The Grace of Christ and the New Covenant

Picture: The Grace of Christ and the New Covenant1TC 239.1

At their creation Adam and Eve knew about the law of God. They had been introduced to its claims, and its principles were written on their hearts. When they fell to sin, the law was not changed but God gave the promise of a Savior. Sacrificial offerings pointed to the death of Christ as the great sin offering.1TC 239.2

The law of God was handed down from father to son through each generation, but only a few people obeyed. The world became so evil that it was necessary to cleanse it from its wickedness by the Flood. Noah taught his descendants the Ten Commandments. As they again departed from God, the Lord chose Abraham, of whom He said, “Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws” (Genesis 26:5). God gave him the rite of circumcision, a pledge to be separate from idolatry and obey the law of God. The failure of Abraham’s descendants to keep their pledge was the cause of their slavery in Egypt. In their contact with idol worshippers and their forced submission to the Egyptians, the divine principles became still more corrupted with the shameful teachings of heathenism. So the Lord came down on Mt. Sinai and spoke His law in awesome majesty in the hearing of all the people.1TC 239.3

He did not even then trust His laws to the memory of a people so likely to forget, but wrote them on tablets of stone. And He did not stop with giving them the Ten Commandments. He commanded Moses to write judgments and laws giving detailed instruction about what He required. These directions only amplified the principles of the Ten Commandments in a specific manner, designed to guard their sacredness.1TC 240.1

If Abraham’s descendants had kept the covenant, of which circumcision was a sign, there would have been no need for God’s law to be proclaimed from Mt. Sinai or engraved on tablets of stone.1TC 240.2

The sacrificial system was also perverted. Through long contacts with idolaters, Israel had mixed in many heathen customs with their worship, so the Lord gave them specific instructions concerning the sacrificial service. The ceremonial law was given to Moses, and he wrote it in a book. But the law of Ten Commandments had been written by God Himself on tablets of stone and preserved in the ark.1TC 240.3

Two Laws: Moral and Ceremonial

Many try to blend these two systems, using the texts that speak of the ceremonial law to prove that the moral law has been abolished, but this is a twisting of the Scriptures. The ceremonial system consisted of symbols pointing to Christ, to His sacrifice and priesthood. The Hebrews were to perform this ritual law with its sacrifices and ordinances until type met antitype—symbol met fulfillment—in the death of Christ. Then all the sacrificial offerings were to stop. It is this law that Christ “has taken ... out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14).1TC 240.4

But speaking about the law of Ten Commandments the psalmist wrote, “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89). And Christ Himself says, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law. ... For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17, 18). Here Jesus teaches that the claims of God’s law will last as long as the heavens and the earth remain.1TC 241.1

Concerning the law proclaimed from Sinai, Nehemiah says, “You came down also on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them just ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments” (Nehemiah 9:13). And Paul, the “apostle to the Gentiles,” declares, “the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good” (Romans 7:12).1TC 241.2

While the Savior’s death brought to an end the law of symbols and shadows, it did not lessen the obligation of the moral law. The very fact that Christ had to die in order to atone for the breaking of that law proves it to be unchangeable.1TC 241.3

Christ the Mediator of the New Covenant

Some people claim that Christ came to do away with the Old Testament. They present the religion of the Hebrews as nothing but forms and ceremonies. But this is a mistake. Through all the ages after the Fall, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Christ was the foundation and center of the sacrificial system. Since the sin of our first parents, the Father has given the world into the hands of Christ, that through His work as mediator He may redeem lost humanity and confirm the authority of God’s law. All communication between heaven and fallen human beings has been through Christ. It was the Son of God who gave our first parents the promise of redemption. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses understood the gospel. These holy men from long ago had fellowship with the Savior who was to come to our world in human flesh.1TC 241.4

Christ was the leader of the Hebrews in the wilderness, the Angel who went before them, veiled in the cloudy pillar. It was He who gave the law to Israel. (See Appendix, Note 6.) Amid the glory of Sinai Christ declared the Ten Commandments of His Father’s law. He gave the law to Moses, engraved on tablets of stone.1TC 242.1

Christ spoke to His people through the prophets. The apostle Peter says that the prophets “prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow” (1 Peter 1:10, 11). It is the voice of Christ that speaks through the Old Testament. “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10).1TC 242.2

While personally on earth, Jesus directed the minds of the people to the Old Testament. “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). At that time the books of the Old Testament were the only part of the Bible in existence.1TC 242.3

The ceremonial law was given by Christ. Even after it was no longer to be followed, the great apostle Paul pronounced this law glorious, worthy of its divine Originator. The cloud of incense ascending with the prayers of Israel represents His righteousness, the only thing that can make the sinner’s prayer acceptable to God. The bleeding victim on the altar testified of a Redeemer to come. So even through darkness and apostasy, faith was kept alive in human hearts until the coming of the promised Messiah.1TC 242.4

Jesus was the Light of the world before He came in the form of humanity. The first gleam of light that pierced the gloom in which sin had wrapped the world came from Christ. From Him has come every ray of heaven’s brightness that has fallen on the inhabitants of the earth.1TC 242.5

Since the Savior shed His blood and went back to heaven “to appear in the presence of God for us” (Hebrews 9:24), light has been streaming from the cross of Calvary and from the heavenly sanctuary. The gospel of Christ gives meaning to the ceremonial law. As truths are revealed, we see more keenly the character and purposes of God. Every additional ray of light gives a clearer un derstanding of the plan of redemption. We find new beauty in God’s Word and study its pages with more and more interest.1TC 242.6

