Preparation for Jesus
God's covenant with Abraham demonstrated the promise of God. He declared his commitment to the Israelites by walking the bloodpath to make a covenant with Abraham and his descendants.
The table of the Ten Commandments sealed the relationship between the people and their God. And through the tabernacle, ark of the covenant, and temple, God's people also experienced the presence of God.
Although these commitments beautifully demonstrated God's love, the Israelites anticipated an even greater event: the birth of God's own Son. The person of Jesus would fulfill everything that had come before by making God's relationship and presence a concrete reality. In Jesus, God would rededicate himself to the covenant relationship he made with Abraham.
God fulfilled the promise he made with the Hebrews by giving his own life to seal the covenant he had made with them. For this reason, Jesus says, Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them? (Matt. 5:17).
God's choice of the covenant to describe his relationship with his people highlights the degree of his love for us. Not only did the great Creator descend to be in relationship with sinful human beings, he offered his life to provide salvation for the very people who would violate his covenant!
