B) who does the old or mosaic covenant apply to?
Exodus 19:5-6 (ESVST)
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
It does not get any clearer than that. These are the words that you will speak to THE PEOPLE OF ISAREL. Not everyone, but the people of Israel. The Israelites are the ones that God said will be his treasured possession among what? ALL PEOPLES. Exodus 34:27 (ESVST)
And the Lord said to Moses, “ Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”
Deuteronomy 5:1-5 (ESVST)
1 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “ Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. 4 The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, 5 while I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord. For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. He said:
There is just more than enough proof that the covenant which is the law (Deuteronomy 4:13 (ESVST)
And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone.), was made with Israel or Jews and not with everyone else. This covenant was not meant for everyone but for Israel.
C) Is this old or mosaic covenant still applicable?
Jeremiah 31:31-32(ESVST)
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.
Now do you remember that when God started with the Mosaic covenant, he reminded the Israelites how he got them out of Egypt, how he bore them on his wings? After this he said if you obey my voice and keep my covenant I will…., do you remember? Ok, in this verse above, God says, I will make a new covenant with who? The house of Israel and Judah. God says, not the same covenant that I made with their fathers when what?, when I took them by hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. So, this is not any other covenant that God is referring to in the above verse but, the same covenant that came with Moses which is the Mosaic Covenant. The covenant that contained the Ten Commandments.
So what happens to the Mosaic covenant, what happens to the covenant that contained the Ten Commandments? Hebrews 8:7 (ESVST)
For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
Hebrews 8:13 (ESVST)
In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Clearly according to the writer of Hebrews, the mosaic covenant is obsolete. He says the first covenant was not faultless for if it was, there would not have been a need for another one and, he says in speaking of a new covenant, it makes the first one obsolete. Paul in Corinthians also confirms the same thing. In the Old Testament when Moses spoke to God, this is what would happen:
Exodus 34:33-35 (ESVST)
And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.
34 Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, 35 the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses ‘face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
Now Paul says in Corinthians that Moses was putting a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.
2 Corinthians 3:13 (ESVST)
not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.
Clearly then from above, one can see that the Mosaic covenant or the old covenant, as soon as the new one come into place, it will be obsolete and no longer applicable to the Israelites. Why does God bring the new covenant, well he says that they broke the old covenant. Jeremiah 31:32 (ESVST)
not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.
Now one can ask, “Are we saying that the Old Testament was faulty, Did God create a faulty system? No Sir/ Madam, God does not make mistakes. He knew that the people of Israel will not be able to comply with the old covenant. God knew that the people of Israel will not be able to comply with the Ten Commandments. But then, if he knew, why did he give it to them? Paul says Romans 7:12-13 (ESVST)
So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.
And he also says in Galatians that: Galatians 3:19 (ESVST)
Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.
Galatians 3:23-24 (ESVST)
Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
This was then the purpose of the law. Paul says in Romans: Romans 5:13 (ESVST)
for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.
Sin was already in the world before the law was given but, it was not counted as sin because there was no law. Think about it, how do you know that you are a sinner if there is nothing that tells you that what you are doing is sin. That is why Paul says, sin is not counted where there is no law. Look at the three verses I quoted above and look at the reasons we were given the law in bold.
1. The law was brought in because of our transgressions or sins
2. Law was added in order that sin might be shown to be sin as I have explained above
3. The law was brought as a guardian until Christ came.
Now you wanted to know when the old or mosaic covenant will be replaced, now you know, until Christ came.
Hebrews 10:12-14 (ESVST)
But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Romans 10:4 (ESVST)
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
So, Christ is the end of the Mosaic covenant and therefore the end of the law.
This means that the Israelites or Jews are no longer required to comply with the old covenant anymore. It is obsolete and has been replaced by Christ.