Everlasting Covenants of the Bible The Rainbow, Sign of God's Everlasting Covenant not to Destroy the Earth by Means of Water Introduction:
There are, in Scripture, a number of references to
an everlasting
covenant. These include covenants in regard to the Flood, Bread
of the Presence, the Priesthood,
Abraham, David, the People
of the Earth, and the New
Covenant. These covenants are presented in a more or less
chronological order.
Flood
Covenant. After the
world-wide Flood of Noah,
Elohim established an “everlasting
covenant” with Noah, his sons, their descendants, and
“every living
creature of all flesh” (Gen. 9:16). This
everlasting covenant was that
Elohim would never again destroy the world with a flood (Gen. 9:8-17). The sign of
this eternal covenant
is the rainbow (Gen. 9:12-17). Return to the Top. The Covenant in Connection with the Bread of the Presence. Yahweh commanded the sons of Israel every Sabbath day to set “twelve cakes” on the gold table before Himself (Lev. 24:5-9). In Exodus 25:30 these cakes were called “the bread of the Presence.” This was to be “an everlasting covenant (emphasis mine) for the sons of Israel” (Lev. 24:8). The retired cakes would be for Aaron and his sons to eat in a holy place. This would be “his portion forever” (Lev. 24:9). Return to the Top. Food for the Priesthood, a Covenant of Salt. Yahweh spoke to Aaron, giving him charge of His offerings (Num. 18:8). The sons of Israel were to bring offerings to Yahweh. The sons, and in some cases, the daughters of Aaron were to be able to eat from these offerings. All these offerings, Yahweh said, “I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a perpetual allotment. It is an everlasting covenant of salt (emphasis mine) before the LORD to you and your descendants with you” (Num. 18:19). (For a broader explanation of the priests’ portion see Num. 18:8-19). Return to the Top. God’s
Covenant with Abraham.
Yahweh made a promise to Abram. If he would leave his country and
people and
proceed to the land He showed Him,
Yahweh would make of him a great nation (descendants),
bless him, making his name great. In
turn, Abram was commanded to be a blessing.
Yahweh would bless those who blessed him, curse those who cursed
him, and in Abram, all the families of the earth would be blessed. This
is the original set of promises Yahweh made with
Abram (Gen.
12:1-3).The
promises
related to a particular
land,
Abram’s descendants,
and attendant blessings.
The term “everlasting” was not here used, but the scope of the promises
was
obviously global in its impact by way of blessing. After Abram and Lot
parted
ways, Yahweh told Abram He was giving him and his innumerable
descendants the land in which he found himself (Canaan) forever (Gen. 13:14-17). Later, Yahweh
made an unconditional
blood covenant with Abram, giving his descendants
the land “from the river of Egypt as
far as the great river, the river Euphrates” (Gen. 15:7-21). When Abram was
ninety-nine, Yahweh
established His covenant with him and his descendants after him as an everlasting covenant,
stipulating that
the land of Canaan was to be their everlasting
possession (Gen. 17:1-8). It was at this
time that God
changed Abram’s name to Abraham and instituted circumcision as the everlasting covenant
sign (Gen.
17:9-14).
Furthermore,
God would establish
with Isaac, son of Abraham and Sarah, His covenant that would be an “everlasting covenant
for his
descendants after him” (Gen. 17:19, emphasis mine).
Later Yahweh
established personally with both Isaac (Gen. 26:1-5) and Jacob (Gen. 28:10-15) the same
covenant promises He had earlier
made with Abram (in Gen. 12:1-3). Later Jacob,
near death, described
that event as one in which “God Almighty” had promised “this land” to
Jacob and his descendants as
an “everlasting possession”
(Gen.
48:3-4,
emphasis mine).
When the priests
carried the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem, David assigned Asaph
and his
relatives the task of giving thanks to Yahweh. On that occasion they
sang a
psalm. This psalm refers to the covenant Yahweh had made with Abraham,
Isaac,
and Jacob giving them the land of
Canaan. This covenant is described as an “everlasting
covenant” applying “to a thousand generations” (1 Chron. 16:13-18, emphasis mine).
Using nearly the
identical words that same covenant is again referred to as an everlasting covenant
in Psalm
105:8-11.
