The Covenants

THE COVENANTS

This is a study of all the major covenants in the Bible. These covenants are essential to the life of a believer in Christ for if you do not know what is in the covenants then you cannot know the benefits and take advantage of them. Satan is out to steal the blessings of these covenants from you so you need to know what God has promised. All of the blessing of these covenants belong to the believer in Christ for in Christ we are the children of Abraham:

Gal 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

We are also the children of Adam so we get the blessings of the Adamic Covenant. We are the children of Noah so we receive the blessings of the Noahic Covenant. The blessings of the Palestinian Covenant (Deut 28) belong to us because Christ perfectly fulfilled the conditions of obedience:

Joh 8:29 And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

The good news is as long as we are in Christ by faith we receive the blessings and Christ took the curses! But don't take my word for it, check out the Scriptures:

Gal 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

COVENANT NAME AND DISPENSATION	To Whom Was the Covenant Made?	WORDS/PROMISE	BLESSINGS	BLOOD	SEAL	CONDITIONAL or UNCONDITIONAL?	What Were the Conditions?	CURSES if the Conditions Were/Are Not Met
Everlasting Covenant - Dispensation of the Kingdom	Covenant with those written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the world began (Rev 13:8; 17:8)	Matt 25:34; Mrk 10:30; 2 Tim Ti 1:1-3; 1 Pet 1:18; 1 Joh 2:25 God's Kingdom. Everlasting life. Redemption.	(Same as the Words/ Promises)	1 Pet 1:18 - 20; Rev 13:8 The blood of Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.	unknown	Conditional	Rom 16:25 Faith in Jesus Christ	Rev 20:12 - 15 Cast into the Lake of Fire for those not written in the Lamb's Book of Life
Edenic Covenant - Dispensation of Innocence	Covenant with Adam, thus mankind	Gen 1:26-28; 2:16,17 God gave man dominion over the whole earth to subdue and replenish it. Man was to be fruitful and multiply. He was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Man was doing this as a representative of God; Man was to submit all things to God concerning the earth.)	Gen 1:26-28; 2:16,17 Dominion, the ability to be fruitful and multiply, and the freedom to eat of any tree except one.	No blood was shed because there was no death in the earth when the covenant was cut.	Gen 1:26,27 God made man in His image - an act showing man's lordship over the earth.	Conditional	Gen 2:17 Adam was to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.	Gen 2:17. Plus Gen 3:14-19 Death, both spiritual and physical. (Adam did not lose dominion, Gen 9:2; he just chose another god to whom he submitted his dominion, Jon 8:34).
Adamic Covenant (only viewing the redemptive plan) - Dispensation of Conscience	Covenant with Satan (not man even though we call it the Adamic Covenant)	Gen 3:14, 15, 21 - That there would be enmity between the snake and the woman and between his seed and her Seed. Her Seed would crush Satan and Satan would bruise His heal.	No blessings announced for Satan.	Gen 3:21 The blood of an innocent animal was shed (in making the coats of skins).	Gen 3:21 God made animal skins to cover man's nakedness - a foreshadow of the defeat of Satan through the sacrifice of Jesus.	Unconditional	N/A	Gen 3:15 Satan would be crushed under the foot of the Seed of woman.
Noahic Covenant - Dispensation of Human Government	Covenant with Noah, his seed, and all living creatures	Gen 6:18, 8:20,21; 9:8-17 That God would never again destroy the earth, all living creatures, and flesh on the earth with a flood again.	Gen 9:11 (same as the Words/Promise)	Gen 8:20,21 The blood of burnt offerings of clean animals and birds.	Gen 9:12-17 God put a rainbow in the sky whenever a (rain)cloud shows - rainbows represent God's faithfulness to covenant.	Unconditional	N/A	(No curses are associated with an unconditional covenant with man.)
Abrahamic Covenant - Dispensation of Promise (Patriarchal)	Covenant with Abraham and his seed	Gen 12:1-3, 7; 13:14-17; 15:1-21; 17:1-22; 22:15-18 Confirmed with Isaac in Gen 26:1-5; Confirmed with Jacob Gen 28:10-15. Abraham would be a great nation, would be blessed, his name would be great, he shall be a blessing, God will bless those that bless him and curse those that curse him, his seed shall inherit the land of Israel forever, his seed shall be as numerable as the dust of the earth, God would be his shield and exceeding great reward, his seed shall be numerable as the stars, God will multiply Abraham exceedingly, he shall be a father of many nations, kings shall come out of Abraham, God will be his and his seed's God, God would bless Sarah to be a mother of nations, kings shall come from her, his seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in his seed all nations of the earth will be blessed as an everlasting covenant.	(Same as the Words/ Promises)	Gen 15:9-17 Sacrifice of a heifer (divided), a she-goat (divided), a ram (divided), a turtledove (not divided), and a young pigeon (not divided). 8 pieces total that God walked between as a smoking furnace and a burning lamp.	Gen 17:10-14 Circumcision of all male children.	Unconditional	N/A	(No curses are associated with an unconditional covenant with man.)
Mosaic Covenant - Dispensation of Law	Covenant with the Jews - the nation of Israel	Exo 19-40; Lev 26; Deut 5-11 They would be a peculiar treasure of people above all other people unto God and they would be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation unto God.	Exo 19:5, 6 The Jews would be a peculiar treasure of people above all other people unto God and they would be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation unto God.	Exo 24:4-8 The blood of oxen was sprinkled on the altar and put in basins. Heb 9:18-20 the blood of calves and goats was sprinkled on the people and book of the covenant with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop.	Exo 31:12-17 The Sabbath Days were to be kept as a sign of the Covenant - speaks of the rest that they would enter into for obedience.	Conditional	Jam 2:10 Obedience to all of God's Commandments and ordinances.	Deut 27:15-26; 28:15-68 (same curses of the Palestinian Covenant)
Palestinian Covenant (an adjunct to the Mosaic Covenant) - Dispensation of Law	Covenant with the Jews - the nation of Israel	Deut 27, 28, 29, & 30 Obey and you can stay in the land and be blessed, disobey and you will be ejected and cursed.	Deut 28:1-14	Deut 27:1-8: Animal burnt and peace offerings upon a newly erected altar.	Deut 11: 13-17 The early and latter rains.	Conditional	Jam 2:10 Obedience to all of God's Commandments and ordinances.	Deut 27:15-26; 28:15-68
Davidic Covenant - Dispensation of Law continued	Covenant with David	2 Sam 7:4-29; Ps 89 God would set up David's seed , whose throne, house, and kingdom would be established forever, who would build God's house, God would be His father and He would be God's son, if he sins he would be chastened with the stripes of men, and God's mercy would never depart from him.	2 Sam 7:12-16 (same as the Words/ Promises)	2 Sam 6:17, 18 Burnt and Peace offerings were made by David when the Ark of the Covenant returned.	Ps 89:36, 37 - The enduring of the sun and moon show the enduring faithfulness of God to this covenant	Unconditional	N/A	N/A
New Covenant - Dispensation of Grace	Covenant with the Houses of Israel and Judah first and through them to the rest of the world (Rom 1:16; 2:10; 9:4)	Jer 31:31-34; Eze 36:22 - 38; 37:16 - 28; Matt 26:26-29; Heb 8 - 10 God will put His Law in their inward parts and write It on their hearts, He will be their God and they will be His people, God will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more. God will gather the Jews out of all countries unto the land of Israel and He will cleanse them from filthiness and idolatry, they will have a new heart/spirit, and He will put His Spirit within them as well, He will cause them to walk in His statutes and keep His judgments, God will increase their corn, and will allow no famine, He will cause them to dwell in the cities and the wastes shall be built, and men shall increase in the cities like a holy flock. God will unite the other tribes of Israel with Judah and they shall be one nation forever, they shall dwell in the land of Israel, they will have one king, they will not be defiled again by sin but God will cleanse them, David shall be their king, and God will set His sanctuary in their midst forever. Christ Jesus is the High Priest of this new covenant, they have eternal redemption, Christ took their sins, He is coming again, and they are sanctified through the blood of Christ once and for all.	(Same as the Words/ Promises)	Matt 26:27 - 29; Mrk 14:22-24; Lk 22:19, 20; Joh 6:53-58; 19:34; 1 Cor 10:16,17; 11:23-30; Heb 9:12 - 14; 12:24 The blood of Christ's body was shed.	1 Cor 1:22; 2 Cor 5:5; Eph 1:13, 14 The infilling of the Holy Ghost.	Conditional	Mrk 16:16; Acts 10:43; 16:31; 13:39; Rom 10:8-10; Eph 2:8, 9 Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ	Heb 10:26 - 31 Judgment, fiery indignation, and the vengeance of God.

