The Covenant As A Haven Of Unending Blessing And Bliss
- Nov 28, 2016
- 10 min read
“Yes, my house stands firm with God: He has made an eternal covenant with me, all in order, well assured; does He not bring to fruition my every victory and desire.” 2Sam.235. TNJB
“This is how God has cared for my family [Is it not so with my house and God]. God made a lasting agreement [treaty; covenant] with me, right [ordered; arranged] and sure [secure; guaranteed; assured] in every way [all things]. He will [Will he not…?] accomplish [ensure] my salvation [safety] and satisfy [fulfil; bring about/to fruition] all my desires.” 2Sam.235. EXB.
Beloved,
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ. It is my desire and great pleasure to stir up your heart by putting you in remembrance of the preciousness of the covenant God has established for your victory, success and glory. The 8th edition of, ‘A lifestyle covenant,’ is in the making and will not be ready until early next year for our meeting. Meanwhile, I felt it is something worthwhile to give you some covenant meat to chew on for this season.
Without mincing words, the covenant - the agreement God made with Jesus on our behalf; is our greatest advantage in life. It is for our glory and it is the God-factor in the life of a child of God. Eph.211-13. This God-factor is what puts you, child of God, ahead of all humanity, remedies all the ills and disadvantages of life and make you a victor. Hence it is your understanding of this covenant bond with God that puts you ahead in life.
Therefore, I will be sharing with you about the covenant as the fountain of real blessedness. We shall look into the supremacy of the covenant blessing over ordinary blessing. Pr.1022. Truly, “The blessing of the Lord – it makes [truly] rich and He adds no sorrow with it [neither does toiling increase it].” The blessing of the Lord here, is covenant blessing. There is a world of difference between a child of God who is blessed and a sinner who is blessed. It is my goal to affect or rather change your value system so that you don’t see material blessing alone as the only yardstick for measuring blessedness but the covenant. And further to show you the difference between covenant blessing and ordinary blessing so that you will never have any sinners to envy again however rich they may be but rather to pray for them. Hear me; child of God, covenant blessedness is superior to and different from being blessed as an unbeliever.
Let us begin as you open with me to Gen.1718-22 as we read together. “And [he] said to God, Oh; that Ishmael might live before You! But God said, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed, and you shall call his name Isaac [laughter]; and I will establish My covenant or solemn pledge with him for an everlasting covenant and with his posterity after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard and heeded you: behold, I will bless him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly; he will be the father of twelve princes and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant, My promise and pledge, I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year. And God stopped talking with him and went up from Abraham.” Now consider these verses of Scripture carefully. God was the source of their blessings, yet He made a distinction between the blessing within the covenant and the blessing without the covenant.
Friend, let me show you few things from the above Scriptures that show your enviable position as a child of God. By this I mean a child of God under the covenant.
A sinner may have the blessing of God without the God of the blessing. Case in point, Ishmael and represents all unbelievers that are blessed. A child of God has both – the blessing and God.
The choicest and the best blessing of the earth belong to the covenant child of God. He has the right title to it because he is a son of God, an heir of God and joint heir with Christ, the rightful owner of all things. The unbeliever merely has a right of enjoyment and no real ownership. See Rom.413, Gal.329, 47, 816;17 & Heb.12.
For a child of God, the covenant blessings are but a foretaste of the blessings to come. 1Cor.321-23, Eph.13; 13-14, Col.15-6, 1Pet.13-4. The blessing a child of God enjoys is preparatory to the bliss to come. It transcends the earth to heaven. Please see Lk1619-31. But for the unbeliever the day he dies his expectation perishes. No expectation beyond the earth or the grave. Job813, Ps11210, Pr.1028, 117.
Therefore, we can conclude from the above that a child of God has been raised to a higher place, rather superior place of blessedness than any unbeliever can dream of however rich they may be. In other words, you do not have any unbeliever to envy but to have compassion on them as you come to a full awareness of your divine placement by the covenant.
