The reason I've been waiting a few minutes is because I see a lot of new faces, and the beginning part is one of the most important parts, so people are kind of caught up, but that's okay. Whoever can join us will, and we'll have scribers coming in. So let me open our time in prayer, and then we'll get right into our topic for this day. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the blessing of being able to come together. to learn more deeply about your word, we ask that you would give us understanding minds, give us loving hearts, and give us obedient wills. May my teaching and everyone's hearing be honoring to you. And may we be focused, may we be attentive, and may we seek, by your grace, to learn more about your word, not for knowledge sake, but that we might know you better, and we might be better servants of yours. In Jesus' name, amen. So last week, to catch everyone up, because I see a lot of new faces, which is a blessing for me to see other people in the class, last week I talked about the covenant of redemption and the covenant of works. Words that you won't find in the scriptures, but I try to prove from the scriptures that these are biblical categories. So again, last week I talked about the covenant of redemption and the covenant of works. The covenant of redemption, very simply, is the Godhead Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with one purpose and one will, from before the foundation of the world, choosing to save sinners from all the nations. So the covenant of redemption, simply, and I went through a lot of biblical texts to support this, this is just a short overview. It's the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with one purpose and one will, before the foundation of the world, to choose sinners from all the nations. So this was a before the foundation of the world covenant. One key text I showed was Titus 1-2, that God, who cannot lie, promised eternal life before the ages began. So there was a promise of eternal life before time even began. So I spent a long time on that one, or 15 or so minutes, but that's just a short recap. So one more time, it's the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, before the foundation of the world, choosing to save sinners from all the nations. Secondarily, I talked about the covenant of works. So if the covenant of redemption was the inter-Trinitarian, or the covenant between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, before the foundation of the world, the covenant of works was the first covenant with man. And that was the covenant that God made with Adam in the garden. So Adam had the moral law written on his heart. We know that from Romans 2, that the law is written on Gentiles' heart who don't have the scriptures. But then he had what we call positive law, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he obeyed, he was blessed. If he disobeyed, he was cursed. And so simply, the covenant of works was God wrote the moral law in Adam's heart and gave him a positive law, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he obeyed, he was blessed. If he disobeyed, he was cursed. And so that, we could spend a lot of time. I don't want to re-teach that class, but hopefully that at least gives you some context of where we were at. We talked about what was the covenant that God made within himself to save sinners, and then what was the covenant that God made with Adam in the garden as our representative. Adam represented us, and so when Adam fell, we fell in him. I'm going to use the analogy, and I'll just say it in passing again. Just like if you're playing basketball, if you commit a personal foul in a basketball game, it's not just your personal foul, it's also a team foul. It counts for you personally and for the whole team. And I tried to argue that we were on Adam's team, and when he committed the personal foul, Because we were on his team, we committed the foul in him. Just like in a basketball game, personal foul and a team foul. And so, without going any more into those, if you have questions, if you weren't here last week about the Covenant of Redemption, Covenant Works, I'm more than happy to answer questions after or for the topic today. But that's a brief overview of last week. This week we're going to be talking about the covenants of promise. The covenants of promise. If you turn in your Bibles, if you have a copy of the scriptures, to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. We'll see this language of the covenants of promise. Ephesians chapter 2. And I'll be reading verses 11 and 12. Ephesians 2, 11 and 12. Here we go. Ephesians chapter 2, 11 and 12. Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world." So we see that phrase that these Gentiles who were separated or without Christ also were strangers to the covenants, plural, of promise. Another text, you don't have to turn here, I have it in my notes I want to read, is connected with this, Romans 9, 3-5. For I could wish that I myself were a curse from Christ, for my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, here it is again, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises, and whom are the fathers, and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is overall the eternally blessed God. Amen. So this week, if last week we were talking about the Covenant of Redemption, or I was talking about the Covenant of Redemption, and the Covenant of Works, this week I want to talk about the Covenants of Promise, also known as the Old Covenant Covenants. Because there wasn't just one single covenant in the Old Testament. There was the covenant with Noah. There was the covenant with