THE
ABRAHAMIC COVENANT God’s Binding Agreement With Abraham
The Abrahamic Covenant
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Chapter 1 Pslam 81:1-10
he Bible is divided into two testaments, two T covenants. The testaments of God hang on the understanding of the covenants.
When you understand the covenant that God made with Israel, you will understand the Old Covenant and how it fits into the New Testament. You will then understand why Jesus died and what He accomplished when He died. Psalm 81 talks about God delivering Israel from
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Egypt and making Israel a nation. Psalm 81:10 says, “I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it”. In this verse we can see that the Israelites had a very special hold on God. God was the God of all to the nation of Israel. He was saying, “I am your God. You own me. What is mine is yours. I am in covenant relationship with you. So open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” On what authority did Israel say, “God, you are our God”? Why did God say to them in Psalm 81:10, “I am your God”? This is the big hold that Israel had on God. Israel was not just saying, “You are a nice, mercy loving God.” They were saying, “You are our God.” Because of this, Israel had the assurance that all that they had to do was open their mouths wide and God would fill them. Around the time of Abraham when two people made a covenant they would exchange coats and
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also such things as their weapons and sword belts. Their coat would symbolise themselves, and their weapons would symbolise their strength. Each person would say, “I give to you all of myself and my strength. I am yours.” Each person would then cut their wrist and allow the blood to flow together. From then on, they would see themselves as blood brothers. Next, there would be a part changing of names. Each person would take a part of the other’s name. So, when they signed their name, they would be saying, “I am in covenant relationship.” Then there would be the blessings and the curses. The blessings were about each person giving of what they had if the other needed it. The curses were laid upon each other, if they broke the covenant. After this, they would set up a memorial, maybe a pile of stones. Each time they looked at those stones, it would remind them of the covenant that they had made with each other. Or, maybe they exchanged two
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sheep. As the two sheep grew into a flock, they were a covenant flock. Each person would look at these sheep in remembrance of the covenant. Finally, they would sit down and eat a very simple covenant meal. They would exchange a piece of bread and eat it. Symbolically, what one person was, was now in the other person. They would exchange a cup of wine and drink it. Symbolically one person’s blood now flowed into the other person’s blood. Now, one person’s life was the other person’s life. This is a blood covenant. Something similar to this goes on today. Today, in the marriage of husband and wife, there is a covenant. Each person gives of themselves, and receives to themselves the other person. These two people become one. God came to Abram and entered into a blood covenant with him. Genesis 15 says that God made a covenant with Abram. ‘Covenant’ in Hebrew means to cut in promise and to pledge.
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Genesis 15:1 says, “Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward”. Here we have an exchange of weapons and coat, which is self. God was saying, “Abram, do not fear, for I am your shield, your weapons. I am giving myself to you as a weapon. Also, I am giving myself to you as your reward.” God was saying, “I am to you, all that I am. All that I am is yours. The coat, the belt, the sword, the lot.” In Genesis 15, when God entered into covenant with Abram, there was a splitting of animals. We notice that Abram had nothing to give. What can you give God? God even gave Abram the breath to say yes, seeing that he had nothing to offer God. Genesis 15:1 says that the Lord came to him in a vision. Then in Genesis 15:12, God put Abram to sleep. In Genesis 15:17, Abram saw in this vision, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces of the offering. A smoking furnace and a hot firebrand went between the
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pieces. Abram was supposed to walk between the pieces, which are referred to in verses 9 and 10. Abram was asleep. Someone else had to take his place. God said, “I am taking Abram into covenant relationship with me. Abram has nothing to offer so he can remain asleep. I will take Abram’s place.” So, God entered into covenant with God. God swore to God that He would bless Abram. Not because Abram had done anything, or could offer anything. In this covenant one party took both sides. Abram’s place in the covenant was as sure as God’s place in the covenant, for God swore to God. Genesis 17:10-11 says, “This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you”. We see that the covenant was sealed in the flesh of
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Abraham and his seed by circumcision. God also took a letter out of His name and placed it into Abram’s name, now calling him Abraham. Also Abraham’s wife, Sarai had her name changed to Sarah. From this time on, God was known as the God of Abraham. Later, God also became known as the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Next came the blessings and the curses, which we see in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. We also see in Genesis 14:18 that the priest of the Most High God brought forth bread and wine unto Abraham. After this came the memorial. God gave the people of Israel a box. This was called the Ark of the Covenant. This reminded them of the covenant that they had made. They could look at God and say, “God, you are my God.” God could look at them and say, “Yes, I am your God and you are my people.” He could also say, “I am your bridegroom and you are my bride.” When Abraham entered into covenant with God, Abraham was looked at as a covenant head. The descendants of Abraham also entered into that
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covenant, for the descendants of Abraham were in the loins of Abraham. When Abraham entered into covenant with God, Isaac, Jacob, Jacob’s twelve sons and their descendants were also there, although they were not yet born. But, they were there. God said in Psalm 81:10, “…open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it”. God was saying, “Trust me. I will meet your needs. I am in blood covenant with you. You do not have to be strong. Just open your mouth.” This covenant was a two-way thing. We see, in Genesis 22, that God came to His blood covenant partner, Abraham, and asked for Isaac to be sacrificed on a mountain. Abraham did not challenge God. Why? He was in blood covenant relationship with God. Whatever Abraham possessed already belonged to God. Just as Isaac was to be killed, God stopped Abraham. Genesis 22:1 says that God was proving and trying Abraham. From this, God knew
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that Abraham understood the meaning of the covenant. Psalm 81:10 says, “I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it�.