Friends, permit me to elaborate on this thesis briefly for your edification, courage and faith. Let me now show you the difference.
In the first place, let me show this distinction between Isaac (the covenant child) and the remaining children of Abraham. Please turn with me to Gen.255-6; “And Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. But to the sons of his concubines [Hagar and Keturah] Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living, he sent them to the east country, away from Isaac his son [of promise].” Verse 5 says “he gave all he had to Isaac” yet in verse 6 it says, “but to the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts.” What is the difference? The covenant! The covenant blessing is the sum of all that Abraham had. The covenant blessing produced all other material blessings. While he passed on the covenant blessing to Isaac, he gave material blessings to the sons of his concubines. See Gen.1718-22. Now observe the outcome of this blessedness in the life of Ishmael and Isaac. In Gen.2512-18, we are given the summary of the life of Ishmael but in Gen.2812-14, we are shown the kind of life the covenant produced. Verse 13 says, “And the man became great and gained more and more until he became very wealthy and distinguished,” An enviable life is a product of the covenant. This is your portion from now on in Jesus name. Amen.
In the second place, let us consider the life of Jacob and Esau. Turn with me to Gen.2727-29;39-40. The covenant blessings in those days go by the name of birth right. Look carefully at the difference and the reaction of Isaac because he gave the blessing to supposedly the wrong person. Verse 33 say, “Then Isaac trembled and shook violently, and he said, Who? Where is he who has hunted game and brought to me and I ate of it all before you came and I have blessed him? Yes, he shall be blessed.” Child of God, you are blessed beyond a curse! Num.2320. Now as the heaven is superior to the earth so was the blessing of Jacob superior to the blessing of Esau. His blessings began with the dew of heavens and the fatness of the earth, and absolute dominion over his siblings and over nations of the world and those who curse him are cursed and those who bless him are favoured with blessing. The reverse was the case of the blessing of Esau after his father rummaged through the bag; he finally came up with something. His blessing began with the earth and was condemned as a servant to Jacob.
The summary of their lives is shown to us in a graphic way in Gen.3043 & 339-11. The one who had the blessing of the covenant increased and became exceedingly rich and in Gen.3311, “Accept, I beg of you, my blessing and gift that I have brought to you; for God has dealt graciously with me and I have everything.” Consider that, blessed in all/everything. That is what the covenant blessing produces. But read verse 9, “And Esau said, I have plenty or enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” Esau had enough but the covenant produced all-round blessing - blessed in everything. Praise God.
Finally, let's look at Joseph and the difference between the 11 brothers. If you open with me to Gen.4822, 4922-26 & 1Chr.51 and carefully study these references, you will realise that the birth right or covenant blessing was given to Joseph and the result of his life from Gen.40-50 was a product of the covenant blessing bestowed on him by Jacob. You can also see that in Gen.4925, his blessing began with the blessings of the heavens above and so on. The same was transferred to Ephraim in Gen.4814-20 which made him ten thousand times better than Manasseh. Deut.3313-18. That is the least the covenant should produce in the life of every child of God who trades the covenant. Hallelujah!
The summary of the above is to let you see your divine placement by the covenant. This Abrahamic blessing is now yours by covenant or testamentary disposal. See Heb.916-17 & Gal.313-18. If the blessing answered to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Ephraim, etc., etc., it cannot and will not fail to answer to you as a child of God under a better covenant, Heb.722, ratified by better blood and better promises. Heb.86 &923. The shadow is gone, the real has come. And the good news is that the real is much more effectual than the shadow. “Such [things] are only the shadow of things that are to come and they have only a symbolic value. But the reality (the substance, the solid fact of what is foreshadowed, the body of it) belongs to Christ.” Col.217. Friend, the solid fact of all that was foreshadowed, the substance or rather the body of it belongs to Christ and you belong to Christ just as Christ belongs to God. Hence, we conclude that all things belong to you or “all things are yours.” “Therefore, let no man glory in men. For all things are yours. Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” 1Cor.321-23.
