Why does god make covenants with people

God enters a redemptive partnership with Abraham, developed progressively in Genesis 12, 15, and He promises Abraham a huge family that will inherit a promised piece of land in Canaan and bring universal blessing to all humanity through his family. You can remember these promises like this: 1 offspring, 2 land, and 3 universal blessing.

Evil continued to reign over the world. Genesis traces the downward spiral of mankind, peaking in the story of the tower of Babel. Then, in a stunning act of grace, God selects Abraham and calls him into a covenantal relationship. Stipulation s : Abraham is to leave his land and follow God wherever he leads, walking blamelessly before God and training his family to do what is right and just, and keeping circumcision in every generation.

This is both a conditional and unconditional covenant. God and man each have a part to play, but ultimately these promises will be fulfilled because God will see to it that they come to pass. Sign : Circumcision Genesis God rescues Israel from slavery in Egypt and promises to make them his own treasured possession, a holy, set apart nation. He will personally dwell in their midst and bring them into the promised land. He Yahweh will be their God and they Israel will be his people.

Moreover, they will be a kingdom of priests that mediate his goodness and glory to all the nations. An epic role in redemptive history. They cry out to God and God hears them, sending Moses to be his instrument of divine power to lead them out of Egypt towards the promised land. When they reach the foot of Mt. Sinai God shows up in a big way like huge! Stipulation s : This was a conditional covenant of grace. Israel was to obey the terms embodied in all the laws given at Mt. Sinai summarized in the ten commandments.

God promised to bring blessings if they followed his commands, but curses if they disobeyed see Deuteronomy 28 , most notably exile into foreign lands. And we get the feeling in Deuteronomy that the water is poisoned from the start. Sign : Sabbath Exodus A sign that God sanctified and set apart Israel to be holy unto him. God establishes David as king over Israel and promises to make his name great.

God will raise up a Davidic descendant who will build a house for the Lord and his throne and kingdom will last forever. God then chooses David, the son of Jesse, from the tribe of Judah. This should pique your interest. But God has other plans. He will build an everlasting kingdom and throne for David, not the other way around. Stipulation s : David and his descendants must remain faithful to God, walk in covenantal faithfulness, and lead Israel in obedience to the covenantal laws.

However, there are conditional and unconditional elements to the covenant. Hmmm…I wonder who that could be?! He promises to make an everlasting covenant with his people in which he will write his law on their hearts, bring complete forgiveness of sin, put his Spirit in them to empower them to love and obey his commands, raise up a faithful Davidic king to rule over them, bring them back into the land to reunify them into one people of God, and cause them to be a light to the nations.

Situation : The new covenant is explicitly introduced by the prophets in the context of total failure. The curses of the covenant came upon them as they were exiled to Babylon. But there, the prophets give us hope—God would one day bring about a new covenant. The anticipation of this covenant pushes the story forward into the pages of the New Testament where we are introduced to Jesus, the one who will fulfill all the prophetic promises and bring about blessing for all peoples.

Stipulation s : There are no stipulations to this unconditional covenant of grace. God both gives the promises and brings them about through the work of his faithful Son Jesus.

God promised Abraham offspring, land, and universal blessing. All those who belong to Jesus Christ by faith are children of Abraham. The promise of land was fulfilled when Israel possessed Canaan under the leadership of Joshua and Solomon, yet Israel lost the land and went into exile because of sin.

The promise of land was realized proleptically in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, for his resurrection represents the arrival of the new creation, and it will find its final fulfillment in the new creation—the new temple over which God and the Lamb will reign Rev.

This book shows how the kingdom of God has advanced through the progression of distinct covenants, collectively serving as the foundation for God's promise to bring redemption to his people. The covenant with Israel was gracious, for the Lord freed his people from Egyptian slavery.

The covenant was also patterned after suzerain-vassal treaties in the ancient Near East. Blessings were promised for obedience and curses for disobedience. Israel failed to abide by the covenant stipulations, summarized in the Ten Commandments and as a result was sent into exile.

The covenant with Israel had a built-in obsolescence and focused on Israel as a nation; it did not transform the heart of those who heard the covenant demands. The covenant with David stands in continuity with previous covenants. The rule over the world originally given to Adam would be realized through a Davidic king. The promises of offspring, land, and blessing given to Abraham would be secured through the Davidic ruler.

In a similar way the blessings promised in the Mosaic covenant would come to fruition under faithful Davidic kings, but if they strayed from the Lord, then the curses would come. Despite the conditional elements, the covenant with David was ultimately unconditional.

God guaranteed a Davidic king on the throne but the covenant promise would only be fulfilled by an obedient king, and the New Testament claims that this person is Jesus of Nazareth. God regenerates his people by his Spirit and renews their hearts so that they obey him.

The basis for such renewal is the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for by his atoning death and resurrection complete forgiveness of sins is achieved. The covenant with Israel has passed away, and now the promise is fulfilled in the restored Israel, which consists of both Jews and Gentiles. All the promises made to Abraham and David are fulfilled in the new covenant.

Thomas R. Ryan Lister. What does it mean that God condescended in Christ and dwells with us through His Spirit? By faith our fathers labored: in faith they lived and died.

From Abraham to David, faith stood when it was tried. This covenant of grace divine, by Christ's own blood was bought; The promises of blessing shall never come to naught. By martyr's death the holy seed was sown in grief and pain, That holy seed will flourish till Christ shall come again. The church of God triumphant shall in that final day. Have all her sons and daughters home from the well-fought fray.

This post was originally published in Tabletalk magazine. Teaching Series. Conference Messages. Tabletalk Magazine. Gift Certificates. Ligonier Ministries.

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