My first time back to Jaffray in 4-5 months, and I am treated to a Jewish speaker who touched on a huge stepping-stone for our Jewish friends who claim they can’t believe. Covenants are a huge part of the Old Testament, and those who are Jewish hold them very dearly.

The Covenants of God

Genesis 17:4-5 [show] [4]"Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. [5]No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. (ESV)
, Matthew 26:26-29 [show] [26]Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." [27]And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, [28]for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. [29]I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." (ESV)

• Rom 9:4 [show] [4]They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. (ESV)
  ; what was the covenant? look in first one
  • we can break this down into 3 major covenants (“eras”)
    • Abraham
    • Mt. Sinai
    • David
  • new renewed covenant (Jer 31 [show] "At that time, declares the LORD, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people." [2]Thus says the LORD: "The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest, [3]the LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. [4]Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers. [5]Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit. [6]For there shall be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim: 'Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.'" [7]For thus says the LORD: "Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, 'O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.' [8]Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here. [9]With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. [10]"Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.' [11]For the LORD has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. [12]They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. [13]Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow. [14]I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the LORD." [15]Thus says the LORD: "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more." [16]Thus says the LORD: "Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. [17]There is hope for your future, declares the LORD, and your children shall come back to their own country. [18]I have heard Ephraim grieving, 'You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the LORD my God. [19]For after I had turned away, I relented, and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh; I was ashamed, and I was confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.' [20]Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the LORD. [21]"Set up road markers for yourself; make yourself guideposts; consider well the highway, the road by which you went. Return, O virgin Israel, return to these your cities. [22]How long will you waver, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing on the earth: a woman encircles a man." [23]Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes: "'The LORD bless you, O habitation of righteousness, O holy hill!' [24]And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks. [25]For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish." [26]At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me. [27]"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. [28]And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the LORD. [29]In those days they shall no longer say: "'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.' [30]But everyone shall die for his own sin. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. [31]"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, [32]not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. [33]But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [34]And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." [35]Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar-- the LORD of hosts is his name: [36]"If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever." [37]Thus says the LORD: "If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD." [38]"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when the city shall be rebuilt for the LORD from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. [39]And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. [40]The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the LORD. It shall not be uprooted or overthrown anymore forever." (ESV)
    )
    • original covenant still stands, but caretakers slack THEREFORE need “renovation”/renewal
• What do covenants entail?
  • usually requires bloodshed
  • “brit”: concept of cutting in half and walking through barefoot
  • covenant: “regarded as permalink between past and present, never dissolving”
• ancient covenants (ie. Abraham time)
  • the call (a gathering with THE ultra king)
  • the contract and agreement; 3.5 years
  • cutting ceremony
  • sealing of the covenant (blessings and names)
  • annual anniversaries
    • after all these completed, essentially: “my son will be your’s and your’s mine; whatever happens to your son, I will be ready to die for him…and all further sons”
• from Abraham to Jesus:
  1. Abraham’s Call (Gen 12:1-3 [show] Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. [2]And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. [3]I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (ESV)
     )
     • covenant is about being witness of the one true God in a pagan world
  2. God’s commitment (Gen 15:4-21 [show] [4]And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: "This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir." [5]And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." [6]And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. [7]And he said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess." [8]But he said, "O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?" [9]He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." [10]And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. [11]And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. [12]As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. [13]Then the LORD said to Abram, "Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. [14]But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. [15]As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. [16]And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." [17]When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. [18]On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, [19]the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, [20]the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, [21]the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites." (ESV)
     )
     • Jesus will be for Abraham and his descendants
  3. God’s intention vs human interpretation (Abraham missed it in Gen 16 [show] Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. [2]And Sarai said to Abram, "Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. [3]So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. [4]And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. [5]And Sarai said to Abram, "May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!" [6]But Abram said to Sarai, "Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please." Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her. [7]The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. [8]And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai." [9]The angel of the LORD said to her, "Return to your mistress and submit to her." [10]The angel of the LORD also said to her, "I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude." [11]And the angel of the LORD said to her, "Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction. [12]He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen." [13]So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, "You are a God of seeing," for she said, "Truly here I have seen him who looks after me." [14]Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered. [15]And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. [16]Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. (ESV)
     )
     • Abram = high father; Abraham = father of multitude
     • Sarai = dominating woman; Sarah = noble woman
       • names are changed to reflect covenant
     • Issac & Jacob: Issac becomes the son for God (and as a result, Jesus becomes son for the world) [reaffirmation]
• Covenant on Mt.Sinai
  • reaffirmation of covenant BUT conditional because formed with terms of Abraham
  • Sinai pronounced “Sina’aa”: means hatred/disgusting
    • God was disgusted with sins of people
• Covenant of David
  • 2 Sam:7
  • covenant of David has people calling Jesus “son of David”
  • Luke 1:31-33 [show] [31]And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. [32]He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, [33]and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." (ESV)
    
  • New covenant: Matt 26:28 [show] [28]for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (ESV)
    
• although we no longer require animal sacrifice or blood sacrifice (all fulfilled through Jesus), or a priest on our behalf, we must be careful toward rebellion against God (Hebrews)
• are you living in the covenant?
  • love God, love others
  • Mark 12:29-34 [show] [29]Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. [30]And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' [31]The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." [32]And the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. [33]And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." [34]And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions. (ESV)