For a more complete discussion of God’s everlasting covenant with Abraham, go to WordExplain’s Abrahamic Covenant. Return to the Top. God’s Covenant with David. The background of this covenant is found in 2 Samuel 7:1-17. When David desired to build a house for Yahweh (2 Sam. 7:1-3), the latter promised David He would “make a house” for him (2 Sam. 7:11). He would raise up David’s descendant, establish his kingdom, and establish the throne of his kingdom forever (2 Sam. 7:12-13). Yahweh further told David, “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever” (2 Sam. 7:16). In “the last words of David” (2 Sam. 23:1-7), David declared, “Truly is not my house so with God? For He has made an everlasting covenant (emphasis mine) with me, ordered in all things and secured; for all my salvation and all my desire, will He not indeed make it grow” (2 Sam. 23:5)? We call this everlasting covenant with David the Davidic Covenant. It is distinct from the Abrahamic Covenant, but it certainly presupposes it and integrates it. This is true because the ultimate descendant of David’s who will sit on David’s throne forever is none other than Jesus of Nazareth (Luke 1:26-35). This same Jesus is also the one through whom all the nations of the world will be blessed (Gen. 12:1-3; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14; Acts 3:25; Gal. 3:8), according to the Abrahamic Covenant. Return to the Top. God’s Covenant with the People of the Earth. In Isaiah 24, Isaiah revealed that Yahweh will lay the earth waste, devastate it, distort its surface, and scatter its inhabitants (Isa. 24:1-4). This He will do so in the Tribulation period. He will do this because the earth has been “polluted by its inhabitants” because “they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant” (Isa. 24:5). This “everlasting covenant” probably does not refer to the Abrahamic Covenant or the Davidic Covenant. It probably refers to an implied covenant God had with man that if man obeyed God, he would live forever, but if he disobeyed, he would die (see Gen. 2:16-17). (See also John A. Martin, “Isaiah,” The Bible Knowledge Commentary, OT Volume.) Charles Ryrie (Ryrie Study Bible) states that the everlasting covenant “may refer specifically to the covenant that God made with Noah after the flood (Gen. 9:8-17) or to His commands in general.” Return to the Top. The New Covenant. Through Jeremiah
the prophet, Yahweh
declared He would make a “New Covenant”
(Jer.
31:31-37).
He would make
this new
covenant
with the house
of Israel and the
house of Judah (Jer. 31:31). This new covenant would be unlike
the former, Mosaic Covenant, which they were
unable to keep (Jer. 31:32). In the terms
of this New Covenant,
Yahweh would write His laws on the heart of His people (Jer. 31:33) and they would
all know Him, and He
would forgive their sin (Jer. 31:34). Though the
term “everlasting” is
never explicitly used in relation
to
the phrase “new covenant,” there are a number of instances in which the
terms
“eternal” or “everlasting covenant” are employed as expressing a
feature of the
New Covenant. Undoubtedly,
the New Covenant
rests upon the foundation of the Abrahamic Covenant. Jeremiah
and the
Everlasting Covenant. In
Jeremiah 31, in which the New Covenant
is introduced, Yahweh promised to write His law on the heart of His
people so
effectively that He will never again remember their sin (Jer. 31:31-34). The changes
introduced by the New Covenant
are so permanent that the people of Israel are as permanently Yahweh’s
people
as the universe is interminable (Jer. 31:35-36). If it be
argued that the present universe
will be destroyed (and it will be) (2 Pet 3: 7-12), my rebuttal is
that God will
replace it with an unending universe that will never
need to be destroyed because only righteousness will exist in
it (2
Pet. 3:13; Rev.
21:1).
Under the
terms of the New Covenant,
Yahweh’s commitment to His (formerly) fickle people is as measureless
as the
heavens above and as unsearchable as the foundations of the earth below
(Jer.
31:37).
In
Jeremiah
32:36-44,
Yahweh promised
to restore the
fortunes of Jerusalem and the nation of which it was the capital. He
will
gather His people back to Jerusalem from all the lands into which He
had
dispersed them (Jer. 32:36-37). They will be
His people and He will
be their God (Jer. 32:38). He will give
them one heart and one
way that they will fear Him always (Jer. 32:39). He will make
an everlasting covenant with them – He
will not turn away from blessing them and He will place the fear of God
in
their hearts so they will not turn away from Him (Jer. 32:40). Yahweh
associated this everlasting covenant, which is the New Covenant, we
believe,
with Israel’s
return to and possession of the promised land of Canaan (Jer. 32:41-44). According
to Jeremiah
50:4-5,
Yahweh
predicted a time when both the
sons of Israel and the sons of Judah will “go along weeping,” seeking
Yahweh
their God. They will ask for directions to Zion in order that they may
unite
with Yahweh in an everlasting covenant
never to be forgotten. Jeremiah 50:1-3 speaks of a
horrifying destruction of
Babylon as yet unfulfilled. Most likely it is the eschatological
destruction
portrayed in Rev. 17-18. The return to
Israel is that
eschatological return in repentance described by Zechariah (Zech. 12:10-14). The
everlasting covenant is the New Covenant.
