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Culture Documents
by Ted Byrt
Covenants 1 to 4
Because of his willingness to believe God, and do exactly what was asked of
him, Abraham had received the following promises, that:
•He, himself, would inherit the land of Israel for ever; and that
•The descendants of Abraham would inherit the land of Israel for ever.
But there was more to come, as God continued to make "exceeding great and
precious promises" to this man of faith.
Fifth Covenant
Following Abraham's demonstration of his strong faith in God, when he was
willing to sacrifice Isaac in obedience to God's request, God made a promise that
was somewhat different from the ones we have considered so far. He said that
Abraham's descendants would conquer their enemies, or, to be more precise:
"Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies"
(Genesis 22:17, NIV).
So important was this promise that God confirmed this covenant with an oath.
Now, you may have noticed something about all these promises. They have not
all been fulfilled. Abraham is not in possession of the land, for example. And,
although God was now promising that his descendants would rule over their
enemies, in fact, the Jews haven't had much success in conquering their
enemies, especially in ancient times.
For most of the four thousand years that have intervened, they have been
conquered themselves - on many, many occasions. And for nearly half the time
they were in exile in other countries, not even constituting a nation.
Priestly Reflection
But this promise is something that has persisted in the national consciousness.
Shortly before the birth of Jesus Christ, when John the Baptist was born, his
father, Zechariah, praised God with these words:
"Praise be to YAHWEH, the God of Israel, because he has come and has
redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the
house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long
ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us - to
show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he
swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and
to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him
all our days ... to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the
forgiveness of their sins"
(Luke 1:68-75,77).
Zechariah, who was speaking under inspiration, tells us a number of things of
particular interest:
•He was making direct reference to this Fifth Covenant that God made with
Abraham;
•He was saying that the outworking of this covenant would involve one
special descendant of Abraham -
the Lord Jesus Christ;
•He was explaining that the covenant is concerned with salvation, not the
winning of battles against neighbouring armies. It had to do with the mercy of
God in forgiving sins;
•The main enemies of the Israelites, and of the whole world, are sin and
death. The great news is that their power is overcome by Jesus Christ.
Abraham's Role
In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul teaches that the Fourth and Fifth
Covenants, which were made with Abraham and his descendants, have a
stronger application to the followers of Christ than they do to Jews who do
not follow Christ. His high regard for Abraham can be seen from what he says
about this faithful man of God:
"He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by
faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who
believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be
credited to them ... Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by
grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring - not only to those
who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the
father of us all"
(Romans 4:11,16).
He goes on, in Romans 6:12, to point out that these descendants of Abraham
have the responsibility to strive, with God's help, to overcome the great enemy of
sin in their own lives, when he says:
"Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires",
and later:
"Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:21).
Sixth Covenant
When God first called Abraham, He made the conditional promise to him that "all
peoples on earth will be blessed through you" (Genesis 12:3), if he would leave
his own country and go to the land he would be shown. Abraham did just that
and, later, he received the unconditional promise that "through your offspring all
nations on earth will be blessed"
(Genesis 22:18).
This covenant is the most important of all the covenants made with Abraham, but
the promise was not confirmed by any sign at the time it was given. It is much
later that we get an insight into the full significance of what Abraham was being
told. Writing to the Christians in Galatia, in Asia Minor, during the first century, the
apostle Paul says this, when referring back to this covenant:
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not
say "and to seeds," (or "offsprings") meaning many people, but "and to your
seed" (or "offspring") meaning one person, who is Christ (Galatians 3:16).
From this we learn that the "offspring" referred to in this covenant to Abraham
was one special descendant, and Paul explains that the descendant in question
was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
Gospel to Abraham
What is more, Paul says, in verse 8 of Galatians 3, that God was preaching the
Gospel to Abraham when He made this promise to him. For the blessing
spoken about in this covenant is the blessing of the forgiveness of sins, which is
something made possible for those who have faith in Jesus Christ.
As we know, one important aspect of the Christian gospel is that "God so loved
the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall
not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). So, one of the ways that all nations
would be blessed through the seed of Abraham was that they would have the
opportunity of being forgiven their sins, through belief in Jesus Christ. Although
this promised future blessing was given to Abraham, it could not be confirmed
until the death of Jesus Christ, which made the forgiveness of sins a reality.
God's Glorious Kingdom
A thousand years after the time of Abraham and a thousand years before the
birth of Jesus Christ, faithful King David referred to another aspect of the blessing
mentioned in this sixth covenant with Abraham. In Psalm 72 he prays for God's
blessing on the king's son and then says, "All nations will be blessed through
him, and they shall call him blessed" (Psalm 72:17).
Once again, this is a direct reference to the sixth covenant that God had made
with Abraham, long before David was born. During the Psalm, David tells us
many things about the One through whom these blessings will come -
he will rule the whole earth (verse 8),
he will judge the people righteously (verse 2), and
he will protect the needy (verse 14).
The Psalm is foretelling the time when God's Kingdom will be established
on the earth and Jesus Christ will reign as King. He will bring peace and
justice to the world, blessings for which the people of the world have always
longed.
So, this sixth covenant has specially important implications for us. It contains the
promise both of a present, and a future, blessing for us. The present blessing is
the forgiveness of sins, and the future blessing is a share in the glories of
the Kingdom that God has promised to set up on earth.