Abraham. There was the covenant with Moses. And there was the covenant with David. And the scriptures talk about these covenants under that phrase, these were all the covenants of promise. And we'll see, Lord willing, in this time today, that all these covenants, what did they promise? They promised the covenant of grace, or the new covenant, in the death and resurrection of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. all these covenants point forward to something greater than themselves in the doings and dyings of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's what I hope to show today, that we see that these covenants had a temporal relationship with the people of Israel of old, but had a further fulfillment in the new covenant people through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's where we're heading. You see these covenants of redemption, they have a type, anti-type reality. They have a shadow and a reality. So I'll get into this more later, but just so maybe we're following what I mean by type, anti-type, shadow reality. The sacrifices in the old covenant were shadows. They weren't the real thing, but they were pointers to what? The true sacrifice of the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world. They pointed to something greater. And so these old covenant, covenants of promise, pointed to something greater, just like the sacrifices did, These covenants did the same thing. And I like to use the analogy sometimes to help people understand this promise fulfillment reality. Pretend you're going to go to Hawaii. And you have it all planned out. You've got your tickets. You've got everything. What might you do before you go? You might go on the computer. Open up the computer and type in where you're going to go and look at pictures. You're going to look at pictures to see, oh, this is where we're going to go. And you start getting excited about it. And then you look at the pictures for a few minutes and it just makes you more excited. But think about getting to Hawaii and going on the computer and looking at the pictures when you can just walk out your back balcony and see the beach. It would make no sense to go on the computer once you have the substance. And so with the old covenant, covenants of promise, they were like looking on the computer at the picture. When Christ comes, he is the actual thing. where you no longer need the pictures anymore because you have the substance. And that's what I'm trying to get at with these covenants of promise and how they worked in both pointing to our Savior and with the national people of Israel in the Old Covenant. So with no more further ado, let's talk about the Noahic Covenant. The Noahic covenant, or the covenant with Noah, God promised by the rainbow to all creation that he would never destroy the earth like that again. So that was the covenant with Noah. It wasn't a covenant with a particular people. The covenant with Noah was a covenant for all creation that God promised Through the sign of the rainbow, never destroy the earth like that again through the flood. Side note, this is probably why it's pretty important to hold to a worldwide flood because there have been local floods that have destroyed places. But there's never been a worldwide flood that has destroyed places. the world, like in Noah's day. But we see that God had promised through the rainbow never to do that again. And we also know that Noah and his family were saved through the ark. The New Testament tells us eight people were saved through the ark, through the ark that God provided Noah and his whole family. And Noah, during that time, according to the New Testament, was a preacher of righteousness. He was probably preaching to people in the fields about coming in the ark. But in God's providence, only eight people were saved. But how does this show us the new covenant, the covenant of grace? Well, Jesus comes onto the scene and says, I am the door. He says, I'm the door. And what was the reality with Noah? That you had to enter into the door to be saved. And Jesus comes and says, I am the door. He who enters by me shall be saved. And so we see in the Noahic covenant, God saving Noah and his family, but also pointing forward to when God would save sinners. through the door of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ himself is the ark of our salvation that we enter onto and are saved. So that'll be the shortest covenant that I cover because it's not usually brought together when we think about the old covenant. But I think it's important to remember that God made a covenant with Noah and all creation. And so again, just so you have the concept in your mind, the Noahic covenant was God promised by the rainbow not to destroy the earth like that again. So now we're going to really get into the meat in terms of the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, and the Davidic covenant. If you open up your Bibles to Genesis 12, Genesis chapter 12. I'm going to start reading at verse 1. Now the Lord had said to Abram, get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation, I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And so we see in the Abrahamic covenant, beginning in chapter 12 and extending to chapter 17, God promises Abraham primarily two things. So if you think, what did God promise Abraham? Here's the two things that God promised Abraham. And this will be important because it'll go over the Mosaic covenant. God promised Abraham seed and God promised Abraham land. And when I say seed, I mean children. God promised Abraham seed and land. Seed and land. Those two things are very important. Genesis 15, we're not going