For many centuries now, the Bible has been divided into two great parts: the Old and New Testa­ments. Both parts revolve around two covenants. Yet few under­stand why. If we are under the New Covenant today, why did God include so much in the Bible about the Old Covenant? Because together, the Old and New Covenants reveal all of God’s master plan. Very few people realize this! And that is why so few truly under­stand God’s supreme purpose for man.

Man Created Incomplete

In Genesis 1:26 we see that man was created in the image and likeness of God. But John 4:24 says God is Spirit. Man , however, was made out of dirt (Gen. 2:7). So, while we were created complete physically, we are incomplete spir­itually. Most people believe we were created complete physically and spiritually—already having an immor­tal soul. That is not correct. Nowhere does Scripture support an immortal soul teaching.

Let’s notice what Scripture does reveal. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Be­cause the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). God gives human beings a human spirit, and Satan begins to influence us via that spirit by injecting his attitudes into human beings at the very earliest possible age. All babies, by the time they are just a few months old, begin to develop a self-centered, carnal nature. That carnal nature, as Paul wrote, is against God! But notice the last part of that verse. The carnal mind is not subject to God’s law; then Paul says, “neither indeed can be.” It’s not possible! This life we lead in carnal flesh simply cannot please God.

Jeremiah wrote, “The heart [or mind of man] is deceitful above all things , and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9). Physically, it is impossible to follow God and His laws. There must be a change in our nature for that to become possible.

“Whereby are given unto us ex­ceeding great and precious promis­es: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (ii Pet. 1:4). We become partakers of the divine nature, or God’s very nature , when we are born again as spirit beings. As John wrote, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). Yes, that means what it says. When we are finally born of the Spirit, we will bespirit! At that point, we will be spirit as God is spirit. Our creation will then be complete.

That makes this physical life we now live vitally important, be­cause everything we do in this life is to prepare us for when our creation will be complete—when we will actually become the born children of God. If you are not preparing for that fantastic future now , you do not understand God’s incredible purpose for man.

That future begins when God imparts a portion of His Holy Spirit to us after we repent of our sins and are baptized (Acts 2:38). From that point on, we are to grow and develop spiri­tually to pre­pare for the time when we will take on the divine nature of God. The Holy Spirit plays a signifi­cant role in the New Covenant.

But let us now take a look at the Old Covenant. Just what is this Old Covenant God entered into with ancient Israel?

The Old Covenant

Many people mis understand the true meaning of both the Old and New Covenants because they don’t really know what a covenant is. Webster’s defines it as “an agreement, usually formal, between two or more persons to do or not do something specified.” Very simply, a covenant is an agree­ment between two or more parties.

This is clearly what God and ancient Israel entered into. They both agreed. The terms and conditions of the Old Covenant extend from Exodus 19:1 through 24:8.

Shortly after God led the Israelites out of Egypt, He brought them to Mt. Sinai. Moses went up the mount. There God instructed Moses to tell the people, “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my cove­nant, then ye shall be a peculiar trea­sure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests , and an holy nation ” (Exod. 19:4-6). Notice the promises of this covenant: They would be a peculiar treasure , a king­dom of priests and a holy nation.

But also notice, God did not promise the Holy Spirit as part of the Old Covenant. Neither did God give the promise of eternal life. Every promise of the Old Covenant was material. If Israel had obeyed, they would have be­come an exceedingly great nation, dwelling in a land filled with fruitful abundance. They would be God’s people and He would be their God. God would walk among them, but He never promised to dwell in them by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Already we have seen several critical points to remember: 1) A covenant is an agreement between two or more parties. The Old Covenant was the agreement between God and the ancient nation of Israel; 2) the terms and conditions of the Old Covenant were clearly spelled out: God would be Israel’s God if they would obey His voice. Later, we will see the specifics in­volved for Israel to obey God’s voice; 3) the promises of the covenant were also clear. In addi­tion to being Israel’s God, He would also make them a peculiar treasure, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. In other words, they would be show­ered with great material blessings like no other nation in the world.

Old Covenant a Marriage Agreement

Another fact greatly misunder­stood concerning the Old Covenant is that it was actually a marriage agree­ment between God and the nation of Israel. In Ezekiel 16:8, God said, “Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love ; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou be­camest mine.” God said He passed over Israel and spread His skirt over them , which is an expression that is a sign of marriage (see Ruth 3:8-11). At that time, Israel entered into a cove­nant with God and God said, “you became mine.”

