| Subject: Covenant Relationship |
Author:
Tim
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Date Posted: 09:40:07 06/29/06 Thu
Wow! This covenant relationship we have as believers has really been speaking loudly to me lately. I know that God gives us revelation that may only be relevant to us for any given time in our lives, but this was so good I just had to share it here:
A question that often seems to be asked over and over again, especially by those that may be questioning the goodness of God or His purposes is, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" This question infers somehow that if we are 'good' God will honor us more. But the scriptures are clear on the fact that His goodness and blessing in our lives has nothing to do with what we do for Him. God's grace is free to those who have been born-again into the family of God. It is a family covenant.
God blesses everyone, it is clear; there are plenty of wicked people in the world that appear to be getting away with murder, sometimes literally, more often figuratively, but it was the Jews that God specifically promised to bless. If you read about Abraham, who we call the Father of Faith, you'll find that He was the first one called by God. In chapter 12 of Genesis the first 3 verses describe the blessing conveyed to him and to his seed:
"Now the Lord had said to Abram: Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you (promisedland). I will make you a great nation (nation of Israel) and I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
Other nations saw how blessed the Jews were and some worshipped their God as a result. The queen of Sheba came and marvelled at how Solomon was favored by God. She gave generously to the cause. I believe it was because she knew a God thing when she saw it. Again, it had nothing to do with Solomon's goodness and everything to do with the blessing that was on him and his people. Many places in the scriptures record how blessings will fall on and be stored up for the children of the covenant entered into between the creator God and Abraham. Many a war has been fought over the blessing, both by those who didn't have it and coveted it and those who had it, but got more focused on the blessing than on the One who blesses.
Well, even before the foundation of the world, God had a plan of reconciliation between the seed of His creation. As believers in Jesus Christ, we call this reconciliation plan, the New Covenant. The New Covenant does not negate the old one, but simply makes provision for all to enter, regardless of lineage. God called Abraham and birthed the nation of Israel to be an example to the rest of the world of what a covenant people should look like. Laws were established so that God's people could keep their part of the covenant. As believers in Jesus Christ we have been grafted into this favored family; we have become spiritual Jews. All of us, everyone born, has descended from Adam and through Jesus, who scripture calls the 'last, or second' Adam, we all have access to the blessings conveyed above to Abraham!
The New Covenant promises us as believers (partakers) that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, all of the same rights and priviliges that God had originally intended for His covenant people are available to us. No one loses here, except those who refuse to take the free gift of covenant relationship with God through His Son.
His-story fulfilled:
From the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and the promise of victory over evil, which was conveyed by the story of Noah and the flood (the rainbow conveys the promise) and then again illustrated by Moses the deliverer with the exodus of God's covenant people from Egypt to their eventual residence in Canaan (promisedland); the entire story of the Jew's establishes the scene which culminates in human history with the birth, death and resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who makes a way now for all of us to be partakers of the coveted Abrahamic Covenant.
Like many nations and individuals have done from the beginning, we too can pass on God's best and make our own way (Esau, Ishmael and Judas were all examples from the Bible of man choosing to walk away from God's best). Like the children of the promise themselves, we can also wander in our own spiritual wilderness of doubt and unbelief pursuing every substitute the world has to offer, while all the while missing that which we hunger and thirst for the most, God Himself.
Though He did not succomb to it, the Bible says even Jesus was tempted by satan to take the easy way out. But as the first man and woman and everyone since has found, or eventually finds out, it is an empty promise that bears bitter fruit.
The Good News is that there is a reward for the dilligent seeker of Truth. There is a water that quenches the thirsty soul. There is One who stands at the door of your heart and knocks, but He can only come in when we open the door to Him.
If you are reading this today and believe that you have opened that door, but nothing happened; perhaps you should pick up the will, the promise, the covenant, which is the Word of God and read again about what you are a joint heir to. Like those who followed their deliverer out of bondage in Egypt, you may be experiencing a wilderness place; maybe you've even complained like they did (I know I have!) "at least we had good food to eat back in Egypt Land!" Don't let what you're going through right now keep you from taking that next step of faith that will bring you closer to your promised land!
If you are a child of the promise (and this is something that if you don't know, you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt!) you are blessed. God loves you and wants what's best for you! You are in a family with a Covenant from God! Yes, we have a part to play; it will take faith to believe when the road gets hard, because there is an enemy of God and it is his job to see to it that you keep from knowing the promises and remembering them. He will do everything he can to keep you from exercising the faith that got birthed in you the day you stepped into the family by choosing Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
Like Abraham, who believed God and stepped out of his comfort zone, we too have left our earthly home for a higher place! Like his grandson, Jacob, who had a dream, we have before us a ladder, not a slide! It may be uphill, but with each step we take the view gets a little better and a little clearer!
T.O. 6/29/06
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