THE DIVINE COVENANTS OF GOD
Malcolm Smith in his book “The Lost Secret of the New Covenant” states, “As I read through Scripture and studied its characters, I became aware that they knew something that I did not know. That “something” exerted a tremendous influence over the way they understood God and His salvation. The bold faith they exercised with authority was in response to that “something”. …… That “something” was the secret of their life and walk with God and the basis of their exploits done in His name. …… I discovered that the “something” I did not know about was the covenant God had made with His people. It is difficult for me now to remember how I looked at the Scripture before I came to see and understand the covenant. I certainly did not see that everything was working out from the hidden core of the covenant. I had a belief system that was incoherent; each part stood by itself as an island in a sea called Christianity, no part having any real relation to the other parts. The promises of God were the Word of God and utterly reliable, but again hung in their own space with no relationship to a commitment in blood that God had made. Faith was a mystery to me. I pondered the authority with which the heroes of Scripture spoke, and I wondered whence came the authority for them to speak such wonders and for God to honor their words. I did not realize they were speaking out from a prior commitment God had made to them. ….. I did not know that His Name was at the heart of the covenant. Even the praise, thanksgiving, and worship in the Psalms were thanking Him for “something” which I did not realize was His covenant and loyal covenant love. …. They understood the Gospel as the working out of a covenant.”
Andrew Murray said “IT WILL BE FOUND STILL TO BRING STRENGTH AND PURPOSE TO THOSE WHO WILL TAKE THE TROUBLE TO BRING ALL THEIR LIFE UNDER CONTROL OF THE INSPIRING ASSURANCE THAT THEY ARE LIVING IN COVENANT WITH A GOD WHO HAS SWORN FAITHFULLY TO FULFILL IN THEM EVERY PROMISE HE HAS GIVEN.”
Again he stated: “IF YOU WOULD TAKE THE COVENANT AND SPEAK OF IT AS GOD COULD ENABLE YOU TO SPEAK, I THINK THAT WOULD BE THE QUICKEST WAY THE LORD COULD TAKE TO MAKE HIS CHURCH WAKE UP TO THE POWER HE HAS PUT INTO OUR HANDS IN GIVING US A COVENANT.”
Taken from Andrew Murray’s book “The Two Covenants” – “AS LONG AS WE ASK GOD TO DO FOR US AS WE ASK OR THINK, WE LIMIT HIM. WHEN WE BELIEVE THAT AS HIGH AS THE HEAVENS ARE ABOVE THE EARTH, HIS THOUGHTS ARE ABOVE OUR THOUGHTS, AND WAIT ON HIM AS GOD TO DO UNTO US ACCORDING TO HIS WORD, AS HE MEANS IT, WE SHALL BE PREPARED TO LIVE THE TRULY SUPERNATURAL, HEAVENLY LIFE THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN WORK IN US ---- THE TRUE CHRIST LIFE.”
David Huskins, “The Power of the Covenant Heart” states “By nature, contracts are legal and binding. Covenants are spiritual and liberating. Contracts are sealed on paper. Covenants are sealed in the heart. Covenants are more binding than contracts. The essential difference is that a contract is enforced by the law, and a covenant is enforced by the spirit.”
Again, he states, “Covenant is not only a relational word; it is also a redemptive word.”
So after witnessing what these two men of God had to say about covenants let’s begin our study of some of the specific covenants in the Word of God. We will begin by looking at The Edenic Covenant and The Adamic Covenant. Both covenants were with Adam and we will see his actions brought the change from the first to the second.
Jeremiah 33:19-22 - 19 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 20 "Thus says the Lord: 'If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, 21 then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers. 22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.'"
