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A covenant is an agreement between two parties that something must or must not be done. Biblical covenants show God's intentions toard man and His expectations for man's behavior. Many Biblical covenants are unconditional, meaning that God will honot the agreement regardless of man's response to the covenants. Most covenants contain blessings, if mankind honors the covenants, and punishments, if mankind does not.
There are eight covenants:
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SCRIPTURE: Genesis 2:15-17 15Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
SUMMARY: Humans would rule the earth and its creatures; populate and fill the earth; and care for Eden, while refraining from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. People would live in a beautiful environment, filled with the abundance of God, and have close, personal fellowship with God. The penalty for breaking the covenant is death. |
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SCRIPTURE: Genesis 3:14-17 14So the Lord God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. 15And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." 16To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." 17Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. 18Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. 19In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return."
SUMMARY: The serpent (Satan) is cursed. Although Satan will bruise Jesus' heel (crucifixion), Jesus will have ultimate victory (casting Satan into the Lake of Fire [Hell]). Women would experience pain in childbirth. The ground would be cursed, causing the abundance of Eden to disappear and the ground to be covered with weeds and thorns, no longer yielding food without toil. Mankind's life would be changed from one of rest and ease in Paradise to one of labor and hardship. A future Redeemer (Jesus) was promised. The penalty for rejecting the Redeemer is death. |
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SCRIPTURE: Genesis 9:8-17 8Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9"And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." 12And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 15and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." 17And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth."
SUMMARY: After destruction of the world by the Flood, God re-established the Adamic Covenant; human government is authorized; seasons are confirmed; human-animal relationships are re-defined (mankind could eat animal flesh and animals feared humans); and human life is protected. Humans are given the opportunity to create their own governments. The rainbow is given as assurance that the world would never again be destroyed by flooding. |
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SCRIPTURE: Genesis 15:4-5: 4And behold, the word of the LORD came to him [Abram, later Abraham], saying, "This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir." 5Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be."
SUMMARY: This unilateral covenant binds only God to Abraham's descendants, and requires no action by those being blessed. Abraham's descendants would be a great nation; Abraham would be blessed, spiritually and materially; and receive honor and be a blessing to others; the foreshadow of the Messiah's coming is contained in this covenant. The sign of the covenant is male circumcision. |
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SCRIPTURE: Exodus 19:5-6a: 5[The LORD said to the Israelites through Moses] "'Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.'...."
SUMMARY: God's people must obey God's voice and keep His covenants. The Israelites (later the Jews, and still later the Christians) will be God's special treasure, and will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. |
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SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 30:1-20: 1[Moses said to the Israelites on behalf of God] 1"Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God drives you,
2and you return to the LORD your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3that the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you.
4If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. 5Then the LORD your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. 6And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. 7Also the LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8And you will again obey the voice of the LORD and do all His commandments which I command you today. 9The LORD your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the LORD will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, 10if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 11For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. 12It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' 13Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' 14But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. 15See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. 19I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."
SUMMARY: This covenant, which re-states and emphasizes the Abrahamic covenant, clearly connects the Promised People with the Promised Land, has seven promises: the people Israel will be taken out of theland Israel, because of disobedience to God; Israel will repent; the Messiah will gather the exiles and return them to their land; the land will be restored to the Israelites; Israel will be converted as a nation; those who oppress Israel will be judged; and Israel will experience future prosperity. |
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SCRIPTURE: 2 Samuel 7:16 [Nathan spoke the words of the LORD to David] "And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever."
SUMMARY: This covenant, which expands preceding covenants, has five promises: David will have a son [Solomon], who will follow him and expand his kingdom; Solomon will build the first temple to God, rather than David; Solomon's throne will be established forever; if Solomon sinned, he would be chastised, but never removed from God's love; and David's house, throne, and kingdom will be established forever [ultimately fulfilled when "the Son of David," or Jesus, returns in His Second Coming to establish the Millennial Kingdom]. |
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SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 8:7-13 (actual covenant: 8-12) 7For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- 9not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD. 10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 13For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." 13In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
SUMMARY: This covenant is the eighth, or last, of God's covenants. God unconditionally promises to transform the hearts of His people. This covenant makes the presence of God available to every believer. God wil forgive sin through Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross. |