Covenants

 Read Genesis 11-23

This week’s chapter is mostly about buying land and funeral arrangements, so for this service, we will look at the 3 covenants between God and Abraham.

What exactly is a covenant?  Let’s try this on for size.

When the Bible mentions a covenant, it’s referring to a strong, solemn agreement between two parties, but agreements seen in biblical times are somewhat different from what we know now. The biblical covenants make two into one. When two parties make a covenant in the Bible, they are joined together and identified with each other.

The parties don’t just have a business relationship.  They are joined.

Today, we believe that marriage is a covenant relationship.  Two—specifically a man and a woman commit to each other before God and become one.  That’s the covenant of biblical marriage.  Marriage means something entirely different to our modern world.

Give it a shot.  If it doesn’t work, move on.

The important thing in a biblical covenant is that two parties are joined together.  That’s a big bite to swallow when God says, I am joining with you.  It may explain a few things as to why God stuck with this knucklehead named Abraham. 

God joined himself to Abraham to accomplish his purpose.  He would form nations and kingdoms and bless the world through Abraham and his descendants.

The first begins with God speaking to Abram in a vision.

Do not be afraid, Abram.

    I am your shield,

    your very great reward.

You will recognize this as coming from chapter 15.  Abram is afraid that what he has will go to his servant Eliezer of Damascus because Abraham and Sarah have no children.  God assures him that this is not the case. His descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Abram believed him and it was credited to him as righteousness.  That faith seemed a little suspect at times, but we saw it fully manifested in chapter 22

And then Abram asked God, but how will I know? 

God prescribed the animals for sacrifice and Abraham arranged them and then as fire passed between the pieces of the animals, the covenant between God and Abram was formalized. OBTW—Abraham slept through the whole thing.  I think it was more like he was in a trance instead of catching some Zs.

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

I left out the Gigabytes and Terabytes, but they are addressed in the Book of Second Opinions.

But here we have the first covenant.

Over the course of the Torah, we see that covenant fulfilled.  Jacob is renamed Israel and the people come to know God before they enter the promised land. We see much of Israel being established as a nation in Exodus 24. 

We see God working with Israel as a nation of his people.  They are given direction and promises, but they are more than a collection of tribes, they are a nation.

Within this covenant, a land is promised to Abram’s descendants.  Let’s call it the Promised Land.

Now, on to the next covenant that we find in chapter 17.

As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.  No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; 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 the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”

That sounds a lot like the first covenant, and it is very similar.  It could just be God expounding more on the first covenant, but we get a little more than being the Father of Many Nations.

Kings and Kingdoms will come from the line of Abraham.  They will not just be a group of tribes with genetic affinity.  They will be more than just a nation.  Kings will come from Abraham’s descendants.

God will make Abram—Abraham into a great kingdom—great kingdoms, but there is specifically one that gets our attention.

In 1 Samuel 16, we see the beginning of this Kingdom.  Yes, Saul was the first king, but David was the man after God’s own heart.

Saul became a footnote.  David was the beginning of the kingdom that God spoke of in his covenant with Abraham.

Let’s take on one more covenant.  This one is from chapter 22.

But I thought that was about God testing Abraham’s faith?  It is but consider what God told Abraham once Abraham proved his faith through his obedience.

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

Here we have the universal blessing.  Through your offspring, all the nations of the world will be blessed.  While Israel was blessed to be a blessing, the ultimate blessing was and is Jesus Christ.

We are living in this age now.  We have a part in this blessing in that we are commissioned to take the good news of life in Jesus Christ to the world.

We use the word covenant more than the world does and especially in the study of Abraham.  I thought maybe you should know a little more than the world does.

Amen.