The Old Covenant – Ministry of Death vs Ministry of Life

False teachings in the world today, and particularly in modern-day Christianity, go along like this. The old covenant was the law and the Ten Commandments, whilst the new covenant only contains grace and promises. Certainly not the law. That's the thinking. And then the conclusion they have is the following. Since the old covenant has been abolished, God's law has also been abolished. That is an erroneous thinking. And it implies, brethren, that the law of God is hard, cruel, enslaving, and the fault of the old covenant is in God's law. As you and I know, that is clearly not the case. And then they say they add to it. And since God gave the law, it's his fault. Wow! There's nothing wrong with God's law of love. There's nothing wrong with it. So, according to this teaching, which is prevalent in modern-day Christianity, okay, they might not say it exactly that way. But you can see how their thinking goes along that line. They emphasize that Jesus Christ came with the new covenant, no law, only promises and freedom. Therefore, I can do what I want and what I feel like. Today, brethren, I want to talk to you about God's government and specifically about God's covenants and how they fulfill God's great promise to mankind. So, we're going to be talking about God's covenants and how they fulfill God's great promise to mankind. Now, you and I know that God created Adam from the dust of the ground. And we know that that original physical creation is not complete. There is a second phase, which is a spiritual creation that we're going through, developing God's character, learning to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. That is, growing in character. We also read in Hebrews 2, verse 10, that God's intent is to bring many sons to glory. So, basically, what it means is the creation, final outcome, is that man would have the character of God, the image of God. And that is applicable for everybody. Young men, young ladies, adults, we all have a great purpose to be in the family of God, which is God's government, which is Kingdom. That's His great promise to make you and I His children.

Now, God did not give Adam His Holy Spirit. God did not give Adam His mind, His way of thinking, His essence, God's Holy Spirit, which is basically God's loving attitude and the attitudes and the characteristics of God's Holy Spirit. Because God's Holy Spirit gives us that mindset, that spiritual love and power that comes from God, so that you and I can work with it to develop godly character and, therefore, and, therefore, fulfill the purpose of God's law of love.

You see, God has promised that His ultimate end purpose for us is for us to be in His family as His children in glory. In other words, He wants us to share with us His divine nature. How? By regenerating, or what I mean by regenerating, by re-begetting, by re-procreating us, by begetting us a second time, and this time not with a human seed, but an incorruptible seed, which is God's Holy Spirit. And then we have to grow as we become better and better people, but He gives us His Spirit, which is that incorruptible seed, as long as we commit to obey Him. In other words, as long as we commit to repent.

So, how does He fulfill this promise for us to be in His family? Do you know how? By His covenants, by His agreements, His contracts. A covenant is a contract. It's a binding legal contract between us and God, and these contracts have different layers, which teach us certain lessons. So, let me ask a very pertinent question.

Why God's covenants? Why? Why the covenants? Because, through the covenants, God makes an agreement with you and I that He will bless us if we obey Him. Now, you and I know there are certain automatic blessings, cause and effect, from obeying or disobeying God.

But through His covenants, He does promise additional blessings on top of that. That's why we have covenants, is that He wants to bless us beyond the normal, cause and effect of obeying or disobeying God's laws. And therefore, through these covenants, through these agreements, He commits Himself to bless us, provided we adhere to those terms and conditions of the contract of the covenant. So, He wants to bless us beyond just the natural cause and effect of obeying His laws. He wants to bless us even more.

And therefore, He commits by promises.

And that ties in with the sermonette, because the sermonette, talking about faith, it basically means we have absolutely trust in God that He will do what He promised to do. And so, He makes promises through His covenants. And those promises are, as I mentioned, to bless us beyond just the cause and effect of obeying His commandments. And so, His covenants are no more than us having to obey His commandments. But He puts an extra layer of blessings on top there. If we obey Him. Now, we read in 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 4, 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 4.

