Nothing demonstrates the superiority of the new covenant over the old covenant as much as the work of Christ as Priest when compared with the work of Aaron as Priest. Simply stated, Christ’s work as our priest on the cross accomplished what Aaron was never able to accomplish. Christ offered a sacrifice, himself, that fully paid for sin and satisfied the holy character of God. Aaron could not offer such a sacrifice. He could not effect a true atonement for sin. Christ brings his people into the true Most Holy Place in heaven not only forgiven but also fully justified and robed in a perfect righteousness. Aaron could not himself enter the Most Holy Place let alone bring sinners into God’s presence. A comparison of the doctrine of assurance under the old covenant with assurance under the new covenant will help us see this truth. David’s confession of his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah her husband, as recorded in Psalm 51, are most helpful in understanding the difference between the old and new doctrine of assurance of salvation. 

I once heard a preacher say, “David’s awful sin of adultery and murder proves the doctrine of eternal security.” He was very wrong. David’s sin does not prove eternal security, but Psalm 51 proves the grace of God toward David. All David’s sin of adultery and murder proves is that he was a sinner like the rest of us. His recorded repentance in Psalm 51 proves he was a godly man despite the fact that he had succumbed to temptation and fallen into sin. His repentance described so vividly in Psalm 51 proves he was indeed a godly man in spite of his being overtaken in sin in a given instance. I am interested in showing how David’s sin and repentance differs from sin and repentance under the new covenant. 

David’s sin of murder and adultery are recorded in II Samuel 11 and 12. We need not go over the sordid details of David’s sin except to note that God makes no attempt to in any way spin the sins and failures of his saints, even the worst among them. We do everything possible to cover up and hide the sins of our heroes. God tells it like it is. Our Lord is not ashamed to call the worst of repentant sinners his brothers (Heb. 2:11). He does not make any attempt to rewrite the story of their lives. He admits his family is made up of the worst of sinners. In Psalm 51:1-3, David openly acknowledges his awful sin and his repentance. He makes no attempt to justify what he did. He pleads no extenuating circumstances but freely admits his awful sin. 

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me (Ps. 51:1-3).

In verse 4, David is not denying that he has sinned against both Bathsheba and Uriah. He sees his greatest sin is against God and his truth. The later part of verse 4 shows how clearly David understood the need for open confession. He wants to make sure that everyone realizes that whatever God chooses to do with him, he deserves it. This includes his being cast off by God if God so chose that punishment. David is concerned with vindicating God in any action God chose to take.

Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge (Ps. 51:4).

Verses 5 to10 describe a man who feels the awful reality of his sin and depravity. He longs to be free from the power of indwelling sin. He is not satisfied in only being forgiven for two particular sins; he wants to be changed from the inside out. He frankly acknowledges both his sin and the depth of his total depravity. David is acknowledging that he was a sinner from his very conception. He was totally depraved from day one of his life.

Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. 

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 

Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Ps. 51:5-10)

Verse 11 is a much-disputed verse. Those who confuse “eternal security” with the “perseverance of the saints” have real difficulty understanding this verse.

Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me (Ps. 51:11).

This text seems to be saying that a believer can lose his salvation. The text surely shows that David lost the assurance of his salvation. Let me make a few preliminary statements. David, in spite of his sin of adultery and murder, was just as eternally secure in his salvation as a believer is today. However, he had no way of knowing that fact. David believed he could lose his salvation even though he could not. When he prayed, “take not thy Holy Spirit from me, he really believed that it was possible for him to be “cast off” by God. David saw what happened to Saul and was deeply concerned that the same thing might happen to him. Saul was cast off and the Spirit was taken from him. 

It is argued that in verse 12 he is praying to have the “joy of salvation” restored and not praying to have salvation itself restored. David’s prayer in verse 11 proves he did not feel he had been cast off from God or that the Spirit had been taken from him. He is praying those things will not happen. He prayed as he did because he believed that both of those things could happen, and he believed that he deserved to have them both happen. Any consistent and fair exegesis of David’s words proves that he clearly believed that he could be cast off by God and the Spirit be taken away from him. Because he believed these things had not yet happened, that does not mean that he understood they could never happen. David believed both of these things could happen, and he would be lost. David was praying that he would not lose his salvation. David did not believe he was eternally secure in his salvation even though he really was just as secure as a believer under the new covenant.

Verses 12 to 15 is a prayer for persevering grace and the resulting fruit of true repentance. 

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. 

Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. 

Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. 

O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise (Ps. 51:12-15).

Verse 16 is one of the key verses in Psalm 51. This text throws a lot of light on new covenant theology. 

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 

At first reading this verse presents a problem that only new covenant theology can resolve. David lived under the old covenant when sacrifices and burnt offerings were not only performed; they were commanded to be performed. God indeed desired sacrifice and burnt offerings under the old covenant. In some cases the failure to bring a prescribed sacrifice was punished with death. Why would David say that God did not desire sacrifices when he had clearly commanded them? The answer is simple. There was no sacrifice that David could bring for his particular sins! There was no sacrifice for murder or adultery under the old covenant. There was no sacrifice in the whole Mosaic system that covered adultery and murder. Hebrews 10:28 is quite clear. To willfully disobey the Law of Moses meant death with no questions asked. “Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Heb. 10:28).

