Some churches today seem confused
over the how to understand the different covenants in scripture. Some of the Sabbath
keeping churches teach that the Sabbath is the seal of God for today. If the Sabbath is
not the seal of the New Covenant, what is?
Each major Covenant God made with
mankind had it's own sign or seal. The sign or seal may carry over and be incorporated
into the next Covenant but it does not function as the sign or seal. Don't be confused on
your Covenants. Don't return to the Old Covenant. Don't preach the Old Covenant. We live
under the New Covenant with a new, better seal than the Old Covenant, the Holy Spirit. God
living in us!
The Covenant with Noah:
"I now establish my covenant
with you and with your descendants after you... Never again will all life be cut off by
the waters of a flood... I have set my rainbow in the clouds and it will be the sign of
the covenant between me and the earth... I will see it and remember the everlasting
covenant between God all living creatures of every kind on the earth." (Gen 9:9-16)
The Covenant with Abraham:
"This is my covenant with you
and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall
be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant
between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old
must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a
foreigner--those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with
your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting
covenant." (Gen 17:10-13)
The Covenant with Moses and Israel:
"Also I gave them my Sabbaths
as a sign between us, so they would know that I the LORD made them holy. . . . Keep my
Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the LORD
your God." (Ezek 20:12,20)
The New Covenant:
"And you also were included in
Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed,
you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit
guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to
the praise of his glory." (Eph 1:13-14)
The New Covenant has the Holy Spirit
as our seal and guarantee of our salvation in Christ, not the Sabbath. This is in perfect
harmony with John's Book of Revelation. "Then I saw another angel coming up from the
east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels
who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: "Do not harm the land or the
sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God."
(Rev 7:2-3)
In the Revelation there are two
groups of people, those who have the seal of God (His Holy Spirit) and are saved and those
who do not receive His Seal and so they receive the Mark of the Beast instead. Because of
that judgement falls upon them. "A third angel followed them and said in a loud
voice: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the
forehead or on the hand, {10} he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has
been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning
sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb." (Rev 14:9-10)
A perfect example of a seal or sign
from one covenant ceasing to play a roll in the next covenant is circumcision. God
establishes the sign or seal of circumcision with Abraham and it is so important that when
Moses forgot to circumcise his son God was going to kill him for it!
"At a lodging place on the way,
the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her
son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it. "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood
to me," she said. So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said "bridegroom
of blood," referring to circumcision.)" (Ex 4:24-26)
Yet in the New Covenant,
circumcision means nothing at all and plays no roll in our eternal standing with God.
"Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new
creation." (Gal 6:15)
The Sign or Seal of a Covenant is
very important and plays a significant roll in that Covenant. We have to let God freely
establish His signs and seals for the covenant and we have to faithfully represent what He
says in his Word and not confuse the Covenants.
