As we read the Word of God, unknowingly, perhaps, we are seeing God’s faithfulness through covenants. Covenant is another word for Testament. It indicates a “pact” or “treaty” which is made between 2 or more persons.
Let’s quickly look at some of the “covenants” that we have read about in our reading thus far.
The first clearly mentioned covenant in scriptures is the called the Noahic Covenant. God promised Noah and all his descendants He would never destroy the earth by flood. The sign of this covenant is the rainbow. Who doesn’t delight in spotting a rainbow! The next time you see a rainbow praise God for His faithfulness to us.
The Abrahamic Covenant was between Abraham and his descendants..the Jewish nation. God promised Abraham land, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and through his seed all nations would be blessed. The sign of this covenant was circumcision. All through the Old Testament we see God’s faithfulness in preserving the Jewish nation. Today we can clearly see the miracle….1948 Israel became a state after almost 2,000 years of captivity and displacement all over our planet. Their language and their customs should have been swallowed up by those nations where they lived as did the nations of the Edomites, Jebusites, Phillistines etc.. The seed of Abraham which has blessed all nations has been fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ! Is the covenant over?…..No! God remains faithful to His everlasting covenant with the nation Israel.
In Exodus we learned of the Mosaic Covenant given to Moses on Mount Sinai. This covenant had conditions….If the nation kept the Law, then God would bless them. If they did not, they would suffer the consequences.
The Davidic Covenant is the promise God made to King David guaranteeing his son would reign as King and most importantly, Messiah would come from his genealogy! We know Jesus is of the house of David and we do know He will be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords upon His return!
On a human scale we read in Joshua 9 of the covenant between Israel and the Gibeonites who were deceptive in how they presented themselves to the Israelites. This covenant was honored many years later by King David in 2 Samuel 21. King Saul broke the covenant with the Gibeonites, God brought a famine on Israel, and David avenged the Gibeonites.
David made a covenant with Jonathan (1 Samuel 18 & 20). Jonathan gave David his tunic, sword, bow and belt as a symbol of his commitment to the promise. David held fast to this covenant when he showed kindness to Jonathan’s crippled son Mephibosheth. (2 Samuel 9)
As we have briefly reviewed, Covenants were honored from generation to generation. If they were broken, there were repercussions either enacted by God or by man.
Do we have a Covenant that we live under today? You bet we do!!!! We have the New Covenant. This was promised by God and revealed by His prophets. Jesus on the night before He died “took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’” (Matt. 26:27-28. Luke 22:20) Jesus traded places with us. He took our clothes that are as filthy rags and gave us His robe of righteousness. He took our punishment and death so that we could have eternal life.
Challenge: As we enter this season of Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, let us ponder the depth of our covenant relationship with Our Lord. Reflect on God’s faithfulness to man since He spoke creation into existence. Have we ever known so great a love?
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