Yahweh is a covenant-making and keeping God. He gives His Word and keeps it! But after the Fall the recipients of His covenants have been fallen individuals who have not kept the conditions of His covenants.
In this article, I want to look briefly at Five major covenants so we can get a better understanding of the covenant that we are living in today.
ADAMIC COVENANT
While not specifically called a covenant in Genesis, yet the five-fold mandate given to Adam has the earmarks of a covenant. Genesis 1:28 says, “…be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
This reveals the will of God for all of mankind. It had a condition that they were to obey. This is a mandate that is still operative today.
NOAHIC COVENANT
Because Adams’s descendants became excessively wicked and disobeyed God, He determined that He would destroy the wicked and start over with Noah who was an upright man. Genesis 6:18, Genesis 9:1-17 gives the basics of this covenant. The promise God made to never destroy the earth again by flood is still in force today.
ABRAHAMIC COVENANT
Through Abraham God established a nation of people, Israel, and a covenant that not only included that nation but anyone else who received Abraham’s seed, Jesus, as their Lord (Galatians 3:16, 29).
To get a better understanding of the Abrahamic Covenant, read the following Scriptures:
Genesis 12:1-3, Genesis 15:1-21, Genesis 17:1-27, Romans 4:1-3, Romans 4:9, 12-13, Romans 4:16, Romans 9:7-8, Galatians 3:6-9, Galatians 3:14,16, 29.
The Abrahamic Covenant is the foundation on which the New Covenant is based.
MOSAIC COVENANT
The Mosaic Covenant was a covenant made with a nation of people that God intended to use to advance His kingdom. Many of the actions required of them were to be types and shadows of Messiah’s coming and the Cross which would provide eternal redemption.
I fear that many today get caught up in the feast days, holy days, and pageantry and fail to realize that these were all pointing in some way to Jesus and the New Covenant. No requirements of the ceremonial law, which were part of the Mosaic Covenant, are in force today. They were fulfilled in Jesus. The moral law given under the Mosaic Covenant, since it emanates from Yahweh Himself, is part of the New Covenant. Promises made to the nation of Israel, which have not been fulfilled, will be kept either under the New Covenant or in eternity future.
NEW COVENANT
Read the following Scriptures and rejoice that you are living under the terms of the New Covenant!
2 Corinthians 3:14, Hebrews 7:22, Hebrews 8:1, Hebrews 8:6-10, Hebrews 8:13, Hebrews 9:6-15, Hebrews 9:18-22, Hebrews10:16-18, 29, Hebrews 12:24, Hebrews 13:20-21.
We, believers in Jesus today, need to familiarize ourselves with the finished work of Jesus on the Cross. We have a better covenant than the Mosaic Covenant established on better promises.
There are a number of things that I am glad about in the New Covenant. Perhaps the greatest one is that God through Christ lives IN us! Colossians 1:27 “…Christ in you, the hope of glory.” “Greater is He that is in you…” 1 John 4:4. We can recognize that God as the creator is greater than His creation but that He not only is with us but lives in us. This should change the way we see everything. Not the least is how we pray. We do not pray to a God who is far off, whose attention we much get by external means, but one who is closer to us than our next breath!
We should study the New Testament from Romans 1 – Revelation 1 and see all the things that have been provided to and for us in the great salvation that Jesus purchased and has given to us. These things are not things we must wait until we get to Heaven to enjoy, but provisions that are for today!
Blessings!