Of the two seeds God promised to Abraham, one is earthly, and the other is heavenly. All those who are saved are Abraham’s descendants through faith; they are as numerous as the stars of the heavens and are heavenly. All those who are Abraham’s descendants in the flesh are his earthly descendants; they are as numerous as the sand on the seashore.
The sign of God’s covenant with Noah was a rainbow; the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham is circumcision. The focus of circumcision is not on an outward ritual but on its inward spiritual significance. This spiritual significance involves the cutting off of the flesh. In order for the blessings of this covenant to come to the people of God, they need to deal with the flesh of the old creation, putting to death the life of the old creation.
The Lord Jesus occupies a particular place in this covenant. The Lord Jesus is the seed God promised to Abraham; He is the One in whom all the families of the earth are blessed and the One who received the inheritance God promised to Abraham.
This same covenant was spoken of by God to Isaac in Genesis 26:2-6 and to Jacob in 28:13-15. This shows that God desired to extend this covenant to the descendants of Abraham.
The record of this covenant is quite long; it is found in Exodus 19 through Leviticus 27, Deuteronomy 5:1-4, and Hebrews 9:1-7. On the one hand, Old Testament commonly refers to the Old Testament portion of the Holy Bible, but on the other hand, it also refers to the old covenant God made with the children of Israel at Mount Sinai. This covenant is not a covenant in the orthodox line; it was inserted on the way. The orthodox covenant began with Abraham. The covenants before Abraham were also included in the orthodox line because the covenants God made with man were in a continuous line. Every covenant made along this line has been necessary with the only exception being the covenant made at Mount Sinai. This covenant entered alongside and is not related to the orthodox covenants (Rom. 5:20). There are too many items in this covenant; therefore we can look at only two aspects of it in a general way.
In this covenant, the first aspect is the law. The Ten Commandments are the general principles of the law. We usually consider the Ten Commandments as being representative of the law; when we refer to the Ten Commandments, we are speaking about the law. The Ten Commandments, however, are not the entire law. Beginning in Exodus 21, many statutes and ordinances concerning the details in the living of God’s people are also included in the law.
Romans 10:5 says, “The man who does them shall live by them.” Galatians 3:10 says, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things written in the book of the law to do them.” With respect to the law, there is righteousness but no grace. In principle, the law requires man to do God’s commandments by himself.
In this covenant there are also many ordinances, all of which are related to ritualistic matters, not to moral matters. The law, which is moral in nature, concerns the Ten Commandments, statutes, and regulations; the ordinances, which are ritualistic in nature, concern the tabernacle, the priests, and the offerings.
If we study this covenant through the entire Bible, we will realize that God intended to use the law to prove man’s weakness and impotence, to prove that man could not be justified by God through his own works, and thus, to cause man to fall to the ground. Furthermore, God prepared the ordinances so that through the tabernacle, the priests, and the offerings man could still live in His presence, draw near to Him, and have fellowship with Him. According to the law, man cannot draw near to God and live in His presence; instead, man deserves only to be cursed, to fall, and to die before God. However, according to the ordinances, man can approach God, fellowship with Him, be accepted by Him, and live in His presence through the tabernacle, the priests, and the offerings. Both aspects of this covenant are absolute. According to the law, man absolutely cannot live in God’s presence; but according to the ordinances, man absolutely can live in His presence through the tabernacle, the priests, and the offerings. The tabernacle, the priests, and the offerings all refer to Christ. According to the law, we cannot live in God’s presence; however, in Christ (that is, in the tabernacle), by Christ (that is, by the priests), and through Christ (that is, through the offerings) we can approach God and live in His presence. Therefore, the Lord Jesus has a very particular position in this covenant.
The relationship between the Lord Jesus and the law can be explained in the following five points. First, according to Galatians 4:4, the Lord Jesus was born under the law. Second, the Lord Jesus fully kept the law. From His birth all the way to His death, He lived His human life on the earth in matters both great and small fully according to the law. He was circumcised on the eighth day of His birth, presented to God according to the law, and brought to the temple for the keeping of the feasts. He fully kept every moral regulation in the law. This is clearly seen throughout the Gospels. Third, according to Galatians 3:10-13, the Lord Jesus bore the curse of the law on our behalf. No one has fully borne the curse of the law like the Lord Jesus. The curse of the law fell on the Lord Jesus because He bore our sins and stood in our place, not because He had any sin. Fourth, according to Galatians 4:5, He redeemed us from under the law. Fifth, according to Matthew 5:17 He fulfilled the law. The Lord Jesus did not break the law nor abolish the law; rather, He fulfilled the law by keeping the law Himself, being cursed on our behalf, and redeeming us from under the law. Therefore, in this covenant, the Lord Jesus has a particular position with respect to this aspect of the law.
According to the aspect of the ordinances, the reality of every ordinance is the Lord Himself. The tabernacle, including every part of the tabernacle, denotes the Lord Himself; the priests, including the garments, breastplate, and shoulder pieces worn by the priests and all the other items, denote the Lord Himself. All of the offerings, including the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, and all the other offerings, also denote the Lord Himself. We must have this realization when we read the ordinances.
In this covenant, in the aspect of the law, the Lord Jesus has fulfilled for us what we never could keep in ourselves. In the aspect of the ordinances, He has become the very means by which we approach God.