Do you know the covenants God made with His people and what they mean to you as a believer? If not, worry out, you will have the privilege to learn all about them on this article. If you find this article educative and interesting, do feel free to share it with friends and family members so they can have the opportunity to learn more about these covenants that God made with mankind to develop, administer, and spread His kingdom from Heaven to earth. When we pray by saying 'Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven' this is the kingdom of God we are talking about. God through His covenants with man was administering and spreading His kingdom on earth. In these covenants we learn how God was cooperating with man in administering of His kingdom.

 

It is very difficult to find Christians in modern world talking about covenants. But the truth is, we as Christians and believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are called upon to learn and meditate upon these covenants that God made with mankind. There is so much in these covenants that resonate with our faith.

 

Covenants are an important theme in the Bible. They are the basis for a greater understanding of the whole story of redemption in the Bible. Our redemption in Christ is built upon the foundation of these covenants. Starting from Genesis, the first book of the Bible, going onwards, we see God entering into a relationship (i.e., covenants) with mankind to save His world and develop and administer His kingdom on earth.

 

God's Covenants in the Bible

 

There are many covenants in the Bible, but in this article we will highlight just the five basic ones, those which enables us to better understand the story of the Bible and God's plan to redemption, and how He spread and administered His kingdom on earth. The covenants are: the Covenant with Adam, the Covenant with Noah, the Abrahamic Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and the New Testament. But this article will only take a closer look at the covenants made in the Old Testament, and then we will later on have a second article that will focus on the New Covenant in Christ.

 

Covenant with Adam – Basic Covenant of Foundation

 

The first covenant in the Bible is the covenant that God made with Adam (Genesis 1-3, Hosea 6:7), this was a fundamental covenant for man and the basis (foundation) for all the other subsequent covenants. This covenant provided the goals of God's Kingdom and the role and responsibilities of man in God's kingdom on earth before and after the fall of Man. In the covenant with Adam, man was created in the image of God to carry out certain activities and spread the kingdom of God throughout the world (Genesis 1:27-28; 5:1-2).

 

Theologians call this covenant 'God's covenant with Adam' as work covenant because it is based on the principle of Adam's obedience. There are a few who say that God did not make a covenant with Adam and this is because God in the beginning did not use the word 'Covenant' in anything he said about Adam. But in Hosea 6:7, we believe that God made a covenant with Adam. The absence of the word "covenant", in biblical records especially in the book of Genesis does not mean that no covenant existed. Even after Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden, they remained under the covenant. The Bible shows us that from Adam's birth onwards God continued to make covenants with His people.

 

Covenant with Noah – Covenant with all creation

 

The second covenant in the Bible is the covenant God made with Noah (Genesis 6:18; 9:9-17), after the Flood, God made another covenant with Noah, a covenant of stability. This is known as Noah's Covenant. If you read Genesis 9, this is the covenant that God made with Noah after the flood where he renews His covenant with mankind by confirming the blessings of creation, the image of God in man and the work of ruling the land. God enters into a relationship (the covenant) with Noah and all living beings promising that despite the wickedness of mankind he will no longer destroy them, that He will no longer destroy the earth with water or curse the earth, and as a sign of the covenant he made with Noah, God "put his rainbow in the clouds.

 

Also, as with His covenant with Adam before, in this covenant God renewed His covenant with Adam to Noah. Noah and his family were commanded to multiply and fill the earth (which is a command that we also find in Adam’s covenant).

 

The Covenant with Noah has three basic characteristics. First, it is an unconditional covenant, and this is because it did not depend on anything that Noah or his descendants would do to fulfill the covenant. Second, it was a covenant made to Noah and all his descendants as well as "every living creature" and the whole earth as a whole (Genesis 9:8-10). Third, this covenant was sealed with the sign of the rainbow. The promises of this covenant were based solely on God's faithfulness and not otherwise. This is the covenant between God and every creature on earth (Genesis 9:17).

 

Learn more: Genesis chapters 8:20-9:17

 

Covenant with Abraham – The Promise and Birth of the Nation of Israel

 

The third covenant is the covenant God made with Abraham (Genesis 15:17). In this Covenant God promises Abraham the land of Canaan, multitude of descendants, and a blessing to other nations. This covenant portrays Israel's choice to be a nation that God will use to spread and administer His kingdom on earth. In this covenant God promised that He would bless Abraham in three ways. The first part of this covenant is known as the promised land of Canaan (Genesis 12:1, Genesis 15:7), where Abraham is called by God from the land of his fathers to a place known as Canaan. A country which is later on known as Israel.

 

The second promise is that God would make him a great nation (Genesis 12:2 – This is where God promised that He would make a great nation out of Him, and this is when God changed Abram's name to Abraham meaning 'father of many nations' and thus made His name great, and ultimately the third blessing is that through him God would bless other nations (Genesis 12:3).