to read it for the sake of time, but that's the interesting account where God promises by going through the animals, that he will accomplish what he has promised Abraham. So God, through that unique way of doing it, promises without a shadow of doubt, gives Abraham the way to see that what he promised, he will do. And then Genesis 17 is where we see the sign of circumcision, where God gives Abraham and his seed the sign of circumcision which was a promise to give them the land of Canaan as a people. And so we see in these Abrahamic promises, we see one, that God would bless in Abraham's seed all the nations, that God promised to do that, and that God gave a sign to the people of Israel, namely circumcision, that he would be their God and he would give them the promised land of Canaan. That's what we see in the Abrahamic Covenant. But we also have to realize that in the Abrahamic Covenant there was this dual reality to it. There was a fleshly people and a spiritual people. So if you turn with me to Galatians 4, Galatians chapter 4. Galatians 4, verse 21. And this is the context of the Apostle Paul writing to the Galatians, trying to explain to them that justification is by faith alone apart from the deeds of the law, trying to show them that everyone who's ever been justified was justified by faith alone in the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now he goes on to tell them about the realities of the law and grace and the reality of the Abrahamic covenant. He says in verse 21, tell me you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants, the one for Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai. in Abria, and correspond to Jerusalem, which it now is, and is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all." So we see, according to this text, it can be kind of confusing. What is the Apostle Paul getting at? These two covenants? These two people? Well, what he's getting at is that in Abraham there was a fleshly people which he calls the Jerusalem that now is, and there's a Jerusalem that is above, namely the spiritual people. So one way to look at it, maybe a simple way of thinking, in the Old Testament you had two circles. You had a big circle which stood for national Israel. And everyone in national Israel received the temporal blessings of the land and the sign and all these things. But inside that big circle, you have a small circle. of what we call spiritual or true Israel. A people that truly know God. Because if you read the Old Testament, you realize most of the people in the Old Covenant did not know God. Most of them were lawless and disobedient. That's why you have all this repetitive of them repenting and going back, repenting and going back, because you see most of the people in the Old Testament didn't really know God as their Savior. But you did always have what we call a remnant which did know God, which was faithful to Jehovah, and was truly part of Israel. You see this, and you don't have to turn here, but let me just show you a text that says this, so you know I'm just not making it up. Romans chapter two, verse 28. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. And you might be thinking, But circumcision is outward. A Jew is outward. You do become a Jew by being part of a national people. What does the Spirit have in mind here? Well, he keeps going and says, but he who is a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in the Spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God. So what is he getting at? If circumcision is not outward and physical, being a Jew is not about being outwardly Jewish, but being a Jew is one inwardly. And circumcision is a matter of the heart. What he's getting at is you could be externally Jewish in terms of your ethnicity, but not truly a Jew in your heart. Because to be a Jew truly, according to Romans chapter 2, is to be circumcised in your heart. And so there's a national people and a spiritual people. The national people inherit national blessings because they're in Abraham. But the spiritual people both inherit physical blessings and spiritual blessings. And I think as I go on, this will become more clear as we get into the Mosaic covenant. But if you get nothing else in terms of the Abrahamic covenant, you have to realize there's two seeds going on here. There's two covenants going on. There's a national people and a spiritual people. And if we get those confused, we're not going to understand a lot of things that are happening in the New Testament when it talks about Abraham's seed, when it talks about being the circumcision. if we don't understand these categories of being nationally part of Israel and spiritually part of Israel. We also see this in Romans chapter 9, verse 6 through 8. It says, if you want to turn there briefly, Romans chapter 9, 6 through 8, a similar concept. says, but it's not as though, not that the word of God has taken no effect, for they are, here it is again, for they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are seed of Abraham, but in Isaac your seed shall be called. That is, those who are children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of promise are counted as seed. So we see there, not all Israel is of Israel. Well, what does the Spirit have in mind there? What I've been saying, just because you are part of Abraham's physical lineage didn't mean that you were truly a child of God. Just because you were circumcised on the eighth day didn't mean that you truly were in the covenant of grace or the new covenant. Because there's a fleshly people and a spiritual people. So as we've seen in the Abrahamic covenant, which I'm going to pick up more in