Covenant or Contract

 Covenant or Contract                                        

What is the difference between a contract and a covenant? Some say they’re the same, but they’re not, especially when God is involved.

“A covenant, in the biblical sense, implies much more than a contract. … A contract always has an end date, while a covenant is a permanent arrangement. Another difference is that a contract generally involves only one part of a person, such as a skill, while a covenant covers a person’s total being.” * 

Chuck Pierce defines covenant as “an endless partnership or solemn and binding agreement between two or more parties. Covenant with God provides a commitment to a relationship that allows His purpose for us to be fulfilled.” ** 

Consider this: When we purchase a car, we agree to a contract. When we get married, we enter into a covenant. Big difference.

We can be confident that any covenant of God is initiated by God Himself. Some of the most famous God ordained covenants are: God’s covenant with Noah, (Genesis 9:11); God’s covenant with Abraham, (Genesis 15:18); and God’s covenant with Moses and the Israelites (Exodus 19-24).

God will always uphold His end of a covenant. He keeps promises. On the other hand, people sometimes fail to hold up their end.

People enter into covenants with other people as in the example of marriage. Sadly, not all marriage covenants are upheld. A good example of a human covenant which was honored by both parties is the friendship between Jonathan and David. This kind of loyal friendship is not easy to come by. Even after Johnathan died, David honored his friend by caring for Jonathan’s handicapped son, Mephibosheth. (2 Samuel 9)

When we become born-again followers of Jesus, we enter into an eternal covenant with our Creator. We receive and are consecrated into what Jeremiah prophesied would be the New Covenant.

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. … I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. … For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:31-34 NKJV). ***   

It was through the death of God’s own Son, Jesus, with the shedding of His blood that the New Covenant was given to Mankind. Through God’s covenant with Moses and the Israelites man’s sins could be covered over through the sacrificial shedding of the blood of animals. But now, through the shedding of the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, our sins are completely removed. Besides that, Jesus takes away the accompanying guilt and shame. We are made clean and made new just as if we had never committed the sins at all. We are born-again.

“For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:13-15).

It is by faith that we enter into this eternal covenant with our Creator. He offers it and we choose to receive it or not. When we say “yes” to God’s offer, we have the opportunity to receive our eternal inheritance. “What is that?” you may ask. Please see my next post to learn about it.

“Therefore know that the Lord Your God, His God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments” (Deuteronomy 7:9).

Let us pray: Father, we can never thank You enough for providing Your New Covenant to us, a free gift we receive by faith. Because of your great love, mercy, and grace, You have given Jesus, the divine Mediator of this better covenant. By Your Spirit, help us to have the will and strength to follow Your lead into the divine inheritance so that Your purpose in each of us will be fulfilled. What a wonderful adventure You provide! In Jesus name we pray, amen.

*New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Thomas Nelson Publishing, page 306.

**Possessing Your Inheritance, by Chuck D. Pierce and Rebecca Wagner Sytsema; Chosen Books, Baker Publishing Group, Minneapolis, Minnesota; 2009; page 119.

*** All Scripture quotes are taken from the New King James Version of the Bible.

©Copyright 2020 Connie Wohlford

Not saying this to upset you—but the truth must be known.

Not saying this to upset you—but the truth must be known.

I heard it again just a few days ago, “We’re all God’s children.”

It sounds so nice—so comforting—so inclusive. To someone who believes in God or thinks there might be a God, it gives some degree of false hope. But, it’s just not true. God Himself has the last word on this concept.

It is true that God loves everyone. He even loves us all equally. He created each of us in His own image (Genesis 1:27).

God wants every single human being to be in His forever family. He wants to be the Father of each one of us. It’s His desire that none parish—that is that none suffer eternal damnation (2 Peter 3:9). 

When God created the universe, the creatures and Mankind, He wanted all people who ever lived to be His family. But He wanted us to be in His family, not because He forced it, but because we chose it. We all have free will by God’s design. 

Even after being warned not to eat of the tree, Adam and Eve, of their own free will, turned against God and ate the fruit. Sin occurred and all manner of hardship befell Mankind. And like Adam and Eve, we can choose.

At God’s appointed time, He sent His Son, Jesus, to walk among men, teaching about the Kingdom of God. If you haven’t read the four gospels recently I highly recommend you do so. Learn Jesus. Be reminded of the things He said and did. (The four gospels are the books of Matthew, Mark Luke and John, in the Bible.)

Ultimately Jesus completed His earthly mission. He was crucified, died, buried, rose from the dead, and ascended to Heaven where He now sits at the right hand of God the Father. By His coming, suffering and dying Jesus bore the punishment we deserved. “Thank You, Jesus!”