Therefore, I urge you to believe it and receive it with gratitude. It is yours by birth right. There is no title of ownership more secure or surer than a birth right. “For since the Law has merely a rude outline (foreshadowing) of the good things to come – instead of fully expressing those things – it can never by offering same sacrifices continually year by year make perfect those who approach [its altars].” Heb.101. But glory to God the real is here! “But [that appointed time came] (the Messiah) appeared as a High Priest of the better things that have come and are to come. [Then] through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with [human] hands, that is, not a part of this material creation,” Heb.911. Therefore as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and so on were, even so are we today as the Scripture testifies. “Know and understand that it is [really] the people [who live] by faith who are [the true] sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify (declare righteous, put in right standing with Himself) the Gentiles in consequence of faith proclaimed the Gospel [foretelling the glad tidings of a Saviour long beforehand] to Abraham in the promise, saying, In you shall all the nations [of the earth] be blessed. So then, those who are people of faith are blessed and made happy and favoured by God [as partners in fellowship] with the believing and trusting Abraham.” Gal.37-9. That puts you (your name) right on the record of the blessed.
Moreover, it continues in verse 13-18. “Christ purchased our freedom [redeeming us] from the curse (doom) of the Law [and its condemnation] by [Himself] becoming a curse for us, for it is written [in the Scriptures], Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified); To the end that through [their receiving] Christ Jesus, the blessing [promised] to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might [all] receive [the realization of] the promise of the [Holy] Spirit. To speak in terms of human relations, [if] even if a man made a last will and testament (a merely human covenant), no one sets it aside or makes it void or add to it when once it has been drawn up and signed (ratified and confirmed). Now the promises (covenants, agreements) were decreed and made to Abraham and his Seed (his Offspring, his Heir). He [God] does not say, And to seeds (descendants, heirs), as if referring to many persons, but, And to your Seed (your Descendant, your Heir), obviously referring to one individual, Who is [none other than] Christ (the Messiah). This is my argument: The Law, which began 430 years after the covenant [concerning the coming Messiah], does not and cannot annul the covenant previously established (ratified) by God, so as to abolish the promise and make it void. For if the inheritance [of the promise depends on observing] the Law [as these false teachers would like you to believe], it no longer [depends] on the promise; however, God gave it to Abraham [as a free gift solely] by virtue of His promise.” The above can be summarised as:
The blessing of Abraham is now a bona fide possession of every child of God. Deut.281-14. Take it or leave it. Gen.174.
The covenant became a will through the finished work of Christ. Heb.916-17.
That covenant cannot be superseded. The blood of Jesus set it into motion and it is forever. Heb.1320-21.
He rose again to probate His own will so that you can get what He died for.
Beloved, you stand on a very solid ground just like Abraham and it is high time to go for all that the covenant promise to you. So in verse 26 it says, “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. And if you belong to Christ [are in Him Who is Abraham’s Seed], then you are Abrahams’s offspring and [spiritual] heirs according to promise.” And finally, Gal.428 says, “But we, brethren, are children [not by physical descent, as was Ishmael, but] like Isaac, born in virtue of the promise.” Friend, you have been constituted a true heir of God. Your position today is that of Isaac and not Ishmael. God has given you all that He has.
I have thus attempted to show you your birth right, the covenant blessing as superior to mere material blessing. The covenant is the solid compass and the balance wheel of the Scriptures; you cannot go wrong following it. If you are mindful of your covenant, 1Chr.1615 as God is of His covenant, Ps 8924; 34-37, 1115, you cannot but be blessed in a superlative fashion.
Finally, I pray Lev.269 for you that my God will look upon you with favour, make you fruitful and multiply you and keep His covenant in good working order with you. Amen. Keeping you in my prayers, God bless, Merry Christmas and Happy 2017.
Yours in His service
………………………………………..
Pastor David Adeyemi
PS. All Scriptural references are from the Amplified Version of the Bible
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