A
covenant is an agreement or contract between one or more people. It is one’s
word or promise to do something. We read in the Bible of several important
contracts that God has made with us. The first one I want to discuss is found in
the ninth chapter of Genesis where God establishes the sign of the rainbow as
His promise with us that never again will there be a flood to destroy the
earth.
Water
symbolizes purity and what is true. But destroying water, such as a flood,
symbolizes what is evil and false. So when we look deeper into the symbolic
meaning of this story we see that God is saying never again will He allow
people to fall to such a point that the evil can overpower the good. This is the
reason He later came to earth in the form of Jesus the Christ.
Next
let’s look at the Ten Commandments, which are called the Covenant. The concept
of a covenant here is that God’s commands are contracts between Him and His
people. His people
are those who obey His commands. By obeying His commands, a covenant is kept
between us and God. This is
verified in Exodus, chapter 34, where the Lord says, “I am making a covenant
with you. Before all
your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people
you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, YeHoVaH, will do for
you. Obey what I
command you to do today.” (Exodus 34:10) God’s side
of the contract is to show us how we are to live our lives by showing us His
Laws. Our side of
the contract is to obey and live by those commands that He shows us.
Lastly,
I want to cover what Christ, Who is God incarnate, commanded and what His
covenant is with us, as stated in the New Testament Gospels. The Father
is Christ’s soul and His inmost being. This is why Jesus is able to say that He and
the Father are one and that He who has seen him has also seen the Father (John
14:6-7). In John,
chapter 15, He says, “My command is this, love each other as I have loved you. No one can
have any greater love than this: that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my
friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you servants, because a
servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, because
everything that I learned from my Father I have also made known to you. You did not
choose me, however, I have chosen you and assigned you to go and bring forth
fruit – fruit that will last forever. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask
for in my name.This is my command to you: love each other.” (John 15:12-17) Christ’s,
God Incarnate’s, covenant with us is to love each other.
In Matthew chapter 7, He also gives us the
Golden Rule; “…do unto others as you would have them do to you…” to which is
added that “this is the Law and the Prophets”. (Matt. 7:12) This is
repeated in Matthew chapter 22: “then one of them, a lawyer, tested him asking,
‘Teacher, which command in the Law is the greatest?’ Jesus
answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul. This is the
first and greatest command and the second is like it: love your neighbor as
yourself. On these
two commands hang all the Law and the Prophets.’” (Matt.22:35-40)
What is the Law and the Prophets? They are
the entire Word of God wherein He tells us to love each other as God loves us.
So these are the important points I want
you to take away from this:
· God’s
covenant is a contract between Himself and those who choose to obey His
commands. His part of
the contract is to show us the laws He wants us to live by and our part of the
contract is to live by those commands He has shown us.
· His
yoke is easy and His burden is light because His Covenant with us is simply to
live by the Golden Rule, practicing charity to one’s neighbor, for this, boiled
down, is the entire Word of God!
Blessings,
Chaplain Bob
