UNDERSTANDING GOD’S COVENANTS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR GOD’S PEOPLE TODAY (PART 4) – 2 TIMOTHY 2:15

INTRODUCTION

Our God is a covenant-making and covenant- Keeping God. He remains faithful to His promises even when His people fails to keep their own part of the covenant.

In our previous lessons, we have studied the Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic and Davidic Covenants. Today we shall look at the New Covenant.

The New Covenant (Messianic Covenant).

This is an unconditional covenant in which God promised an enablement whereby His covenant people would have His law written upon their hearts (no longer on tables)and would finally fulfil their designated role as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation to the rest of the world. See Jer. 31:31-34; Ezk. 36:26-28; 1Pt. 2:9-10.

▪︎While Moses was the mediator of the old covenant between God and His people, the nation of Israel, Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant between God and His people (believers), through His finished work of redemption. Check Matt. 26:28; Heb. 9:15.

▪︎While the old covenant required obediance to speciflc stipulations, the new covenant requires faith in Christ, the perfectly obedient Son of Israel.

Meaning

▪︎The new covenant requires only faith in Christ. However, this faith itself is a gift given to all who trust in Christ as their Saviour.- Eph. 2:8-9. Consider Christ’s words in Jn. 6:44, 65 and Peter’s words to fellow believers in 2Pt. 1:1. God draws the sinner to Christ and gives the ability to believe. See also Rom. 3:11 and Matt. 16:17.

▪︎Through faith, Christians have the privileges of peace with God (Rom. 5:1), eternal life (Jn. 3:15; Rom. 6:23), indwelt by the Holy Spirit (1Cor. 3:16), and are been conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29).

▪︎Every Christian has a measure of faith gifted him at the point of salvation. It is not a one-time momentary experience but is meant to progress.

Reflection: 1. What do you understand by “the just shall live by his faith” in Hab. 2:4?

2. How can we increase our faith?

IMPLICATIONS OF GOD’S COVENANTS FOR HIS PEOPLE

1. Our ability to understand the Bible in particular and God’s dealings with humanity in general depends on how well we understand the biblical covenants.

2. Understanding the covenants help us understand God in terms of His character, His will, and His plan.

3. Each of the covenants can be associated with a particular attribute of God’s character.

▪︎Adamic Covenant: God is sovereign and man is His regent on earth (Gen.1:28; Ps. 8:6; 24:1; 72:8-11; Rev. 1:6; 5:10).

▪︎Noahic Covenant: God is loving and patient. (2Pt. 3:9).

▪︎Abrahamic Covenant: God is good/kind, the source of all blessings (Exd. 18:9; 2Sam. 9:3; Eph. 1:3).

▪︎Mosaic Covenant: God is righteous and the source of all righteous laws, judgements, statutes and decrees (Deut. 4:8; 32:4; Ps.119:137-138.

▪︎Davidic Covenant: God remains faithful to His covenants despite people’s unfaithfulness (2Tim. 2:13).

▪︎New Covenant: God is forgiving, merciful and eternally loving (Jer. 31:34; Matt. 9:2-6; Lk. 24:46-47; Eph. 4:32).

4. Everything that God does is based on covenant (Num. 23:19; Is. 55:11).

CONCLUSION

The Bible is a book of God’s covenants, and all the covenants point to Christ. Man cannot perfectly obey all the stipulations of the old covenant but Christ fulfilled the requirements of them all. Therefore, by faith in Christ alone, believers are deemed to have fulfilled the requirements of all the previous covenants and have been declared righteous (justified) before God. YOU ARE RIGHTEOUS! Believe this and tap into the grace of God to continue to live a righteous and progressive life in Christ, to the glory of God the Father. May the Lord help us so to do in Jesus’ name.