Covenant

Covenant בְּרִית

What’s a covenant? In short, it’s a conditional promise based on obedience with subsequent penalties for disobedience.. The word in Hebrew is “berit.”

and is “a divine constitution given to Israel with promises on condition of obedience and penalties for disobedience” according to the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon.

Just A Blameless Man

Not only was Noah righteous, but he was also blameless in his generation and walked with God. () God makes His very first covenant with Noah as he enters the ark he’s been commanded to build for the world’s first flood. ()

Humanity begins anew through Noah’s family as God establishes another covenant with Noah in , promising never to flood the earth again. He uses rainbows as reminders of His promise.

When all is said and done and humanity begins again through Noah’s family, God establishes a covenant with Noah in , promising not to flood the earth again. He uses the rainbow as a reminder of His promise.

Just An Obedient Man

Genesis 15:28

God establishes multiple covenants with Abram throughout his life. () The first starts with a promise of land. Later, Abram gets his “aha!” moment; God adds to his name, changing it Abr(aha!)m. The LORD provides for land, his family’s increasing numbers, and the father of many nations. He not only wants to be Abraham’s God, but the God of his descendants. (, , , )

The first is when Abram gets his “aha!” moment. God adds to his name, making it Abraham. (, , , )

, , ,

God provides for land, increase of his family’s numbers, to become the father of many nations, and to be Abraham’s God and the God of his descendents.

It’s in that God asks something of humanity for the first time: Circumcision. Every male was required to do it.

After his son, Isaac, is born, God makes another major ask: Isaac’s life. Abraham trusted God, who showed him a ram to sacrifice instead of his son. In , this is credited as righteousness.

God later makes the ultimate sacrifice with His own Son, the promised Messiah, but for now, the everlasting covenant promise remains through Abraham’s descendants. It goes down through his grandson, Jacob, until the Israelites become slaves in Egypt for more than 400 years.

The everlasting covenant promise remains through Abraham’s descendents, and goes down through Jacob until the Israelites become slaves in Egypt for more than 400 years.

Just A Lawful Man

Moses, the next person under the mantle of Abraham’s covenant with God, spoke with God face-to-face. God heard His people crying out in misery under Pharoah and promises Moses will deliver them. () Once the Israelites cross the Red Sea, they assemble at Mount Sinai. The purpose: To accept the Law and become the people of God. Moses scribes the tablets of the covenant law and presents them to the people. ()

This begins the official sacrificial system for the atonement of sin using animal blood. God wants to bring His people into the Promised Land, but it takes two tries before they finally obey.

Just A Sinless Man

The old covenant and system of sacrifice could never be enough to permanently remove sin. The penalities for disobedience could never be paid by mankind.

Enter: Jesus, the covenant maker and keeper, the ultimate promise for every problem, issue, or situation in our lives. In Him, we have the promise of new life. By Him, we have an eternal heavenly inheritance. Through Him, we have forgiveness of sin.

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. ()

For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.(Hebrews 9:15)

Can you give Him your “Yes” and “Amen?”