Mediator Of The Covenant

by R. Lindsay, Hamilton | Category: Moses A Man Of God | Jun 1975

A high point of Israel's national history came at Horeb, in the third month after their deliverance from Egypt. Having come to the wilderness of Sinai, they camped before the mount. The scene was awe-inspiring. "Mount Sinai was altogether on smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly... the voice of the trumpet waxed louder and louder" (Exod.19: 18,19). The people had been warned not to touch the mount, on penalty of death. And as they saw such evidences of the presence of Jehovah, "all the people that were in the camp trembled" (19:16). At the command of the Lord, Moses went up to the top of the mount. As he reminded Israel towards the end of his life, "I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the word of the LORD. for ye were afraid because of the fire" (Deut. 5:5).

In the mount Moses listened to the voice of Jehovah as He instructed him to remind Israel of what He had already done for them in redeeming them from Egypt. Now a new vista was being opened before them, as the Lord held out the promise, "ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me from among all the peoples: for all the earth is Mine: and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation" (Exod. 19:5,6). The bondmen of Egypt-now to be the people of God! But the promise was conditional upon their obedience. The word was, "If ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then shall ye be..." The people's response was unanimous: "All that the LORD hath spoken will we do and be obedient", they answered, and on this basis the Lord proceeded to give Moses the commandments, judgements and statutes by which Israel, as His people, would henceforth be governed. The moment at which the covenant was entered into was an exceedingly solemn one: "Thou has avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and that thou shouldest walk in His ways, and keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgements, and hearken unto His voice:

and the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be a peculiar people unto Himself, as He hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all His commandments; and to make thee high above all nations which He hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as He hath spoken" (Deut. 26:17-19).

The terms of the Covenant

The terms of the covenant given by God through Moses are detailed in Exod. 20:1-23:19. It legislated for every aspect of Israel's life. The law came under three heads:

(1) The Commandments (Exod. 20). The first four commandments deal with the people's responsibilities towards God, and hinge around their love for Him; the remaining six refer to their duties towards each other. The order is surely clear and instructive. No person or thing must be allowed to usurp the place which alone belongs to God. He must ever occupy the first place in the lives and affections of His people. The Lord Jesus reinforced this principle in Matt. 22:37-40, where He said that the first and great commandment is to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind". The second, He said, is like unto it, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself".

(2) The Judgements (21:1-23:9) governed the social and commercial life of the nation. Relationships between masters and servants, injuries to individuals, and damage to or loss of possessions are among the matters covered.

(3) The Statutes (23:10-19) decreed that the Sabbath rests should be observed, and set out Israel's obligations in connection with the Feasts of Jehovah.

The law was, indeed, comprehensive. It was given by God in order that His people might be governed by it, and He required that it should be obeyed implicitly. Failure to do so would be visited by retribution from the angel who was to go before them on their journey (23:21).

Just as Israel through Moses received the statutes and judgements, so also the Lord has legislated for the lives of His New Covenant people. The teaching of the Lord Jesus and His apostles determines the standards by which our lives must be governed. "The Faith... once for all delivered unto the saints", Jude called it. To this we must give unhesitating obedience. We must stand fast in the Faith (1 Cor. 16:13) and contend earnestly for it (Jude 3).

The blood of sprinkling

When the words of the law were spoken to and accepted by the people, oxen were slain for burnt offerings and peace offerings, and the altar and the people were sprinkled with the blood of the covenant. Clearly, this presents a different aspect of truth from the blood of the passover sacrifice, which was shed in Egypt. That was the blood of their redemption; this, the blood of sanctification which placed upon them the obligation of obedience. The New Testament answer to this can be seen in 1 Pet. 1:1,2, where the sojourners of the dispersion are described as being "elect... according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ". A similar thought is expressed in Heb. 12: 22-24, "Ye are come... to Jesus the Mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh". God's New Covenant people are responsible, as were Israel under the Old Covenant, to render obedience to the commandments of the Lord.

