The Jewish Narrative-The Full Gospel Message-A Story of Hope and Covenant Promises
The Bible defines what it means to have faith as a disciple of Jesus in Hebrews 11:
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen…And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:1, 6, ESV Bible)
From Abraham to the prophets of the Old Testament, hope in the faithful fulfillment of God’s promises shapes the unfolding story of the Bible. What promises? We are referring to the promises that God makes in all of his covenants. The Hebrew Scriptures, or often called the Old Testament, is full of covenants. To properly understand the Bible, we need to understand the covenants in the Bible and how they work. The idea of a covenant in modern society is a foreign concept. The Hebrew word for covenant is brit. A covenant or brit, is an agreement between two parties who agree to certain terms and stipulations. Covenants are more binding than a simple contract. A contract may expire at a certain date. Covenants are permanent.
God relates to his people through a covenant relationship. If you are a believer, you are in a covenant with God. Covenants have a mutual benefit for the parties involved. There were always terms and conditions that outlined the details of the covenant. There is also a sense of responsibility upon the parties to uphold the covenant and be faithful to the other parties involved.
A covenant requires of both parties the following: 1) Mutual benefit, 2) Terms and Conditions, and 3) Fidelity and Faithfulness.
All throughout the Bible, God relates to His people through a covenantal relationship. Covenants are unbreakable and inter-generational. Breaking a covenant has dire consequences and breaking a covenant requires some form of atonement. A covenant’s unbreakable nature is a reason why it is a foundation of our faith.
Covenants in the Bible, build upon each other, they do not cancel one another out. Paul points out that even though God made later covenants with Israel, a later covenant does not set aside an early covenant:
To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. (Galatians 3:15-17, ESV Bible)
A later covenant does not annul an earlier covenant! This is especially important to understand. The covenant with Abraham and the covenant God made with Moses at Sinai containing the law of Moses has not been cancelled. The cancelling of covenants is a common teaching heard in many churches today.
It is also important to understand the beneficiaries of the covenants. Some Christian teachings has proposed that the covenants are in force, but the Jewish people are no longer beneficiaries. Instead, God has replaced them with the followers of Jesus. Consider the dangers of this line of thinking. If God replaces Israel, then he doesn’t agree to keep His own part of the covenant. So it implies that He is a liar. And if God would break the covenant and replace Israel, then what would keep Him from doing the same with the followers of Jesus? Even if we see Israel as breaching the contract, so to speak, the idea of covenant faithfulness loses all meaning if one of the parties to the covenant can be kicked out and replaced with someone else. Gentiles and followers of Jesus benefit from the covenants God made with Israel. They do not however replace the Jewish people as the primary beneficiaries of the covenants. We serve a God who remains faithful to His word and to the people He makes promises, Israel.
God has made several promises to Israel throughout several covenants. He made promises in the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God made promises in the covenant with Moses and in the covenant with David. The Covenant with Abraham became the foundation on which the rest of the covenants of the Bible (to the Jewish people) are built. It represents the first covenant between the “father” of the chosen people and God. We can read about the covenant in Genesis chapters 12, 15, and 17. For a detailed review see here.
In the covenant with Abraham, God promises that He will:
Make Abraham a great nation, bless Abraham, make Abraham’s name great, make Abraham a blessing to others, bless the ones who will bless Abraham, curse the ones who will curse Abraham, cause all the families of the earth to be blessed through Abraham.
In the covenant with Moses, we see more promises when God speaks to Moses and tells him to convey a message to the people:
“While Moses went up to God. The LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” (Exodus 19:3-6, ESV Bible)
Israel is obligated to obey God and keep the terms of the covenant. What are the terms? The laws of Torah. The covenant itself is not the laws. The covenant is the agreement to keep those laws. Faithfulness to the covenant brings blessings. Breaking the covenant brings curses:
“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. (Deuteronomy 28:1, ESV Bible)
“But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. (Deuteronomy 28:15, ESV Bible)
“If” they will do these things (stipulations of the covenant)… all is contingent on Israel’s faithfulness and obedience. Obedience to the covenant brings sanctions, either curses or blessings. These are God’s provisions of the covenant.
Just like the Abrahamic covenant, the Sinai covenant is ongoing. Covenants do not conflict with each other but work together and build on top of one another. When Israel breaks the covenant at Sinai, it did not end God’s relationship with Israel. In their disobedience God fell back upon and continued to keep covenants He made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In Leviticus 26, it tells us that this is how the Sinai covenant is supposed to work:
“But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes. Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, iI will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God. But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.” These are the statutes and rules and laws that the LORD made between himself and the people of Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai. (Leviticus 26:40-46, ESV Bible)
The Torah tells us that when the Sinai covenant is breached, God will still redeem His people and keep His covenant with them on the basis of the covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God’s character can really be seen when studying the covenants. He always keeps His word and He always honors His side of the covenant. When the people fail, as they often do, He creates options for allowing them to return to Him and His goodness. There is always consequences for breaking a covenant and an expectation of blessings for being obedient to a covenant.
In Deuteronomy 28, it lists blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. At the end of Deuteronomy chapter 29, it mentions how when Israel disobeys, the curses will come upon them. They will be uprooted from the land and will experience fury and wrath. But then, in chapter 30, it says:
“And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. And the LORD your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. And the LORD your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the voice of the LORD and keep all his commandments that I command you today. The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deuteronomy 30:1-10, ESV Bible)
If they return to God, and obey his voice, then God will restore their fortunes. What fortunes? The promises made within the covenant!
