foreshadowed when God said to Abraham, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you" (Gen 22:2).

God had already, in the most dramatic way of cutting a covenant (Genesis 15), made a promise that depended only on his own faithfulness, that Abraham's offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and dwell in the land promised to them by God. Isaac was the son of promise through whom this line would come in the physical sense, yet God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son on a mountain in the Moriah range.

Just at the point of Abraham's making the sacrifice, an angel intervened and Isaac was spared. A ram was sacrificed instead (Gen 22:13). Under Abraham's knife was not just Isaac but all who would descend from his physical line. The ram was the substitute. The ram died and all the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were able to live. The principle of substitution began.

Abraham looked forward in faith to see how God would fulfil his covenant responsibility, spending his life living in tents but waiting "for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Heb 11:8-10).

When God provided a ram for sacrifice instead of Abraham's son Isaac, the principle of substitution began.

The Passover Sacrifice

The covenant pathway was never easy for Abraham's descendants, as Joseph found when he was taken captive to Egypt, followed by the entire family of Israel (Gen 37-50). 430 years later, when the nation of Israel had grown whilst in captivity, Moses was chosen to lead Israel out of Egypt.

On the night chosen by God, henceforward to be celebrated annually as Passover, one of the prescribed Feasts of Israel, God judged the sins of Egypt but preserved the Israelites who through faith, family by family, each sacrificed a lamb and painted their door-posts with its blood (Ex 12).

This principle of faith was to be engraved into the consciousness of all Israelites. They were soon to be taught what was right and wrong in God's eyes through the Covenant at Sinai, to know the path of forgiveness through the sacrifices of the Tabernacle and Temple ministries, though still to have no permanent remedy for sin (Heb 9:1-10).

A Temple on Mount Moriah

The City of Jerusalem was founded by King David when, about 1,000 years after Abraham, Israel had settled in their Land (2 Sam 5:6-10). Since then, Jerusalem has been the chief city in the world for God to centre his purposes. David longed for a Temple so that the ministry of the Tabernacle from the wilderness years could have a permanent centre.

He purchased the land on the same mountain range where Abraham had taken his son Isaac. This was the place where the angel of death was commanded by God not to destroy Jerusalem on account of David's sin in taking an unlawful census (2 Sam 24:16-17). David's son Solomon built the Temple on the threshing floor of Ornan (Araunah) on Mount Moriah (2 Chron 3:1). The worship and sacrifice centre of Israel was completed.

1,000 years after Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac on Mount Moriah, King David purchased land in the same area for the building of God's Temple.

It was destroyed at the Babylonian captivity in 536 BC, rebuilt by Zerubbabel on return from captivity, 70 years later, and modified by Herod into a more ornate structure. Central to the life and hopes of Israel for all these long years was the covenant with Abraham, the Feasts (including Passover) and the substitutional sacrifice for sin through the blood of the lamb.

Jesus the Messiah

Though there was an expectation for a coming Messiah to Israel, it was beyond human intellect to put all the prophecies together to see clearly how God would fulfil his promise to Abraham. A king from the line of David was eagerly awaited, with most Jews expecting a saviour to come in glory and raise an army against the occupying Romans of Jesus' day. Without the revelation such as Peter had at Caesarea Philippi (Matt 16:13), they did not understand that Isaiah pointed clearly to a suffering Saviour (Isa 53), accurately fulfilled by Jesus on the Cross.

He entered this world as God's only Son, echoing the experience of Abraham and Isaac so long ago. He grew up in the Jewish tradition, totally representing the nation, and ministered for three and a half years in fulfilment of all the scriptures pointing to Messiah. Then, riding on a donkey as a man of peace, with a clear climax to his ministry soon to occur, he descended the Mount of Olives and crossed the Kidron Valley to the City of Jerusalem.

With great expectation palm branches paved the way for the coming King of the Jews – as some recognised him to be. Yet only he knew how the rest of the scriptures would be fulfilled. He was, with the crown of thorns, the ram in the thicket that replaced Isaac, the saviour of Israel through substitutionary sacrifice. He came to be the Passover lamb that for all those years had pointed to him.

With the crown of thorns, Jesus was the ram in the thicket that replaced Isaac, the substitutionary sacrifice, the Passover lamb.

Perfect Sacrifice

He shared the traditional evening Passover meal with his disciples ensuring that they would remember that this was now to be shared as a memorial to him. The next day at the time of the Temple Sacrifice - one sacrifice for all the people - he willingly died on the Cross to release all who would accept his sacrifice for their sin – one Lamb for the entire family of faith.

