Our Covenant God
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
This morning I have been tasked with laying out the Biblical and theological foundation of “covenant.” Why? Well, put simply, if we do not understand the biblical and theological category of covenant, we will never properly understand the story of the Bible, how we relate to God, or how we relate to one another. That being said, a lot is at stake and there is a lot of ground to cover as we begin to study this topic. This morning will really be nothing more than a primer on the subject, one that I pray will stir up your intellect and affections and give you a desire to learn more! Begin meditating on the category of covenant and its implications. (How can we know God’s promises are true? What is our standing before Him? What role does Christ play in redemption? What must we do to be saved? How should we think about the church? What is our obligation to one another? Do we even have one? How should we think about marriage? What about kids?) All of these questions come back to the ancient category of covenant, and our text this morning is the first of many that lay for us the biblical and theological foundation of covenant.
Context and Summary of Passage:
Context and Summary of Passage:
Our text this morning begins with the words “After these things...” Indicating to us that we are not beginning a story as much as we are dropping into the middle of one. We must, therefore, back up a bit and understand what has already happened.
God Calls Abram and Promises Him 2 Things: Offspring and Land
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
The Lord Continues to Promise Abram:
The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”
Abram Rescues Lor, is Blessed, and Relies on the LORD:
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said,
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”
And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.” But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share.”
Thus, Abram’s Journey of Faith Had Been Anything but Smooth. He responded to the call of God, and had been repeatedly reminded of God’s promises to him. Yet, it is easy to see how Abram was somewhat confused as to God’s plan and purposes. That is precisely what we see in our text this morning.
Walk through, summary, and general applications of the text.
Thus, the entirety of our text this morning can be summarized by
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
Abram was trying to be faithful to God, but he needed assurance. What was God’s response? A covenant. This plants our understanding God’s relationship with Abram and, through Abram, His people Israel and the church within the ancient category of covenant. Thus, it would be helpful for us to briefly consider the general characteristics of covenant.
Covenants in the Ancient World:
Covenants in the Ancient World:
First, a definition:
A covenant gives binding and legal status to a relationship by means of a formal and solemn ceremony. As a general rule, covenants belong to the public rather than the private sphere.
Peter J. Gentry; Stephen J. Wellum
If you have spent much time in church at all, it is quite possible you have thought through the category of covenant and heard it taught on many times. However, I am convinced that our twenty-first century minds hear the word covenant and think about a contract the majority of the time. Such a thing would have been unthinkable in the ancient world. For us, however, the idea of covenant is so foreign to our everyday lives that we struggle to differentiate the two. Comparing the two is thus a great place to start if we desire to understand the distinctives of an ancient covenant.
See Printed Chart
The core of the covenant idea is a relationship.
Tremper Longman III
It would also help us to reflect on the common covenantal ceremony in the ancient world and compare it to the one we see here in Genesis 15.
“What we see in Genesis 15 is a covenant ceremony that was quite typical for Abraham’s time. When two parties made a covenant, they split animals and passed through the pieces, thereby declaring that they deserved to be torn apart should they violate the agreement. This was a common practice. Thus, Abram immediately recognized what the LORD was doing as he passed through the animals.
In this case, however, only God passed through the pieces because He alone was making promises. He was instituting His covenant with Abraham.” This was somewhat unusual for the ancient world. Typically, both parties of the covenant would participate in the ceremony, as both parties had some obligation of loyalty. They were both invoking a curse on themselves if, for any reason, they should fail to hold up their end of the covenant. Here, however, the LORD puts Abram to sleep and passes through the bloody aisle-way alone. This is glorious! God performs this covenantal rite to answer Abram’s question “how can I know for sure,” meaning this reveals to us the confidence we may have in God’s promises.
“God said, as it were: “I’m giving you promises, and I cannot swear by anything higher than Myself. I cannot swear by the mountains. I cannot swear by the seas. I cannot swear by the angels. Therefore, I swear to you by Myself. If I fail to keep My promises to you, may I be cut in two like these animals. May I, the immutable God, suffer mutation. May I, the eternal Lord, become temporal. May I, the Infinite, become finite.” (Sproul)
We know this is an impossibility! The unchangeable, infinite, and almighty God cannot be destroyed. He cannot be killed and humiliated. He cannot, in His divinity, experience death, as He is the source of all life. Yet, he is imposing this curse on Himself if fails to come through on His promises. This reveals to us that it is an impossibility for God not to be faithful to His promises to His people! Oh, brothers and sisters, how encouraging is that for us! God promises to fulfill His promises to His people Himself by making them covenantal promises!
Our Covenant God:
Our Covenant God:
As the arc of Redemption progresses, God continues to reveal more of His ultimate promise and plan to His people. The Exodus and the New Covenant. Thus, ultimately, this covenantal rite ultimately ought to conjure thoughts of the cross in our minds and hearts.
The covenant is a rocky foundation to build on for life or for death.
Charles Spurgeon
The bond of the covenant is able to bear the weight of the believer’s heaviest burden.
William S. Plumer
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
This ultimately leaves us understanding our relationship with God covenantally (relation and revelation) and our relationship with one another covenantally. “The Church as Covenant” is Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen’s label for how we ought to think about what the Church is. (Michael Horton) Thus, we ought to be renewed in our assurance of God’s benevolent Lordship, renewed in our faith in His promises, renewed in commitment unto Him, and renewed in commitment to one another as a divinely instituted community in covenant. How we may express such renewal unto God and one another will be the topic of our study over the next number of weeks.