02.05 The First Covenant (Part One)

Friday, February 10, 1899; 10:30 a. m.

SERMON No. 1—THE FIRST COVENANT (PART I).

Text: ”ln that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away (Heb 9:13).”

I believe you will agree with me that these are very remarkable words: and when we duly weigh the last half of this statement they appear more remarkable, and in the light of other scriptures more remarkable still. We should bear in mind that Paul is speaking, and that he has in his mind’s eye something that has done its work, filled its mission, and is now passing. In Heb 9:1 he brings out the same thought by declaring that the First Covenant had ordinances of a divine service and a worldly sanctuary. The ordinary reader of the Bible who reads with any degree of care and with the spirit of prayerfulness desiring to find out the will of God that he may do it, will come to this conclusion: Either there are two rival law-givers, Moses on the one hand, and Christ on the other, or else that these law-givers are harmonious, or else that the lawgiver Christ has fully superceded the law-giver Moses. With these thoughts before us we are prepared to see another thing, and that is the name of Moses is associated with a covenant; also that the name of Jesus is associated with a covenant; and that the name of Moses is associated with a law, that the name of Jesus is associated with a law. That the name of Moses is associated with the Old Covenant, or the First Covenant; that the name of Jesus is associated with the New Covenant or the Second Covenant; that the name of Moses is associated with the law or the Law of Moses; that the name of Jesus is associated with the law of the spirit of life in Him, or the Law of Liberty, or the Perfect Law of Liberty.

It is my intention in this series of sermons to give all honor to Moses in his place and all honor and glory and power and dominion to Jesus, not only as Lord and Master, but as Law-Giver and King. But standing on the threshold of this investigation, let us for a moment determine one thing. We have in the Bible, especially in the New Testament, two words, the meaning of which will determine largely the results of this investigation. In the passage here we have the word "covenant." In other passages we have the word "testament." And we have also the phrase "everlasting covenant." What is the meaning of these two words? I will say simply this in general terms as I expect to be more specific as I advance, that the words have the same meaning. Indeed they are translated from the same Greek word and we might with propriety and without violence to the word of God have "testament" all the time or "covenant" all the time and so use the words as synonyms, as interchangeable, throughout this entire investigation. When I say "covenant, " therefore, I shall mean "testament"; when I say "testament" I shall mean "covenant." When I use "covenant" and "testament" I shall mean, in everyday usage "will"; God’s testament; God’s covenant; God’s will concerning us; and I want you to understand that I shall feel at liberty to use them interchangeably because they are so used in the word of God. Allow me further to add that the word "covenant" is used in the Bible exactly as it is used in ordinary literature. We make a very serious blunder when we give to the words of the Bible extraordinary significance, that is when we lift them out of the place that they would occupy in history, in literature or anywhere else, When I say "covenant" I shall simply mean a contract: a contract between God and a man, or between God and a tribe of men, or a nation of men, or between God and all men. And I shall give this word "covenant" all of the sanctity, all of the seriousness that will be given to it in the ordinary courts ofjustice, and I will say that when a covenant is made that each party to that covenant is obligated up to the limit of that to which he places his name. If there are two covenants, and it is positively asserted so in the word of God, in the ordinary line of thought and investigation, it will be right to investigate the First Covenant first. Therefore I address myself to the task of determining what Paul had in mind when he declared that a certain covenant or the First Covenant was then ready to vanish away. That is to say, that it had finished its work, that it was no more considered obligatory on any who understood its principles, precepts and provisions, and that it was vanishing even then and there from the hearts, from the lives, from the thoughts and from the experiences of men. In order that we may have a knowledge of this subject in detail it will be necessary for us to go back to the beginning and trace the hand of God from the time that man sinned, through all of the ages, naming each step and principle as best we can, the power of God, the desire of God, the plan of God, the purpose of God and the will of God. I now turn to the testimony of Moses and read it to you word for word. In passing sentence upon the serpent the Lord said; "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel (Gen 3:15)." A careful survey of this statement will convince anybody that it is very general. God only intimated in this sentence of doom what he intended ultimately to do unto the serpent and his seed. There is nothing exclusive about it. I should say rather that it is inclusive and all-embracing. That like the arms of God in tenderness and love it is big enough to take in the whole human family. And for century after century the only assurance that any human being had that God would ever bring man back to his primeval state was in this sentence. Some people call this a promise but it was not even that. However, after many centuries had passed, after man had been experimenting I may say with sin and with himself and with his own possibilities, God called Abraham, called him out of Ur of Chaldees and gave him a promise, yes, He gave him two promises. I will read from the testimony of the Book as I want to develop above everything else what the Bible teaches on this subject; "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee; And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed (Gen 12:1-3)."

