New Covenant DNA in the Old Covenant
The new covenant contains specific DNA markers that enable us to detect its presence wherever it occurs in Scripture. As expressed in Hebrews 8:8-12 (also cf. Jeremiah 31:31-34), the New Covenant reads:
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; (1) I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: (2) and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: (3) 11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. (4) 12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 13In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; (1) I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: (2) and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: (3) 11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. (4) 12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 13In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old.
New covenant promises/provisions (DNA) can be summarized into the following:
1) Sanctification: I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts:
2) Reconciliation: I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
3) Mission: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
4) Justification: For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Many evangelical Christians effectively say that the covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai was done away because it was a faulty Covenant that basically was Righteousness by Works while the New Covenant is Grace based and offered Righteousness by Faith. In a later study, we hope to publish a more detail explanation of the Covenants in the Bible. But in this study, we shall see that God in fact offered the same DNA markers of the Everlasting Covenant to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai (Sinaitic Covenant, now the Old Covenant), contrary to the popular evangelical position.
DNA marker 1
In the New Covenant - Sanctification:
“I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts”
In the Old Covenant - Sanctification:
Deut. 30:6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
Exodus 31:12-13 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 13Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.
Lev. 20:8 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God. 8And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you.
Psalms 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
DNA marker 2
In the New Covenant - Reconciliation:
“I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people”
In the Old Covenant - Reconciliation:
Lev. 26:12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.
Lev. 26: 45 But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.
DNA marker 3
In the New Covenant - Mission:
“And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest”
In the Old Covenant - Mission:
Ex. 19:5-6 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: 6And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
Psalms 67:1-2 God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. 2That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.
DNA marker 4
In the New Covenant - Justification:
“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more”
In the Old Covenant – Justification:
Ex:34:6-7 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty…
Numbers 14:18 The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression…..
Based on the above passages, it is crystal clear that God did in fact offer the same promises (New Covenant DNA) entailed in the Everlasting Covenant to the NATION of Israel at Mount Sinai. The following two Scriptures further confirm that God offered the SAME everlasting covenant principles (Righteousness by faith) to the Israelites:
Psalm 105:8-10 He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. 9Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; 10And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant:
1 Chronicles 16:16 Even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac; 17And hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.
Therefore, the Scriptures conclude that God certainly did offer Israel Righteousness by Faith (Everlasting Covenant DNA) at Mount Sinai. But why then does the Bible call the Sinaitic covenant as one that is now "old" and "obsolete" ( Hebrews 8:12,13)? What was the fault with the Sinaitic covenant? Who's fault was it? Was it the covenant that was faulty or was it the party to the covenant (Israel) that had the fault?
Ex:34:6-7 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty…
Numbers 14:18 The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression…..
Based on the above passages, it is crystal clear that God did in fact offer the same promises (New Covenant DNA) entailed in the Everlasting Covenant to the NATION of Israel at Mount Sinai. The following two Scriptures further confirm that God offered the SAME everlasting covenant principles (Righteousness by faith) to the Israelites:
Psalm 105:8-10 He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. 9Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; 10And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant:
1 Chronicles 16:16 Even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac; 17And hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.
Therefore, the Scriptures conclude that God certainly did offer Israel Righteousness by Faith (Everlasting Covenant DNA) at Mount Sinai. But why then does the Bible call the Sinaitic covenant as one that is now "old" and "obsolete" ( Hebrews 8:12,13)? What was the fault with the Sinaitic covenant? Who's fault was it? Was it the covenant that was faulty or was it the party to the covenant (Israel) that had the fault?
The scriptures make it clear that God offered Israel righteousness by Faith but it was they (Israel) who turned it into righteousness by works; “they sought it not by FAITH, but as it were by the works of the law (Rom 9:32). The "fault" was "with them", not God or His covenant. Heb 8:8 confirms, "For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah...".
Moreover, the Scriptures also make it clear that God never changes His covenant (Ps 89:34). His Everlasting Covenant principles have always been Faith on man’s part and Grace on God’s part. This is supported by the fact that Hebrews 11:13 says that the Old Testament saints "ALL died in FAITH…”.
Coming Soon: There is more to the Old Covenant that we will cover and publish in a later study. See also: Who is Under the Old Covenant.
Referenced: In Granite or Ingrained: What the Old and new Covenants reveal about the Gospel, the Law and the Sabbath by Skip MacCarty
Referenced: In Granite or Ingrained: What the Old and new Covenants reveal about the Gospel, the Law and the Sabbath by Skip MacCarty