Introduction

     The Bible - Our word "Bible" comes from the Greek word biblion, referring to a roll of byblus or papyrus, the ancient form of paper upon which words were written.  In one sense, the Bible contains a lot of diversity.  It contains a total of sixty-six (66) different documents.  The first section, frequently called the “Old Testament,” contains thirty-nine (39) documents, associated with the patriarchal age (creation to Moses) and the Mosaic Age (From Moses to Jesus).  These books were written between 1446-400 B.C., primarily in the Hebrew language with a few portions in Aramaic.  The second section, the “New Testament,” contains twenty-seven (27) documents associated with the first coming of Jesus and the New Covenant that He established.  These writings were produced between 45-95 A.D. in Koine (or “common”) Greek.  The traditional view would recognize at least forty (40) different authors involved in the production of the Bible.  There are a number of different types of literature (genres) used in the Bible, including law, history, genealogies, poetry, wisdom, prophecy, riddles, drama, biographical sketches, parables, letters, sermons, apocalypse, etc. and each of these need to be recognized and read accordingly.

     The “Unity” of the Bible - For all of its diversity, the Bible also demonstrates an amazing unity.  Much in the Bible has “historical particularity” (applying directly to a certain historical setting), but it also has “eternal relevance” wherein many events, lessons, and principles apply well to all people in all cultures and times.

     Inspiration - This amazing “unity” and relevance is best explained as the result of writings that were “inspired,” gathered and arranged under the direction of an eternal, supernatural editor.  Because God guided the men who prophesied and recorded revelation (2Pet. 1:20-21), the collected writings were “God-breathed” (2Tim. 3:16-17).

     Typology – In working towards the appearance of this Savior, God painted some typological pictures of the future saving event, the death of His Son.  Abraham was told to take his “only son” on a 3-day journey to a certain hill near what would be Jerusalem and offer him there, with the son carrying the wood upon which he was to be offered and Abraham’s belief that his son would be restored to life (Genesis 22; Hebrews 11:17-19).  Later, Joshua and his men had to fight their personal battles in the valley, but God’s man (Moses) with his arms outstretched on a piece of wood between two others on a hill determined the final outcome (Exodus 17:8-13).

     Consistent Morality - There is an “ethical unity” as basic principles of “right/wrong” religious and social attitudes/behavior seem to carry through for people of faith.  The general character of “righteousness” seems to be quite consistent, although there are some adjustments in ceremonial matters under different covenants.  Those things identified as “sin” are not ancient problems, but they continue to be a part of human life in our time as well and produce the same turmoil in private lives, families, and communities.

The Bible’s Central Theme

     The Bible does have a central theme/plot/storyline that is unfolding through it and this is the major key to understanding the Bible.  The “core” of the Biblical story is the promise of a coming Savior (Messiah/Christ), fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.

     Promise in the Garden - In response to the initial human rebellion in Eden, God promised the eventual appearance of a Messianic champion.  Speaking to the Serpent, God said,

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel. "  [Genesis 3:15]

Thus, in Genesis 3:14-15, God tells the Serpent that the "seed of woman" (an individual male person - "he") was coming to deal him a fatal wound,[1] although this promised One would also be wounded in the encounter (the crucifixion).  Thus, the Bible is a story about "Someone" very special who is coming to deal with mankind's "sin" problem and separation from God.  The Old Testament is telling us that "Someone is Coming" and, to this end, we are provided with a genealogical “roadmap” that narrows down the lineage leading to this “coming one” - he would come through the first woman, Eve (Genesis 3:15,20) and then through her descendants,

            Seth and his line down to Noah (Genesis 4:25-26 & 5)

            through Noah's son, Shem (Genesis5:32; 9:26; 11:10-26)

            through Shem's descendant, Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3)

            through Abraham's son, Isaac (Genesis 26:1-4)

            through Isaac's son, Jacob (Genesis 28:10-14)

            through Jacob's son, Judah (Genesis 49:10; Ruth 4:17-22), and finally,

            through Judah's descendant, David (2 Samuel 7:12-16).