The night before, in all Jewish homes there had been a service of remembrance of the first Passover and the atoning blood of the lamb. All history right up to that night prepared the way for the intercessory prayer from the Cross of the dying Saviour – "Forgive them Father for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34) and his victorious cry of "it is finished" (John 19:30) that still echoes to us across the centuries. No-one knows the exact spot where it took place but this too was on the range of hills named Moriah.

Today

All over the world the Jews still celebrate Passover in the traditional way, ending the seder with "next year in Jerusalem". There is an ongoing desire for God to complete the promises made to Abraham. Those with eyes opened by the Spirit of God see how all the prophecies and the types and shadows of Israel's history were fulfilled in Jesus. It was far more than a release from the captivity of the Egyptians, the Babylonians or the Romans that he came to accomplish – it was freedom from the chains of sin that ensnare us all.

Those with eyes opened by the Spirit of God see how all the types and shadows of Israel's history are fulfilled in Jesus.

The Gospel went to the Gentile world and the Christian Church increased in numbers, fulfilling the promise to Abraham that his seed would be as countless as the stars in the sky and sand on the seashore. Grafted into believing Israel we too celebrate Passover whenever we take communion. It is unfortunate that Christians renamed Passover as Easter and moved the date slightly so that Easter always falls on a Sunday. Nevertheless, on Good Friday, as it is called, Christians around the world will be celebrating the Lord's death on the Cross once more.

Remember the history of it all as you pass around the bread and the wine reading Paul's injunction:

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same manner he also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. (1 Cor 11:23-26)

God's character is unchangeable and absolutely dependable; this we learn through his covenants with his people. It is the task of the prophet to be an agent of God's covenant promises - but what does that mean?

The God whom the prophets of Israel proclaim is a God of order and settled purpose. There is nothing haphazard or uncertain about him. He is unchangeable and in consequence absolutely dependable. This attribute of his character is demonstrated by the way in which he relates himself to people, either as groups or as individuals (but always for the benefit of the whole), by means of covenants.

This is underlined by the division of the Christian scriptures into two sections that we call the Old and New Testaments (or, alternatively, covenants). An important aspect of the ministry of the prophet in the Bible as a whole and in the church of today is that of being agents of the covenant.

The Lord is the God of order and settled purpose. There is nothing haphazard or uncertain about him.

All Biblical Covenants Spring from the Divine Initiative

God's Covenant with Noah

When God decided that the whole of mankind had corrupted itself beyond redemption and must be destroyed by a flood, he said to Noah, "But I will establish my covenant with you, and you (and your family) will enter the ark" (Gen 6:18). After the flood had come and gone God spoke again to Noah and said, "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you...never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life" (Gen 9:9, 15).

This covenant was conceived by God himself. It was universal in its scope, unconditional in its nature, and formulated entirely at God's initiative. Man had no part in it, except to enter the ark. In his second letter Peter draws his readers' attention to the flood of Noah, saying "the world of that time was deluged and destroyed...the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment" (2 Pet 3:16-17).

An important aspect of the ministry of the prophet in the Bible and today is that of being agents of God's covenant.

Part of the solemn responsibility of today's prophets is to declare the coming destruction of the heavens and earth, when the very elements will melt in its heat. The tragedy of Chernobyl illustrates this ancient prediction. But the ultimate outcome of God's covenant is to be "a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness" (2 Pet 3:13).

God's Covenant with Abraham

The Hebrew word berith, which is translated 'covenant' in the Old Testament, means 'to cut' and gives rise to the expression 'cutting a covenant'. In order to confirm his covenant with Abram God told him to bring sacrificial animals and birds, to cut the animals in half and to arrange the birds opposite one another, leaving a path between the sacrifices. After dark that evening "a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram" (Gen 15:17-18).

In the more usual and secular use of this covenant-cutting ceremony, the two parties would have walked together between the divided animals. In effect they would be saying, "I would rather die like these offerings than break my word" (Jer 34:18). But this further illustration shows that in the matter of covenants the initiative is always with God. Abram did not walk between the pieces - he was sound asleep - but was assured of the divine promises to him through seeing God (symbolised by fire) pass through the sacrificial offerings.

God promised Abram possession of the land of Canaan, the multiplic¬ation of his descendants, and the blessing of all families of the earth through his seed (Gen 12:2-3, 15:18, 17:8). The sign of this covenant was circumcision, and those who refused it would lose their share of the blessings God had covenanted to Abram's descendants. But his promise would be fulfilled in perpetuity. God's purpose concerning the people and the land still holds good today, even though centuries have elapsed since the promise was made.