The following are characteristics of these major covenants that I believe will help our understanding of them:

God is always the initiator of covenants with man.
Covenants cannot be changed.
Each covenant initiates a dispensation (an administration) associated with it. Dispensations are not to be confused with chronometric ages. Dispensations have a beginning, at the initiation of the covenant, but they have no end. Chronometric ages have a beginning and definite ending.
Covenants do not appear to ever end. When a new covenant is introduced, the old one is not done away with. But it is fulfilled in Jesus. Since Christ came He fulfilled and is fulfilling all of them. As long as He fulfills them, they continue to stand (and of course He will forever). The curses of all of the covenants are obsolete since He is always obedient. As long as we are in Him, we cannot be under ANY of the curses!
Unconditional covenants do not have curses associated with them (when God makes them with man) for God does the whole work Himself.
Notice that the Abrahamic Covenant to the Jews was UNCONDITIONAL! In other words, their obedience or disobedience has no affect on the way God treats the Jews. They have not been rejected or replaced by the Church for God must continue to keep His Covenant with them. God will always be their God and the land of Israel is forever the Jew's possession.
Jesus in the New Covenant fulfilled the conditions and curses for ALL of the previous Covenants!
The covenants all envelope one another chronologically: within the Everlasting is the Edenic, within the Edenic is the Adamic, within the Adamic is the Noahic, etc…The New is within all of the covenants which brings us back to the Everlasting!
The blood shed for all of these blood covenants, except for the New Covenant and Everlasting Covenant, are types of Christ's blood which is the anti-type. i.e. the blood for all of these other covenants were really only a symbols of the real blood which was the blood of Christ to fulfill them all!
Seal is a thing of remembrance; a thing that we can point to and say, “This was set up or happens because of my covenant with God.”; it is also a pre-cursor of the blessings involved in the covenant. Since covenants are forever, then the seal naturally would be forever as well.
The New Covenant was to the Jews ! The houses of Israel and Judah are mentioned in Jeremiah and Ezekiel with whom He made the Covenant. Hebrews 8-10 was written to who? THE JEWS! The Gentiles were included for Jesus came to save the world but it was to the Jews FIRST, then to the Gentiles (Rom 1:16; 2:10; 9:4) The Church was NOT a parenthesis in God's plan. They were the goal and consummation of it! But the Jews were to be the first of the Church, and a few were. But for the most part the Jews rejected Christ so the Church became composed mostly of Gentiles. But the plan was for the Jews to believe and evangelize the world for Jesus.

End

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