David,
From the beginning of God’s creation God wanted nothing
more than a personal relationship with man. But, man chose not to have a
relationship with God. During the rise of civilization, which is told in the
opening chapters of Genesis, we see that although there were a few Godly men,
most of mankind was wicked. God becomes unhappy with mans evil ways and is
nearly ready to destroy all of life on the earth. Yet God sees in one man,
Noah, the possibility of a people who would be hungry for Him. So, God tells
Noah to build the ark and then wipes the earth clean for a second attempt at
populating the His creation.
God finds with this second attempt that mankind by and
large is unwilling to accept His blessings. But, He finds and chooses one man,
Abraham, through which He can build a people who want a relationship with Him.
Abraham was willing to do as God requested of him, leave this land of idol
worshippers and follow Him. It is through Abraham that God promises to bless
all of mankind.
There are three aspects of the covenant:
1. Land. God promises that the land of Canaan was for
the descendants of Abraham.
2. Seed. Abraham is told his line will never be
destroyed. Abraham’s descendants would become as many as the stars, or the
grains of sand.
3. Blessing. God promises to bless those who bless
Abraham and his descendants and curse those who curse Abraham and his
descendants.
At a time when most covenants lasted four or five
generations, this covenant was meant to be eternal. It is a tangible contract
in that God promises land and offspring. Abraham had no difficulty with the
land portion, but, Sarah was barren. Abraham said that his servant, Eliazer,
would inherit his wealth. God informs Abraham that he will be a father, it is
his bloodline that would carry on. The bloodline that would bring us Yeshua.
The Abrahamic covenant was the foundation that will be expanded upon and
refined as we go through the revisions of the Mosaic, Davidic and Renewed
covenants.
From Genesis 12 to the end of the book, we see how God
prunes and in a sense grooms Abraham’s offspring in order to build a nation.
Isaac’s eldest son, Esau, fails to meet God’s criteria as firstborn. Instead
we read of the scheming that takes place so that Jacob gets the blessing and
acts as the firstborn. A recurring theme that shows us that God chooses the
“firstborn” according to His plan, not the chronological order of birth. We
see this also with, Joseph, Moses and David.
When we get to Exodus we find that the seed has grown
into a nation. However, there is a problem, this Hebrew nation is in bondage.
As slaves in Egypt they have become known as a peculiar people because they
worship one God in a land of so many gods that it is nearly impossible to
count the number of gods. God has another leader who will direct the people in
His ways. A messiah of sorts who will lead God’s chosen people out of bondage
and into the land promised to Abraham. Moses leads the people out of Egypt to
Sinai where Moses is given God’s law (Torah) so that the Israelites could know
what God expected from them. The Israelites agree to the stipulations of this
amended covenant and God gives them the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob. The sign of this covenant would be the Sabbath. For six days the people
could work, but on the seventh day all work would cease. So now Israel had the
land promised by God.
After a period of time, long by human standards, we come
to the next phase of Gods plan. Israel has grown and prospered and now has a
king in which the Lord finds favor. It is through David that God chooses to
establish His kingship for all eternity. Our King of Kings will come from the
line of David, fulfilling the promised seed through which the world will see
that there is only one God and one way to eternal life. This is the essence of
the Davidic covenant.
There is yet one aspect of the Abrahamic covenant to be
addressed. It is the blessings of the renewed covenant. Many people believe
this is addressed in the New Testament, but the details are revealed in the
writings of the Prophets. In a time when much of Israel had strayed and
rejected Torah, God sent a prophet, Jeremiah, to call the people back to Him.
Jeremiah tells us that if people return to God, He will bless them for all
eternity. Jerusalem will live in peace and all the world will know the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. All the people of the world will have an intimate
relationship with God through Yeshua. All will have Torah written on their
hearts. The New Testament is empty and senseless without seeing that it is an
expansion of the Older Testament. The New, or rather Renewed Testament,
reinforces and rebuilds Gods Covenant as it was intended from the very
beginning.
Much like the constitution of the USA, God's covenant
has been amended several times. Do we in the USA have a new constitution
today that has replace the original? Here we go again, somebody
has pryed more words out of me than I usually care to write! Izzy, are
you following this? Have you figured out the birth of Yeshua or would you like
me to post all the juicy details for that?
Jeff
