Week Four: Covenant

On August 18, 2001, I entered a covenant relationship. In the sight of God, our families, and a church full of witnesses, Beth and I made a covenant. We chose to forsake all others and be faithful to one another as long as we both shall live. We chose to live in the holy covenant of marriage for better for worse, for richer for poorer, and in sickness and in health. During that ceremony, we read Scripture and sang worship songs to God. We washed one another’s feet to symbolize that this marriage covenant would be based on serving one another. We celebrated the Lord’s Supper at our wedding declaring that the covenant we were making on that August evening in southwest Missouri would reflect the covenant that Jesus gave to us in His death and resurrection.

Today, we look at the theme of covenant in the Bible. It is a theme that gets little press, attention, or energy in our culture today. However, the covenant that God offers to mankind really is the difference between life and death. As we look at this theme of covenant from Genesis 15, we’ll encounter three truths about God’s desire for covenants.

First, God is a Covenant Making God.

A covenant is an agreement between two people or groups. A covenant, generally had three parts: conditions, consequences, and a ceremony. The greater party set the conditions or terms of the agreement. If both parties kept the agreement, then the consequences would be good. Blessings for both would come. If either party broke the agreement then curses would come. The ceremony would most often ratify the agreement in blood. The expectation was that if the covenant was broken, then the offender would have the same fate as the bloody sacrifice.

Our Bibles are organized by two covenants or testaments. We have an Old Testament and a New Testament. It could be described as the first testament and the second testament.

God made several covenants with His people. God made a covenant with Abram [exalted father], later called Abraham [father of many], in Genesis 15.

Genesis 15:1–6 NIV

After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

God makes some bold promises to the aged Abram. “If you can count the stars, then you can count your offspring,” God said. God promised to be Abram’s shield and great reward. What’s interesting about God’s promise about offspring as numerous as the stars is that it comes right after Abram says he has no children.

Yet, in Genesis 15.6, we find Abram “believed the Lord.” Abram trusted the Lord. Abram had experienced the word of the Lord (Gen. 15.4-5) and believed or trust those words and the one who was speaking to him. Since Abram believed the Lord, he was ready to set off on the adventure that God was going to lead. In fact, Abram had already displayed his faith in the Lord from Genesis 12, when he left his homeland to journey to the land that God would promise.

The verb, “credited,” in Genesis 15.6 can be used in the accounting world such as the lease of a field or funds for a building project. It also can assign value to a person’s actions or relationship with God (John Hartley, New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology, (2:305). An understanding of this verse could be said that Abram trusted the Lord and the Lord valued that they were in a right relationship. Since the word, “righteous” could mean right standing or a right standard.

After some more dialogue, God sets in motion a formal ceremony complete with a cow, a goat, and a ram, along with a dove and a pigeon. He instructed Abram to cut the livestock into two pieces and arrange them opposite of one another. As the sun set, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch passed between the pieces. The covenant was official.

Genesis 15:18 NIV

On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—

God is a maker of covenants. This covenant is one of many God will make throughout the Old Covenant times. He would make one with the nation of Israel when He gave Moses and the children the 10 commandments. He would make a covenant with King David to always have one of his descendants on the throne.

However, mankind did not honor the covenants. They were unfaithful to God. The children of Israel didn’t walk with God, they chased after other gods. After Solomon, David’s kingdom divided. The bad news is that people didn’t keep the covenants that God made. The good news is that God keeps His covenant.

Second, God is a Covenant Keeping God.

Not only is God a covenant making God, but He is a covenant keeping God. He kept His end of the covenant. Mankind didn’t until the days of Jesus. Jesus fulfilled the covenant where mankind could not.

Jeremiah 31:31–34 NIV

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

The New Testament or New Covenant, opens by identifying Jesus with two of the great covenants that God made.

Matthew 1:1 NIV

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

Matthew wants his audience to identify with Jesus as king, the descendant of David. God fulfilling that promise once and for all to have a descendant of David as King. Jesus is also a descendant of Abraham, one of those offspring as numerous as the stars in the sky. Jesus would be the one to bless all the nations.

God keeps His covenant completely in the life of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. God ratified his covenant with mankind in the blood of His one and only Son.

