As we read the Scriptures, we find that God made several covenants with different people. These covenants were not made between equal parties. God made the covenant with a stipulation the other party would obey what God said. Most of these covenants dealt with earthly things.
For example, God made a covenant with Noah that he and his family would be saved from drowning if he would build an ark. God made a covenant with Abraham that all his chosen descendants would inherit the land now called Israel. But these are not the covenants that Covenant (a.k.a. Reformed) Theology is based on.
There are basically three covenants in Covenant Theology. The first covenant we find in Genesis 1:26 where we are told, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make human beings in Our image, to be like Us’.” At no other place in Genesis 1 does it describe this idea in creation. “No, it has generally been agreed from the very beginning that this is undoubtedly a reference to a conference between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.” (Page 154).
Dr. Lloyd-Jones went on to explain, “the second thing we are told is that man was made in the image of God. . .Then we are told something new in Genesis 2:7: ‘And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul’.” (Page 154). Man was made differently than all other life forms.
Dr. Lloyd-Jones goes on to describe the differences made between humans and all other creatures. Man was given an “exalted position” and “he was made lord over the whole of creation, over all nature, over all creatures, and all the beasts.” “He has self-consciousness; he has moral freedom; he clearly is capable of abstract thought; and he is capable of religion and worship.” (Pages 155-156).
In Genesis 2:1-25, we find that God made a covenant with man, Adam, and placed him “in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, ‘You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden – except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die’.” That was the first covenant He made with man. Notice there is no record of God ever saying that to Eve. It was Adam’s responsibility to inform her of the blessing and the prohibition. It is called the Covenant of Works because all Adam and Eve had to do was obey God. There was nothing in them, no sinful nature, that caused them to fall.
When God came to visit them the evening they sinned, they hid from Him because of their shame; that was something they had never felt before. Of course, the first thing Adam did was to blame God and his wife. “It was the woman You gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” Now in truth, it seems like this happened the week after creation because we have no timeline in the scriptures. But could Adam and Eve have lived in the garden enjoying fellowship with God for a long time before they sinned? Time is something that revolves around birth and death.
“This temptation came entirely from the outside, and he (Adam) had perfect freewill to decide what to do with it.” (Page 182). How did Satan tempt them? He said in contradiction to God’s command, “’ You won’t die’, the serpent replied to the woman. ‘God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God knowing both good and evil’.” (Gen. 3:4). “You notice that ambition came into it, and ambition taking on a particular form: a desire for a short road to divine knowledge.” (Page 183).
What were the consequences of their sin? First, they developed a sense of shame. (Gen. 3:7) & (Page 185). Second, “they began to develop a fear of God, and instead of running to God when they heard His voice in the cool of the evening, they ran away.” (Gen. 3:8) (Page 186).
Third, “They clearly underwent a spiritual death.” (Page 186). They were separated from the fellowship with God in the cool of the evening.” “Moreover, we find that Adam and Eve had clearly undergone a perversion in their moral nature; you see that at once in the story of Cain that follows. There was a perversion in Cain’s very nature which he inherited from his parents.” (Page 186).
“The last consequence that is noted here is that of physical death. . .Now he must die. It is impossible for him not to unless there is some special intervention. The scripture puts it this way: Adam is told that he must return to the dust from which he came (Gen. 3:19); that would not have happened but for this sin. And that is confirmed in Romans 5:12: ‘Wherefore, as by one man sin entered the world, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned’.” (KJV, NLT). (Page 186-187).
“We found that in the third chapter of Genesis, in which we are given the account of the fall, and of its immediate consequences and some of the remote consequences also, there is, after all, a hope; before God thrust Adam and Eve out of the Garden, He gave them a promise. . .Is there no hope for them? And the answer is: Yes, there is. In other words, we are beginning to consider the biblical doctrine of redemption or of salvation.” (Page 213).
In chapter 19, Dr. Lloyd-Jones describes the covenant between God the Father and God the Son for the redemption of man. He quotes verses from the Psalms, Hebrews, the gospels, and other places where this covenant is identified.
In Genesis 3:20-21, we read, “Then the man-Adam- named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live. And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.” The scripture doesn’t tell us this, but God must have explained the purpose of a blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin and the sacrifice would clothe them in righteousness because of the shedding of blood. How do we know this? Because their first two sons mentioned in scripture, Cain and Abel, made sacrifices to God. Abel’s sacrifice was accepted because it was a blood sacrifice while Cain offered something else that God did not accept. “This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected. ‘Why are you so angry?’ the Lord asked Cain. ‘Why do you look dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right’.” (Gen 4:4-7).
Abel understood God’s covenant of grace that sin could only be forgiven by the shedding of blood. Adam and Eve understood God’s statement to Satan in the Garden and passed it on to their sons. This was and is the Covenant of Grace. The Covenant of Works God made with Adam and Eve required obedience; the Covenant of Grace God made with Adam and Eve only required they believe in what God showed them with the sacrifice, shedding of blood, and garments covering their nakedness.
Dr. Lloyd-Jones stated, “But the thing I want to consider is this: this great covenant which God had made with man, this covenant of grace, can be divided up into two dispensations, or, if you prefer it, two administrations. This one great covenant has been administered in two different ways, the way that is described in the Old Testament and the way that it is described in the New Testament.” (Page 228).
Continuing on in the second full paragraph of page 228, we find the term “protevangel” which means “A kind of foreshadowing of the whole gospel in Genesis 3:15. . .The real division of the Bible is this: first, everything you get from Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 3:14; then everything from Genesis 3:15 to the very end of the Bible.” These are the timelines of the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace.
Chapter 20 is entitled, “The Covenant of Grace in the Old Testament”, and Chapter 21 is entitled, “The Covenant of Grace in the New Testament”. Dr. Ryrie acknowledges this in his book; he agrees that in both Testaments there is only one plan of salvation after the fall. What then divides Dispensational Theology and Covenant Theology? It is emphasis: Dr. Ryrie said Dispensational Theology emphasizes the Glory of God whereas Covenant Theology emphasizes Salvation.
Dr. Lloyd-Jones begins chapter 22, “The Lord Jesus Christ”, with these words: “At the end of our last study on the doctrine of the great covenant of grace, we ended by emphasizing the fact that the covenant, in both its dispensations, always points to the person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. . .The truth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ is the central and most stupendous fact in the history of Redemption.” (Page 245).
Dr. Lloyd-Jones goes on to show that all religious founders “are not absolutely essential to those religions.” He states that in Christianity “He (Christ) is not only central, He is absolutely vital, and therefore we have to see that we are concerned primarily and always with Him. . .The Christian faith is entirely concerned about Him, who He is, what He has done, and what He has made available and possible for us.”
Dr. Lloyd-Jones points to the scripture to show that “all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding Yes!’ (2 Cor. 1:20). And through Christ, our ‘Amen’ (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for His glory.” Hebrews 12:24 tells us, “You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.” This does not say “a new covenant” but “the new covenant” meaning the Covenant of Grace that started in Genesis 3:15.