Foundations for a Christian Worldview: The Works of God (4)

So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. Exodus 2.24

Covenant
The covenant, as a work of God, is a prominent theme in the Law of Moses. The first mention of God’s covenant is with Noah, when God showed him favor and promised to bring him into what is always referred to by God as “My covenant” (cf. Gen. 6.18). Later, God established His covenant with Abraham (Gen. 15.18; 17.7) and, subsequently, with Isaac and Jacob. And He “remembered” this covenant as the basis for Israel’s deliverance and renewal in His covenant at Mt. Sinai.

But what is God’s covenant?

God’s covenant is an arrangement between God and the people He chooses for Himself, an economy in which He promises them life, blessing, and dominion on condition of their trusting in Him exclusively. Only one covenant – God’s covenant – exists between God and His people, although that covenant takes various forms and is differently administered according to the changing circumstances of God’s people.

God’s covenant involves four components: God’s calling, God’s promises, God’s covenant obligations, and God’s seal. His calling is the occasion of His extending the covenant to people. His promises are what He resolves to do for them. His obligations describe the means whereby they may realize those promises. And his seal provides a stamp and marker which God provides as a reminder of His covenant.

Even though the word covenant is not mentioned in connection with Adam and Eve, we can see that, in effect, all the components are there. God created Adam and Eve and called them to take up His work of filling the earth and having dominion. He promised them life with Him, on condition of their obeying His Word. His seal of the covenant for Adam and Eve was the garden of Eden, where the goodness of God abounded on every hand.

God’s covenant comes to its first definitive form with Abram (Abraham), whom God called, and to whom He spelled out precious and very great promises, which Abram could expect to realize by moving to the land of Canaan and serving God there. This covenant with Abraham was transferred to his son, Isaac, and to Isaac’s son, Jacob, and his sons. It is this covenant with Abraham that God was attending to and preparing to renew (“remembered”) when He called Moses from the burning bush. At Mt. Sinai, God renewed His covenant with His people, setting forth both its promises and conditions in terms of His Law. The Law was not given to save His chosen people, but to show them how to live within the salvation God had provided for them, so as to realize maximum blessing.

Precious and very great promises
In Genesis 12.1-3, God declared His promises to His people in definitive fashion. Two basic promises organize the six promises outlined here: God promised to bless His people, and to make them a blessing to the world. Let’s look briefly at the six promises made to Abram which constitute the essence of God’s covenant.

A great nation. God promised Abram that he would be the father of a multitude of people. This echoes the mandate to Adam and Eve and Noah to “fill the earth” with offspring. God would later reinforce this promise by likening Abraham’s offspring to the sand of the sea, the dust of the earth, and the stars of the heaven.

Blessing. God promised to bless Abram and His seed. The Hebrew root of this word, בָּרַךְ, barach, also means “to kneel”, and in its nominative form, “knee.” Contained in the idea of God’s blessing Abraham, therefore, is that of his being on his knees before God, to see, know, worship, delight in, and serve God exclusively

A great name. Here the sense seems to be that Abraham and the nation descending from Him, blessed to know and serve the living God, would be a people of great influence, to shape and bring God’s goodness to their world.

Be a blessing. God’s covenant people are to be for God a conduit of blessing to the world, to all creation and its peoples, that the goodness of God might again appear throughout the earth.

Bless and curse. This promise anticipates that not all the nations and peoples of the world would respond favorably to the blessings extended to them through the people of God. Some will be incorporated into those blessings, and those who repudiate them will come under the curse of God.

All families of the earth. The promise of blessing is to extend through Abraham’s seed to all the earth, both geographically and historically. God Himself will bring restored blessing and goodness to the world through the people He has chosen for Himself.

All of grace
Theologians sometimes treat the various covenants of the Old Testament, particularly those mentioned in the Law, as separate covenants, in which people, in effect, earnthe favor of God by fulfilling certain obligations. This is to misread both the nature of God’s covenant and the terms on which He has founded it.

God’s covenant is one covenant – “My covenant” – but it unfolds in various stages, during which the manner of God’s administering His covenant with His people changes to adjust to their circumstances. The covenant remains the same, but the manner of God’s discharging it – the economy or dispensation of His covenant – is made to fit the needs of His people.

Thus, God’s covenant is always a covenant of promise, a covenant of grace. We see this most clearly in Genesis 15, in the ceremony by which God sealed His covenant with Abram. What is described here was a covenant practice common among kings and rulers in those days. A covenant path of slain animals was constructed, the terms of the covenant were declared, then the covenanting partners walked the path, as if saying to the assembled hosts of each nation, “Let the same thing happen to whoever violates this covenant as you see having happened to these animals.” In the case of God’s covenant with Abram, only the symbols representing God pass between the slain animals. God takes upon Himself boththe obligation of fulfilling the covenant, and the penalty for failing to do so. Abram’s duty is merely to receive the covenant and live within its gracious terms, and the precious and very great promises of the covenant would come to him accordingly.

God’s covenant provides an economy and administration which sustains the Lord’s relationship with His people throughout the Scriptures. And all the essential features and terms of that glorious and gracious covenant are established in the Law of Moses.

For reflection
1. Why is God’s covenant so prominent in the books of Moses?

2. What is the role of faith in God’s covenant? What comes to those who live by faith?

3. How is it apparent that God’s covenant with His people is always all of grace?

Next steps – Transformation: Imagine that the promises of God’s covenant were being fulfilled in your life and Personal Mission Field. What would you expect to see?

T. M. Moore

For a more detailed exposition of God’s covenant, order the book, I Will Be Your God, by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.