“Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:11,12)
An idea that prevails quite extensively is that God has one covenant for Jews and another for Gentiles; that there was a time when the covenant with the Jews utterly excluded the Gentiles, but that now a new covenant has been made which concerns chiefly, if not wholly, the Gentiles; in short that the Jews are, or were, under the old covenant, and the Gentiles under the new. That this idea is a great error, may readily be seen from the passage just quoted.
No Covenant with Gentiles
As a matter of fact, Gentiles, as Gentiles, have no part whatever in God’s covenants of promise. In Christ is the yea. “For how many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the yea; wherefore also through Him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us.” (2 Corinthians 1:20) The Gentiles are those who are without Christ, and so they are “strangers from the covenants of promise.” No Gentile has any part in any covenant of promise. But whosoever will may come to Christ, and may share in the promises; for Christ says, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:37) But when the Gentile does that, no matter what his nationality may be, he ceases to be a Gentile, and becomes a member of “the commonwealth of Israel.”Who Have a Share in God’s Covenant?
But let it be noted also that the Jew, in the common acceptation of the term, that is, as a member of the Jewish nation, and a rejecter of Christ, has no more share in the promises of God, or the covenants of promise, than the Gentile has. That is only to say that nobody has any share in the promises, save those who accept them. Whoever is “without Christ,” whether he be called Jew or Gentile, is also “without God in the world,” and is a stranger from the covenants of promise, and an alien from the commonwealth of Israel. This the text first quoted teaches us. One must be in Christ in order to share the benefits of “the covenants of promise,” and be a member of “the commonwealth of Israel.” To be “an Israelite indeed,” therefore, is simply to be a Christian. This is as true of the men who lived in the days of Moses, as of those who lived in the days of Paul, or those who live to-day.The Covenants Contrasted
The comparative value of the two covenants which stand related to each other as “the first” and “the second,” the “old” and the “new,” is thus set forth in the Book of Hebrews, which presents Christ as High Priest, and contrasts His priesthood with that of men. Here are some of the points of superiority of our great High Priest over earthly high priests:—How Much Better the Second was than the First
Now “by so much was Jesus made surety of a better covenant.” The covenant of which Christ is Minister is as much better than that of which the Levitical priests were ministers, whose priesthood dated only from the making of the covenant at Sinai, as Christ and His priesthood are better than they and their priesthood. That is to say, the covenant of which Christ as High Priest is Minister, is as much better than the covenant that dates from Sinai, as Christ is better than man; as heaven is higher than earth; as the sanctuary in heaven is greater than the sanctuary on earth; as the works of God are better than the works of the flesh; as “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” is better than “the law of a carnal commandment;” as eternal life is better than a life that is but “a vapour that appeareth for a moment, and then vanisheth away;” as the oath of God is better than the word of man.The Difference
And now we may read wherein this vast difference consists: “But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the Mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.Why the Promises of the Old Covenant were Never Realized
But the promises of that covenant at Sinai were never realized, and for the very reason that they were faulty. The promises of that covenant all depended upon the people. They said, “All that the Lord hath spoken, we will do.” (Exodus 19:8; 24:7) They promised to keep His commandments, although they had already demonstrated their inability to do anything themselves. Their promises to keep the law, like the law itself, were “weak through the flesh.” (Romans 8:3) The strength of that covenant was therefore only the strength of the law, and that is death.The Covenant with Abraham Sufficient
That “everlasting covenant” with Abraham was a covenant of faith. It was everlasting, and therefore the giving of the law could not disannul it. It was confirmed by the oath of God, and therefore the law could not add anything to it. Because the law added nothing to that covenant, and yet was not against its promises, it follows that the law was contained in its promises. The covenant of God with Abraham assured to him and his seed the righteousness of the law by faith. Not by works, but by faith.Its Scope
The covenant with Abraham was so ample in its scope that it embraced all nations, even “all the families of the earth.” It is that covenant, backed by the oath of God, by which we now have confidence and hope in coming to Jesus, in whom it was confirmed. It is by virtue of that covenant, and that alone, that any man receives the blessing of God, for the cross of Christ simply brings the blessing of Abraham upon us.Its Surety
That covenant was wholly of faith, and that is why it assures salvation, since “by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.” The history of Abraham makes very emphatic the fact that salvation is wholly of God, and not by the power of man. “Power belongeth unto God”; (Psalms 62:11) and the Gospel is “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” (Romans 1:16) From the case of Abraham, as well as that of Isaac and of Jacob, we are made to know that only God Himself can fulfill the promises of God. They got nothing by their own wisdom or skill or power; everything was a gift from God. He led them, and He protected them.God’s Reference to His Covenant with Abraham
This is the truth that had been made most prominent in the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt. God introduced Himself to them as “The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;” (Exodus 3:15) and He charged Moses to let them know that He was about to deliver them in fulfillment of His covenant with Abraham. God spake unto Moses, and said unto him:—All Things of God