Later, in the Bible we come to the story of King David. David set out to build a house for the LORD, a holy Temple. He told the prophet Nathan about his intentions to build a Temple. The LORD appears to Nathan in a dream with a message for David. “Do you think you will build a house for me? I will build a house for you. You will have a royal dynasty. Your sons will inherit your throne. One of your sons will build my Temple. You will have a son that sits on the throne forever. It is an eternal covenant promising an eternal kingdom seen in 2 Samuel 7:
Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David. (2 Samuel 7:11-17, ESV Bible)
This is an eternal covenant promising an eternal kingdom. God promises to build a house for David in the form of an enduring dynasty. He promises to give him a son who would build God’s house and sit on his throne. This entire covenant with David is about the Messiah, the anointed one. This is just one of many passages in the Hebrew Scriptures where the whole idea of the promised Messiah comes from. The Messiah has to be from the house of David and this passage explains why that is true. Jesus is the son of David, and he will fulfill the covenant by building a house for the LORD, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling an everlasting kingdom. Jesus is not the actual son of David but a descendant of David. The prophecy actually alludes to Jesus, the son of David and the son of God: “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.” This is why the covenant with David is so foundational to our faith in Jesus. The covenant God made with David promises a kingdom and a dynasty.
In the prophets, we are introduced to another covenant, the New Covenant. The New Covenant is a yet-future covenant that promises to effect a complete spiritual transformation of the people of God. All of the promises about a new covenant are found in the Old Testament, particularly in the books of Isaiah chapter 42, Jeremiah chapter 31, and Ezekiel chapter 36. Based on the verses from these chapters, the following promises are found:
God will write His Torah on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33)
The LORD will be their God (Jeremiah 31:33)
Israel and Judah shall be God’s people (Jeremiah 31:33)
They shall all know the LORD (Jeremiah 31:34)
God will forgive their sin (Jeremiah 31:34)
God will regather the people of Israel to their land (Ezekiel 36:24)
God will spiritually cleanse Israel (Ezekiel 36:25)
God will give the nation a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26)
God will put His Spirit within them (Ezekiel 36:27)
They will be faithful to the covenant of Torah (Ezekiel 36:27)
All of these promises and blessings are promises and blessings of the previous covenants with Abraham, at Sinai, David, and even a covenant with Aaron. The New Covenant represents a complete fulfillment of all the previous covenant promises combined.
Just as the covenant at Sinai did not cancel the covenant with Abraham, nor did the covenant with David cancel the covenant at Sinai, the new covenant does not cancel the previous covenants God made with Israel. Instead, it builds on them and improves on them, wrapping them all up into one well thought out package.
Obviously, the new covenant has not yet been fulfilled. Why can this be said with some certainty? Not everyone yet knows the LORD. The Torah that is being written on the heart implies that a person will know God’s commands and be faithful to God without effort. The world is full of sin and followers of Jesus still struggle with sin. And even though the new covenant has not been fully realized, the new covenant began when Jesus, the Messiah, instituted it just before His death and resurrection when He took the cup at His seder and said:
In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:25, ESV Bible).
The Torah is not yet written on our hearts. We have not yet reached the kingdom, but the kingdom is at hand. To prove how close it is, God has given us a “down payment” on the fullness of it’s promises. He has given us a portion of his Spirit as a down payment, a guarantee, and a pledge on what it yet to come:
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14, NASB Bible).
The entire ministry of Jesus was an example of the wonders and marvels that await in the promises yet to come. Jesus did miracles and wonders through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit “dwells with you and will be in you.” This is a promise of the Master for every disciple. Paul said we are a temple of the Holy Spirit. We should learn to walk in truth, submit ourselves to the Spirit, and let the Spirit work through us and use us for the kingdom. All disciples of Jesus have already been sealed. The Holy Spirit is given to us as a guarantee of the fullness of spiritual revelation and endowment that is coming in the Messianic Era, the culmination of all of God’s covenant promises.
Throughout all of these covenant narratives, we see a large list of promises made to the people of Israel. And the story line throughout the Old Testament shows again and again that God is faithful even when the people are not. These promises have not been fully realized and that is all part of God’s enduring plan. There remains a hope in the faithful fulfillment of all of God’s promises. These covenant promises create an anticipation of great restoration for all of God’s covenant people.
The gospel or "good news” was an announcement to Israel about their coming redemption. The gospel was an idea that despite the covenant maintenance that was taking place at the time in history with Israel, often seen as Israel as in judgment or experiencing discipline because of disobedience to God. The gospel represents God not forgetting Israel, that He would come and would fulfill everything that he said through the Law and the Prophets. So, this “gospel” based on the promises of the law and the prophets became the narrative within which the death of Jesus was understood. When we try to understand the death of Jesus without that Jewish narrative, it leads to a lot of chaos, as we have witnessed over the last couple of millennia and continue to see today.
This unfolding story of hope and covenant promises creates a necessary foundation for the full gospel message. This foundation of covenant promises and the hope for their ultimate fulfillment provides the context and necessary background information to understand the New Testament writings. There is a Jewish Narrative, a framework in which the coming of Jesus to earth is understood. These covenants and their promises set a foundation for understanding the gospel message and how the death and resurrection of Jesus fit within that full gospel message. The gospel message is more than just the death and resurrection of Jesus. His death and resurrection is a component of a more fully realized gospel. His death and resurrection play a vital role in the fulfillment of God’s promises. He left his disciples the Holy Spirit as a down payment on future promises. Disciples must have faith and assurance of these promises that we hope for, and feel the conviction of things not seen. We must draw near to God and believe that He exists and that he rewards those who seek him.