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Covenant & Judgment

Leviticus 18:1-5 describes two aspects to the covenant – the covenantal authority who commands singular loyalty to Himself and to the one law issued by that authority. God, the authority, demands singular obedience to Himself, which is the essence of covenant loyalty to a higher authority. He is the ultimate authority, beyond whom there is no appeal. Therefore, because He is One, His law is also one and not to be mixed and mingled with another’s law. It is not to be taken from nor added to. “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.” Deuteronomy 4:2.

So when Christians talk about a personal relationship with this God, they are talking about the same God who gave the law to the Israelites and defined their personal loyalty to Him by their obedience to that law. Yet, that law is not what saved the Israelites out of Egypt; the sovereign grace of that God saved them and gave them their own land. “Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Deuteronomy 9:5. He did not choose them because of how powerful or righteous they were. “But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.” Deuteronomy 8:18. See also Deuteronomy 7:7. It was grace alone based on promises to the Patriarchs that saved them and brought them into the promised land.

So why would Christians, who claim a “personal relationship” with this God, be against His law? For themselves or their nation? Do they despise His covenant? Do they despise aspects, or even all, of His law? Do they despise Him? What about natural law? Why would Christians be disloyal to God, their covenant authority and savior, to follow something deciphered from nature by men and, I might add, torturously altered by men? What about other systems of jurisprudence? Again, the same question: If they are legal systems established by men, why would Christians be in favor of defecting from their covenant God.

Deuteronomy 1:13-18 refers to a historical event originally related in Exodus 18, when Moses chose men to act in his stead, to stand for him as delegated authorities. Moses taught the law to the people, and the people brought their controversies to the chosen delegates. Exodus 18:20-22. Then, if the issue was too difficult, it was brought to Moses who acted as a sort of appellate court. Exodus 18:25-7. Therefore, not only do we have the Leviticus passage explaining who is the sovereign who saved and that He has a singular law for the people to obey, but in the Exodus passage we have the setting up of a hierarchal, tiered system of delegated authority which includes an appeal system.

According to Gary North, the passages would describe points One, Three, and Two of the covenant’s structure. See Ray R. Sutton’s “That You May Prosper,” (Institute for Christian Economics: Tyler, Texas) which North published in 1992. There are two more points to a covenant – four, sanctions and five, continuity or generational benefits. Other portions of the bible explain those aspects of the covenant, which come down to the fact that God blesses those who faithfully follow His good law but punishes those who faithlessly and disloyally violate covenant by disobeying His law.

Cont’d.