COVENANT RELATIONSHIP
Many generations after Adam died the people lost touch and understanding of God. God then seek ways through a man to relate to mankind again. He found Abram and made a covenant with Him. The word covenant comes from Hebrew literature that means to cut where blood flows. A covenant is a contract or agreement made between two parties and sealed by the shedding of their blood. Once entered into, its irreversible; can never be changed or broken:
i] The blood covenant between God and man was marked and sealed in mans flesh through circumcision [Genesis 17:10-14]. In other words, circumcision was the hit of covenant. Abram became a covenant man with God and God changed his name from Abram to Abraham. The blood covenant signified an absolute agreement and unbreakable guarantee.
ii] Marriage is a covenant agreement when couples exchange vows. They agree to live together in love, have mutual respect and mutual support. In some cases family agreements are assumed and unspoken.
iii] Two nations or clans that face potential conflict or violent disagreement may enter into a covenant of peace that will spell out the terms of their agreement. When this sacred agreement is entered it is never to be changed or broken
ABRAHAMIC COVENANT: Often called a covenant of Pure Grace. This covenant was initiated by God based on His relentless and unconditional love. He chose Abraham and asked him to leave his ancestral land and move to an unknown place but Promised Land. God was looking for a man through whom He could bless His people, Israel [Genesis 17:1-5]. God was a stronger party and entered into an agreement with a weaker party, Israel and agreed to treat the weaker party with compassion and protection while the weaker party owes Him complete alliance and honor.
The Word among us of July 2010 said, He reached out from heaven and revealed himself to a childless Nomad named Abraham. He invited Abraham to follow Him and promised to bless him and his people beyond his widest dreams .. [Exodus 19:5-6]. This covenant was so powerful and God was committed to it; such that:
a] God could not hide the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah from Abraham [Gen. 18:17-33].
B] God remembered this covenant and heard their cries and groaning and their suffering in Egypt [Exodus 2:23-25]. Many centuries after Abraham, Israelites were undergoing torture and harsh torments in Egypt, they cried unto the Lord because of their taskmasters. God once again through Moses reached out to His people and rescued them [Exodus 19:4-6].By this covenant God ordained them for Himself and in His love promised to protect and care for them and they in turn promised to honor God, keep His commandments and be His special people.
c] Moses reminded God about this covenant when He was wrath with Israel and wanted to destroy them {Exodus 32:9-14]. Moses delayed coming down from the mountain; the children of Israel urged Aaron and he make them a god. This act provoked Gods anger towards them.
d] David recalled and revered this covenant; it became the source of his strength to slay the lion, the bear and the uncircumcised Philistine, Goliath. He called the giant Goliath, an infidel and uncircumcised [1 Sam. 17:26-37]. David stood on covenant made long before he faced Goliath.
By Gods preposition that Abraham accepted, God gave man access to Him. In this absolute agreement, God swore by Himself as His seal to the agreement.
PURPOSE OF THE BLOOD COVENANT WITH GOD:
i] God chose blood covenant because it signified an absolute agreement and unbreakable guarantee; to convince Abraham of His intentions and desires to bless him and his generations.
ii] God communicated His unfailing love and fidelity; proved to Abraham that God will never fail.
iii] Such covenant that God would establish could not be broken without the penalty of death.
iv] God was determined to prove Hes the great El Shaddai [El means Supreme; Shaddai means the Breasted one. Invariably God promised to be the Supreme provider of every needs of man.
v] God proved that He wanted to exchange His strength, power, weapons and His authority with Abraham. God further change his name from Abram to Abraham meaning father of all nations.
vi] God committed to Abraham on earth and to His Son Jesus Christ in heaven. The second leg with Jesus Christ was very crucial because God knew Jesus will never fail, even if Abraham did.
vii] Through Jesus Christ we become Abrahams seed and heirs according to the promise [Galatians 3:29]; also joint heirs with Christ [Romans 8:17].
viii] Jesus lived a sinless life but went to the cross and died; bore the sin burden, curse or penalty of all sinful people [us]; we would never have to bear it anymore [Galatians 3:13-14].Jesus bore the curse for us so that we could receive the blessings of Abraham through faith on Jesus Christ.
ix] Jesus blood shed on the cross for us made a way for us to enter into a covenant relationship with the Father. Jesus then became our Mediator [1 John 2:1] and covenant meal [John 6:51].
x] Jesus exchanged our weaknesses for His strength. In his body He bore our sins and gave us His righteousness with God; gave us authority to use His name [Mark 16:17; Ephesians 6:10-17].
