Good morning. Did everyone get the handout? Very intimidating looking handout. It's not as intimidating as it looks, or at least it's not as complex as it looks. Granted, we are going to cover everything in it, but some of it is just very brief points. And so don't be alarmed and think that we'll be here for two hours or something like that. The manuscript here is the same length of any of my other sermons or Sunday school lessons. So Lord willing, it will be the same amount of time. I was thinking. What to present, which is always tough. Just picking a topic or a passage is difficult when it comes to preaching and teaching. And so the nice thing is when you're in a series, you always know what comes next, more or less. But when it comes to things like this, you have to decide what you want to do. And I was thinking about the fact that since I'm at school, I don't have a lot of time to prepare things, so it's helpful if I incorporate things that I'm learning. And at the same time, it's the first Sunday school, I want to do something that sort of gives us a helpful framework in which to view ourselves and theology and the church. And so I settled on this, which you may be thinking, well, what is this? And this is, it's a foundational view of covenant theology, and particularly looking at the Abrahamic covenant, the old covenant, and how it relates to the new covenant. And what are the areas of overlap, the continuity and discontinuity between the Old and New Covenants? Because we live in the New Covenant and we are a part of the New Covenant. And so it's helpful for us to understand the New Covenant and to understand the Old Covenant. And so what I want to do this morning is just sort of give us some foundational understandings of the Old and New Covenant, particularly looking at the Abrahamic Covenant, and recognizing that within the Abrahamic Covenant there were two levels of promise active, one level to the Old Covenant and one level to the New Covenant. And covenant theology is extremely important because it's absolutely vital for an appropriate understanding of Scripture. in the way that it reveals redemptive history as a whole, throughout all of history, as well as each stage within it. And this is particularly against the dispensational hermeneutic, or way of interpreting the scriptures. Many people, the dispensationalists, would say that there are seven distinct dispensations, or various forms of that argument. And we would disagree. And we would say that the best way to view different stages within scriptures is through the different covenants which were active in those portions of history. And so it's very important to have a framework view of the scriptures. And when you go to a certain passage and you say, do these things still apply to me? How does this work? Why is God doing this with this group of people and doing this with another group of people? It's helpful to understand the covenants. But then we might ask, well, what is a covenant? What is a covenant? And a lot of different people have defined it in different ways. Some definitions work for most of the covenants, but not all. And so the definition given here in your notes works for all the covenants in scripture. And so that definition would be commitments with divine sanctions, which is a little bit vague, but that's intentional. It's saying that there's a commitment, there's a relationship between two people, God and man, With divine sanctions, God appointed stipulations or terms of the covenant. So it's a commitment between two parties, God and man, and then you have divine sanctions. God is setting stipulations or terms for that covenant. And is this practical? Is there some practical value to get out of studying covenant theology, or is it just something that theologians like to delve into and get lost in, and it's just, you know, it doesn't help us at all? Is it actually practical? I find it to be very practical for a few reasons. First of all, it helps the individual believer understand where he or she is in all of God's plans. It helps the individual believer understand where he is in God's plans in the covenants. You say, I'm a believer. That's essentially saying I'm a part of the new covenant. Well, what is the new covenant? And what does that mean for you? And so it's practical for us to have a self-conscious understanding of our status in the new covenant. It's also helpful to view the church in the same way. Where's the church in the new covenant? What is the church like in the new covenant? And you know what's really neat? I think that covenant theology is very practical in the way that it strengthens our view of marriage as a covenant. And when we see the way that God has related to people in history through covenants, and then we realize that marriage is a covenant, It really strengthens our view of marriage. It puts it up higher, perhaps, than other people might view it. And it shows us the seriousness of marriage. Now, we're not going to be talking about that today. I'm just showing you how covenant theology can be very, very practical for the believer. It's not just something theoretical. It's something that we live in. We live as members of the New Covenant. And if you're married, you live in another covenant of your own. And so it's very practical. But what is our purpose this morning? You have this in your notes, explanation of purpose. And so here's a semi-complex sentence that I'll sort of decode in just a moment, but this is the most precise way to say it. Our purpose this morning is to demonstrate the continuity and discontinuity, in other words, where there are connections and disconnections between the old and new covenants. by showing the two-level nature of promise and fulfillment operative in the Abrahamic Covenant. In other words, we're saying, what are the connections and disconnections between the Old and New Covenant? In order to do that, we're going to look at the Abrahamic Covenant and