Covenant and ScriptureSample

Summary: Covenant and Scripture

The reading plan you have now completed, Covenant and Scripture, explores how the biblical covenants are key to faithfully interpreting God’s historical and eternal purpose. Appreciating the significance of God’s covenants is essential to a holistic interpretation of Scripture.

• Day 1: Scripture in perspective explored how the books and stories of the Bible are bound together by a series of covenants. Covenant relationships, established with human beings, are crucial to God’s redemption of his creation.
• Day 2: Characteristics of covenant explored how covenants bind people together: formalising a relationship, and creating a solemn obligation between two parties. Covenants are confirmed with sacrificial meals and spoken oaths.
• Day 3: Characteristics of God’s covenants explored how the covenants that God forms with his people follow the pattern of historical covenants. The biblical covenants create a servant nation. The faithfulness of this covenant community is vital to God’s historical purposes.
• Day 4: God’s covenant purposes explored how the biblical covenants point towards a restoration of creation. They form God’s redemptive response to humanity’s rebellion against his purposes.

Biblical Panorama

The image below updates the panorama that has been constructed by this study, illustrating God’s unfolding purposes, through the covenants with Abraham, Israel, and David.

The covenant with David hints at a future descendant — an anointed Messiah — who will re-establish the royal kingdom and reign eternally. Stretching out over the unfolding biblical drama is the Abrahamic blessing: a great nation, blessed to be a blessing to all the families of the earth.

Reflection

• Testament is an alternative word for covenant. The Christian Bible consists of the Old and New Testaments. What does this suggest about the significance of covenant to Scripture?
• What significance do God’s covenants have to you and your community?
• What does God require most importantly from his covenant community?

Well done on completing this biblical study and reading plan!

Interested in more from Eternal Purpose?

This reading plan is drawn from Eternal Purpose Resource 1 — the Eternal Purpose of God, which incorporates three further studies of a similar length to this reading plan.

If you would like to continue studying the Resource and review the available library of Eternal Purpose Resources, please visit our website: eternalpurpose.international .

Eternal Purpose Initiative aims at facilitating the publication of the Eternal Purpose Resources library of scripturally-based, formational discipleship resources — in 10 ethno-cultural regions of the world, in 10 gateway languages, in 10 years — by making the entire Resources library available to study, print and translate under a royalty-free licence.

Photographs: reflective images encapsulated in the study are photographs taken by the author, of coastal locations in South Wales · Cymru.