the Mosaic covenant, because that's where we see the fulfillment of it, is that God promised Abraham seed and land. Seed and land. I know a lot of this is very didactic, maybe heavy, maybe some of it's very new to you. Maybe you haven't heard stuff like this. But really just keep following me because I think eventually it'll come together, especially it'll help you understand passages in the New Testament better. When it says, and we'll talk about this later, if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to promise. If you don't understand the Abrahamic promise in the Old Testament, You won't understand what it means in the New Testament that you, as a Gentile, are Abraham's seed. So this is utterly important that you get these fine details so the New Testament begins to open up when you see these phrases, you are Abraham's seed. What does it mean to be Abraham's seed? What is that talking about? Well, we have to remember God made the covenant to Abraham and what does it mean then to be Abraham's seed? And then in the Mosaic Covenant, which is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant, that God would give Abraham seed and land. Because where is the fulfillment of what God promised Abraham? What did God promise to Abraham? The land of Canaan. When did the people come into the land of Canaan? Under the Mosaic Covenant. So it's that fulfillment of what God promised to Abraham. Abraham and his seed, which include all the males in Israel, were going to inherit this physical land we call the land of Canaan. And we see this in Genesis 22, and for the sake of time we won't turn there, but it says this to Abraham. when God promises him descendants as numerous as the stars. Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven and said, by myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing and not withheld your son, your only son, blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven. and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gain of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice." So we see God promises to Abraham that your seed will be as numerous And this was fulfilled, it's fulfilled in the new covenant, but it also has a temporal fulfillment in the old covenant. In Deuteronomy 10, verse 22. Your fathers went down to Egypt with 70 persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as the stars in heaven in multitude. So with the national people of Israel, God says, you went out of Egypt and I made you. as great, as plenteous as the heaven. has of stars. So we see that fulfillment that God was going to give them, that descendants. And a lot of times we think, well, that only is talking about the New Testament when God saves a multitude of people, which he will. And we will see that fulfillment. But it also has a temporal fulfillment with Israel, that God made a great nation that was very large and had a multitude of people. We see this when they're coming, when they're in Egypt, when they're multiplying greatly and Pharaoh gets worried because they're having so many children, they're multiplying so quickly that they begin to want to kill the children because Israel is multiplying so much as a nation. We also see that God promised the land of Cain to Abraham in Genesis 17. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you and their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also, I will give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession, and I will be their God." And then God promises the land of Canaan to the people, but then He fulfills that in Joshua 21. So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which he had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it. And I won't read the whole thing for the sake of time, but we see there in Joshua that God says, through Joshua, so the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which he had sworn to give to their fathers. So this land was given to them. Side note, if Israel got the land, there's no more land to get. If they got the land, they don't need to get it anymore because that promise was fulfilled. In Joshua's day, they got the land. God fulfilled that promise. He didn't fulfill it ultimately for the future, for a national people. He fulfilled it in Joshua's day. What were they doing, destroying the land, people in Canaan, but to fulfill the promise that God would give them this land. We're not looking for a physical land anymore, unless we think about the physical land of the new heavens and the new earth. That's the only land that we're looking for now. because God had fulfilled in Abraham, through Moses, to give them this physical land. In Joshua 21, God has promised, and they got the land. But we also want to see, as I said earlier, remember when I said we have a temporal fulfillment, but a spiritual fulfillment. We have a fulfillment with a fleshly people, but also with a spiritual people. So this is really important, because this begins to affect you. Because you're saying, I'm not part of national Israel. I wasn't in the land. I don't get the land, that physical land of Canaan. I wasn't circumcised on the eighth day. What does this matter to me? Well, here's when it becomes important, you, whether you're Jew or Gentile, about these realities. Because God not only promised temporal blessings, but what does God say? And we'll read the text specifically later. Abraham was not looking ultimately for a physical land, but he was looking for a city whose builder and maker was God. Abraham, because he was a spiritual Israelite, was looking for something better than the land of Canaan. The land of Canaan was what the people were getting, but