Page 6 - Eschatology - Student Ebook

An example of a conditional promise is found in the Mosaic Covenant God made with the nation of Israel
at Mt. Sinai. God gave them the laws of Moses and then promised to bless them bountifully as long as
they obeyed Him. But if they disobeyed Him, they would be disciplined and taken into captivity to a
foreign land. The enjoyment of God’s protection and blessing was conditioned upon their obedience.

As we read the various passages laying out the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12:1-3 and Genesis
15:18-21 we see that this covenant is an unconditional covenant as far as Abraham is concerned. God
repeated the promise “I will” over and over. God does not say here “I will do this if you do that“. The
Abrahamic Covenant does not include any conditions to be met by Abraham or his descendants. There is
nothing for Abraham or the nation of Israel to do. God is simply making unconditional promises to them
and He will fulfill those promises only because God promised that He would do so. The promises are
conditioned only upon God’s truthfulness and ability to fulfill them by His great power.

This important fact is illustrated in Genesis 15:9-17.
Genesis 15:9–17 (NIV84)9 So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each
three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” 10 Abram brought all these to him, cut
them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in
half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. 12 As the
sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13
Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country
not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14 But I will punish
the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You,
however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth
generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached
its full measure.” 17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a
blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.

People in Abraham’s day swore to a covenant with one another through the method of killing and
dividing animals. By walking between the two halves of the animals each party was promising to fulfill
their own part of the covenant. And if they failed, they were inviting the same kind of death that
happened to these animals to happen to them. So, God had Abraham prepare these animal halves. Then
God alone passed through the animal halves as He make this covenant with Abraham. Notice that the
promise of the land, with very specific boundaries, is made by God as a part of this covenant making
process. Abraham does not walk between the animal halves because there is no promise for him to
make. There is no condition for him to fulfill. This is an unconditional covenant.

In Deuteronomy 29 and 30 Moses reminds the people of Israel of the conditional Mosaic Covenant
concerning their ability to enjoy living in the land. If they would obey God’s laws given through Moses,
God would protect them from their enemies and would bless their fruitfulness while living in their land.
But if they disobeyed, they would be taken out of the land as captives to a foreign nation.
But Moses also reminded them of the unconditional promise made in the Abrahamic Covenant that this
land would again be theirs. When they repented of their sin, God would be faithful to bring them back
into this land promised to Abraham.

It is important that we not confuse the two covenants as relating to the land. In the unconditional
Abrahamic Covenant God promised the land with specific boundaries to Abraham and his descendants.

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