The Covenants — Water to Wine

I mentioned in a previous blog that the Menorah reminds me of The Covenants, which during these long Covid months I have learned more about. Growing up going to church, I heard the word “covenants” a lot, and I thought I had a good understanding of them, but I was wrong. Although this blog is really just a quick summary of what I’ve learned, it helps cement these facts in my mind, so here goes.

For starters, there are actually four covenants.

1) The Abrahamic Covenant is a one way unconditional promise made by God to Abraham and his descendants that God will give them permanently the land of Israel, and that in so doing, the Gentiles will also be blessed. (Genesis 12:1-3; 17:7-8)

2) The Mosaic Covenant is a conditional two way agreement made between God and the nation of Israel regarding occupancy of their land. It was an “if you do this, then I will do this...” type of arrangement.(Deuteronomy 4:1; 25-27; 30-31) They lost their land due to idolatry, and only got it back again in 1948, but still their land is under dispute.

3) The Davidic Covenant, like the Abrahamic, is one way and unconditional. It is a promise made by God to King David, that a descendant of his would sit on the throne of Israel forever. (2Sam 11b, 16)

4) The New Covenant is also one way and unconditional. It promises that one day God will put His law in the hearts and minds of His people - the house of Israel and the house of Judah - and they will all know Him. He will forgive their iniquity and not remember their sins. This new covenant was sealed with Jesus’ blood on the cross (Luke 22:20). The ramifications of this for me are found in Paul’s writings which I will summarize by saying that the Gentiles, who were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in this world, have been brought near through the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:11-22). Through the Gospel, I, a Gentile, am an heir of God together with Israel, and I share together in the promise in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:6).

It only takes a quick look to realize that these promises have yet to be fulfilled. Although Israel as a nation now has a country, it does not encompass all the territory that was promised. Israel presently does not nationally obey God as commanded in the Mosaic Covenant, and not all of Israel knows Him. There is not a King from the line of David ruling in Jerusalem. And so I wait. We wait. Those of us in the camp who believe that God is faithful to His word know that all of the covenants will be fulfilled. And we are waiting...

There are those outside of this camp, though, who believe these promises are not literally meant for Israel, and must somehow be interpreted allegorically to apply to the Gentile Christian church. These believers belong to the supersessionist camp. It surprised me to learn that as early 115 AD there were those who stated that you could not be a Jew and believe in Jesus as the Messiah at the same time. This is where the seeds of antisemitism were sewn, taking root quickly, resulting in persecution of the Jews down through the centuries right up to the present day, where Jews are hated by many non-Christians and Christians alike. I do not understand why Christians who profess that they love and know Jesus, would even want to believe that God won’t keep His promises to them. How can He be trusted at all if He does not keep Covenant with Israel?

As we wait to see The Covenants fulfilled, the Bible has a lot to say about when this will actually happen, but that’s a study for another time. Is anyone interested in joining me?