I respectfully assert that while the intimation in the sentence pronounced on the serpent was inclusive, all-embracing, world-embracing, that this promise was narrow and restricted; so long as the Deliverer comes from any descendant of the woman of whatever type or tribe the intimation to Eve in the doom pronounced on the serpent would be fulfilled. But now God has confined Himself to a single man and to a single family. In Abram’s seed were all families of the earth to be blessed. I take it that God had a philanthropic purpose in beginning here. Man had but little knowledge of God and knew but little of His faithfulness, and in calling this family and in dealing with this family God was not only demonstrating the possibilities of a man, but He was demonstrating the possibilities of his God. In order that the promise might be fulfilled Abram must have some place to stay. The promise could not be fulfilled without some preliminaries, without some arrangement; therefore when Abram, in obedience to this divine voice, after a long and perilous journey, encamped in the land that he knew nothing about, a voice came to him and here is what the voice said: "And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him (Gen 12:7)." But in order to carry out this assurance, or this promise it was not only necessary that Abram have a land or a home, but it was necessary that he should also have offspring. He was an old man. His wife was old, and they were without children, but God promised him a family. Abram having an idea that the benevolence of God was all embracing, thought that an illegitimate son of his would be included in the promise. Therefore he prayed that Ishmael might live before the Lord (Gen 17:18). God rejected that prayer because of the fact that the covenant with Abram was to be an exclusive covenant. To sum up thus far we have the promise, land of promise, the promise of an heir, excluding every other promise, every other land, every other heir or every other man. It was God’s object to demonstrate His faithfulness here, and therefore in order that He might demonstrate to the world that He would do what He said, it was necessary also in some way to mark that family. The Lord appeared to Abram when he was ninety and nine years old. commanding him to walk before Him and be perfect, and assured him that His covenant should be in his flesh —in other words made a covenant with him. If I make a covenant with you, you are a party to the covenant, and I am a party to the covenant. God made a covenant with Abram. Abram was one party; God was the other. The conditions of membership are laid down, positively, clearly, unequivocally, and in detail. I call your attention particularly to them: "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man-child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man-child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised; and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant (Gen 17:1-13)."

I call your attention to this one thought that this covenant was not built upon the heart, it was not built upon conscience, it was not built upon the mind, it was not even built upon human experience, but it was built upon the flesh of Abraham—the seed of Abraham. I want you to study that just a minute because I shall constantly refer and revert to these statements as I proceed. God provided that all who were born in Abraham’s house were members of that covenant, and that all who should subsequently be bought with Abraham’s money should be made members of the covenant by the act of purchase. So I should say that the two conditions of membership in this covenant were birth in Abraham’s house, of his own family, of his own seed, and by purchase from any stranger. Circumcision was not a necessity to make them members, but as a proof of previously existing membership, A common illustration of that is this: A man buys a thoroughbred cow of another man. The act of purchase makes her his property. He marks her not in order to make her his but because she is his, and the offspring of that cow is marked because the mother is in the possession of the purchaser, and the mark on the offspring therefore becomes evidence of ownership.

