In this Episode, we shall continue to enlighten ourselves on the differences between the
Old and the New Covenants. Our topic for today is God’s Unfolding Plan.
Recall that in the last Episode we established that the Old Testament chronicles the
history of a people and predicts the coming of the messaiah while; the New Testament
focuses on a Person and reveals the predicted messaiah. We also saw that the Old
Covenant tried to control the actions of man from the outside-mechanically, while the
New Covenant changes man from the inside-supernaturally.
Today, we shall consider the question what is the purpose of the Old Covenant Law?
Under the Old Covenant, God provided for the covering of the sins of the Israelites. So
on the Day of Atonement which happened once a year, the High Priest was allowed to
enter the Holy of Holies-this was the sacred part of the Tabernacle where the Ark of the
Lord was kept and therefore held the presence of God. Only the High Priest was
allowed to enter the Holy of Holies. He went to burn incense and sprinkle the blood of a
sacrificial lamb on the Ark of God. By doing this, the High Priest atoned for his own sins
and the sins of the people. This sacrifice would cover all the sins of the people for the
next one year. So whatever sin they would commit in the coming year was atoned for.
Obviously the sacrifice of sheep and bulls could not completely absolve the people from
all their sins. Hebrews 10:1 states-
“The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming — not the realities
themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated
endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 If it
could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would
have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their
sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4 because it is
impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Hebrews 10:1:4
According to verse 2 above, if the blood of animals was good enough, the people would
not need to be making the sacrifice continuously, year after year. The people would
have stopped feeling guilty and condemned for their sins. But they continued the annual
rituals because the blood of animals was not enough.
Our discussion throws up an important question. Since the people repeatedly disobeyed
the law, and the blood of bulls and goats could only cover their sins for a brief period,
why then did God introduce the Old Covenant?
Recall that during the times of the Old Testament, the spirit of man was completely
alienated from God. God could not commune with the people spiritually the way He
communes with us today. He could only relate to them through the mind. They did not
have the ability to desire to obey God because they were spiritually dead. So He had to
devise a way to compel them to keep a semblance of order until He perfected His plan
of salvation and gave man a new heart. Do you get this. The people of the Old
Testament were not saved by Jesus Christ. They were not Christians. Their spirits were

dead. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve, they were alienated from God and had no
contact with God in their spirit. Its very important that we understand it so we can
appreciate our special relationship with God.
God introduced the Old Covenant as a way of keeping the people in check before the
plan of redemption could be perfected. God was trying to subdue them before the
coming of Jesus Christ, just the way you lock children in a room to keep them quiet.
God knows all things. He knew at the time He gave the Old Covenant to Moses that the
Israelites could not keep it. It’s just like telling a 3 year old not to get up when you leave
the room. You know he would get up as soon as you leave the room. God knew it was
impossible to change man’s conduct without changing the heart of man.
He gave the law knowing that it was impossible to keep, especially as He demanded
that the Law was to be kept 100%. He went as far as saying that anyone who did not
continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law was cursed (Deuteronomy
28:58). The Israelites were required to keep every word of the covenant to the letter.
Punishment for failing to keep one was as stringent as punishment for failing to keep all.
If you fail in one, you fail in all.
No human being has ever kept the Law of Moses and no one can keep it. God gave the
Law to make it clear that righteousness cannot be achieved by keeping a set of rules;
so that we would realise that we need help; that we need a mediator; so that we could
see that we are hopeless apart from the grace of God expressed through His son Jesus
Christ.
“Why, then did God give the OC?
Galatians 3:19 says that the OC was given to show people their sins. It also says- the
law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised”.
Galatians 3:24-25 further states-
“Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us
until we could be made right with God through faith. 25 And now that the way of faith
has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian”.

And Galatians 41-6 states
“What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave,
although he owns the whole estate. 2 He is subject to guardians and trustees until the
time set by his father. 3 So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the
basic principles of the world. 4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son,
born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive
the full rights of sons.
Under the OC Law, the Israelites were like underage heirs waiting for adulthood to
possess their inheritance. While they waited, they were subjected to the law of Moses

which was like a guardian to supervise them. God introduced the law as a stop gap as
He looked forward to the coming of Jesus Christ and the ultimate sacrifice that would
satisfy the punishment for the iniquity of man and provide a permanent solution to the
dominion of Satan that kept man in bondage. Contrary to the general belief, God under
the Old Testament was not really an angry and vengeful God. Rather God was in the
days of the Old Testament treating the people as children who could not take care of
themselves; like Children who needed to be restrained from doing harm to themselves.
He punished them the way a parent would punish a child for disobedience in order to
deter him from being disobedient in the future. God had to be uncompromising with the
people, not because He did not love them but in order to ensure that the devil did not
scuttle the plan of redemption through the people’s weakness and spiritual alienation
from Him..
This is why God had to provide for a temporary law; a shadow of the real Covenant
which would be introduced at the revelation of the promised messaiah.