Abraham knew that wasn't heaven. Abraham knew that he was promised Canaan, but he knew that wasn't heaven. He knew Canaan was a shadow and the new heavens and the new earth was the reality. Remember what I talked about earlier? The sacrifices were the shadow and the cross is the reality? Well, the land of Canaan was the shadow. The new heavens and new earth is the reality because Abraham was looking for something better than a physical land. He was looking for a spiritual land whose maker was God. We see this in Revelation 7, nine through 10. So remember the promise that God gave to Abraham? I will give you descendants as numerable as the stars. And then we read Revelation chapter seven, and it says, there was a multitude that no man can number, from every tribe, from every tongue, from every people, from every language, saying salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb who sits on the throne. What was that a fulfillment of? Abraham, in your seed, all the nations will be blessed. And who's Abraham's seed? Galatians 3.16. It does not say seeds as to many, but see who is Christ. Who is the seed of Abraham? If you ask Paul, he would say it's Christ. And in Christ, descendants from every tribe, every tongue, every people, every nation will be redeemed. Because that was the promise that God gave to Abraham. That you would have a physical people that would be as numerous as the stars, but you would also have a spiritual people that is as numerous as the stars of the sky. And so, this is important too, when it says in the New Testament, as I said before, and if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Well, what does that mean? How do you become Abraham's seed in the New Testament? By being united to Abraham's true seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. So everyone, Jew or Gentile, no matter what ethnicity you are, if you're in Christ, then you are in Abraham's seed. Because Abraham's seed is Jesus Christ. And if you are in Christ, then you're in Abraham's seed. And you're an heir according to promise. But we also see, so we've seen that there's descendants, God fulfills that to a physical people in Canaan, but he also fulfills that in the new heavens, new earth with a multitude that no one can number. But we also see this greater fulfillment of the land. In Romans chapter 4, for the promise that he would be an heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath. For where there is no law, there is no transgression. We see there that the promise to Abraham is that he would inherit the whole world. Not just a physical land, but the whole world. But who inherits the whole world? The meek, remember? Remember when our Savior said the meek shall inherit the land of Canaan? No, the whole earth. What was that a fulfillment of? That was a spiritual promise to Abraham's spiritual descendants. So in the old covenant, irrespective of your faith, irrespective of your relationship with God in a spiritual level, you received physical blessings. You were physically circumcised. This is why Abraham didn't just circumcise his children. He circumcised his servants, irrespective of personal faith. They weren't worried about personal faith when they were giving signs. They were saying, are you in the national people of Israel? And so he gave it to all these people. But to inherit the spiritual blessings, you must have faith. Because you don't get to heaven without faith. You don't get to new heaven's earth without faith. So there's a physical blessing for all national Israel, but there's only spiritual blessings, remember that small circle, for true Israel. National Israel gets these physical blessings, true Israel gets both physical blessings and spiritual blessings. And this is why As a side note, if you know, this is a Reformed Baptist church. This is not a Reformed Presbyterian church. And that's intentional. Do you know my story? I came from a Reformed Presbyterian church as a Reformed Presbyterian. And through studying the covenants, I've come to realize that the only ones who should receive the sign of baptism are those who are in the new covenant those who are true Israel. And so this is practical for why this church is Reformed Baptist and not Reformed Presbyterian, because think about it. National Israel received the sign. True Israel also received the sign. But what is the church of the New Covenant? The church is not national Israel. the church is true Israel. And so there's this organic connection between true Israel and the church, because the church has always been true Israel. If there's no more national Israel, and the church, by definition, is true Israel, and what is true Israel? Believers, who should receive the signs of being a member of true Israel? Believers only. And so this is, so we don't come at it, I mean there's many ways to argue, but the ultimate reason why we don't do it isn't because there's no example in the New Testament scriptures. It's not ultimately because we don't see an example where there's an infant baptized. That's not our ultimate reason. It's not even regulative principle that we only do what God commands. That's not our ultimate reason. Our ultimate reason is because of covenant theology. That God has made covenant theology in such a way where it has this ultimate fulfillment in Abraham's true spiritual seed. And you only become Abraham's seed in the New Testament by being in Christ. And so, Abraham, again, had these two seeds. Had a fleshly seed and a spiritual seed. Two covenants. Two different promises. Two different realities. You didn't inherit spiritual promises by being part of national Israel. You only inherited spiritual promises by