Jesus established a national covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai after the exodus from Egypt. Although earlier covenants were made with individuals such as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, this was the first covenant made with a nation. Acting as mediator, Moses recorded the commandments, built an altar with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes, and sealed the covenant with sacrificial blood sprinkled on both the altar and the people. The Israelites pledged obedience and God accepted them as His covenant nation.

The First Covenant included two major components: atonement and the Promised Land. The atonement aspect pointed forward to the coming Redeemer. It began in Genesis with the promise of a future Seed who would crush Satan, continued through Job’s declaration of a living Redeemer and future resurrection, and was further illustrated through the Passover and the annual Day of Atonement. These sacrifices showed that forgiveness required shed blood, but they were limited because they only cleansed outwardly and required continual repetition.

The land component of the covenant was conditional. God promised Abraham’s descendants the land of Canaan, but warned that rebellion, idolatry, and disobedience would bring curses, disease, fear, dispersion, and exile. Israel repeatedly broke the covenant so that Jesus allowed the northern kingdom to fall to Assyria in 721 B.C., and the southern kingdom fell to Babylon in 587 B.C. Although King Cyrus of Persia later permitted the Jews in exile to return, only a small remnant returned to Judea. Israel never regained political sovereignty over the land, revealing that the land covenant had been permanently voided. Even the disciples misunderstood this fact when they asked Jesus if He would restore Israel’s kingdom, but He redirected them away from such expectations.

The First Covenant relied on priests entering an earthly tabernacle year after year with the blood of animals, which could never fully cleanse the conscience or open direct access to God. The people were not faithful, and the covenant itself was temporary and incomplete. By contrast, Jesus Christ, the true High Priest, offered His own sinless blood once for all, entering heaven itself to obtain eternal redemption. His sacrifice fulfilled and surpassed the old system.

Jesus promised that under the Second Covenant, His laws would be written on the hearts and minds of His people, and He would remember their sins no more. This new covenant was superior because it was founded on better promises, mediated by the Son of God, and activated by the God-man’s death to bring it into effect. The First Covenant was rendered obsolete because of Christ’s work on the cross and will never be revived again; any attempt to restore it is spiritual futility.

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Yours in Christ,

Pastor John S. Torell