God promised Abram and his descendants possession of the land of Canaan, and this promise still holds good today.

God's Covenant with Moses and Israel

It was when the Children of Israel were in captivity in Egypt that God renewed his covenant with them through Moses. "I have heard the groanings of the Israelites...and I have remembered my covenant...I will take you as my own people...and I will bring you to the land I swore to give to Abraham" (Ex 6:5-8). It was not because the Children of Israel pleased their God that he gave them such wonderful promises, but because he loved them and had determined to save them (Deut 7:7-9).

As Moses commented, "He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands" (Deut 7:9). At Sinai Moses ascended the mountain to hear God say, "I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now, if you will obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession" (Ex 19:4-5). But certain demands were made of those God had chosen as his special people. They were to be holy, just as he is holy, and they were to be obedient to all his requirements as laid down in the book of the Covenant (Lev 19:2; Ex 24:7-8).

When God renewed his covenant with the Children of Israel through Moses, he gave them wonderful promises and also laid out his demands for them as his chosen people.

Part of Israel's obligation to God in response to his sovereign activity on their behalf was to observe the sabbath: "The Israelites are to observe the sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant" (Ex 31:16).

God's Covenant with David

On one occasion, when at war with King Jeroboam of Israel, King Abijah of Judah expressed his understanding of the divine purpose to his adversary by saying, "Don't you know that the Lord, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants for ever by a covenant of salt?" (2 Chron 13:5). Salt, specified for use with all the Levitical sacrifices, stands for permanence and incorruption. hence its use here to stress the unending reign of David and his descendants.

In its ultimate reference, the covenant with David is Messianic. For the Messiah is to be the embodiment of the covenant, as is expressed by Isaiah when he said, "I will make you to be a covenant for the people" (Is 42:6; 49:8). Jesus is the one in whom all the promises of God are "Yes!" (1 Cor 1:20).

God's Covenant with Levi

Scripture contains no record of any covenant with Levi, but Jeremiah and Malachi do contain references to such an accord. "If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night...then my covenant with David my servant - and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me - can be broken" (Jer 33:20-21).

According to Malachi, "'I have sent you this admonition so that my covenant with Levi may continue,' says the Lord Almighty. 'My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him'" (Mal 2:4-5). "But you have turned from the way and...violated the covenant with Levi" (Mal 2:8).

God's covenant with David emphasised permanence and incorruption, and heralded the coming Messiah who would embody all God's promises.

As is the case with all the foregoing examples of biblical covenants when God's people or his chosen individuals violate his covenant, judgment falls on the covenant-breakers, but his covenant promises stand firm.

God's Covenant with His Prophets Today

We live at a time when many of the promises of Scripture have already been fulfilled. One such fulfilment was the arrival of the forerunner, 'my messenger' (Mal 3:1), in the person of John the Baptist. It was immediately followed by the appearance of the King himself, the One for whom all had been looking. Before he was crucified, Jesus explained what was going to happen to him when he spoke of the blood of the covenant at the institution of the Lord's Supper.

We have seen examples of a covenant being established by the shedding of blood, and rejoice that the death of Jesus releases God's promises to all mankind. But there are millions of people in all parts of the world who still do not know that God has fulfilled all his intentions and that eternal salvation is available for all who believe.

This is what makes God's covenant gift - the Holy Spirit and the word of God to his church - so important. "'As for me, this is my covenant with them' says the Lord. 'My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever,' says the Lord" (Is 59:21).

Millions of people around the world still do not know about the eternal salvation available to them – which is why God's covenant gifts to the Church of his Holy Spirit and his word are so important.

Tasks of the Agents of the Covenant of God

1. To Proclaim the Covenant Purposes of God, Past and Present

As God's agents proclaim his purposes today, they will be able to ensure that his people do not pin their hopes on human effort but on the sovereign, unfailing power of the Almighty. So many churches now seem to be operating on a purely human level instead of manifesting the mighty power of God, which is his covenant gift to us and to all believers. They should be listening to and appropriating for their use the very words of God himself.

2. To Encourage and Correct God's People as the Prophets Did

God's agents can find help in fulfilling their task today, as they study their predecessors' obligations under the first covenant. Their role was:

• to remind the people of God that Jehovah's is an everlasting covenant (Is 55:3; 61:8; Jer 32:40). The final verse states. "I will never stop doing them good."
• to reassure God's people that they will never cease to be a nation before him. "He who appoints the sun to shine by day...the moon and stars to shine by night...the Lord Almighty is his name: only if these decrees vanish from my sight will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me" (Jer 31:35-36).
• to tell them that God is with his people. "This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear" (Hag 2:5).
• to require that the Lord's people face up to the demands and duties of the covenant. "The Lord said to me, 'Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem: listen to the terms of this covenant and follow them'" (Jer 11:6).
• to blow God's trumpet as a reproof to his people for breaking the divine covenant and thereby despising his oath (Is 24:5; Hos 8:1; Ezek 16:59, 17:19).

