What is a Covenant - How Biblical Covenants Worked! скачать в хорошем качестве

What is a Covenant - How Biblical Covenants Worked!

Understanding What a Biblical covenant is and how it works can greatly help you in understanding God's rescue plan throughout the Bible! 🎥 Watch more videos from this Channel -    / @clarifyingchrist   📖The Best Bible Software There is! https://partners.faithlife.com/click.... 0:00-1:53 - What does Covenant Mean? 1:54-6:12 - Types of Covenants in the Bible 6:13-10:31 - Steps to a Covenant (the Covenant Process) If you step back and look at the Bible with a very broad view, something may catch your eye that you never noticed. Ever since the great fall (when Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree), God has been working to restore humanity through a series of covenants. In fact, this theme is so engrained in the biblical narrative that your Bible is broken down into the Old and New covenant (the word covenant and testament can be used interchangeably). You see, through the use of covenants, God has been working His rescue plan for the salvation of humanity; from the beginning until now. One of the essential things we must do when trying to grasp how covenants were used in the Bible is to understand how they were understood in their cultural context. While the word covenant may sound very “churchy” to you and me, its roots are actually found in the secular world. Covenants were originally used as a way for multiple people or groups to make an agreement under oath that generally involved completing (or refraining from) specific actions. For example, it may have involved agreeing not to pass over into the other party’s land and cause harm (see Gen 31). There are two covenant types: parity treaties and suzerain/vassal treaties. You may also hear them called bilateral (parity) and unilateral (suzerain/vassal), but here we will refer to them as parity & suzerain/vassal. A parity treaty was generally used between two equals looking to come to some agreement. This may have included a military alliance or passage through the territory of the other. When people or nations of similar might and power made a parity, it often worked as a way for them to combine forces against stronger clans or nations (similar to alliances we see between countries today). On the other hand, a suzerain/vassal treaty involves one party that holds most or all of the power and can seek submission from the other party. This is the style of covenant we are most concerned with, as this is the primary covenant God continuously makes throughout the Bible with His chosen people. To better understand how a suzerain/vassal treaty worked, let’s compare some of the customs with what we have come to understand about God. 1. Language – When a suzerain/vassal style covenant is made, the two parties would refer to each other as father (suzerain) or son (vassal). At other times they would also use the terms lord and servant. Sounds pretty familiar to language seen with God’s people throughout the Bible, no? 2. Handling of the vassal nation – It is important to understand that the suzerain has ultimate authority over the vassal in this type of covenant. The suzerain owns everything the vassal has, but the vassal is allowed to maintain control of the land, crops or even retain their own ruler, as long as the vassal did not break the treaty. However, if the treaty were ever broken, the suzerain would take back the land, remove the ruler, destroy the nation, make the people servants, or any other number of terrifying consequences. We can think of Israel’s covenant with God and remember all the blessings God agreed to provide for the people as long as they put no other Gods before Him and followed His law. Israel continued to fail, however, and curses would replace the blessings God provided among the people. Eventually, they would remember God, and He would restore them as a great nation. 3. No other suzerains – This leads us to the third commonality we see between God and the suzerain/vassal treaty, loyalty. Vassals were required to have no other suzerains and remain 100% loyal to the suzerain they made a covenant with. Similarly, God made a covenant with Israel He expected His people to stay 100% devoted to Him. As you may begin to realize, understanding covenants in their cultural context and the value they hold can begin to provide clarity on their role within the Bible. Throughout thousands of years, God has been using covenants among His people to bring us from a fallen world to redemption through His final covenant in Christ! Affiliate Disclaimer: When you buy from the links above, you support the production of the brand Clarifying Christ. I offer you a huge thank you for using any links provided and it truly means a lot to me while not costing you anything extra...in fact it often costs you less as I seek out discounts! #covenant #biblicalcovenant #covenants