OLD COVENANT MEDIATION: Before Jesus, the work of reconciliation was carried out through the blood of sacrificial animals. During the first covenant inauguration, Moses acted as a mediator by taking the blood of unblemished young bulls and sanctifying the altar with half of it and the other half on the people. This was evidence of the union of God with His people [Exodus 24:8]. On subsequence events, the High Priest acted as a kind of mediator as he sprinkled the sacrificial blood on the Altar [Leviticus 17:11]. This blood was offered as atonement for the sins of the people for a particular year and without the blood their sins could not be forgiven; that means it must be done annually. As good as these yearly sacrifices were, they had their limitations.
LIMITATIONS OF THE OLD COVENANT:
a] The blood was offered as atonement for the sins that the people committed for that particular year; without the blood there was no forgiveness of sins [Leviticus 17:11].
b] The annual animal sacrifice covered over the sins of the people but it was impossible for them to take away sins [Hebrews 10:4]. They still needed a different mediator and different sacrifice.
c] The first covenant did not have all the power and grace that the Israelites needed to enable them keep Gods laws; it did not deal with their fallen nature.
d] The old covenant was made of a series of laws and observances; the people could not keep.
e] The old covenant dealt with tabernacle made with hands; a copy of the real thing in heaven.
f] The old covenant was faulty; could not obtain eternal salvation and remove sin permanently [Hebrews 8:7-11].
g] It had no power to unite and reconciled man and his creator, God Almighty. Only the sacrifice of Jesus, the Divine mediator could reconcile with a bond no other sacrifice ever accomplish.
h] The law had a shadow of good things to come; could not make perfect with animal sacrifice made annually [Heb. 10:1]. Those sacrifices were simply a sin reminder annually.
THE NEW COVENANT: CONCEPT AND SIGNIFICANCE.
Long before the birth of Christ, the children of Israel had crossed Jordan and settled in the land of Canaan; they increased and prospered as a unique nation and Gods special people. They lost sight of the unique people they were and the privileges God granted them. They lived the lifestyles of the nations around them. Israel leaders became greedy and pursued wealth; exploited the poor, became covetous and idolatrous. God allowed them to be attacked and defeated by more powerful nations who then enslaved them.
However, God did not desert Israel. He kept His faithfulness and offering them His love and grace. He still kept them as His covenanted people. God knew they had problems keeping the old covenant. Through Prophet Jeremiah God revealed his promise to make a new covenant in which to write the laws in their minds and hearts [Jeremiah 31:31-34]. He shall be their God and they shall be His people. No one will anymore teach another how to know the Lord. God will also forgive their sins and remember them no more. Similarly, through Prophet Ezekiel God revealed, I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit with you; take away your stony heart and make you live by my status ..[Ezekiel 36:26-28].
This new covenant will find the height of it fulfillment in Jesus Christ [as a Mediator] aimed at uniting us with God; one reason we always pray in Jesus name. God had always remained faithful, no matter how unfaithful the Israelites were. It was obvious the Israelites failed in keeping the old Gods covenant; God promised and made a new covenant with them. God promised to place his laws in their hearts and also to give them a new heart and a new spirit.
