COVENANT WITH GOD

Prof. Edward Bbaale

A covenant is an agreement between two people and it involves vows on both sides. For example in marriage, it is not necessarily the rings you wear as a symbol, but the vows a couple makes to each other. There can also be a covenant between two people who are not married. A good example is David and Jonathan who entered into covenant because they loved each and had similar goals. 1 Samuel 18:3 (MSG) says; 
“Jonathan, out of his deep love for David, made a covenant with him. He formalized it with solemn gifts: his own royal robe and weapons—armor, sword, bow, and belt.” 
The scripture talks of a covenant between David and Jonathan and what they did to make it stand.      

God Works with Covenants

This type of covenant goes beyond our human covenants and stretches way beyond generations. A covenant with God brings forth ministry, and a ministry that results from this covenant is brought forth by God with the intention of impacting his people. The covenant of God touches nations. For instance in this church we are here because of a covenant, and this covenant has transformed many lives. This same covenant is not only for this nation but it extends to those outside Uganda as well - that’s how God makes his covenants with intentions of touching all the people of the earth irrespective of geographical location.

We should also know that the covenant between God and his people has clauses and every clause represents the blessing that God wants to bring to His people. For instance, when you examine the covenant with this ministry, some of the clauses that come to mind include; training prayer warriors and speaking with a prophetic voice to the nations and others that are in operation in this church.

What is amazing with the covenant between God and people is that God is all knowing and Mighty, but He agrees to make covenants with various people who are weak and mortal. A good example of God being all knowing is seen in  Numbers 12:1 (TLB) where we read that; “One day Miriam and Aaron were criticizing Moses because his wife was a Cushite woman, and they said, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he spoken through us, too?” But the Lord heard them.”  Miriam and Aaron talked ill against Moses because he had married outside the Hebrew clans yet they had been instructed not to intermarry (Deut 7:3), but because he had a covenant with God, He did not permit anyone to judge him. Had Moses gone against God’s instructions? Yes. Was Miriam the right person to rebuke him? No. God became angry with Miriam and punished her instantly with leprosy (Numb 12:10) because what she did was belittling the servant of God. We should learn from this not to be part of conversations that are against the servants of God; if for certain God has a covenant with someone, it means he has set apart that person.   

It is amazing that Moses did not hear what Miriam said about him, but it was God who heard the words. Amazingly Aaron pleaded with Moses to pray for her to be healed (Numb12:11-13). You may be part of a conversation that belittles a servant of God and when God places a curse on you, the same servant you belittled may be the one to pray for you so that the curse is lifted. We must leave God’s servants to Him, to deal with them.

Components of a Covenant

All covenants have components and we shall look at the five of them as explained below:

1- A Covenant has a Holder
Every covenant God makes is done with someone. That person acts as the holder or point of contact in regard to that covenant. Below are some of the holders of various covenants. 

a) Covenant with Noah (Noahic Covenant)
Noah lived at a time when the whole earth was filled with violence and wickedness - yet Noah did not allow the evil to rob him of fellowship with God. Genesis 6:9 (NIV) says; “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God."  The Lord singled out Noah from among all other people and chose him as the man to accomplish a transformational task.

With steadfast confidence in God, Noah started building the ark. During that time, Noah continued to preach God's judgment and mercy, warning the ungodly of their approaching doom. Noah is listed among the heroes of faith. Hebrews 11:7 (NKJV) says; “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”  When the ark was ready, Noah entered in with all kinds of animals (Gen. 7:16), cut off completely from the rest of mankind. Noah was grateful to the Lord, who had delivered him from the flood, and after the flood, he built an altar to God and made a sacrifice, which was accepted graciously (Gen. 8:20-21)     

The Lord promised Noah and his descendants that He would never destroy the world again with a universal flood; and He made an everlasting covenant with Noah (Noahic Covenant) establishing the rainbow as the sign of His promise. Genesis 9:8-17 (NKJV) says; 

“Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9 “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 15 and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

b) Covenant with Abraham (Abrahamic Covenant)
In making a covenant with Abraham, God promised to bless his descendants and make them His own special people - in return, Abraham was to remain faithful to God and to serve as a channel through which God's blessings could flow to the rest of the world (Gen. 12:1-3). And in one of the clauses God tells him to circumcise every male. 

Genesis 17:1-22 (NLT) says;

“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am El Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. 2 I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.” 3 At this, Abram fell face down on the ground. Then God said to him, 4 “This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations! 5 What’s more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations…………9 Then God said to Abraham, “Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility. 10 This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised………”

What makes it a covenant is because it had a condition attached to it. Abraham was supposed to circumcise every male. If he had not obeyed, God would not have blessed him. In the rest of the chapter you will find more on the covenant between Abraham and God.     

c) Covenant with Moses (Mosaic Covenant)

A third person we see is Moses. We read in the book of Exodus that God made a covenant with Moses and sent him to execute a number of tasks.

