One of the things the Lord has revealed to me that is necessary for those who believe in Jesus to possess, is a basic working understanding of God's covenants.
If you don't understand covenant you will have difficulty fully understanding God's ways. If you don't understand God's ways, you can and most likely will place yourself on the wrong side of God on the most important issues of existence.
Hosea 4:6: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
That "wrong side" is exactly where the nations find themselves as they attempt to divide the land of Israel. While seemingly powerful people are attempting to impose their will upon God, and in many cases calling it God's will, the Lord is methodically, according to His timetable, keeping His promises.
As believers, our desire should be to glorify Jesus by staying on the "right side" of God, honoring Him and being mindful of His promises. God operates by His covenants.
God makes conditional and unconditional covenants. You can recognize them in God's word by one of two terms of presentation.
One is "if you will" (as in Deuteronomy 28) the other is "I will." (as in Genesis 12:1-3/15:5-21 amongst other places).
The: "I will" covenants in the Bible are not contingent on man's efforts. God obligates only Himself to keep the promises that hold the covenant together.
The "If you will" covenant that God made with Israel does require both parties' adherence to its' terms to maintain the covenant. This is the Mosaic Covenant and is the only conditional one that God made with Israel. (See Dr. Fruchtenbaum "Fruit From the Frucht" www. Ariel.org)
In Genesis 15 as God made a covenant with Abram (later Abraham) there are eternally significant things that God did, that sadly, many in the church don't understand.
Here the LORD "cut a covenant" with Abram, which confirmed God's earlier promises in Genesis 12:1-3.
The definition for the word made is: To cut. The definition of the word covenant here is: an immutable unbreakable agreement made by passing between pieces of cut flesh.
Have you ever heard of the term "To cut a deal?" This type of covenant is the origination of that saying.
In Abraham's time, they would cut animals in two and space each animal in a way that two people could walk between the animals in a figure eight fashion.
As the covenanting parties walked through the blood, they would look at the animals and say things such as: "May what has happened to these animals happen to me if I break the terms of this covenant."
This obligated them to keep the covenant unto death. However, in this covenant, God puts Abraham to sleep and walks between the pieces of cut flesh by Himself, thus obligating Himself- not Abraham to keep this covenant.
In this covenant, God passed down through Abraham's descendants the promises of amongst other things: land, a nation of physical people, blessings and protection, blessing and cursing for others, dependant on their treatment of the covenanted people, and a blessing for all the nations.
The next very important question is: through which of the descendants is the promise passed?
Abraham had many children, as he re-married after the death of Sarah, and Keturah gave him children in addition to Ishmael and Isaac.
We see in
Genesis 17:19-21/26:1-5/28:13-15/32:28 and 49:28, that the promise is passed from Abraham to Isaac, to Jacob, who underwent a name change to "Israel" by God Himself.
In this covenant with Abraham God chose Isaac not Ishmael and Jacob not Esau. The terms of this covenant, including heirship of the land, are under attack from God's enemies and, sadly, some deceived friends of God.
By the way, when God says that He will curse them that curse the descendants of this promise, curse means: "to esteem lightly, to despise, or treat with contempt."
Aside from the world, how many that claim the name of Jesus are walking under a curse today for esteeming Israel lightly? Many I am certain.
This is the "Abrahamic Covenant" and its' terms are based on an unconditional promise made by God. The promise of land, a nation of what we see in the Bible as Jewish people, blessings and protection, spiritual global descendants, are all fulfilled in one Person. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying "In you all the nations shall be blessed."
The Lord Jesus is the KEY fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham, the believer in the gospel of Jesus Christ!
The Church is fulfillment of the "And in you all of the families of the earth shall be blessed" part of the covenant.
Also in Matthew 1:21 the angel says to Joseph "You shall call His name Jesus (or Yeshua meaning Jehovah will save) for He will save His people from their sins.
The New Covenant is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant to Israel. (Jeremiah 31:31-34/Acts 3:25,26) The rest of the terms of the promise including, the Biblical boundaries of Israel and the return of the Jews to the land are being fulfilled! (Deuteronomy 30:1-10/Ezekiel 36,37) Many of the Jews are back in the land and the rest are going to come! It gets better. Then many will receive the Promised One, Jesus! (Zechariah 12:10) In Jesus, the rest of the covenant given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will come to pass! (Romans 11:26-29)
Remember the Jewish people are His people. All of the covenants from Abram to the end are made with Israel.
The church has been grafted into their promises. (Romans 1:11-18)
Many forget that Jesus is a direct descendant of David and that God established a covenant with David which guarantees a physical descendant of David will be reigning on his throne forever (2 Samuel 7:11,12).
This is the Davidic covenant. Revelation 22:16 reveals to us the glorified descendant of David, our precious Messiah King Jesus.
