God’s Covenant
Recently I heard a lady share how she was at a memorial service where there were three caskets interning a mother and her two children who had been killed in a plane crash. The pilot of the private plane suffered severe injuries and was hospitalized in Pennsylvania where the crash occurred. He, the father of the now deceased family, was in a coma unaware of the events unfolding. My friend stated she was overcome with sadness, even though she was not related to the three being memorialized. Ringing through her mind was the question, “Why God?” Have you ever asked God that question? I did thirty years ago when I learned that my wife had cancer, and probably wouldn’t live to see her thirtieth birthday. Why do bad things happen to good people? To answer that question we need to discover who is good?
Psalms 14:2,3 says, “The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They were all gone aside, they were all together become filthy: There is none that doeth good, no not one”. Even in the New Testament we read, “They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; There is none that doeth good, no, not one. for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:12.23). So we can see that we would be hard pressed to say that we don’t deserve bad things to happen to us, based on our goodness. What then; Is it my lot in life to expect tragedy to occur? Must I go around wondering when and where it will strike next? Not really! God has better plans for those He calls The Redeemed! Listen to these words: “Thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob, and He that formed thee O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.” When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel , thy Saviour” (Isaiah 43:1-3a). God says He will be with those who are His; the ones He calls by name. When they go through trials and dangers, they won’t be overcome. When others are suffering endless tragedies, His own will be protected. Not only will God protect His own, but He promises them blessings. In fact, He promises to bless them and protect them from their enemies if they are faithful to obey His commandments. Have you ever read about the blessings and curses of God? If not, you really need to read the twenty eighth chapter of Deuteronomy. I’ll never forget the first time I read this chapter. What an eye opener.
As you are reading this today, you might be thinking, “Woe is me! I am one of those the Bible describes as having sinned and come short of the glory of God. I’m not worthy to receive God’s protection and blessings. Am I to be doomed to a life of suffering and pain?” Not if you get a revelation of God and His desire to enter into Covenant with you. Webster’s Dictionary describes the word covenant as, “A solemn agreement”. I can see that clearly. A solemn God puts His oath to an agreement. I can really take comfort in knowing that the Bible says that God is not a man that He should lie. When God says He will do something, you can take it to the bank; it’s a done deal. He is the One who says, “I, yes, I alone am He who blots away your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again. Oh remind me of this promise of forgiveness, for we must talk about your sins. Plead your case for my forgiving you” (Isaiah 43:25,26 LB). God cares about you so much that He takes it very personal if you refuse to seek Him for the forgiveness of your sins. Then in Isaiah 55:1-3,6,7 He tells us how: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and He that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? And your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: Hear and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you. Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” God says even if we are spiritually bankrupt, we can still come to Him; His salvation is free.
All through the Bible God is constantly telling how He wants to be in relationship with us. He shows how that relationship was broken by the Israelites when they disobeyed His commandments and broke their covenant with Him. God’s first covenant was with Abraham the father of the Jewish Nation, and was solidified when He gave His commandments to them through His servant Moses. After giving Moses His commandments and laws, God told how He would bless those who kept His commandments, and curse those who failed, as we as saw in Deuteronomy chapter 28. Then Moses records these words: “If thou shall hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say; Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say; Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it” (Deuteronomy 30:10-14). Moses is telling them that God has written His commandments in their hearts, and if they would speak them out, they would be able to keep them. We know that this people did not follow His instructions, and history records how the Jewish nation has suffered much when they broke covenant with Him and God lifted His arm of protection and allowed them to be cursed.
Now, let’s fast forward several thousand years and listen to what the writer of the book of Hebrews has to say about what went wrong: “Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith; “Today if ye will hear His voice; Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works for forty years.” Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said; “They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest” (Hebrews 3:7-11).
God had delivered His people from slavery in Egypt , and would have taken them into the promised land except for their failure to trust His word. He showed them His miraculous provision during their forty years of wandering in the desert, but He wouldn’t allow them to enter into the promised rest because rather than giving Him thanks they complained continually. So God made them wander those forty years in the desert till all the adult males had died, before he let their children enter into the promised land, where they would find rest for their souls. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He still requires us to trust Him today. His word declares: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). Jesus said; “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28 ). Let us not make the same mistake the Israelites made; failing to have faith in God. Listen to these words, “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them; But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it” (Hebrews 4:1,2).
God’s covenant through His Servant Jesus: “But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, He saith: Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people” (Hebrews 8:6-10). The Bible tells me that the believers in Jesus are the new Israel. These are the ones with whom God has made His new covenant of grace. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God; Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9). We are counted as righteous in God’s sight, not because we obey the law (since no one has ever been able to completely obey the law), but because we have faith in Jesus. And even our faith(the ability to believe), is a gift from God.
The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome, “Brethren my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law; That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness that is of faith speaketh on this wise; Say not in thine heart; Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep?(that is to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is the word of faith, which we preach. That if thou shalt confess with thy the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness: and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:1-10).
So now we have come full circle. In the beginning of this article we quoted from Deuteronomy 30:10-14, “If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of thy God………But the word is very high unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it”. Now we see the Apostle Paul quoting this scripture as he instructs those who have ears to hear, that if we will respond to his preaching of Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s covenant, we can be saved from God’s wrath by confessing our belief in Jesus. Let us look for a minute at the continuation of the reading in Deuteronomy 30:15-18, “See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil: In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His statutes and His judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy god will bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them: I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish”. Verse 19; “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: Therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live”.
There it is! The choice is ours. The basketball is in our court! Do we elect to turn away from our sins, acknowledging our unworthiness, and choose to surrender to our all merciful God? I don’t know about you, but I choose to echo the words of Joshua, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24: 15).
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