He says, For if God do not spare... I beg your pardon, that's chapter 2. I'd better read chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 4. He's talking about which God has given us His divine power, which is His Holy Spirit, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises. You see, through the power of God's Holy Spirit, we are being blessed, because we receive God's Holy Spirit through one of His promises, through His covenants, right? And that we may be partakers of the divine nature. His intent is for us, as we grow, to start putting on the new man, or the new woman, of course. And the new man or the new woman is this divine nature of God. That's why we have to put off the old man, repent, and put on the new man. And so, as we put on the new man, we receive God's Holy Spirit, which is this seed, incorruptible seed. We are then begotten again a second time, because the first time is when you and I were begotten in our physical mother's womb by a corruptible physical seed. But when we receive God's Holy Spirit after baptism, after the laying of hands and the prayer that we receive on the condition of repentance and faith, we then receive God's Holy Spirit, which means we are begotten again now as children of God. And now we gotta grow in the swoon analogy, the church, until we reach a mature, a level of maturity, which is either when we die or when Christ comes and then will be changed, resurrected, changed into spirit beings in the family of God with a divine nature. You see, if we go back to Genesis chapter 1, verse 26 and 27, we read, you know, I'm giving you a choice. You remember, I had a choice. If you've been around you in the days, almost I'm strong. You would say, well, there he goes again on the two trees. Well, it's a choice. There is a tree of life and the other tree, which the Bible calls it the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but basically the outcome of that is death. So we have either a tree of life or a tree of death. That's a choice. We see that God made man and then we see in Genesis 2 verse 9 that he gave that choice of the two trees. Then we read in Genesis chapter 12, and then I'm going to turn to Genesis chapter 12. In the beginning, verse 1, when God calls a brawn, and it says, now the Lord said to a brawn, get out of your country from your family, from your father's house. You know, that's very similar to the situation you and I go through. When God calls us out of the world and in many of you's situation, you had to kind of leave the situation where you were in with maybe your friends, your business associates, your society. You had to live a different life. You had to leave that society. So that's very similar to what we go through today. And then in Genesis 12, he says, I'll make you a great nation. I'll bless you. So YAH is a covenant. YAH is a contract. YAH is an agreement that says, you do X, you leave like you and I, you have to repent and get out of our old ways. That's one of the conditions that we have to do, repent and have faith and trust in God. Abram had to have faith and trust when he left his family as well. And he says, and then I'll bless you. I'll give him additional blessing.

I'll bless those who will make you a great nation. And he says, I'll make your name great and you shall be a blessing. I'll bless those who bless you and I'll curse him who curses you. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And that is already pointing there, brethren, to something in the future to Christ. Because in him, through the seed of Abraham, Christ, all the nations will be blessed. So, yeah, we have a covenant with Abraham. And this is before the covenant with the nation of Israel that you and I call the old covenant. Then we read a little later in Genesis 22 that God made this covenant unconditional. Why? Because Abraham committed under extreme difficulty to be prepared to give up his son. But he had a promise that it would come through his son. So he had to have trust in God. And it showed that trust in God. The analogy there, brethren, is that Abraham never, in the end, never had to give up his son. But the father had to give up his son, which is Christ. You see, there's a parallel there. There is a parallel. But, yeah, we have that promise became unconditional through his seed. You read that in Genesis 22 and in verse 16 and 18. By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you've done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, blessing I'll bless you, multiplying I'll multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and the sand which is in the seashore. So you can see by obedience in faith. Like you and I have to repent in faith. We have to obey in faith. So I really appreciate the sermonette because it was a good introduction to the sermon from that point of view. And then it says, continue reading there in verse 17, and your descendants shall possess the gates of the enemies. But in verse 18 says, in your seed, singular, in your seed, either it was through one of your children down the line, your seed, which you and I know was to be Christ. All the nations of the earth shall be blessed. And so, yeah, I'm giving you this blessing, but this blessing through that seed which is Christ will be expanded to all the nations. And in Galatians 3 verse 16, Paul in Galatians 3-16 supports exactly that. So let's turn to Galatians 3 verse 16.

And it says, now to Abraham and his seed, where the promises made. So it was made to Abraham, through his seed, which was the world which became flesh, which was Christ, through his seed. And note, he does not say to seeds, plural, as of many, but as of one, and to your seed, who is Christ? So, Jesus Christ, we know, the promise was made to Christ. He inerrant to earth. And you also know that upon his death, in a sense like a testament or a will, he gave it to those that are his. As we read for instance elsewhere in Galatians, it says, if you are Christ, you also, so he expanded that beyond just him and the Israelites nation. So he expanded it. And so we read that this covenant was originally, this contract was originally made with Abraham. Then, in Exodus 19, we can see that this agreement was also made with the nation of Israel. In other words, those that came out of Egypt and were in Mount Sinai. You read that in Exodus chapter 19. Exodus chapter 19.

