A Covenant Relationship
© 2015 Stan Hallett
I wanted to write this in an attempt to give some Christians a better understanding of our covenant relationship with the Lord. It is my hope and desire that this will help to fend off some false teaching and poor understanding of our relationship with God.
From the beginning God has had covenant relationship with man. These are covenants that man has continuously broken, not God.
A covenant must have a benefit, typically a token or sign of the covenant, and a penalty for breaking the covenant. For example the marriage between and man and a woman is the perfect example of a covenant relationship. The benefits are love, intimacy, offspring, etc.. The token or sign of the covent would be the vows, and also the wedding ring. The penalty for breaking the convent would be divorce. The covenant of marriage and the relationship between a man and his bride are given to us as an example and a type of our covenant relationship with the Lord.
The first covenant with God was in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve broke that covenant and God made a new covenant with Adam and Eve and their offspring. We no longer have any part of that covenant in the garden, nor is it available, it is past. This has been true of every covenant.
The second covenant (Adam’s offspring), the third covenant (Noah), the fourth covenant (Abraham), etc. The fifth covenant was entered into via Moses and the law. But man could not keep the law either. Now we no longer have any part of the covenant of the law, nor is it available. It also is past and a dead covenant.
So God entered into yet another (6th) covenant with man. He has paid for our sins once and for all, and has redeemed us to Himself. To enter into this covenant we need obey the Gospel. Then the promise of this covenant is that He fills us with His Spirit, and dwells within us. If we remain in this covenant relationship with God, He promises that we will rise up to meet Him and then be with Him for eternity. We are no longer under the covenant of law or any part of it, just as we are no longer in any other covenant. We are dead to sin and the law (Romans 7:6).
It is wonderful to have the written law and the old testament to read of the history, and the types and shadows, as well as the wisdom, and the poetry, but we are not under the covenant of the law. So for those that take select portions that they like and often misunderstand the intent . . . quit it!
If we make a person conform to our ideals, rules, standards, or convictions by legalism or cajoling, but it is not within their heart to do the thing, have we accomplished anything?
What this tends to do is to create three groups of people:
1.) Run off those that will not conform to your standards , laws, or rules, that may have otherwise been saved.
2.) Create a group that put on a “Church face” when they are at Church, and live like to world when they are not.
3.) Create a minority that will conform because they love the Lord and have accepted, at least for a season that this is what they should do. Even some in this latter group eventually learn that it was legalism, and a yolk of bondage that was forced on them.
1st Covenant – Adam & Eve, Garden of Eden
2nd Covenant – Adam’s Offspring
3rd Covenant – Noah, The Ark, The Flood & A New Beginning
4th Covenant – Abraham’s Promise
5th Covenant – Moses & The Law
6th Covenant – Jesus, The New Testament & Covenant
7th Covenant – The Millennial Reign
Do you have questions? Feel free to write to me via my contact form.
