Compelling Love

God made six covenants with people in the Bible: with Adam, Noah, Moses, Abraham, David and Jesus (New Covenant).  Understanding  these covenants of love helps us to walk with Him in victory as He intends.  The covenants with Abraham, David and Jesus are closely related and will be the subject of this brief study.

1. God’s Covenant with Abraham

Genesis 15 describes God’s covenant with Abram (later renamed Abraham):

Genesis 15
15 After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield;
your reward will be very great.
² But Abram said, “Lord God, what can You give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ Abram continued, “Look, You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.”
⁴ Now the word of the Lord came to him: “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” ⁵ He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then He said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.”
⁶ Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.
⁷ He also said to him, “I am Yahweh who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”

2. God’s Covenant with David

2 Samuel 7 and describes God’s covenant with David:

2 Samuel 7
¹¹…“‘The Lord declares to you: The Lord Himself will make a house for you. ¹² When your time comes and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He will build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
¹⁴ I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to Me. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with a human rod and with blows from others. ¹⁵ But My faithful love will never leave him as I removed it from Saul; I removed him from your way. ¹⁶ Your house and kingdom will endure before Me forever, and your throne will be established forever.’”
¹⁷ Nathan spoke all these words and this entire vision to David.

3. The New Covenant

About 800 years before Jesus (Yeshua) was born, the Prophet Isaiah wrote about  the ministry, suffering and death of the Messiah, and the salvation he would win for the people:

Isaiah 42
⁶ “I, Yahweh, have called You
for a righteous purpose,
and I will hold You by Your hand.
I will keep You and appoint You
to be a covenant for the people
and a light to the nations,
⁷ in order to open blind eyes,
to bring out prisoners from the dungeon,
and those sitting in darkness from the prison house.

Isaiah 53
⁴ Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses,
and He carried our pains;
but we in turn regarded Him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But He was pierced because of our transgressions,
crushed because of our iniquities;
punishment for our peace was on Him,
and we are healed by His wounds.
⁶ We all went astray like sheep;
we all have turned to our own way;
and the Lord has punished Him
for the iniquity of us all.

Peter writes of the victory over sin, and healing  Jesus has won for us by His obedience and sacrifice of himself.

1 Peter 2
²⁴ He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree,
so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness;
you have been healed by His wounds.
²⁵ For you were like sheep going astray,
but you have now returned
to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

Paul (Shaul) prays in Ephesians 1 that those who follow the Messiah will know the hope of His calling and the riches of His inheritance, according to the working of His vast strength:

Ephesians 1
¹⁷ I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. ¹⁸ I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, ¹⁹ and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength.
²⁰ He demonstrated this power in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens— ²¹ far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

Psalm 96 affirms that God is the King of the Earth.  Because of His covenants of love with His people, those who are in the Messiah can now walk and live in victory, with His authority, proclaiming His salvation from day to day:

¹ Sing a new song to the Lord;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
² Sing to Yahweh, praise His name;
proclaim His salvation from day to day.

David Krause, dhkrause@neteze.com, http://compellinglove.net,1/19/14
(Bible Quotations are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.)