THE MOSAIC COVENANT WILL NOT COME BACK

 

The Mosaic Covenant has been fulfilled and will not return (Matthew 5:17-19). It was able to point us to the Messiah and has fulfilled its purpose (Galatians 3:24). However, many attempt to argue that the Mosaic Covenant (MC) is eternal along with animal sacrifices, the Temple, and the Levitical Priesthood. However, this would once again put us all under God’s curse:

 

·       “ ‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ (Deuteronomy 27:26; 28:15; Jeremiah 11:3; Psalms 119:21)

 

The Law had placed everyone under a curse. Therefore, a New Messianic Covenant was needed and prophesied:

 

·       “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31–34)

 

This New Covenant (NC) wouldn’t be like the Mosaic which, Israel continued to break even though Yahweh had been “their Husband.” Instead, the NC would complete and fulfill the plan of God, which had been begun with the former covenants. God would also write His law upon our inmost being, renewing (regeneration) their heart so that they would truly know their God. As a result, He would “forgive their iniquity” and “remember their sin no more.”

 

How would this covenant fulfill God’s plan?

 

PREMANENT not TEMPORARY. There is not a single verse in the Bible that claims that the Mosaic Covenant (MC) is permanent. In contrast, all the other covenants were described as permanent or “everlasting” – the Abrahamic or Patriarchal (Genesis 17:19; Psalm 105:9-10; 1 Chronicles 16:15-17), the Noahic (Genesis 9:16), and the Davidic (2 Samuel 23:5; Jeremiah 33:20-21).

These covenants were never to be broken. Instead, their promises were adopted by the New Covenant. However, the MC was meant to be temporary, even though far more had been written about the MC than all the others combined. It had directed the entire life of Israel. It is therefore revealing that the MC is never referred to as eternal or by any terminology like it. However, many of the features of the MC had been eternally adopted by the NC, like the Ten Commandments.

 

Instead, the MC had been limited to a particular place and time-period. Consequently, there had been no circumcisions performed during their 40 years of wandering:

·       Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. (Joshua 5:5)

 

Implementation of the MC awaited the entry into the Promised Land:

 

·        “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you.” (Deuteronomy 12:8–9)

 

The MC was represented by the Ark of the Covenant containing the Ten Commandments. However, the Ark would come to an end along with the MC:

·       And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the LORD.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. (Jeremiah 3:16, Isaiah 65:17)

 

This cryptically signaled the end of the MC. I hope it will become obvious that, as we proceed, that the MC was not only different from the NC, but its requirements were often in opposition to the NC. Therefore, they would have to be set aside as the Ark and the Temple had been.

 

UNCONDITIONAL GIFT not by MERIT OR PERFORMANCE. The MC depended upon obedience to the commandments (Deuteronomy 28,29). If Israel followed the commandments, they were blessed, if not, they were cursed. However, the NC didn’t depend upon merit and performance but upon the promises of God, who guaranteed that His people would be faithful:

 

·       “For I the LORD love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them…I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:8,10)

 

Consequently, under the NC, our righteousness would no longer primarily depend upon our performance but God’s Messianic gift:

 

·       Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. (Zechariah 3:8–9)

 

The rabbis correctly identify the “Branch” as the promised Messiah coming from the lineage of King David. However, they were clueless about how the Messiah would accomplish the removal of sin “in a single day.”

 

BORN AGAIN AND REGENERATED not HARDENED, UNCIRCUMCIZED, AND REBELLIOUS. Israel would regularly rebel against their God. The writings of the Prophets of Israel are littered with charges against their rebellion and hatred of the Lord. Therefore, God’s people had to undergo a radical internal change:

·       “But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.” (Deuteronomy 29:4)

 

Although God had created man with everything they required, they needed something additional in their Fallen state. Therefore, He promised Israel that He would eventually give them a regenerated, circumcised heart:

·       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. (Deuteronomy 30:6)

 

The MC had been incapable of causing the Israelites to love God. It was through the NC that this would be accomplished:

 

·       I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul. (Jeremiah 32:39–41)

 

Under the MC, God had often abandoned Israel to their chosen fate, but this would change under the NC. This would unilaterally be God’s work. Notice the many times that God states “I will…”:

 

·       I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses… (Ezekiel 36:25–29)

 

The MC had required the good works of obedience to secure blessings. As such, it was conditional and depended fundamentally upon human performance. Instead, the NC depended primarily upon promised work of the Messiah. It had to be either the MC or the NC! They couldn’t be combined (Romans 7:-5).

 

FORGIVING not A MERE COVERING OF SIN. The MC offered “forgiveness.” However, it is superficial, the mere covering of sins, not their eradication. Likewise, its “atonement” was a matter of covering over sins:

 

·       Then he shall offer the second for a burnt offering according to the rule. And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven. (Leviticus 5:10, 13, 16)

 

One indication of this is covering over of sins is derived from the root meaning of “atonement”:

 

·       Nowhere in the Old Testament is it ever claimed that sins were “taken away” (i.e., completely removed) by animal sacrifices. The root of the Hebrew word translated “atonement” in the Old Testament is kaphar, which has the idea of “covering,” not total removal. This word is also used to refer to how Noah’s ark was to be covered with pitch:

 

o   Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and outside with pitch. (Genesis 6:14) https://answersingenesis.org/sin/did-animal-sacrifices-remove-sin/

 

This wasn’t forgiveness in the NC sense, where sins would be eradicated and remembered no more: “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:34).