realize that in the promises in that Abrahamic Covenant, there's two levels of promise going on. And then we say, and it's eschatological and typological realization in the New Covenant. In other words, as far as eschatology goes, it's not just a study of the end times, as many people say. It's a study of the movement of redemptive history towards the end times. And so it's not just revelation. It's how have things been moving throughout redemptive history. And so how did the promises to Abraham move forward in history into the New Covenant? And then typological realization means how were they fulfilled? So what were the promises and how were they fulfilled? And what does that mean for connections and disconnections in the old and new covenants? And in order to do that, we're going to study three things in each covenant. The promised king, the promised kingdom people, and the promised kingdom land. And you can see those in your notes there as letter A, B, and C under Roman numeral II. That's going to be our study for this morning. So that was just a brief introduction, the importance of covenant theology as a framework hermeneutic or way of interpreting the scriptures. We define the covenant as commitment with divine sanctions. We have a relationship between God and man and he's setting the terms or stipulations of the covenant. It's practical as we view ourselves and as we view the church, and it's practical as we view covenants in which we have entered, such as marriage. And then our purpose is to see what are the connections and disconnections, the continuity and discontinuity between the Old and New Covenants by looking specifically at the Abrahamic Covenant and the way that things were promised to Abraham and the way that things were fulfilled on two levels. If that doesn't make a lot of sense right now, hopefully as we move through it, it will. But that is just sort of explaining to you where we are, what we're doing, and where we're going. And so now we want to examine those promises, the kingdom promises. And just one more word of introduction before we do that. What we're going to see is that the nature of the old covenant promises are prototypal, provisional, and physical. In other words, they're prototypal. They're pointing to something else. A prototype is sort of a basic form that's waiting to become something more. And something that's provisional just lasts for a time. It's not meant to endure. And something that's physical, these promises were physical promises to physical people. They were tangible. And we're going to see that the nature of the New Covenant promises are messianic. They have to deal with Christ coming in the fullness of time and Him fulfilling these promises. It's not prototypal. He is the fulfillment. It's not looking forward to something else. It's the fulfillment. It's eternal. They're everlasting and eternal. They're not provisional. The New Covenant promises are not provisional. They don't just last for a time. And they're spiritual. By and large, they don't deal with a physical people and physical promises. And so we need to understand these two things. They help us to understand the promises as we go. And so let's look at the three promises, the promised king, the promised kingdom people, and the promised kingdom land. And under each one, I have level one and level two, the old covenant level and the new covenant level, with scripture references to back up what we're saying. I will read them for you because it might take too much time to flip through them. But if you'd like to, as we go, by all means do so, if it's easier to follow along that way. And so we're starting out with the promised king, Within the Abrahamic covenant, God made a covenant with Abraham, and in this covenant he promised, there's a promised king, and we're gonna see that, we'll read that in Genesis. And so we're going to level one, the old covenant level. And this is provisional, prototypal, and physical. Okay, the kingship promise to Abraham is found in Genesis 17, five through six. And God said this. He said, I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. God promises to Abraham, kings shall come from you. And it's no surprise that someone who had been promised that he would be the father of many nations would also be the father of kings that would rule over such nations. It's a logical consequence, we might say. But this kingship promise became more specific in the blessings which Jacob gave to his 12 sons and Judah in particular. We find that in Genesis 49, 8 through 12. I won't read that. But if you remember, Jacob blessed his 12 sons and when it came to Judah, he promised that the scepter would not depart from Judah. In other words, proclaiming that he would be the line of kings. So you start out, Abraham, you're going to have kings. It gets more specific. Judah will be the line of the kings. And this is all physical promises to physical people. And the kingship promise, the promised king, reached its final fulfillment in the old covenant, level one, in another covenant of its own, the Davidic covenant. And so you go through Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob, and then to Judah, and then on through to David. And David was the first king that was a son of Judah. And in 2 Samuel 7, 8-17, we read this. God is making a covenant with David. He says, When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. And so God is reaffirming these promises to David. David is the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham. God says to Abraham, kings will come from you. Jacob says to Judah, it's going to be through you, Judah. And then David is the first king of Israel who was a son of Judah. Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. David was from the tribe of Judah. And so he's the fulfillment. The promise was made to Abraham and it was fulfilled in David. And we see that specifically in the covenant that God made with David himself. So Abraham was promised a line of kings. Jacob specified those kings would come from Judah. And David was the first one of that line to attain kingship. He ascended to the throne of Israel. And in so doing, he received his own covenant. But as we'll see in just a moment, even that pointed beyond itself. These promises pointed beyond themselves. And this is where we get to level two under the promised king. We've seen the old covenant promise and fulfillment. There will be kings. There was a king. It was that simple. It was physical people, physical promises. And so now let's look at the new covenant fulfillment of this promise. Level two. When we read God's promise to David that when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Our first response might be, oh, well, that's Solomon. He saw the kingdom at its height and at its greatest power and grandeur and he built a house for God. He built the temple. And those things are true. Those things are true. But did the throne of Solomon's kingdom last forever? And did the throne of David last forever? Is there a son of David still on the throne in Israel, the nation today? Has there been since then? Well, no. And yet the promise has been fulfilled and the throne of David has lasted forever. because Christ was the son of David, his throne was established by God, and it certainly does last forever because Christ is an eternal king. And what is also interesting and marvelous to realize is that Christ did build a house for God, the church, and he himself was the chief cornerstone and he is the head of the church. And so when God is making these promises to David, he's talking about Solomon, that he will build a house for me, and that he will establish his throne, but truly he's talking about Christ, whose throne is everlasting, he's the eternal king, and he did build a house for God, the holy temple, which is the church, he himself being the cornerstone and the head. And so it's really interesting to see this, that there's two levels of promise active. God says to Abraham, kings will come from you. And that means there's going to be physical descendants who are kings that came to pass. But there was also a spiritual promise to Christ, and Christ fulfilled that promise in the New Covenant. And it's for this very reason that Matthew and Luke trace Christ's genealogy back through David, through Judah, and through Abraham. This is why Gabriel, appearing to Mary, said in Luke 1.32-33, He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." And so in the New Testament we see a very specific reference and fulfillment of the kingdom king promise that was given to Abraham in the Old Testament. And the Gospel writers understood these connections, and they specifically wrote their Gospels to prove that Christ is the final, messianic, and eternal fulfillment of the kingship promise to Abraham, to Judah, and to David. And so, does it make sense now that there was a promise to Abraham, but it functioned on two levels? One was physical, and one was spiritual. One was provisional, it lasted for a time. The other was eternal. The physical promise was fulfilled in the kings, particularly David, and the spiritual promise was fulfilled in Christ, and it lasts forever. And so there's two levels of promise active in the Abrahamic covenant in the king promise, the promised king. If that makes sense, then hopefully the next two promises will also make sense as you begin to see these two levels active. And it's a bit, it's a lot to take in at one time, but it creates a beautiful and complete picture for us. And that's why I think it's very important. And so we've seen the promised king on level one and level two. the Old Covenant and New Covenant fulfillments of that promise. Let's look now at the promised kingdom people. If there's a king, who are his people? Who is he a king over? And here as we move on to the promised kingdom people, once again we're going to find two different levels operating. And so we'll begin to look at level one. In Genesis 17 and in a few other places, we read that God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. And more specifically, God said to Abraham in Genesis 17, 7, I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you. So here we see that God promised to Abraham that he and his own physical seed, his descendants, would be a part of the covenant that God was making with Abraham. God says to Abraham, I'll make a covenant with you and your descendants. So the people after him, his physical offspring, will be a part of this covenant as well. And God also promised to Abraham that he would multiply his offspring to such a number that they could not be counted, like the stars in the sky or the sands in the sea. So we see that all of Abraham's descendants, simply by virtue of their birth, being born, were given status as covenant members. They were the promised kingdom people, a real living, breathing, complaining, physical nation. That was Israel. Israel was Abraham's descendants, and they were God's covenant people in the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, level one. And that this promise was fulfilled in the nation of Israel began to see its initial fulfillment first following the 12 sons of Jacob. You have this first large multiplication ascent. You have Abraham, and then Isaac, and then Jacob, and then suddenly 12 sons. And then those tribes populate Israel for the rest of their history. And that this promise was fulfilled is explicitly recorded in 1 Kings 4.20 where it says, Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. And this was recorded in the time of Solomon. So history goes on. They dwell in the wilderness. They conquer. Well, first after the patriarchs, they're in Egypt. Then they dwell in the wilderness. They conquer Canaan. They inhabit it. The kingdom is established. And at that point, under Solomon's reign, the Bible explicitly refers back to the Abrahamic promise and says, Judah and Israel were