Covenant and ScriptureSample

God’s Covenant Purposes

The biblical covenants point towards a restoration of creation. They form God’s redemptive response to humanity’s rebellion against his purposes.

Central to God’s restoration of creation is the reconciliation of human beings. Each covenant reveals a significant and vital aspect of God’s unfolding plans and purposes. Each refers to his collaboration with a chosen covenant community.

Covenant with Noah

God’s covenant with Noah expresses God’s commitment to his creation. Despite human evil, God will remember his covenant with creation. The covenant with Noah echoes the creation narrative of Adam. God reminds Noah that human beings are made in his image. He instructs Noah’s family to be fruitful and multiply, swarm over the earth and multiply on it (Genesis 9: 7, cf. 1:26–28 ).

God establishes an everlasting covenant with Noah. He extends this covenant to Noah’s descendants and to every living creature of any kind on the earth. The rainbow becomes a sign of God’s covenant promise to never again destroy all living things (Genesis 6:18, 8:6–22,9:8–16).

Covenant with Abraham

After the flood and the covenant with Noah, the wickedness of human society continues. In response to this degeneration, God makes a covenant with Abraham through which he reveals his commitment to bless the families of the earth. He will form a great nation from Abraham’s descendants. He will redeem his purposes for creation, which are marred by human rebellion. He will do it through a people set apart to serve him.

In speaking to Abraham God uses a significant phrase: You are to be a blessing. It is both a promise and a command. Abraham is to share his sense of divine purpose and blessing with other tribes to whom he relates. Because of his relationship with God, he is to anticipate being a blessing to others. The covenant with Abraham is destined to expand in two, complementary directions:

• downwards to Abraham’s descendants, blessed in Abraham
• outwards to the whole human family, blessed by Abraham.

Covenant with Israel

Before they become a great nation, Abraham’s descendants become trapped as slaves in Egypt. Eventually, their groans reach God who remembers his covenant with Abraham and rescues the people. He guides and provides for them as they cross a desert wilderness. Before they enter the land promised to Abraham, on Mount Horeb, in the Sinai Desert, God forms a covenant with them.

At the outset, Israel is a small, weak, unimportant nation. Yet God calls them his own treasure, a kingdom of priests and a nation set apart (Exodus 1–18, especially 2:23–25 and 6:2–8, 19.4–6; Romans 9:4–9). Their calling is encapsulated in the Torah (the "Teaching", or "Instruction" from God; Exodus 20–31. Deuteronomy 4:5–8. Isaiah 42:6) and theTen Words given to Moses on Mount Sinai (traditionally identified, in Christianity, as Ten Commandments; Deuteronomy 5).

Torah teaches Israel how to live in covenant relationship with God. Through their faithfulness, Israel is called to show love, devotion and allegiance to God and to serve his purpose. Israel must continually choose between being faithful to the covenant relationship or falling into unfaithful idolatry. It is a choice between life and death, blessing and curse. Between deliverance and disaster, inheritance and exile (Deuteronomy 4:5–8, 30:1–20). These vital choices reveal:

• God’s kindness towards those embracing his covenant, submitting to his government and available to serve his purposes.
• God’s severity towards those rejecting his covenant, resisting his purposes and rebelling against his government (Romans 11:22).

Through the covenant, God offers life and blessing to the people of Israel. His grace and goodness are intended to eventually overflow towards other nations. Through faithfulness to the covenant, Israel is called to show God’s wisdom and understanding — to be a light to the Gentiles (non-Jewish nations; Isaiah 42:6, 49:6, 51:4, Luke 2:32, Acts 13:47, 26:18). God’s covenant with Israel embodies his intention to use a chosen people, through whom he intends to demonstrate his love, power, faithfulness and goodness towards humanity.

Covenant with David

Israel’s covenant represents their acknowledgement that God is their king. When they demand a human king, the prophet Samuel identifies this deep tragedy, though God reassures him (1 Samuel 8:7–8). Their first king, Saul, disobeys God by offering sacrifices that only priests may offer. God swiftly replaces Saul with another king: David, a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22; 1 Samuel 13:14). God makes a covenant with David, expressing his commitment to bless David’s reign and that of his descendants. He promises that a branch (descendant) of David’s lineage will continue to rule on the throne eternally (2 Samuel 7:12–16; also 1 Chronicles 17:11–14, Psalm 89:19–37, Luke 1:32–33).

After David dies, his son, Solomon, begins to reign with great wisdom. He celebrates the covenant by constructing and dedicating a lavish Temple in Jerusalem. He prospers greatly until his foreign wives and concubines tempt him to worship other gods. His idolatry invites God’s judgement and the nation is divided into two kingdoms, Isra’el and Judah. Within a century, both the kingdoms of Israel and Judah are exiled from the Land.

Another descendant must ultimately fulfil the original promise to David. A branch of David’s lineage (Jeremiah 23:5–6). A future anointed king — a messiah — who will bring deliverance and blessing to Israel.

Reflection

• What is most remarkable about the Abrahamic covenant?
• How did Israel respond to the calling to be a light to the nations?
• Why is David described as a man after God’s own heart?