A covenant is an agreement between two or more persons. in Biblical terms it is considered unbreakable and is sworn by oath.
In older times it was literally signed in blood. Livingstone, for instance, sealed a blood covenant with a great chief during his African mission, which gave him access to many different areas in which he travelled. There was also an exchange of gifts.
Livingstone had to surrender is goat from which he drank milk for a personal ailment, meaning it was a big deal for him, in exchange for the chief’s staff, which seemed a possibly raw deal, but subsequently gave him access to many tribes, because the rod carried much weight with other communities.
The greater exchange
The chief, in effect, gave the greater access in exchange for the goat’s milk. That is how seriously covenant has been taken, not just in Biblical cultures, but in all cultures historically.
When you read the Word you will notice that God cut the covenant with many of the people he selected for momentous events. Abraham, for instance, fell into a deep sleep and had a dream in which the blood of creatures was shed as he came into a lifelong agreement with God (Gen.15).
Later, the covenant included the circumcision of all males born into Abraham’s clan. Breaking that covenant would mean exclusion from God’s provision (Gen.17).
Blood sacrifice
God allowed Israel to shed the blood and sacrifice animals as substitutes for their own blood and lives when He allowed them to be cleansed from transgressions so that they could remain in right standing with Him as their God.
We are told that without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sins (Heb.9:22). Blood is considered the life of the person (Lev.17:11). Once it is shed and the agreement is reached God will not break that covenant. Initially, with Israel, God allowed the blood of defined creatures to be a substitute for human sacrifice.
The problem historically has been man’s inability to stick to the agreement, which included a covenant that people under the agreement would not sin–wouldn’t break the covenant agreement God gave Israel at Sinai. God set the criteria in the Law at Sinai.
The Sinai covenant was based on the covenant God made with Abraham. Again, it was sealed in blood. We don’t have the same understanding of blood covenant in the modern era because it has been largely replaced with handshakes and paper and signatures, eventually being weakened by civil laws, although a written agreement still carries with it the weight of those laws.
But in times when not everyone could read or write, sealing an agreement with blood before witnesses was an acceptable practice. This evolved into a ’gentleman’s agreement’ on a handshake, but has lost its edge somewhat more recently.
The penalty for breaking a covenant was often loss of all or some goods, or, in some cases, death, the forfeiture of life itself, such was the seriousness of covenant.
Provision and defence
When Abraham came back from a battle with five kings who had taken his family members into captivity, he celebrated by giving tithes–a tenth– of everything to the High Priest of what would become Jerusalem. The High Priest brought bread and wine in return, to remember the covenant Abraham had with God, the wine representing blood–a ratification of covenant.
Abraham was in covenant with his nephew Lot, whose family and goods were taken into captivity, so was obliged to provide protection, also knowing that he was in covenant with God, who, in turn, would provide protection. Such is covenant, the lesser is blessed by the greater.
Abraham went to the High Priest who represented God because he wanted to acknowledge God’s support in the victory over the five kings (Gen.14).
David slew Goliath because he knew he was in covenant with Almighty God. In his mind it was a done deal. How could he lose?
Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you.”
1 Samuel 17:45-46
And so it was. Knowing our covenant and knowing our God will give us many more victories and no defeats.
Our covenant
We have a covenant with God through the shed blood of Jesus. That covenant means that we are His and He is ours. We belong to Him. We are bought with a price. But He gives us what He is, and all He has for us in covenant.
There is an exchange. We are in agreement. We agree to God’s New Testament, His guide for a successful and fruitful life, and in return we receive His provision and protection.
It is not the Old Covenant God made with Israel, although it is still important to us and carries some crucial information, warnings and guidance for living. We are under a new and better covenant written in the blood of Jesus.
He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
Hebrews 8:6
Jesus is the Mediator of this better covenant. He ratifies it and oversees it. We enter into it when we are saved. He is the surety of this covenant, the sponsor, the pledge-keeper, ‘the personal guarantee of the terms of the new and better covenant (W E Vines).’
This covenant is written in the blood of Jesus. It is confirmed in us by our confession of faith when we accept the terms offered by God that, through faith in Him and by our acceptance of the oath, we will be saved, making us children of the covenant, and under its guidance and protection through the Holy Spirit, who is the Guarantor in our lives.
