8 Scriptural Covenants

8 SCRIPTURAL COVENANTS

Now many Christians are not aware that there are this many covenants, and I can imagine a number of pastors couldn't name them all at a moment's notice.  So I think the average Christian, and new ones, too, might find this interesting.  The most important for all Christians is written in the New Testament, and I will cover it first, and all the rest are in biblical order in the Old Testament, the last having some New Testament affirmations as well as in the Old Testament.  Shall we find them?

The first is the Eternal Covenant, and it is found in Heb. 13:20 - 21: "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever.  Amen."  As Jesus has everlasting life, so His shed blood will bring everlasting life to every believer who hopes on His name, partaking in this covenant He offers. This is the Eternal Covenant, that we who believe on Jesus will be with Him eternally.

I would think you would find it most logical that the next covenant would be with the first man, and it is; the Adamic Covenant can be found in Gen. 3:14 - 19, and it does not bode well for mankind!  "And the LORD God said unto the serpent, 'Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.'  Unto the woman He said, 'I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.'  And unto Adam He said, 'Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, 'Thou shalt not eat of it': cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.'"  This says a lot!  First, the entire animal kingdom was affected!  Rom. 8:20 - 21 gives more on the matter, but only the serpent was altered in form because of the involvement in this original sin.  Additionally, there will be enmity between godly and ungodly people from generation to generation, and while Christ will deal a death blow to the head of Satan at the cross, Satan's bruising of Christ's heel was all the suffering Christ went through.  Women were also condemned to suffer in childbirth, and to be ruled over by their husbands.  This precept also is the first why it is not biblically correct for women to be pastors, because it would make them equal or greater than their husbands, and thus biblically incorrect.  Finally, the last of the Adamic Covenant is the cursing of the ground, and that man should work exhausting days of labor for food, eating herbs from a plot of land where weeds must be removed so that farming be possible.  Here God promises physical death, and return to dust.

The next is pretty familiar to Christians, it's the Noahic Covenant of Gen. 8:20 - 9:6.  "And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.  And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in His heart, 'I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.  While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.'  And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.  And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.  Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.  But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.  And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.  Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man.  And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.  And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 'And I, behold, I establish My covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.  And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.'  And God said, 'This is the token of the covenant which I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth.  And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.  And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.'  And God said unto Noah, 'This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between Me and all flesh that is upon the earth.'"  So God made some changes after the flood: He established predictable seasons, animal fear and dread of man, an animal diet for man, provided it is not eaten with blood, capital punishment is justified herein, and finally, abrand new phenomenon to the atmosphere of earth, a rainbow, to signify God's covenant between Noah, every living creature, and Him.

The next covenant is the Abrahamic Covenant, and it is found in Gen. 12:1 - 3, 13:14 - 17, 15:1 - 7, and 17:1 - 14.  This is a covenant of blessing, seed, and promise.  "Now the LORD had said unto Abram, 'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.'"  "And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, 'Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.  And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.  Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.'"  "After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, 'Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.'  And Abram said, 'Lord GOD, what wilt Thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?'  And Abram said, 'Behold, to me Thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.'  And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, 'This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.'  And He brought him forth abroad, and said, 'Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them:' and He said unto him, 'So shall thy seed be.'  And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.  And He said unto him, 'I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.'"  " And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, 'I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.  And I will make My covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.'  And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, 'As for Me, behold, My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.  Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.  And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.  And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.  And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.'   And God said unto Abraham, 'Thou shalt keep My covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is My covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.  And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt Me and you.  And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.  He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.  And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My covenant.'"  This covenant was fulfilled in the birth of Christ, the gift of the land of Canaan, unretractable, the birth of Isaac, and indeed the nations and kings that did so come out of Abraham, and on man's part, starting with Abraham, it was required circumcision to be part of the Abrahamic Covenant.

The next Covenant is the Mosaic Covenant, found in Exod. 20:1 - 31:18.  No, I'm not going to put all that into this study, but you are welcome to go to that large passage and read it!  Let's just be brief and say that it was a large legal covenant given to Israel of laws governing all aspects of life.  We use many of them today, such as not killing, not stealing, and not bearing false witness.  Our laws carry penalties for breaking some of these laws, while others have other consequences of a spiritual nature.

The fifth Covenant is the Inathering Covenant, found in Deut. 30:1 - 10. "'And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey His voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.  If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee: And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and He will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.  And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.  And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.  And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all His commandments which I command thee this day.  And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as He rejoiced over thy fathers: If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.'"  Basically, this is an Israeli covenant with God, governing Israel's possession and enjoyment of the land of Canaan.  I would submit to you that one last time this covenant is coming to fruition, because prophecies are fulfilling for the days of the Great Tribulation, and Israelis are indeed returning to their homeland!

The seventh Covenant of Scripture is the Davidic Covenant, a unique covenant indeed, governing the temporal and eternal rule of David's posterity.  "And it came to pass that night, that the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying, 'Go and tell my servant David, 'Thus saith the LORD, Shalt thou build Me an house for Me to dwell in?  Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle.  In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build ye not me an house of cedar?'  Now therefore so shalt thou say unto My servant David, 'Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over Israel: And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth.  Moreover I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, and as since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies.  Also the LORD telleth thee that He will make thee an house.  And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.  He shall build an house for My name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.  I will be his father, and he shall be My son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But My mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.  And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.'  According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David." (2 Sam. 7:4 - 17)  1 Chron. 17:4 - 15 pretty much says the same thing, so I won't write it to give brevity and eliminate redundancy.  In this covenant, I'm sure you note the Messianic prophecy contained therein; Jesus, according to earthly lineage, is from the line of David!

The last covenant is the New Covenant, that one which has Millenial blessings for Israel based on Jesus' death.  There is only one Old Testament passage of Scripture concerning this covenant, and the rest are New Testament.  "'Behold, the days come', saith the LORD, 'that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them', saith the LORD: 'But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days', saith the LORD, 'I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people.'" (Jer. 31:31 - 33)  This is different from the Mosaic Covenant, because it will be unconditional, and the provisions of it are fellowship with God, a change of heart, forgiveness of sins, and knowledge of Him.  "For finding fault with them, He saith, 'Behold, the days come', saith the Lord, 'When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not 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 continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not', saith the Lord.  'For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days', saith the Lord; 'I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord': for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest.  For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.'" (Heb. 8:8 - 12)  Other references to this covenant are found in Matt. 26:28, Mark 14:24, and Luke 22:20.  In the gospel, Jesus makes it plain that not just Israel, but all men who believe on Him, are saved in the blood of His death and this New Covenant.  Thank you Jesus for, as Paul wrote, this unspeakable gift!