     The Promise & Covenant Between God and Abraham - Of major importance to understanding the whole Biblical story, the next step after the initial promise of a savior in the Garden (Genesis 3:15) was the narrowing of the Messianic lineage in the promise and covenant that God made with Abraham, around 2,000 B.C.

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; 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; 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.  (Genesis 12:1-3)

With this promise, the rest of the Biblical program is laid out in outline form.  This Messianic promise would unfold in two covenant segments.  First, Abraham’s physical descendants would become a nation in the land (Canaan) and this looked ahead to the Israelite nation living in Canaan under the Mosaic covenant.  God would later inform Abraham as to when and how this nation of his descendants would come to control Canaan (Genesis 15:13-16).  Secondly, God would provide an international (“all the families of the earth”) blessing though Abraham’s messianic descendant and this would be fulfilled in the Gospel age and New Covenant.  Later on, and looking back on it, the apostle Paul explained how the promise to Abraham was to be fulfilled by means of a two-stage program involving Israel’s temporary covenant which would be (and had now been) superseded by an international Church (Galatians 3-4; Ephesians 2:11 - 3:11; Revelation 7).  According to God’s intentions, the Cross (Christianity) was supposed to grow out of the soil of Old Testament Israel, which was preparing for it!

     It is this Messianic promise to the Patriarchal Fathers of Israel – that the promised Messiah would come through their lineage - that makes sense of why God continued to work with Israel, in spite of their perpetual covenant unfaithfulness.  This point is repeated often – God promised to bring the Messiah through the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and was keeping His promise to those patriarchs.[2]  That is why God continued to work through the disobedient nation of Israel until Jesus appeared.

     The genealogies in Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-37 summarize the two converging lines from different sons of David to the earthly parents of the promised savior, Jesus.  Early in John’s Gospel we are shown that Jews of Jesus’ time were awaiting this promised Messiah and the earliest disciples recognized Jesus as the One they had waited for,

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."  [John 1:45]

Along with the genealogical evidence, the prophet Daniel identified the time of the Messiah's appearance to Israel and that His visit would be followed by a destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple (Daniel 9:24-27), which occurred in 70 AD.  Micah foretold that He would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).  Many other things were foretold centuries before His appearance and found amazing fulfillment in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.  From Genesis 3:15, the central message of the Old Testament is that “Someone is coming.”

     With the four Gospels, we find that the promised “Someone' is here" and this is the most important thing that Jesus' followers recognized (John 1:45; Matthew 16:13-16; John 20:30-31) - “Jesus is the Christ,” the Messiah that was promised from the time of the first sin.  Salvation from sin and eternal life are found in Jesus alone (John 14:6; Acts 4:12), because He is God’s own provision and solution to the human sin problem.  The rest of the New Testament writings tell us about the establishment and first 40 years of the Lord’s church (Acts) and the New Testament letters (Romans - Revelation) provide useful information for all in view of the fact that the "Someone is returning" someday.

Understanding Essential Major Concepts

     Before we begin our journey, we need to pack some supplies and get some “map basics” down.

     God - Humans have devised many conceptualizations of what “God” might be like and you will find wide diversity in the world’s many religions.  However, the Bible claims to be giving us God’s own self-description and there are a number of elements that do not seem to be what humans would imagine.  A god that humans can easily imagine is probably one that human thinking has invented.  The Bible even tells us that human philosophy and logic does not arrive at an accurate conception of what the true God is like,

1Cor. 1:21/ For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

Accordingly, the Greek’s conceived of deity in terms of absolute power controlling all things, with predestination being a divinely-determined “fate” to which humans had very little or no input (this notion was adopted by Calvinism).  Most pagans saw different gods as limited to specific earthly territories, whimsical, often as sinful as the people who worshipped them, and associated with idolatry.  They viewed the “will of the gods” as a secret to be discovered by divination and sacrifice was a divination procedure to discover the will of the gods by examining the entrails of animals or “signs” in the events of nature (Ezekiel 21:21).  Male gods often were thought of as having female consorts.