He has come and will come again to save Israel and we, who have entered into the New Covenant will reign with Him forever!
The nations of the world are saying that the Holy Hill in Jerusalem, from which King Jesus will reign, is not His and that it belongs to the followers of Allah.
Not only is God not surprised, but He is laughing at them. We hear His laughter in the second chapter of Psalm. Yet this Psalm also warns the world leaders not to make Him angry. God, like David Banner before he turned into the Incredible Hulk said "You won't like me when I am angry." Believe me, the Hulk is nothing next to the anger of God!
In Psalm 83:1-9 we see the covenant of the nations that today are arrayed against God to wipe out Israel.
The world is about to see God get angry and they aren't going to like it. We are simply watching two covenants at war. Man and this current world system, under the control of Satan, have made a covenant against God-but I know who wins!
Many professing Jesus are saying that the Jews are out and the church is in. "The land doesn't belong to the Jews because the Church has become spiritual Israel and we are now the Jews."
To them I must say: You cannot separate the land (Israel), from the physical people (the Jewish people), from the blessing and cursing, from the spiritual global descendants (the Church). You cannot separate the physical and spiritual fruits of the covenant. He keeps His promise for all or He doesn't keep His promise at all.
If we honestly interpret the Abrahamic covenant we have to ask a simple question. What hermeneutical principle tells us that we can erase the physical descendants, take away their promises in the covenant, replace them with the global spiritual descendants (the Church) and give them all of the promises?
But, as some would say, all of the cursing from the Mosaic covenant is still the Jews' to endure. What scriptural gymnastics!
Very simply, this is all about God's Name and His word. In Ezek 36:21-28 God says that He will bring the Jews back from around the world unbelieving in Jesus. Why?
The purpose is to vindicate and glorify His holy name because He has made a promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Then after gathering them from the nations He will wash Israel in the cleansing of His righteousness! Remember the Jews' disobedience isn't preventing God from keeping His unconditional covenant.
Woe be unto those who get in His way as He is keeping His promises!
Some would say that the Old Testament is Law and the New is grace, so the Abrahamic covenant is no longer valid.
To them I must say: It has been grace through faith all the way. It was grace in the Garden of Eden as God spared Adam and Eve, with Noah, with rebellious Israel, as it is with you and me.
How was Abraham justified (declared righteous)?
He simply believed the LORD, as do we (Genesis 15:6/John 3:16). The difference is that in the New Covenant we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us!
Habakkuk tells us in 2:4 that the just shall live by faith. Isn't that the Old Testament?
Why then have most of the Jewish people not been in the land for almost two thousand years?
Why have they been scattered and butchered?
The Mosaic Covenant was an "If you will" covenant, and the condition of obedience was directly related to keeping the land.
In Deuteronomy 28:1,15,16,62-66 we see the blessing for obedience, which included keeping the land, and the cursing of God scattering the Jews as a result of breaking this covenant.
The scattering is over and Jesus the Lord God Almighty is now bringing them back in fulfillment of His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Do these covenants contradict? No!
In Galatians 3:23,24 we see that the purpose of the Law is to keep people in custody and to point them to their need of a Savior.
As the Jews have been scattered all over the world for approximately two thousand years, through all the different cultures and languages, what is one of things that the Lord has used to keep Israel as a people?
In one word it is Torah (THE LAW).
The Law also keeps societies in custody today. That is why satan is using deceived people to take the Ten Command-ments out of every important segment of our society. Satan knows that a society without God's laws will have terror and chaos reigning.
Just look out your window.
Like nothing else, the Law reveals man's sin and is a very effective tool for evangelism. (Romans 3:20/7). We see that the "Law" shows us how depraved we really are, so that none can say that they are righteous. So, the Mosaic Law is serving God's purposes without contradicting the Abrahamic covenant. To the contrary, it compliments God's promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Only King Jesus could do such marvelous things!
Does the Mosaic Law nullify the Abrahamic Covenant? Galatians 3:17, speaking of the Abrahamic covenant and the Law, shows us that it most certainly does not. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.
God is still blessing those that bless the physical descendants of Jacob (Israel). God is still cursing the ones that are esteeming them lightly in their minds, despising them, and holding them in contempt.
God tells us of His wrath for breaking the everlasting covenant in Isaiah 24:5,6.
The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men are left.
What is this everlasting covenant?
1 Chronicles16:14-18. He is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the earth. Remember His covenant forever, the word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel for an everlasting covenant, saying "TO you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance."
God is serious about His promises.
Remember, the more we understand Jesus' promises the more we know King Jesus!
2 Peter 1:2-4: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
May we seek the Lord Jesus for the understanding of His covenants.
Don Schwarz –Minister/ Director New Birth Ministries
