I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant
between me and you and your descendants after you
for the generations to come,
to be your God and the God
of your descendants after you (Gen 17:7).
From that first sin in Eden’s Garden, it spread like a raging wildfire.
But God extended promise to man and further bound Himself by a series of subsequent covenants.
Each covenant God made (beginning with Adam, then Noah, Abraham, Moses at Sinai, and King David) built upon each other—to their culmination in the New Covenant in Christ Jesus.
The promise of a new covenant included forgiveness and regeneration and was guaranteed by His unbreakable oath (Heb 6:13-14). The covenant of circumcision was in the flesh (Gen 17:9-14). However, the covenant of Christ, of the heart (Rm 2:29).
Most covenants were accompanied with signs. The sign of the Noahic covenant was the rainbow. Circumcision was a sign of the Abrahamic covenant. The Mosaic covenant came with the Law and the sacrificial system—to serve as a guardian until the Messiah came (Gal 3:24). The Davidic covenant established an everlasting kingdom. And the sign of the new covenant is baptism (Col 2:11-12), along with the memorial observance of the Lord's Supper (1 Cor 11:23-25).
Both Zechariah (Lk 1:72-73) and Peter (Ac 3:25-26) pointed to Jesus as confirmation that God had indeed kept His covenants. As did Paul (2 Cor 3:5-7). And we further learn from the writer of the Book of Hebrews that Jesus is the Mediator of the New Covenant, a covenant far superior to its predecessors (Heb 9:15; 8:6).
God promised to redeem lost mankind, ultimately so He would be our God and we, His people (Jer 31:33).
As God With Us, Immanuel, Jesus is our God and we, His people—because our Covenantal God is a relational God.
Flowing from a desire to maintain a relationship with all of His creation, God prepared an eternal covenant. One to outlast time. And now available to all mankind through His Son.
God’s covenants—prepared from the foundations before time—reveal the character and the heart of God. They are beautiful . . . complex . . . and everlasting. And they prepare our faith with unwavering hope.
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