Some things I’m familiar with because they are constantly being preached about from the pulpit and that sends me to the bible to find out more. Covenant falls into that category.
It’s a word I definitely understand however, its biblical significance is so dynamic that it takes a stretch of the mind to grasp the concept of God establishing a “covenant with His people.” That would be us.
When all is said and done God’s covenant is an agreement, a promise between us and Him.
Now if you have lived any at all, you’ve had people make promises to you that, one, they had no intentions of keeping, two, they failed miserably while trying to keep them and three, they didn’t care whether they kept the promise to you or not.
You may even be a promise-breaker rather than a promise-keeper. It just so happens that I’m talking about God here. I’ve got to assume God, if anybody, keeps His Word.
Therefore, it stands to reason that this covenant, this promise God made to Abraham, the one which Jesus came to fulfill, is one we should take to our graves as fact. If I understand the importance of keeping one’s promises, then I should be extremely careful about making promises.
It appears that the basis for spiritual belief is based on a simple promise.
To Noah, “Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you green plants, I now give you everything.” (Genesis 9:3)
To, Abraham, “As for me, this is my covenant with you… you will be the father of many nations. I will make nations of you and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for generations to come, to be your God and the God of the descendants after you. I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:2-8)
To Moses, “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation… ” (Exodus 19:5)
From Jesus to the disciples, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood… for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:25-26)
Wow! Remember this is God talking about His promise to us. Have you made any promises to Him lately, to yourself about Him, to anybody you love or, to someone who loves you?
Have you kept those promises? Are you a covenant keeper or a covenant breaker? Can you count on yourself to speak the truth? Do you believe you when you talk?
We’ve all heard and probably said the phrase, ‘speak it into existence.’ Here I would advise you to be careful what you ask for.
This covenant thing is such a powerful concept because of the nature of its beginning. A promise is Godly. It has to be.
The first promise was made to Adam and Eve. You see it all gets caught up in words and the power of words and the understanding of words; God’s words, our words, words.
They have incredible power, if only we understand them in the context of covenant. They are our vehicles for communicating with the original covenant maker. I am, thus, accountable to a higher power for everything that I say. And guess what? So are you!
Knowing this, my obligation is to emulate the following. “So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth… ” (Isaiah 55:11)
This covenant is a wonderful thing because God surely keeps His Word. If I am made in His image then honesty should be the stuff my promises are made of.
May God bless and keep you and your covenants always.