Matthew 26:28 NIV

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

So, let’s look at the conditions, the consequences and the ceremony of this New Covenant. The conditions of the New Covenant is to trust in Jesus. Jesus summarized it well in John 3.16.

John 3:16 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

The New Covenant sets conditions to continually trust and grow in our relationship with Jesus. It is not one time event, but an ongoing experience. The consequences? If you continue in the relationship with Jesus, then you have eternal life. If you choose not to honor the covenant, then people perish.

So, the condition is to trust and keep trusting Jesus. The consequences are life or death. The ceremony? God ratified this covenant with the blood of Jesus as He died on the cross and rose from the dead. Jesus has given us another ceremony to enter the covenant called baptism. In baptism, we display our trust in Jesus by uniting in His death, burial, and life.

1 Peter 3:21 ESV

Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

God keeps His covenant and desires for His people to do the same.

Third, God wants a Covenant Keeping People.

Abram/Abraham stands as example of what a covenant keeping people looks like.

Romans 4:18–25 NIV

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

The good news from Romans 4.23-24, it was credited to him wasn’t just written for Abram, but for all who believe or trust in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

Covenant centers on the strength of the relationship between God and us.

Our covenant relationship with God is built on trust. It is an ongoing continuous action. It is much like a marriage covenant. In the marriage covenant, you have conditions, consequences and a ceremony. The conditions: be faithful to one another as long as you both shall live, forsake all others. Those are the conditions. The consequences? If you are faithful and invest in the marriage relationship, then you will have a strong healthy marriage covenant. However, if you do not honor the conditions, then the marriage will be unhealthy. If you date other people while married, then you are breaking the covenant and the consequences are not good. If there’s abuse, then the conditions are not met. The consequences bring hurt and divorce may occur. The ceremony is the wedding. Jesus wants an invitation to the marriage just as much as He wants invited to the wedding.

Some examples of strengthening our relationship with God could include the following. 1) Simply saying, “God, I’m going to take you at your word.” 2) Spend time with God as a close friend. 3) Make a list of the blessings God has given you. My wife and I are reading a helpful book by Ann Voskamp entitled 1,000 Gifts. Ann sets out on a journey to write down a thousand blessings she has received. 4) Identify an area of improvement in your relationship with God.

My friends, no matter where you are in your journey with Jesus, God offers you a covenant relationship that no one else can offer or fulfill. If you’ve followed Jesus for fifty years or five minutes, then He wants to lead you to a fulfilling life. If you’re not sure you’re in this relationship with Jesus yet, then I invite you to meet me after our gathering so we can talk about what biblical trust looks like. If you’ve entered that relationship with Jesus in the past, but have not been as faithful to God as you want, then God wants to receive you back. Let’s visit to see how we can help you retrace your steps back to God.

As a twelve year old boy in Seneca, MO, I entered another covenant. I stepped into the waters of baptism to pledge my allegiance to Jesus Christ as my Savior and my Lord. As a newly baptized disciple of Jesus, I don’t think I even knew the word covenant, but I knew the One who made the covenant. I knew that Jesus was the one who saves, rescues, and leads. I knew that if I wanted to live eternally, then I needed to follow after Jesus and trust Him all the days of my life.

I can tell you that I haven’t followed or trusted Jesus perfectly all those years. But I can tell you, that Jesus hasn’t walked away from me. Jesus has kept His word. The Holy Spirit has kept His promise to stay with me. The words in James continue to ring true, “He gives us more grace” (James 4.6). Growing up, it was my mom, my dad, and my sister. Now, as a member of God’s family, I’ve brothers and sisters in Christ in Indonesia, Taiwan, and the Philippines. All because we trust God and desire to strengthen that relationship each day. God is a covenant keeping God who desires covenant keeping people.

Week Four in Core 52 by Mark Moore

(These daily guides accompany the book, Core 52 by Mark Moore.)

Day 1: Read the essay.

Day 2: Memorize Genesis 15.6.

Day 3: Read Genesis 21.1-22.18.

Day 4: Meditate on Genesis 12.1-9; Romans 4; Galatians 3.6.

Day 5: Read Romans 3.21-31, replacing the word faith with faithfulness.

Overachiever Challenge: Memorize Galatians 3.6.

Bonus Read: Mont W. Smith, What the Bible Says About Covenant.

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