Channel For Blessing
Notes
Transcript
Today we embark on a journey through scripture. Over the next fifteen weeks we will fly over the pages of scripture examining important moments in history and how God revealed himself and related to his people. The journey began this morning in our Sunday school hour where Kathryn taught on creation, the fall, and the flood. This morning we will examine the concept of covenant to understand how God relates to us.
The word covenant first appears in Genesis 6:18 when God announces to Noah His plans for a worldwide flood that will wipe out humanity with the exception of he and his family. While the word covenant is not used, scholars have noted that covenantal language is present as God creates and instructs Adam. From the foundation of the world, God has related to His creation through this concept of covenant.
A month ago, we talked about the difference between a contract and a covenant. Remember that a contract is an agreement between two equal parties who are bringing something of equal value to the table. Party A agrees to supply party B while party B supplies Party A. The terms of the agreement are set so that if either party does not keep their end of their part of the terms, the other party is freed from their responsibility to keep theirs.
A covenant is an agreement between two parties but they are not equal. The initiator of the party is the stronger party and the other is considered the weaker party. These two parties do not come with things of equal worth and if one party violates the terms of the covenant, the other is not freed from their responsibility to it. This is a covenant in a nutshell.
With that understanding, let’s take a look at Genesis 12:1-3:
Now the Lord said to Abram,
“Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
This is the first time God reveals himself to Abram. There is no evidence that God has revealed himself in a personal way prior to this event. In these three verses we see the foundation of the covenant. There are a few things I want you to see.
God initiates the covenant. There is nothing in scripture suggesting Abram was seeking out God and God responded. Abram was already religious. He grew up in a pagan culture yet he was called out of it to pursue what God would provide. So notice that God is the initiator of covenants.
The covenant calls Abram to leave something in order to follow God. God calls Abram to leave his homeland, to leave his relatives, and to leave his father’s house in order to go to the land He is going to show him.
God states the terms of the covenant. This is not a negotiation with Abram. God does not present His offer and then Abram counteroffers. God is the stronger party and does not need anything from Abram. It is only out of His grace that God presents the covenant in the first place.
The blessings of the covenant can only be applied if Abram agrees to the terms. The command for Abram is to go. If he follows the command, the blessings will be applied. If he stays, they will not.
Fast forward to Genesis 15 where Abram is now ninety-nine years old. He was seventy-five when he left Haran, he was promised land, seed, and blessing, he tried to fulfill the seed part by sleeping with his wife’s servant Hagar, who gave birth to Ishmael, but God promised that Abram’s heir would come from he and his wife.
God comes to Abram and confirms the promise of a son and the promise of land. Abram asks how he can know that he will possess the land. God says to him in verse 9,
So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds.
The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
Now this sounds a little bit strange to us, but this was a common practice in the Ancient Near East. When people would enter into covenants with each other, they would take some animals, cut them in two, join hands, and walk between the pieces. While this is not mirroring exactly the covenantal oaths of the Ancient Near East, it is strikingly similar. In these ancient covenants, the two parties were essentially bonding themselves to one another and also saying let what has happened to these animals happen to me if I fail to uphold this covenant. So the shedding of the blood of animals went to show the seriousness of the agreement that these two parties were making. The blood of the animals was like the ink in our pen. Through blood, the covenant was ratified.
But something interesting happens. Let’s pick up in verse 12:
Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him.
God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.
“But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.
“As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.
“Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
Abram falls asleep and God prophesies that his descendants will be enslaved for four hundred years, but after that time, that generation will return to the land that was given to them. Then in verse 17 it says,
It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces.
The oven and the torch both represent God, and this is very significant. God is the only one who passes through the animal pieces. Abram is asleep. So God is holding himself solely responsible to the terms of the covenant. No matter how faithful Abram is to the terms of the covenant, God will be faithful.
Because God is a perfect being, he will always be faithful to His promises.
Because God is a perfect being, he will always be faithful to His promises.
So the covenant has been laid out, and now it has been signed. The next important component is the sign of the covenant. When these covenants were laid out, there was usually a sign or a symbol of the covenant. With Noah the sign was the rainbow. The rainbow symbolized God’s covenantal promise never to flood the earth again. The sign of the covenant with Abram is found in chapter 17, which is circumcision.
Just two chapters later, we fast forward again to when Abram is ninety-nine years old. God comes to him again, spelling out the promises of the covenant. He changes Abram’s name to Abraham, and changes Sarai’s name to Sarah, and he gives them the sign of circumcision as an outward and visible symbol of the covenant. From this point forward, the first act of obedience to the covenant was circumcision. This act now became the dividing line between the covenant people of God and those who were not. In verse 14 it says,
“But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
This was the mark of loyalty. From scripture, we learn,
Covenants have a symbol of the promises.
Covenants have a symbol of the promises.
All people who enter into a relationship with God do so by entering into a covenant with Him and this includes the church. There is a new covenant established by God that all of us have entered into.
The New Covenant...
...was initiated by God.
…calls us to leave a past life to embrace a new one of God’s design.
God stated the terms of the covenant.
The blessings of the covenant can only be applied if we accept the terms.
…was ratified through the shedding of blood.
…symbolized by baptism.
Let’s talk about that last one for a minute. In the Old Covenant, the physical marker was circumcision, but Paul teaches us that true circumcision is of the heart. Romans 2:29 teaches us that true circumcision is a heart matter and comes from the Spirit of God. Paul also says in Colossians,
and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;
having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
This baptism follows the circumcision of the heart, which only comes through the Holy Spirit when you place your faith in Christ.
As the rainbow was a sign of the covenant with Noah, circumcision was the sign with Abraham, baptism is the physical symbol of the new covenant we enter into with God. Therefore, if you have not been baptized, but you have trusted in Christ, you should follow in baptism.
What I want you to see here this morning is that God is a covenantal God. You can only come to Him on the terms He has set. He did so with Abraham over 25 years and he has done so through Christ for the past 2,000 years.
We must remember that our relationship with the Lord is based on the terms of a covenant that a) he will never break, b) does not depend on our merits, c) requires fidelity to enjoy its benefits. Do you feel far from the Lord today? Then ask yourself where you are with him. Have you entered into a covenant relationship with the Lord through acceptance of his work for you on the cross? Have you walked away from the relationship to pursue your own ideas or goals? The only way to enjoy your relationship with the Lord and satisfy the deepest longings of your soul is to commit yourself to the covenant. What step is necessary for that to happen today?