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