There was nothing in the entire Mosaic Law, the whole old covenant that gave David the least assurance of forgiveness for his sins of adultery and murder. The sacrifice on the Day of Atonement did not apply to his condition. The sacrifice on the Day of Atonement was for the “sins committed in ignorance.” That sacrifice did not cover sins that “rejected the Law,” “Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Heb. 10:28). Hebrews 9 describes Aaron’s work on the Day of Atonement. It clearly states that the atonement only covered sins “committed in ignorance.” “But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance” (Heb. 9:7). 

Aaron could not help David. There was nothing in Aaron’s bag of promises that offered forgiveness to a murderer and adulterer. Aaron’s message to David was the message of Hebrews 10:28. Likewise the City of Refuge could not help him in the case of murder. A man who killed his neighbor accidently could flee to a city of refuge and escape the anger and revenge of the dead man’s friends and relatives (see Num. 35:25 ff). However, if the death was deliberate and not accidental, the murderer was taken from the City of Refuge and turned over to the avenger of blood to be punished for committing murder (Deut. 19:11-13).

David totally by-passed the whole Mosaic system of sacrifices because nothing in that system could help him. He ignored Aaron and his entire priestly ministry because nothing in the old covenant under which Aaron ministered could give him any hope. David ignored Aaron and the whole old covenant and cried out to the God he knew as a shepherd boy and pleaded for his grace and mercy. God heard David and forgave him because God honors true repentance that bases its appeal on grace alone. When the Holy Spirit works a true “broken spirit” and “contrite heart” in a poor sinner’s heart with no hope except sovereign grace, that sinner will never be cast off no matter what his sin.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 

In your good pleasure make Zion prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem. 

Then there will be righteous sacrifices, whole burnt offerings to delight you; then bulls will be offered on your altar (Ps 51:17-19).

When you compare a text like Psalm 51 with a New Testament text like 1 John 1:7-10, you see the difference in assurance under the new covenant as compared to assurance under the old covenant.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

“Walking in the light” (v. 7a), is consciously obeying God. It is not sinless perfection but it is living in obedience where we are not conscious of specific sins. When we so live, we will have fellowship with God. The fact that we are not conscious of specific sins does not mean we are in any sense living a sinless life, it merely means that God has not convicted us of any specific sins. To think or say we have no sins would be to deceive ourselves (v. 8). If we confess the specific sins of which we are convicted, we are assured that God will forgive us (v. 9). We will still have sins that God has not yet convicted us of and they will also, like the “sins committed in ignorance” on the Day of Atonement, be forgiven. We will be cleansed of all unrighteousness and walk in fellowship with God. As we grow in grace the Holy Spirit will point out more and more sins of ignorance to us, and they will have to be confessed if we are to maintain our fellowship with God. This is not the same as maintaining our salvation.

The most important difference between Psalm 51 and 1 John 1:7-10 is the words in 1 John 1:7, “the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” A new covenant believer’s assurance of forgiveness is based on the fact that he knows all of his sin, past, present, and future is fully paid for by the atonement of Christ. A new covenant believer can never “come into condemnation” (John 5:24 and Romans 8:1). A new covenant believer can never come before God as a judge; he has not only already been judged and found to be guilty, he has already been put to death. He has died with Christ, been buried with Christ and been raised from the dead with Christ. He already is seated in heaven in Christ. He can never again be judged. All of his dealings with God are now that of a son born into the family of God. God is his Father, not a judge. The redeemed new covenant believer is a justified child of God and not a criminal. A believer today could not pray Psalm 51:11: “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.” 

If I am united to Christ in his death, burial, resurrection and ascension, then I am already seated together with Christ in heaven. I can no more be cast off from God than Christ could be cast off. 

David could not see himself as seated in heaven with Christ before Christ was literally ascended to heaven himself. Our knowledgeable experience cannot exceed the revelation which we have been given. We cannot read the experience of Romans 5:1; 8:1; John 5:24 and Ephesians 2:5-6 back into David’s life and experience. Having a hope of a future blessing and experiencing the actual fulfillment of that blessing are two different things. A murderer on death row today may trust Christ and be saved. In spite of his sin of murder, he is included in the promises just listed. He will be saved if he claims, by a faith wrought in him by the Holy Spirit, the promise of salvation. He will be able to claim I John 1:9 in the same way and to the same degree as any other believer. David, as a murderer and adulterer living under the old covenant, did not have such a promise. He could not claim the promises of Romans 5:1; 8:1; John 5:24 and Ephesians 2:5-6. Those are new covenant promises and could not have been made until Christ established the new covenant in his blood. David’s hope was not in a specific promise since he had no such promise as a murderer and adulterer under the old covenant. David’s hope lay in the character of the God he had communed with as a youth while tending his father’s sheep.

There is a major difference in the concept of God and his relationship to his people in the old covenant and the new covenant. This difference is highlighted by J.I. Packer in his superb book Knowing God. If I could get every Christian to read only three books, Knowing God would one of them. It is worth its weight in gold!

Packer correctly sees the deep distinction between the revelation in the New Testament of God as a heavenly Father and the Old Testament revelation of God as a covenant God.

You sum up the whole of New Testament teaching in a single phrase, if you speak of it as a revelation of the Fatherhood of the holy Creator. In the same way, you sum up the whole of New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one’s Holy Father. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new, and better than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God. ‘Father’ is the Christian name for God.^[1]

David did not grasp the full truth of the Fatherhood of God, but he surely had a glimpse of it. In his heart he was far ahead of the old covenant. His fellowship with God as he had revealed himself in creation enabled him to hope in God’s grace and mercy without a specific promise. David’s relationship with God was not at all typical of an Old Covenant believer. He never used the word Father but he surely talked to God as a Father.

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