The Covenants of the Scriptures
The scriptures basically are about only two covenants, (Gal 4:22) both timely and conditional. Even though they are conditional, they are given unconditionally and kept through God's divine grace and providence. As Paul tells us in 1 Cor 3:9 "Ye are God's building, according to the grace of God which is given unto me." And 1 Cor 15:10 "By the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vein." Both covenants are given to only a few (Deut 7:7 & Luke 12:32) of God’s children (typed in Gideon's Army). Once they are received unconditionally, their benefits can be lost by failing to abide in accordance to their requirements ~ example of the old, Num. 14:22 and an example of the new Heb 6:4 & 10:29. Having concluded that there are only two, we must contend that there is an eternal covenant woven throughout the entirety of the scriptures, although we find no direct wording as, ‘eternal covenant’. We have heard it said that God made a covenant with Adam, yet there is no reference to the commandment or law given in the Garden as a covenant.
The first time "covenant" is recorded in the Holy Writ is Gen 9:16. If my understanding of this, if correct, it was an unconditional everlasting covenant given to all living things, that God would never again destroy his creation by water. That is to say, that the earth would continue as it has until he comes to fold it up, as described in Heb 1:10 ~ "God hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; (in other words, the creation would run it's course and be as in the beginning, without form and void). And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, remembering the everlasting covenant (Gen 9:16) between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." The fire, as described in scripture, has reference to the judgment of God on his own people, not an end-time judgment of the fallen angels and those men which some conclude are not a part of the family of God.
The first of the two covenants which we will be addressing in this writing is found in Gen 15:18, which to my understanding, is a timely covenant and only includes a portion (Deut 32:9) of his pepole as those found also in Deut 7:7 ~ "LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, unto thy seed have I given this land." This same covenant is restated in Gen 17:7 "I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations (Natural Israelites only) for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an (age) everlasting possession". In verse 19, he assures Abraham that this covenant will continue after he has passed from this life for he states, "With your son Isaac: will I establish my covenant for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him." This covenant was confirmed on Mount Sinai and brought to reality at the crossing of the Jordan River.
There are other covenants recorded such as in Gen 21:27 where Abraham makes a covenant with Abimelech, and in Gen 31:43 where Jacob makes one with Laban.
In Ex 2:24, 430 years later (2083 - 2513) "God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them." Remember this covenant was that He would give them the Land of Canaan. He reaffirms this to Moses in Ex 6:4 ~ "I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan." This Covenant, though only to the descendants of Abraham (died @ 175) through Jacob (15 @ death of Abraham), Ex 19:5, tells us that in order for the recipient to enjoy the blessings contained therein, they had to perform the conditions given in the tables of stone. "If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine." This tells me that God has more people than those He had promised the land unto. The Israelites could not plead ignorance to their duty in glorifying God while they sojourned here in this time world, as was the case of the Gentile nations (Acts 17:30; Eph 2:12). Ex 24:7 ~ "Moses, took the book of the covenant, and read it to them, after which he took blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, 'Behold the blood of the covenant.' This same covenant is restated in Ex 34:27 "I have made a covenant with Israel, (only Israel, the fewest of all peoples. Deut 7:7) which he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant." In Lev 26, (we find additional details of this covenant)," I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you." He also describes the consequences of breaking this covenant. "I will even appoint over you terror, until ye be humbled, and accept of the punishment of your iniquity." (Ps 110:3) We see here he will perform, what ever it takes (Isa 1:9, 37:29), with a remnant, to bring about obedience: that is, that his name will be praised here in time. After having humbled them, he will then remember his covenant with Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. "I will remember the land… yet for all that, when he has driven them out of the land and they be in the land of their enemies, I will not utterly cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them all nor break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God." (Isa 65:8) This covenant is typed in Rachel (Gen 29:10, 30) and also Judah (Gen 49:10) God has and will continue to preserve a few in this time world to give him praise. (Rm 9:29) Is this absolution? Not so, no more that it is when you make your children perform the duties you have assigned to them: if you are able to do this with your children, how much more do you think God is able to do with those of his which he desires. Example -- Jonah. When God set his mind for one of his own, they may run, but they can not hide.
