Covenant

A covenant is an agreement between two or more parties. It is essentially a contract. Covenants bind the parties to fulfill certain terms. They can be positive, such as when they say something like “if you will do this then I will do that”. Or negative such as when they say ‘if you do this then I will not do that’. But, in either case both parties actions are in some way constrained by an obligation. How amazing it must have been for the Israelites to receive a covenant from the supreme God of the universe. It was an earthshaking event. Here was God binding himself to a contract! It wasn’t just a command like “you must do this”. It was a command with a promise attached. A command with terms in which YHWH chose to constrain Himself to. The giving of the Law at Sinai was one of the most important events in history. A contract between YHWH and the people that were willing to obey His commandments. It was an inconceivably revolutionary thing for YHWH to do. I want to show you just how often this covenant is recurrent in scripture to give you some idea as to how important it is. Because, it seems like we have forgotten.

The Torah

Exodus 20:4 I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me, 6 and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Deuteronomy 5:10  I show covenant faithfulness to the thousands who choose me and keep my commandments. 

Deuteronomy 7:9 So realize that the Lord your God is the true God, the faithful God who keeps covenant faithfully with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 

Deuteronomy 10:12-13 12 Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you except to revere him, to obey all his commandments, to love him, to serve him with all your mind and being, 13 and to keep the Lord’s commandments and statutes that I am giving you today for your own good? 

Deuteronomy 11:1 You must love the Lord your God and do what he requires; keep his statutes, ordinances, and commandments at all times.

Deuteronomy 11:13-15 Now, if you pay close attention to my commandments that I am giving you today and love the Lord your God and serve him with all your mind and being, 14 then he promises, “I will send rain for your land in its season, the autumn and the spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine, and olive oil. 15 I will provide pasture for your livestock and you will eat your fill.”

Deuteronomy 11:22-23 For if you carefully observe all of these commandments I am giving you and love the Lord your God, live according to his standards, and remain loyal to him, 23 then he will drive out all these nations ahead of you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you. 

Deuteronomy 19:9 and then you are careful to observe all these commandments I am giving you today (namely, to love the Lord your God and to always walk in his ways),

The Prophets

Joshua 22:5 But carefully obey the commands and instructions Moses the Lord’s servant gave you. Love the Lord your God, follow all his instructions, obey his commands, be loyal to him, and serve him with all your heart and being!”

Daniel 9:4 I prayed to the LORD my God, confessing in this way: “O Lord, great and awesome God who is faithful to his covenant with those who love him and keep his commandments.

“O Lord, great and awesome God who is faithful to his covenant with those who love him and keep his commandments,

Nehemiah 1:5 Then I said, “Please, O LORD God of heaven, great and awesome God, who keeps his loving covenant with those who love him and obey his commandments,

Yeshua

Now I will point out what Yeshua, The prophet of Deuteronomy 15:18, and Messiah had to say about it.

Matthew 19:16 Now someone came up to him and said, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to gain eternal life?” 17 He said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 

Lastly I would like to let John, the disciple that Yeshua loved. Who sat under his teaching for approximately three years give his testimony on this subject.

John

John 14:15 “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.

John 14:21 The person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.”

1 John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments do not weigh us down,

2 John 1:6 (Now this is love: that we walk according to his commandments.) 

2 John 1:9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not remain in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who remains in this teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house and do not give him any greeting, 11 because the person who gives him a greeting shares in his evil deeds.

There are those that will tell you that the Law and the commandments of YHWH are impossible for anyone to live up to. But read Deuteronomy 30:11and Luke 1:5 below. I ask you, would YHWH require the impossible of you? Is it in his nature to set his people up for failure?

Can we obey the Law?

Deuteronomy 30:11 “This commandment I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it too remote. 12 It is not in heaven, as though one must say, “Who will go up to heaven to get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 13 And it is not across the sea, as though one must say, “Who will cross over to the other side of the sea and get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 14 For the thing is very near you – it is in your mouth and in your mind so that you can do it. 15 “Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other. 16 What I am commanding you today is to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to obey his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances”.

Luke 1:5 During the reign of Herod king of Judea, there lived a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah, and he had a wife named Elizabeth, who was a descendant of Aaron. 6 They were both righteous in the sight of God, following all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly. 

Yes, we can obey the Law.

The purpose of the Law

So, what is the purpose of the covenant of the Law? I will start by saying that the Law is for our benefit. The Law is about the creation of a just people living in a just society. It is about you agreeing to be bound to YHWH by an ethic of responsibility to both YHWH and mankind. When asked what was the greatest of the commandments Yeshua replied like this.

Matthew 22:34 Now when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they assembled together. 35 And one of them, an expert in religious law, asked him a question to test him: 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” 

Has the Law been abolished?

There you have it. But, some will say “we live under a new covenant, the old covenant has passed away”. So, let us again turn to the words of Yeshua.

Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place. 19 So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

The prophet Jeremiah told us what to expect concerning this new covenant.

Jeremiah 31:31 “Indeed, a time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,” says the Lord. 33 “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land,” says the Lord. “I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people. 34 “People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” says the Lord. “For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.”

The book of Revelation Is considered a vision of an unfulfilled future event. It identifies those righteous people that the dragon will fight against in the last days.

Revelation 12:17 So the dragon became enraged at the woman and went away to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep God’s commandments and hold to the testimony about Jesus.

Did you pick up on that? In the new covenant YHWH intends to write his Law on our hearts and minds! In the new covenant the motivation to obey the commandments will come to us from within our own hearts and minds. It will not need to be on a reward and punishment basis but, will be part of our nature. How wonderful that will be! 

The Question

Will you become a party to this covenant contract? Will you accept it’s terms and conditions? Will you assume this obligation to love and obey YHWH and love your neighbor as yourself? If your answer is yes then you will receive the benefits of the covenant and if your answer is no then you are not a party to this covenant and you will not receive any of it’s benefits. There are no magic words that you can say once in your life that will make you a party to this covenant. It requires you to obey it’s terms.

The writer of Ecclesiastes had these words to say.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 Having heard everything, I have reached this conclusion: Fear God and keep his commandments, because this is the whole duty of man.