There are many erroneous ideas touching this covenant of circumcision. It was, like the promise, an act of exclusion. I am going to carry this idea of exclusiveness and inclusiveness through this entire series of sermons. Whom did it exclude? What did it exclude? How did it exclude them? It excluded every man not born in Abraham’s house, and every man not bought with his money, and it did it by the very terms of the covenant which provided that a man could not be a member of the covenant except by birth and purchase. You will note as a matter of fact that it provided for the exclusion of Abraham unless he would immediately submit to its terms. They were to be circumcised in the flesh and that mark in the flesh was to be a proof of membership. The covenant was made but it was not sealed, and Abraham had no proof of his membership until in his old age he submitted to the requirement of God, The covenant, however, provided that as the children were born when they were eight days old they were to immediately have the mark of the covenant, and being born in the covenant, they were after the expiration of eight days, if not circumcised, cast out. Hear the word of God on the subject: "And the uncircumcised man-child, whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant (Gen 17:14)."

I respectfully assert that a man can not be cut off from a covenant unless he is a member of it, that a man cannot be cut off from a contract unless he is voluntarily or involuntarily a part of it. If the child had not been made a member of this covenant by coming into the world, by birth, it could not be said that it had broken the covenant and it could not, therefore, be turned out of the covenant or cut off from the covenant by that act. God’s promises are now confined to one man, Abraham; to one family, Abraham and his descendants; and that in order that God may demonstrate His faithfulness to His promise and to His covenant they are marked so that the mark in the flesh could be used to determine that question as long as that covenant should be observed even to the remotest generation in Israel. As a further proof of the exclusiveness of this covenant I refer you to the fact that Isaac succeeded Abraham, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called (Gen 21:12), " was the Lord’s declaration. Before Rebekah, Isaac’s wife who had conceived and brought forth her two sons it was necessary for God to make a choice, and he established the promise in Jacob and renewed the promise to Jacob as he had previously done to his father Isaac (Gen 25:19-23). But as time flew Jacob’s family grew and the promise was then vested in all the tribes and they were all members of this covenant, except those who on account of a failure to comply with the requirement of placing the sign upon the flesh of the male-child were thereby excluded from its provisions. I should like to devote considerable time to the history of these people in Egypt and the long years of education they had in that wondrous land. But I want to say to you that the very act of going down into Egypt was also an exclusive act. When Jacob took his small family, consisting of about seventy-five souls and left the land that God had promised unto him and his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham, and went into Egypt, the family was maintained—its identity was never lost. God was dealing with that family. All other families, all other tribes, all other kindreds, all other nations, all other peoples were for the moment apparently forgotten, and after about two hundred and fifteen years God brought them out. To the Bible reader who is patient in his investigations, it will not be necessary for me to sketch the mighty deliverance that God wrought for them. But He brought them out and the family had grown from one, and then two, and then fourteen to a mighty nation; a nation within a nation; they had in a sense forgotten their fathers and even their God, yet the nation had maintained its purity and its power to a remarkable degree. So great had that nation become before the deliverance, that the king of Egypt had expressed a fear that in time of war they would join with the enemy and be a mighty force against him, God delivered them. I call your attention particularly to a statement to be found in the writings of Moses: "And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them (Exo 2:23-25)."

It was the thought of what He had started out to do, it was the thought of His oath to Abraham, it was the thought of His dealings with Isaac and of Jacob that when their children—His own children by adoption—cried unto Him in the land of Egypt, when their burdens became so great that they could bear them no longer. And so He brought them out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and by an out-stretched arm through the Red Sea, through the wilderness of Sin until finally about forty-eight days after they left Egypt they were encamped at the base of Sinai. I raise a question here, an important question for every Bible student. Did God make a covenant with Israel at Sinai? and I answer that question by turning to the Galatian letter, and reading: "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect (Gal 3:16-17).”

Notice that passage a moment. It is here asserted that there was a law given four hundred and thirty years after the promise. We know when the promise was given. The promise was given when Abraham was in Ur of Chaldees. If I can show you that it was four hundred and thirty years from the giving of the promise to the giving of the law, I think I can show you also that a covenant was made with Israel at Sinai, and that is a very important thing to show. I turn to Closes: "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the self-same day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt (Exo 12:40-41)." The Septuagint version of die Scriptures, which was a translation out of the original Hebrew into Greek, makes the statement this way: "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt and in Canaan which they sojourned was four hundred and thirty years." We know as a matter of fact that the children of Israel did not sojourn four hundred and thirty years in Egypt, hut we know that sojourn beginning with Ur of Chaldees and ending at Sinai at the giving of the law, was four hundred and thirty years.