These blessings are not forced on us - we must show that we are eager to have
them. We do this by believing in Jesus Christ and demonstrating our faith by
being baptised, which is the expression that we are entering into our own
covenant with God. In Galatians 3:26-29 we read that:
"You are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all of you who were
baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither
Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ
Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs
according to the promise".
Children of Abraham
Earlier in the same chapter Paul links those who believe in Jesus Christ very
strongly with Abraham and the promises that were made to him. He says:
"Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The
Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced
the gospel in advance to Abraham: 'All nations will be blessed through you'.
So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith"
(Galatians 3:6-9).
This gracious offer of God to bless those who are faithful to Him was thus
proclaimed four thousand years ago and has remained firm and certain ever
since. It is a covenant that He has signed with the blood of His Son. It signifies
that those who believe in Jesus Christ can be set free from their sins now and
that they can look forward in confident hope to the return of Jesus Christ to the
earth. He will then bring further blessings to all the people of the earth.
This a covenant promise we all need to ponder and act upon.
... God made a covenant with Abraham, which included the promise that he would have a
special Son - one through whom all the nations of the world would be blessed. Much later, in the
New Testament, the apostle Paul says that when God made that promise, He "announced the
gospel in advance to Abraham" (Galatians 3:8).
This opening verse of the New Testament tells us straight off that Jesus is the special Son that
God had promised two thousand years earlier, the One through whom all nations of the
earth would be blessed. That earlier covenant was about to reach the first stage of its fulfilment,
when everyone throughout all the earth would be blessed with the forgiveness of their sins - if
they believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and were baptised. The complete fulfilment of the
promise will have to wait until Jesus Christ returns to the earth.
No doubt David was somewhat disappointed that he had been passed over in favour of his son,
but, if he was, he certainly did not show it. For he set about collecting the materials that Solomon
would need in the work he was to undertake.
These are the very words of the covenant that God made with David, as recorded in 2 Samuel
7:12-16:
When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed
you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will
build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his
father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with
floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from
Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever
before me; your throne will be established forever.
Two-Fold Application
This promise serves a two-fold purpose. To some extent it applies to Solomon, who built the
Temple in Jerusalem at which God was to be worshipped for the next few hundred years. But, to
a greater extent, the promise refers to Jesus Christ, who established a 'house' of a different sort -
one which consists of those people who believe the message of salvation that Jesus taught and
who obey his commandments.
Those parts of the promise that mention the throne being established for ever must, of course, be
referring to Jesus Christ. Those parts that mention what will happen when he does wrong cannot
possibly refer to Jesus Christ and must refer to Solomon.
There are a number of interesting points that arise from the words of this covenant. It is indeed a
covenant, for David mentions (in Psalm 89:35) that it was accompanied by God's oath, which was
the sure sign of a covenant being made.
•Resurrection
David was told that he would die, but he was also told that his throne would be established for
ever. David makes it clear (in Psalm 49:15) that although he knew he would die, he also knew he
would be raised to life again. He confidently says, "God will redeem my life from the grave."
•Future King
David was promised that he would have an offspring who would be King forever. This
special descendant is the Lord Jesus Christ. Before he was born, Mary - the mother of Jesus -
was told:
"He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the
throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will
never end" (Luke 1:32-33).
In these words God was confirming to Mary two things that He had promised a thousand years
previously - that Jesus Christ would be King over the nation of Israel forever and that God,
Himself, would be his Father.
•House-Builder
Not only is the Son of David to reign as King, but he is to build a 'house' for God. Peter refers to
this when he writes to the early believers in Jesus Christ and says:
"You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5).
King Jesus on Earth
The Bible tells us quite a lot about the time when Jesus Christ will return to become King over the
whole world and gives considerable detail about the changes that he will effect. We read in
Revelation of the time that is to come when "the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom
of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever" (11:15). Under the rulership of
Jesus Christ there will be a much better way of life for the people of the earth than there is now:
In short, these are the very improvements that caring people have always wanted to achieve, but
couldn't. They are to be made a reality under the reign of Jesus Christ.
This is confirmed in the Book of Revelation, where it is predicted that the faithful "came to life
and reigned with Christ a thousand years" (20:6). So, we are presented with a picture of
human beings, just like ourselves, living in God's Kingdom, when the government, the educational
system and the legal system will all be in the hands of immortal people ... with Jesus Christ as
supreme King. At that time there will be peace and contentment, with no wars anywhere in the
world. This is the time that is spoken about by Isaiah:
"Many peoples will come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of YAHWEH, to the house
of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths. The law will go
out from Zion, the word of YAHWEH from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will
settle disputes for many peoples, they will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears
into pruning-hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any
more" (Isaiah 2:3-4).
The reason why the law will go out from Zion is because that is where Jesus Christ will be
- reigning from Jerusalem, just as God promised David long ago. For Jesus Christ is
indeed the special son (or descendant) of David, who will reign in Jerusalem as King over
the whole world. And he is the special son of Abraham through whom all the people of the
world will be blessed when God’s Kingdom is set up on the earth.
No wonder the New Testament begins, by reminding its readers in all ages of these long-standing
covenant promises, with the words:
"A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham".
Ted Byrt
All Quotations from the NIV