LESSON ONE
INTRODUCTION
TO COVENANT
by Steve and Terri
White
PART ONE: "What Is
a Covenant?"
God is the God of covenant.
From the beginning He expressed Himself to His creation as such. In turn, all human
societies began and operated on the basis of covenant. It would appear that God placed
covenant among men as a shadow in the earth . . . a hope and a promise of a kind of love
that man lost touch with in the Fall. God does not have a casual relationship with us, but
rather a covenant commitment. Therefore, the study of covenant is the key to understanding
the nature of God and the unity of the scriptures.
But what is covenant? A
covenant is a binding agreement between two people or groups. It is to be kept until
death. Although two persons or groups of equal status do make covenant, oftentimes a
greater ruler imposes a covenant on a lesser ruler. Similarly, man cannot function as an
equal in a covenant with God; he can only accept the covenant initiated by God. The
following is a common model of covenant; we will use Tribe A and Tribe B to represent the
two parties making a covenant:
1. The two tribes decide the terms of the covenant.
2. Each tribe chooses a person to represent its tribe. These two persons are responsible for representing
their respective tribes in the making of the covenant (much like a modern-day ambassador).
This means that when each representative makes the covenant, it is just as if every member
of each tribe was there. In other words, all of Tribe A is in its representative as he fulfills the terms of the covenant; the
same for Tribe B.
3. Each representative pledges his life and loyalty to the other.
4. There is an exchange of weapons. Each tribe pledges to use their skills to help the other. Tribe A
is skilled in warfare and promises to defend Tribe B. Tribe B is an educated people and
commits to helping Tribe A educate its people.
5. Blood sacrifice -- Each representative cuts himself in the same place, then they
put their open wounds together so that their blood mingles. Usually some sort of powder is
packed into the wounds to cause a prominent scar as a reminder to everyone of the
covenant. A place on the hand is the most common place for the wound. This is where our
modern-day handshake comes from. There is also an animal sacrificed in ancient covenants.
It is cut in half and the two representatives walk in a figure-eight around the two animal
halves.
6. The covenant meal is eaten. It usually consists of bread and wine.
7. Lastly, there is a name exchange. Tribe A becomes Tribe AB and Tribe B becomes Tribe BA. They
become one.
8.
Each tribe keeps the covenant even if it kills them.
9.
If one tribe does not keep the covenant, then death follows the covenant breaking tribe.
Using this model, we will
examine the blood covenants that God has made throughout time. You will find that some of
the covenants do not include all of these elements, but they are covenants nonetheless.
PART TWO: "The Character
of God"
God is love (I John
4:7,16), and all of His attributes are different facets of love. They are like the
ingredients to a cake. Each ingredient fulfills a specific function different from the
others. In proper proportions, all the ingredients mixed and baked together make a cake.
Thus, when we speak of the various aspects of God’s character, we can make this
statement:
Different attributes added
together = Love
For example, the scripture
teaches that God is faithful. His faithfulness, then, is one of the
"ingredients" or aspects of love. Faithfulness alone cannot fully describe God,
just as flour alone cannot become a cake.
The following are some of the
attributes of God:
-
Ex. 34:6,7 good, merciful,
gracious, longsuffering, truth, forgiving
Most of the references are
from the Old Testament. When you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the New
Testament, note that Jesus, "the
express image of His [God’s] person," exhibits the character of God throughout His earthly life.
In the Old Testament, when a
person had a special encounter with God, he gave God a title to express the particular
facet of God’s character that ministered to him. He was Jehovah-Raah, the LORD my shepherd or friend, to David. For Abraham, He was Jehovah-Jireh, The LORD my provider, after God provided a ram as the sacrifice.
When the Israelites defeated the Amalekites in the wilderness, He was Jehovah-Nissi, the LORD is my banner (victory). The giving of the Law at Mt.
Sinai was designed to make the Hebrews a holy nation -- set apart from all peoples
of the world and set apart to God. He became known as Jehovah-Mekoddishken, the LORD who sanctifies (sets you apart). In the dark hours of
Israel’s history, Jehovah-Shalom, the LORD is peace, revealed Himself to Gideon.
Provoked by her rival, barren Hannah entreated Jehovah-Sabaoth, the
LORD of hosts (deliverer) to give her a child. Jeremiah described the coming
messiah as Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the LORD our righteousness.
All of these
attributes, and more, are expressions of God. Together they depict The One God, who is
love. God’s character -- the way He is -- is expressed to us in covenant from Genesis
through Revelation. Paul cried, "That
I may know Him . . ."
(Phil. 3:10) It is through a covenant relationship with God that man comes to know God.
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