GOD’S WORD FOR NOVEMBER 27 ~ ~ Joshua 3:9 ~ ~ “So Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God.”
From the book, How to Read the Bible by Michael Youssef.
Chapter 5. Six Biblical Covenants Jesus fulfilled
4. God’s Covenant with Moses
In Exodus 19-31, God promised never to forsake His people – and He foreshadowed the once-and-for-all sacrifice of the coming Messiah. By that time, Abraham’s descendants had become slaves in the land of Egypt. But God displayed His sovereign power with a series of miracles that culminated in Moses leading the people out of Egypt.
In the wilderness, God gave them the Law, the Tabernacle, and the ritual sacrifices, all of which made clear the impossibility of redemption without God. His covenant with Moses has often been misinterpreted as a works-based righteousness. But in reality, the rituals and sacrifices demonstrated to the people that the terrible cost of sin included death and the shedding of blood. The blood of animals could never atone for sin once and for all. Instead, the animal sacrifices pointed to the grace of God and the promised Savior who was to come.
5. God’s Covenant with David
In 2 Samuel 7, God speaks through the prophet Nathan and gives King David a promise that the everlasting King, the coming Savior, will one day be born from the lineage of David. God had established David as a king after His own heart: “The Lord has sought out a man after His own heart and appointed him rule over His people.” (1Samuel 13;14)
Later, when David brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem, God gave him an amazing promise – He promised to establish his throne forever. And though God would discipline David’s descendants when they strayed, His gracious love would never depart from his house.
One day, the perfect, sinless King would come, born of a virgin of the lineage of David. He would be pierced and forsaken in our place. The punishment we deserve would be meted out upon Hiim.
6. the New Covenant.
The New Covenant is God’s promise to redeem forever all who call upon the name of Jesus for salvation. Under the New Covenant, it is not just the people of Israel who are chosen by God. Instead, all who believe are now God’s chosen people. The New Testament book of Hebrews quotes from the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, in Hebrews 8:8-12:
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. 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. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
The New Covenant is not an idea that was invented in New Testament times. It was part of God’s plan from the very beginning. God announced it through the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah. It was always His plan to send His Son, Jesus the Savior, to become the perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin.
Jesus fulfilled each covenant. He humbled Himself to be born a man, according to God’s promise to Adam. He came from the line of Abraham. He fulfilled the Law of Moses, pouring out His blood as the perfect sacrifice for our sin. He came as a King of the line of David. He instituted the New Covenant in His blood. On the cross, He defeated sin and death, once and for all – and He will come again to bring His people into the new Promised Land where God will dwell with them forever.
************ **************
Psalm 89:1,2,33,34
I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known your faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: your faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips
Psalms 121:3 &4
He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
I Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
II Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
II Timothy 2:13, & 19
If we believe not, yet he abides faithful; he cannot deny himself. Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal. The Lord knows them that are his. And, let every one that names the name of Christ depart from sin.