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What is the essence of a covenant?
A covenant means to bind or to set out something in order. It can be horizontal, that is a covenant between two human beings, and it can be vertical between God and man.
Covenant: the basis of a relationship
On a horizontal plane, a covenant is seen as a contract between two human beings; however, according to scripture, a covenant means a relationship that is initiated by God Himself with man, in which the two parties are not at the same level. God sovereignly initiates the covenant relationship out of His own choice and decision. God defines the terms on which He is prepared to enter into that relationship with man.
Man does not set the terms, nor does he ever initiate the relationship; his part is simply to respond to God’s offer of a covenant and to accept the relationship that the covenant brings with it. We cannot fully understand our relationship with God unless we understand the scriptural concept of covenant. We see in scripture that every permanent relationship of God with man is based on a covenant. God never enters into a permanent relationship apart from a covenant. (see Psalm 50:1-5). The Hebrew word in Psalm 50:1-5 translated “godly ones” is Hasid. A Hasid is a person who’s totally wrapped up in God, he is a person who exists only for God.
God makes a covenant on the basis of a sacrifice, and without a sacrifice, there can be no covenant. In other words, where there is a covenant, there must be a sacrifice, and where there is a sacrifice, there must be the shedding of blood. Two things are essential for entering into a permanent relationship with God: a covenant and sacrifice. Without a covenant, there can be no relationship with God; without a sacrifice, there can be no covenant.
God’s final commitment to do anything is in a covenant. A covenant represents a final, irrevocable commitment such that when God has entered into a covenant, there is no more that He can do to commit Himself. In Genesis 15:7-18, we see that once God had made the covenant with Abram, He no longer spoke in the future tense. He did not say, “I will give”; he said, “I have given”. The covenant has settled it, finally and forever.
Valid only through death
But why was a sacrifice necessary? Why was that the only way to enter into a covenant? The answer is that the sacrifice symbolised the death of each party to the covenant (see Hebrews 9:16-17). A covenant is entered by death, and if a person remains alive, he is not in a covenant. The death of the sacrificed animal is physical, but it symbolises another form of death for the one who offers the sacrifice and passes through the pieces of the sacrificed animals.
By so doing, the person who passes through the pieces renounces all rights from that moment to live for himself and commences to live for the other party to the covenant. In God’s sight this act of making a covenant is a solemn and sacred commitment.
Conclusion
There is a course of events evident in the Bible that resulted from the Lord’s covenant with Abram; we see that each party had to make good on the commitment that the covenant represented. Some years later when Abram had become Abraham, God said to him, “I want your son Isaac, your only son. The most precious thing you have is no longer yours because you and I are in a covenant. Abraham did not falter; he was willing to offer up Isaac. God had also committed Himself to Abraham, because two thousand years later, God, in His turn, fulfilled His part of the covenant. God offered up His only son in order to meet the needs of redemption for Abraham and descendants.
So, are you in covenant? Or you are still alive
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