Understanding COVENANT
August 11, 2023
As Christians, we have become familiar with the word “covenant.” But even though we are familiar with the word we may not truly know or understand its depth of meaning. It is actually a very key term in understanding our salvation and the power of our words in a more concrete way. There were times and cultures where covenant was an integral part of community as reflected in biblical history. A covenant was a big deal and taken very, very seriously. Covenants between people were actually taken as seriously as their own lives. They lived by them, planned their lives around them, made decisions based on covenants because they were so real and so final to the people that were a part of them. One of our modern-day definitions of covenant is “an agreement or promise, usually formal, between two or more people or groups to do or not do something specific.” It was never a question if they were to come to pass or be upheld because they were taken so seriously. Today, our version of covenant is a contract. Unfortunately, contracts are broken all of the time so we do not take them as seriously as we ought to. This cultural flaw has weakened our belief and reliance on promises, making it harder for us to take people at their word or believe that what someone says will actually be done. Another interesting thing about covenants is that when someone made a covenant they usually sealed the deal by severing an animal with the implication that the party who breaks the covenant would suffer a similar fate. The word covenant in Hebrew means “to cut.” When we see this word in the Bible, since we lack context in our society today, we can brush over it and not give it the seriousness it deserves. I want us to begin to renew our minds to covenant and what that means for us as Christ followers.
I want to look at covenant in 2 ways together today. The first is the covenant that occurred at the cross. The sacrifice of Jesus sealed our “new and better covenant” with His blood. A covenant goes into immediate effect as soon as blood is spilled. So this means that ever since the sacrifice of Jesus the fullness of salvation and redemption from the curse of this world has been available to us. BUT so many of us have not walked in this fullness. We have allowed what our circumstances look like to dictate whether or not our covenant was finalized and in motion. Let’s try to picture it this way, imagine that you made a covenant with a powerful king that had endless resources of money and power. And the agreement was that if you worked for him he would give you all of his resources to be at your total disposal to use whenever for whatever you needed. If one day someone came to steal from you or harm you or inflict something unwanted upon you, you then have all of that king’s resources ready and available to fight on your behalf and bring you your victory. The king would be legally bound to give all that you need for that situation. You wouldn’t even have to think twice about it. That is exactly what Jesus did with the covenant he made with us. He said I’ll give you every resource of heaven if in return you believe in Me and what I did on the cross. (You can read Hebrews 7:16-28 & Hebrews 9:15 to further explain this idea of our covenant between us and God.) It now does not matter what happens in this life, not one thing can change the covenant or what is at your disposal to stand on your behalf in whatever you’re facing. PLUS, the king you made a covenant with is the King of Kings who holds all of the power there ever was! He defeated the one and only enemy and all of his cohorts. So while they may try to raise weapons they cannot prosper or bring it to full completion unless we allow them.
The second way I want to look at covenant is through our words. As you know by now, the power of words is a huge thing with me. I fully believe in the power of confession and seeing it come to pass in our lives. I have countless testimonies and scriptures at this point so nothing can change my mind! But why is it that sometimes even though we do believe our words have power to make, to change, and to move our circumstances we still feel a bit unsure that it really will come to pass? First of all, we must remember that our confession is always based on the Word of God. We have to speak the Word and the will of God, that’s the key. So if we are doing that why is there uncertainty? It’s because of our understanding of what a promise (ie covenant) is supposed to be. You see, God understands covenant and He understands that He must always stand by His word. It’s not a question to Him if what His Word says will come to pass. It’s us that get stuck. We have to realize that God’s words are covenant bound. He essentially “legally” stands by them! The whole world was created by His words and is held together by the Word of His Power. See this in Hebrews 11:3, TPT, “Faith empowers us to see that the universe was created and beautifully coordinated by the power of God’s words! He spoke and the invisible realm gave birth to all that is seen.” If He fails to come through on just one word, it ALL goes down! He does not have a choice but to follow through. We have to get that. The other thing is, is that in the Old Testament, people believed their words to hold weight. When they spoke they spoke with intention and belief that it meant something. And it did. People lived by the honor of their word and they had to follow through. They believed that when they blessed and cursed with their words, it would be so. This is exactly how we need to believe with regard to our words. We must believe that our words come to pass and believe it so deeply that we don’t think twice about it. When we speak the covenant Word of God over our lives, we are sure that it is happening. Nothing can change it.
This concept really hit me when I was reading Genesis and I hope it helps drive it home for you as well. Let’s read Genesis 27:27-37, NIV, “So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness— an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be Lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.” After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, “My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.” His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?” “I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.” Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!” When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me—me too, my father!” But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.” Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?” Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him Lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?” Do you see how seriously these men took their words? They viewed them as irreversible. There was nothing they could do to undo them. It says “Isaac trembled violently” and Esau wept bitterly. This would not be so if they felt like promises, covenants, and their words were not final, powerful, and creative.
I hope that this has helped deepen your understanding of covenant and the seriousness of it. You have a covenant with the almighty God who owns all of everything and has all of the power. He is on your side and has promised you salvation in every area of your life. You just have to take Him at His word and believe He comes through on what He has said.
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