“God tried a covenant with Man already, it’s called the Old Covenant, and we all know how that worked out.” – Brook Potter.
There are three types of covenants recorded in the Bible, they are Grant, Treaty and Vassal covenants. We see each of them recorded throughout the Bible between God, nations and people. The first, and best covenant is called the Grant Covenant, where a superior party promises to do something for an inferior party, without any obligation on the part of the lesser party. The covenants God made with Noah (Genesis 9:8 – 17), Abraham (Genesis 15:18), and David (2 Samuel 7; 23:5) fit this pattern. In each of these cases, it is God alone who binds Himself by a solemn oath to keep the covenant.
Secondly, is what is called a Treaty Covenant, or is considered a covenant of equals, where both parties have a responsibility to the other to do their own part in the agreement. This is what is laid out in the Book of Deuteronomy between God and the Nation of Israel. It is the criteria for blessings and cursing and it binds both parties. This is the Covenant laid out in the book of Deuteronomy.
Lastly, there is what’s called a Vassal covenant, which is made between a greater power and the much weaker, usually defeated, power. This is a framework of rules and behavior to be deemed acceptable by the greater power. It would normally include defensive pacts and consequences for breaking the covenant from the greater power. After Moses died, Joshua made this covenant with the people (Joshua 24:25-26).
This will help us to understand the Ministry of Jesus Christ in a better light. Jesus Christ, came as the one true Israelite, and inserted himself into the Covenant of Israel, on their behalf. Jesus Christ Fulfilled the Treaty and Vassal aspects of the Old Covenant on behalf of the Jewish people, satisfying the demands completely, to then establish the New Covenant.
Hebrews 6:17-18 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things (God the Father and God the Son), in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
The complete satisfaction of the Old Covenant was completed between God the Father and God the Son and now, the New Covenant has also been established between God the Father and God the Son. All of the recipients of the blessing are in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20). Humanity was included in Jesus Christ as the vicarious man, who represents all as the Last Adam. Because of Jesus, God relates to humanity by way of a Grant Covenant, where there is no obligation on the part of the recipient. We see it recorded in the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews 8:10-12 For this is the covenant that I WILL make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I WILL put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I WILL be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I WILL be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
On the reading of this covenant, you will notice, there is nothing required of the people. Everything in the New Covenant is a Grant, which God has bound Himself to perform. There are no demands upon us, for all the demands of the Old Covenant have already been satisfied by the obedience of Jesus Christ on behalf of all humanity. Which is great news, because if we did nothing to establish this covenant, that means there is nothing we can do to mess it up or disqualify ourselves from it’s benefits. Our Good deeds do nothing to add to it, just as our bad deeds do nothing to detract from it.
The only thing left to do is accept our inclusion into Jesus, and the blessings He receives of the Father by way of the Grant Covenant, or reject it by faith.
John Crowder talking about, Christ and Adam.