Again: In answer to the question: Did God make a covenant with Israel at Sinai? I answer that the mighty occurrences on that occasion indicate to an unerring certainty that something out of the ordinary order, out of the ordinary course and constitution of things occurred. There is one thing that occurred there that never had been known before in the history of the world. Hear me: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes, and be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai (Exo 19:10-11)."

Men had heard occasionally the voice of God before this. Abraham heard it in Ur of Chaldees. He heard it a number of times in the land that God promised him; particularly did he hear that voice on mount Moriah when he was in the act of taking the life of his son. Isaac heard that voice, Jacob heard that voice a few times, but never before in the history of the world had it been said or had an hour been set when God said that He would come down in the sight of men. Moses tells more on this same subject farther on, and I will give it to you in his exact words: "And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints; from his right hand went a fiery law for them (Deu 33:2)."

Putting these two passages together we have this: God came down; His saints came with Him—who they were I know not— and from His own voice, from His own hand there went forth a law that can only be comparable to blazing fire.

Again; I have the testimony of one of the prophets of God, and I will give it to you in his exact words: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord (Jer 31:31-32)."

He said, He made a covenant with their fathers when He brought them out of Egypt. Paul says that it was four hundred and thirty years after the promise.

Again: I have the words of Paul endorsing this very statement from Jeremiah. It is not necessary to quote it, but I will give you the reference and you can make a comparison for yourself (Heb 8:7-9). And again on this point I have two witnesses, the testimony of either of whom ought to settle the point beyond a doubt: First Moses: "And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep and do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day (Deu 5:1-3)."

Horeb is another name for Sinai. The Lord made not this covenant with their fathers; He had only promised it to them. They were assured in the promise to Isaac, in the promise to Jacob, and the last promise to Jacob when he went down to Egypt was looking into the future—I will do so and so: "The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day (Deu 5:3)."

Again and finally, I will introduce the testimony of Paul. Speaking of Abraham’s private affairs, his family, he says: "Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children (Gal 4:24-25)."

It may appear to you that I am devoting unnecessary time to this point, but the settlement of this question beyond all doubt, beyond all cavil, beyond all dispute, will settle a myriad of questions that arise or shall arise as we advance, and I think I may modestly say that if anything is proven or can be proven it is that I have demonstrated that God made a covenant at Sinai. But I raise another question here that is akin to this: If God made a covenant at Sinai, and I have proved that He did, with whom did He make it? To ask that question is to answer it. Had He not for four hundred and thirty years been dealing with Abraham, with Isaac, with Jacob, and with the twelve tribes their descendants? Is it not a fact beyond all dispute that this covenant was just as exclusive as the promise? Did it not simply include that family that had grown up from one head, Abraham our father? As proof of this, however, as I want to make it clear from the Scriptures as I advance, I will read from the testimony of Moses again: "In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai, For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness: and there Israel camped before the mount. And Moses went up unto God and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;"

I pause here in my quotation to say that He did not say for Moses to tell the sons of Ham and Japheth, He did not say for him to tell all nations, kindreds, tribes and tongues. He did not make any suggestion that was world-inclusive and age­embracing, but He narrowed it down to the little family with which he was dealing and told Moses to go and talk to the house of Jacob and the children of Israel; "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. 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. And 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. And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord (Exo 19:1-8)."