     However, the Hebrews were associated with and the Bible portrays a unique single God - holy in His own character and behavior (Lev. 11:44) and trustworthy in keeping His promises (“God is faithful” - 1Cor. 1:9).  YHWH was a faithful covenant-maker/keeper (Dt. 7:9-10), thus His power is self-limited by His covenant promises and His choice to allow true creaturely free-will (why evil exists and continues for now).  Rather than “predestination of individuals,” YHWH laid before men “two paths” which they were responsible to chose between (Dt. 30:15-20).  As Creator of the universe, His presence, power, and awareness extends to all physical locations (2Chr. 16:9; Heb. 4:12-13).  He had no female consort, but only “madam wisdom” was poetically said to be with Him in creation (Pro. 8:11,22-30).  YHWH was willing to forgive perversity, rebellion, and failure in those who trusted Him, repented of sin, and sought to be obedient to the covenant in force (Ex. 34:6-7).  His authority and wrath toward rebels is present, but love and mercy is how He prefers to relate to humanity (Dt. 6:4-5; 10:12-13; Mic. 6:6-8).  Sacrifice provided blood for atonement, to cover human sin (Lev. 17:11).

     God longs to be merciful (Ps. 86:15; 145:8) and does not enjoy punishing anyone (Eze. 18:32; 1Tim. 2:3-4; 2Pet. 3:9).  YHWH was faithful in working with Israel to fulfill His promise to send a Messiah of a particular lineage because of His promise to three men - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Gen. 12:1-3; 26:1-4; 28:10-14; Dt. 9:5; 2Kgs. 13:23).  He forbade the use of divination (Dt. 18:9-12) by His covenant people, because His will was clearly revealed to His covenant people (Dt. 29:29; Eph. 1:9).  While much of God’s character is described in the Old Testament writings, the Gospels show us the personality and character of Jesus, the incarnation of the invisible great Spirit (Jn. 4:23-24), and we are told that Jesus presents to us an “exact representation” of God’s nature (Heb. 1:3).

     Sin - The issue of “sin” is where the human spiritual problem began!  The Bible tells us that God created a “very good” universe (Gen. 1:31), but living creatures were granted a measure of moral free-will.  It was through the free-will moral decisions of created beings that rebellion entered into the universe and continues.  It was this “sin/moral rebellion” that produced the initial separation between God and humanity (Genesis 3; Isaiah 59:2) and created the need for the salvation/redemption system that is at the heart of the Biblical story. 

     So, what is “sin”?  “Sin” is not whatever other people or religious organizations choose to identify as “bad,” but what God identifies in revelation as against His will and moral order.  There were three different terms used in Exodus 34:7 (NAS) for “sin” that required forgiveness and that God was willing to forgive - “iniquity (awon - deviation, twist, pervert), transgression (pasha - rejection of authority/rebellion), and sin (chata - to miss the mark, fall short).”  Thus, God says He is willing to forgive perversion, rebellion, and missing the mark in those who repent and seek it.  That is very good news, because all of us have done one or more of these three types of sin (2Chr. 6:36; Rom. 3:23).  How can we know what particular things are “sin” that we are responsible for?  The Bible gives us some helpful information in this area.

     Sinful behavior, because of the destructive attitudes and nature of the actions, damages individuals and corporate humanity, even when much of it had not yet been identified by God as “sin” (Rom. 5:12-14) - hatred, greed, self-centeredness were still at work.  Humans become accountable for sin (guilty) before God’s judgment only after it has been identified as “sin” in revelation (Luke 12:47-48; Romans 4:15; 7:7).  Whereas Israel was accountable for what was spelled out in the Mosaic Law, God “overlooked” some of the sin of those outside of Israel (Acts 14:16-17; 17:30; Rom. 3:25).  However, following the first coming of Jesus, all of humanity has now become accountable (Acts 17:30-31).

     A lot of specific sins were identified in the Mosaic Law (Ex. 20:1 - Deuteronomy; cf. 20:20; Rom. 3:20; 7:7) and the Mosaic Law continues to identify sin (1Tim. 1:8-11).  “Sin” can be committed in several specific ways:

     (1) “Sin is lawlessness” (1John 3:4) and “doing unrighteousness” (1John 5:17) - disobeying God’s law and failing to obey His instructions.  Perhaps the most common understanding of sin is “doing something wrong” - sins of “commission.”