Exodus chapter 19.

And in verse 3 to verse 6, he says, and Moses went up to God, and God called him, and then he goes on in verse 4, you have seen what I did to the Egyptians.

And then in verse 5, now therefore, if you, and that is the nation Israel, will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, keep this agreement, then you shall be a special treasure to me. So through the covenant, he gives extra blessings. And you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. And so we see if they obey. If there's a choice, either obey or not. They are free moral agents. So the promises, therefore, now are said, well, if you obey, then God, we know, was the word that became flesh because no other person heard Christ.

I beg a pardon, the Father. Christ came to reveal the Father and never seen him, the Father. So the being, the God being that talked, that created, that talked, and that has come to flesh, that God is working through to have the soul plan is Christ. We know that. So first God being then told them, what they have to do in Exodus 20, which is the Ten Commandments.

It's not saying that God gave them the Ten Commandments for the first time. They existed already, all the way from the days of Adam. We can see about the Sabbath already existed from the days of Adam. So they received the Ten Commandments as a nation. And then, from chapter 21 through 23, God gave them various civil statutes and judgments as part of this agreement, as part of this covenant, certain judgments. And then you see in chapter 24 of Exodus, you see in chapter 24 of Exodus, and if you read there, for instance, in verse 4, Moses wrote all these words of the Lord, so he wrote them in a book.

And in verse 7 he says, then he took this book, which is the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people. And what did the people say? We will do. We will keep that contract. They signed, they committed, yes, we will adhere to that contract. And so, this was an agreement. This was the Old Covenant. So it was based on God's laws, which are eternal, it had always been there, and had some civil statutes and judgments about it.

And that was ratified with blood. You can see that in verse 8. And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, this is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you, according to all these words. So it's like signed and sealed, stamped, and was stamped with blood. So it is binding. But understand, in this covenant, made with the nation of Israel, which we call the Old Covenant. There was no promise of the Holy Spirit. There was no promise of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the power and nature of God, is the Spirit of, it's not a Spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and self-control. It's what comes from God. And there was no promise of the Holy Spirit. I want to draw your attention to just one of the judgments that was in that Old Covenant. Can you remember? I mentioned it's centered the core. Let's think of it like the main core of the covenant was the Ten Commandments, which already existed, but became embedded into that agreement. And then there were some civil statutes between Exodus 21 and 23. But look at something at a specific judgment in that set of judgments from Exodus 21 to 23.

And the one I want you to look at is in Exodus 21 verse 22 through 24. Exodus 21 verse 22 through 24. And basically, the idea is if men fight and hurt a woman with child, so, yes, two strong, virile male species, quote-unquote, just joking, two virile men, right? They're fighting.

And somewhere in the middle, there's a lady that is pregnant. And in this fight, they injure the somehow this baby in the womb. Could be injured in various ways. And maybe there is an early delivery. Maybe the baby is somehow injured, even though he's in the womb, but he's injured when he's born.

Or maybe he dies. And therefore, let's call it his stillbirth. And you can see, yeah, that the judges are going to administer a judgment. And one of the judgments you can see, in Exodus 21, that the judges will do, he says, look at verse 22, chapter 21 verse 22, right towards the end. He will be punished according to the woman's husband, he imposes on him, and he shall pay as the judge is determined. So there is a certain judgment by the judges, and the husband wants some financial immunization. But look at verse 23.

If any harm follows, in other words, if she aborts the baby and there is a stillbirth, then you shall give life for life. And this is what people call the administration of death. Because you have killed somebody, you now, as a judge, have the right, God-given right, to put that person to the death sentence. So, and that's what we get from this section about eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, etc. In other words, the judgment is proportional to the crime. It's not greater than a crime, it's proportional to the crime. But turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 3. 2 Corinthians chapter 3.

Verse 6, But who also may less sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit? For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. So the old covenant, which is this covenant I've been talking about, which is given to Israel, we'll talk a little bit about the new covenant, is the one that we have now through Christ.