Let us notice this for a moment. God had borne them out from the nation where they had been nourished and enslaved for two hundred and fifteen years, borne them unto Himself, excluded all others, brought them out on eagles’ wings and said, if they would be true to Him that they should continue to be His people above all other people. I want to make the point here brethren that when God made a covenant with these people that by that act He excluded all others, and that no man or no set of men, or no nation of men will, in the administration of that covenant, be under any obligations to keep it unless we can find some place where the door of the covenant was opened to lot them in. It was an exclusive covenant. With whom did He make this covenant? I repeat the question, and I turn to the testimony of Malachi. A thousand years, fully a thousand years after this event, looking back over all the years that had passed, what did he say? Let him answer for himself: "Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded upon him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments (Mal 4:4)." And by way of refreshing your minds I only repeat the statement from Jeremiah endorsed by Paul, that God made a covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah when He took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt —then Pie did not make a covenant with the Gentile world. It is a fact that by the very act of making a contract with any man to do a certain thing that I exclude from the doing of that thing every other man. Here is a simple illustration, and it is right at hand. Brother Bolton sweeps this chapel and some other parts of this building for his education. By the very act of giving him that job in order to earn his education I exclude every other student in this school from that job. And as a man, as long as that boy docs his duty as he has done it in the past, ] stand obligated to him. You are not a member of the covenant between Johnson and Bolton by which it is guaranteed that this building shall be swept clean, and you are under no obligations to sweep it. And by the very act of making a covenant with Israel, with Jacob’s children, with Abraham’s descendants, God excluded every nation, every kindred, every tribe, every tongue from doing anything that is commanded to be done by the provisions of that covenant, and no Gentile has ever been under any obligation to do it. That is what I have started out to prove.