Three months after leaving the land of Egypt, the children of Israel camped at the base of Mount Sinai; God promised to make a covenant with the Israelites, but before they even knew the conditions of the covenant, the people agreed to abide by whatever God said (Exodus 19). After giving them the first ten commands, the people asked the Lord to speak no more (they were threatened by lightning and thunder), but Moses then drew near to the presence of God to hear the rest of the covenant (Exodus 20:18-21).  So after receiving the Law, Moses spoke the words of the covenant to all of the people, and they agreed to obey (Exodus 24:3-4). Moses then wrote the conditions of the covenant down, offered sacrifices to God, and then sprinkled the blood of animals on the altar and upon the people who entered into covenant with God. Exodus 24:3-8 (NKJV) says;

“So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has said we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 6 And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.”

d) Covenant with Christ - New Testament 

This covenant brings God and people together; the death and resurrection of Christ seals that covenant – the holder of this covenant between God and us is Jesus Christ. The death of Christ ushered in the new covenant under which we are justified by God's grace and mercy - we now have total forgiveness of sins. Jesus Himself is the Mediator of this better covenant between God and man (Hebrews: 9:15). Jesus' sacrificial death served as the oath, or pledge, which God made to us to seal this new covenant.

The new covenant is the new agreement God made with mankind, based on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The concept of a new covenant originated with the promise of Jeremiah that God would accomplish for His people what the old covenant had failed to do (Heb 11:7-13). Under this new covenant, God would write His Law on human hearts. Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NLT) says; 

“The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord. 33 “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

When Jesus was at the Passover meal at the Last Supper with His disciples, He spoke of the cup and said; "this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matt. 26:28). Luke 22:20 (NKJV) refers to this cup as; "Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you." When Paul recited the account he had received concerning the Last Supper, he quoted these words of Jesus about the cup as "the new covenant in My blood" (1 Cor. 11:25).

The new covenant accomplished what the old could not - the removal of sin, and the work of Jesus Christ on the cross made the old covenant obsolete (Heb. 8:13) and fulfills the promise of the prophet Jeremiah.

In Hebrews, Jesus is referred to as "the Mediator of the new covenant" (Heb. 9:15; 12:24). The new covenant rests directly on the sacrificial work of Christ. Hebrews 8:6 (NLT) says; “But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.”

2- A Covenant is made for Particular Works

A Covenant has particular works uniquely designed to be fulfilled under it; you need to know the tasks required in the covenant under which you are. For instance in church, we have different services on particular days of the month. There is a reason as to why those programs are scheduled that way; for that is the covenant between God and the servant of this house. This means that the covenants are indeed different and so is the purpose and mission of the one sent. Different ministries have differing covenants and this goes for the purpose as well.

God made a covenant with David (Davidic Covenant); He told him that kings would come from his lineage. 2 Samuel 7:8-16 says;

“Now this is what you are to say to My servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of Hosts says: I took you from the pasture and from following the sheep to be ruler over My people Israel.9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. I will make a name for you like that of the greatest in the land. 10 I will establish a place for My people Israel and plant them, so that they may live there and not be disturbed again. Evildoers will not afflict them as they have done 11 ever since the day I ordered judges to be over My people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. “‘The Lord declares to you: The Lord Himself will make a house for you. 12 When your time comes and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He will build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to Me. ………..”  

The covenant between God and King David established David’s descendants as royal heirs to the throne of the nation of Israel; this covenant reached its actualization when Jesus, a descendant of the line of David, was born in Bethlehem. The gospel of Matthew starts by showing Christ as the Son of David. Mathew 1:1 (AMPC) explains; 
“The book of the ancestry (genealogy) of Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), the son (descendant) of David, the son (descendant) of Abraham” 
And thus Jesus had the right to rule over God's people. Peter preached that Jesus Christ was a fulfillment of God's promise to David (Acts 2:29-33).

3- A Covenant has Terms and Conditions

Genesis 17:10-14 (NLT)

”Then God said to Abraham, “Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility. 10 This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised. 11 You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 From generation to generation, every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased. 13 All must be circumcised. Your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant. 14 Any male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for breaking the covenant.”

God told Abraham to circumcise his children, servants and entire male composition of his household. This is described as the sign or mark of the covenant.