 

As part of this covenant with Abraham, God told Abraham to remove his foreskin and the foreskin of all the Jewish boys after him. This process is known as circumcision and is a sign of Abraham's covenant with God. Understanding this Covenant is very important in understanding theological concepts such as the Promised Land, the choice of the children of Israel, God's people, heritage and so on. Understanding this covenant provides context for a greater understanding of customs such as circumcision, conflicts with the nations around them and divisions between Jews and other nations.

 

Learn more: Genesis chapters 12, 15, and 17

 

The Covenant with Moses – The Beginning of the Law for God's People/The Nation of Israel

 

The Fourth Covenant is the covenant between God and Moses, and the children of Israel. This covenant is known as the Mosaic Covenant (named after Moses), also known as the Sinai Covenant (named after Mount Sinai), is a covenant that God made with the children of Israel on Mount Sinai after he had delivered them from slavery in Egypt. God redeemed the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt and promised to make them His own cherished property, a holy nation, reserved for him, for the special task of spreading and administering His kingdom and glory in the world. He will be their God, and they (Israel) shall be his people.

 

As they walked from the Red Sea into the wilderness, the Children of Israel did not know what they expected, but when they reached Mount Sinai, they realized that God had chosen this place to manifest Himself to them and enter into a covenant with them.

 

God chose and made a covenant with Moses (Exodus 19-24) and the children of Israel. When Moses and his people came to Mount Sinai after leaving Egypt for the Promised Land, God spoke to Moses and made a covenant with Moses and his people that renewed what he had done with Abraham. At the same time, God gave them the Ten Commandments – the principles and laws with which they were to live by as God's chosen nation. The laws that united all the Jews (tribes) into the one nation of Israel. A law that was intended to rule and make the people of Israel in the Promised Land stand out as a chosen nation. The law was not the way unto salvation, but it separated and distinguished them from those of the nations around them, this was to make them a nation of God's holy priests (Exodus 19:1-7) in advancing the kingdom of God on earth. This covenant was conditional and defined the blessings and curses they would receive based on obedience or disobedience (Deuteronomy 28-29).

 

The covenant that God made with Moses was built on the covenant he made with Abraham, and via this covenant, God led the children of Israel toward the Promised Land.

 

Learn More: Exodus Chapters 19-24

 

Covenant with David – Royal Covenant

 

The fifth and final covenant in today's Article is the covenant between God and King David (the house/seed of David). God made a covenant with King David (Psalm 89, 132). His covenant with King David is a covenant that made David and his descendants royal heirs in the nation of Israel (2 Sam. 7:12-13). In this Covenant God places David king over Israel and promises to make his name great. He promises to give David the royal kingdom through which the promises made to Abraham for the nation of Israel will be fulfilled through his lineage. It is a covenant that God promises David's seed to rule on the throne over God's people. Through this covenant the land of Israel continued to expand its borders and become a stronger nation.

 

This covenant becomes the basis of the Messiah's hope and makes sense of the Gospel's concern to show Jesus was the legitimate King of the Jews. This covenant was fulfilled when Jesus Christ, a descendant of David's seed, was born in Bethlehem. The gospel of Matthew begins by showing Christ was the "Son of David" (Matt. 1:1), and thus had the right to rule over God's people. Peter preached that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of God's promise to David (Acts 2:29-36).

 

Learn more: 2 Sam 7; Psalm 72, 89, and 132

 

Why these Covenants?

 

All with whom God made the covenant were representatives of other human beings before God. These covenants were made so that God could spread, strengthen, and administer His kingdom from heaven on earth through man.

 

God's covenants with Adam and Noah (God and Adam/God and Noah) are known as covenants with universal covenants as they involved all mankind on earth. Adam and Noah represented all mankind as God's people in these covenants. And as we note, every covenant of God that preceded it continued to be the foundation of the subsequent covenant. All subsequent covenants were built upon the covenants behind it. The covenant with Noah continued to be built upon the Covenant with Adam, and so on.

 

God's covenant with Abraham, Moses, and King David is are known as a national covenant. In these covenants the characters represented the children of Israel as well as those who were adopted into the nation of Israel as God's chosen people. God chose the nation of Israel to be His instrument for spreading and administering His kingdom on earth.

 

Why is it important for a Christian to understand these covenants?

 

Understanding these covenants is important to the Christian because they allow us to see how united the Bible is in revealing the kingdom of God and His promises to man, especially the promise of man's redemption from sin and suffering. It also helps us to see God's faithfulness from the foundations of the world. God is a covenantal God, a faithful God, and Is a God who fulfills His covenants and promises to His people.

 

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding this Article please do not hesitate to reach out to me, I will be more than happy to help you understand more and learn about the kingdom of God. Also as we continue to study, we will elaborate on these covenants in more detail by focusing on them on a one on one basis in the future.

 

Because of Calvary I have been set free,

Rumishael Ulomi

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