being of Abraham's faith. We'll talk about this more next week when I get into the new covenant, which I'm very excited to teach on. We have to see, if you don't see this dual reality, you'll have a lot of confusion in the New Testament. Because the New Testament really only picks up on Abraham's spiritual seed. Because Romans 11, the natural branches are cut off. And the Gentiles are grafted into this one branch. What is that one branch? It's Christ and his spiritual seed. So also, this is why we're not dispensational. Because the church has always been true Israel. The church has always been God's spiritual seed in Christ. There's one body of Christ. It's not one body here, one body here, completely different. What has the church always been? The church has always been true Israel. Even before Israel was a nation, you have true Israel. Enoch, we could say, was a member of true Israel. Adam was a member of true Israel. Noah was before national Israel, but he was a true Israelite. So this connection with the body of Christ extends even before and after national Israel. Because how do you become a member of Christ's church? If you are Christ. than your Abraham seed, how you get in Christ, not by fleshly relationship to another person. You get in Christ by faith, by the work of the Holy Spirit. And lastly, we see also in the Mosaic Covenant, or lastly on the Mosaic Covenant, we see the reality, which I said before, of the promise of the new covenant, and the new covenant, which is the blood of the covenant, the shed blood of Jesus Christ, we see that promise through the sacrificial system. Year after year, what were they doing? They were offering sacrifices. But we know that the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin. But it's only the blood of Christ that can take away sin. And sometimes people get confused about when I talk about the old covenant were covenants of promise, the new covenant is the fulfillment. They think, well, what do you mean promise and fulfillment? Well, the same way we think about the cross. Everyone thinks about the cross as promise and fulfillment. No one who knows the New Testament scripture says, yeah, those Old Testament sacrifices were the substance. No one says that. They say the substance was Christ. But those were only promises. And we're saying the same thing about the covenants. They weren't the substance of the covenant of grace. They weren't the new covenant in themselves, but they always pointed past themselves. They were shadows where the covenant of grace and the new covenant or the new covenant is the reality. Hopefully that's making sense in terms of the shadow and the reality. There's a picture and then there's the actual place. And if you confuse those, you're gonna have a lot of trouble understanding the New Testament. But if you see it as promise and fulfillment, you realize God did have two seats. God did have two promises, and I as a believer inherit the spiritual promises. Lastly, the Davidic Covenant, and for the sake of time, and I want to give you a chance to ask questions, and I might cover some of this next week as well. The Davidic Covenant was about God giving a king to reign over the people of Israel. And so in the Davidic Covenant, God promises a king for national Israel. David was one of those kings, Solomon, all those different things. But if we look to the New Testament, who ultimately is the king? Well, if you look at Luke 1, or just here at red, Luke 1, 29-33. But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying. And consider what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called son of the highest. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom there will be no end. This promise of a king had a temporary fulfillment and a greater fulfillment. Hopefully, that's a big thing that I want you to hear over and over again. In the old covenant, covenants of promise, there was temporal fulfillment and spiritual fulfillment, with the seed, temporal fulfillment, but also a spiritual fulfillment in Christ. With the land, there was a physical land in Canaan, but a spiritual reality in the new heaven and new earth. With the king in the Davidic covenant, there was a temporal fulfillment of a national king for a national people, but there was also a spiritual fulfillment in Christ as king of his people. And so that's where we see the physical and the spiritual in all these old covenants of promise. So we'll open it up. Does anybody have a question or two? Maybe something was unclear, something that I could unpack a little more? Go ahead, Doug. One of the things that happens to me about reading the Psalms is whether you read them in light of Abrahamic covenant, both the temporal and spiritual fulfillment. 122, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Who should pray for the peace of Jerusalem? What Jerusalem are we praying for? Psalm 144, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Does that actually refer to say, the United States today, where we're abandoning our foundations, or does it talk about South Korea, who has a higher percentage of their Christian population than we do, or China, who has more Christians than we do? Or is it strictly a spiritual fulfillment, or rather a national fulfillment, intended for the post-exilic community in Israel? What do you think about that? That's a great question. A Jew who knew about that very well was Peter. So in 1 Peter 2, verse 9, he says, to a Jew and Gentile church, you are a chosen generation. You are a royal priesthood. And then he says this, you are a holy nation. of people for God's own possession. So a Jew who knew the Old Testament very, very well, maybe