In Jeremiah 31:32, God said of ancient Israel, “I was an husband unto them.” By agreeing to the cove­nant, Israel was bound to God as His wife and was forbidden to commit adultery by worshiping the gods of other nations. “Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee …. For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exod. 34:12, 14).

They were forbidden to enter a covenant with another god because they were bound to a jealous Husband. If Israel would agree, the Lord (or the one who was to become Jesus Christ, as we shall see) would be a faithful and loving Husband.

And did Israel agree to the cove­nant? “And all the people answered to­gether, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord” (Exod. 19:8).

God Reveals Specific Conditions

Israel said they would be obedient to all that God said. That is what God required of them in a broad sense in Exodus 19:5. After the Israelites agreed, God instructed Moses to tell the people to be ready on the third day when He would come down to the people Himself. It was then that God began to instruct the Israel­ites on the specific terms and condi­tions of the covenant.

First, God informed them that they had to obey the Ten Com­mandments (Exod. 20:1-17). God even wrote these commandments on two tables of stone with His own finger! (Exod. 31:18; Deut. 5:22). These com­mandments were a distinct part of the Old Covenant. In Deuteronomy 9:9, 11, the two tables are referred to as “the tables of the covenant.” These tables contained the ten commands that, to­gether, make up God’s great spiri­tual law. God’s spiritual law defines sin.

After God spoke the Ten Com­mandments, He then instructed Moses to continue explaining to the Israelites the civil law of statutes and judg­ments. These laws would govern and direct them as a nation. While the spiritual law was based on broad principles, the statutes were very specific—forbidding certain things to be done. Judgments were added to render a decision or verdict based on God’s law. They prescribed certain punishments for disobedience. To­gether, the statutes and judgments, or the civil law, amplified the ten basic principles of God’s spiritual law.

For example, Exodus 21:12 says, “He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.” This civil law detailed the punishment for breaking the Sixth Commandment: “Thou shalt not kill” (Exod. 20:13). All of these civil laws were based on the spiritual precepts of the Ten Commandments.

The civil law was also a distinct part of the terms of the Old Covenant. It can be found in Exodus 21-23.

We have seen how the spiritual law of God was written on tablets of stone by God Himself. The civil law was also written. Only the civil law was written down by Mosesin a book (Exod. 24:4). This became known as the “book of the covenant” (v. 7). So the Israelites had to obey the tables of the covenant (the Ten Command­ments) and the book of the covenant (the civil law).

Even after being given all the details of the spiritual law and the civil law, the Israelites still felt absolutely confident that they could obey God’s commands. Notice Exodus 24:3: “And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice , and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do” (see also v. 7).

After they agreed, the cove­nant was sealed with blood. “And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words” (v. 8).

God’s Law in Force Long Before Sinai

It is necessary at this point to cover one important subject so that no one jumps to conclusions. Contrary to popular belief today, God’s spiritual law—the Ten Com­mandments—was in existence long before the Old Covenant began at Mt. Sinai. The Bible is filled with abundant proof concerning this point.

Hundreds of years before God spoke to Moses at Mt. Sinai, He said this about His servant Abraham: “Be­cause that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my command­ments, my statutes, and my laws” (Gen. 26:5). Yes, Abraham obeyed the Ten Commandments as well as the statutes and other laws, or judgments.

Exodus 16:28 and 18:16 also show that God’s spiritual law, as well as the statutes and judgments, were in full force before Mt. Sinai.

In Romans 5:12, Paul wrote, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world , and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Sin entered the world through one man—Adam. And Paul says death entered because of sin. Notice verse 14: “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.” How do we know God’s law existed before Moses? Because “sin is not imputed when there is no law,” as Paul wrote in verse 13 (see also Rom. 4:15). If there was no law, then there could not have been sin; for sin is the transgression of the law (i John 3:4). And if there was no sin, then there would have been no death. But as Paul said, “death reigned from Adam to Moses.” There was death. That means there was sin!

There are numerous scriptures referring to those who sinned prior to the time of Moses. God told Cain, “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door” (Gen. 4:7). Cain ended up sinning terribly. He killed his brother and then lied to God about it.

