David,
From the beginning of God�s creation God wanted
nothing more than a personal relationship with man. But, man chose not
to have a relationship with God. During the rise of civilization, which
is told in the opening chapters of Genesis, we see that although there
were a few Godly men, most of mankind was wicked. God becomes unhappy
with mans evil ways and is nearly ready to destroy all of life on the
earth. Yet God sees in one man, Noah, the possibility of a people who
would be hungry for Him. So, God tells Noah to build the ark and then
wipes the earth clean for a second attempt at populating the His
creation.
God finds with this second attempt that mankind by
and large is unwilling to accept His blessings. But, He finds and
chooses one man, Abraham, through which He can build a people who want a
relationship with Him. Abraham was willing to do as God requested of
him, leave this land of idol worshippers and follow Him. It is through
Abraham that God promises to bless all of mankind.
There are three aspects of the
covenant:
1. Land. God promises that the land of Canaan was
for the descendants of Abraham.
2. Seed. Abraham is told his line will never be
destroyed. Abraham�s descendants would become as many as the stars, or
the grains of sand.
3. Blessing. God promises to bless those who bless
Abraham and his descendants and curse those who curse Abraham and his
descendants.
At a time when most covenants lasted four or five
generations, this covenant was meant to be eternal. It is a tangible
contract in that God promises land and offspring. Abraham had no
difficulty with the land portion, but, Sarah was barren. Abraham said
that his servant, Eliazer, would inherit his wealth. God informs Abraham
that he will be a father, it is his bloodline that would carry on. The
bloodline that would bring us Yeshua. The Abrahamic covenant was the
foundation that will be expanded upon and refined as we go through the
revisions of the Mosaic, Davidic and Renewed covenants.
From Genesis 12 to the end of the book, we see how
God prunes and in a sense grooms Abraham�s offspring in order to build a
nation. Isaac�s eldest son, Esau, fails to meet God�s criteria as
firstborn. Instead we read of the scheming that takes place so that
Jacob gets the blessing and acts as the firstborn. A recurring theme
that shows us that God chooses the �firstborn� according to His plan,
not the chronological order of birth. We see this also with, Joseph,
Moses and David.
When we get to Exodus we find that the seed has
grown into a nation. However, there is a problem, this Hebrew nation is
in bondage. As slaves in Egypt they have become known as a peculiar
people because they worship one God in a land of so many gods that it is
nearly impossible to count the number of gods. God has another leader
who will direct the people in His ways. A messiah of sorts who will lead
God�s chosen people out of bondage and into the land promised to
Abraham. Moses leads the people out of Egypt to Sinai where Moses is
given God�s law (Torah) so that the Israelites could know what God
expected from them. The Israelites agree to the stipulations of this
amended covenant and God gives them the land promised to Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob. The sign of this covenant would be the Sabbath. For six days
the people could work, but on the seventh day all work would cease. So
now Israel had the land promised by God.
After a period of time, long by human standards,
we come to the next phase of Gods plan. Israel has grown and prospered
and now has a king in which the Lord finds favor. It is through David
that God chooses to establish His kingship for all eternity. Our King of
Kings will come from the line of David, fulfilling the promised seed
through which the world will see that there is only one God and one way
to eternal life. This is the essence of the Davidic covenant.
There is yet one aspect of the Abrahamic covenant
to be addressed. It is the blessings of the renewed covenant. Many
people believe this is addressed in the New Testament, but the details
are revealed in the writings of the Prophets. In a time when much of
Israel had strayed and rejected Torah, God sent a prophet, Jeremiah, to
call the people back to Him. Jeremiah tells us that if people return to
God, He will bless them for all eternity. Jerusalem will live in peace
and all the world will know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. All the
people of the world will have an intimate relationship with God through
Yeshua. All will have Torah written on their hearts. The New Testament
is empty and senseless without seeing that it is an expansion of the
Older Testament. The New, or rather Renewed Testament, reinforces and
rebuilds Gods Covenant as it was intended from the very beginning.
Much like the constitution of the USA, God's
covenant has been amended several times. Do we in the USA have a
new constitution today that has replace the original? Here
we go again, somebody has pryed more words out of me than I usually care
to write! Izzy, are you following this? Have you figured out the
birth of Yeshua or would you like me to post all the juicy details for
that?
Jeff