As well as speaking to the people for their good, the agents of the covenant played their prophetic role fully by interceding for them and by speaking to God on their behalf. "Remember your covenant with us and do not break it" (Jer 14:21). There is no better place nor more suitable an occasion to meditate on the blood of the covenant than at the Lord's Supper. This is where Jesus operated as the chief agent of God's covenant when he said, "This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many" (Mark 14:24).

God had remembered his holy covenant, as Zechariah had prophesied (Luke 1:72). All that had gone before finds its fulfilment at the holy table. There is no place for chance or uncertainty in our God's way of working. What he plans he carries out. How reassuring and worthwhile it is to be his agents!

First published in Prophecy Today, Vol 6, No 4, July/August 1990.

Our God is a covenant-keeping God. But what do all the covenants in Scripture mean for Christians today?

Having spent several weeks considering the separation of the Christian Church from its Jewish roots, we move on this week to look at the fruitfulness that becomes evident when we recover our rooting. In this study we consider the most important principle, handed down through the nation of Israel: the Covenant with the One True God.

One New Man

When it comes to connecting back into the true roots of our faith and bearing fruit as a consequence, where do we start? One of the starting points, as discussed in a previous study, has to be Romans 11 - the unifying metaphor of the olive tree wherein there is one body of believers - some grafted in, being unnatural branches. That's one starting point. Another is Ephesians 2:12-22:

...at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

In this brief passage of the Bible many themes intertwine. There is the principle of the one new man, which expresses the unity that God intends among the body of his people. Originally, that body was the nation Israel - called out from the world for God's purposes. Into that covenant body come Gentiles, by faith in Jesus.

This raises many new questions, especially where the passage talks about abolishing an enmity in the flesh of Jesus. What is that enmity? What was it that happened on the cross in order that there could be reconciliation within him of people from all nations? Did it take away the Old Testament and bring in the New? Did it take away teachings that had failed, in order to replace them with teachings that would succeed, or should we look more deeply behind the scenes of these challenging verses to see just what is happening?

Living Temple, United Body

God did not suddenly take away the scriptures of what we call the Old Testament - those precious scriptures that the Hebrew people call the Tanakh, the scriptures of the Covenant Nation even before Jesus came to this earth. He did not take them away but instead made them a foundation for what would follow. He did take away the division that was in the Temple whereby Gentiles could not enter in. He made himself the cornerstone of the new and living Temple – his people.

Jesus did not abolish the Old Testament scriptures but instead made them a foundation for what would follow.

The metaphors merge and interchange as we try to imagine the picture of a united body with Jesus at the centre, bringing in the New Covenant. We must understand what this means. Even though the word 'New' is used, it is still a part of one continuing plan of God. In fulfilment of all the covenant principles he is bringing together one family from all the nations – it is a family and a community. This is the one new man to whom he has given the Holy Spirit so that we might all come into that unity.

Identity Crisis

These are important principles for us to consider carefully, but which also shed light on an identity crisis in the Christian Church. Who are we? We must look beyond both the historical Jewish response and the historical Christian response to reassess this, whilst also restoring our understanding of the relationship between the Church and Israel. There is much to learn and relearn from the life and history of the Jewish people to be put into the context of our scriptures.

The 'New' Covenant is part of God's continuing plan to bring together one unified, Holy Spirit-filled family from all nations.

We are seeking an authentic, biblical response to who we are as the Covenant People of God – one that unites Jews who have accepted Yeshua as Messiah with believers from the Gentile world, into One New Man. Let us look for a biblical response for that unifying purpose of God in our day, and then we can begin perhaps to bear the fruit of which we are talking.

The Covenant Purpose of God

There are at least five main aspects of God's covenant purposes in Scripture. That may seem strange to those who think there is just an old covenant and a new covenant – a two-stage plan. That is a misconception. Indeed, the word covenant is not just used once or twice in Scripture - it is used over and over again. Just as God has many facets to his character, so different aspects of his covenant purposes were given at different times and with different emphases. Within these different emphases, there is one overriding purpose.

United Community

There is a sense in which the covenant purposes of God began before the creation of the world. God had covenant principles in his heart at the time of the creation of the universe, when he created people like you and me. Indeed, before Creation there was a family and a community of angels in heaven. The created order became an extension of God's kingdom, not an entity on its own.

