A covenant is an alliance or a pledge rather than a list of rules. While two parties agree to certain terms when entering a covenant, a covenant is cut based on what each party can offer the other. Given that we can offer nothing to God but our belief, why would He possibly enter into covenant with all of mankind? It was for the promise of protection, even unto eternity.
Genesis 9:12-17 “And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you…a covenant between me and the earth…And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh…that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.”
God wanted to display His value and respect for mankind. Covenant is more about both parties promising what they’ll bring to the relationship rather than requirements. When God cut covenant with Abraham it was to show what God wanted to do for mankind through Abraham rather than what God needed.
There really has been one promise from God toward mankind, it has just taken on various manifestations as covenants throughout human history. The Old Covenant is much more than just The Law. The Law was not necessarily what God needed Israel to do in order to qualify for the covenant. Belief from the heart is what God was after, as we see in the life of David was was protected even in the midst of law breaking under the jurisdiction of The Law. The Law was only a portion of the covenant which served a specific purpose:
Romans 5:20 ‘The law was added (given) so that the trespass might INCREASE. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Galatians 3:23-25 ‘Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
Romans 5:17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
The Law was not the list requirements for mankind to be qualified to benefit from the covenant, faith was. Review Hebrews and notice that God’s issue with Israel was not a lack of law keeping per se, it was a lack of faith from the heart. Yes, disobedience is the result of not trusting God from the heart but God was looking at their hearts first.
You might say that people are divorced from covenant with God when they disobey but obedience starts with the heart, from our beliefs. If we are in faith toward God, we will obey. If we are not trusting God, we will do things our own way which is disobedience. Being in covenant with God is about faith from the heart.
Ultimately we see that God’s eternal covenant is a promise to Jesus in which we are invited through faith. Jesus is the perfect eternal sacrifice through which we transfer death for eternal life. Through Jesus blood we are cleansed in the eternal aspect of ourselves and benefit in the covenant between the Father and the Son.
Why Blood Sacrifice?
Have you ever wondered why God required sacrifice? Why all the blood? The Word says the life is in the blood. Every sacrifice we see is merely a type or shadow of the one true sacrifice, Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 9:11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here,a he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by HIS OWN BLOOD, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
We see Jesus passing through the grave, coming out victorious over death after which he ascends to the Heavenly Holy of Holies. This is an essential part of our redemption because this is where Jesus carried his own blood, shed for our salvation, into eternity. The purpose was to exchange His perfect, eternal life with our sinful death. Jesus went in as a representative of mankind, with eternally perfect blood as an exchange for life.
God does not need blood for appeasement. God is not an angry tyrant that requires death. But there must be an exchange of our sin nature for eternal life. The life is in the blood so Jesus carried human blood into eternity to bring back eternal life for those who would enter into the eternal covenant of promise.
The blood Jesus carried in the eternal dwelling place of God was so that human blood could be represented in Heaven and it was found pure and holy, acceptable as a representation for all mankind. We partake of that eternal covenant of promise by grace through faith. All who believe on the Son are qualified for eternal life because Jesus has made the exchange of eternal spirit life by His blood as the Son of Man.
Here we see God’s true perspective on covenant, a perspective of promise rather than law keeping.
Hebrews 6:13 When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” 15 And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. 16 People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
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