It was on the ground of their obedience that the Lord constituted Israel "a peculiar treasure, a kingdom of priests and an holy nation Likewise, it was a people who had purified their souls in obedience to the truth whom Peter described as "an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession". (1 Pet. 2:9). The similarity in the language is striking, and we cannot escape the great privilege, albeit one which carries a heavy responsibility of obedience. Heb. 10: 26-31 describes in solemn language the severity of the judgement of God on him who "hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing". May the people of God today guard themselves from the dangers of disobedience.

The Covenant and the House

Associated with the Covenant were the feasts of Jehovah to which

all the males of Israel were to come three times in the year. The instructions were explicit: they were to "appear before the LORD thy God in the place which He shall choose". (Deut. 16:16). There, in the place of the Name, were found the altar and the mercy seat, and it was to this place that the godly Israelite ever turned. "Now even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service, and its sanctuary, a sanctuary of this world. For there was a tabernacle prepared, the first..." (Heb. 9: 1,2). And in the house of God, whether the tabernacle in the wilderness, the temple built by Solomon or the house rebuilt by the remnant returned from Babylon, Israel fulfilled her function as a kingdom of priests. But the house was an earthly house, and its sanctuary but a copy of the heavenly sanctuary. "The way into the holy place hath not yet been made manifest, while as the first tabernacle is yet standing" (Heb. 9:8).

By contrast, under the New Covenant the house is a spiritual one, and the sanctuary is heavenly. Through our, Great High Priest, who ministers there, the people of God enter into this heavenly sanctuary, as a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices (1 Pet. 2.5). The clear teaching of Hebrews chapters 9 and 10 is that, whereas under the Mosaic covenant the high priest alone could enter the sanctuary, and that but once in the year, Christ has entered in once for all through His own blood, now to appear as Great High Priest before the face of God for us. Through Him, the holy priesthood now draws near, and in the heavenly sanctuary we present our sacrifice of praises, even the fruit of lips which make confession to His Name (Heb. 13:15): "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which He dedicated for us... through the veil, that is to say, His flesh; and having a great Priest over the house of God; let us draw near ... " (Heb. 10:19-22).

The Mediator

The scene at Sinai was an awe-inspiring one. The demonstration of divine glory in the flashing lightning, the reverberating thunder and the voice of the trumpet had caused the fear of the Lord so to grip the hearts of Israel that they said to Moses, "Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die". (Exod. 20:19). Thus Moses, at the wish of the people and the command of the Lord, drew near into the thick darkness where God was. There, on Israel's behalf, he stood before the Lord, and heard from His mouth the words of the law which he relayed to Israel. As the one who stood between God and the people, Moses became the mediator, at whose hand the law was given, and thus a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, "the Mediator of a better Covenant, which hath been enacted upon better promises11 (Heb. 8:6).

The Lord Jesus, however1 stands related to the New Covenant, not only as its Mediator, but as its Surety (Heb. 7:22), and its Sacrifice. The New Covenant, under which we serve God today, has been sealed by His own precious blood (Heb. 12:24). Well may we contemplate solemnly His words to the disciples in the upper room, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, even that which is poured out for you" (Luke 22:20).

The New Covenant

The covenant given through Moses has been superseded. The death of the Lord Jesus has opened the way for a new covenant, made with another people. Israel's disobedience to the will of God led to their rejection as His people, and they have been set aside, for the time being, "They continued not in My covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord" (Heb. 8:9). A day is ahead, however, in which the Lord will once again put His laws into their mind, and write them on their heart. He will make another covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah (Hebrews 8:8),and the nation will be re-established as the people of God.

But, for the present, God has taken up a people with whom He has established a new covenant. They occupy a position of high privilege - a spiritual house, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession (1 Pet. 2). Their responsibility to be obedient to the Faith is vital to their continuance in this spiritual heritage, lest their place as God's people should be forfeited, as was Israel's: "Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: for our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12: 28,29).

"Within Thy house, in number few, We seek Thy grace Thy will to do. Lord, of ourselves we're very weak;

Thy help and strength we humbly seek."

R. Lindsay, Hamilton | Jun 1975
Moses A Man Of God