had most of it memorized, said to a New Covenant community of Jews and Gentiles, you are that holy nation. And so I read that the fulfillment of the promises to Israel are in the New Covenant church. And so when Peter wants to talk about this holy nation, what does he have in mind? The church. And so I think when we see those texts in the Old Testament, because the Old Covenant's still going on, for them there was some still temporal fulfillment or temporal realities. But for us, if the church is that holy nation, then the nation we should be praying for is the New Covenant community, which is the church. And that's where God has all his stock and blessing in. And we see this too, where Paul, a Pharisee of Pharisees to a Jew and Gentile church. We, listen to the language, we, Jew and Gentile, are the circumcision. That almost sounds blasphemous if you don't understand what he's getting at. But he can say to Jews and Gentiles, we are the circumcision. So I think when we see those promises to Israel in the New Testament, we should say, well, those things are fulfilled in us. Because we're that holy nation. We are that circumcision. We are Abraham's seed. And therefore, those promises are for us. Are there any other questions? The old covenants, covenants of promise. What's the formal process for abrogating or rescinding a covenant? Some of these have been abrogated already, right? Yeah, well, I would say the new covenant is the fulfillment of all these covenants. And so I put the old covenant as the Abrahamic, the Mosaic, and the Davidic basically as one body. And that's, I think, what Galatians 4 does, where it says, to Abraham, which connects to Mount Sinai. So it puts these things together. So I would say all these things are fulfilled in the new covenant. And so all these things are abrogated, because once the greater comes, the lesser goes away. The example would be the sacrifices. Once the great sacrifice comes, the other sacrifices go away. And that's why in the book of Hebrews, the writer's saying, don't go back to the sacrifices, because you're denying the reality if you go back to the picture. And so they would be abrogated, because the better covenant with better promises has come. Yes? Can you go back to Canaan and explain Sure, sure, just in terms of the reality of it. Her question was, can you explain the land of Canaan a little bit more and the realities and where that puts us now? And I know we're coming on time, but these are good questions. So the land of Canaan, where are we now? How do we look at that? Well, God promised to Abraham and to his seed that physical land, the land of Canaan. And I try to show in Joshua where Joshua says, we've got that land. So the people of Israel did get that physical land. God promised it. God gave it. So if God fulfilled that, there's not anything more we should be looking for because we got that. Well, there is a land. But that land is the city whose builder and maker is God. So we are waiting for a land because God promised a physical land and a spiritual land. That spiritual land is the new heavens, new earth. But no, so there's going to be no more land for Israel because they already got that land. If Joshua didn't say that, then maybe we could say, well, maybe there's something more, but if they got that land, Joshua says that promise was fulfilled, that reality was accomplished, and so now we as Abraham's seed are not looking for physical land in the Middle East. We're looking for the spiritual land, which is physical, where we have resurrected bodies in the new heavens and the new earth. So that's why I'm getting at the temporal and the spiritual. There was a temporal fulfillment of that in Joshua through the people, but the spiritual fulfillment is the new heavens and the new earth. So there's a both and reality to it. It's a type, anti-type. It's a shadow and a reality. The shadow was the land of Canaan, the reality is the new heavens and new earth. Sam, just, I don't have a lot of time, but for the sake of interesting conversation, which is a good word, how do we think about the fact that that law still is for us? I know that's a long answer. Yeah. Yeah, I was just thinking. Yeah, sure. 20 seconds for that question. Well, to boil it all down, the law transcends the Mosaic Covenant. The Ten Commandments were written on Adam's heart. That's what Romans 2 is all about, the law that's written on the heart. And so we see very clearly that the Ten Commandments didn't come about at Sinai. Think of it this way. I said this last week. It was wrong to murder before God gave the Ten Commandments. Why do we see that? When Cain killed his brother Abel, the scriptures don't say, well, that's not that big of a deal. The Ten Commandments haven't come yet. No, if you read the account, you see that murder was wrong in that account. And so the Mosaic, or excuse me, the Ten Commandments transcend the Mosaic covenant, because they're written on our heart. And in the New Covenant, God promises to write His law in our heart, which would be the Ten Commandments. But the Ten Commandments aren't connected with the Mosaic Covenant. They're connected with God's moral law reflecting God's character. If you have any follow-up questions, I'll be up here after, more than happy to answer questions as long as I can before the service starts. Let me close our time in prayer. Father, we thank you for this time. We thank you for how gracious you are. And we thank you for the covenants of promise. May the people here, may they grasp these things, even just a little bit, in terms of the physical and spiritual nature of them. And may you be glorified in it all. In Jesus' name, amen.