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Stage 2: Level 2 - Class 3
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Copyright © 1998 P.F.(Simon) Measures
I have something breathtaking to tell you. You and I, as Christians, have a covenant with Almighty God. We have the New Covenant; a covenant entered into by the blood of Jesus binding God to us - His people - with an absolute pledge.
Are you familiar with this covenant? Do you understand what covenant is - how it came into being and what it means to you? This knowledge is very important. The Bible calls believers without it "strangers from the covenants of promise". It says they are like people having no hope and without God in the world. Ephesians 2:12.
Let's get started on this from the basics. Let's ask the question, what is a covenant? A covenant is a solemn agreement between two parties. In this solemn agreement the two parties dedicate themselves to granting at all times protection, promotion and prosperity to each other. To truly understand covenants you must understand why and how covenants are made.
We, who live in industrial societies, are almost totally unfamiliar with covenants and covenant making. Unlike us, the patriarchs - such as Abraham and Jacob - lived in societies moulded around covenants. The covenant relationships of their societies determined in the most part success or failure, defence or defeat, promotion or ridicule.
Tribal peoples of the world today also are still familiar with covenant. Where ever the gospel is preached in Africa we receive reports of miraculous healings and deliverances. Why? Primarily because in hearing the gospel preached the people hear a blood covenant preached and immediately - because of their covenant familiarity - they draw on that blood covenant with God.
Real covenants are blood covenants. Covenants are ratified in blood. Covenants in ancient and tribal societies are made in blood - sometimes even in the blood of the covenant parties themselves. In North America the Indians make covenant by holding their arms high and clenched together as blood from their wrists mingles to ratify the covenant. In Genesis we read Abraham saying,
I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth.
Genesis 14:22.
He was referring to His covenant with God. (See Genesis 12:1-9.)
Why is a covenant made in such a drastic fashion? Because a covenant is so weighty, so absolutely binding that it cannot be entered into by anything lighter than blood. You need to know your New Covenant was ratified in blood - the blood of Jesus Christ. All the covenants of scripture required the shedding of blood for their ratification.
Moses ratified the Old Covenant with blood. He read to the people the Book of the Covenant and then sprinkled both the Book itself and the people with the blood of calves and goats. Exodus 24:3-8; Hebrews 9:18-22.
The New Covenant likewise had to be ratified in blood. Jesus, our High Priest, had to shed His own blood that in His own blood He could ratify the New Covenant.
Jesus made this plain on the night of His betrayal when, after eating the Passover meal with His disciples, He took the cup and said,
This cup is the new covenant (ratified and established) in My blood.
1 Corinthians 11:25 - Amplified Bible.
Jesus ministered His own blood in the Heavenly Holy of Holies. He sprinkled both the Book of the New Covenant and us - the people of the New Covenant. He ratified the New Covenant as an eternal covenant of peace for every believer. (Read of this in Hebrews 8:1-3 and Hebrews 9:18-24.)
The only blood powerful enough to ratify the New Covenant was the blood of Jesus. It was only the blood of Jesus that could ratify a covenant with Almighty God that reaches across all realms of human existence. The New Covenant provides salvation for man not only in the realm of his body and his soul but also in the realm of his spirit.
The New Covenant is far greater than all covenants that came before it although it follows on from God's preceeding covenants.
He (Jesus Christ) is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
Hebrews 8:6.
While we were outside of Christ as Gentiles we had no covenant with the Father. Then we came to Jesus and through Him we found covenant relationship with God. Peter declares,
In time past (you) were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy (covenant relationship) but now have obtained mercy.
1 Peter 2:10. (Words in parenthesis added for clarity.)
For this reason on its own we should have our hearts brimming over with hope - a tremendous vision of good to come with intense expectation of obtaining it. We should always be acting like men and women with good news to tell. We should ever be walking in the knowledge that God is not only with us but He is also for us every step of the way. We should be covenant- conscious people.
Covenant Consciousness
David - the shepherd who became king - was a covenant conscious young man. He lived in a covenant-familiar society. From the time he was a boy David was conscious that, as a child of Israel, he had a covenant with Almighty God. In the strength of that covenant he had slain a bear and killed a lion. It was also in consciousness of that covenant that David went out against Goliath.
