articlesforchristians

The Significance of God’s Covenant with Abraham

THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT

This covenant was foundational to other covenants.

God initiated His covenant with Abram when he was living in Ur of the Chaldeans, promising a land, descendants, and blessing.

• Genesis 12:1-3
  • Now [in Haran] the Lord had said to Abram,
    • “Go away from your country,
    • And from your relatives
    • And from your father’s house,
    • To the land which I will show you;
  • And I will make you a great nation,
  • And I will bless you [abundantly],
  • And make your name great (exalted, distinguished);
  • And you shall be a blessing [a source of great good to others];
  • And I will bless (do good for, benefit) those who bless you,
  • And I will curse [that is, subject to My wrath and judgment] the one who curses (despises, dishonors, has contempt for) you.
  • And in you all the families (nations) of the earth will be blessed.”

Abram went with his family to Haran, lived there for a time, and left at the age of 75.

• Genesis 12:4 – 5
  • So Abram departed [in faithful obedience] as the Lord had directed him; and Lot [his nephew] left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. 
  • Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had acquired, and the people (servants) which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

After Lot separated from Abram, God again promised the land to him and his descendants.

• Genesis 13:14-17
  • The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had left him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are standing, northward and southward and eastward and westward;  for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants forever. 
  • I will make your descendants [as numerous] as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could count the [grains of] dust of the earth, then your descendants could also be counted. 
  • Arise, walk (make a thorough reconnaissance) around in the land, through its length and its width, for I will give it to you.” 

This covenant was ratified when God passed between the sacrificial animals Abram laid before God.

• Genesis 15:1-21

When Abram was 99 God renewed His covenant, changing Abram’s name to Abraham (the father of a multitude) Sign of the covenant: circumcision.

• Genesis 17:1-27
  • Genesis 17:1-2
    • When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said,
      • “I am God Almighty;
      • Walk [habitually] before Me [with integrity, knowing that you are always in My presence], and be blameless and complete [in obedience to Me].
      • “I will establish My covenant (everlasting promise) between Me and you,
      • And I will multiply you exceedingly [through your descendants].”
  • Genesis 17:9-14
    • Further, God said to Abraham,
      • “As for you [your part of the agreement], you shall keep and faithfully obey [the terms of] My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 
      • This is [the sign of] My covenant, which you shall keep and faithfully obey, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 
      • And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be the sign (symbol, memorial) of the covenant between Me and you. 
      • Every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, [including] a servant whether born in the house or one who is purchased with [your] money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants. 
      • A servant who is born in your house or one who is purchased with your money must be circumcised; and [the sign of] My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 
      • And the male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

Confirmation of the covenant because of Abraham’s obedience.

• Genesis 22:15-18
  • The Angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said,
    • “By Myself (on the basis of Who I Am) I have sworn [an oath], declares the Lord, that since you have done this thing and have not withheld [from Me] your son, your only son [of promise],  indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies [as conquerors]. 
    • Through your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have heard and obeyed My voice.”

Land:

• Palestinian covenant
  • Deut. 30
    • “So it shall be when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you,
    • and you call them to mind in all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and you have returned to the Lord your God and have listened to and obeyed His voice with all your heart and with all your soul, in accordance with everything that I am commanding you today, you and your children, 
    • then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes [in your return from exile], and have compassion on you, and will gather you together again from all the peoples (nations) where He has scattered you. 
    • Even if any of your dispersed are at the ends of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you together from there, and from there He will bring you back.
    • The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you will take possession of it; and He shall make you prosper and multiply—even more than your fathers.

Descendants

• Davidic covenant
  • 2 Sam. 7:8-17
    • So now, say this to My servant David,
      • ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. 
      • I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like that of the great men of the earth. 
      • I will appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in a place of their own and not be disturbed again. The wicked will not afflict them again, as formerly,  even from the day that I appointed judges over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies.
      • The Lord also declares to you that He will make a house (royal dynasty) for you. 
      • When your days are fulfilled and you lie down [in death] with your fathers (ancestors), I will raise up your descendant after you, who shall be born to you, and I will establish his kingdom. 
      •  He [is the one who] shall build a house for My Name and My Presence, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 
      • I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. When he commits iniquity (wrongdoing), I will discipline him with the rod of men and with the strokes of the sons of man. 
      • But My lovingkindness and mercy will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 
      • Your house (royal dynasty) and your kingdom will endure forever before Me; your throne will be established forever.”’” 
    • Nathan spoke to David in accordance with all these words and all of this vision.
• Promise of a New Covenant
  •  Deuteronomy 30:6
    • “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants [that is, He will remove the desire to sin from your heart], so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live [as a recipient of His blessing].
  • Colossians 2:11-14
    •  In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, but by the [spiritual] circumcision of Christ in the stripping off of the body of the flesh [the sinful carnal nature], 
    • having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him [to a new life] through [your] faith in the working of God, [as displayed] when He raised Christ from the dead. 
    • When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh (worldliness, manner of life), God made you alive together with Christ, having [freely] forgiven us all our sins, 
    • having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of legal demands [which were in force] against us and which were hostile to us. And this certificate He has set aside and completely removed by nailing it to the cross. 

Blessing: “old” (Ex. 19) and “new” covenants (Jer. 31).

• Exodus 19:3-6
  • Moses went up to God [on the mountain], and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Say this to the house of Jacob and tell the Israelites: 
    • ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. 
    • Now therefore, if you will in fact obey My voice and keep My covenant (agreement), then you shall be My own special possession and treasure from among all peoples [of the world], for all the earth is Mine; 
    • and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation [set apart for My purpose].’ These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.”
• Jeremiah 31:27-40
  •  “Behold (listen carefully), the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast. 
  • It will be that as I have watched over them to uproot and to break down, to overthrow, destroy, and afflict with disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant [with good],” says the Lord.
    • “In those days they will not say again,
    • ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
    • And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
  •  But everyone will die [only] for his own wickedness; every man who eats sour grapes—his [own] teeth shall be set on edge.
  • “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) and with the house of Judah (the Southern Kingdom), 
  • not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” says the Lord. 
  • “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the Lord,
    • “I will put My law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. 
    • And each man will no longer teach his neighbor and his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me [through personal experience], from the least of them to the greatest,” says the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness, and I will no longer remember their sin.”