as many as the sands of the sea. And so the promise was fulfilled. Abraham's descendants were now kings, and they were so populous that they were as many as the sands of the sea. The old covenant, level one fulfillment of the kingdom people promise, was fulfilled by the physical nation of Israel. God promised to Abraham a people, physical descendants, and it was fulfilled. They came about and they lived in Canaan. They lived in Israel. So that's level one. It's a physical promise to physical people. It was a nation. By virtue of physical birth, they were born into this covenant, into this nation. So what's the spiritual level two understanding of the promised kingdom people? What's the new covenant understanding of this promise? The best passage to turn to in this case is Galatians 3. And I'd like you to turn there with me, please, for this instance. Galatians 3. Now sometimes when we talk about things like typology, things that are pointing towards other things, or eschatology, things as they move throughout redemptive history towards their fulfillment in the end, people think that you're just making things up. They automatically get very suspicious because when you talk about things like level one and level two, it sounds like a mystic religion, you know, just wait for level three and four and five, you know, where does it stop? I want you to understand that we are grounding all of these things in Scripture, seeing that God made these specific promises to Abraham, that they were specifically filled and that Scripture records all of these things. And so it's not something that we're making up, it's not something that we're sort of just looking at obscure passages and sort of vague imagery to draw out things that are not really there. We're doing our best to root this in scripture and to simply proclaim what it's saying. And so don't think that just because we're talking about typology and eschatology that automatically we can't be certain about these things. They are very clear and they are recorded for us and the Old Testament and New Testament treat these things this way. So I hope that you're seeing that these promises act or are active in two levels. We've seen in the king promise, the kings of Israel, the eternal kingship of Christ. We've seen as far as the kingdom people goes, the physical nation of Israel was the kingdom people in the old covenant. But now we're looking at who's the kingdom people in the new covenant. Who are they? Well, look at me in Galatians 3. We're going to read verse 7, and then verse 16, and then verse 26 to 29. And we're going to see what the New Testament says about the promises to Abraham. So first, Galatians 3, verse 7. Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. What do you mean, Paul? I thought the sons of Abraham were the sons of Abraham. Look at verse 16. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, and to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, and to your offspring, who is Christ. So the New Testament clearly tells us that there were two levels operating. I'm not making this up. This is the way that it's treated. Now look to verse 26. For in Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise." Now that is very clear, and this is what the New Testament says. And it's interesting to read verse 26 and 29 back to back. Read this with me, 26 and then 29. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. Does that answer the question then? Well, if these verses aren't clear to you, let me put it this way. The promise to the offspring, when God made these promises to Abraham, or the promised kingdom people functioned in the old covenant as the promise to Abraham's descendants. Abraham was promised offspring. That was the physical people of Israel. That was the physical old covenant level one promise and fulfillment. But here we see that Paul clearly and directly tells us that the real meaning and significance of the promise was actually directed to Christ and all those who are in Christ. So then, if you are in Christ, you are an heir and recipient of the promises that were made to Abraham. It's a logical argument or a syllogism. If then, if you are in Christ, then you are a son of Abraham. It's that simple. And so this is a spiritual promise, but it is still mediated through birth. It's a spiritual promise, but it comes to us through birth. Whoa, wait. Sam, are you a Presbyterian? No. Because just as physical birth meant admittance into the Old Covenant, you're born, you're in. Spiritual rebirth means admittance into the New Covenant. You're born again, you are in the New Covenant. All those who have been born again are in Christ by grace through faith, and therefore they are His kingdom people, and He is their King. And to me, that's just Wow, and it's so clear. If you are Christ, then you are the son of Abraham and heir according to the promise through faith. And so through faith, we are born again into the new covenant. And so I think that all spiritual babies should be baptized in the sense that all who have been born again ought to be baptized because they are new covenant members. Brothers and sisters, do you see what this means? It means that there is not a single physical marker that merits your entrance into the new covenant. It doesn't matter who your parents are because Christ is not the national king of a physical people. It doesn't matter, as Paul said, there's neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free. There's no male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. In other words, parental lineage, Jewish or Greek, doesn't matter who your parents are. Social status, slave or free, doesn't matter. Gender, male or female, doesn't matter. It has nothing to do with those who are in Christ. It's about faith. And that is what the New Testament teaches. And this is why God said to Abraham in Genesis 12, 3, in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. because in other words, all