Robert Morris - The Beginning of Covenant

The first time the word “covenant” is mentioned in the Bible is Genesis 6:18 when God makes a covenant with Noah. There are five major covenants in the Bible; some are unconditional, and some are conditional. The covenant with Jesus requires us to believe in Him and surrender our will to God. Pastor Robert shares the covenants God created and the ultimate promise He made that empowers us to walk in victory.

1. The unconditional covenants. Three of the five major covenants in the Bible are unconditional. God gave Noah a rainbow as a sign of the universal covenant He made to never again destroy the earth with a flood. God’s covenant with Abraham that he would be a father of many nations was unconditional because God put Abraham asleep and made the covenant with Himself. And in God’s covenant with David, He promised to give a lamp to David and his sons forever (2 Chronicles 21:7). These covenants are encouraging because they aren’t contingent upon the people’s behavior but on God’s faithfulness.

2. The obsolete covenant (Mosaic). The covenant God made with Moses, the Old Testament law, is obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). If the old covenant was faultless, we wouldn’t have needed a second one. The purpose of the old covenant was to show us what sin is. However, it had no power to help us fulfill the law.

3. The new covenant (conditional). The Israelites did not continue in God’s old covenant, and God promised to make a new covenant. In Hebrews 8:10, God said, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” The Holy Spirit empowers us to live a righteous life. This covenant is conditional upon the death of Jesus. We can enter into this covenant when we believe in Him and choose to die to our own will, take up our cross, and follow Jesus.