Greetings and welcome. Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity to come together and minister God’s word and spend a few moments in prayer as well. Today, we’re talking about covenants and we’re going to look at the different covenants that God has established in His word and how you and I, as believers are partakers of this covenants. Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 9, ‘therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.’ The God of the Bible is a God of covenants, He is a God who keeps His covenant. The word ‘Covenant’ refers to a serious, binding agreement between two parties. Biblically, a covenant is a solemn promise, a firm, unbreakable, promise, a commitment or an agreement.
The Hebrew word ‘berate’ means to cut a covenant, referring to a covenant that was made by passing between two pieces of flesh, which was involved while making a blood covenant between two parties. The use of the Old Testament and the New Testament, as names of two sections in the Bible indicates that God’s covenant is the center of the entire Bible. The Bible therefore communicates God’s covenant to us and it is God’s covenant written for us. The ultimate purpose for God to establish a covenant with us is for us to love Him and to have a relationship with Him, to believe in Him and to be His friends, just as Abraham was. God’s relationship with His people is portrayed in different ways in the Bible. God is Father and we are His children. God is King and we are His heirs and part of His kingdom. God is a covenant God and we are His covenant people. The two cornerstones of God’s covenant are His word and His nature. His word that never changes, His nature that never changes as well. God establishes covenant through making a solemn promise to us through His word.
God’s covenant is strong because God is a God who does not lie, He is truth, He is absolutely faithful, He is merciful, compassionate in His nature and because God is faithful and true, His word is absolutely reliable and perfect. God gave His word and He backed it up by Himself, that is who He is. Four pointers of the nature of God’s covenant with man, God is the initiator of the covenant; man, that is you and I enter into God’s covenant, there are blessings and there are curses. God does not permit dual commitments, a covenant is established however the relationship is developed within the covenant by us. The goal of the relationship or the goal of the covenant is fellowship or intimacy. So, let us enter boldly into the throne room of grace knowing that we are God’s people and we have a covenant with Him.
Let’s pray, Father, we thank you for your word, thank you that you are a God who keeps His covenant. Lord, you have called us your children, we pray that no matter where we are and where you have placed us, no matter what season of life we are in that we will know and reckon in our hearts that you are a God who is walking in covenant with us, we thank you, in Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.
Inspiration from Ps Paul Emmanuel