the nations of the earth will be blessed in your offspring who is Christ. The coming of Christ meant the end of the old covenant and Christ inaugurated and established the new covenant in his own blood. ransoming his own people to himself, a spiritual nation from every tribe, tongue and nation. And so all the nations of the earth have been blessed through the offspring of Abraham, who was Christ, because in Christ they have received salvation. And that is the ultimate blessing. And so do you understand, then, that the level one promise of the kingdom people was the physical nation of Israel, and they entered into this simply by being born. And the spiritual level 2 New Covenant fulfillment of the Promised Kingdom people are those who are in Christ through faith. They have been born again into the New Covenant. It's a spiritual promise. But where things get slightly tricky, but very interesting, is the fact that this New Covenant reality is true of Old Testament believers as well as New Testament believers. In other words, even during the Old Testament, those who believed in the promises of the gospel by faith were also in Christ, and they were the true spiritual Israel within the physical Israel. It kind of blows your mind. You're in Old Covenant Israel under the Mosaic Law, and yet you have believed in the gospel promises, and so you're actually in both levels at the same time. The patriarchs, all those who believed in the old covenant, were living in both levels. They were the physical kingdom people. promised to Abraham, and they were also the spiritual kingdom people through Christ. And that's really interesting. But that's what Israel's main problem was. They couldn't comprehend anything beyond the physical promises to their fathers. So when Christ came, they said, wait, what are you talking about? How can these Gentiles get to come in? And Christ is saying, I am the fulfillment. First of all, you guys were unfaithful and broke the covenant, and God has rejected you. But also, the new covenant is a spiritual reality, a spiritual kingdom, and you need to repent and believe because it's through faith that you enter into this. And Jesus himself actually spoke clearly about these things when he witnessed the faith of the centurion whose servant needed healing. Jesus said, truly I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. Then listen to this. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness in that place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Wow, that's a very strong statement. And if you were a Jew, That was very offensive to say, I'm a son of the kingdom and I'm gonna be tossed out while these Gentile dogs are eating at the table with our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But that is what Christ said, Jesus himself. And so the New Testament is very clear, as Paul said, know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. So in summary of the promised kingdom people, we see that level two, The promised kingdom people in the New Covenant are all those who are in Christ, born again by grace through faith. So we see once again two levels active. The kingship promise, physical kings, eternal, Christ as king. The kingdom people, physical nation of Israel, spiritual nation of Israel through Christ in Christ through faith. Does that make sense? Can you understand those two promises? And this is all in the Abrahamic covenant. It's really amazing. I love this stuff. You know, at Westminster, you learn a lot of things in seminary and you think everyone should know this. And sometimes not everyone needs to know certain things, it's not always helpful, but I think that this is very helpful because you and I are part of this new covenant. And this evening when we take communion and Christ says, this is the new covenant in my blood, you have a much, well perhaps a more full understanding of what that means and who you are within that. and who Christ is and what his relation is to you. And it's not just when we take communion, it's every single day. And so these things involve us. We are a part of these things and that itself is just amazing, that God would include people like us in these eternal promises and that we share in redemptive history in the same way that Abraham or Isaac or Jacob or David did. We are just as much a part of those things as they were. And they are part of the kingdom people as we are under our King Christ. So let's move on to the third and final promise, the promised kingdom land. And we'll start once again with level one, the old covenant, physical promise and fulfillment. The third and final component of the Abrahamic promises was the promised kingdom land. This part is very simple and clear. Abraham was promised the land of Canaan on a few separate occasions, some more specific than others, but the most clear and marked out of these is found in Genesis 15, 18-21. It says, On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates. the land of the Kenites and the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. God says, very specifically, this land here, there, everywhere is yours. It's the kingdom land promised to Abraham. And that this promise was fulfilled, once again, is very clearly recorded for us in Joshua 21, 43 to 45. It says, Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. And the Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed. All came to pass. So we have a clear promise of a kingdom land, a physical land, and then we have a very clear indication that it was fulfilled. Israel conquered Canaan and they inhabited the land. Scripture records it for us. And so there's nothing more to say about the level one physical promise of the kingdom land. Other than that, it was Canaan, promised to Abraham and his descendants, and they occupied it. That is very clear. And that's level one. So Level 2, what is the New Covenant fulfillment of the promised Kingdom Land? Well, the New Covenant Level 2 fulfillment of this promise is equally simple, although it has been far overcomplicated and misunderstood by many people throughout history. But before we get into what the New Covenant promised Kingdom Land is, it's important to note a few things. