2. The Biblical Covenants

A covenant is contract or agreement between two parties to complete a task. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word berith is translated covenant. Berith is derived from a root which means “to cut,” and hence a covenant is a “cutting,” with reference to the cutting or dividing of animals into two parts, and the contracting parties passing between them, in making a covenant (Gen. 15; Jer. 34:18, 19).

God sealed his covenant with Abraham by allowing his presence to pass between the animal halves. This act signified that If God was not able to keep his agreement may it be done unto Him what has happened to the animals.

There are two types of covenants conditional and unconditional. These four covenants are unconditional covenants that God established and will be fulfilled regardless of mans ability.

• The Abrahamic

• The Palestinian/Canaan

• The Davidic

• The  New Covenant

Within these covenants are conditional blessings and curses but the ultimate fulfillment is promised by God Himself. 

Abrahamic Covenant

The Abrahamic covenant was between God and a man called Abraham.  God made unconditional promises to Abraham.  After Abraham left his family in Haran and traveled to the land of Moriah (Jerusalem area)  where God instructed him to go, God made his declaration to Abraham in Genesis 12:1--3,6-7

¹Now 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.
²  I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you 
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
³ 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.” ⁶Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as^£the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.
⁷Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
Genesis 12:1-3,6-7

¹⁴And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; ¹⁵for all the land which you see I give to you and your ^£descendants forever. ¹⁶And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. ¹⁷Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.”
¹⁸Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by ^£the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the LORD.
Genesis 13:14-18

Genesis 15

¹After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”²But Abram said, “Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!” ⁴And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” ⁵Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” ⁶And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. ⁷Then He said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.” ⁸And he said, “Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?” ⁹So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”¹⁰Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. ¹¹And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. ¹²Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. ¹³Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. ¹⁴And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. ¹⁵Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” ¹⁷And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. ¹⁸On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—¹⁹the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.” 
Genesis 15:1-21

¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. ²AndI will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” ³Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: ⁴“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. ⁵No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. ⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. ⁷And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. ⁸Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
¹⁹Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. ²⁰And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.” ²²Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. 
Genesis 17:1-8, 19-22

¹⁵Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven,¹⁶and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—¹⁷blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. ¹⁸In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Genesis 22:15-18

Abrahamic Covenant passes to Jacob

Before Jacob left for Haran to escape Esau Issac conferred on him the blessing of Abraham.

“May God Almighty bless you, And make you fruitful and multiply you, That you may be an assembly of peoples; And give you the blessing of Abraham, To you and your descendants with you,
That you may inherit the land
In which you are a stranger,
Which God gave to Abraham.”
Genesis 28:34

Provisions of the Abrahamic Covenant

• Abraham would be a great nation

• Abraham name would be great

• Blessing to those who bless Abraham’s descendents

• Curses to those who curse Abraham’s descendents

• Land of Moriah promised to Abraham’s descendents

• All families of the Earth blessed in Abraham

• Abraham father of many nations

• Everlasting covenant with Isaac, and his descendents

• Covenant descendents will posses the gates of their enemies

                These provisions of the covenant would be the  foundation of God’s future relationship with man. After the fall of man, God foretold the coming of the “seed” of the woman one who would crush the serpents head.  This person would come thru the line of Abraham.  Thru Abraham’s family line God would redeem mankind from the fall.  

Thru the covenant God established with Abraham would all the nations of the earth be blessed.  The covenant came to Abraham because he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.  (Romans 4) Abraham would be a father of all those who would trust God by faith. The covenant was an everlasting covenant meaning its fulfillment was unconditional. 

The covenant contained physical provisions involving both a land and a people. The land of promise, Moriah, was given by God to Abraham and his descendents thru Jacob.  The physical land and Abraham’s descendents would play a vital role in the completion of the covenant.  Today the land of promise is one of the most contentious issues that trouble the earth.  Over half of the earth population has some sort of spiritual connection to the promised land of Abraham.