Right. But it says, continue reading, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. With the new covenant, we've got God's Holy Spirit. The old covenant we didn't have. With God's Holy Spirit, we receive it upon repentance, upon a commitment to obey God. And because God's Holy Spirit is the guarantee, the down payment of life, basically it's a new administration in the new covenant, there we have the potential of life, eternal life.

In the old covenant, there was no promise of eternal life. Yes, there were physical blessings, but not eternal life. But it had, if you do survive, you'd be punished. So let's read verse 7. But if the ministry of death, that's the old covenant, written and engraved on stones, yes, the 10 commandments were engraved into tablets or stones, was glorious.

Oh yeah, it was glorious. You know, when Moses went up on the mountain, came back, his face was shining, and it's just bringing an example that that covenant was glorious.

And then continue. So that the Torah of Israel could not look steadily on the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit, which God's Holy Spirit gives us life, so it's the ministry of life, not be more glorious. For the ministry of commendation, there was the ministry of death, that's the old covenant, had glory. You see, there was nothing wrong with the old covenant. Oh yes, there was one thing wrong. We'll look at it. It was the people that didn't obey. But from God's side, there was nothing wrong. There was nothing wrong with the law. It's just the people didn't obey. And so the ministry of condemnation had glory. The ministry of righteousness, which is the new covenant, which is God's Holy Spirit, exceeds much more in glory. Why? Because we can have glory in God's kingdom, in God's family. So, the ministry of death was the civil execution of punishment. Because of violation of certain laws of the civil code that Moses spoke to the people, for instance, since such a murder, kidnapping, and adultery, they were punishable by death. citizens were therefore brought to understand, to comprehend, that they had transgressed an eternal one that you cannot violate, that they cannot break, law. They were brought to realize how woefully they had failed to keep the law.

Thus, their weakness was impressed on them and on all Israel. Now, notice an administration where there is no punishment of evil brings misery to the society. And this is what's happening today, society today. Oh well, criminals are letting out free and all these things and whatever it is, it's gonna bring misery to the society. You need a tough hand a strong hand when people break God's laws. You read in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 11. All this was an example to us because you and I look at that and we realize we need God's Holy Spirit. You see, the old covenant was glorious because it achieved a glorious purpose. What do you mean? What I mean by a glorious purpose? Because it showed us that you and I need God's Holy Spirit to observe God's law spiritually. It shows that we need God's Holy Spirit. So, these are the lights. All they could do was try to obey with the own strength. If they had obeyed, they would have fulfilled their part in the old covenant. And God would have given them physical promises as part of that physical agreement.

But remember, God never promised them eternal life in the old covenant.

You see, if there was only the old covenant, upon death they would be dead forever. You see, it's God's Holy Spirit that gives us eternal life. As we read here in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 6 where we read a moment ago at the end of verse 7. Second Corinthians chapter 3, I beg your pardon, at the end of verse 6. But the Spirit gives life. It's God's Holy Spirit that gives us eternal life. And so, the ministry of death was only temporary because it did not give us eternal life. And so, God introduced a new ministry of the same laws. God introduced a new, let's call it administration or ministry of what we minister and what we teach of the same laws. The laws haven't changed. God's Ten Commandments are eternal. They are good. You can read that for instance, I think it's Psalm 19. Run about verse 7 or 17. I can't remember now. Then God's law is eternal. It's permanent. And this was until the seed would come, as you and I read a while ago in Galatians 3 verse 19. Until the seed came. Why? Why, brethren? Because the first ministry had only bought or brought penalties and even death for disobedience. And yes, if they obeyed, there would be blessings.

And human judges that would make the decision of how to impose those punishments or whatever, those human judges never could grant eternal life. They could. They could only manage the punishment. So there was a need of a new ministry of the same laws, a ministry that could forgive, a ministry that could forgive and give eternal life to those who repented of breaking God's laws and wanted to obey them. And so the promise of God's Holy Spirit, that's the promise of the Father, because you know the story, it says, wait at the beginning of the book of Acts, says wait in Jerusalem until you receive the promise of the Father. And what is the promise of the Father? He is asked to receive the incorruptible seed, and that incorruptible seed begets us as real sons and daughters of God. And so he says, wait for that promise of the Father to really be His children, to be able to be His children. And that promise was given to us when the Day of Pentecost was fulfilled. So the Day of Pentecost symbolizes that fulfillment of receiving God's Holy Spirit to fulfill that promise of the Father so that we now can have or live according to this new covenant.

