In the ancient world when two kings from distant lands came together
and wanted to form a covenant, such as a covenant of peace or a
covenant of trade, they would write the terms of the covenant on two
copies of stone tablets, which were essentially their "rules of
engagement". Each side of the tablets would contain writing. So, for
example, tablet #1 would have rules 1-5 written on the front, and rules
6-10 written on the back. Then, an identical copy of this was made on
another tablet.
Each king would take their copy of the covenant
and place it in a wooden box, which was referred to as an "ark". This
was their "Ark of the Covenant".
Now, each king would typically
have their own god who they worshiped. So, king #1 would take his ark
back to the temple of his god, and king #2 would take his ark back to
the temple of his god. So, there was a copy of the covenant in each of
their temples. The idea was that their respective gods would punish them
if they violated the rules of the covenant. King #1 would essentially
say, "If I violate any of the rules of our covenant, my god will punish
me", and King #2 would do the same.
In the case of the ancient
Israelites, the Lord first offered them a direct relationship with no
rules, asking them to be "a kingdom of priests" (Ex. 19:6). This was
God's "Plan A". However, because they were afraid of direct relationship
they asked for a rule-based covenant like the Egyptians and all the
other pagan people around them (Deut. 5:27), after all, they had just
spent 400 years in Egyptian slavery and it was all they knew. Because of
their fear they asked to be servants instead of children - they asked
for religion instead of relationship. "We don't want to be that close to
you. Just tell us what to do." This was the "Plan B" chosen by the
people.
This put the Lord in a very uncomfortable position.
Now, because Love must honor the human will, He was forced to be both
their covenant partner AND the God who would punish them if they broke
any of the covenant rules. So, God wrote two copies of His ten
commandments, which were the terms of the covenant. Because the Lord
doesn't have a "god" over Him, both copies were given to the people and
placed in their Ark of the Covenant and then into the Jewish temple.
These were easy commandments which could be summarized as "love the Lord
with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself". It was the
bare minimum, God made it easy, for He did not want to be forced to
punish them. Nevertheless, by the time Moses descended the mountain the
people were already worshiping a false god.
As their covenant
partner, the Lord was very grieved. As their God, He was forced to
punish them as their God. This roller coaster of blessing and punishment
continued for about 1500 years. It was terrible. Both God and the
people looked forward to the day when they might get the opportunity to
get back to "Plan A" - when they could be a "kingdom of priests" with
direct relationship with the Lord.
There was only one way back to Plan A.
See, covenants are only in force as long as both parties are alive.
"For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the
one who made it" (Heb. 9:16). So, for this rule based covenant of death
to be abolished, one of the covenant partners had to die - similar to
what we see in a marriage covenant today, "Till death do us part". It
was either going to be the people or God. So, God had a choice to make.
Who was going to die?
God took on flesh and became a human being
in order to die and put an end to the old covenant and establish a new
covenant of life. Jesus said, "I came that they might have LIFE." We
often say that Jesus died for our sins which is true in a sense, but
what He really died for was what sin was doing to us. "The wages of sin
is death." Sin was killing us. It's not about punishment, it's about
restoration. God doesn't punish the record of our wrongdoing, He cancels
it (Col. 2:14).
Jesus didn't die to appease the "wrath" of an
angry Father, He died to appease the "wrath" of sin. Jesus died to "set
us free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2). He died to abolish
the old covenant and create a new one.
Back to "Plan A".
God's no longer interested in you not keeping the rules, because that
covenant is abolished. God died, the covenant ended. It is now
completely "obsolete" (Heb. 8:13). We are now free to re-marry Him all
over again, under far better terms. Marriage only has one law. LOVE.
"Love each other as I have loved you" (John 15:12).
And someone is proposing right now.
The New Covenant is a unique covenant, in that it is between God and
God (the Father and Jesus). We have nothing to do with it. Thankfully,
it's not based on our performance. We can "rest" in the finished work of
Jesus Christ - our new groom.
The only question remaining is,
Will you marry into the family or not? If you do, everything that is His
is yours, and everything that is yours is His.
"Will you marry me"? is the question He is asking the world.
What is your answer?