We do not know all there is to know about angels and demons, nor do we know everything about the oneness of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There was a fall of angels – we know that from Scripture. Satan leads a legion of fallen angels – we know that too and feel its impact in the world today. There are also worshipping angels - a community in Heaven. The scriptures begin with what seems to be a plural word for the One God (Elohim is a Hebraic plural). Father, Son and Holy Spirit existed together in community - the most united community possible - before creation.

God's covenant purposes began before the creation of the world – the created order became an extension of his kingdom, not a separate entity.

We see in this sense of united community the deep purpose of God that transcends even the created universe and the time that it will exist. There is a greater purpose here - a greater end God has had in view since before creation – than most of us have realised. It is greater than the 'Old' covenant with Moses and greater than anything that we have experienced on this earth.

Covenant Principle 1: Life and Provision Until the End of Days

The first easily identifiable covenant references in the Bible come at the time of Noah. At the time of Adam and Eve there was a fall but God did not intend this to be permanent. All mankind came into this fallen situation and, indeed, men and women went further and further from God until, at the time of Noah, came the judgment of God. A catastrophic flood shows us what the consequences of sin really are, but all was not lost - even then. God made a covenant with Noah which appears in Genesis 6:18 and 9:9:

But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark - you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female...

God promised that there would never be a flood of this proportion again. Mankind should have changed after Noah - we might have expected Noah to start a new generation who would no longer sin. That is not the case; the case is that mankind's sins have equaled those of people before the flood, but God had made a covenant promise. He had promised that never again would he wipe out mankind with a flood. So, despite sin, the covenant remains.

Since the flood, mankind's sins have equaled those of people before – but God's covenant promise to never flood the earth again remains.

Perhaps we can begin to feel the sad heart of God as we consider these things. Here is God who is absolutely pure and holy - a holiness we have never experienced in our own lives, absolutely clean and pure - nevertheless, promising that he will overlook sin to a certain degree, preserving the earth, and for a certain purpose, namely to complete the whole covenant plan.

Later he told Noah and his family that there would be seed time and harvest, winter, spring and summer - all the seasons will come and go, and there will be food on the earth for all generations - it will be a place in which you can live until the end of time. There will be an end, and there is coming a new heaven and a new earth, but in the meanwhile - that promise is part of God's overall covenant plan.

Covenant Principle 2: God's Unconditional, Costly Commitment to Us

The next easily identifiable focus on the covenant is at the time of Abraham. In Genesis 17 we read:

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly." Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.

As we study the covenant made with Abraham, we see cost. There is the cost of the animals - the covenant was cut and blood was shed. It was a great commitment done in a very dramatic way. God overshadowed Abraham who was in a deep sleep - it was an awesome time that we can picture from the description in the scriptures.

Something new happened in the mystery of God's purposes and Abraham became the central father figure for the covenant from then on. This covenant was unconditional. God swore with an oath as he bound himself to the promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations - not just of one nation, Israel. He gave a promise to Israel, the physical offspring, including a land promise to them.

God bound himself by costly, unconditional oath to make Abraham father of many nations.

This parallels, to some extent, aspects of the covenant with Noah, where there was to be a practical provision from God – a land to live in. Israel, the physical nation, had God's special call until, later, the call went out to all nations to add to those from Israel who lived by faith, making up one Covenant community in fulfilment of the eternal promise to Abraham.

Covenant Principle 3: Our Response and its Consequences

The covenant with Abraham best summarises God's overall covenant purposes - an unconditional, personal commitment from God. The Abrahamic Covenant came before the time of Moses and was set in place before all those further lessons that God taught through him. What God brought through Moses, therefore, is in the context of what he had already promised to Abraham. In Exodus 34 we read:

And He said: "Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst.

God was beginning to call for a response from his people. Already he had made an unconditional statement of what he would do, but now he was drawing forth a response from the Nation of Israel. He was to be their God, the one true God, and they were to have no other gods before him. The conditions of blessing and curse in the land of promise were also given. These conditions did not take away from the overall, unconditional promises of God given through Abraham, but there were now to be consequences for obedience and for disobedience for the nation.

The covenant God brought through Moses was in the context of that brought through Abraham. It did not take away from those unconditional promises, but added in consequences for obedience and disobedience.

We are all to learn from this, not just Israel. Through Israel we learn that we cannot achieve righteousness through our own efforts. That is why he called Israel – to be a representative nation, knowing God's righteous laws. Sin still needs a remedy. Laws will not be enough. Israel as a whole failed just as we would fail, but nevertheless, God has made Israel special and will not forsake them even though they failed.