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that Abraham himself knew that Canaan was not the final resting place. He knew that was not the real paradise of God's people. He knew that was not the real Sabbath rest. How do I know that? Well, because Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 11 verses 10 and 16 in particular, which says in verse 10, for he, that's Abraham, was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. So in other words, he was looking forward to something else. He knew this was not everything. But as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. So then. We know that the New Covenant Kingdom is not Palestine as it was promised to Abraham. That's not what we have been promised. But what is it? Paul says in Romans 4.13, it's the whole world. He says that the promise to Abraham and his offspring is that he would be heir of the world. Isn't that interesting? This is Paul talking about the Abrahamic kingdom land promise. And he says that Abraham was promised the whole world. But wait, Sam, didn't you just say that Abraham was promised this very specifically marked out land? Well, yes, but that was the Old Covenant promise and it was fulfilled. But Abraham knew that there was something better and that something better is the whole world. So wait, you've been saying that the level one promises are physical, the level two promises are spiritual. Now you're saying that there's an earth involved here? Well, to answer that question, let me ask you a question. Do you believe in the resurrection of the body? I hope you do. Do you believe or do you agree that resurrected bodies need an appropriate cosmic environment? So resurrected and glorified bodies do need an appropriate cosmic environment, absolutely. And that's why Peter tells us very clearly in 2 Peter 3.13 that according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth. So then the level two, new covenant fulfillment of the promised kingdom land will be new heavens and a new earth. And this is a promise which we have not yet received. We certainly are God's kingdom people in Christ, and he is absolutely our kingdom king. But we have not yet arrived at the geophysical, in other words, a real kingdom land, which will one day be ours. So we, like Abraham, and like the other heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11, look forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. And what is beautiful is that all the things that we have seen today make Revelation 21, 1 through 4 an incredibly meaningful and beautiful picture of what awaits us. Turn there with me to Revelation 21, 1 through 4. I think all the things that we've considered today make this passage all the more rich and full and meaningful. Revelation 21, 1 through 4. John says, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." And so when we view all of these things, the kingdom promises, we see that we are on our way. towards this final fulfillment. We understand ourselves as being a part of the kingdom people in Christ through faith. We understand that Christ is our king, the king of us individually, and the king of the church, the cornerstone of the church, the head of the church, and that helps us. And so we understand where we've come from out of the old covenant, and we understand where we are as the kingdom people under a king. But we also know exactly where we're going to the kingdom land, which has been promised to us and is recorded explicitly for us here in Revelation 21, one through four. And I find this incredibly comforting to know exactly where I've come from, to know exactly where I am and to know exactly where I'm going. And once again, it's extremely comforting to see yourself in the entire picture of God's redemptive history. and know that I get to be a part of this, not because of anything great about me, but because by grace I have been saved through faith. And so it's just an amazing thing to think about and to have this kind of framework view for yourself and for the church. and for all believers to see ourselves in this context. And so is covenant theology important? Absolutely. Is it practical? Absolutely. Because it gives us such an informed understanding of who we are and where we are, where we've come from and where we're going. And it's just a beautiful picture. It also gives us an amazing understanding of this book as a whole. It's not just book, book, book, book, book, book, book. It's the Bible, the book, and it has an overarching, continuous history in it and movement. And it helps us to understand the plan of God throughout all of history and the way that he has brought things to pass. And so we've seen the promised king, old covenant, physical fulfillment, the physical kings of Israel, particularly David. We've seen that the spiritual New Covenant fulfillment of this was Jesus Christ, an eternal King. We've seen that the Promised Kingdom people in the Old Covenant were the physical descendants of Abraham. They entered this covenant by birth. We've seen that the New Covenant fulfillment of the Promised Kingdom people are all of those who are in Christ through faith. and they are also eternally kept. And finally, we've seen the promised kingdom land. Abraham was promised a very specific physical boundary in Palestine, and the Israelites fulfilled it. They occupied it. And we've seen that we have been promised a new heaven, new heavens, and a new earth. And we know that our bodies will be resurrected and glorified, and we will inhabit that. We will dwell with God. And so, all of these things are amazing. But there's one last piece that's missing for us to have a more complete view of history, because it doesn't start with Abraham. Abraham isn't the