The Covenant

By Lynn Martin

After reading covenant, I realized that Christians today have all but forgotten the blessing Covenant has to offer, with its promises, security, love, and closeness to God that can't be broken by our failures.

Because God cannot fail us, His blood covers our mistakes. Every Christian should be reminded of these facts constantly thanking God for this book.

Marriage will never be taken lightly after reading The Covenant. In fact, it should be read at every Christian marriage ceremony. You will be amazed and shocked by the seriousness of the covenant into which you are entering. You will love this book.

The author has truly written from the heart of God.

--Tom, a humble fisherman for the souls of men.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9798887514901

Book preview

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The Covenant

Lynn Martin

ISBN 979-8-88751-489-5 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88751-490-1 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Lynn Martin

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Acknowledgment

Preface

1.0 Why Is Covenant Important?

2.0 The Definition of Covenant

3.0 The Biblical Covenants

3.1 The Adamic Covenant

3.2 The Noahic Covenant

3.3 The Abrahamic Covenant

3.4 The Davidic Covenant

3.5 The Old (Mosaic) Covenant

3.6 The New Covenant

4.0 The General Elements of Covenant

4.1 Walking through the Pieces

4.2 Sacrifices/Shedding of Blood/Sharing of Blood

4.3 Exchange of Identity

4.4 Exchange of Robes

4.5 Exchange of Strength/Armor

4.6 Exchange of Weapons (Sword, Belt)

4.7 Sharing of Possessions

4.8 Sharing Friendship

4.9 Sharing Meals

4.11 Sharing a Memorial: A Symbol, Remembrance, Reminder or Witness

4.12 Clasping/Striking of Hands/Cuts/Scars/Marks

4.13 Sealing a Treaty

4.14 Oaths: Solemn and Binding

4.15 Obedience

4.16 Provision

4.17 Protection

4.18 Signs

4.19 Consequences of Breaking Covenant

4.20 Our Responsibility

4.21 Belief

4.22 Unbelief

4.23 Blessings/Gifts and Curses

4.24 Blood Sacrifices

4.25 Sharing of Blood

4.26 Oneness

4.27 Time: Temporary versus Perpetual

4.28 Land

4.29 Inheritance

4.30 Identification/In Union With

Truth/Faith/Obedience/Feelings

Notes

5.0 The Marriage Covenant

5.1 Friend

5.2 The Ring/Token: A Covenant Memorial

5.3 Name Change/Exchange

5.4 Shared Meal

5.5 Giving God Glory

5.6 Beriyth and Marriage

5.7 It Is God's Design

5.8 Marriage: Vital Truths to Remember

6.0 Jesus Is Our Covenant Partner

7.0 Who Jesus Is

7.1 Covenant History Chart: Summary

8.0 Final Thoughts: Tying It All Together

Notes

About the Author

Acknowledgment

I am deeply grateful to my wife Gayle. Without her uncompromising trust, belief, and encouragement, this book would have never been possible. Thank you to my kids, Sheena, Jessica, and Emily. Without my children in my life, my attitude toward God may never have changed. I also want to thank Thomas Hagler. Without his passion for God's word thirty-six years ago, I may never have become a Christian. I love you all very much.

Preface

I considered writing this book for twenty years. I believe this topic to be extremely foundational to the Christian. It shows us how serious God is about His covenants. If you've never encountered a detailed look at covenant, then you are in for a real treat. Every time I think of my God now, my mind goes immediately to covenant, with all the understanding, assurance, freedom, power, gratitude, accountability, and responsibility it brings.

It is my hope that this book will really help you realize who our God is, His character, and how much He cares for us. I recommend reading this first lightly to get the idea, and later reread it and absorb all there is about this topic. God will greatly bless you spiritually for this minor investment of your time. I've tried to break this down into pieces that can be read independent of each other and still be understood. It is my prayer that this book finds its way into the hands of those hungry for God's Word, and desire to know the heart of God and want a closer relationship with Him. Most importantly I pray that you will come away realizing He can always be trusted no matter what.

It has been well stated that there was no firmer guarantee of legal security, peace, or personal loyalty than that found in the word covenant. In the ancient world, the greatest tool for covenant making came to be the written document on which the words of the covenant—its terms in the form of promises and stipulations—were spelled out, witnessed to, signed, and sealed. In fact such covenant documents abound in the ancient world.

