The six covenants that we discussed in the last post – Covenants of dominion, grace, blessing, identity, sovereignty, and intimacy. All of these are realised in Christ.
Christ was the second Adam that followed the first. Where he failed, Christ triumphed. God had delivered the dominion of this world over to humanity. To be the one who would restore this broken world, Jehovah would come as a person. As a human he would have the covenant right to rule this world, and the authority to set things right. The rest of humanity had the dominion, but they were dominated by evil to the extent that . . .
. . . the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
1 John 5:15
It was like in the movies where the bad guys knock out someone with fingerprint access to a secure area. They carry the limp body over to the fingerprint access control scanner and press the victim’s finger onto the plate. The door opens and they have access on the basis of another’s authority. The point is that we have dominion, but with them pulling our strings, the world was under their control. Jesus came with that covenant dominion, but the evil one found no wounds, no chains, no buttons to push and no strings to pull. Jesus said:
. . . the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.
John 14:30
And so he came with Adam and Eve’s dominion to rule, and took back that which was in the hands of the Evil One. In so doing, Christ ultimately fulfilled this covenant of dominion.
Moving on to the covenant of grace given to humanity at the time of Noah. The wording of this promise is that God will see the rainbow and remember to hold back his judgement. This rainbow, the blood on the doorposts at the Passover, and Jesus’s blood applied to the heavenly mercy seat all operate the same way. There is something that God can see and on viewing that, grace is remembered and applied. And so with his death on the cross, Christ ultimately fulfils this covenant of grace also.
The covenant of blessing given to Abraham flows on to his son and then his grandson and their families. Eventually, Abraham’s covenant blessings apply to the whole nation of Israel. However, it is only in Christ that it reaches to every nation and people on Earth. Through Abraham all the families of the earth will be blessed, but it was only through Jesus and his reconciling work between Jews and Gentiles, that this was possible. Again, Christ ultimately and completely fulfils the covenant of blessing.
As we continue to the covenant given to Moses and the nation of Israel, it is easy to see that Christ’s coming established a far superior basis for God to say, “I will be their God and they will be my people”. In Christ we have our identity and through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, we appreciate and love the culture that God would have us embrace. So in dying for us and pouring out his Spirit to us, Christ ultimately fulfils the covenant of identity and culture.
Jesus is the King that will eternally sit upon the throne of David. He will reign for ever and ever. Christ has and will ultimately fulfil the covenant of sovereignty. And he will fulfil that in us as well.
Last of all there is the New Covenant. By the Spirit that he pours out we can know the Father. As his Spirit instructs our hearts and writes his law there, we no longer need another to teach us. How could we have this intimacy where God will say, “They will all know me”, unless our sin and brokenness had been dealt with at the cross by Jesus. Christ is the ultimate fulfilment of this covenant of intimacy.
Christ fulfilled and will fulfil all of these covenants.
Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He [Jesus] explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
Luke 24:27
In fact all of scripture points to him and is fulfilled in him.
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