Gods Plan of Salvation | Page 5

have already noted how the Jews in addition to the
foundation Covenant with Abraham were given a
Covenant with the Torah as its 'condition' Let us look
more into this Covenant.
After the Exodus from Egypt and the oppression by
Pharaoh, the people had passed through the Red Sea
(and let's note that Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 says “our
forefathers. were all baptised into Moses. in the sea “(vv1-
2)) God led them to Sinai. Here the Covenant (the 'Old
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Covenant' as, after the writer of Hebrews, we call it) was
enacted. This is a covenant proper with the involvement
of both parties, a binding together, animal sacrifice, and
terms and conditions.
Basically God is offering the people, the nation, a land in
which they may dwell, and, if they keep their side of the
bargain, where they may dwell in safety.
Then there is the promise they will be God's people if the
obey him Then there is the killing of an animal and,
significantly, God and Israel become pledged by the
sharing of the blood, part of it being sprinkled on the side
of the altar and part on the people with the words This is
the blood of the covenant the Lord has made with you
(Exod 24:8) Herein we see the formal, legal covenant
becomes more than that: it is the basis of a relationship.
The blood, the life of the victim has been used to cover
the two contracting parties. Each passing under the blood
becomes identified with it. Before, they were separate
entities; now they are one. So God is a blood-member of
Israel. Those last two sentences are key sentences. Let's
hold on to them.
There were conditions in the covenant to which the
people pledged themselves Exod 34:27-28 contains key
words here: Write down these words, for in accordance
with these words I have made a covenant with you and
with Israel. And he (Moses) wrote on the tablets these
words-The Ten Commandments
W hen two nations made a covenant the terms would have
been placed on stone tablets at their border; one stone
facing each way and each stone containing the terms and
conditions. W hen Moses came down Sinai with two stone
tablets, they didn't contain five commandments each!
W hen the Ark of Covenant had been built they were
placed there, one tablet facing out, to human view, the
other facing inward- for God's presence was between the
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seraphim on either side of the Ark. Let's hold on to that
too.
W e've already noted the terms and conditions of the
covenant. Like any other covenant, if either party broke it,
it would be terminated, only to be renewed if the injured
party chose to offer renewal. This covenant was an act of
God's choice. All was of God's choosing; he had made
them one people; only to their chosen leader did he reveal
his Name. So, basically, looked at from the point of view
of Israel, we may see the covenant as: If God does
something for us, we'll do something for God. So there
was no real antithesis between the legal requirements of
the covenant and the fact that it was an act of God's
grace. Thus it differed from the normal quid-pro-quo
nature of normal human covenant. The Law- the Torah
was as noted never going to be the way of salvation per
se. Rather the inevitable failure of the Jews to keep Torah
was to lead to Christ.
In the meantime God provided for the people a system of
sacrifices, and in these most importantly was 'Yom
Kippur'- the Day of Atonement.
Before we consider this let us remember that there were
sacrifices to be made by the Levitical priesthood for
personal sin. This is not the place to go into these.
But there was the matter of the collective responsibility,
and failure to keep Torah, which was given as a matter of
communal responsibility.
The act of atonement was the responsibility of the High
Priest, for he only could perform it, and he first had to
prepare himself before he would enter that part; that inner
part, of the Temple specially set apart; that part where
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God's presence dwelt. The writer of Hebrews reminds us
that “the first covenant had regulations for worship and
also an earthly sanctuary...the priests entered regularly
into the outer room to carry on their ministry. But only the
high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a
year, and never without blood which he offered for himself
and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance”
(Lev 9:1,6) And then the crowds would wait anxiously
outside, to see if the Priest would come out alive! The
requirements for the Day of Atonement were laid down in
Leviticus 16.