Note how God dwelt upon the fact that He Himself had done all that had been done for them. He had delivered them from the Egyptians, and He had brought them to Himself. That was the thing which they were continually forgetting, as indicated by their murmurings. They had even gone so far as to question whether the Lord was among them or not; and their murmurings always indicated the thought that they themselves could manage things better than God could. God had brought them by the mountain pass to the Red Sea, and into the desert where there was no food nor drink, and had miraculously supplied their wants in every instance, to make them understand that they could live only by His word. (Deuteronomy 8:3)The Lesson of Trust
The response of Israel was self-confidence. Read the record of their distrust in God in Psalm 106. He had proved them at the Red Sea, in the giving of the manna, and at the waters of Meribah. In every place they had failed to trust Him perfectly. Now he comes to prove them once more, in the giving of the law. As we have already learned, God never intended that men should try to get righteousness by the law, or that they should think such a thing possible. In the giving of the law, as shown by all the attendant circumstances, He designed that the children of Israel, and we also, should learn that the law is infinitely above the reach of all human effort, and to make it plain that, since the keeping of the commandments is essential to the salvation which He has promised, He Himself will fulfill the law in us. These are the words of God: “Hear, O My people, and I will testify unto thee; O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto Me, there shall no strange God be in thee, neither shalt thou worship any strange god.” (Psalms 81:8,9) “Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live.” (Isaiah 55:3) His word transforms the soul from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, even as it brought forth Lazarus from the tomb.The Covenant at Sinai not Designed by God
A careful reading of Exodus 19:1-6, will show that there is no intimation that another covenant was then to be made. Indeed, the evidence is to the contrary. The Lord referred to His covenant—the covenant long before given to Abraham—and exhorted them to keep it, and told what would be the result of their keeping it. The covenant with Abraham was, as we have seen, a covenant of faith, and they could keep it simply by keeping the faith. God did not ask them to enter into another covenant with Him, but only to accept His covenant of peace, which he had long before given to the fathers.The People’s Mistake
The proper response of the people therefore would have been, “Amen, even so, O Lord, let it be done unto us according to Thy will.” On the contrary they said, “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do;” and they repeated their promise, with additional emphasis, even after they had heard the law spoken. It was the same self-confidence that led their descendants to say to Christ, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” Think of mortal men presuming to be able to do God’s work! Christ answered, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” Even so it was in the desert of Sinai, when the law was given and the covenant made.A Covenant with Death
Their assuming the responsibility of working the works of God, showed lack of appreciation of His greatness and holiness. It is only when men are ignorant of God’s righteousness, that they go about to establish their own righteousness, and refuse to submit themselves to the righteousness of God. (See Romans 10:3) Their promises were good for nothing, because they had not the power to fulfill them. The covenant, therefore, which was based on those promises was utterly worthless, so far as giving them life was concerned. All that they could get from that covenant was just what they could get from themselves, and that was death. To trust in it was to make a covenant with death, and to be at agreement with the grave. Their entering into that covenant was a virtual notification to the Lord that they could get along very well without Him; that they were able to fulfill any promise He could make.God’s Patience
But God did not give them up, “for He said, Surely they are My people, children that will not lie; so He was their Saviour.” (Isaiah 63:8) He knew that they were moved by impulse in making that promise, and that they did not realize what it meant. They had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. He had brought them out of the land of Egypt, that He might teach them to know Him, and He did not become angry with them because they were so slow to learn the lesson. He had borne with Abraham when he thought that he could work out God’s plans, and He had been very patient with Jacob when he was so ignorant as to suppose that God’s promised inheritance could be gained by sharp bargains and fraud. So now He bore with their children’s ignorance and lack of faith, in order that He might afterwards bring them to the faith.The Divine Compassion
God meets men just where they are. He has “compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way.” (Hebrews 5:2) He is always and everywhere seeking to draw all men to Himself, no matter how depraved they are; and therefore when He discerns even the faintest glimmer of a willingness or desire to serve Him, He at once nourishes it, making the most of it He can to lead the soul to greater love and more perfect knowledge. So although the children of Israel had failed in this supreme test of their trust in Him, He took advantage of their expressed willingness to serve Him, even though it was only in “their own weak way.” Because of their unbelief they could not have all that He wished them to have; but that which they did get through their lack of faith was a continual reminder of what they might have if they fully believed. Because of their ignorance of the greatness of His holiness, which ignorance was expressed by their promise to do the law, God proceeded, by the proclamation of the law, to show them the greatness of His righteousness, and the utter impossibility of their working it out.