Now, it is interesting also that the administration of death was introduced long before the Old Covenant in Mount Sinai. You see, the administration of death was introduced at the end of the flood. You see, at the beginning, you're reading Genesis chapter 4, and later on in where Cain sinned. Cain, and you may wonder, well, why wasn't Cain killed? He was just mocked because there was not yet an administration of death. And the outcome of that, you and I know, when you read Genesis chapter 6, that the whole earth became in a state of chaos that God had to get to a point to destroy humanity, barring Noah and his family. Then, after the flood, the administration of death was imposed. You read that in Genesis chapter 9, verse 5 and 6. So let's go there to Genesis chapter 9, verse 5 and 6. Genesis chapter 9, verse 5 and 6. And this is after the flood. And then it says, surely, you know, it's giving Noah certain instructions about eating and things like that, and says, surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning. From the land of every beast I required, from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. Then, after the flood, the death penalty was instituted. The administration of death was instituted. So, mankind from that point understood and they had the right, given by God, to kill those that were judges, to kill people that broke the law, that murdered, or whatever. And that was included in the covenant that God made with the nation of Israel. You see, the moral of the story is the following. That letting criminals go free has disastrous and irreversible outcomes.

And that's the way we're going in this country. That's the way we're going in this country. You see, the old covenant had a lesson. And the lesson is that we need to obey, otherwise there will be a death penalty. Now, don't think that just because you and I are now in administration of life, that you or anybody can just go on sinning. Because you read, for instance, in Romans 12, at the end of Romans 12, it's a serious thing to come against God, and God is the judge. Ultimately, He will make the final judgmental decision through Christ, of course. So, God's plan is to make you and I children of God in His kingdom. He wants you and I to understand that His goal is to bring many sons to glory. We, quite often, cannot even be deemed to comprehend what that glory will be like.

So, this has different stages. First, He's showing us that all the good physical competency of the nation of Israel, they had probably the best talents and the best capabilities, whatever it is, and they failed miserably. Failed. But God made a plan that through Abram's seed, which is Christ, He would institute a new agreement wherein there could be forgiveness through Christ's blood.

And that would be expanded to all nations because Christ, He married to earth, and all those that receive Christ's lost will that He said, it goes to all mankind.

And so, God first created Adam from the dust of the ground, but He did not complete in Adam the spiritual creation. We are now going through that stage.

Therefore, I repeat, God's promise is to make His children in His Kingdom. That is His desire. His desire is so intense, it's so great that He has done everything possible for you and I to succeed. But it's our choice to obey or not, and He is giving us His Spirit, His power, His mind to fight that if we repent and if we trust Him. So, let's turn now to Hebrews 8, verse 10 through 13. Hebrews chapter 8 verse 10. Hebrews chapter 8 verse 10 through 13. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. You see, the covenant is made with the whole house of Israel. This covenant with the house of Israel will really come to its ultimate great big picture when Christ comes in a wall tomorrow and the whole house of Israel repents. We are kind of first fruits, first stages of that.

He says, I'll make a covenant with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind and write them in their hearts. How? Through His Holy Spirit. So that God's laws become part of us. So that it's not, oh, I have to obey those laws written on that on that wall, on that tablet or stone, or I need tassels to remind me. No, you don't need any of that. You have God's mind, God's spirit.

Because if you need something else, you are saying God's spirit is not enough.

You and I need God's Holy Spirit. And God's Holy Spirit writes those laws in our minds, in our hearts.

And then I'll be their God, and they shall be my people. None of them shall teach His neighbor, and none of His brothers say, now the Lord. For all will know me. Why? Because God is in their hearts and in their minds. For I'll be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins, and their lawless deeds, I'll remember no more. I'll cover them. Like Passover means cover. In that, He says, a new covenant. He has made the first obsolete. There was nothing wrong with the first covenant from the point of view of God's laws. What was wrong was the people. You can read that in verse 9. He says, because they did not obey. The problem was the people. Now, what is becoming obsolete is growing old, is ready to vanish away. Why? Because we got a wonderful promise of eternal life in God's Kingdom at Christ's Second Coming, when you and I will be resurrected as part of the first fruits. And thank God that Christ is coming. Come, Lord Jesus, establish the ministry of life, not just to us, but to the whole world.