I hear you say that when they came up out of Egypt there was a mixed multitude that came along and they were the descendants of Ham, and that they were incorporated as parties to this covenant. That may be so and it may not be so, but that we may have the matter clearly before us I will turn and read the testimony on the subject and let you see just how it is. Speaking of the departure from Egypt, here is what he said, and it is remarkable in this that from that one parental head had sprung a mighty nation. Hear him: "And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, besides children. And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks and herds, even very much cattle (Exo 12:37-38).” The margin says "a great mixture." Then I should say that there were men of different nationalities that went up; but if the very act of following the army of God made them members of the covenant, by the very same act all the sheep and all the goats and all the cows and everything else about the camp were incorporated into the covenant! It is well enough to go back and assert a few fundamental facts. Here they are: God had said to Abraham that if a man were born in his house or bought with his money, he should be circumcised as a proof of his membership in the covenant, and he could not get in any other way, the camp followers to the contrary notwithstanding. As a proof that this "mixed multitude, " Egyptians, cattle and other things were not incorporated into the covenant, I will refer you to a plain statement of Scripture; "And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel (Exo 19:3)." In order that all of these people might be incorporated into the covenant it would be necessary to read: "Thus shalt thou say unto the house of Egypt, the children of Israel, their sheep, their cattle, their goats, and all of the passengers that came up out of Egypt with them." But it does not say it. That covenant was the most exclusive covenant that was ever made and ratified between God and mortal man. You will see where I am driving by and by if you will stand by me. As a further proof that these people were not members of the covenant by the act of coming up I want to show you that God provided that under certain contingencies an Egyptian might become a member of the covenant, but he could not do it by simply following along with the camp. It took a long time to get in. Allow me to give you the proof, and I think it is very clear and very conclusive: "Thou shall not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land. The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the Lord in their third generation (Deu 23:7-8)." A generation then was much longer than it is now. But I will say, bringing the thing down to our present conception, that according to a generation of today, say thirty-three and one third years, that even the descendants of those camp followers could not be made members of that covenant for one hundred years after the law went forth from Sinai. Therefore there were no Egyptians, no Hamites, no Japhethites or any other "ites" in the covenant at Sinai. It was a question of blood. It was a question of Abraham’s blood. "My covenant shall be in your flesh; " these are the exact words of Jehovah. And here they are encamped around mount Sinai in the development of the purpose, and the power, and the word, and in the manifestation of the strength of the mighty Jehovah. What was the covenant? Paul says the covenant was made four hundred and thirty years after the promise. Moses says it was four hundred and thirty years from the beginning of the sojourn until the exodus, and we know as a matter of fact it was only fifty days from the exodus to the giving of the law. That is proof enough for a man who wants to have a thing proven to him. What was the covenant? If God made an exclusive covenant which was based on the blood and on the descendants of Abraham only, what was it? Every prophet, Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory Himself and all of the apostles unite in looking back to Sinai as the real beginning of the nation. The promise was placed in the blood of Abraham, the covenant cut them off from others and marked them, but the nation was born and tied together at Sinai. Let us see what that covenant was. To go back to the scenes around Sinai requires but a moment. Allow me to call your attention to this fact: Moses had brought them out, they were encamped around the mount and Moses went up to the Lord and had a conversation with Him and then went back and told the people what the Lord had said, and they said all that the Lord had said they would do, and then Moses went back and took their words unto the Lord. That was a contract. I go to my brother here, and I say that I want a certain piece of work done, and I want him to do it, and I will pay him so much. He agrees to do it. We seal that testament with the seal of the court—the contract stands! Then I say that the covenant at mount Sinai was this: Primarily, or in general terms, it embraced what God told them to do and what they said they would do for God. I want you to notice that there were not any Egyptians in that, that there were no Hamites in that, there were no Japhethites in that, only what God told Israel to do and what Israel said in return: "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do (Exo 19:8)." These were only preliminaries. I start to make a covenant with a man and I discuss the question with him somewhat. I tell him what I want done and when I want it done, and he tells me something about his experiences, something about his previous opportunities, something about his strength, something about his present disposition. I say, Is this satisfactory? He says it is. Our minds come together, and this is, therefore, a covenant. Then I go to work and develop the thing and put it in writing. He puts his name to it, and I put mine to it. The question arises; What did God say? That is the great question that is before us now. I emphasize the first words of the twentieth chapter of Exodus. They were still encamped around Sinai. All of the preliminary exercises had been attended to. The third day, the most momentous day in Israel’s history had come The very foundation of the earth was quaking. The mighty summit of Sinai was blazing and echoing the foot-steps of its creator The children of Israel were in expectancy. Paul said of it—and it is well for us to remember his words: so great was the sight that it caused Moses greatly to fear and tremble (Heb 12:21). If the man who had already heard the voice of Jehovah in Horeb, if the man who had already gone up into the sacred presence of Him who said "I am that I am” should fear and quake and tremble, what must have been the condition of Israel at that time? God was about to make a covenant with them. It was a serious matter, a solemn matter, a matter that involved the issues of present happiness, of present prosperity and of death; therefore the children of Israel must have quaked. Suddenly, unexpectedly possibly to many, as with the awfulness that comes with the word of Jehovah, out of His own Personality, out of PI is own Omnipotence, out of His own Eternity comes this word, and then we have what the Lord said: "And the Lord spake all these words." I shall not quote the chapter because you are very familiar with it. God spoke from the summit of the mountain the Ten Commandments. We are finding out now what the covenant is. I want you to write that down in your memories in majestic capitals. God made a covenant with Israel at mount Sinai. The covenant that God made with Israel at mount Sinai consisted of what God said and of what Israel said, of what God commanded to be done and what Israel promised to do. I call your attention to a comment of Moses, the man of God, on this very subject. Allow me to read his words. Reverting to the Ten Commandments, he says: "These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more: and he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me (Deu 5:22)." That was the covenant. That was the constitution. That was the foundation. God in that covenant, or in that foundation, or in that law detailed to them their duty, their duty to one another, their duty unto themselves. Moses declares emphatically that this closed the scene, and the curtain dropped and God said no more. But this is only, as the lawyers would say, circumstantial evidence. I want to go just a little bit farther and discuss the question at length because the settling of the question of what that covenant was, is like settling the question of whether or not God made a covenant there. If we can settle what the covenant was, or determine what the covenant was, we will know exactly how to deal with it in all of its phases throughout history in the olden times and in the new times, and in our times. Spoken words are often referred to as "testimony."’ We say that testimony in a certain case was for, or against the defendant. And the word testimony is used by Moses frequently along this line, and it has reference to the very same thing that we have under consideration. Allow me again to turn to the Book. Speaking of the ark: "And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee (Exo 25:16)." That seems to indicate that God had said something of very grave importance, that it had been reduced to writing, and that they put it into the sacred ark that it might be kept sacredly and securely unto all generations. Again, on this same point: "And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the ringer of God (Exo 31:18)." Bear in mind if you please that I said that the covenant was what God said to them and what they said to God, what God commanded and what they said they would do. Moses said God added no more. And I add that God made it with them, and He did not add anybody else,

Again: I affirm, as we are advancing in the argument, that what God said was the covenant when they accepted it, simply on the ground that the tables on which the covenant or on which the words of the covenant were written, were called the tables of the covenant. Allow me to read Hebrews ninth chapter, beginning at the first verse: "Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the Sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant (Heb 9:1-4)."