As he prepared to go out David said to King Saul,
Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine (Goliath) shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.
1 Samuel 17:36.
David purposefully refers to Goliath as uncircumcised. Now why do you think he did that? Because uncircumcision declared a man without covenant with God while circumcision was an Israelite's token of covenant with Almighty God.
David was saying, "This Philistine is without covenant with God. I have a covenant! God will fight for me as He fought for me when I slew the lion and the bear!" It was covenanted power that manifested when Goliath fell at David's hand.
Let's think about this for a moment though. Why was it left to little shepherd boy David? Why didn't one of the trained Israelite soldiers do the job? The reason is rooted in covenant- consciousness. David had it but the Israelite soldiers of Saul's army didn't. Promises from God's covenant were David's daily meditation. Evidently they weren't the meditation of Saul's soldiers.
What sort of child of God are you? Are you the David-kind or the fearful Saulian soldier kind? What are you conscious of? Are you always mindful of your covenant or readily intimidated by giants?
This generation needs covenant-conscious men and women ready to go out against every giant that holds their brethren in fear. We've come to the time when covenant familiarity has to be a determined goal and covenant-consciousness a lifestyle!
Consider what great and mighty things were availed under the Old Covenant. It was by covenant that David slew Goliath. It was by covenant that Abraham had a son in his old age. It was by covenant that the children of Israel possessed the Promised Land.
How much more should we prevail! We have a better covenant established upon better promises. The New Covenant is an everlasting covenant that God calls His Covenant of Peace. By His prophet Isaiah God tells us,
Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you - the sure mercies of David.
Isaiah 55:3 - NKJV.
Our New Covenant is between God and His Son, Jesus. We have part in it because we are the Body of Christ and we are the generation of Jesus Christ - the seed that Jesus has generated. Peter calls us a chosen generation. 1 Peter 2:9.
In Psalm 89 we read God saying,
I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David; Your seed I will establish forever, And build up your throne to all generations.
Also I will make him My firstborn (Jesus is the firstborn from the dead! - Revelation 1:5.), The highest of the kings of the earth. My mercy I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall stand firm with him.
Psalm 89:3-4,27-28 - NKJV.
For this reason the New Covenant is of a different order than the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant was made with man - when man broke it the Covenant was invalidated and the punishment was death. The New Covenant stands eternally ours, never to be removed and ever available to ensure peace.
For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
Isaiah 54:10.
It is by this covenant that we have God's protection, provision and promotion. The New Covenant is God's Covenant of Peace and as such, by implication, His covenant of prosperity for all His people.
What could have motivated the Almighty God creator of heaven and earth to bring us into such a covenant with Himself as this? It was His love! God by Jesus brought you and me into covenant with Himself because of His immeasurable love for us! John 3:16.
God has covenanted to protect and prosper you. One of the best places in the Bible to begin getting established and familiar with God's marvellous Covenant of Peace is in the 54th chapter of Isaiah.
O you afflicted one, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, and lay your foundations with sapphires.
I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of crystal, and all your walls of precious stones.
All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.
In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
Isaiah 54:11-14 - NKJV.
So here we learn so much about God's covenanted prosperity and protection. You may have been afflicted, tossed with life's storms and not comforted, but now hear what God has covenanted to do for you! Oh, it's so exciting - whenever I meditate upon that passage I begin rejoicing with "joy unspeakable and full of glory".
Our New Covenant relationship with God embraces all of this and much more. God has committed Himself to watching over you, to build and to plant! Jeremiah 31:28.
Be covenant conscious! Be covenant familiar! Be covenant knowledgeable! Discover how it covers every aspect, every area and every person in your life. Trust in and rely upon your New Covenant relationship with God to see you through - no matter what you face! Defeat the giants in your life in the confidence and provision of your New Covenant!
Copyright © 1998 P.F. (Simon) Measures
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This class is part of High Impact Christianity - now available as a six part book series!
Next class: Blood Victory! - A class on overcoming the devil.
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