Jesus, It was Always You: A Study of the Love of God Revealed through His Covenants

By Bonnie Isbell

Every woman (and perhaps every man) longs to be loved, to be tenaciously pursued by someone who simply will not give up until they have owned the other's heart. We need to know that this love is unconditional and will not become disillusioned or lose its intensity. We need the security of forever.

Have you ever found yourself in a spiritual pit, feeling lost, unloved, unlovable, and unsure of just who you are?

If you long for a passionate love relationship that you can hang your identity on forever; if you have never understood that the entire Bible from cover to cover is a love story of God's relentless pursuit of you; if you need to know that you have a covenant partner whose love for you has no limits; if you long for a solid, stable place to throw down an anchor for your soul, this is where your yearnings will at long last be satiated. You will never be the same.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9798888511466

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Endorsements

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Week 1 Listening Guide: Welcome to Covenant Love!

Week 1: Introduction

Week 1: Homework: It’s Always Been You

Week 2 Listening Guide: Does the Christian Life Really Work?

Week 2: Homework: The Ingredients of a Covenant

Week 3 Listening Guide: That Is the Perfect Rep!

Week 3: Homework: Hesed

Week 4 Listening Guide: Life Lived Wide Open

Week 4: Homework: Hesed 2: Love That Endures Forever

Week 5 Listening Guide: He Loves Me; He Loves Me Not—Why Are We Not Convinced?

Week 5: Homework: Knowing God Personally

Week 6 Listening Guide: Prayer Goes Two Ways

Week 6: Homework: Love Stooped Down: A Covenant of Deliverance and Preservation: The Noahic Covenant

Week 7 Listening Guide: Tell Me the Old, Old Story

Week 7: Homework: Chosen for Greatness: The Abrahamic Covenant

Week 8 Listening Guide: The Great Nation

Week 8: Homework: Brokenness: The Pathway to Blessing

Week 9 Listening Guide: Broken Blessings

Week 9: Homework: The Need for the Seed: The Mosaic Covenant

Week 10 Listening Guide: Let Me Loose

Week 10: Homework: Where His Glory Dwells: My House or Yours? (The Davidic Covenant)

Week 11 Listening Guide: Who Gets the Glory?

Week 11: Homework: Jesus, It Was Always You: The New Covenant

Week 12 Listening Guide: Stick It to Me!

Addendum: Jesus Is…

Answer Keys

Teachers Weekly Goals

About the Author

Endnotes

Jesus,

It Was Always You

A Study of the Love of God Revealed through His Covenants

Bonnie Isbell

ISBN 979-8-88851-145-9 (Paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88851-146-6 (Digital)

Copyright © 2023 Bonnie Isbell

All rights reserved

First Edition

Scriptures in this book, unless otherwise noted, are from Amplified Bible (AMP), copyright The Lockman Foundation @1954,1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987. Used by permission, all rights reserved. Italicized words in Scripture quotations reflect the author’s emphasis.

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.

Covenant Books

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Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Endorsements

This study was absolutely life changing for me. (Becky Easler)

Wonderful!!! Glorious!!! (Janine Sims)

My heart will never be the same. (LaRue Hardinger)

It has completely changed my view and understanding of the Lord and His love for me. (Ashley Martin)

This study has been one of the highlights of my twenty-six-year Christian walk. I’ve been in some powerful Bible studies but none like Jesus, It Was Always You. (Cheryl Casey)

Wow and awe are not worthy expressions. Words can’t do it justice. (Gina Dorough)

This study should be in the hands of believers everywhere. It should be a required course for every new believer. (Kim Hardinger)

I learned more about His story in those short weeks than I had learned the last twenty-two years that I have been a Christian. (Tonya Shanklin)

If I could put just one resource in a disciple’s hand along with the Bible, this would be it! A true treasure, an anchor for the soul. It truly is all about Jesus! (April Essinger)

A powerful and beautiful expression of how the Bible, from beginning to end, is one story woven together with one common thread—Jesus! Heartfelt and sincere, this study will leave you forever changed. (Christi Hamilton)

As a teacher/facilitator of many, many women’s Bible studies, without a doubt, this one was more life changing than any I’ve ever done. (Tamera Bearden)

Dedication

To my dear mama, who moved to heaven over ten years ago. How could I ever write a study about the love of Jesus without acknowledging the one who introduced me to Him? I still want to hold your hand when we fly away. I love you, Mama. My deep and sincere gratitude for you will live in my heart always!

