The covenant is "I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God" (Exodus 6:7). The question is this: In light of the constant failures of the people to live up to their covenant promises to serve God, is the covenant conditional or unconditional? Will God say that it is conditional? ("Because you broke the covenant, I will cut you off, curse you, and abandon you forever.") Or will he say it is unconditional? ("Though you have rejected me, I will never wholly abandon you, but I will remain with you.") Which is it?....then Jesus comes, and as we see him crying "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" we realize the answer. Is the covenant between God and his people conditional or unconditional? Yes. Yes. Jesus came and fulfilled the conditions so God could love us unconditionally.Preaching, 72
The New Testament Lord's Day, is part of a greater issue of the law and gospel theology as taught by Luther, Calvin, the Puritans, and the great Reformed confessions, versus the new covenant theology of today.There Remains a Sabbath Rest for the People of God (iii)
When a servant has entered into covenant with his master, and the indentures are sealed, he cannot go back, he must serve out his time; so there are indentures drawn in baptism, and in the Lord's Supper the indentures are renewed and sealed on our part, that we will be faithful and constant in our obedience; therefore we must imitate Christ, who became obedient unto death.The Ten Commandments, 4
Circumcision was applied to the male procreative organ, the organ by means of which God's promise to Abraham would come into being. There was, then, a fitting connection between the sign of circumcision and the promise signified. Abraham bore in his own body a physical mark intended to direct him to the divine promise to bring into the world the Redeemer of sinners. In so putting faith in God's promise, represented in the sign of circumcision, Abraham had the truth of this promise confirmed to him. Circumcision was to Abraham, therefore, both sign and seal of the covenant promise to justify sinners by the work of Jesus Christ.The Lord\'s Supper as the Sign and Meal of the New Covenant (Short Studies in Biblical Theology) (p. 49).
'I shall write', He says, 'my Laws upon their hearts, and I shall forget their sins' (Jer. 31:33): these words do not at all depart from the former covenant, but rather declare that it will continue to be firm and valid, when the new has come upon it. This is exactly the intention of Christ's words, when he says that He has come to fulfil the Law. Truly he fulfilled the deadness of the letter by reviving it with His Spirit, and eventually displaying in actual fact, what had till then been indicated figuratively.
The new covenant consists of four elements: the law written on hearts, God's presence, knowledge of God, and forgiveness of sins.From the Finger of God, 203
'I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts' (31:33), does not go beyond the expectations of the Mosaic Law itself (Deut. 30:14). According to the Shema (Deut. 6:6), God always intended that the law be internalized in the hearts of his people.From the Finger of God, 203
God's covenants with people formalize an existing, elective relationship and in this way bring life-and-death issues to the fore. In these covenants, God sovereignly administers promises with corresponding obligations.
The Lord\'s Supper as the Sign and Meal of the New Covenant (Short Studies in Biblical Theology) (p. 31).