The Old Testament Covenants
“A covenant is an unchangeable, divinely imposed legal agreement between God and man that stipulates the conditions of their relationship” CITATION Gru00 \p 515 \l 1033 (Grudem, 2000, p. 515). The essence of the Old Testament Covenants between God and Abraham, and subsequently with the Israelites were designed to spiritually inspire the people to reciprocity: God’s promises of His eternal presence, love, and blessings in exchange for their personal and corporate dedication to living life in a way that would emote joy from God at the maturing spiritual condition of His creation: A people developing discipline toward becoming centered on the divine will of God. This paper will examine a number of the various aspects of God’s nature and how they are specifically revealed through covenant promises and conditions as tools to communicate with the Israelites, as well as through plans for the coming Messiah.
God’s Nature: A Desire for Fellowship …show more content…
516) was the primary purpose in first establishing a covenantal relationship, e.g., “Kinship bonds (relations and obligations) between covenanting parties” CITATION Hah04 \p 263 \l 1033 (Hahn, 2005, p. 263), with Abram and his descendants (Genesis 18:1), then with Moses and the Israelites (Exodus 3:4, 13:21). “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8, NIV). God’s desire to remain present was exhibited in a number of ways; first through theophanies, instances where God manifested a physical appearance, e.g., to Hagar (Genesis 16:7), to Abraham (Genesis 18:1-11; 22:11-12), to Moses (Exodus 3:2; 33:11, 14), to the Israelite community (Exodus 14:19; 33:9); to Nebuchadnezzar, as the fourth man in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel