The Covenant

Introduction

There is one biblical concept that, beyond anything else, has helped me to understand the storyline of the Bible.

Helped me see the metanarrative / grand story of redemption

understand otherwise puzzling biblical passages

truly grasp all that it means to be “in Christ.”

feel the significance of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

explain the importance, really the beauty, of the Levitical Law.

Know the security and assurance of my salvation.

I am speaking about the concept of the covenant.

A proper understanding of biblical covenants is perhaps the greatest tool understanding how God relates to people (to me).

Goal for this series is to gain an understanding of what a covenant is then to explore places in Scripture where the covenant is mentioned and see how that informs our relationship with Christ with whom we are also in covenant.

Deuteronomy 29:1–15 (ESV) — 1 These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant that he had made with them at Horeb.

Background:

Exodus: Israel came out of Egypt after 400 years of slavery

God gave the law (covenant) at Mount Sinai (Horeb)

Wilderness of Paran - 12 spies sent into Canaan

10 bad reports, 2 good

People refuse to go into the land of Canaan

God sends them back into wilderness to wander for 40 years.

That generation dies off and new generation rises

With Moses still as leader, they now enter Amon on the East side of the Jordan and again are ready to enter the land of Canaan or the Promised Land

Moses, who will not enter the Promised Land, now gives the Law to the people of Israel a second time — to a new generation who were either not alive at Mount Sinai or who were very young.

2 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 3 the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. 5 I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. 6 You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. 7 And when you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. 8 We took their land and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. 10 “You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12 so that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 14 It is not with you alone that I am making this sworn covenant, 15 but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, and with whoever is not here with us today.

In just four chapters Moses will be gone — he will die. He knows he will not enter the Promised Land with the people. So what does he spend some of his last words saying?

9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.

Be in covenant with God!

If Moses felt that being a covenant relationship with God was that important, perhaps we should see what being in a covenant means and then what it means for us.

The covenant is thoroughly biblical.

The word for “covenant” is used over 300 times throughout the OT and NT

Our Bibles are actually divided according to two testaments or covenants.

woven throughout the biblical narrative in order to bind the story of redemption.

(like a dollar bill, if you look closely, you’ll see the scarlet thread.)

Actually, the covenant is the backbone of the Bible.

The passage we read comes from the Book of Deuteronomy (second giving of the Law) which is itself laid out in the same manner as an ANE covenant document.

Covenants in the Bible:

Adamic (Creation) - Gen 1-3

Noahic - Gen 6:18 - first mention of covenant in Scripture

Abrahamic - Gen 15

Mosaic - Ex 19

Davidic - 2 Sam 7

New Covenant - Jer 31

What actually is a covenant?

Covenant was used throughout the ANE as a way to formally create a relational and legal bond between individuals or groups of people.

Bonds formed for the purpose of security, provision, prosperity, etc.

Ex. - if I was a king of a smaller nation, I may reach out to the larger nation next door and attempt to create a covenant to be safe from attack

Mari Tablets discovered in the 1930s in modern-day Syria were originally written around the time of Abraham. There are roughly 20,000 tablets some of which describe covenants and covenant ritual.

Covenants were similar to a contract yet wholly different.

“A covenant is much more than a contract. To secure a contract, you simply sign your name; to secure a covenant, you give your life.”

The covenant is uniquely relational.

12 so that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you,

Tim Keller points out that we cannot simply use a different or more modern word for covenant because we don’t have anything in our current vocabulary which captures the idea of a biblical covenant.

In fact, we don’t have a category for anything like a covenant which is why we misunderstand the expectations and benefits of the covenant.

It is both legal and personal.

Legal

enter into the sworn covenant of the Lord

he may establish you today as his people

Typical layout of a covenant:

The Preamble which gives the information as to who is involved.

Historical background explains how they got to the point of making a covenant.

General stipulations which list the law in existence that govern what the covenant covers.

Specific stipulations that would govern the actions to be taken in the covenant.

A list of blessings and curses.

Deposition of the treaty. Written copies for each party to be reviewed yearly.

Personal

Look at the personal pronouns.

Tim Keller:

A covenant is more loving than only a legal relationship, yet more binding than simply a personal relationship.

This is where we fall short in our modern society in fully understanding what a covenant is simply through hints from our culture.

Covenant does not equal a contract.

Contract = “I will act as I should in this relationship as long as you do X, Y, Z.

Covenant = “I will act as I should in this relationship regardless of how you act.”

Only works is both sides agree to the covenant.

Covenant is far deeper than a consumer or contractual relationship.

ILLUST - consumer relationship — store, cable tv, etc.

It’s ok to have consumer relationships - many of our relationships will be these.

Some relationships are not. Marriage, parenting, etc.

