How Do We Have An Eternal Covenantal Relationship With God Through Jesus?
Good Morning Friends,
There are a lot of covenants in the Bible that help us to understand scripture and to give structure to a relationship with God. Today we explore the covenant of Christ in the light of the covenants and especially the covenant of Abraham, our father in faith. And with this context on the verge of Holy Week we ask, How
Do We Have An Eternal Covenantal Relationship With God Through Jesus?
Scripture: The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” And to the man he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:14-19 (NRSV)
Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.” God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.
Genesis 17:3-9 (NRSV)
Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, ‘He is our God,’ though you do not know him. But I know him; if I would say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.” Then the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
John 8:51-59 (NRSV)
While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Matthew 26:26-30 (NRSV)
Message: In today’s scripture from the Gospel of John Jesus says some radical stuff that rocks the relationships of the religious leaders off their pedestal and it instructs us about how we are to develop a bond with God and the challenges in a world that does not know Jesus. It is about having a personal, meaningful, expressive and intentional relationship with the divine through the Covenants in the Bible and routing this power through a connection with Christ to the glory of God. And here as we prepare for Holy week we as a family are weaving palm crosses for worship this Sunday, we are also preparing ourselves to be witnesses to the remembrance of the most dramatic events in all of history. For here the promises of God converge in a solution to the problems of the world. Here we see that God is revealed in the life of Jesus and how this revelation is providing a plan that cannot only save us but also transform us all. It friends, is relationship focused though the lenses of the covenants of God. It is a relationship of the eternal and perpetual Son of God in the person of Jesus, one with the Father and the Spirit, routing a solution to the problems of the world. So, you can research the Covenants on your own, but for now think about the first covenant that was made in the Garden of Eden. And the second covenant found in Genesis 3:14-19, the first promise of a Redeemer. And the third covenant where God makes a covenant with Noah and his descendants. And see the covenant of faith between God and Abram that begins to extend the blessings to the whole world. But then, especially in the week to come, embrace the new covenant Jesus established for you and me. Friends, God has made a meaningful covenant with every Christian manifested in the communion with shared with each other. Jesus prayed we would be one in this regard. Let us not disappoint God.
Pray we are one in the Spirit of our faith. Pray we give thanks for the solution of Christ. Pray we take and eat of this reality. Pray we drink deep in the life and blood of the new covenant poured out for us all. Pray we realize that Jesus has established a new covenant with us for the forgiveness of our sins. Pray we realize that this covenant is a promise of unconditional love based on the redemptive life of Jesus. Pray we live a life of faith worthy of that covenant. Pray we take up the examples of how the Christian life is meant to be lived in a life of hope and the covenants of faith and love. Pray we realize that every ending is also a new beginning. Pray we realize that most of the world just does not get this reality and might even be angered by it, but that we are to love and forgive anyway.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 