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Chapter 2
Isaiah 40:28-31; Pslam 81:10
T
he Pharaoh of Egypt touched those people of Israel and we know what happened to him and his people. These covenant people cried unto God and God remembered His covenant with Abraham. God sent Moses to Pharaoh to say, “Let my people go.” When God was finished with Egypt, they had nothing left. God was saying, “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. Do not try to struggle and do it yourself. Call on your blood covenant God.”
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When Israel called on their covenant God, He supplied them with air-conditioning in the desert. They had the cloud to keep them cool in the day and the fire at night to keep them warm. While they were weak, they had no problems. But, problems came when they thought they were strong and when they tried to supply the food for their own mouths. Our weakness is God’s strength. 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, “My strength is made perfect in [your] weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me”. The story of David and Goliath is found in 1 Samuel 17. 1 Samuel 17:24 says, “And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man [Goliath], fled from him, and were sore afraid”. These men of Israel did not understand that they had a God, who was in blood covenant with them. 1 Samuel 17:45 says, “Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee
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in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied”. David knew that he was in covenant relationship with the God of Abraham. David also knew that the Philistines were defying God and that no one could defeat his covenant God. This is not a story about David defeating Goliath, but it is about God confirming and protecting His name. In 2 Chronicles 20, we see where fear came upon Jehoshaphat as the enemy approached. But, he knew what to do. He opened his mouth wide and appealed to God saying: Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever? (2 Chronicles 20:7). The word ‘friend’ in the Bible means to be in blood covenant. Jehoshaphat was reminding God of His covenant. He was saying, “I was in Abraham when the covenant happened. I do not know what to do, but my eyes are upon you.” He was like a baby bird with his mouth open.
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In the end, we see that the Covenant God met Jehoshaphat’s need. We see Ahab, who turned his back on God. He had broken the covenant. In 1 Kings 17:1, Elijah came along and said, “There shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word”. ‘My word’, why did he say my word? Elijah knew the covenant. He not only knew the blessings, but he also knew the curses of the covenant. Deuteronomy 28:15 says, “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee”. Deuteronomy 28:23-24 says, “And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust”.
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Elijah had a word to stand on, he did not just make it up. You do not just make up prayers like this. You do not say, “I think I will stop the rain until I say so.” To do this you need a foundation, and that foundation has to be within the covenant. Elijah had this in Deuteronomy, for God had said that if these people broke this covenant, there would be no more rain and the earth would turn to dust under their feet. At the end of this time, we see, in 1 Kings 18:31, “Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob”. 1 Kings 18:36 says, “Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word”. Then 1 Kings 18:45 says, “And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain”. The tragic story is that Israel forgot the covenant.
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They entered into all the curses that God said would come upon them. But, buried right down inside the Old Covenant was a promise of something better. It was just a shadow of what was to come. Jeremiah 31:31 says, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah”. Jeremiah 31:33-34 says, “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people . I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more”. This is saying that you will know God as a personal friend. You will not have to go to the tabernacle, for He will be inside you and you will become the tabernacle. Hebrews 10 speaks about a better covenant and a better sacrifice. 2 Corinthians 6:16 also says that you are the temple of the living God.
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On the night before Jesus was crucified, He took a cup of wine and said, “This is my blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for you.” We do not have an animal split in two to make this covenant. We have the broken body of Jesus Christ. We do not have the blood of animals spilt. We have the blood of the eternal Son of God spilt. We do not have a covenant that can be broken. This covenant is now made between mankind and God through Jesus Christ. We do not have a mark in our flesh that seals us when we believe that covenant. The Holy Spirit comes within us. Ephesians 1:13 says, “...after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise”. We are sealed into this covenant with God. Ephesians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ”.
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You are blessed with all spiritual blessings because you are in covenant with God through Jesus Christ. All you have to know is that you are weak, then you need to open your mouth wide and God will fill it. Why wide? Some people will come to God and say, “Lord, just forgive me, just pardon me.” But, God says, “Open your mouth wide.” He has not just pardoned us, but He has made us the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. He is saying, “I will not just pardon you, I will justify you. I will make you as if you have never sinned.” Others come to God and say, “Just make me happy, Lord. That is all I ask.” God says, “Open your mouth wide.” In this covenant, we receive a joy unspeakable. Some people say, “God, just give me some peace,” but God says, “Open your mouth wide; my peace passes all understanding.” Others say, “Lord, just help me to get along with people,” but God says, “Open your mouth wide
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and I will give you the love of God to shed abroad in your heart. It will pass all your understanding, all your knowledge.” Others say, “Lord, just give me some guidance, I put out my fleece.” God says, “Open your mouth wider than that. This fleece and the getting of a bit of guidance belongs to the Old Covenant. I will give you Christ Himself, within you, to be the wisdom of God, so that you will have the mind of Christ. You will know what to do and you will be led by the peace within.” God says, “I will be your shield. I will be your strength, your life, your salvation and your rock. I will be your everything.” Romans 8:16-17 says, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ”. ‘Heir’ means to have received an inheritance. You are an heir of God. You are in blood covenant. He has given Himself to you. All that God is has
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been given to you because of the covenant. Romans 8:17 says, “...joint-heirs with Christ�. Just as Jesus had a claim on His Father, so do you. This is the covenant. All you have to do is open your mouth wide.
