The term covenant is a lost word in the American culture. Yet it is such a vital term to understand the relationship between God and his people. So what is a covenant?
As Genesis 15 shows, a covenant is a promise between two people initiated by a ritual. So how is God in covenant with his people?
God promises to give Abraham and his descendants the land between the river of Egypt and the river Euphrates by passing through animals cut in half, a ritual known in those days as a promise by the one who passes through, that if he doesn’t keep his covenant that he will die like these animals.
As a result, God creates a covenant between him and his people that he will give them the Promised land. So what is this to us? Why should we care about this covenant?
We could easily roll our eyes and ignore this because what is the Promised land to us? But to overlook this would be a tragic mistake for the Promised land symbolizes heaven where God promises us a place to dwell with him forever.
What happens when you are not in covenant with God? You are separated from God and his goodness and blessing are absent where you will suffer in his wrath or otherwise known as hell.
If I ended this post right now, I would be doing a great injustice to you for you will misunderstand why joining God in covenant is good. Because we are utterly sinful, not in that we have done the worse that we could possibly do, but that not one part of you is not affected by sin. We are sinful; therefore, we cannot be in the presence of the holy God.
Because of this, God must reach to us and make a covenant with us so that we may dwell with him. And in Genesis 15:6, God displays our part in the covenant which is to believe in him and his righteousness will be credited to us. This enables us to dwell with him forever.
So in essence, this is the best news we could ever get that God has reached out to us and makes a covenant with us.