Acknowledgments

To Tamera Bearden, Gina Dorough, Karmen Smith and Sarah Lynn Thompson: Thank you for your heart to make Jesus known to the world. You have given of your lives, your time, your resources, your skills, your ceaseless love and support, your friendship, and most importantly, your faithful prayers to help with the completion and distribution of this study. I am indebted to you girls forever.

To my beloved Women of the Word Bible study ladies who would have it no other way but that this study find its way around the world: I would never have pursued this journey without your persistent persuasion. I love you so!

To my precious Annabelle Shankles. It’s strange that one can be so gifted and not even know it, but you, sweet lady, are amazingly talented! Thank you a million times for contributing your creativity to the sweet and simple cover design that was exactly what I wanted! You’re priceless! I will always love you and cherish your part in the creation of this book.

To Morgan Freeman, the best brother I ever had by a famous name: For believing in the power of Jesus in me and for saying so; for speaking courage into my soul over and over throughout our lives; for rebuking, sharpening, and urging me onward, still onward; for being a full-on picture of what a man filled with the Spirit looks like; for the belly laughs that have been healing to my bones; for the invaluable role you have played in my life and ministry; for being one of the best friends I’ve ever had; and for making me so very rich in love. I’m eternally grateful. I love you more, bro!

To my dearest Blake: I needed you. Thank you for believing in me. You’ve been my biggest fan, my ferocious defender from the evil one’s accusations, and a gentle reminder that God sees and that God knows and that you do as well. No human voice has ever been as convincing to me as yours. I love you, honey. I’m so glad God gave me you.

To my most beloved, Jesus Christ: This is from You, through You, and to You. There will never be another who has loved me like You.

Be Magnificently Glorified!

Week 1 Listening Guide: Welcome to Covenant Love!

Basic benefits to the study of covenant

Covenant is the _______________ to everything you will ever know about __________.

What is truth?

Is there an ____________, _____________ truth?

Our world, our country, and even some of our churches are being absorbed in __________ ______________: the belief that there is ____ _______ ________ as absolute truth, and if there is, it is __________________.

_______________ is the word of the day!

After studying Covenant, you will know ________________________ beyond any shadow of doubt. His name is _____________. He is called __________________________ (Rev. 19:13).

Why do I believe that the Bible is our absolute authority?

Among other things:

It ___________ itself to be (Ps. 119:160, Jn. 17:17).

Because of its ____________________________. Over ____ authors wrote ____ separate books over a period of two millennia, and they are entirely ____________ (bound together by one central theme) and without contradiction. Over ___ of the Bible was prophecy when it was written. ____ of these have been literally fulfilled (over five hundred, with 100 percent accuracy). The others have to do with future events yet to happen. When history has run its course, _________ prophecy will be fulfilled (Matt. 5:18)!

The Bible is a ________________ book (2 Tim. 3:16).

You will be amazed to find that every single covenant in the Old Testament is about ____________. He has ______________________ (Heb. 13:8).

The study of Covenant will serve as an _________ to your life and soul and you will ______________________________ (Heb. 6:19, Matt. 24:13).

Through this study, you will come to fully understand what’s _________________________________ (and with me)!

Covenant is God’s way of showing us His __________________ to make it all right (Amos 3:7)!

The covenants are the most beautiful ___________________ ever told. It is the story of God’s relentless pursuit of an ____________________________ with you (Ps. 25:14)!

Week 1

Introduction

Welcome, my sweet sisters, to the world of Covenant Love!

I can’t even tell you how thrilled I am that we get to go on this incredible journey together! I love you all and truly consider studying the living and sweet Word of God together with you one of my life’s greatest honors!

To put it very succinctly, the study of God’s Word established my life on a solid rock and has instilled stability in my life that I am certain I never would have had otherwise. As Psalm 119:92 says, If Your Word had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. Period.

It is no small wonder that I cherish His Word with every ounce of my being.

After having done a personal study of covenant love, my heart has become a flame of fire! I believe with all my heart that this study is going to do the same for you!

If you will apply yourself fully, I am convinced that you will never, ever be the same.