first time that we see these promises, but it is the most clear and articulated. And so let's move down to letter D, the covenantal promise origins. We've seen the promises in the Abrahamic covenant, but where do they come from? This isn't the first time. What's their origin? Well, all of the promises in the Abrahamic Covenant are simply a more detailed re-announcement of the gospel seed promise, which we find in Genesis 3.15. After man falls, God preaches the gospel to them. And he says in Genesis 3.15, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. We understand that this is Jesus Christ conquering death and sin in his death and resurrection. And so it's an announcement of the gospel right after the fall. But Galatians 3.8 tells us that Paul says that the promises to Abraham were also the preaching of the gospel. Yet the gospel was first proclaimed right after the fall. And so that's just a little side note so that you have a little bit more full understanding that the promises in the Abrahamic covenant are not where it begins. The origins are truly in Genesis 3.15 where the first promise is made. The seed of the woman, the offspring of the woman, will conquer the offspring of the serpent. And so today we focused on the Abrahamic covenant because of its prominence in scripture and its clear presentation of the promises of the kingship, the kingdom people, and the kingdom land. But we ought not to forget the covenantal promise origins of even the Abrahamic covenant, which is the promise of the seed or the offspring in Genesis 3.15. And so the new covenant, the covenant of grace, was foretold to Adam and Eve. And that's why people prior to Abraham could believe in the gospel. It wasn't first proclaimed to Abraham, it had been preached beforehand. So the Abrahamic covenant served to establish and set up the historical context in which the new covenant promises would play out, as well as to point forward typologically to the final fulfillment of those promises. And that's why there were two levels. The level one sets up the historical context in which all of this is going to play out. There's a seed promise to the woman. It becomes more specific to Abraham, more specific to Judah, more specific to David. In history, Level one promises. And yet, all of these things, apart from simply setting up a historical context, they're also pointing forward to something more complete in their final fulfillment, the New Covenant level two promises. And so, in conclusion, what can we say? Well, the first thing that comes to my mind when I was studying these things and writing this sermon and just thinking about these things is just, you often have a sense of, you don't know what to say. other than worshiping a God who perfectly ordained and brought to fruition a plan such as this, and included in this plan people like you and people like me. I mean, it's just amazing to know that we are a part of these promises and this plan. It's amazing for each individual believer to see himself fitting into and living in God's eternal plan. It's amazing and helpful for the church to see itself fitting into and living in God's eternal plans. And it's simply amazing to know where we've come from, where we are, and where we're going. So we said at the beginning that our purpose was to demonstrate the continuity and discontinuity of the Old and New Covenants by showing the two-level nature of promise and fulfillment operative in the Abrahamic Covenant and its eschatological and typological realization in the New Covenant. Do you see what that meant now, more or less? When I sent this to my dad last night, I wanted him to look over it and he said, lose the jargon. And I said, Dad, I'll explain the terms as I go, you know. And so I hope that you have seen the bottom line is promises were made to Abraham and there were two levels operating. It was a physical level to the people of Israel, Abraham's descendants, kings, people and land. But there was also a spiritual level of Christ, the king, Christ's people, those who are in Christ through faith. and the kingdom land which we have not yet arrived at, new heavens and a new earth for our glorified and resurrected bodies. And so this helps us identify the continuity and discontinuity because the new covenant, Christ's advent, means the ending of the old covenant. It's done away with. It's gone. And we've seen how it's typologically realized. The things which were foretold or foreshadowed have been fulfilled. Except for the land we are not there yet, but we it's we know what it is Scripture tells us those things but we live in the messianic eternal fulfillment era of These promises so we've seen how those things operate although it's some big words of the purpose I hope that it's been clear how that works and so let me read a quote to just sort of wrap up what that means and We said our purpose is to demonstrate the continuity and discontinuity of the Old and New Covenants by showing the two-level nature of promise and fulfillment operative in the Abrahamic Covenant and its eschatological and typological realization in the New Covenant. Okay. So what does that mean? That means this. The New Covenant is not a renewal of an older covenant in the sense of confirming the continuing validity of the Old. In other words, we are not Israel. We do not continue to be Israel. We don't need to be like Israel, Old Covenant Israel. With respect to the old covenant, as a typological realization of the promised kingdom realm, the new covenant does not confirm the continuing validity of the old, but rather announces its obsolescence and end. When Christ comes, he inaugurates the new covenant in his own blood. The old is gone. The veil is split. We are in the new covenant. And so this understanding of the New Covenant as fulfilling and abrogating or nullifying the Old Covenant, it's done away with, it rescues us from confusing the two levels of promise. It rescues us from thinking that Israel as