This blog will discuss a topic related to the Royal Grant covenant. I decided to write this because a friend inquired about my previous blogs on this subject. His main questions and comments are:
“…the Royal Grant is very interesting but I still find it all quite confusing because Abraham and David weren’t the only saints who obeyed God’s commandments. What about Melchizedek? What about Moses? What about Joshua? What about Job? To me this indicates that there was more at play than Abraham or David just obeying God’s commandments. Unless they had additional activity that was not recorded so we don’t know about it.
I also think what is missing is the clear Scriptural application of that concept to New Covenant Christians. Since you have verses like Titus 3:5 ‘He saved us not because of righteous things we had done but because of His mercy’, I think it would need to be clearer for the NT believer.”
Since my previous blog already covered the second comment above, this blog will cover the question of why God gave only Abraham and David (and no one else) this type of Royal Grant (Promise covenant).
The one aspect that helps define the issue more clearly is MEDIATORSHIP. So let’s think about that with respect to Abraham and David:
Abraham was the only person like that during his time in history. Who else could God choose to start His process of creating a nation? And look at how long the process took! Also, what other time in history and person would fit the ‘job description’?
Same with David. Israel wanted a king long before they were ready (I base that assessment on Israel’s social development and typical human nature). So YHWH gave Israel a King when they clamored for one. First, He gave them what THEY wanted, in Saul. Then by contrast He gave them what HE wanted, in David. David was the standard for monarchs according to YHWH’s standards.
What’s so difficult about understanding that YHWH gave those two men a Covenant because they obeyed His law?
Answer: He gave it to them because they alone were the leaders who paved the way to Jesus.
Now scroll back to Noah. Same with him. YHWH destroyed all humanity but saved who? Noah (and his family). So when Noah jump-started humanity again, naturally YHWH gave humanity a covenant through him. The pattern here appears to be MEDIATORSHIP:
Noah mediated a reset of HUMANITY.
Moses mediated a reset of NATIONALISM.
David mediated a reset of national LEADERSHIP.
And then came JESUS.
Jesus is the mediator of ALL those elements.
Jesus pioneered a new Humanity, a new Nation, and a new Leadership. WHO ELSE in the history of mankind was in the right place at the right time with the right qualifications to be the focal point of God’s next phase in building His Kingdom after Adam? Jesus, of course! And it happened according to God’s PLAN.
As for Melchizedek, he was a special case. According to Hebrews, he was a standard of measurement. Not much is known about him.
As far as Joshua is concerned, he was a successor to Moses, so he’s basically in the same role as Moses. Same with all the Priests and Levites, because they were all mediators of the Mosaic Covenant.
Not sure about Job, because of the controversy dating his life along the course of human history. But I would guess that Job didn’t live during the critical time of human history when God wanted to do something of magnitude in furthering His plan of saving humanity and creation. And you’ll notice that Job did receive a mega blessing for his obedience and faithfulness!
Hopefully that clarifies things a bit.
See you in the next blog!
(A big thanks goes out to my good friend Jim for editing this blog for grammar and content!)
Reality Bible 