He does not say the tables of the covenants. He does not say the table of a covenant. But he says the tables of the covenant, meaning definite tables and meaning a definite covenant. You keep that in mind.

Again: On this point I urged the same thought on the ground that the Ten Commandments—now we are coming to it—are designated as the words of the covenant. You will remember that when Moses was absent in the mount receiving the statutes of Israel for the enforcement of the covenant or the words of the covenant, that they fell into idolatry and that he broke the stones against the side of the mountain as he came down. God told him to hew out other tables and go up and he would give him another copy, and Moses did so. I want to give you the report as confirming what I have already said: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments (Exo 34:27-28)." When did God make that covenant with Israel? In the clay that He took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt. Paul, what do you say about that? Paul says: "In the clays when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt (Heb 8:9)." He was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights, "And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments (Exo 34:28)!" I think you see what I am driving at. Study that passage for a moment. Already the covenant had been made. Already God had submitted His proposition and the people had accepted it. But in order that God might keep this before them perpetually, He reduced it to writing. And Moses said that he made the covenant, But here is something stronger than that, something irresistibly, undeniably and indisputably stronger. This is Moses talking again: "And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire." Where was that? On mount Sinai. He came down in fire, and Moses says: "And God spake all these words (Exo 20:1)."

"Ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone (Deu 4:12-13)."

Here is the conclusion, plain, positive, indisputable, convincing, irresistible, that the covenant that God made with Israel at mount Sinai was this: The Ten Commandments that He uttered from His blazing summit. And so certain is this conclusion, so clear is it stated in the word of God, that all Israel reverted to this time, and so considered these commandments. They were the covenant. Why was the ark called the ark of the covenant? Did you ever think about that? Moses, I think, gives us a very fair exposition of the subject, or at least makes it so clear that we may infer for ourselves. Not only was there a covenant or a constitution, but there were statutes. Just as we have our legislation, so they had theirs. Listen: "And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saving, Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee (Deu 31:24-26)."

Again: This is in a subsequent period of the history of Israel, looking back when Solomon’s mighty temple was done and when the old furniture was brought out of the old tabernacle and placed in the temple, we have this statement: "There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt (1Ki 8:9)." He did not make any covenant with the Japhethites, He did not make any covenant with the descendants of Ham, but He made that covenant with Israel at mount Sinai. We have His own word for it that that covenant, or the basis of that covenant, the quintessence of that covenant, was written on tables of stone. I want to keep that in your mind. Why? For this reason: I will demonstrate by the grace of God that this covenant, with all that pertained to it, according to the testimony of Paul, even in his day was decaying, waxing old and vanishing from the hearts and experiences of men. And in order that I may keep the matter clear!) before you I want to lay down a proposition again. To that I challenge your attention, unto it I invite your investigation and your patient thought. Hear me: The covenant consummated at mount Sinai was in pursuance of the promise made to Abraham, and like the promise, like the covenant of circumcision, like everything that God did for and unto that family down to that day was absolutely exclusive so far as every other nation of men was concerned, and that the covenant itself embraced primarily the Ten Commandments, then the statutes of Israel, then the entire order of worship and all that pertained to Israel was absolutely exclusive in that it left out every other thing, Or, to put the matter in another form: The covenant made at mount Sinai was to Abraham’s children and them alone, absolutely, excluding every drop of blood on earth save that which could be traced back to Abraham in person or purchase, and that the laws there laid down by Jehovah excluded every other law from man or God so far as that generation and that nation was concerned. May the Lord our God lead us, and may He open to us the storehouse of His wisdom that we may enter into the knowledge of His own power, of His own glory; and may we remember that as God spoke to Israel, so doth He now speak to us.