     (2) Sin is also failing to do the good/right things that we know we should (James 4:17) - sins of “omission.”

     (3) Beyond revealed information about what is “sin” for all of humanity, each individual can “sin” in their own personal ways by violating their conscience (Romans 4:5,14-15,20-23).  This would involve things that are not specified as “sin” for all, but become “sinful” when our personal conscience categorizes them as such (1Cor. 8) and we violate our own conscience.

     Also be sure to note that each of us tends to be tempted in the areas of life where we have desires, lusts, and/or curiosity (James 1:14), thus individuals struggle with different areas of moral temptation and, if they surrender, different areas of sin/crime.  Sin is also “deceitful” (Hebrews 3:13), meaning that it deceives and lies to us during the temptation process, suggesting things like Eve heard in Genesis 3:1-6 (denial of moral boundaries and resulting punishment, suggesting heightened development and even Godhood for rejecting moral boundaries).  We also think such things as “it won’t happen to me / I won’t get caught / just once won’t hurt / I will be able to quit whenever I want” and so on.  The Tempter also employs our family and/or friends, already deceived, to encourage us to join them (as Eve did to Adam) in sinful behaviors.

     “Unforgivable sin” - Like much in the New Testament writings, this idea also has Old Testament “roots.”  In Numbers 15:30-31 and Deuteronomy 29:17-21 we are told how God will regard those who respond to His laws and instructions with a defiant, despising, arrogant, and stubborn heart.  While Jesus said that “all sins and blasphemies” were forgivable, He also noted that there is a type of sin that is “unforgivable” (Mark 3:22-30) and He specifically associated this with the Jewish leaders’ rejection of the Holy Spirit’s testimony pointing to Him as the promised Messiah, because they were expressing such an attitude.  Since Jesus was the long-promised Messiah sent to deal with our spiritual enemy and sin problem, rejecting the only divinely-provided answer to our sin problem would (logically) put one into a condition where forgiveness is impossible.

     The Role of Grace & Faith - “Grace” refers to the “undeserved/un-earned” nature of God’s saving provision for humanity - all have sinned (2Chr. 6:36; Rom. 3:23) and none “deserve” salvation/pardon as though it were “wages” paid to those “good enough” to have “earned it” by their deeds.  From the Garden, all humans have rebelled in various ways and are guilty of sin.  Thus, anything God does for our good originates in His merciful kindness, not our own “worthiness” - thus, God has always worked with humanity on the basis of “grace” - His undeserved kindness.  “Faith,” on the other hand, is a reasoned conclusion (an assured conviction) originating in human thinking about God’s existence and the value of seeking Him (Heb. 11:1,6), trusting God’s ability and dependability in doing what He promises to do (Rom. 4:19-22; Col. 2:12).

     One of the things that escapes many modern readers of the Bible is a proper understanding of the means by which people before the first coming of Christ were supposed to relate to God.  The 16^th century Reformation placed so much emphasis on salvation “by grace” and “by faith,” as opposed to “law” or “works” that several wrong ideas have developed.  One of these mistaken ideas is rooted in Greek determinism and asserts that God’s sovereignty requires that He be the only active party in the salvation program, thus rejecting any idea of human response or obedience being required.  Another popular notion is that “works/law” were a full-blown salvation system that God provided for granting eternal life to anyone who kept the Mosaic Law perfectly.  This view holds that when it turned out that humans were not able to “be perfect in their behavior,” then God scrapped the “Law/works” salvation system and replaced it with “plan B,” which involved Christ coming to die for sin and offer a new “grace/faith” based system of salvation in its place.  However, the “injured Messiah” to come was noted right after the first sin (Gen. 3:15) and the idea of justification and righteousness “by faith” showed up long before the time of the New Covenant.  Both of these ideas were presented as the model for true righteousness long before the Law of Moses was even given at Mt. Sinai! 