Covenant Principle 4: Salvation from David's Line

A fourth stage in the outworking of the covenant plan comes at the time of David. Psalm 89 is a very relevant passage for this:

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, "Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens. I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: 'Your seed I will establish forever, And build up your throne to all generations'.

Here we see the relevance of covenant again, a covenant made with the line of David, promising a future king. We later understand that the seed is the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Yeshua Ha-Mashiach.

It is not the first time we see this prophecy. Jacob prophesied over Judah and foresaw the coming of the Messiah. Other Messianic promises are scattered through Scripture. In fact, as we read Scripture we see that it all ultimately points to Jesus. Nevertheless, here, in very clear detail, a covenant is made with David. There will be a king who will come from the nation of Israel, the tribe of Judah and from the line of David.

Covenant Principle 5: A Covenant by Faith

The need of mankind was shown through Israel's reaction to God's covenant through Moses. The heart of mankind was shown - the heart of fallen man, studied through the history of this small nation Israel. God's purposes are stated clearly through Moses in the laws and principles by which a people should live.

Another way had to be revealed, because even when they know right from wrong, people will fail because of their sinful nature. Therefore, with the covenant promise to Abraham in mind, a better provision was made. It was promised through Jeremiah - in Jeremiah 31:

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 that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.

The term 'new covenant' is first written here, as a promise to Israel and Judah. The context of Ephesians 2 is Jeremiah 31. God centred the New Covenant on Israel, sealing his family as those who will live by faith in Jesus the Messiah. Those who came to faith from the Gentile world join an already-existing community of faith going back to Abraham. The word 'new' refers to a new way that God will make sure that he has a people according to the promise he made with Abraham and according to the provision for the ongoing lifespan of this earth he made through Noah.

The context of the 'New' Covenant is the fulfilment of the 'Old' Covenant: God is providing a new way to bring together his covenant people according to the promise made to Abraham.

One Overarching Plan

God is calling one people out. He did not give up on mankind when Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden, but kept going with what he purposed - and because he purposes it he sealed it with a covenant and an oath made most profoundly to Abraham, which then overarches all of history, so that all who will can be gathered into this one covenant family.

In our day we need to look at this and rediscover who we are as we look back to where we separated from our roots – and as we look forward to the repair work to be done, as well as to our witness to a world that needs to know who God's people are.

We do not join the covenant family through the rituals of Judaism, but by faith. Indeed, the rituals of religion in and of themselves do not ensure membership of the community of God. Nevertheless, the root of our faith was manifest first in the faithful of Israel and we receive their heritage when we join the one family. In Isaiah 66 we read:

I will set a sign among them; and those among them who escape I will send to the nations: to Tarshish and Pul and Lud, who draw the bow, and Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off who have not heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. Then they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the Lord out of all nations, on horses and in chariots and in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem," says the Lord, "as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. And I will also take some of them for priests and Levites," says the Lord.

Surely the sign referred to in this passage was the sign of Messiah's coming. After that came the gathering from all nations. Israel was still in the heart of God, central to the covenant community - without compromise to his principles - together with those from the nations who would come in by faith.

Every Tribe and Tongue

The final picture of the covenant is in Revelation 7 where we see some from every tribe and tongue - among them some from every tribe of Israel, and then some from all the tribes of the world. That is the end point of the covenant promise, when all are gathered into that one family.

All are gathered around the throne worshipping the Saviour, Jesus the Christ, Yeshua Ha-Mashiach. Through our studies we must understand that only in him is the unity that identifies who we are, the covenant people of God.

The final picture of covenant is the whole family of God, gathered around the throne worshipping the Saviour. Only in Jesus is true covenant unity to be found.

For Reflection and Comment

How is God's covenant with Abraham to be seen as one integrated whole into which Gentiles can also be called by faith?

How are we to see God's covenant with Israel in the light of his overarching covenant purposes that pre-date creation itself?

Next time: Torah Foundations

Series note: 'CIJ' (Christianity, Israel and the Jews) is a study series about the relationship between the Church and its Hebraic heritage.

Continuing our series on the question 'What is a prophet?', Edmund Heddle unpacks the idea of prophetic anointing.

No one knows the origin of the custom of anointing with oil or for how long it has been practised. It is claimed that the oldest prescription for an anointing oil dates from about 4200 BC, so it is certainly an age-old practice. Anointing is mentioned in the Scriptures over one hundred times and in all periods of biblical history.