There are numerous “no law” preachers today who insist that the Ten Commandments began with Moses at Mt. Sinai as part of the Old Covenant. Then, the reasoning goes, when Christ died, the Old Covenant ended, thus ending the need to observe the law. Don’t be deceived! The Old Covenant has ended! But God’s law has not and never will! Remember, a covenant is an agreement between two or more parties. The Old Covenant is not the law. It is true that the terms and conditions of the Old Covenant re­volved around God’s law. But when that covenant ended due to Israel’s rebel­lion, the law did notend. It was the covenant, or agreement between God and Israel, thatended!

The Ministration of Death

But if God’s spiritual law did not end when the Old Covenant ended, what about the civil laws of Moses? After all, the civil law states, if you kill a man, you are to be put to death. Why doesn’t the Church today enforce the death penalty for those who disobey the Sabbath or kill some­one? This ques­tion has been raised by some, but it need not be confusing.

There was an administration of death contained within the civil laws of Moses. If you killed, you were to be killed (Exod. 21:12).

Notice what Paul wrote about this type of retribution: “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life” (iiCor. 3:6). The letter in the civil law killed. Verse 7 continues, “But if the ministrationof death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious ….” Remember, the principles of the Ten Commandments were the basis for the civil law of Moses—the statutes and judgments. When the Israelites broke the law, they were punished by the civil authorities, or ministration. Paul refers to that “ministration of death” as being glori­ous (see also v. 11). How could that be glorious? The Israelites con­stantly sinned. God constantly re­minded them of this fact. And today it serves as an example for us (i Cor. 10:11), showing that we must have God’s help! That is why, as we shall see in a later article, the New Covenant is based on the spiritual.

Notice verse 8 of ii Corinthians 3 from the Moffatt translation: “Surely the administra­tion of the Spirit must be invested with still greater glory.” Remember, the Old Covenant had no eternal promises. There was no promise of the Holy Spirit. With the New Covenant there is! Paul made that abundantly clear in verse 6.

This administration of death was to continue until it was superseded by the administration of the Spirit. That’s the key. A new administration was needed. Not a new law. The civil servants in Moses’s day could not grant eternal life. They were an administra­tion that could only require obedience by the letter, and exact physical death in cases where the law required it.

The administration of the New Covenant, beginning with Jesus Christ, can pardon human beings who repent of breaking God’s law and ultimately promise them eternal life! That is why Paul says it is more glori­ous. Because of the spiritual aspect.

Let’s notice exactly when this ministration of death began. It was not at Mt. Sinai. It was instilled shortly after the Flood. “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man” (Gen. 9:6). Before the Flood, this ministration did not exist. God did not put Cain to death after he killed his brother. Instead, He placed a mark upon him (Gen. 4:15). God ordained the ministration of death after the Flood for the same reason He reintroduced it at Mt. Sinai. It was to remind all people of the consequences for disobeying God’s law.

But not only that, the administra­tion of death was there to protect the rights of the ancient Israelites. Today, Christ instructs us to endure an obvious wrong that may have been done against us (see Matt. 5:38-42; i Pet. 2:19-20; Rom. 13:1-7).

Because of the new administration under Christ, we have the chance to be pardoned, or forgiven of our sins, if we go to God in repentance of our evil ways. Again, people want to turn this unbelievable grace of God into a license to disobey (Jude 4). We can be forgiven. But only after repentance. And repentance means change—not just being sorry (ii Cor. 7:10). The administration under the New Covenant has the authority, unlike the judges of the Old Covenant, to give eternal life! That is why it is more glorious.

Christ Magnified the Law

The new administration was started by Christ when He raised up the true Church. It was a new adminis­tration operating under the same law! Under the Old Covenant, Christ gave clear instructions to the civil govern­ment of ancient Israel. Under the New Covenant, Christ gives clear instruc­tions to the government within His spiritual organism—the Church.

In Matthew 5:38-39, Jesus said, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye , and a tooth for a tooth : But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Christ introduced this passage in Matthew 5 by saying He did not come to destroy the law. Furthermore, Christ said, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven …” (v. 19). Christ then pro­ceeded to give the magnified application of such laws as an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Read the entire chapter. Christ is expanding the meaning of the law—including the statutes and judgments. No longer were they narrow commands dealing with the strictness of the letter. Now there was added a great spiritual plane to regulate the Church today—and the whole of society in the future.

