David Diga Hernandez - The Power of Covenant: Partnership with God Almighty

What Is A Covenant? A covenant is an agreement or pact between two parties; it’s a partnership where each party brings something to the table and agrees to fulfill their part of the covenant. There are many different elements to a covenant, and I’ll list them for you here. First and foremost, we have the terms. An example of terms is found in Malachi chapter 2, verse 5. The purpose of my covenant with the Levites was to bring life and peace, and that is what I gave them. This required reverence from them, and they greatly revered me and stood in awe of my name. In God’s covenant with the Levites, it was required that the Levites revere God; that they would honor Him—this was their part to fulfill in the covenant. Another example of terms is found in Genesis chapter 17, verse 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.» Now, as it goes with the Lord, He decided upon the terms of the covenant Himself. We can either accept or reject His covenant, but we cannot change the terms. If you and I were to enter into an agreement with one another, we could discuss the terms and negotiate, but when you enter into a covenant with God, the terms are non-negotiable. In other words, God sets the terms, and you and I can either accept that covenant or reject it. The second element of the covenant is the oath. In a covenant, an agreement is made or spoken aloud—that’s the verbal agreement. It’s a very important aspect of the covenant. Here are some examples: Joshua 9:15: Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them. Second Kings chapter 11, verse 4: Then he made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of the Lord and showed them the king’s son. Genesis chapter 22, verses 16-18 say this: This is what the Lord says: «Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies, and through your descendants, all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.» So there, in Genesis chapter 22, when God is making this promise to Abraham, He is swearing by His own name. Now that’s a powerful statement because when you give your word in a covenant, when you give your word in an oath or in a vow or in a commitment, you are giving yourself. In other words, when you give your word, you’re saying, «Everything that I have, I will use to make sure that I fulfill what I have said.» So when God swears by His own name, it’s the full backing of heaven; it’s the full power of who He is that is going into the covenant. He is committing Himself to fulfill His end of the deal. This is a powerful statement, and it should tell us of the importance of keeping our word because when you give someone your word, you are giving them yourself. Sadly, society has lost its reverence for the integrity that should back our words. Matthew chapter 5, verse 37 says this: Just say a simple yes, I will, or no, I won’t; anything beyond this is from the evil one. My dad always told me when I was growing up: «Your word is your bond,» meaning if you commit to something, you must do everything in your power to fulfill that commitment. Now, understandably, sometimes life throws chaos our way, and sometimes it really turns out that there’s nothing we can do to fulfill the promises we’ve made. Thankfully, with God, this isn’t the case; there is never anything that catches God off guard, and there is never anything that causes God to become unable to fulfill His end of the commitment. So, loyalty, integrity, your character—all of that goes into an oath; it’s who you are. The oath is only as good as the one who is giving the oath; the promise is only as reliable as the integrity of the one making the promise. So, elements of the covenant: number one, the terms; number two, the oath; number three, a triggering event. Now, this is a term I’m using because there are many different things that would cause the covenant to be finalized. Now, when a covenant is formed, sometimes blood must be shed, and some insist that every covenant must be made with blood. But I’ll show you here that this is not always the case. In 1 Samuel chapter 18, verses 1 through 4, we see a covenant being made that didn’t require the shedding of blood. Now when he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Saul took him that day and would not let him go home to his father’s house anymore. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul, and Jonathan took off the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, even to his sword and bow and his belt. So, a triggering event in a covenant could be an exchange, a ceremony, a sacrifice, an offering, a meal, or a signature of sorts; but oftentimes, especially as it pertains to biblical covenants, you will see that the shedding of blood is a requirement for many of the covenants that you will observe in the Old Testament.