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Chapter 3
Psalm 81:10; Isaiah 40:28-31
he Bible tells us to open our mouth wide, but T so often we do not do this. We try to earn it,
merit it, deserve it, work for it or struggle for it. Other times we feel it is too much to ask God for. We think that we should not be always asking God and that it is time we grew up. So, we see that we had better try to do a bit ourselves, because we cannot expect God to do everything. God says, “All you do is open your mouth wide, everything you need is yours. I am in covenant with you, I am yours.” John 14:13 says, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in
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my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son”. Then John 14:14 says, “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it”. All we have to do is have our mouths opened wide. We are weak. We are helpless. Matthew 5:3 says, “Blessed are the poor (humble) in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. We cannot begin to walk in God’s Kingdom until we can learn to be poor in spirit. If we think that we are rich, that we need nothing, that we do not need God, then nobody can help us. We must be poor in spirit. Many people say that they are trying to be a Christian. You cannot help a person who is trying to be a Christian. When someone says that they cannot live the Christian life, then this is the first step to being poor in spirit and entering into the Kingdom of God. They are as a little weak bird with its mouth wide open, saying, “God, help me.” ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’. The Lord said to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “...my strength is made
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perfect (complete) in weakness”. Then Paul said, “...most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me”. If you can understand that you are weak and helpless, then stand before God and call upon your covenant God. As you do this, the power of the Lord will come upon you, envelope you, and your weakness will be empowered with His strength. Your weakness is a container for His strength. What a great opportunity this is for God to be glorified. How do you open your mouth wide? How do you open it, so that it will be filled with all the fullness of God? What is an open mouth? It is expectancy. It is waiting. It is being like a baby bird with its mouth open, expecting and waiting. The Christian life is waiting on God. If I can learn to wait in expectancy upon God, then this is living the Christian life. God is God. God is who He says He is. I do not have to ask God to be who He is. He already is it. He is in covenant with me,
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through the blood of Jesus. All that is left for me to do is to expect that He will do what He says He will do and be who He says He will be. Many of us spend much time doing, what we place under the heading of ‘prayer’. But, it is not prayer. It is meaningless words in the presence of God. The highest form of prayer is expecting God to do what He said He would do. To expect of God, is to worship. Worship is acknowledging that He is the God who He says He is. As we begin to worship God for who He is, then there flows into us all the fullness of God. This is the way that we call on our covenant partner. We say, “Here I am,” and begin to worship and wait upon God. We begin to look at God. As we do this, we will see that He is who He says He is. The more we move in this realm, the more we will see that God is our covenant God, through the blood of Jesus Christ. Let us be like the baby
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birds, with our mouths wide open, with not so much talking, but a little more listening. The word ‘wait’ in Hebrew means to be braided together. We are like a very weak piece of string. When we are braided into the strong ‘rope’, Christ, we cannot be broken. We are united. We are one with the ‘rope’. We are one ‘rope’. We are one in Christ. Now, all our weakness is lost in His strength. All God’s strength is expressed through our weakness. We have all that is in God. In the finished work of the cross, the Holy Spirit ‘braids’ me with God. When I am fully braided, the Scripture says that I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me. Now I, ‘the string’, can say, “Pull me! Put me under as much pressure as you like. I will not break for I am as strong as the rope that I am braided into.” To wait upon God is to have an expectancy of God’s strength. If I am not bringing into my life the practical experiences of my ‘waiting
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with my mouth wide open’, it is no more than being religious. Waiting upon God with my mouth open in praise, is an attitude. It is my heart condition. We need to come to God with a broken and contrite heart. Psalm 34:17-18 says, “The righteous cry (with their mouths wide open), and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite (broken, bruised, humble) spirit”. As we wait upon God, the Word of God becomes part of us. We become a living demonstration of Him. This is our hope. For they that wait upon the Lord shall renew, shall exchange, their strength. Isaiah 40:28-31, “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength”.
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Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. AMEN
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Our Strength God once made a covenant with Israel as a nation, saying, “What is mine is yours”, this was their expectation. All this pointed to the Christ, why He lived and died, all that He accomplished then, is for us now, His Bride. So in our total weakness come, and be joined to the King, the covenant made by His blood, takes care of everything. We can come expectantly, for His strength it’s now mine, and by a humble spirit, we can live His life divine.