Jesus was the Divine Mediator [one who brings estranged parties together]. This is how the scriptures describe Jesus and His work of reconciliation. The new covenant does not depend on our ability to keep the letters of the agreement but on Jesus ability to keep it and save us. BENEFITS OF THE NEW COVENANT :
i]The new covenant is a better covenant established on better promises [Hebrews 8:6-7]. The new made the old obsolete and no longer necessary and effective [Heb. 8:10-11].
ii] Jesus used His body for this sacrifice. It will be written on the minds and hearts of His people.
iii] Its entered by the provision of God, His thought and His sons blood. You come into this covenant bringing nothing. Its only for you to accept or reject. It is a gift from God [Eph. 2:8].
iv] In the new covenant, we find that our sins are forgiven. Forgiveness means to release or set free from bondage, etc. God forgives sin because its paid for in full; it is finished [Heb. 10:18].
v] God had no pleasure in the sacrificial offerings made every year; He took away the first for the second to come; sanctified once and for all [Heb. 10:8-10].
vi] Jesus after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever entered in the presence of the Father and sat at the right hand and put all His enemies under his footstool [Heb. 10:12-13]
vii] Through His sacrifice [death and resurrection] He had made perfect forever those being sanctified [Heb. 10:11-14].
viii] The new covenant is written in human minds and hearts. Human sinful deeds will be forgiven and forgotten once and for all I will remember them no more [Heb.8: 12; 10:16-18].
ix] Ability to obey God. The old covenant showed people what sins they committed but did not show them the ability to forgive sins. This ability comes from the nature of God [1John:3:9]. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin because the seed of God remains in Him. When a man is born again, Hes a new creature [2 Corinthians 5:17]; has the Holy Spirit that gives the ability to obey God. We overcome by the spirit of God.
x] We can commune with God directly and can know God deeply. What we do for God is good but the motive behind it is more important; also to walk in Gods way is to keep his commandment which is much more than following his instructions.
xii] Christ became the Divine Mediator of the new covenant by mean of death for the redemption of the transgression under the first covenant that those called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance [Heb. 9:14-15].
xiii] The new covenant are a living set of principles that are part of our very being Grace woven in our hearts. It has to do with the Holy Spirit living in our hearts, inspiring and empowering us to live a new life. We are no longer under the law but under grace [Rom. 6:14].
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW COVENANT: *Where the law of works obliges by threatening, the law of faith obtains by believing-St. Augustine. God no longer limit himself to issuing a set of rules that we are to follow but does in us the very thing that He commands of us.
*The Old covenant word for grace [Hebrew hesed] as seen in Psalms and old Testament means Gods goodwill and kindness towards His people; His desires to stretch his hands and help his people. However, grace [Hebrew Charis] in the new covenant describes the flows to us because of the death and resurrection of Christ. It is this grace that released sinners from judgment and made righteous. Its the grace that writes the new covenant on our hearts. Therefore, the New covenant grace is not just a matter of God reaching down to us and treating us kindly. Grace has become a matter of God reaching into us and changing us from the inside out. God has written his new covenant on our hearts as if it were a letter to us telling us that we are a new creation and convincing us that we can live a new life.
* The new covenant comes with the very presence of the Holy Spirit who is the finger of God and by whose presence is poured into our hearts the love that is the fulfillment of the law. The interior grace of the Spirit is the very thing that makes the new covenant so new, real and fresh.
*Apostle Paul talking about the new covenant called the Saint of Corinth as a letter of Christ .written not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are hearts of flesh [2 Corinthians 3:2-3]. The new covenant also makes us a letter from Jesus to the world.
Paper prepared and presented by Evangelist Ogbonnaya, Godswill at Inaugural Bible Study Forum hosted at AltarChurch of Christ, 13483 Belliare Blvd Ste10, HoustonTexas, 77083 on February 10, 2011 at 6.30 PM.
REFERENCES:
The Holy Bible [New king James and New International Version;
The WORD among us [Roman Catholic Publication, July 2010];
FROM FAITH TO FAITH [A daily Guide to Victory] by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland;
The Basic Revelation in the Holy Scriptures by Witness Lee;
Gods Plan After Salvation by Moses C. Onwubiko.