Many people today wonder how God and man relate to each other. Scripture responds to this writing by showing us that the relationship between God and man is based on an agreement called a covenant. Covenants are seen as a common theme throughout the Old and New Testaments. You can also see that the name of both the “Old and New Testaments” speaks to this idea of covenant since the word “testament” is Latin for the word covenant. A covenant is a contract or agreement between two or more parties. The Covenant was the way that God chose to communicate to his people, to redeem them and to guarantee them eternal life in Jesus. This idea of a covenant relationship between God and man is so basic and overwhelmingly predominant in all the Scriptures. We will look at three key biblical covenants and how these were fulfilled in the New Testament scriptures. While these are not all of the covenants contained in the Scriptures, these key covenants will allow for a fuller understanding of the unity of the Scriptures and the history of man's salvation. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Within the Scriptures we can see two different types of covenants, Suzerain/Vassal treaties and unconditional covenants. Sovereign/vassal treaties provided for some form of sovereign and a vassal state. This was often a relationship in which the king was obeyed and loved and the vassal was expected to work for the king, in turn receiving protection. The Sinaitic, or Mosaic, covenant is a great example of what an example of a sovereignty treaty would look like. At Sinai the people of Israel told God that they agreed to keep the law that God had given them, otherwise they will suffer the consequences. This type of treaty was common in the ancient politics of the time, so it is not surprising that God would use this type of treaty to deal with His people. We will first analyze the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12. This monastery is the stepping stone to the entire development of the great nation of Israel and even the book of Revelation; it is the story of the development and fulfillment of this promise made to Abraham. This covenant was a contract between God and Abraham, in which they became his people and he became their God. We can see the promise as follows in Genesis 12:1-3: “The Lord said to Abram, 'Go out of your land , from your family and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'” (Genesis 12:1-3) One can look at the Abrahamic covenant as in part a sovereign-vassal covenant, for God first required that Abraham rise up and leave his house. and his family, and follow God on earth. However, the main focus of this covenant is an unconditional covenant as God's promise to bless Abraham and the entire nation through his lineage (Pieters 30). You can also see that God promises this covenant and then Abraham asks God to do a “cutting ceremony.” This was a common practice in the culture of the time. Furthermore, it is important to note that this covenant is also a literal covenant where the promises should be taken literally. Furthermore, this promised earthly convent must be understood in its literal interpretation and should not be understood as a figure from heaven. Finally, it is important to note that this is also an everlasting covenant. The promises God made to Israel are eternal. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that this one-sided covenant is due to the fact that God is benevolent in his dealings with men and does not require oaths from us. Abraham's task was toembrace God's covenant. The Abrahamic promise is also referred to in the New Testament as the “promise” (Acts 2:39; 26:6; Romans 4:13; Ephesians 2:12). God's chosen path to fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant was through God blessing Abraham with the land in Genesis 13:14–17. Furthermore, God blessed him spiritually in Genesis 13:8, 18; 14:22, 23; 9.22pm. God also gave Abraham many descendants in Genesis 22:17; 49:3–28. The greatest element of this covenant however is the future fulfillment with the kingdom of the Messiah (Pieters 45). It should be emphasized that part of the Abrahamic Covenant has not yet been fulfilled. For example, in the future Israel as a nation will own its own land. Scriptures such as Ezekiel 20:33–37 anticipate Israel's future blessing of its land. The book of Ezekiel speaks of a future day when Israel will be restored to the land. Some say this could be filled in a future Thousand Year Kingdom of God. The Abrahamic Covenant finds its final fulfillment in the result of the return of the Messiah to save and bless His people, Israel. It is through the nation of Israel that God has promised to bless all the nations of the world. That final blessing will be the forgiveness of sins and the reign of the Messiah on earth. In addition to this convent we see another important covenant fulfilled in the New Testament is the Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7. The establishment of the Davidic Covenant in the Old Testament represented a supreme point in the history of redemption prior to the actual coming of Christ. God promised David that his descendants would have an eternal kingdom and be known as his children. We can observe that this is an unconditional pact made between God and David. It can also be seen through which God promises David and Israel that the Messiah (Jesus Christ) would come from the line of David and the tribe of Judah and establish a kingdom that would last forever. Scholars such as Michael A. Grisanti state that although the Hebrew term for “covenant” is not used in the passage, it is clear that it provides the initial framework for the Davidic Covenant. The Davidic Covenant highlights several key promises made to David and his descendants. First, God reaffirms the promise of the land that he made in the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants. As stated earlier, these have yet to be met in the present day. We can see this very fact when we read this promise in 2 Samuel 7:10: “I will provide a place for my people Israel and plant it so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Evil people will no longer oppress them.” Next, God promises that David's son will succeed him as king of Israel. This son we know as Solomon would build the temple. This promise can be seen in 2 Samuel 7:12–13 when the Lord says, “I will raise up your descendants to succeed you, your flesh and your blood, and I will establish his kingdom. It is He who will build a house for my Name." Solomon would be the guarantee for the rest of David's descendants and would build the Temple (7:13). Yahweh also guarantees that the Davidic descendant will always be available to sit on the royal throne. We see this promise when it is written, “I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Samuel 7:13), and “Your house and your kingdom will endure before me forever; your throne will be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16). You could see that there is now a huge change in this promise. God speaks of an eternal kingdom over which another Son of David will rule forever and build an enduring House. This is a clear reference to Jesus the Messiah called the Son of David in Matthew 21:9. As with Abraham in Gen 12:1-3, Yahweh could be seen to have promised David eternal descendants and possession ofEarth. If David's descendants chose to be loyal and live under the terms of the Mosaic Covenant, they would be granted full enjoyment of the provisions afforded to them through the covenant. However, we see that they have not kept this promise. But although David's descendants did not follow the Mosaic Law and had to give up the promised divine protection and right to the land, the house of David will still reign on the throne forever. As Michael A. Grisanti goes into more detail stating, “Although Yahweh promises to cause disloyal children to lose their opportunity to enjoy the provisions of this covenant, He affirms that the Davidic house and throne will endure forever, giving hope that Yahweh would one day raise up a loyal son who would fulfill Yahweh's demands for compliance with the covenant (Grisanti 243) This, then, helps us better understand how this covenant is fulfilled today and has yet to be fulfilled accomplished in the Scriptures with the birth of Jesus. When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary in Luke 1:31–33, he said, “Behold, you will conceive a son and bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. David that his descendant would rule over the house of Jacob forever is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. As the Son of David (Romans 1:3) and the Lord of David (Matthew 22:45; Psalm 110:1). Jesus now reigns as king in heaven over the true and blameless house of Israel. David functions as a mediator of the New Covenant. More generally, the New Covenant appears as the alliance that completes all previous alliances (Grisanti 249). Finally, the last alliance we will look at is the New Covenant. This alliance was announced by the prophet Jeremiah shortly before the dissolution of the nation that had been established on the basis of the Ancient Covenant of Sinai (Grisanti 250). Despite the failure of God's people to live up to the covenants made with previous generations, God has decided to embrace what is known as the “New Covenant” with His people. We see this New Covenant established in Jeremiah 31:31-34 when the author writes: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; as a covenant that I established with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant that they violated, although I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people… For I will forgive their iniquity and will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34) This important passage of Scripture seems to collect a series of prophetic passages in which this New Covenant is also mentioned and referred to (Isaiah 42:6; 49:8; 54:10; 55:4; 61: 8 Ezekiel 37;26). This new covenant was different from the covenant the Lord had made with the ancestors of Israel and Judah from the Exodus generation. This new covenant was with a different generation who had already undergone spiritual return and had moved to a different place of captivity as the previous covenant had been broken. This covenant was what the Old Testament also indicated. The same promise of worldwide blessing that was first given to Abraham. This New Covenant is the main proof of God's faithfulness to Israel. We see in this covenant that God will forgive the sins of His people (Jeremiah 31:34b). Furthermore, he would have given them the ability and desire to follow him and would have changed theirs prematurely.
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