What is a Covenant?

A Morning Cup of Word

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Our Morning Cup Trivial Question is this.

Question: Why were the Israelite s to celebrate the Passover forever?

Answer: So they would teach their children how God delivered them from Egypt.

Exodus 12:25-26 King James Version

25. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service..

26. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.

Today I want to talk about what a "covenant" is about in the Bible. Because in order to understand what God was trying to do with the nation of Israel you are going to have to understand, what the “covenant” is all about.  The Old Testament is a term, which comes from the Latin word "covenant". this term comes to be known from Paul and the other early Christians, who distinguished between the "old covenant” that God made with Israel concerning number one, promised of their own land, number two, God promised them that they would become a great nation and number three God promised that all men would be blessed through Abraham and through his seed. When I say that God promised to bless all nations through Abraham's family line; what I'm saying is that God promised Abraham that the Messiah, the Savior of the world, would be born through their genealogy.

The “New Covenant” would be established through Jesus Christ, which is a promise of restoration and reconciliation of mankind back with God. Therefore, we will learn, and we will get an understanding that the word “Testament” is the same as the word Covenant.  We are also going to learn that the only way to have a “covenant” there must be a shedding of blood. If there is no shedding of blood there is no covenant. The word covenant means to cut.

What is a covenant?

A “covenant” is a binding and solemn agreement made by two or more individuals or parties. A “covenant” is about making a vow to do or keep from doing a specific or certain thing. A “covenant” is a compact agreement among members of the church to defend and to maintain its policies, its doctrine and its practices in Jesus Christ's according to the Word of God which is the “covenant”.

The “covenanted” is the party to whom the promise is set down in a “covenant” that has been made. The “covenanter” that is God; He is the person who enters into a “covenant” with us. Now, I want you to understand that God is not under any obligation to do anything for us that will benefit us; because we are the ones that broke away from him so he does not owe us anything. He does not have to make any type of provision for us in order for him to return to us because God has the ability to destroy us, and create a new race of people. Yet, this merciful and loving God is willing to go into an agreement with us in order that we may have eternal life with Him or should I say “Tabernacle” with us not just here on the earth but forever.

The Old and the New Testament is a book of agreements where God is the covenanter and we are the covenantee. God has given us this book of agreements in order that we may know what to do and in what order that we are to do His will; that which may please Him. Remember, the Bible communicates to us the will of God and His decisions, concerning His plan for our salvation. The Bible also shares with us the day of reckoning future of sinners and the devil. The Bible speaks about the Devil and sinful man destruction. Therefore, those of us who strive to live for God are told God's secrets whereby God reveals His plans to us like He did with Abraham.

Remember in Genesis the 18th chapter, the Bible illustrates this point, God tells Abraham of His plans to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham or Abram, would not have known God's plans if God had not been willing to reveal them to him. God revealing His plans to Abraham gave Abraham the opportunity to do something that most of us fail to do and that is to pray. You see a Lot and his family was living in that sin ridden place call Solomon and Gomorrah. God had purpose in His mind to destroy that city.  However, God reveals His plans to Abraham which gave his nephew Lot, a second chance to get his life together. I always said that there had to be something about Sodom and Gomorrah that a Lot felt comfortable with because he was willing to stay there and take up residency there and he sat at the gate which means he had some type of leadership in that wicked city.

I now know and understand what Lot saw in Sodom and Gomorrah.  It was a familiar environment.  Sodom and Gomorrah had the same type of environment of sin and degradation as Ur of Chaldeans.  Ur was the place that Abraham had moved from and that is why Lot picked that geographical area to move to, because it reminded him of Ur of Chaldeans. Let me give you a little example of what I am talking about. When I was in the Navy we had several sailors that would sell drugs. They had grown up in the ghetto, in the United States, as children their whole childhood lives. They had seen a lot of drug deals go down; they had had a lot of experience with the police. Now they are in a different country and the first thing they do is look for a ghetto so they could sale drugs. I would often ask myself what is wrong with them you have a chance of having a decent career, you're no longer in the ghetto yet you go to another country to find drugs to sale. 

When I was a young woman I could never understand that, why would you want to leave the ghetto to find another ghetto. The reason was they were a product of their environment and they didn't feel comfortable unless they were in the environment that they had worked so hard to get out. Lot was a product of his environment he didn't feel comfortable unless he was in a sin ridden society. Therefore, God allowed Abraham to plea for Lots life and the life of his family. By God revealing to Abraham is plans of destruction and salvation Abraham knew how to pray in order that Lot and his family would be spared.  When we read the Bible that is God's way of revealing to us how He plans to save us in a world that will soon be destroyed. We have an opportunity as Christians to plea for the lives of others and ourselves. Remember this, if you don't remember anything else I have said, remember God saved you so that you will plead to Him in order that He may save others from eternal damnation. 

Covenant, is the doctrinal aspect in the Old Testament, was an agreement between God and His worshipers.  Covenant was originally developed by the civilization in the ancient Middle East as a means of regulating relations between social or political individuals. The earliest evidence for a covenant in the Old Testament occurs in Genesis 15:12-21 KJV, in which Yahweh pledges Himself unconditionally to grant the land of the Palestine to Abraham’s descendants.

God encourages Abraham concerning his enemies.  The Word of God encourages us, concerning our enemies because we have a covenant with Him our Lord through His Son “Jesus.”

Genesis 15:12-21 King James Version

1.   After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and they exceeding great reward.

2.   And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Elisezer of Damascuse?

3.   And Abram said, Behold, to me thou given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

Come on now is made, God is the covenanter and Abraham becomes the covenantee. God does not have to make this company does because he is merciful to us

4 and behold (which means taking to view, look) the word of the Lord came unto him, saying this shall not be thine heir.

5. And he brought him forth about, and, look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he saith unto him, so shall thy seed be.

6. And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness

 Faith in the “covenant” which God originated was to save mankind through the offspring of Abram. The covenant is sealed; the agreement is enforceable, because Abram believed God's Word that was spoken to him by God. Notice in verse four the Bible states that the word came to Abram. It is the same for us, the Word of God has to come to us, in fact the Word came to us as a man who walked among us, all we have to do today is to believe the Word. We now have an agreement with a covenant that promises us that our offspring shall be saved along with us if we are faithful enough to continually pray for them. It is all right to believe God for cars, houses, and financial blessing but remember those things go back to dust they do not last long. Material things do not have a soul therefore, we need to pray more for our families and do less praying for things.  We are going to stop right here.  Remember, to join me for “A Morning Cup of Word of live365.com/stations/thecrowngem