Before making a covenant with Abraham, God first instructed Him to get out of his homeland (Gen 12:1-3). Abraham accepted to go to the nation God had sent him to, but had he disobeyed, God would not have made a covenant with him.

We also have a covenant and it has got its rules and regulations and, terms and conditions that we need to fulfill in order to benefit from it. If Abraham and his household did not get circumcised, that would mean that they were not part of the covenant of God. So as sons and daughters of ministry (or any other you belong to), we have a role to play to affirm that we are indeed part of this covenant that God made with His servant.

One of the commonly spoken clauses in this place is that God has given the pastor the anointing to lift people and make them wealthy; that’s just part of a bigger covenant, and another clause that whoever sows into his ministry and life will start a journey of being lifted. We each have a part to play in order to tap into this covenant and to be part of this covenanted ministry

4- A Covenant is specific and Two-way

A covenant with God works two ways - you minister to the covenant and it ministers to you as well. Do you have a covenant you are ministering under or where you serve? God has a servant who is a steward of a covenant and that is the person who has the key to your blessing. You just need to identify under which covenant you are supposed to submit and once you identify this, you will find out that the one who God made a covenant with has all your blessings and inheritance; he or she has the mantle to shield you from attacks, cause you to win battles and provide an overall spiritual covering. That covenant has enough power to usher you into your God designated purpose. This is why it’s important for a Christian to have a spiritual home – church and spiritual parent – Pastor, and when you pour your heart and life into them, you will tap into that covenant and anointing and your life will never be the same!

You need a spiritual parent who God has made a covenant with; this is important because God is orderly and you have got to belong somewhere. If you have a covenant you submit to, do you fulfill the conditions attached? You might be in the right place but not fulfilling the conditions attached to the covenant given unto your spiritual father; and be assured that, that covenant will not benefit you even though you are in the right place.

Never disobey the covenant and the one God made the covenant with. You may be a serving under one with a covenant but against some of the clauses of the covenant you are under. Know for a fact that you will not be able to benefit in that covenant. Remember that the devil is always plotting to attack our minds and hearts to cause us to stumble. Your prayer should be for God to guard your heart against such vices so that you are able to obediently sit under the covenant and choose to be supportive and in agreement with it.

5- A Covenant comes with Blessings.

Do you know the blessing attached to the covenant under which you submit? For example God remembered the covenant when the children of Israel cried unto Him while in captivity in Egypt and He made a plan to rescue them. If "He remembered His covenant with Abraham" (Exodus 2:24), it means the covenant can deliver and save you from a pitfall.

2 Sam 6:9-12 (GNT)

“Then David was afraid of the Lord and said, “How can I take the Covenant Box with me now?” 10 So he decided not to take it with him to Jerusalem; instead, he turned off the road and took it to the house of Obed Edom, a native of the city of Gath. 11 It stayed there three months, and the Lord blessed Obed Edom and his family. 12 King David heard that because of the Covenant Box the Lord had blessed Obed Edom's family and all that he had; so he got the Covenant Box from Obed's house to take it to Jerusalem with a great celebration.” 

We see that when the Ark of the Covenant went into the house of Obed-Edom there was great wealth and blessings in that house. Obed-Edom embraced the covenant when it was brought into his house. So we also need to embrace the covenant in order to be blessed. This man’s household got so wealthy to the point that the king heard of it and decided to go and get it out.

The covenant has different blessings attached to it. You just have to submit under the covenant your spiritual father has and it will not take long for you to realise transformation in your life. Many however leave the covenant to go out there and struggle to get things that they would have gotten without struggle if only they had remained under the covenant.

Covenant between God and His Servants

Even in this generation God has made covenants with His servants which are at work. We have seen great works that God has done through the covenants with His servants. In this ministry, there is a covenant which has done great works among us and many are witnesses to this. Our lives and families have been transformed because of the covenant God made with His servant.

A covenant is a semblance of wings; for it stretches and covers those who are under it. That is why a covenant child has to be submissive to the covenant that has been put in place. For instance, you cannot make a decision such as traveling to a far off country without notifying the servant of God; he is your spiritual parent whom God has made a covenant with, so if you inform him or her well knowing you are also under the same covenant, you are asking for the wings of the covenant to stretch and cover you wherever you go. We encounter battles and challenges in our homes, and workplaces but God’s covenant has been faithful to overcome our battles.

There are numerous things God has done under this covenant, in the different areas such as; business ideas, promotions, healing, marriages, careers, education and many other areas. These and more are some of the things in the covenant God has put in this place. Do not leave such blessings and go to foreign lands to struggle. Be under the covenant of God and do what it entails you to do and you will benefit.

Connect to the covenant and love those with the covenant