THE EDENIC COVENANT
Genesis 2:8-18 (NLT) - 8 Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. 9 The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river watered the garden and then flowed out of Eden and divided into four branches. 11 The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. 12 The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. 13 The second branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush. 14 The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates. 15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16 But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”
The Edenic Covenant was one that God made with Adam and Eve prior to the fall (Genesis1:1; 2:25). It was made with them prior to the fall and was dependent upon their obedience to the provisions laid down in it. It was not a legal document but a mutual agreement. So the Lord made this covenant with man when He created him.
Genesis 1 & 2 record not only the creation of the heaven and the earth cut also some of the reasons God made them. Isaiah 45:18 states “He formed it to be inhabited.” Therefore the 1st covenant was given to the 1st man and woman to reveal God’s purpose in creating them.
This covenant was the first expression on earth of the pre-existent everlasting covenant in heaven. Since man was the recipient, but not the originator, of the 1st covenant illustrates God’s desire & purpose that man be in covenantal relationship with Him.
There can be no relationship with God apart from covenant.
Genesis 1:26 (NKJV) - 26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
The Lord God wanted man made in Their image and after Their likeness. He was speaking of the Godhead, the Trinity. Our image and likeness is part of the covenant.
Because of this covenant man was given dominion over all creation. Creation isn’t only of this world but also of the spiritual world. Jesus confirmed this in Mark 6:7 where He said “7 And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits.”
Then in Psalms 8:6-8 - 6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, 7 All sheep and oxen-- Even the beasts of the field, 8 The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas.
Again, Psalms 115:16 (NKJV) - 16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's; But the earth He has given to the children of men.
Man was made to enjoy the universe.
Genesis 2:15 (NKJV) - 15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
Isaiah 45:18 (NLT) - 18 For the Lord is God, and he created the heavens and earth and put everything in place. He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos. “I am the Lord,” he says, “and there is no other.
We can tell by the above scriptures that in the Edenic order of things that man was superior to all creation.
Because of that covenant we have the breath of God in us.
Genesis 2:7 (NLT) - 7 Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
The powers that were given to man were superior to those given to the animal kingdom.
Genesis 1:28 (AMP) - 28 And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.
And above all, man had the ability to understand eternity.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (AMP) - 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
The Edenic Covenant brings forth three pertinent messages to us.
We were created to have fellowship with the Lord.
Genesis 3:8 (NLT) - 8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.
1 Corinthians 1:9 (AMP) - 9 God is faithful (reliable, trustworthy, and therefore ever true to His promise, and He can be depended on); by Him you were called into companionship and participation with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 John 1:3 (AMP) - 3 What we have seen and [ourselves] heard, we are also telling you, so that you too may realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a distinguishing mark of Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah).
We were created to understand the perfection of God’s creation.
Genesis 1:12 (AMP) - 12 The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed according to their own kinds and trees bearing fruit in which was their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good (suitable, admirable) and He approved it.
We were created to make paradise a divine reality.
Genesis 2:15 (NKJV) - 15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
The Edenic Covenant has approximately seven points in it. They are:
The earth was to be replenished with a new order – man.
Genesis 1:28 (AMP) - 28 And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.
The earth was to be subdued to serve the purpose of humankind.
Genesis 2:15 (NKJV) - 15 Then he Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
We were to dominate the animal kingdom.
Psalms 8:3-8 (AMP) - 3 When I view and consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained and established, 4 What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of [earthborn] man that You care for him? 5 Yet You have made him but a little lower than God [or heavenly beings], and You have crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet: 7 All sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field, 8 The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
We were to eat herbs and fruit, meat was not a part of Adam & Eve’s diet.
Genesis 1:29 (NLT) - 29 Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food.
We were to tend the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 2:15 (NKJV) - 15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
Man was commanded to not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:17 (AMP) - 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
Death was the penalty for the disobedience to the command of God.
Genesis 2:17 (AMP) - 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
So the first covenant God made with man was broken when Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They were the first man and they were the first faithless covenant-keepers.
