Family Devotional

A covenant is a sacred kinship bond between two parties, ratified by swearing an oath. When there is faithfulness, there is blessing. When there is a breaking, there is curse.

The Adamic Covenant- The Covenant of Works. Do good and be blessed, disobey and die.

Genesis 2:16-17 And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may surely eat;17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

A Covenant with all mankind.

The Noahic Covenant

Genesis 9:8-17 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,9 “As for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your seed after you;10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth.11 Indeed I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, and there shall never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”12 Then God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am giving to be between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations;13 I put My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.14 And it will be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud,15 and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.16 So the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Another Covenant with all mankind.

The Abrahamic Covenant

Genesis 15:1-17 After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying,

“Do not fear, Abram,

I am a shield to you;

Your reward shall be very great.”

2 And Abram said, “O Lord Yahweh, what will You give me, as I go on being childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”3 And Abram said, “Since You have given no seed to me, behold, one born in my house is my heir.”4 Then behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, “This one will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.”5 And He brought him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your seed be.”6 Then he believed in Yahweh; and He counted it to him as righteousness.7 And He said to him, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.”8 And he said, “O Lord Yahweh, how may I know that I will possess it?”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.”10 Then he brought all these to Him and split them into parts down the middle and laid each part opposite the other; but he did not split apart the birds.11 Then the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.12 Now it happened that when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him.13 Then God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your seed will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.14 But I will also judge the nation to whom they are enslaved, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.16 Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”17 Now it happened that the sun had set, and it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces.

A covenant with one people.

The Davidic Covenant

2 Samuel 7:8-16 So now, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “I Myself took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel.9 And I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the name of the great men who are on the earth.10 And I will appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and not be disturbed again; and the unrighteous will not afflict them any more as formerly,11 even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Yahweh also declares to you that Yahweh will make a house for you.12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up one of your seed after you, who will come forth from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.14 I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will reprove him with the rod of men and the strikes from the sons of men,15 but My lovingkindness shall not be removed from him, as I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.16 And your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”’”

A Covenant with one house.

The New Covenant.

Acts 2:37-39 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men, brothers, what should we do?”38 And Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.39 For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

The blessing of the marriage covenant.

Faithfulness to God and each other gives:

A fruitful marriage- In joy, blessing, children, peace and more.

Faithful children.

A lasting witness. (Look how God has blessed them)

Covenant succession. The passing on of faith and blessing throughout generation.

We live in a generation that hates the marriage covenant.

A failure to view marriage as a covenant does not negate the fact that it is a covenant containing the blessings and curses.

Faithlessness to God and each other gives:

A broken marriage- division, separation, fruitlessness, turmoil.

Faithless children.

A witness to destruction. (look at how God has cursed them)

Covenant succession. The passing on of faithlessness and cursing throughout generations. (Outside of God’s blessed intervention.)

Look around this room. We have the blessing of being part of a family covenant (by blood and by marriage) that is also a part of the New covenant.

We see generations of blessing in this room.

Be encouraged. Look how God has grown the blessing of this family.

Faithful grandparents (now great grandparents) who raised children in the faith.

Faithful parents (now grandparents) who have raised children in the faith.

Faithful spouses.

A new generation.

How have you seen God’s covenant blessing in this family?

Be strong in the midst of this broken generation. God will keep His promises.

Habakkuk 2:14 For the earth will be filled

With the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh,

As the waters cover the sea.

Matthew 13:31-33 He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field;32 and this is the smallest of all seeds, but when it is fully grown, it is the largest of the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”33 He spoke another parable to them, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three sata of flour until it was all leavened.”

We win. True success is faithfulness to God.

Be faithful to God and the covenants we are blessed to be part of.