 Palestinian/Land of Moriah Covenant

The Palestinian or Canaan covenant ties the Abrahamic covenant to the land of promise.  This covenant is important for 3 main aspects.

Israel title to the land is reaffirmed in no uncertain terms despite  being unfaithful.

Introduction of a conditional covenant of blessing and cursing that would not annul the covenant of promise to Abraham. (Gal 3:17)

Confirmation and enlargement of original Abrahamic covenant. The original promise was given to be fulfilled in spite of disobedience.

(Also see Deut 27-29)

¹“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. ²And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:³“Blessedshall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.⁴“Blessedshall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
Deuteronomy 28:1-3

 ¹⁵“But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:.....⁶⁴“Then the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone. ⁶⁵And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul.
Deuteronomy 28:15,64-65

 ¹“Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God drives you, ²and you return to the LORD your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, ³that the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you. ⁴Ifany of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. ⁵Then the LORD your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. ⁶And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
⁷“Also the LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. ⁸And you will again obey the voice of the LORD and do all His commandments which I command you today. ⁹The LORD your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the LORD will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, ¹⁰if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deuteronomy 30:1-10

Provisions of Palestinian/ Land of Moriah Covenant

• 1.The nation will plucked off the land for unfaithfulness (Deut 28:63-68;Deut 30:1-3)

• 2. There will be a future repentance of Israel (Deut. 28:63-68; 30:1-3)

• 3. Their Messiah will return (Deut. 30:3-6)

• 4. Israel will be restored to the land (Deut. 30:5);

• 5. Israel will be converted as a nation (Deut 30:4-8; Romans 11:26-27)

• 6. Israel enemies will be judged (Deut. 30:7)

• 7. The nation will then receive her full blessing (Deut. 30:9)

                The provisions of the covenant are fulfilled in a literal Israel not  in a spiritual Israel.   Therefore in order for the covenant to be fulfilled Israel would be required to one day take control of the land of promise.

                The conditional aspects of this agreement are a result of obedience. Israel is blessed if they obey and cursed if they disobey.  The promise of  blessing and cursing has been fulfilled in the history of Israel twice. First in 722 BC, 605-587 BC they were scattered by the Assyrians and Babylonians.  They were then gathered into the land after Cyrus of Persia.  The Second time was in the period of 70-135 AD by the Roman empire and they were gathered and are being gathered back in the land during the last 150 years.           

            At the return of Christ the descendents of Jacob will be ultimately completely gathered from the whole earth.

 ³¹And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Matthew 24:31

Davidic Covenant

The  Davidic covenant was established when the prophet Nathan delivered to David a message from God after David was forbidden to build the Temple.

¹⁰Moreover I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more; nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore, as previously, ¹¹since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel, and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also the LORD tells you that He will make you a ^£house.
¹²“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. ¹⁵But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. ¹⁶And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before ^£you. Your throne shall be established forever.”’”
2 Samuel 7:10-16

³               “I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David:
⁴              ‘Your seed I will establish forever,
And build up your throne to all generations.’”
Selah
Psalm 89:3-4

 ²²As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.’”
²³Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁴“Have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which the LORD has chosen, He has also cast them off’? Thus they have despised My people, as if they should no more be a nation before them.
²⁵“Thus says the LORD: ‘If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, ²⁶then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return, and will have mercy on them.’”
Jeremiah 33:22,25-26

Provisions of the Davidic covenant

David is to have a child, yet to be born, who shall succeed him and establish his kingdom. This son (Solomon) shall build the temple instead of David. The throne of his kingdom shall be established forever. The throne will not be taken away from him (Solomon) even though his sins justify chastisement. David’s house, throne and kingdom shall be established forever.

   The Davidic covenant was unconditional because it was established forever.  The Davidic covenant is and can only be fulfilled with a literal Israel.  The descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would be citizens of a literal Israel.

