In Other Words…Covenant

"Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands." Deuteronomy 7:9

The Old Testament centers around the concept of covenant. The concept of covenant is the overarching theme of the OT. From the beginning God was making covenants with his creation in an effort to relate and interact with them. It shows that God wanted to bond eternally with a people who persistently rejected him.

But for the most part the idea of a “covenant” is foreign to our culture. Mostly we deal in contracts – a selfish agreement often intended to provide us with some benefit. Occasionally we make promises, but don’t worry too much about keeping them because there is usually not a consequence for breaking a promise.

Our culture is not interested in keeping their word or keeping promises. They even try to get out of contracts when they don’t go their way and will file a suit for a breach of contract. Most see it as not a big deal to break a promise or get out of it. This is a far different understanding than what is found in the Bible.
I already talked about the difference between a contract and a covenant. And in order to really understand the Bible you have to understand that in a covenant, both parties are hoping the other succeeds and they do whatever they can for each other. And they are willing to take great consequences upon themselves as an assurance that the covenant is fulfilled.

Let me give you a very clear example from the Bible. Though our translations say, “Make a covenant” the Hebrew says “cut a covenant.” Because when a covenant was made, animals are slaughtered in the ritual. In a covenant ceremony an animal was cut into two. Then, if the parties were equal they would walk between the pieces of the animal and say, “May I become like this animal if I break the covenant.” In other words, they were calling for the death penalty if they failed to keep their end of the covenant. If the two making the covenant were not equal, like a King and a lesser noble, the lesser person would walk through the animal to show that he was in a position of weakness. (See Jeremiah 34:18-20)

With that in mind let me read a story to you from Genesis 15.
After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus? You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” 10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.

As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age.
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

So God is reaffirming the covenant that he made to Abraham in chapter 12. That he will be a great, prosperous, and numerous nation. But Abraham doubts, because he has no son – no heir. So God shows him the stars and promises that his descendants will be as numerous as those stars. So Abraham is reassured and believes. But not completely. He also wonders how he is going to take possession of the land. And it is at this point that God engages in the covenant ceremony. He tells Abraham to get a bunch of animals, cut them in half, and separate them. Then God does something unbelievable. He again assures Abraham that he will fulfill his end of the covenant, that his will have a bunch of offspring and will inhabit the land. And to prove how committed God is to the covenant, he comes down and appears in a pot with fire and smoke pouring out of it, and that pot passes through the animals. Do you see what just happened? God took the consequences of breaking the covenant upon himself. When God passes through the animals he bears upon himself the curse of the broken covenant. He is saying, “If I don’t fulfill this covenant, many I die like these animals.” That is unheard of for the person in power (in this case God) to lower himself to take on the curses. But it shows how desperately God wants this covenant fulfilled.

It shows that God was willing to prove his devotion to the relationship by offering his own life. It shows that God not only was willing to offer his own life to keep the covenant, but he also was willing to pay the price for any covenant failure on the part of the human beings with whom he was in relationship. This promise certainly exceeded the limits of human covenant-making practices.

Another amazing thing about this passage is that it begins with a promise, but then Abraham voices his disbelief. But God affirms the covenant by sowing signs of His character. First he says, “Look at the stars. If I can make those, I can give you children.” Then he says, “I care so much about you and this covenant that I will die before I fail to make it happen. And after these signs and reaffirmations, Abraham believes. God never says how he will accomplish these covenants, he just affirms the covenant and displays his power. He gives us signs that remind us that He is working even when we can’t see it. Each covenant has a sign. The Flood was the rainbow. The Abraham was circumcision. The covenant to Moses was the Law.
And I wonder, do we look up when we see a rainbow and think, “Oh good, God isn’t going to flood the earth again.” We should. When we are reminded of God’s faithfulness to the covenant it should inspire faith and faithfulness just as Abraham was.

Covenants have not ended with the Old Testament. In fact, they are fulfilled and expanded in the New Testament. Jesus came to establish a new covenant, using his own blood to confirm it:
“And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.’” Luke 22:19-20

Just as the blood of the sacrifice was used to ratify a covenant, this new covenant was from Jesus himself. Jesus is God’s perfect Son and he also makes a covenant with all believers, promising to give us salvation through his sacrifice. Crucifixion is not God taking out his anger on Jesus, but is a manifestation of Genesis 15—God taking on the curse and the consequences of unfaithfulness to the covenant. Not only does the great sovereign Creator of heaven and earth descend to be in relationship with sinful human beings, but he offers his own life to provide escape for covenant breakers.

The bread and cup today symbolize his broken body and shed blood, reminding Christians that God has faithfully kept the covenant. And now he calls us to enter into that same covenant. We too are entering into the covenant that Jesus fulfilled/continued. Our worship is a rehearsing of the covenant. It is a practical working out of the covenant. And communion is just one aspect of our worship. When we partake of communion, we are committing to the covenant. It reenacts the covenant ceremony. The tearing of the bread is like the tearing of Christ’s body. The pouring of the juice is the spilling of Christ’s blood. And as we partake, we join God’s side and make this covenant with the world.

We need not worry about the penalty of death since God has already taken that upon himself. Instead, we concentrate on blessing the world through our actions.

For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:26