Anointing a Pillar

Genesis 28:18 records the first occurrence in the Bible when early one morning Jacob poured oil on the stone on which he had rested his head, as he set it up as a lasting memorial of his experiences. His action gives then impression of being the normal thing to do, rather than the introduction of a new custom. By pouring oil on the stone he sanctified it, in the sense of setting it apart for God, a meaning that is common to all Biblical anointings.

Secular Anointings

The Bible in Old and New Testaments refers to various secular uses of anointing. Part of an Israelite's daily toilet was to anoint oneself with oil, thus causing their faces to shine (Psalm 104:15)! This custom was only omitted during mourning (2 Sam 12:20, 14:2).

The anointing of the heads of guests was a courtesy that Simon the Pharisee neglected when he entertained Jesus to a meal. It is significant from the words used in Greek that whereas Simon did not get around to anointing Jesus with common olive oil, the sinful woman was not content with anything less that an expensively perfumed oil to pour on Jesus' feet.

In biblical times, anointing with oil was a daily activity, with uses ranging from personal vanity to social courtesy, to medicine."

The third use of oil was a medicinal one, in the story of the Good Samaritan, who poured on oil and wine (Luke 10:34, also Isa 1:6, Eze 16:9). From the story of the women at the Garden Tomb, we see it was a custom to anoint the bodies of the dead (Mark 16:1).

Priest's Anointing

Turning to the biblical accounts of sacred anointings, we note that priests were anointed into office by the pouring on of oil. In the Pentateuch there are some thirty references to anointings; all of these refer to the anointing of the High Priest and his sons, the tabernacle and its furniture (Ex 40:9-15). This act was in fact their ordination and accreditation, giving them authority to minister to both God and man (Lev 8:12).

Priests were anointed into office, giving them authority to minister to both God and man."

Special Formula Oil

The oil used in their consecration had to be made to a special prescription laid down by God himself. (Ex 30:32). The four spices were liquid myrrh, sweet-smelling cinnamon, aromatic cane and cassia. These were to be blended with olive oil by a perfumer. Two of these spices were rare and only obtainable from India and the Far-East.

This was to be the oil used for anointing the priests and the kings of Israel down the generations. It was forbidden to use this oil on the bodies of ordinary men (Ex 30:32) and it was forbidden to make up any oil to the same formula, on pain of exclusion from the people of God. This special oil was kept in a holy place (1 Kings 1:39) and in the care of the son of the High Priest (Num 4:16).

The oil used in the priestly anointing was made of a unique formula, written by God himself and forbidden for use on ordinary men."

Such careful regulations made this oil special and therefore an appropriate symbol of the Holy Spirit, throughout Scripture typified by oil and which cannot be poured out on those who are unredeemed.

Aaron's Anointing

Looking back over the centuries, the writer of Psalm 133 describes the precious oil poured on Aaron's head in such abundance that it ran down on to his beard and the collar of his robes (v2). So generously is the Spirit poured out, bringing the fragrance of Christ, the blessing of life and the brotherly unity of all who share the divine anointing.

In connection with his anointing, a gold plate was placed on Aaron's turban. The Hebrew word for this gold diadem is closely connected with the word for the Nazirite vow of separation (Num 6:21). By his anointing the High Priest was forbidden to leave the sanctuary and was not permitted to come into contact with the dead, even to attend the funeral of a close relative. All of this teaches us that alongside blessings of the divine anointing, stringent demands of holy separation are imposed on all upon whom the holy oil has been poured.

As with the priestly oil, so the Holy Spirit is poured out generously on believers, bringing the fragrance of Christ, brotherly unity and the blessing of life- but also the call to be holy and separate for the Lord."

Anointing of Kings

In the historical books of the Old Testament (Judges through 2 Chronicles), there are more than fifty references to anointing, and all but few are concerned with the coronation of kings. Saul and David, Absalom and Solomon and others after them received the 'coronation' of holy anointing oil. Very little is said about placing a crown on their heads, the vitally important thing was the anointing they received.

Holy anointing oil was also used at the coronation of kings; what mattered wasn't the crown placed on their heads, but the anointing they received."

This anointing resulted in their being described as 'the Lord's Anointed'. This term, which occurs a dozen times in the Book of Psalms, has an original reference to the kings of Israel and in a fuller, prophetic sense to the Messiah.

Kings were anointed over an area or kingdom (1 Sam 15:17); David was first anointed king over Lawrence OP / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 / see Photo CreditsJudah (2 Sam 2:4), and subsequently over Israel as a whole (2 Sam 5:3). Early on he had received a prospective anointing as the God-appointed successor to King Saul, whilst still a young lad (though no mention was made then of the territory over which he was to reign). Then, during the waiting period whilst Saul was still king, that David on two occasions had the opportunity to kill him. But this David refused to do because Saul was 'the Lord's Anointed' (1 Sam 24:6, 26:9-11).

