Judges: Chap 2: Unconditional and conditional covenants.

Title: Judges: Chap 2: Unconditional and conditional covenants.       

 

Announcements / opening prayer:

 

 

JDG 2:18 And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them.

 

Compassion/sympathy/pity: the power of putting oneself into another's place in such a manner as to feel what he feels; pain, suffering, joy, temptation, etc.

 

Israel eventually cried out to the Lord in anguish after years of oppression and the Lord was moved to compassion each time.

 

JDG 2:19 But it came about when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways.

 

The existence of the Judge, possessing the power that he had, was enough to restrain Israel, but when he died they seem to have concluded that God's judgment left with him.

 

Is it the law that stops the criminal or the police man who is present to enforce the law? The judge's divine power gives relief to Israel's pain and they repent of idol worship for a time. The presence of the judge, though not omnipresent but only the fact that he is living is enough to stay the hand of idolatry for a while, but as soon as he is dead it is almost as if they believe the chastening hand of God dies with him.

 

ISA 40:21

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

 

"stubborn" - qasheh = hard. Used of obstinacy and stiff-necked. Fallen man is willing to put up with a certain amount of pain when he is convinced his flesh will be eventually satisfied, which it never truly is.

 

As long as the rat smells the cheese he will run around in the maze.

 

Only God can break the stubborn will of man without breaking his spirit. The same sun softens the wax and hardens the clay. God is severe in His judgments and unfathomable in His mercy. Each person has seen and heard and it up to them to respond. Every parent and leader should remember God's discipline and mercy. God’s way of leadership in discipline and mercy and patience and grace and compassion and love.

 

JDG 2:20 So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He said, "Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened to My voice,

 

JDG 2:21 I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died,

 

JDG 2:22 in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it as their fathers did, or not."

 

We must understand the difference between an unconditional covenant and a conditional covenant and Israel had both as does the church.

 

An unconditional covenant depends solely on the faithfulness of God. It will be fulfilled no matter what man does.

 

The Abrahamic Covenant is unconditional. No matter how many generations in Israel are apostate, God will fulfill His promise to Abraham. This simple truth concerning God's power, His immutability, His veracity is shredded by the covenant theologians. God's faithfulness to the Abrahamic Covenant and its three extensions is God's faithfulness to His own name. He does so for His name's sake.

 

In the four unconditional covenants with Israel [Abrahmic, Davidic, Palestinian, New], the formula "I will" is found.

 

GEN 12:1 Now the Lord said to Abram,

"Go forth from your country,

And from your relatives

And from your father's house,

To the land which I will show you;

 

GEN 12:2 And I will make you a great nation,

And I will bless you,

And make your name great;

And so you shall be a blessing;

 

GEN 12:3 And I will bless those who bless you,

And the one who curses you I will curse.

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

 

In the same manner we find God's faithfulness to all mankind through the unlimited atonement and the fact that man cannot work for his salvation and so saved man can never lose his salvation, for God's love for the world and His work concerning atonement are unconditional.

 

However, Israel also had a conditional covenant with God.

 

A conditional covenant depends upon the good choices of the recipient. Failure concerning the conditional covenant means failure to enjoy the unconditional covenant.

 

The church's unconditional covenant is the new covenant in Christ's blood. This is what the cup of the communion table represents. Every believer in the church age is in Christ and that position can never be taken from him, no matter what he does or thinks. The believer's position in Christ does not increase or decrease. It is his forever. It is unconditional. However, every church age believer has been given a plan, which God terms predestination. In order to realize the fulfillment of this plan during his life, the believer must make good decisions by faith, being guided by the commands of the NT and faith in the filling of the Holy Spirit to empower, guide, and teach him. If the believer fails to walk in the plan of God, not by isolated sins, but by inward contempt for God's plan, he fails to enjoy his position in Christ during His lifetime. He has the vine but he has not fruit.

 

Again, I reiterate, it is not isolated sins that result in failure concerning God's conditional covenant, but inward contempt for the covenant in general. This is true in all dispensations, though the conditional covenants change.

 

Mosaic covenant [Law] - a conditional covenant in which the fulfillment depends upon the recipient. God gives obligations and it is up to Israel to fulfill them. It follows the formula: "If you will."

 

DEU 28:1 "Now it shall be, if you will diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

 

DEU 28:2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey the Lord your God."

 

DEU 28:15 "But it shall come about, if you will not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you."

 

The Law had many commands to follow and no man could do so perfectly.