Marriage is not a consumer relationship — “I’ll stay married as long as you don’t burn dinner / take out the trash / don’t spend too much / make enough money, etc

Covenant relationship = “I voluntarily give up part of my freedom, my rights, my possessions even, for your good.”

I’m in this thing to see you flourish even if it costs me.

This is displayed in the rituals of the ceremony of the blood covenant.

In the ceremony of making and sealing a covenant you would have a series of exchanges the most important of which was the exchange of vows and blood.

Covenant = “A bond in blood with no exit clause.”

H C Trumbull

In bringing this rite of the covenant of blood into new prominence, it may be well for me to tell of it as it was described to me by an intelligent native Syrian, who saw it consummated in a village at the base of the mountains of Lebanon; and then to add evidences of its wide-spread existence in the East and elsewhere, in earlier and in later times. It was two young men, who were to enter into this covenant. They had known each other, and had been intimate, for years; but now they were to be- come brother-friends, in the covenant of blood. Their relatives and neighbors were called together, in the open place before the village fountain, to witness the sealing compact. The young men publicly announced their purpose, and their reasons for it. Their decla- rations were written down, in duplicate,—one paper for each friend,—and signed by themselves and by several witnesses. One of the friends took a sharp lancet, and opened a vein in the other’s arm. Into the opening thus made, he inserted a quill, through which he sucked the living blood. The lancet-blade was carefully wiped on one of the duplicate covenant- papers, and then it was taken by the other friend, who made a like incision in its first user’s arm, and drank his blood through the quill, wiping the blade on the

duplicate covenant-record. The two friends declared together: “We are brothers in a covenant made before God: who deceiveth the other, him will God deceive.” Each blood-marked covenant-record, was then folded carefully, to be sewed up in a small leathern case, or amulet, about an inch square; to be worn thence- forward by one of the covenant-brothers, suspended about the neck, or bound upon the arm, in token of the indissoluble relation.

(The Blood Covenant)

That kind of relationship is both Serious and Safe. It’s joyful, fulfilling.

This is what our relationship with God is to be like — a covenant.

God’s relationship with us is the perfect balance of Law and Love.

— We want the Love part of God but not the Law

Many people want to "consume” God or be in a contract with him — I’ll be in a relationship with you as long as you do X, Y, Z.

But that is not how God operates. He relates to people through covenants not contracts.

This means to be in a relationship with God doesn’t require you to sign your name or say a prayer, it requires you to give your life.

Isn’t this what Jesus said — Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. — Lose your life to find it.

Isn’t this also what Jesus did? — Gave his life for the relationship with you?

Jesus fulfilled the Law to give you love.

The Covenant IS the gospel.

In our sin, we have no relationship with God

Like a weaker king next to a mighty king there is nothing I can do or offer to establish the relationship

God operates with people through covenants — through both law and love.

The law is not something we can keep perfectly — none of us can.

Jesus comes representing both God and man — he can literally be on both sides of the covenant.

Jesus lives the law perfectly, and for no benefit to himself, sacrifices himself for your flourishing. He gives his life for your eternal life. He gives his life as a ransom for many.

Jesus is calling you into a covenant relationship with him. It’s more personal than a legal relationship and more binding than simply a personal relationship. It’s a bond in blood — his blood.

Jesus is saying, “I want to be in a relationship with you that gives you all I am for all you are — all I have and have access to for all you need.”

As you enter the New Covenant with Jesus he exchanges your sin for his righteousness, your mess for his mercy, your junk for his grace.

The covenant is altogether personal.

It’s for the covenant community - altogether.

They understand the God with whom they are in relationship is not only a God of law but of law AND love, so they welcome the covenant community with whom they share an identity to create a unified, accountable community.

This is church membership — It’s being a part of a covenant community for accountability, support, service. It’s not being a part of a consumer community but a covenant community.

Deuteronomy 29:18–21 (ESV) — 18 Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, 19 one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. 20 The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.

You cannot count on the covenant community, the church, to be for your discipleship. You can’t blame your parents or past relationships for keeping you from having a real and vibrant relationship with God.

God is calling every ONE to a covenant relationship through Jesus; however, each ONE will stand before God according to their relationship with him.

If, though, you give your life to the covenant, live for Jesus and not for yourself, not in stubbornness of heart, not in pride, then:

Deuteronomy 30:8–10 (ESV) — 8 And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. 9 The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, 10 when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

God will be obligated by his own covenant to bless you, provide for you, protect you, strengthen you, give you his identity, his righteousness, his joy.

Conclusion

The people have a choice. God has come to be in relationship with them through a covenant.

Regardless of past unfaithfulness, they have a choice, today.

It’s not a one-time verbal commitment, it’s a relationship — a giving of one’s life.

*(Have people stand)*

Deuteronomy 29:10–13 (ESV) — 10 “You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12 so that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

*PRAY*