When news came to him that Saul was dead, David discovered that his informant had dealt the final blow and for such a crime he was immediately put to death (2 Sam 1:14-16)- so heinous did David regard the crime of taking the life of the Lord's Anointed. From the anointings of kings we see the dignity and authority bestowed on them by the sacred anointing they had received. We should also note that charismatic gifts also resulted from the same anointing (1 Sam 10:6-13, 16:13).

Kingly anointing bestowed dignity and authority, and often resulted in charismatic gifts."

Were Prophets Anointed?

In spite of the fact that a number of Bible dictionaries state that priests, kings and prophets were anointed, there is no record in Scripture of any prophet ever being anointed with oil. It is true that Elijah was ordered to anoint Elisha as his successor in the prophetic office. But it was Elijah's mantle, rather than any oil, that came down on Elisha (1 Kings 19:16-19).

Alan Cole in his commentary on Exodus (p203) says: "the word (anointing) is used only in a metaphysical sense of the appointment of prophets". Psalm 105:15 describes the patriarchs as prophets, and God calls them 'my anointed ones', yet there is no suggestion that they had ever been anointed with oil. The prophet's anointing was and always will be 'with the Holy Spirit'; of which in the anointing of priests and kings the oil was the symbol.

Prophetic anointing was and always will be with the Holy Spirit."

Christ the Anointed

Jesus is 'the Anointed One'; priest, king and prophet, and for this we call him 'Christ', from the Greek word 'christos' meaning anointed. We also call him 'Messiah' or Messias, the Latin form of the Hebrew word 'mashiach', also meaning 'the anointed'. Isaiah's prophecy had been fulfilled in him and he could say: the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me' (Isa 61:1). It is important to notice that Jesus was not anointed 'by' the Spirit, but 'with' the Spirit. J Elder Cumming in his 'Through the Eternal Spirit' (p154) says:

The thought conveyed in these passages is that the anointing is the Holy Spirit himself. It is not that he is the agent in giving it, nor that he gives something that belongs to him which he makes over in the sense of a blessing or power. It is that he comes to be the anointing oil. Jesus of Nazareth was anointed not by him, but with him. The anointing is not a blessing, a gift such as grace, peace or power, but is a person, the Holy Spirit himself...

Peter explained to the Roman Centurion Cornelius that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, that he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38). Jesus' earthly ministry was made possible by his having been anointed with the Holy Spirit.

This anointing of Jesus had taken place immediately after his baptism by John in the Jordan, when the Spirit descended like a dove (Mark 1:9-10). The tempter immediately challenged this anointing, but Jesus stood firm against him and so returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit (Luke 4:14).

The Christian Anointing

There is no anointing for the believer to claim before he can rightly use the name 'Christian' (Greek christianos), meaning follower of Christ the anointed one. As Aaron and his sons were unfit to minister until the holy oil had been poured upon them, so Christians are unfit to discharge their office as priests, prophets and kings until they are anointed with the Holy Spirit, of whom the holy oil was the type.

Christians are unfit to discharge their office without the Holy Spirit, of whom the holy oil was a type. When we accept God's gift of the Spirit by faith, we receive an abiding anointing."

According to Paul's words to the church at Corinth (2 Cor 1:21), and John's letter (1 John 2:20, 27), Christians have been anointed, and the tense of the verbs they use indicates that this anointing is something which happens once and for all: it refers to a definite moment in the life of the disciple. It would seem, therefore, that the habit, prevalent in some circles, of referring to 'an anointing coming upon me time and time again' obscures the fact that what we receive when we by faith accept God's gift of the Spirit (Luke 11:13, Gal 3:14) is an abiding anointing.

Part of the answer to the question 'What is a prophet?' must be this: a prophet is someone who is aware that the Spirit has been poured out upon him and as a result he is enabled and impelled to speak the words of God. Without that experience, no man could ever be a prophet.

Meaning of Anointing

• To be set apart from unholy things;
• To be given authority to act as a crowned king;
• To be able to speak God's words and have those words confirmed by charismatic gifts;
• To spread abroad the fragrance of Christ;
• To be a unifying influence, and
• To promote spiritual life and vitality.

These are the characteristics of those prophets who have received the abiding anointing of the Holy Spirit himself.

First published in Prophecy Today, Vol 1, No 5, 1985.