(See also Thomas Constable, Notes
on Jeremiah, 2009 Edition,
pp. 224-225.) Isaiah and the Everlasting Covenant. In Isaiah 55 God offered
Israel salvation free of
charge (Isa.
55:1-2).
If they came
to Him in faith, they
would live and He would make with them an everlasting
covenant (Isa. 55:3). This is most
likely a reference to
the New
Covenant,
and it would be
extended to Israel
with the same faithful mercies with which God had extended to David the
Davidic Covenant, in which He
promised David an
eternal House, Throne, and King (2 Sam. 7:16; Luke
1:30-33). Isaiah 61 predicts a time
in the future when
the Messiah will restore the
people of Zion to a
position of gladness and praise, righteousness and rebuilding (Isa. 61:1-4). Jesus
announced a portion of this
message (Isa. 61:1-2a) at His First
Advent (Luke
4:14-21).
He will
fulfill the remainder at
His Second. When Jesus returns,
Israel will be granted spiritual, economic, and political supremacy
over the
nations of the world (Isa. 61:5-6). In the place
of shame and humiliation,
the Jewish people will be granted a double portion and everlasting joy
in their
land (Isa.
61:7).
Yahweh will
make with them an everlasting covenant (the New Covenant),
and all who see them will recognize that Yahweh has truly blessed them (Isa. 61:8-9). The Messiah
will rejoice greatly in Yahweh, grateful He has clothed Him with
salvation and
righteousness (Isa. 61:10). Yahweh “will
cause righteousness
and praise to spring up before all the nations” (Isa. 61:11), both during
the Messiah’s
Millennial Kingdom and also
throughout eternity
(Rev.
21:1-22:5). Ezekiel
and the
Everlasting Covenant. Ezekiel 16 describes
Yahweh’s gracious treatment
of ungrateful and adulterous Jerusalem. Yahweh spoke of Jerusalem as an
infant
girl whom He rescued and later married (Ezek. 16:1-43). He had rescued
her in her infancy (Ezek. 16:1-7). When she
matured, Yahweh entered
into a covenant of marriage with her (Ezek. 16:8-14). Yet through
her idolatry with
foreign gods and her copying of the vile practices of her pagan
neighbors,
Jerusalem became a prostitute, though still married to Yahweh (Ezek. 16:15-34). In jealous
anger, Yahweh turned his
prostitute/wife over to the judgment of her lewd and self-serving
paramours.
They conquered her and savaged her (Ezek. 16:35-43). Next Yahweh
portrayed Jerusalem as
a wicked sister to the cities of Samaria to the north and Sodom to the
south (Ezek.
16:44-63).
As corrupt as
Samaria and Sodom
were, Jerusalem had become even more corrupt (Ezek. 16:44-52). Yet even
though Jerusalem had
broken her covenant of marriage, Yahweh will restore all three sisters (Ezek. 16:53-59). Yahweh will
remember His earlier
covenant with Jerusalem, and expand upon it (Ezek. 16:60-63). He will establish with her
an everlasting covenant (Ezek. 16:60). This most
likely refers to the New Covenant.
The results of this everlasting covenant
are that (1) Jerusalem will remember her ways and be ashamed (Ezek. 16:61); that (2)
Jerusalem will know that
He is Yahweh (Ezek. 16:62); and that (3)
though Jerusalem will
be ashamed and humiliated because of her treachery (see also Zech. 12:10-14), yet Yahweh
will forgive her (Ezek. 16:63). In
Ezekiel
37
Yahweh, through
His Spirit, gave
Ezekiel a vision of a valley of dry bones. At Yahweh’s instruction,
Ezekiel
prophesied, and the bones came to life and stood, “an exceedingly great
army” (Ezek.
37:1-10).
Yahweh
explained that this vision
symbolized His future resurrection of the people of Israel. He would
open their
graves, place His Spirit within them, and bring them back to the land
of Israel
(Ezek.
37:11-14).