     From the earliest pages of Genesis, we see characters like Enoch (Genesis 5:22-24) and Noah (Genesis 6:8-9) who are known as righteous and blameless men who “walked with God.”  This is not “righteousness by law/works,” but the picture of an ongoing “faith” relationship.  When we encounter Abraham, we again see a mixture of divine promise (Genesis 12:1-3), human submission and obedience (Genesis 12:4; 22), promise and covenant-making (Genesis 15), and one item that stands out as characteristic of the whole relationship,

Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6).

Being in a right relationship with God and “righteous by faith” are not concepts that begin with the apostle Paul, but have clear roots stretching back into the early chapters of Genesis.  The principle of relating to God on the basis of “faith” (in His existence and goodness) is stated in Habakkuk 2:4 and the Hebrews’ writer summarized this as how all of the OT faithful related to God,

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. . . . . And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, (Hebrews 11:6,39)

It was no more proper to divide mental conviction from the actions called for by that conviction in the ancient world than it is today, as is attempted by those who assert “grace only” or “faith only” as their view of salvation doctrine.  This is shown by the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) and its joining of the intellectual facts (“Hear - the Lord is One”) with the proper response (“You shall Love God” with all of your being).  Israel was told what God wanted from them (Deuteronomy 10:12-13; Micah 6:8).  While Abraham’s inward conviction that God would provide the promised descendants was “reckoned to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6), it was the actions called for by faith that brought forth a similar comment on Phinehas (Psalm 106:30-31; cf. Numbers 25).  Abraham was commanded to circumcise his sons and male servants as a “sign” of the covenant, but this was NOT some kind of optional “outward expression of an inward grace,” for the outward element was required (Genesis 17:14).  Those living under the Mosaic Law were called to obey an extensive law system and disobedience required sacrifice and could even lead to excommunication from the society or death.  The New Testament writers repeatedly warned against empty verbalizations of faith that are not supported by actions submitted to God’s will.[3]

     The particular covenant/dispensation in force at a particular time does not change the nature of the basic relationship, only the specific types of actions that are to be performed on the basis of faith in God’s existence and goodness.  Animal sacrifices, circumcision, baptism, etc. each have their own particular meaning, but each is a matter of faithful submission to the God who calls us to himself, according to the covenant in force.  Under the Mosaic system, the faithful were called to obey a law system designed and intended to regulate the life of “national Judaism” Canaan as they awaited the promised Messiah.  The Law was not a natural enemy of “faith,” for Paul said that the Mosaic Law was a holy, righteous, good, and spiritual (Romans 7:12,14) guide for Israel's national life.  However, it was never intended to replace or nullify the earlier international promise of salvation to be provided through the coming Savior (Genesis 3:15; 12:3).  Several times, Paul explains the Jewish misunderstanding of the place of the Mosaic Law.[4]  The concept of “salvation by works” was just as erroneous while the Mosaic Law was in force as it was after the New Covenant had been put in place.  The real problem was not with the Law itself, but with approaching the Law as its own end, rather than an element that belonged under a larger faithful dependence upon the God who gave it.  When Jesus was asked what the “greatest commandment” of the Law was (Matthew 22:35-40), He pointed out that the whole Mosaic system was designed to “hang/swing” on two basic “hinge” principles - love for God (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) and love for other people (Leviticus 19:18; cf. Romans 13:8-10).  While much of Judaism mistakenly came to see the Law as being based in “works” (Romans 9:30-32), Jesus said that it was really supposed to be based on love!

     When Paul said “the Law is not of faith” (Galatians 3:12), he was speaking to this erroneous attitude, for a person could obey and live under the Mosaic Law (or any "law" system) without any concern for the God who gave it.  The same attitude is present in those who go through religious rituals of any kind just for the outward show of doing it or loyalty to the earthly religious institution, but have little or no heartfelt trust in the God who commands certain actions to be performed.  Outward rituals carry only as much meaning as God ordains them to have and those submitting to the action bring with them.  Sincerely following traditions of mere human invention may be worthless because no divine promises are attached to those actions and God is not obligated to honor our mistaken notions/substitutions.  On the other hand, it may be equally worthless to ritualistically observe divinely-commanded things without sincerity, faith, and love towards the God who commanded them.