As with most pursuits, you will get from the study what you are willing to put into it. I want to ask you to commit yourself to finishing the course. Please take a moment now to ask the Lord to open your eyes to things that you’ve never seen before, to draw you into a deeper relationship with Him that is free and real and incredibly life­changing, that His Word will become in you like a flame of fire, that He will set your feet upon a solid rock, and that He will give you the perseverance to finish the course.

When you have done that, will you sign your name here?

I, ________________________, with the help of the Lord, am committed to giving this study all I’ve got and to finish the course.

Bless you, sweet one. And may our God do for you exactly as you have asked of Him.

So now, get those hiking boots on, and let’s start tracking! (God is so proud of you, and so am I!)

One of my favorite pastimes is to read a great novel or watch a movie with a plot that escalates and intensifies, drawing me in…one breathless moment at a time…bringing me to the edge of my seat…until it finally comes to a climax that either has me squalling my eyes out or getting to my feet and shouting, "Yes! Yes!"

Ohhh, how I love a good story, especially one with a relentless pursuit of love! I admit it… I’m sooo sappy. I bet you are too. I mean, you are a woman.

Did you know that we all enjoy stories because we’re made in the image of God? Of course! He loves a good story, and He’s the best storyteller ever. Jesus nearly always taught the truths of God by telling a story or a parable that the people could relate to. When someone tells a story that illustrates a point, we all perk up, listen, and we get it!

The covenants are no different. Many of us have heard the stories of the Old Testament all our lives—stories of Noah and Abraham, of Moses and David—yet had no idea that they all actually reveal a progressive plan. Each story, each covenant, each illustration is a slow, methodical, progressive revelation of what God’s intentions have always been. I am amazed that before the foundations of the world, He had this plan, this burning pursuit in His heart.

The covenants are so much more than just stories, however! They are declarations from God that, sista… He intends to get what He is after! I love a hero like that, don’t you?

You are going to be amazed to see that Jesus is all over the Old Testament! To study only the New Testament (which many do!) is to miss the excitement of the whole story. It’s like getting in on the end of a movie. And girl—ain’t nobody got time for that!

So get ready, girls; we’re about to start this story from the beginning and see it through to its awesome conclusion! But let me warn you! It’s a true story, and it will inevitably pull you into the plot! You’re going to be swept off your feet…

…because you are the object of His relentless love! Selah! (That means pause and think about that. I will use this word often in our study, and when I do, it means that you may want to stop, meditate, and absorb that thing.)

I am praying that Jesus will wrap His big, strong arms around you right now and that you will look up to His face and know that there is a sparkle in His eye as you prepare to open His Word to learn the story of the One who is after your heart! He is dying for you to know Him…literally!

Please, please take your time and do your homework slowly, stopping often to meditate, talk to Him, be quiet, reflect, and get the full effect of what He wants you to feel and know.

I’m so ready to do this thing with you! Oh, how I adore you, girl!

Week 1

Homework: It’s Always Been You

It’s Always Been You

I once had a beautiful little old lady tell me after a Bible Study session, You need to learn that you don’t have to teach the whole Bible in one day. Ha! Well…I never forgot that. It was great advice! I promise I’m still learning to implement it!

Obviously, there’s far more to the entire Bible than we could cover in a lifetime; however, I do want to take you on a swift, panoramic flyover of the entire Bible this week from Genesis to Revelation in order for us to begin to grasp the overall theme. I invite you to follow the sweet, wise lady’s advice and break your study up into small portions at a time. Go at your own pace. Take breaks when something begs a little meditation. Do as much or as little as you want in the amount of time that you have. Just do the best you can to soak in as much as God will pour into your sweet spirits!

We will get into the study of covenants next week, but for now, I simply want to whet your appetite for this truth: It’s all about Jesus!

The same God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. He has never and will never change. The entire history of the world has always had Jesus at its very nucleus and center.

It was always You, Jesus!

It’s always been You!

Let’s watch as God begins to paint a magnificent portrait of His Son and look for the first hint of Jesus in the first book of the Bible!

Please begin now by reading Genesis 3:1–21, paying special attention to verse 15. Go!

In verses 14 and 15, God is giving us the very first indication in Scripture of His intention to rescue you and the entire human race from evil, announcing that from the woman, there would come a seed (NASB) or offspring (NIV) who would _________________ the head of the serpent, Satan. You see, when Satan deceived Adam and Eve, he uncovered his true nature and proved