This is the pathway our Heavenly Father provided for us to be restored to right relationship with Himself. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is the answer to the dilemma of Mankind’s sin which separated us from Holy God. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6 NIV).

Speaking of Jesus John wrote, “But as many who received Him to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13 NKJV).

So when we are born of God—that is born-again—we become His own child. That’s how we become children of God. 

How do we get to be born of God? We believe in and receive Jesus. We believe He is who the Bible says He is and we invite Him and receive Him into our own hearts. We embrace Him as the Lord of our lives. Then we are the children of God.

When we do this, we have become children of God by adoption with all the rights of a natural-born child. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons, crying out ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:4-7 NKJV).  

So when we make the conscious decision to believe and receive Jesus as our Savior we’re then adopted into God’s own family and have every right to call out to Him, “Abba, Father—Daddy!” 

Conversely, anyone who is not born-again as described above is not a child of God—is not in God’s family. 

As stated in John 14, Jesus is the only way to reconciliation with God. 

Many people desperately want there to be several ways to God but no matter how hard they wish, it’s just not that way. 

The only alternative to being in God’s family is to be in Satan’s family, condemned to eternal damnation. Don’t get mad at me for stating this. Take it up with God. I suggest you get to know Him through studying His Word—the Bible. That will help explain why it is what it is. 

 

“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens area higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJV).

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32 NIV).

Your comments are welcome. Inappropriate comments will be deleted.

©Copyright 2017 Connie Wohlford

That part of that verse puzzled me.

That part of that verse puzzled me.

                                                   

There are several things in the Bible that puzzle me. But I had light shed on one of those things recently during my personal study time. My quandary was located near the beginning of the nighttime conversation between Jesus and the Jewish leader, Nicodemus. 

The passage goes like this: Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:1-5 ESV).

Please re-read verse 5. Do you want to guess what in that verse had puzzled me?

Photo by Frances Gunn from Unsplash

I’ll just tell you. It’s the part about the water. I’ve always had a hard time figuring out just what water Jesus was talking about. Have you ever wondered that yourself? 

I previously knew of two possibilities, but in reading a commentary from Bible Study Fellowship International I learned of a third one. 

The three options are:

1- Some say it’s the water we come through when we’re physically born by natural means. But, to me, that has never made sense because Jesus would be saying that in order to be saved, we must be physically born. Uh-----I just don’t think that’s it because we’re all physically born and there’s water (amniotic fluid) involved. [Side note: Back in the olden days when I gave birth, that was called the bag of waters.]

2- Then there’s water baptism. This would mean that Jesus is saying that water baptism is a requirement for a person to enter the Kingdom of God. We know that’s not the case. If someone gets saved, but then dies before they can get baptized this would mean they would be condemned to Hell. NOT SO! God commands water baptism as the outward sign of the inward reality of believing and receiving Christ.

3- So thirdly, The Bible often analogizes water with the Word of God. It’s frequently a picture of God’s Word cleansing and giving life. 

When talking to His disciples, Jesus said, “You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you” (John 15:3 NKJV).

Speaking of Himself and His love for the church, Jesus said, “that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,” (Ephesians 5:26 NKJV).

Speaking to followers of Jesus, Peter said, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:22-23).

Therefore, I’m saying that the truth of God’s Word has got to wash over us, bringing us to Spiritual rebirth. According to John 3:6, flesh gives birth to flesh and Spirit gives birth to spirit. This new birth is a spiritual work that only God can do. We simply must believe in Jesus and receive Him into our hearts. Basically, we’re saying, “Yes,” to God. In doing so, we open our hands and receive His offer of Salvation/Eternal Life.

When we do this, we really do become a new person, as though we were literally born-again. We’ve turned a page and all things are made new—we have a new mindset, a new worldview, a new sense of love, peace and joy. We see the Kingdom of God and have a great sense of gratitude that God the Father, through His Son, Jesus, has rescued us and brought us into His own family.

We are indeed “born of water and the Spirit.”

If, at this moment, you are not born-again but wish to be, please do this:

Believe that Jesus is the Son of God, just as the Bible says, and decide to receive Him into your heart. Simply tell Him and invite Him in. You can pray this prayer: Lord God, I believe that Jesus is your only Son, just as the Bible says. I now invite Him into my heart and receive Him as my personal Savior. Thank you, Lord, for giving me Eternal Life. In Jesus name I pray—Amen.

If you’ve just prayed that prayer, please take these next steps: Tell someone who is a follower of Jesus; begin to read God’s Word—the Bible, every day; and hook up with a good Bible believing church fellowship. Ask God to help you find the right church and the right friends to hang out with. May God richly bless you in your new life in Him!

I’m curious to know if anyone else has ever wondered about the water Jesus spoke of in John 3:5. Am I the only one?

Your comments are welcome.

©Connie Wohlford 2016