Eras & Covenants

     It is obvious that things function differently at different point in Biblical history.  The key to understanding this is to distinguish the overall plot and covenant eras in God’s program.  The central theme of the Biblical story is the promise of redemption through a promised Messiah (Gen. 3:15) - “Somebody is Coming.”  The other essential verse for understanding the Biblical story is God’s promise to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3), for here God promised Abraham personal blessing and protection, that his descendants would become a nation in Canaan (Israel under the Mosaic Covenant), and finally, that through his Messianic Seed a blessing would be offered to the whole world (salvation by Grace through Jesus and the New Covenant).

     Eras of world history - From God’s standpoint and the principle stated in Hebrews 7:12 (that the priesthood changes in connection with major law/covenant changes), the Biblical story seems to coincide with three eras of world history that Jewish scholars of Jesus’ time also understood:

     1. Primitive (from Creation to the Law)

     2. Under the Law (Under the Mosaic Covenant)

     3. Under the Messiah[5]

This view coincides with the writer’s view that Biblical history falls into three major eras and these can be discerned according to the law and priesthood that are in force.  Thus, the Patriarchal age stretched from creation to the giving of the Law at Sinai, with a simple law system (Genesis 9) and the patriarchal heads of the major clans receiving revelation and leading worship for their clan (Genesis 8:20; 12:7; Job 1:5).  Then came the Mosaic age, which lasted from the giving of the Law at Sinai until Jesus’ first coming.  During that era the Mosaic Law and covenant were given to and accepted by Israel at Mt. Sinai, with the men of Aaron’s family designated as priests during that era.  With Jesus’ first coming, the Messianic age began and the Law of Christ (Galatians 6:2) went into effect, with Jesus holding a high priesthood similar to Melchizedek (Hebrews 6-8) and Christians functioning as a priesthood under Him (1Peter 2:5,9-10; Revelation 1:6; 5:9,10; 20:4-6).

     Covenant - The Bible tells us that the God it describes is a covenant-making/keeping deity,

"Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments;  (Deuteronomy 7:9)

A covenant (OT = berith; NT = diatheke) is a solemn, blood-sealed agreement that establishes and regulates a formal, binding relationship between clearly-defined parties, sworn by an oath, with ongoing terms/duties, and blessings/curses are attached to keeping/violating its terms.  A covenant could be between individuals as well as between an authority figure and a larger group.

     Covenant "formulary" refers to the essential elements by which any covenant can be identified and its basic nature understood.  Here we are concerned with such things as identifying "who" is involved in a covenant, what ongoing duties are required of covenant members, the benefits or penalties associated with the covenant, and the means by which one enters into a covenant relationship.

     First, the parties are those formally involved in the Covenant.  As such, they are both clearly named in the covenant document and there should be no question as to who is/is not involved in the arrangement: the covenant between God and Abraham (Genesis 17:1-10), God and Israel (Exodus 34:27-28), and the New Covenant through Jesus (John 3:16; Romans 10:11-12; Galatians 3:26-28).  Marriage licenses and business contracts demonstrate this feature by naming all the involved parties and what their relationship to the agreement is.

     Second, while often defined above under the title "stipulations," the terms are the ongoing duties or responsibilities of the covenant that are to be faithfully completed by the vassal or inferior party.  Such "terms" are usually identified in Scripture by use of words such as "perform/ do/ keep/ obey.”

     Third, there are promises/curses, which are the rewards for keeping the covenant[6] and the penalties for violating or abandoning it.[7]  An excellent example of these is recorded in Deuteronomy 28, with Israel promised specific blessings for obedience (vv. 1-14) and the loss of these and, ultimately, also loss of the Promised land itself for disobedience (vv. 15-68).

