Covenants

God Deals with the Idea of Covenant in 228+ pericopes of scripture.

“Covenants are relationships God establishes with people on the basis of his promises.”

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible Covenant

A solemn agreement between two or more parties, made binding by some sort of oath (cf. Ger. Bund). What is mutually agreed upon is usually the future conduct of one or both of the parties concerned. “Covenant”-type relationships were ubiquitous in antiquity, and in the Bible they are undoubtedly alluded to more frequently than a simple study of Heb. bĕrɩ̂ṯ and Gk. diathḗkē would suggest.

The covenants are a series of treaties or agreements that God has made with his people at different stages in their history.

As we spoke about on Sunday, most of these agreements carry an if then clause:

If the people walk faithfully with God, then God will bring about the specific promise within the covenant.

We may ask when did God begin His Covenant making with His creation?

Genesis 2:15–17 ESV

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

From the beginning, God established the parameters of His relationship with and expectation of His creation.

When men fail, the common struggle is to cast blame or make excuse; yet

Let’s read Gen. 12:1-7 as a beginning passage tonight:

Genesis 12:1–7 ESV

1 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. 2 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. 3 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.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 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.

How does this covenant of Abraham give us promise today?

God Establishes

God Protects

God Fulfills

You see, in each portion of this pericope of text…God makes it clear.

He says, Go & I will show; I will make you a great nation; I will bless and give you a great name; I will bless others who likewise bless you; your families will be blessed; and gave the converse to those who stand against the children of Abraham.

If God was faithful to His people back then…we can trust Him to be faithful to His promises today.

How does the covenant of old connect to us in a New Testament day?

Genesis 17:1–8 ESV

1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

In Genesis 17:1, The Lord is referred to by a name that defines His capacity El Shaddai.

In this name Abram and we are given an understanding of the capacity of the Lord— He is God Almighty.

Genesis 17 is also the first place we go to in the Old Testament to see a covenant beyond just ethnic Israel.

Notice we use the term ethnic Israel. God has a covenant with His people, but the emphasis has to be on the right syllable.

In essence, not all children of Abraham are Israel.

Genesis 17:4–5 (ESV)

4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.

5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

Abram will be Abraham.

Israel will be natural and unnatural.

So he is not just a father of one, but of many.

God’s kids are natural and adopted.

He, meaning God, had the capacity and has the capacity.

He has promised.

He has worked.

He is working.

He will work/fulfill the promise.

Where do we find Covenant in the New Testament?

Matthew 26:26–29 (ESV)

26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”

27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you,

28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Jesus did not come to take away the old covenant, but to fulfill it.

Jesus fulfilled the covenant of old and revealed what that means in the establishment of the eternal covenant.

So, what we see in the O.T. and N.T. is the same…God’s promise to His people with a clause requiring their submission.

John 6:53 (ESV)

53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

Walking Away, But In...

God is a Covenant God

We are His Covenant People

He desires our walk to be faithful unto Him.