If the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants were both divinely appointed, then we should expect the same for future covenants. Murray turns to David and first defends the notion that David even had a covenant with God. He references Samuel 7:12-17:
When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever. Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.
What is characteristic about the Davidic covenant is that it seems to emphasize security and immutability on the part of God’s divine, sovereign will. Later, when David is in despair, his assurance rests in God’s covenant with him (2 Sa. 13:5). The promises to David are messianic because Christ will eventually be the one to establish the Davidic throne for all eternity. Following passages support the idea that Christ was given for a covenant: Is. 42:1, 6; 44:8; 55:3-4. God establishes the covenant and also fulfills the promise by sending Christ as a servant of the covenant.
He is the angel of the covenant because He comes in pursuance of the covenant promise and purpose, and He is Himself the covenant because the blessings and provisions of the covenant are to such an extent bound up with Him that He is Himself the embodiment of these blessings and of the presence of the Lord with His people which the covenant insures. To whatever extent the response of inclining the ear, of hearing, and of coming (Is. lv. 3) may be requisite in order that the blessings of covenant grace and relationship may be ours, it must be apparent that the covenant itself is a sovereign donation of the child born and the Son given (Is. ix. 6).
Next time we will finally be hitting the New Testament covenant.
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