Introduction 

Our study is stayed upon this verse recorded in the Gospel according to John, the first chapter: “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

There existed, therefore, the Covenant of the Law and the New Covenant. The old Covenant by The Law Through Moses. The New Covenant Established by the Lord Jesus Christ. which is itself called The Covenant of Grace.

We shall try to compare the two Covenant, hoping that this study shall be profitable unto us all.  

I shall speak concerning the Covenant of the Law, But not go into the specific contents of the Law.

 I shall first address how God delivered the Covenant of the Law unto the Prophet Moses at Sinai. 

 

The Revelation at Sinai 

Exodus 19:16, 18-19: 

“Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thundering and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp tremb¹led... Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice.” 

 

The Delivery of the Tablets of Stone 

This was the image when God gave the tablets of stone to Moses. 

Exodus 24:12-13, 15-18: 

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.’ So, Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God... Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain. Now the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. So, Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.” 

 

Such was the appearance when God gave the Law to Moses. 

What do we conclude from these images? 

 

• That the appearance of God when He gave the Law was fearful and terrifying;
• that the Law of Moses was intensive, containing commandments that were heavy and difficult. 

 We shall now speak concerning the Covenant of the Law.

There will be seven truths touching the Covenant of the Law, which we desire to discover through our study.

The Seven Truths of the Covenant of the Law

 

1. A Conditional Covenant

• We find right clearly in these scriptural testimonies that the Covenant of the Law was a conditional covenant;
• A: Deuteronomy 11:26-28: “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing,

if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today;

and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.”

 

• B: And before this people are set life and good, death and evil; therefore, let them choose life, that both they and their seed may live.

Deuteronomy 30:15, 19: “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil... I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore, choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.

 

• C: It was clear to the people of Israel that:

Deuteronomy 27:26: “‘Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by observing them.’

 

• All these testimonies of Scripture do confirm that the Covenant of the Law was a conditional covenant. For man, under the Covenant of the Law, must walk according to the commandments of this Law that he may obtain life and blessing; else is he delivered unto the curse and unto death.

 

 

2.  Temporary Covenant

It is a temporary covenant which began when God gave the Law unto Moses, and it end at the coming of Christ. This the Apostle Paul has made manifest in different scriptures.

• A: Galatians 4:1-2: “Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father”.

In confirmation of this truth, the Apostle Paul accounted: That the Covenant of the Law was ordained for a season, when man was as a child, needing a governor until a time appointed by the father, and the governor here is surely the Law. This period was ended when Christ came on the Fullness of time.  

 

• The Apostle Paul has cleared this truth:

B: Galatians 3:23-25: “But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” 

 

•  for it is known that the minor is placed under guard. Even so the Apostle linked the state of man under the Law, until the age of faith in Christ should come.

 

• C: Galatians 3:19: “What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.” 

 

The Law was added because of transgressions—that is, because of sin.

The Law was added for a set time to establish moral rules which the people of God should walk, by way of commands, prohibitions, and the offering of sacrifices in the Temple.

 

Note: The Law came four hundred and thirty years after the covenant of God with Abraham, that of his seed Christ should come. (Galatians 3:16-18).

This is also confirmed that the Covenant of the Law was a passing covenant.

That is until the coming of Christ and the beginning of the New Covenant, the true reformation. (Hebrew9:10).

 

3. A Covenant of the Knowledge of Sin

 

• We know now that the Law was given that man might perceive himself a sinner, and that his nature is corrupt, needing the grace of God. For the Apostle Paul said:

 

• A: Romans 3:20: “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” The aim of the Law is to know ourselves as sinners.

 

• B: We may account the Law as a mirror where a man beholds the truth of his sinful self. Therefore, the Apostle Paul wrote:

 

Romans 7:7b “For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet.” 

That man might know himself as a sinner and far from God, it was necessary for God to set the Law, which revealed his sins. The Law is the mirror to reveals our sins.

 

• C: The Apostle Paul revealed another truth: “For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.” Romans 5:13 

 

• This is a thing of reason; for I am not judged for a matter not considered a transgression by the law, but I need to be judged when I break a law that is set.

 

 

 

4. A Covenant Revealing Human Inability

 

 Romans 7:14, 18-19: “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin... For

 I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.”

• Man found himself before the Covenant of the Law unable to walk according to this Sharia.
• His cry is as the cry of the Apostle Paul, describing the inability of man under the Law: “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans7:24)
• Yes, the Law of God revealed how man is unable to do good because his nature is corrupt and sold under sin. 

 

 

5. A Covenant of the Letter

The Law was written in tablets of stone, as the Apostle mentioned:

 

• A: 2 Corinthians 3:3: “Clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.” 

 

• Apostle Paul described it as the covenant of the letter which kills. He wrote:
• B: 2 Corinthians 3:5B-6: “But our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” 

 

• The Law was written in plain letters, and the people were commanded to keep every letter.
• Who so kept not every commandment is subject to condemnation and death.

 

• C: Romans7:6: “But the believer is now delivered from the Law, having died to that wherein he was held, that he might serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”
• All these references are confirming the covenant of the letter.

 

6. A Covenant of Death, Judgment, and Curse

• If these be the marks of the Law—that it is conditional, temporary, and revealed our sin—then its fruits must need to be terrible. Therefore, the Apostle Paul called it the ministry of death.

 

• A: 2 Corinthians 3:7: “But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory fading..”

 

• Not only so, but it is also the ministry of condemnation.
• B: 2 Corinthians 3:9a “For if the ministry of condemnation had glory…”

 

• C: And man under the Law must need to be judged.

Romans 2:12b: “as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law.” 

 

• D: Furthermore, he that is under the Law is under a curse.

• Galatians 3:10: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book

 of the law, to do them.’” 

The Law resulted in terrifying consequences. 

 

7. A Symbolic Covenant (Shadow of Heavenly Things)

The Covenant of the Law was but a shadow of the reality.

• A: Hebrews 8:4B-5: “There are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, ‘See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”

 

• The Covenant of the Law, with its rituals, its sacrifices and its priesthood, is but a figure of the New Covenant; it is as the shadow unto the substance. And how great is the difference between the two!

 

• B: Hebrews 10:1: “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.” 

 

• So the Covenant of the Law served unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, pointing unto the New Covenant.

 

• Final Thought: The Old Covenant points to the Perfection of the New Covenant. 

 

• Next time we will study about the New Covenant.