Deut 4:13 ~ Moses gives his last instructions to God’s special chosen people, "for I declared unto them his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone." Deut 5:2 ~ "The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, (Their fathers Abraham, Isaac, Jacob never possess the land) but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day." Deut 4:23 ~ "Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." Deut 7:9 ~ "Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments." Deut 9:9 ~ "I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant." Deut 9:11 ~ "The two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant." Deut 29:1 ~ "These are the words of the covenant, which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant (an extension of the Sinai covenant) which he made with them in Horeb." Deut 29:9 ~ "Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do." Verse 21 ~ "If you do not, then ye will receive according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law: 27 ~ the anger of the LORD will be kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book."
We find in Joshua 23:16, where Joshua gives them the instructions again ~ "When ye have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you." But yet he tells them in Judges 2:1 "I will never break my covenant with you." Yes, God is faithful to his covenant, although his people continue to violate it and are cast out from his presence; he will continue to bring some of them through the fire of afflictions for his namesake.
In Ps 105:9, we have David restating this same promise to his people Israel…. "Which covenant he made with Abraham and his oath unto Isaac; and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan." Isa 59:21, "This is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon (not in. This covenant was a fleshly covenant Gal 4:23.) Thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, (2 Pet 1:21) shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever." Gen 49:10 ~ "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver (Husband Jer 31:32) from between his feet, (the place of child bearing, Deut 28:57) until Shiloh (the bride of Christ) come; and unto him (The Bridegroom) shall the gathering of (the bride) the people be." This covenant was with Abraham to Israel, through Judah. This covenant was not broken by God, but fulfilled in Christ, when Shiloh, the bride of Christ came.
Who is the chosen spoken of here in Ps 89:3? "I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant." Ps 111:9 ~ "He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name." The answer to the above question lies in the one who redeemed his people. In Isa 24:5, we are told how his people, who had the truth, as written in tables of stone did despite unto it, therefore: "Because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left." Jer 11:8 ~ "They obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not." Jer 22:10 ~ "Weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, (sin unto death 1 John 5:17) nor see his native country." This was to his covenant people under the covenant in stone and no one else. The Gentiles, being governed by the fruit of the spirit, were not effected by their not obeying this covenant, only his chosen people, the Israelites Eph 2:12.
Jer 31:31 ~ "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD." Jer 32:40 "I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." does this sounds kind’a kin to absolutism! No! But the providence of God! Isa 37:29 the same way one would train a horse with a bridle. This is the covenant he has made with those called out from the walks of men, a remnant of his people to walk therein. ~ Ps 110:3 Yes he, so to speak, put a bridle in the mouth of the remnant, those which he calls to the marriage feast, for they will become ‘willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning.’ Paul is a good example of this power of conversion, for though he was told, "why kick against the pricks"; he was made willing when God took hold of him. Could he have fallen away? He prayed that he would not…. But we can see the purpose of God at work in his life, and at God’s own time he brought him forth from the spiritual womb, and called him to the apostleship of the Gentiles. Gal 1:15 Yes, he was indeed one born out of due season. This is accomplished (Zech 9:11) "by the (Passover) blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no (gospel) water." 1 Cor 3:6 ~ "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase." Mal 2:4 ~ "My covenant might be with Levi, (priesthood as in 1 Peter 2:9) saith the LORD of hosts. My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth." This is the new covenant (truth) as we are told in 1 John 2:20-27.
Here in Ezek 16, we have a very sad tell of a chosen people who were taken out of a horrid position and given the beauty of his holiness and they despised it. "Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, (Gen 15:16) and thy mother an Hittite… I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant. Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting (new) covenant." What will cause such a rebellious people to return? Ezek 20:37 ~ "I will cause you to pass under the rod, (of afflictions) and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: And I will purge out from among you the rebels." God did just this by sending them into captivity over and over, until finally Shiloh came and he then, as stated in Ezek 37:26 ~ "I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them. My tabernacle (church) also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (While in this time world) This covenant of peace is with his bride today and (Dan 9:4) "God is keeping the covenant via his mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments." For he has (Dan 9:27) "confirmed the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. Then at that day (Hos 2:16), saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; (my husband) and shalt call me no more Baali (my Lord). For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name. And in that day will I make a (new) covenant for them."
That day begin on the day of Pentecost and came into its maturity in seventy AD. It will continue until the Lord comes from heaven to claim all of his children. It is the new covenant, which was promised to Abraham concerning the land (The True Church). Many of those given this new covenant become proud, (JH, LB, etc.) just as the Pharisees did, and lose the benefits of it. Hos 12:1 describes them as was Ephraim which "feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies." an therefore like him… (Zech 9:10) God has "cut off the chariot (strength, an they have fallen from grace Gal 4:5) from Ephraim." Heb 8:9 ~ "I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord."
