As we consider the "new deal" God gave us through Jesus Christ, it occurred to me that some may wonder why the old deal didn't work.  That's a good question, one that always leads us to another question: Do human beings have free will?  That questions has divided believers in Jesus Christ down through Church history.  Some say since God is sovereign He necessarily knows AND determines all that takes place.  Thus, human beings do NOT have free will, and the only reason we can offer for the old deal not working --that is for the covenants God made with Noah, Abraham, Moses and David --is that God had predetermined they wouldn't. 

As I wrote those words, they seemed inherently wrong to me.  That's because I believe God gave us (and still gives us) free will.  We are not just pawns in His cosmic chess game.  We are free agents who decide to obey or disobey Him, and endure or enjoy the consequences of our decisions and actions.  Does that mean God is not sovereign?  Of course not.  God knows what I'm going to decide--even what I'm going to think before I think or decide it.  But He doesn't determine it.  Since becoming a dad, I've discovered how it's possible to know something without determining it.  I can tell you the vast majority of the time what Abby and Emmy (our daughters) are going to do, before they do it.  How can I do that?  I'm their dad.  I've watched them over and over through the years, and I've seen how they respond in different situations to the point I can predict with great accuracy what they'll do, and often what they'll say.  And I'm a fallible, human dad.  Imagine then a holy, perfect, all-knowing God, and what He knows about us!

God doesn't determine what I do, or what you do, any more than I determine what Abby or Emmy do.  I influence them, I encourage them, sometimes I correct them, but they are the ones who decide what to do.  So, how this relates to the original question is simple:  the old deal didn't work, whether we're talking about God's covenant with Noah, Abraham, Moses or David, because each of them were fallible human beings and they decided not to fulfill their end of the "deal."  The amazing thing is that a perfect God continued to make deals with imperfect people knowing full well they would break the deals!  Even more amazing is that the final new deal God made with us involved His coming to the earth as a man--Jesus--and ultimately dying in our places, so we could enjoy the blessings of this life and eternity with Him.  That is truly amazing!  When I stop just to consider that reality, it blows me away every, single time.  God loved us so much that He came to reinstate our relationships with Him, even though we were the ones who purposefully and willfully broke them.  Wow!