New Covenants

We have noted this morning that when we refer to the “Sinai Covenant” we are really referring to two covenants. The covenant is originally established with the nation of Israel, the law is given and explained, and the whole deal is sealed with a feast. But this covenant is broken in the golden calf incident, and it is only through Moses’ intervention and mediation, that the covenant is renewed. In Moses, God makes a new covenant with the people of Israel. But this is not the first time this pattern has occurred. In the Garden of Eden, God made a covenant with Adam. Adam broke that covenant, but God renewed the covenant with Adam through the promised seed. God made a new covenant with Adam on the basis of the Seed who would come to crush the head of the serpent. In the Seed, God makes the new covenant with Adam and his posterity. Finally, we see this same pattern at work in the New Covenant. There is ambiguity in the prophets at points whether the New Covenant was established in the return from exile or at the coming of the Messiah. But this ambiguity is for the same reasons we have noted the previous pattern. God did in fact make covenant with the returned exiles, but they like their Adamic ancestors before them, broke this covenant, and by the time of the first century, the covenant breaking had become a way of life. Only through the mediation of Christ, could Israel be saved from God’s wrath. Thus in Jesus, God made a new covenant with Israel. And this meal is the celebration of that new covenant. This is the new covenant in Christ’s blood. But one of the points that this reoccurring pattern makes is that new covenants are always for covenant breakers. New Covenants are provisions for people who are under the wrath and judgment of God. You are not invited here because you are good or holy or because somehow you really will keep covenant this time. No, you come to this table to be united to the one mediator who has pleased God. In Christ, your sins are forgiven, and you are accepted and forgiven. This meal is for the forgiveness of sins. This is the new covenant in his blood. So come and rejoice.