The Divine Covenants

The Sinaitic Covenant (Part 3)

It was by God’s sovereign grace that the Jews were chosen as His people and their obedience was not intended to buy them any advantages that they didn’t already have as a result of the promises to Abraham. Their obedience was intended to preserve the possessions that were coming to them. This is where the moral law fit into the picture for the nation. God had already chosen, redeemed, and made them His people; and now it was their duty to live in subjection to Him.

The moral law set a standard for them as a nation, the conduct God expected of them, if they were to continue with the advantages.

· Lev 20:26 You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.

The moral law was placed on them to teach the people that more than mechanical performance was required, something in their heart and the inward condition of the heart was necessary to get the approval of God.

The moral law (the Ten Commandments) was for most people the most distinctive feature of the Sinai Covenant. But there was much more which was of an evangelical nature. This means giving greater fullness and significance to what had already been revealed. This was done through the medium of symbols.

While the Israelites were in Egypt they were not in a situation that allowed them the means of worship. But now they were about to take their place as an independent nation, in a country of their own and the time had come for the establishment of certain institutions and ordinances which would be necessary for the regulation of their religious life. And this was made more important with the prominence of the moral law.

Now we must always keep in mind that the Abrahamic Covenant was not superseded in any way by the revelation of Moses at Sinai. Sinai was an addition to the Abrahamic covenant. The grace of the Abrahamic Covenant and the Law of Moses had an important mutual relation. They threw light on each other.

Now, how many of you have read and enjoyed the book of Leviticus? The difficult reading of Leviticus has an important bearing on the new nation of Israel. The first and most important matter was the need for public fellowship and contact with their God. A sanctuary was to be erected and the pattern of this facility was given to Moses at Sinai, including the dimensions and materials, which the people were to supply by freewill offerings. This intimated that all must be done according to God’s will but only a free and spontaneous worship from the people was acceptable.

So the tabernacle was the visible means of the people enjoying communion with God. A priesthood was appointed and this was a great contrast to the priest of other countries. Among the heathen, the priesthood was a body of men, a caste, separated from the people and antagonistic toward those over whom they had authority.

The Hebrew priesthood belonged to all the people, representing them before God. There was only one family of priests, Aaron’s family. Aaron was permitted to enter the Holy of holies only once a year and he carried the names of all the tribes of Israel on his breastplate and confessed all their sins.

An elaborate system of sacrifices was designed and these sacrifices expressed a very important concept; namely:

· Lev. 17:11-12 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.

We know that those sacrifices in themselves could not take away sins. The fact that they had to be offered over and over again was evidence of that. God was here offering grounds for hope.

At this point we can summarize by saying that the justice of the moral law (the Ten Commandments) was tempered by the mercy of the ceremonial law (the sacrifices). And the severity of the Sinai constitution was modified by the “goodness” of the Abrahamic Covenant.

· 1 Cor. 10:1-4, For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food  and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

This passage has Moses as a type of Jesus, who leads us out of bondage to sin as Moses led the chosen people out of bondage to Egypt.

At Sinai God did not give the law as a way of how the people could be justified if they were obedient to it, because we know that that would be impossible for fallen man.

So the addition of the Law of Moses did not cancel out the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant. The moral law and the ceremonial law were given with evangelical needs in mind; that is, to show sinners their need of a savior, and to indicate how He would meet that need. If the moral law had been given out of God’s wrath, the object of it would have been the death of sinners. But it was to point to a Mediator whose purpose is reconciliation.

We have said that the Sinai covenant was a compact promising the Israelites as a people certain material and national blessings if they were obedient to God’s law. But something more was required to have individual communion with God. God’s glory is bound up in righteousness, and righteousness requires a heart for God.

· Ps 24:3-6,  Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob.

Here is described the character of a true worshiper. This is figurative language that expresses spiritual access and spiritual fellowship with God. The language is plain. Regardless of however solemn the public worship may be, it produces nothing if there is not practical righteousness associated with it in the individual.. These words from the Psalm are a warning to the hypocrites.

· Isa 1:10-15, 10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! "The multitude of your sacrifices-- what are they to me?" says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations-- I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

Isaiah was very severe in his denunciation of the unrighteous!!!!

On the one hand there was a godly remnant among the Israelites who used the law as it was intended. But on the other hand there was a far greater number of the godless who misused the law. They shut their eyes to the spirituality of the laws requirements and were determined to become spiritual on the basis of legality. The result was an outward performance of certain rules of conduct. Obviously these did not anticipate the coming of a Savior.

We have just seen that the dominant factor in the Sinai Covenant was the Law, or the Ten Commandments. The tablets of stone on which they were written were to be kept in the Tabernacle. The most sacred vessel in the tabernacle was the ark. It was the center of all the services and was the symbol of God’s presence and faithfulness. The ark was made purposefully to house the two tablets of stone and was therefore called “the ark of the covenant”.