To understand the spiritual appli­cation of the civil laws, we must com­prehend the overall principle of God’s law. That principle is love (i John 4:8). God’s spiritual principles summed up in the Ten Commandments are based on love (Rom. 13:10). Jesus separated God’s law of love into two great commands: love toward God and love toward man (Matt. 22:36-39). Few people realize that these two great commands of Jesus Christ can also be found within the civil law of Moses! (see Lev. 19:18 and Deut. 6:5). God commanded this from the beginning! (ii John 5-6).

The civil law of Moses expands the Ten Com­mandments and tells us how the spiri­tual principles of God’s laws are to be applied. They were not abolished. Christ magnified them. Through the Holy Spirit, we are to keep them in their obvious spiritual intent, not just in the strict­ness of the letter, as they did in ancient Israel, when they had no promise of the Holy Spirit and no understanding of spiritual matters! How plain! Dr. Her­man Hoeh clearly explained this matter in the Good News (August 1972). Notice:

“[T]he instructions given to Moses about ‘an eye for an eye’ were not in­tended as some people take them. They were laws set up to regulate a human society, with all its faults, in a fair and just manner. And these prin­ciples are still in effect today.

“Many have read the command in Exodus 21:24-25 with shocked amaze­ment at the assumed ‘cruelty’ of the God of the Old Testament. They sup­pose anyone causing a person acciden­tally to lose sight of an eye would immediately be seized, held down, and have his eye gouged out in just retribution!

“But is this a right understanding of the verse?

“The context in which we find this command of ‘eye for eye, tooth for tooth’ is explaining the principle of just recompense for any wrong done. The very next verse shows that if a person causes his slave to lose his eye or tooth, the slave must be freed as a payment for the injury—workmen’s compensation. Verses 18 and 19 of the same chapter discuss the matter of one person injuring another. What is the punishment? ‘… he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.’ It was a matter of payment or recompense—not re­venge by inflicting the same injury. …

“The whole context of the ‘eye for eye, tooth for tooth’ command is con­cerned with the matter of just recom­pense or payment for the injury caused —an ‘eye-value’ for an eye, a ‘tooth-value’ for a tooth.”

God’s law is not outdated! The Ten Commandments are living active laws which have been in motion from the very beginning. They did not start at Mt. Sinai. They did not end with Jesus Christ. The statutes of God gave the magnified application of the Ten Commandments. Jesus Christ clearly taught us how these laws are to be applied under a different adminis­tra­tion. He did not bring with Him a new and different set of laws. God says, “I am the Lord, I change not ” (Mal. 3:6).

But doesn’t the New Testament plainly reveal that there are certain laws which were abolished with the death of Christ? Again, let us turn to the Bible for the answer.

The Sacrificial Laws

The Ten Commandments were the basis of the agreement in the Old Covenant. God wrote these ten great laws personally. The civil law, made up of statutes and judgments, was writ­ten up in a book by Moses as revealed by God. This became known as the law of Moses. It is important that we realize this distinction. No­where in Scripture is the law of Moses referred to as the Ten Commandments. There is a clear distinction between the Ten Command­ments and the civil laws of Moses.

But there is also a clear distinction between two sets of laws within the law of Moses. If you review the terms and con­ditions of the Old Covenant in Exodus 19-24, you will not read any verses about ritualistic offerings or sacrificial laws. That is because they were not a part of the original law of Moses. “For I spake notunto your fathers, norcom­manded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, con­cerning burnt offerings or sacrifices ” (Jer. 7:22). The law of Moses, as plainly revealed in Exodus 21-23, originally contained certain statutes and judgments only. God did not speak to them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices when they came out of Egypt. That’s because they were added later. You can see this quite clearly if you read the chap­ters written after Exodus 24 (when the Old Covenant was ratified). After the covenant was sealed with blood, the Levitical priesthood was later estab­lished and soon God instituted the ritualistic laws (see Exod. 28). These ritualistic laws became a part of the law of Moses—but they came later, after the Old Covenant had already been sealed.

Why did God add these laws? Paul said they were “added because of transgressions [or sin]” (Gal. 3:19). God’s spiritual law was not added because of sin. God’s great spiritual law defines sin! (i John 3:4). We are commanded to keep these spiritual laws. The ritualistic and sacrificial laws, how­ever, were added to the Old Covenant because of sin. They were instituted to remind the Israelites of sin! Jesus Christ had not yet come as the Pass­over sacrifice. His sacrifice had not yet abolished the sacrifices of goats and calves (Heb. 9:9-14).