THE ADAMIC COVENANT
Genesis 3:9-19 (NLT) - 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” 11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” 14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. 15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” 16 Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” 17 And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. 19 By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”
I would like to point out that there is a first time here. In Verse 10, fear had entered the world. It had come to rest on God’s creation and as fear does today we are afraid. Faith isn’t fear and fear isn’t involved in faith. If fear is present in something that we are doing by faith, then we need to stop and examine what we are doing because fear and faith can’t occupy the same space. Sin brought in the fear and the fear brought in separation from God. Because of the fear they went from enjoying the presence of the Lord to trying to hide from Him among the trees of the Garden, even as we still do today.
Banishment from the Garden followed their journey into sin. The Lord prevented them from access to the tree of life wherein they could have lived forever and living forever would have prevented our Lord from being born. For the second Adam to appear the first Adam had to disappear.
Now in these verses we actually see a new covenant being made with Adam and Eve, but also we see a covenant being made with the serpent.
Because of their breaking, by being disobedient, the covenant that the Lord God had made with them three things came from it:
Adam and Eve were exiled from the Garden of Eden
Death entered the earth because sin (missing the mark, being disobedient in this case) has a price.
Romans 5:21 (AMP) -21 So that, [just] as sin has reigned in death, [so] grace (His unearned and undeserved favor) might reign also through righteousness (right standing with God) which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) our Lord.
Romans 6:23 (AMP) - 23 For the wages which sin pays is death, but the [bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 8:2 (NLT) - 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
1 Corinthians 15:21 (AMP) - 21 For since [it was] through a man that death [came into the world, it is] also through a Man that the resurrection of the dead [has come].
1 Corinthians 15:22 (NLT) - 22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.
Suddenly man was in need of an outward covering.
Genesis 3:21 (NKJV) - 21 Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
A lot of “firsts” took place because of Adam and Eve’s failure to obey the Lord and maintain the “life-giving” restraints found in the first covenant. When we consider the effect that their failure had on humanity it points even more to what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us on the cross of Calvary. Some of the firsts:
The first murder.
Genesis 4:8 (NLT) - 8 One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.
The first shepherd of a flock.
Genesis 4:4 (NKJV) - 4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering,
The first sorrow that human parents had to encounter.
Genesis 3:16 (NKJV) - 16 To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you."
In addition to that we see:
The curse comes upon the serpent .
Genesis 3:14-15 (NKJV) - 14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."
The enslavement of all creation.
Genesis 3:17-19 (AMP) - 17 And to Adam He said, Because you have listened and given heed to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it, the ground is under a curse because of you; in sorrow and toil shall you eat [of the fruits] of it all the days of your life. 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return.
Seven points can be found in the Adamic Covenant as well, they are:
The curse upon the serpent. – Genesis 3:14
The sorrows of the woman in childbirth. Genesis 3:16
The subordination of women to men. Genesis 3:16
The enslavement of creation. Genesis 3:17
The introduction of physical death. Romans 5:12
The enmity between the seed of woman and the seed of Satan. Genesis 3:15
Finally, the victory of woman’s seed through suffering. Hebrews 2:9; 1 Timothy 2:15
Through Adam and Eve’s failure to obey the covenant paradise was lost, death came into the world. However through the Lord Jesus Christ we can be made alive and regain the paradise above.
1 Corinthians 15:21-26 (AMP) - 21 For since [it was] through a man that death [came into the world, it is] also through a Man that the resurrection of the dead [has come]. 22 For just as [because of their union of nature] in Adam all people die, so also [by virtue of their union of nature] shall all in Christ be made alive. 23 But each in his own rank and turn: Christ (the Messiah) [is] the firstfruits, then those who are Christ’s [own will be resurrected] at His coming. 24 After that comes the end (the completion), when He delivers over the kingdom to God the Father after rendering inoperative and abolishing every [other] rule and every authority and power. 25 For [Christ] must be King and reign until He has put all [His] enemies under His feet.
26 The last enemy to be subdued and abolished is death.