 

This did not pertain to the MC, where animals had to be sacrificed continually for the “forgiveness” of sins. Consequently, Israel could never be fully reconciled to their God and remained in terror of Him.

 

CLOSENESS not DISTANCE.  Israel could not even bear to hear His voice as they had at the foot of MT. Sinai as they received the Law:

 

·       and [Israel] said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” (Exodus 20:19–20)

 

Nor could they enter the Temple without being struck dead. Nor would they want to enter the presence of God; nor could God reside among the Israelites, let He destroy them:

·       “I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” (Exodus 33:2–3)

 

This was diametrically opposed to the promises about the NC, when the barrier was removed to such an extent that Israel would be married to their God:

 

·       And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. (Hosea 2:18–20)

 

A marriage! The height of intimacy! This could only take place once the MC and its alienating realities would be fulfilled and removed. This occurred at the Cross of Christ, as the separating curtain to the Holy Place of the Temple was torn in two, symbolizing that the way to God’s presence was now open!

 

The Temple had been the place that the Israelites would go to receive the mercy of God. However, under the NC, God would now be their Temple, and the Israelites could go confidently to Him (Hebrews 10:19-23), the symbolic and the substantive barrier of our sin having been removed! This too required that the MC be fulfilled and set aside, not combined with the NC. 

A MESSIANIC TEMPLE not A PHYSICAL MOSAIC ONE. Instead of going to the physical Temple to receive God’s blessings, Israel would now, under the NC, only have to turn to God wherever they happened to be. The Messiah would now be their Temple or sanctuary:

 

·       I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” (Ezekiel 37:26–28; Psalm 90:1; 91:9; Isaiah 8:14; John 1:14; 2:19)

 

God Himself would create this “sanctuary”:

 

·       Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.” (Zechariah 6:12–13)

 

The Temple had nearly been completed by the Jews who had immigrated back to Israel from their exile in Babylon. Evidently, this was to be a different type of Temple.

 

The Messiah, the “Branch” coming forth from the lineage of David, would be a “priest on His throne,” an impossibility under the MC and its prescribed Temple worship, which required a strict separation between priest and king. Instead, this represented a new reality instituted by the NC. This is because Messiah, the “Branch,” would be everything we need! Consequently, there would be no physical temple in the heavenly Kingdom (Revelation 21:22). Most importantly, the presence of the Messiah would create everlasting peace:

 

·       For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you…All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. (Isaiah 54:10, 13–14; 59:21; Ezekiel 34:25-26)

 

Before all else, the Covenant of Peace established peace with God. This could never be attained under the conditional, obedience-oriented MC, under which Israel continually rebelled and consequently suffered. This would await the replacement of the MC by the NC (Jeremiah 31:32) and its Messiah!

 

A MESSIANIC not A LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD. There is no animal sacrifices in the Messianic Kingdom. The once-and-for-all Messianic atonement put an end to any blood offerings:

 

·       Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth…Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:4–7, 10)

 

The change in priesthood and atonement sacrifice had been cryptically heralded in many ways. God had never been satisfied with animal offerings:

·       For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’” (Hebrews 10:4–7; quoted from Psalm 40:6-8; LXX)

 

Instead, only the sacrifice of the Messiah would pay conclusively for the sins of the world. God had often made it clear that He didn’t desire animal sacrifices (Psalm 51:16; 1 Samuel 15:22). Why then did He require animal sacrifices? To prepare Israel and the world for the ultimate Sacrifice that would put an end to all the superficial animal sacrifices (Galatians 3:24).

Instead of the MC designated Levitical Priesthood, God would provide a mysterious atonement payment to cover all the sins of the world:

·       I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD, that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord GOD.” (Ezekiel 16:62–63; Deuteronomy 32:43; Psalm 79:9; 110:4)

 

Clearly, the Temple offerings were unable to eradicate sin. An atonement from God was necessary. The same phenomenon is also conveyed by different words, like “Redeemer” and “ransom”:

 

·       …but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Isaiah 35:9–10; Psalm 19:14)

 

The Messiah Himself would sacrifice Himself. He Himself would be the NC, paid for by His own blood:

·       “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” (Isaiah 42:6–7; 49:8)

 

The conditional MC had been ineffective in opening “the eyes that are blind.” This required the Messiah, the Branch of David:

·       “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18-19)

 

However, at least two verses suggest the return of the Levitical Priesthood (Exodus 40:15; Numbers 25:13), but it seems that its return will be in a different form. For one thing, God promised that all the Israelites would become priests:

 

·       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 19:6)

 

This suggests that the priesthood might even extend to the Gentile believers as the NT teaches (1 Peter 2:5, 9–10; Revelation 1:6). This is supported by the many OT verses that prophesy the inclusion of the Gentiles into God’s Chosen People. However, none of these references (Isaiah 61:6; 66:21) suggest animal sacrifice.

This is demanded by the fact that there will be no death in God’s eternal Kingdom, not even animal death:

 

·       The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:6–9; 65:25)

How then can there be animal sacrifice in the eternal Kingdom! Jesus’ sacrifice had put an end to all other sacrifices. Animal sacrifices had been of little value. Therefore, His death had to work retroactively on behalf of the OT believers, who never had been cleansed of their sin through animal sacrifices:

·       For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. (Hebrews 9:13–15)

 

Not only was there need for the NC, the MC had to be replaced (Hebrews 13:8; 10:9)

 

·       And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13–14)

 

Therefore, Christ is now our all:

 

·       For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. (Colossians 2:9–10)

 

In Him, we are free:

 

·       So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31–32)