It becomes clear then that the law of Moses contained two distinct parts—the civil laws and the ritualistic laws. When Christ died, it was the ritualistic part of the civil law that was accomplished in His death. Those laws are abolished. The other part—the statutes and judgments—we are expected to observe in its New Testa­ment magnification under the new administration of the Church.

Who Was Israel Married To?

We have already seen that the Old Covenant was a marriage agreement between the ancient nation of Israel and God. God actually spoke to Moses and Israel when He delivered the terms and conditions of the covenant. Yet Christ said, “And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at anytime, nor seen his shape” (John 5:37).

God spoke to Moses, yet Christ says the Father has never spoken to man. If it wasn’t the Father, then who was it? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The Word is the one who later became Jesus Christ (v. 14). The other Being mentioned in verse 1 is the one who became the Father. Jesus Christ was the Word, or the Spokesman for God.

If the Israelites heard God’s voice, it had to be the voice of either God the Father or the Word. John 5:37 proves it had to be the Word—or the one who became Jesus Christ! This will become very significant as we look at the New Covenant in a later article. Jesus Christ was the God of the Old Testament. He was the one to whom Moses spoke. And more importantly, He was the one with whom Israel agreed to enter into a marriage cove­nant!

Referring to ancient Israel, the Word said, “I was an husband unto them” (Jer. 31:32). Israel stated the wedding vows in one accord: “All that the Lord hath said will we do” (Exod. 24:7). They bound themselves to remain faithful to their Husband. They promised to avoid adultery with other false gods (Exod. 34:12-17). They were bound by the Old Covenant! Why? Because a covenant is an agree­ment. Israel agreed.

Israel Broke the Covenant

It did not take long at all for Israel to fall back into the evil ways of this world. God reminded the Israelites of the terms of the agreement about nine months later in Leviticus 26:1-3. They were already losing sight of what God had promised them if they obeyed (vv. 4-13). But He also explained what would happen if they refused to obey (vv. 14-39). And that’s just what Israel did. The God who became the Word said, “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you …” (Jer. 3:14). God pleaded with Israel for over 700 years to turn from their wicked ways. But it was to no avail.

Finally, look at what happened: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord” (Jer. 31:31-32).

Israel failed. They broke the cove­nant. So God divorced them! Be­cause of their disobedience, God with­drew the many promises associated with the first covenant. Instead of obtaining great material prosperity, Israel went into Assyrian captivity in 721-718 b.c. (Ezek. 20:23-24). The nation of Judah (which had separated from Israel long before this time) also went into cap­tivity. They were overthrown by the Baby­lonians from 604-585 b.c. (ii Kings 23:27). The Old Covenant was broken because of the people of Israel—not because the law was bad or because it was too harsh.

Man Cannot Obey God

At the start of this article we saw how the carnal mind of man is actually against God. Man, of and by himself, simply cannot please God. It’s impos­sible. Remem­ber, there were no spiri­tual promises in the Old Covenant. Why , if God knew man could not please Him without the Spirit? Be­cause God was proving that very fact! We have hundreds of years of re­corded history about a nation which God put under the best possible condi­tions, physi­cally , to obey Him. Yet they failed miserably! That’s because they did not, as a na­tion, have access to God’s Holy Spirit.

They could have, and should have, kept the letter of God’s law. But they didn’t even do that! They were a wretched failure even judging by the letter of the law. But why? What was God trying to show mankind?

“O that there were such an heart [or nature] in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my command­ments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!” (Deut. 5:29). God knew the Israelites just didn’t have the heart to obey Him. That is the problem with man. We don’t naturally have the heart, or nature, within ourselves to please God. We must have God’s Spirit. Israel’s history proves that!

Israel broke the Old Covenant. But the problem was not God’s. The prob­lem was with the people. And because of that, God had to make a new cove­nant—a new marriage agree­ment! The terms and conditions of this covenant are again based on God’s law, but the promises revolving around the covenant are spiritual. This time, God calls people out of this world as spiritual Israelites and imparts a small portion of His Spirit in them so they might be able to do what Israel could not possibly do—please God and obey His voice. Royal Vision will have a future article on the subject of the new covenant.