What is a covenant?
A covenant is some kind agreement between two parties with terms which regulate the relationship or the exchange.
Are covenants important to our understanding of the Bible?
Covenants are extremely important to an accurate understanding of the Bible seeing that God uses covenants as His primary means of relating to His people. Rollock writes:
Now, therefore, we are to speak of the Word, or of the Covenant of God, having first set down this ground, that all the word of God appertains to some covenant; for God speaks nothing to man without the covenant. source
Where in the Bible do we find God relating to man by way of a covenant?
The first time we find the word covenant in the Bible is when God made a covenant with Noah.
And behold, I will bring floodwaters upon the earth to destroy every creature under the heavens that has the breath of life. Everything on the earth will perish. But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. (Genesis 6:17,18)
Is this the first time that God made a covenant with someone?
It is not. We read that God made a covenant with Adam (Hosea 6:7) and that God the Father made a covenant with God the Son (Luke 22:29).
What other covenants do we read about in Scripture?
We read of God making a:
- a covenant with His Son (Titus 1:2; Luke 22:29),
- covenant with all living things (Genesis 8:21; 9:17),
- a covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15:18),
- a covenant with Israel (Exodus 24:8),
- a covenant with David (Psalm 89:3).
- a new covenant that God will make with His people (Jeremiah 31:31; Luke 22:20; Hebrews 12:24).