God did not intend for Israel to build up a wall of separation between themselves and others. The heart of Infinite Love was reaching out toward everyone who lives on Earth, seeking to help them enjoy and benefit by His love and grace. He gave his blessing to the chosen people so that they might bless others.1TC 243.1

Abraham did not shut himself away from the people around him. He maintained friendly relationships with the kings of the surrounding nations, and through him the God of heaven was revealed.1TC 243.2

God manifested Himself to the people of Egypt through Joseph. Why did the Lord choose to promote Joseph to such a high position among the Egyptians? He wanted to put him in the palace of the king so that the heavenly light could extend far and near. Joseph was a representative of Christ. The Egyptians were to see in Joseph, the one who helped them, the love of their Creator and Redeemer. In Moses God also placed a light beside the throne of earth’s greatest kingdom so that all could learn of the true and living God.1TC 243.3

In Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, a knowledge of the power of God spread far and wide. Centuries after the exodus, the priests of the Philistines reminded their people of the plagues of Egypt and warned them against resisting the God of Israel.1TC 243.4

Why God Worked With Israel

God called Israel in order to reveal Himself through them to everyone who lived on the Earth. It was for this reason that He commanded them to keep themselves distinct from the idol-worshipping nations around them.1TC 243.5

It was just as necessary then as it is now for God’s people to be pure, “unspotted from the world.” But God did not want His people to shut themselves away from the world so that they could have no influence on it. It was their evil heart of unbelief that led them to hide their light instead of letting it shine on the peoples around them, shutting themselves away in proud exclusiveness as if God’s love and care were only for them.1TC 243.6

The covenant of grace was first made in the Garden of Eden. After the Fall, God promised that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head. This covenant offered to everyone pardon and the assisting grace of God to obey through faith in Christ. It also promised eternal life on condition of loyalty to God’s law, and so the patriarchs received the hope of salvation.1TC 244.1

God renewed this same covenant to Abraham in the promise, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 22:18). Abraham trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and it was this faith that was credited to him for righteousness. The covenant with Abraham also upheld the authority of God’s law. The testimony of God was, “Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws” (Genesis 26:5). Though this covenant was made with Adam and renewed to Abraham, it could not be confirmed until the death of Christ. It had existed by the promise of God, it had been accepted by faith, yet when confirmed by Christ’s death, it is called a new covenant. The law of God was the basis of this covenant, which was simply an arrangement for bringing sinners into harmony again with the divine will, placing them where they could obey God’s law.1TC 244.2

Another covenant—called in Scripture the “old” covenant—was made between God and Israel at Sinai and was then confirmed by the blood of a sacrifice. The covenant with Abraham, confirmed by the blood of Christ, is called the “second,” or “new” covenant, because the blood by which it was sealed was shed after the blood of the first covenant.1TC 244.3

But if the covenant to Abraham contained the promise of redemption, why was another covenant made at Sinai? In their slavery the people had largely lost the knowledge of the principles of the Abrahamic covenant. In delivering them from Egypt, God intended to reveal His power and mercy so that they might be led to love and trust Him. He bound them to Himself as their deliverer from physical slavery.1TC 244.4

But they had no true concept of God’s holiness, of the exceeding sinfulness of their own hearts, their complete inability in themselves to obey God’s law, and their need of a Savior.1TC 245.1

God gave them His law with the promise of great blessings on condition of obedience: “If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant ... you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5, 6). The people did not realize the sinfulness of their own hearts and that without Christ it was impossible for them to keep God’s law. Feeling able to establish their own righteousness, they declared, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient” (Exodus 24:7). They eagerly entered into covenant with God, yet only a few weeks went by before they broke their covenant and bowed down to worship the image of a calf. Now, seeing their sinfulness and their need of forgiveness, they felt their need of the Savior revealed in the Abrahamic covenant and symbolized in the sacrificial offerings. Now they were prepared to appreciate the blessings of the new covenant.1TC 245.2

The New Covenant and Justification by Faith

The terms of the “old covenant” were, Obey and live: “If a man does, he shall live by them” (Ezekiel 20:11). But “‘cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law’” to do them. (Deuteronomy 27:26). The “new covenant” was established upon “better promises,” the promise of forgiveness and the grace of God to change the heart and bring it into harmony with God’s law. “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts. ... I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:33, 34).1TC 245.3

The same law that was engraved on tablets of stone is written by the Holy Spirit on the heart. We accept the righteousness of Christ. His blood atones for our sins. His obedience is accepted for us. Then through the grace of Christ we will walk even as He walked. Through the prophet He declared concerning Himself, “I delight to do Your will, O My God, and Your law is within My heart” (Psalm 40:8).1TC 245.4

Paul clearly presents the relation between faith and the law under the new covenant: “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.” “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh” —it could not justify the sinner, who in the sinful nature could not keep the law—“God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 5:1; 3:31; 8:3, 4).1TC 246.1

Beginning with the first gospel promise and coming down through the patriarchal and Jewish ages to the present time, there has been a steady revealing of God’s intentions in the plan of redemption. The clouds have rolled back, the mists and shadows have disappeared, and Jesus, the world’s Redeemer, stands revealed. He who proclaimed the law from Sinai is the same who spoke the Sermon on the Mount. The great principles of love to God are only saying again what He had spoken through Moses. The Teacher is the same in both Old Testament and New Testament times.1TC 246.2