A covenant is an agreement between two people; it will only work if both parties will honor their obligation to it. Therefore it is conditional. God had a covenant with Abraham, from which the nation of Israel was born. The Lord also promised Abraham’s descendants the land of Canaan, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates. When Abraham was tested on the mountain “The Lord will provide,” God blessed him by saying, I have sworn by Myself, says the Lord, that since you have done this and have not withheld or begrudged your son, your only son, in blessing I will bless and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand of the seashore. And you Seed will possess the gate of His enemies. And in your Seed [Christ] shall all the nations of the earth be blessed and [by Him] bless themselves, because you have heard and obeyed My voice (Gen. 22:17-18). Although Abraham kept the covenant between God and him, his descendants did not; reason why they lost their beautiful Promised Land covenanted with them, conditionally upon their keep of the contract.
Tag: Covenant
The Law Served As a Guide To Lead Us To Christ (Part 2)
(Galatians 3)
I am the Lord your God… you shall have no other god before Me (Exodus 20:2). And now, Israel, what does the Lord God require of you but to fear the Lord your God – to walk in all His ways and to love Him and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with you entire being to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? (Deut. 10: 5, 12.13)
The Law showed the nation of Israel the holiness of the Lord, the need for them to desire it for themselves through obedience to God’s commandments as their part of the covenant. No one outside the Law’s requirements was able to please God’s holiness. In holiness, our God is righteous, and righteousness is the foundation of His throne (Psalm 89:14a). From the beginning men adopted many gods to satisfy their spiritual hunger, since they were created with a spiritual need for God. The Law was given with the purpose to point men to the One True God and His attributes. There are two aspects of the Law: ceremonial and moral. The ceremonial rituals served to point to the ultimate sacrifice of God’s Son, ending all the sacrifices of animals for the atonement of men’s sin. The blood of God’s Son poured out for the forgiveness of sin was more than sufficient to ratify the agreement of the new covenant- covenant of blood.
Children of Abraham
(Galatians 3)
Thus Abraham believed, and it was reckoned and placed to his account and credited as righteousness (3:7). Faith is the thing that connects us believers to the Patriarch Abraham. When learning about his life’s background, we see that faith guided him to obedience to the call to leave his country. Although he had come from a family who worshiped false gods, God called Abraham out of that to a place he hadn’t known before for a purpose to form a nation out of his descendants. He gathered his things, wife and nephew and took off to a place God chose for him. The Lord said to Abram, Go for yourself away from your country, for your relatives and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing… Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had acquired in Haran, and they went froth to go to land of Canaan (Gen. 12:1-2,5).
Why was the Holy Spirit sent to the Upper Room and not to the Temple
Before our Lord YAHSHUA went back to heaven He promised the disciples His presence to be with them always. So deep was His love for humankind. He said, I am with you all the days to the close and consummation of the age (Matt. 28: 20b). In His priestly prayer, He prayed His desire that those whom God had entrusted Him may be with Him where He is (John 17:24a). God the Son came into this world and physically displayed God’s love for men. When He had fulfilled all that He had come to do, He then sent His Holy Spirit to abide in those who would trust and receive His gift of salvation. One can never measure God’s gift toward men. It just grows beyond men’s life on earth. Amazing gift! For the disciples to receive the promised Holy Spirit, He instructed them where they should be in order to receive Him. He said, And behold, I will send forth upon you what My Father has promised: but remain in the city [Jerusalem] until you are clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49). The upper room was the place where His Spirit was to descend upon them. A new chapter of God’s book was opened for men to know and follow His instructions. That was a new era, a new dispensation- the new covenant- the covenant of blood which included people from the entire world. Christendom was then born. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).
When You Are in Tribulation in the Latter Days
(Deuteronomy 31:29)
For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands. Moses spoke these solemn words to Israel at the end of his journey through the desert. He had seen and experienced many things from his people as he led them to the Promised Land. It grieved him to see the indifference of the people toward obedience to God. From those many years traveling together, Moses could perceive the evil hearts of the people and through a song he prophesied about Israel in the latter days. He also prophesied concerning Israel’s idolatry and departure from God after his death: But Jeshurun (Israel) grew fat and kicked. You became fat, you grew thick, you were gorged and sleek! Then he forsook God Who made him and forsook and despised the Rock of his salvation. They provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations they provoked Him to anger. They sacrificed to demons, not to God-to gods whom they knew not, to new gods lately come up, whom your fathers never knew or feared…you forgot the God Who travailed in your birth (Deut. 32:15-18).
Friends for a Life Time – David and Jonathan
When God’s Holiness Touches Man
(Daniel 10:5-9; Exodus 33; Revelation 1: 17a)
While Adam remained in covenant with God, he remained in fellowship with Him. But when he broke it, he became spiritually and physically separated from God and His holiness. He lost the light from God which clothed him. Once that was gone, he entered into darkness and did not want his darkness to be exposed, so he hid it from God and the light from His holiness when he heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden, in the cool of the day.
Light from the Word 