The center of Judaism was the tabernacle and the center of the tabernacle was the law. The law was the foundation of the tabernacle service. Now notice that there is a veiled truth involved here. The law, which was enclosed in the vessel, the ark, upon which rested the throne of God, the mercy seat, tells us that the basis for our salvation and our only hope of that salvation is the perfect keeping of the law. This reminds us of the promise made in the Abrahamic Covenant of the one who would be a blessing to all nations, the Mediator, Jesus.

Of all the articles of furniture associated with the tabernacle, the ark was superior to all the rest; the alter, the laver, the lampstand and the table of showbread. Symbolically, we learn that the moral law was superior to the ceremonial, which was represented by all of the other pieces of furniture. The law, in the ark, was inside the Holy of holies and the other pieces were outside, therefore secondary and subordinate.

The Sinai Covenant needs to be studied from three different viewpoints:

1) the relation which it had to the previous revelations by God made through covenants, being a significant advance in the unfolding of His everlasting covenant.

2) considered with regard to the peculiar relation in which it stood to the Jewish nation, furnishing as it did a unique constitution and a complete code for their guidance.

3) in its relation to the future, being designed to pave the way for the advent of Jesus and the dawn of Christianity.

We have already discussed the covenant from the viewpoint of the first two of these concerns.

God’s first and immediate purpose in connection with the Sinai Covenant was to furnish a “letter” fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham: to give him a numerous seed, to establish them in the land of Canaan, to preserve the pure stock from which the Messiah was to come, to continue them there in Canaan until Jesus actually appeared in the flesh. Therefore, the Mosaic covenant would have served its purpose when Jesus arrived.

The second, God’s ultimate plan under the Mosaic covenant, was to furnish a clear and full demonstration of total impossibility of fallen man, even under the most favorable circumstances, to meet His requirements; thereby demonstrating the need for an all-sufficient Savior.

It might appear from the history of the Israelites that the Sinai Covenant failed to achieve its purpose. Israel as a nation was not obedient to the moral law and their reaction to the ceremonial law was perverted and dishonoring to God. We are told in the New Testament that instead of leading the people to Jesus, “He came to His own and His own received Him not.” But there is no failure with God. The experience of Israel proved their need for a Savior and that the bringing in perfect obedience to the law was reserved for Jesus. How did the Sinai Covenant accomplish this?

The outstanding character of Judaism was that it was concerned with outward and objective obedience, rather than inward and subjective. The Ten Commandments were written not on the hearts of Israel but on tables of stone. The same was true of the Levitical regulations. It was all external discipline. We would say that theirs was a “worldly religion.”

The issue here was not love but fear; fear of the wrath of an offended God.

In the case of the ceremonial law there was a provision for forgiveness through sacrifices of irrational animals, who were unconscious of sin. The same must be said for the idea of worship at the tabernacle because the people were not allowed to fully enter into the presence of God in the Holy of holies. So this arrangement was only provisional and incomplete. They were able to only enter the outer court of the tabernacle. The tabernacle was an inadequate and not an appropriate representation of the dwelling place of God who owns heaven and earth.

The law was addressed to the conscience and men could not fail to see its spiritual context, once the person studied its purpose. Upon such study outward acts were far from being the only things that the law demanded because it reached into the thoughts and intents of the heart. It would create a sense of guilt.

The Law then, became an accuser, testifying against the guilty one who had broken the vows of obedience. So it kept alive in the conscience a sense of guilt, served to awaken the hearts of those who really understood its spiritual meaning of utter helplessness and a deep sense of need.

Therefore, the Law, by presenting a standard of perfect righteousness and by convicting men of their utter inability to meet God’s demands, prepared their minds for the coming Redeemer. Because the Law awakened a sense of guilt and alienation from God which the ceremonial law could not perfectly remove, because wants and desires were aroused which could not then be satisfied, the Mosaic economy was well suited to raise expectations in the worshiper of some “better things to come”, causing him to gladly receive the hint of this part of prophecy announced.

So to state it briefly, the spiritual design of the Law was to quicken the conscience, to produce a sense of guilt and a hope for the promised Savior. This would occur only in the elect!!!

Now we should understand that not until the soul is conscious that it is under the sentence of death will it understand the life that is promised in Jesus!!

When an Israelite was quickened by the spirit, he at once saw the law’s true character, became deeply aware of his guilt, and longed for something more, something higher.

The opening pages of the New Testament tell us the same thing. The way of the Savior was prepared by one who proclaimed the law’s righteousness; the ministry of John the Baptist must ever precede that of Jesus. Jesus used the law as He devoted a large portion of His Sermon on the Mount to a clear exposition of the law’s righteousness.

So that which we have seen so far in the Mosaic economy has been designed to pave the way for the introduction of Christianity. The atonement was yet future; the Holy Spirit did not operate then as He does today under the Gospel; and the idea of the “elect” was still mostly obscured. So the Jews walked in comparative darkness.