   The throne was over the house of Israel.  One of David’s descendents would rule over the physical children of Jacob. Who would have the physical land of Abraham. David’s house, throne and kingdom were established forever. 

   David saw himself as a subject of his future descendent.   Jesus relates the dilemma to the Pharisees and asks the question,

 “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”
They said to Him, “The Son of David.”
⁴³He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying:
⁴⁴            ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool”’?
Matthew 22:42-44

Jesus was a descendent from David thru Mary his mother as recorded in Luke 3:21-31.  He spoke of his literal reign over the house of Israel in a future earthly kingdom.  Though Jesus is rejected as Messiah by the descendents of Jacob, he would be accepted as Messiah by a future generation of Jacob’s descendents.

³⁸See! Your house is left to you desolate; ³⁹for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Matthew 23:38-39

In Zechariah 12:10 we see the nation of Israel ultimately accept the rejected Messiah as their Lord.  But in order for this to happen their must be a literal Israel in existence. 

It is important to distinguish between the throne  Jesus currently sits on as the throne of the Father and the future throne he will sit on as the throne of the Israel.  The throne of Israel will only be completed when Israel accepts Jesus as their Messiah in a future event.  In the future kingdom the throne of David will rule over the whole earth. 

 ³¹And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. ³²He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. ³³And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
Luke 1:31-33

New Covenant

The prophets foretold the day of a future covenant that would replace the Mosiac covenant.  This covenant of redemption would be part of the Messianic kingdom of a literal nation  Israel.  Israel will be the center of earthly activity in this future kingdom of Messiah.

³¹“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—³²not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, ^£though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. ³³But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Jeremiah 31:31-34

⁸               “For I, the LORD, love justice;  I hate robbery for burnt offering;
I will direct their work in truth,
And will make with them an everlasting covenant.
⁹      Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles
 And their offspring among the people.  All who see them shall acknowledge them,
That they are the posterity whom the LORD has blessed.”
Isaiah 61:8,9

 ²⁴For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. ²⁵Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.

Ezekiel 36:24-29

²⁶MoreoverI will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. ²⁷My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ²⁸The nations also will know that I, the LORD, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”’”

Ezekiel 37:26-28

Provisions of the New Covenant

• The new covenant is an unconditional, grace covenant resting on the “I will” of God (Jer. 31:31-34, Ezek 16:60-62)

• The new covenant is an everlasting covenant(Isa 61:2, Ezek 37:26, Jer 31:35-37)

• The new covenant promises a renewed mind and heart. (Isa.59:21, Jer 31:33)

• The new covenant provides for resoration to the favor and blessing of God. (Hos 2:19-20, Isa61:9)

• Forgiveness of sin is also included in the covenant. (Jer 31:34b)

• The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is in the new covenant. (Jeremiah 31:33, Ezekiel 36:27)

• The teaching ministry of the Holy Sprit will be manifested, and the will of God will be known by obedient hearts. (Jer 31:34)

• Israel will be in the land and be materially blessed. Jer. 32:41, Isa. 61:8,Ezek 34:25-27)

• The sanctuary will be rebuilt in Jerusalem,  Ezek 37:26-27a.

• War shall cease and peace shall reign according to Hosea 2:18, Isa 2:4

• The Blood of Jesus is the foundation of the New Covenant.

 ¹¹“As for you also, Because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
Zechariah 9:11

The Church and the New Covenant

According to Romans the church has the benefits of this new covenant. The Gentiles are grafted into the blessings of Israel.  The church however does not replace the position of Israel in their covenant. 

 The foundation of the new covenant was the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

 ²⁸For this is My blood of the ^£new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. ²⁹But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”
Matthew 26:28

The fulfillment of the covenant will be when Israel accepts Jesus as the Messiah.  Till then  the church reaps the blessing due Israel.  But the “Time of the Gentiles” is limited till Israel relationship with God is restored.

 And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Luke 21:24

When the relationship is restored, we can except the completion of God’s new covenant.