     Finally, we come to the oath-swearing.  No matter what the content of the arrangement, it did not become "active, binding, or in force" until both parties swore the oath.  This was the "signing on the dotted line" by which the vassal was bound to the contract and put in line for the blessings or curses, depending on his performance of the terms.  Ordinarily, the solemn nature of the covenant was emphasized by the method of sealing it - an animal was sacrificed, split in two, and both parties walked through the blood.  When you contacted this “covenant blood” you entered into the covenant relationship.  The "walking between the halves" (Genesis 15:9-10,17-18; Exodus 24:1-8) was the ancient form of oath-swearing.  The "blood of the covenant”[8] sealed the covenant.  The split animal also represented a "self-curse" in that it pictured what should happen to you if you didn't keep the covenant (cf. Joshua 2:14,19; Hebrews 6:4-8; 10:26-31; 2Peter 2:20f).  As the Babylonian exile approached, Jeremiah referred to this “walking between the halves” as the reason Israel deserved the "oath-curse" (Jeremiah 34:18-20) for abandoning the Sinaitic covenant.  This was also what Jesus was referring to when he spoke of an unfaithful servant being "cut in two" (Matthew 24:51).  The “covenant pledge” for New Covenant people is made in our submission to water baptism (1Peter 3:21, eperotema).

Salvation for people Before and After Jesus’ Sacrificial Death

     In the section above called “The Role of Grace & Faith,” I noted that “faith” as an assured conviction concerning God’s existence and kindness towards seekers (Hebrews 11:1,6) was not a New Testament innovation, but the model for the righteous before the Cross as well as afterwards.  People were never “saved” by Mosaic law-keeping itself (more on this later), although faith-motivated obedience to the Law was required of those who lived under that covenant just as faith-motivated obedience to Apostolic teaching is required of those living under the New covenant.  But how were people “forgiven of sin” prior to and after the Cross?

     You will read in the book of Leviticus how Israelites living under the Law who offered certain animal sacrifices were “forgiven” (Lev. 4:20,26,31,35; 5:10,13,16,18; 6:7; 19:22) and you will read in the New Testament that Christian water baptism is closely tied to “forgiveness of sin” (Acts 2:38; 22:16) and being saved (1Peter 3:21).  Hebrews 10:1-4 declares that animal blood cannot take away sins and 1Peter 3:21 tells us that baptism does not save by washing dirt off of our body.  However, unless God is the “author of confusion” (1Cor. 14:33 -which He is NOT), then there is some sense in which these outward ceremonial things are closely associated with the forgiveness of sin offered through faith in Christ’s shed blood.

     We also know that the central Biblical truth about forgiveness and salvation is that, from the beginning, God associated spiritual rescue with the Messiah that was promised to come.  On the night He was betrayed, Jesus stated that His blood (to be shed the next day) was covenant-initiating blood and also atonement/forgiveness blood (Matthew 26:28).  It is commonly believed (and correctly so) that Christ’s death provided forgiveness for those who lived in His time and afterwards, but Galatians 4:4-5 and Hebrews 9:15 teach that Jesus’ death also provided the actual forgiveness for those who lived prior to that time under the Mosaic Law.  Now the picture becomes clearer.  Jesus’ death is the death and the blood that provides the real atonement for all human sin (Hebrews 10:10,12,14).  But how do individuals living under different covenants appropriate the atoning blood of Christ?  It is by obedient faith to God and the divinely-given covenant in force.  Levitical “forgiveness” sacrifices before Christ and Christian water baptism under the New Covenant are the divinely-appointed “meeting places” where obedient faith meets God’s promise of forgiveness through the Messiah.  Those animal deaths were not meaningless, for they provided the divinely-appointed time/place where believers could tangibly understand that their sin was forgiven, with the sacrificial animal’s blood providing a mystical link to the future shedding of Christ’s blood.  Neither animal sacrifice nor water baptism are “magical acts” that grant spiritual blessing in and of themselves, but if God makes these the tangible “meeting places" where Christ’s blood is applied to the submissive believers, then they become the objective time/place for human understanding of when/where the forgiving blood of Christ is applied.  This may sound like “sacramental” thinking, but I find it the best way to handle several lines of Biblical information.  In essence, you could view the Cross as a giant shade tree, blessing people on either side, although those on either side connect to it in faith through two different covenants.