Mal 3:1 ~ "I will send my messenger (John) of the (new) covenant, and he shall prepare the way before me, (Luke 1:72) to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy (unction of The Holy One ~ new) covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham." Yes, (Acts 3:25) the church… "Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindred’s of the earth be blessed." The presence of the church has brought blessings upon every nation in which it has resided in. All the people of the earth are blessed because of the church, just as Laban, Abimelech and Egypt because of those who make up the true worshippers are among them. Acts 7:8 ~ God gave Abraham the covenant of (outward) circumcision under the first (old) covenant, and now under the second (new) covenant he has given (inward) circumcision of the heart and not of the flesh.
Although there are several covenants spoken of in the scriptures, if we sum them up it comes down to only (Gal 4:24) two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar or Ishmael, law worshipers; after the flesh, and Jerusalem, the true church, which is above is free. For the truth shall set you free.
Rom 11:26 ~ "All Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election (under the old covenant), they are beloved for the fathers' (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) sakes." It is my understanding that these verses tell us that all of the natural descendants of Jacob are beloved for the fathers’ (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s) sakes. Under the old covenant they were the elect of God. (Isa. 45:17); the wife of Jehovah God (Jer 31:32); The first born of God (Ex 4:22); with the birth right of the (double portion). Blessed not only to be his children, but also blessed with the oracles of God (Rom 9:4).
Gal 3:17 ~ "The covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect." This simply tells us that though they did not keep the covenant, God would not utterly forsake them, but will reserved a remnant (Isa 1:9, 65:8), to bear witness to the truth (Rm 9:29) here in time.
Heb 8:7 ~ "If that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord." It is my understanding that the reason the first is concluded to be faulty is because it was, as stated in Gal 4:22, after the flesh, and those after the flesh (Natural Israelites) could not keep it. Gal 3:23 ~ The dealt faith was shut up to them. The second is not of the flesh; but of faith which is the dealt faith of (Rom 12:3), in the heart, as the new covenant (1 John 3:9), as stated, can not sin or fail.
Heb 8:13 ~ "A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." Heb 9:8 ~ "The Holy Ghost thus signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was yet standing." Christ our husband now tabernacles (Hos 2:16) in the hearts of his chosen bride. This would not come to fulfillment until the iniquity of those under the old was brought to full measure. Jesus would then drink this cup, for his people.
Heb 9:11 "Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, …by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." Under the first, this service was pointing to the atonement, which was accomplished, as God was in Christ reconciling the world of his people to himself (2 Cor 5:19, Gen 22:9). The following verses speak of the ashes of the red heifer, "sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh." (Nu 19:2) He then contrast this services to the "purging of your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" that is from the old covenant service to the new covenant gospel service…. So he now stands as "the mediator of the new (covenant) testament, that by means of his death," (Rom 7:4) and resurrection… he accomplished this, "for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." The eternal inheritance is that which those under the new covenant are a part and percipient of now. It is not talking about something to come at the end of time, but those who are abiding in this eternal life now, have this inheritance. As the first testament which was dedicated with blood, when Moses took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, this second or new covenant is also sanctified by his own blood, as the Passover blood for the firstborn.
Heb 9:28 ~ "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear (Jh 21:22) the second time (Mt 16:28, Lk 9:27) without sin unto salvation." Yes, Jesus Christ must to have died, and his blood as the Passover Lamb sprinkled on the new covenant of the hearts of those called to be saints. (Sanctified) Heb 10:9 ~ "I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (2 Thes 2:13)." Therefore, Heb 10:14 ~ "By one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission (a covering) of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest (brides chamber) by the (Passover) blood of Jesus."
Heb 10:22 ~ "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure gospel water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)." Heb 10:26 ~ "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the new covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, (to the truth) an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the (Holy Ghost) Spirit (new covenant) of grace?"
Heb 10:31 ~ "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions."
Heb 10:36 ~ "For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. (The covenant of peace) For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by the dealt faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul." This is all in a timely setting, although we can see the eternal principle woven throughout the teaching.
Heb 12:24 ~ "Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the (Passover) blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. (The old law service) And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things, which cannot be shaken (new covenant), may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire."
Heb 13:20 "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the (Passover) blood of the everlasting (timely) covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing." (Phil 2:14)
Allen Cook 6/25/2005
No comments:
Post a Comment