In the
symbolism of the two sticks
joined into one, Yahweh instructed Ezekiel to teach his people that
Yahweh
would one day unite the houses of Israel and Judah into one nation. He
would
gather them from all the nations to which He had dispersed them back to
the
land of Israel, and He would cleanse them of their impurity. They would
be His people
and He would be their God (Ezek. 37:15-23).
Yahweh’s “servant David will be
king over them,” and they will keep Yahweh’s commandments. They, their
sons,
and their son’s sons will live on the land Yahweh gave to Jacob, His
servant, forever. David will be their prince forever. Yahweh will make
a covenant of
peace with them, and it will be an everlasting
covenant. Yahweh will set His sanctuary among them forever, and He will
live among them. He will be their God and they
will be His people. The earth’s nations will know that Yahweh has set
Israel
apart as His special nation when His sanctuary is among His people
forever (Ezek. 37:24-28). Two
more passages in Ezekiel speak of what Yahweh will do on behalf of
Israel in New Covenant terms, but
neither passage uses the words
“covenant,” “everlasting,” or “eternal.” In
Ezekiel
11:16-20,
Adonai Yahweh
promised to assemble
the Jewish people from the countries in which He had scattered them,
and He
will give them “the land of Israel” (Ezek. 11:16-17). They will
remove idolatrous worship
from the land at that time (Ezek. 11:18). He “will give
them one heart, and
put a new spirit within them.” He will remove from them “their heart of
stone”
and replace it with “a heart of flesh” so they keep His commandments.
They will
be His people and He will be their God (Ezek. 11:19-20). In
Ezekiel
36:22-38,
Adonai Yahweh
declared that He
would, for the sake of His own name, gather the house of Israel from
the
nations to which He had scattered them and return them to their own
land (Ezek.
36:22-24).
He will
“sprinkle clean water” on
them and cleanse them from their filthiness and idolatry (Ezek. 36:25). He will place
within them “a new
heart” and a “new spirit.” He will remove from them their “heart of
stone” and
replace it with “a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 36:26). He will place
His Spirit within
them so they obey His commands (Ezek. 36:27). They will live
in the land He gave
their forefathers. They will be His people and He will be their God. He
will
save them from their “uncleanness,” (Ezek. 36:28-29). He will bless
them agriculturally (Ezek. 36:29-30). They will
painfully aware of their
shortcoming, and they will loathe themselves for their abominable sin.
Adonai
Yahweh will not restore the house of Israel for their sake (Ezek. 36:31-32)! When He
cleanses them from their
sin, He will cause their ruined cities to be inhabited and their waste
places
to be rebuilt. Moreover He will multiply the citizens of Israel in
their cities
abundantly (Ezek. 36:33-35,
37-38).
Then the
nations surrounding Israel
that have survived the Great Tribulation will know He has
restored Israel in order to keep His
promise (Ezek. 36:36). The Eternal Nature of the New Covenant as Revealed in the New Testament. Finally, in the
New Testament, as in
the Old, the New Covenant is contrasted
with the “first
covenant” (Mosaic Covenant) as effecting
changes so satisfactory,
no further changes would be necessary. This New Covenant,
of which Jesus is the Mediator, is described as being a “better
covenant” based
on “better promises” (Heb. 8:6-13). Since Jesus’
own blood, by which He
put into effect the New Covenant
is so effective, He had to offer it only one time in the heavenly Holy
of
Holies, the very presence of God (Heb. 9:11-28). Since His
perfect sacrifice results
in permanent spiritual changes, “those who have been called” (under the
terms
of the New Covenant) “receive the
promise of the eternal
inheritance” (Heb. 9:15) (emphasis
mine). In the closing
chapter of Hebrews the writer offers up a benediction. He refers to
“the God of
peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep
through the
blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus
our Lord” (Heb. 13:20). The eternal
covenant can only be the New Covenant,
ratified by Jesus’ own blood. Jesus’ blood was a satisfactory,
once-for-all-time
atonement for sins, and so God was pleased to raise Him from the dead.
The
writer requests that God, whose power was evident in Jesus’
resurrection, equip
the readers “in every good thing to do His will, working in us that
which is
pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Heb. 13:21). So the New Covenant is seen to
promote holy living among
its beneficiaries, just as God had promised in the Old Testament We conclude, therefore, that, though the New Covenant is never explicitly stated to be an everlasting covenant, it is portrayed as possessing, and it is linked with, everlasting features. Return to the Top. |