There
are many covenants in the Bible. The
major characteristic of all Biblical covenants is that they are eternal. A new covenant cannot violate a previous
covenant. If it does, the latter
covenant is void. Let me share the major
covenants of the Bible.
The
first covenant of the Bible is the Edenic Covenant. This covenant between God and man commands
that man was not to eat of the tree in the midst of the garden of Eden. The second part of the covenant was that man
was to dress the garden and keep it. This covenant established that man had certain
restrictions placed on him. It also gave
man the responsibility of following principles of ecology. The conditions of this covenant are eternally
in effect.
The
second covenant was the Adamic Covenant.
Chapter 3 of Genesis gives the details of the results of Adam and Eve’s
violation of the Edenic Covenant.
Breaking of the covenant did not do away with the covenant, it just
caused mankind to enter a new covenant.
The terms and conditions of the Adamic Covenant are just as much in
effect today as they were the day they were given. Again read Genesis chapter 3 and prove in
your own mind that this covenant is still in effect today.
The
Noahic Covenant (outlined in the previous chapter) is a universal covenant to
all mankind, both Jew and non-Jew. This
covenant expanded and enhanced the previous covenants mentioned above. Again, it did not violate the previous
covenants, but provided more guidance to mankind in his daily walk.
The
Abrahamic Covenant establishes the Jew’s relationship to God. It is a covenant based on faith in one
God. This eternal covenant is important
not only to the Jew, but also to the gentile.
It is repeated and referred to over and over in the Bible. Genesis 17:7 states, “And I will establish my
covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for
an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.”
(KJV)
How
long is everlasting? How long is eternal? A little insight into
the meaning of these terms can be found in Jeremiah 31:35-37, “Thus saith the
LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon
and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves
thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his
name: If those ordinances depart from
before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being
a nation before me for ever. Thus saith
the LORD; If heaven above can be
measured, and foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast
off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.” (KJV)
Why
have we been led to believe that Israel does not have a relationship with God
through the Abrahamic Covenant? This is
an eternal covenant. It is not based on
Israel’s faithfulness to God, but on God’s faithfulness to Israel. Why do Christians presume to have the only
avenue to faith in God? Oh, I know we
like to quote John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and
the life: no man cometh unto the Father,
but by me.” (KJV) But consider the
context of the passage. Yeshua (Jesus)
is talking to his disciples about going to prepare a place for them. I believe this to be referring to the
prophesied future in the coming of the Messiah when all nations are required to
go to Jerusalem each year to worship the King, as stated in Zechariah 14:16-17;
“And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations
which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the
King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of
all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of
hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.” (KJV)
Christians like to latch onto the part of the
Abrahamic Covenant which states in Genesis 12:3, “and in thee shall all
families of the earth be blessed.” (KJV)
This, of course, is a reference to the Yeshua (Jesus). If one accepts this part of the covenant, then
he must accept all parts of the covenant that relates to the Jew.
God’s
relationship to the Jew is far more personal than one may realize. Israel is God’s son! This is clearly stated in Exodus 4:22-23,
“And thou shall say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even
my firstborn: And I say unto thee, Let
my son go, that he may serve me: and If
thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.”
(KJV) Again, in Hosea 11:1, it says,
“When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”
(KJV) Other passages also support this
relationship. Far be it from me to say
that God has cast off His son!
Even the New Testament makes
reference to Israel’s unique relationship to God. A careful and thoughtful study of Romans 9,
10 and 11, will reveal a continuing relationship between God and Israel. The writer of Romans likens the Gentile
believer to a wild olive tree when he says in Romans 11:17-18, “And if some of
the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in
among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
Boast not against the branches. But if
thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.” (KJV) Our roots are
in the Jewish faith. It was a sad day
when the Christian church divorced itself from our parent faith.
When the controversy arose as to whether the
Christian had to convert to the Jewish faith, Peter stated in Acts 15:7-9, “And
when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and
brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the
Gentiles by my mouth should hear the work of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them
witness giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; And put no
difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” (KJV)
There
is one plan of salvation. Salvation is
based on faith in the Living God. The
Christian’s faith is based on the belief that Yeshua (Jesus) died for our sins
on the cross and rose victorious over the grave. The basis of the Jewish faith is the
Abrahamic Covenant which promises them salvation, not by works of the law, but
through obedient faith. Do all labeled Christians and Jews have
salvation by saving faith? I hardly
think so, but God knows.
My
belief that all eternal covenants are just as valid today as when they were
established is not just one man’s belief.
The late Vendyl Jones has been espousing this belief for some time, with
many following this belief. Even the
Scofield Reference Bible, copyright 1917, in a footnote, written by a
commentator, to verse 3 of chapter 2 of Habakkuk states the following: “In disciplinary government His ancient
Israel is cast out of the land and judicially blinded, but in covenanted mercy
the individual Jew may resort to the simple faith of Abraham and be saved.” While my faith is based on the faithfulness
of Yeshua (Jesus), the Jews faith is based on the faithfulness of Abraham. Both communities relationship to God is based
on faith. Neither group’s salvation is
based on keeping the law or doing good works.
We do a great disservice to the Jewish community by trying to persuade
or force them into the mold the Christian has designed for the Jew to have a
saving relationship to God.
This I believe!