a nation will one day be restored as God's kingdom people. Or thinking that the Jews have a covenantal right to the geophysical land of Palestine. How many people give their money and their time and their efforts to a people who abandoned God long ago and broke the covenant. And there's nothing there. The old covenant's gone. It's been done away with. And it rescues us from thinking that way. Israel is a nation just as we are. And that's all there is to it. They have no promises left. It's only the spiritual Israel that remains. And there are elect people in Israel, I'm sure. There are many works there. But that's all that matters now, the spiritual kingdom people. And so it rescues us from having an inappropriate view of the physical nation of Israel. But it also rescues us from confusing the two levels because we're not deceiving ourselves or our children into thinking that they get to be members of the covenant automatically because they have been born to us or because we have been born to our parents. It rescues us from that deception, which can, it can be very harmful to people if they grow up with a false understanding of themselves and how the Bible speaks about them. And I'm not looking to get into that, but it just, you can see how confusing the two levels of promise, affirming old covenant promises in the new covenant just creates problems and it perpetuates things which have been done away with. And ultimately, understanding these things helps us to see God's plan in history as we read the Bible. You read this book, you move on, you read this book, you say, why are things different? Is it because of the different dispensations? No, it's because of the covenants. And the covenants give us a framework in which to read the Bible. We better understand the Israel of the Old Testament when we understand these promises as a physical people. And we understand the Israel of the New Testament, the church, a spiritual people. We understand ourselves as being a part of the church, the kingdom people of Christ, our king. And we understand that one day he will return to judge the living and the dead. The world as we know it will pass away and we will live eternally with God in the new heavens and the new earth. And so may we continue to grow in our understanding and appreciation of the workings of our sovereign God with his people through his covenants. So like I said at the beginning, it looks like a very intimidating outline. But I hope that it has made sense by now, the way that these promises are operating and the confidence and amazing framework that they give us, understanding ourselves and understanding the church, understanding scripture, and all of redemptive history, where we've come from, where we are, and where we're going. These are beautiful things. And tonight, when we participate in the Lord's Supper, and Christ says, this is the new covenant in my blood, this is my body which is broken for you, these things he says have so much significance. in this context and when we understand ourselves in this context. So let that enrich your appreciation of what Christ has done for you and who you are in the covenant and the things which he has given to covenant members, the Lord's Supper and baptism in particular. So appreciate that this evening. I love talking about these things, so if you have questions, I'd be more than happy to talk about these things afterward or whenever. I get excited about them. So why don't we go ahead and pray and conclude. And I like to just, when I think about these things, I just get so, whoa, you know? Because it's a huge picture, isn't it? It's a huge picture that we're seeing, and you just kind of have to chew on it. And really just think about it. And the more you read scripture, the more you get to add to this picture and it becomes more complete and more beautiful. And so that's what I'm hoping that it will help you to do. I said at the beginning, it gives us a foundation for understanding covenant theology and ourselves. And so with this foundation, as you read scripture, just add to it, add to the understanding your King, add to understanding yourself as a person in the kingdom and even enrich your understanding of the promised kingdom land to come. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you that you are a God who enters into covenant relationships with your people. We thank you that because of your graciousness and mercy and compassion and love, Through Jesus Christ, you have made us a part of your eternal covenant. And we thank you that you have given to us within this covenant things like baptism and the Lord's Supper to encourage and strengthen and edify us. We pray that as we read your holy word, we would understand these things and that we would grow in our appreciation of the way that you work in history. We pray that you would enrich our lives by helping us to understand ourselves within your covenant. And Father, we pray that you would cause us to be stirred on to greater holiness as we recognize the way in which you have been so faithful and kind to us, and that you never abandon us and you never forsake us, that you have put your Holy Spirit within us. Father, we thank you that the Spirit is the seal of ourselves as being members of the covenant. We thank you that he will never depart from us, and so we will never depart from you. We thank you for all of these promises that we have in Jesus Christ through faith. We thank you for being merciful to us and granting us repentance and faith so that we might participate in this marvelous and gracious covenant. We pray that you would help us as we listen to your preaching this morning and this evening, and that you would help us as we partake in the holy sacraments of communion, that you would cause us to appreciate these things in light of the things that we have learned from your holy word. We ask that you would bless our worship and our preaching and our sacraments in Jesus name. Amen.