Understanding The Covenant
Psalm 105:8 NKJV
“He remembers His covenant forever, the word which He commanded, for a thousand generations”
Here are some facts about Covenant:
God is a Covenant making, covenant keeping, and covenant fulfilling God, the only basis He will relate with us is by entering into Covenant with us through Christ. Without covenant there cannot be a relationship with God. Covenant is different to a contract, and we can rest assured that God never breaks covenant.
1- What constitutes a Covenant
Psalm 25:14 NKJV
“The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.”
We have so many blessings when we are born again, because we enter into covenant with God almighty. Jesus shed the blood, His Word are our promises and the Holy Spirit is our seal.
A- The sacrifices of the Covenant.
The word Covenant means “to cut,” and we cannot have covenant without shedding of blood. Jesus shed His blood for us therefore, He made possible this relationship between God and us. See the Scriptures bellow.
Hebrews 9:14-18 and 28 NKJV
14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
16 For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 17 For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. 18 Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.
28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
Luke 22:20 NKJV
“Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”
B- The promises of the Covenant
Whenever there is covenant, there is also going to be promises involved. The good news is that the New Covenant is much better than the Old one, because it is establish in better promises. See Hebrews 8:6-13 and Jeremiah 31:31-34
Hebrews 8:6-13 NKJV
6 “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbour, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”
Jeremiah 31:31-34 NKJV
31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
C- The seal and sign of the covenant
In the Old Testament the sign of the Covenant was the circumcision of the flesh, cutting away of the foreskin on every male child, and in the New Testament it is also the cutting away of the flesh, but in Christ is not the cutting away of the skin but it is change within, it’s the circumcision of the heart.
Colossians 2:11 NKJV
“In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ”
Romans 2:29 NKJV
“But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.”
Ephesians 1:13 NKJV
“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”
2-The blessings of covenant
If we are ignorant of the truth in Scripture, then we can not access and implement the principles and promises given to us in order to live our lives in those truths. And just because we are born again, it doesn’t mean we completely understand all the truth revealed in the Scriptures and we are in danger of living our lives way below the level Christ has given us when He died on the cross, and resurrected again. We need the Holy Spirit to teach us and instruct us in the new life we have entered in and all the benefits and blessings we have in the New Covenant with Christ.
In Deuteronomy 28, we find the blessings we receive because of the Covenant we have entered into, these blessings were to Israel if they obey the Lord but now in Christ, all these blessings also belong to us. Let’s read them.
Deuteronomy 28:1-14 NKJV
1 “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:
3 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
4 “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
5 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6 “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
8 “The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
9 “The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. 10 Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. 11 And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. 14 So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
In Ephesians 1:3 says that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, and our job is to access the heavenly places and get all of these blessings operating in our lives. The Lord has raised us up together not to live miserable lives but to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6).
When we enter into Covenant with Jesus, we become sons and daughters of God, we are not insignificant any longer, we are not sinners, or nobodies or miserable worms, we are sons and daughters, and we cannot be proud because it was not our doing, it is a gift of God, and as sons and daughters we have receive an inheritance from the Lord. We live the life of Christ because He now lives in us (Galatians 2:20).
Romans 12:3 says, “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” Don’t think more highly than you should but don’t think too low of yourself. See the great price Christ paid for your salvation. In humility live as a child of God.
Study Genesis 15,16 and 17 for homework. You will see the power of the Abrahamic covenant that was actually fulfilled in Christ.
Pastor Steve and Karina Maile