Kay Arthur (Precept Ministries) stated that by the grace of God's Spirit (you will) experience…a security you have never known, as you realize that everything God does is based on covenant. Your discoveries will unlock a very old truth—a truth once understood, valued, and lived by in the Semitic world of the Bible. It is a truth that will forever change your understanding of God and what it means to be His child. She goes on to add that "once you understand and embrace the reality that God is a God of covenant, you will experience a peace, a strength, a security you have never known. The Word of God will take on a whole new dimension, delighting you with wonder as you explore the height, the depth, the breadth of what it means to be in covenant with God. The words loving kindness and friend will take on new meaning and become so precious as you identify them as covenant terms. You will never read the Bible the same way again. For covenant takes the veil off the truth (or as Kay says, ‘it places the cookies on the lower shelf'). Freedom from bondage will come as you comprehend from the perspective of covenant, the relationship of law to grace. Peace will invade your soul, opening the gate into His pleasant green pastures of rest as you explore the everlasting love that keeps and guards you and never abandons you." The study of covenant will uncover "buried treasures that, once unearthed, will reveal to us our rich heritage as the people of a Covenant God. Covenant, the missing piece to the puzzle of God's Word, will slip into place, and your eyes will sparkle with delight as you get the full picture—the picture of our Covenant God Whom you can trust so explicitly."

God tells us He can take these truths and use them to transform you and renew your mind (1 Corinthians 2:11–13, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Ephesians 4:23).

1.0 Why Is Covenant Important?

Covenant is a relatively misunderstood concept by many Christians. They have heard the word, but don't understand fully all it implies. It is even less understood by those who have not placed their faith in the finished work of Jesus. It is the most serious, solemn, irrevocable, and binding agreement. It supersedes any other relationship in your life.

2.0 The Definition of Covenant

Covenant is an agreement between two or more parties outlining mutual rights and responsibilities. It is also a progressive revelation throughout the Bible.

Covenant was considered a binding agreement among the ancients, and so was not entered into lightly. After pieces of the sacrificial animal were laid opposite one another, the individuals who were cutting covenant would walk between the flesh pieces. This walk represented the so-called walk into death, indicating their commitment to die to independent living and to ever after live for their covenant partner and to fulfill the stipulations of their covenant. Furthermore, this walk into death was a testimony by each covenant partner that if either broke the covenant, God would take their life, even as had been done to the sacrificial animal. In short, we see the gravity of entering into and then breaking covenant.

Covenant is a pledge unto death. Covenant represents a pledge cut in blood. In covenant the shedding of blood demonstrates, as nothing else could, the intensity and solemn nature of the commitment (Leviticus 17:11). By cutting covenant the two parties were bound for life. Thus the shedding of blood in the cutting of covenant symbolized the solemn, binding nature of this transaction. And discussed in more detail later, both the Old and the New Covenants were inaugurated with blood. As Trumbull notes in the opening quote above, the practice of cutting covenant is found throughout history with traces or remnants of covenant truth in every quarter of the globe, and in those remnants, we can see that even the pagan world understood the gravity and binding nature of entering into covenant with another party.

(Hebrew) Beriyth means covenant, treaty, alliance, bargain, compact, or agreement between two parties (first used in God's covenant with Noah in Genesis 6:18, 9:9–17). As discussed more below, beriyth describes a compact made by passing between pieces of flesh. Covenant is a solemn, binding arrangement between two parties and entails a variety of responsibilities, benefits, and penalties depending on the specific covenant which is being studied. OT covenants were made between God and man (e.g., God with Noah in Genesis 6:18 and with Abram in Genesis 15:18) or between men (Abraham and Abimelech in Genesis 21:27, Isaac and Abimelech in Genesis 26:28, Jacob and Laban in Genesis 31:44).

Covenant can be summarized as (1) between two parties (sometimes equal, other times superior to inferior): (a) nations—(peace) treaty, alliance of friendship; (b) individuals—a pledge or agreement with mutual obligations to each other; (c) monarch and subjects (2 Samuel 3:21, 5:3; 1 Chronicles 11:3)—a constitution; (d) God and man—Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, New Covenants. Apart from blood ties, the covenant was the way people of the ancient world formed wider relationships with each other. The accounts of the relationship between David and Jonathan are the