Introduction
A covenant is a legal agreement, a contract between two or more parties. The Everlasting Covenant is an agreement between YAHWEH the God of Israel and His followers.As its name implies, it is ‘everlasting.’ This contract will last for all time, age after age, for eternity! It is, therefore, of utmost importance to every believer in the Almighty to learn about this covenant. In common with most business or personal contracts the Everlasting Covenant has the following:
- Parties to the covenant.
- Specified territories and areas of concern.
- A reason for its existence, an AIM.
- Rules, provisions and conditions.
- Outcomes, benefits and penalties. In spiritual language these are called blessings and cursings.
- Signatures, Witnesses and a Seal.
- Implementation Procedures: ratification, registration, publication and a starting date etc.
A Covenant of Salvation
The term “Everlasting Covenant” first appears in scripture just after the account of Noah's flood, when Yahweh made an Everlasting Covenant never again to destroy all flesh on earth. Seed time and harvest were also guaranteed in His promise and the rainbow was given as sign of that promise.| Genesis 9: | 13: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14: And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16: And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the Everlasting Covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. |
Next time you see a rainbow, remember that it is a sign, an ‘icon in the sky’ that tells you that the Almighty God will never again annihilate all mankind. Nor will He allow man to annihilate himself in nuclear warfare. The rainbow is, in fact, a physical sign in the heavens of the everlasting covenant of salvation!
1. Parties to the Everlasting Covenant
The parties to the Everlasting Covenant are as follows:- Yahweh the Almighty God of Israel and His Son on the one hand
- And all true believers who choose to accept Yahweh's terms of
salvation on the other. These believers, and they include those who
have put their faith in Yeshua the Messiah, are referred to in
scripture as
“Israelites,” “Spiritual Jews”
or the “offspring of Abraham.”
(Romans 2: 28-29, Galatians 3: 29, Romans 11: 16-21)
| Genesis 17: | 1: “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the
LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk
before me, and be thou perfect. 2: And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. 3: And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, 4: As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 5: Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. 6: And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. 7: And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an Everlasting Covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. 8: And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. 9: And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. 10: 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. 11: And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.” |
Two Planes
Many Bible truths are expressed on two levels, two planes - the physical and the spiritual. Failure to understand this fact will lead to frustrating misunderstanding. So let me explain these two planes before going any further. They are:- The Lower Physical Plane: This is the visible lesson, the model, the blueprint, the type, the illustration, the pattern, the recipe. In human terms it is real, for it can be measured, felt, bought and sold. But in actual fact, this level is merely the temporary, passing lesson.
- The Higher, Spiritual Plane: This is the real thing. It is measureless and eternal. It embodies spiritual concepts, eternal principles and divine objectives.
2. The Territory of the Everlasting Covenant
The land promised to Abraham and his “seed” (initially the literal progeny of Jacob, but ultimately the Messiah's offspring of faithful followers) was actually much larger than that which is currently held by the nation of Israel. Yahweh promised Israel a territory stretching from the Mediterranean to the river Euphrates and to the uttermost sea! In other words, the Almighty promised the whole earth to true believers in Abraham’s seed - the Messiah. Literal Israel's possession of land is simply the ‘kindergarten model’ of that eternal inheritance - the reality! Here are the Bible texts which mention these astonishing facts.| Genesis 15: | 18: “In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.” |
| Deuteronomy 1: | 7: “Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the
mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the
plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea
side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great
river, the river Euphrates. 8: Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.” |
| Deuteronomy 11: | 24: “Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.” |
| Romans 4: | 13: “For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” |
In other words, the territory which the Everlasting Covenant encompasses is the entire universe. It will stretch from this age to age for all time and through all space - to the uttermost oceans of time and space!
3. The Aim of the Everlasting Covenant
Yahweh's ultimate objective in designing the everlasting covenant is that His children, His followers become absolutely perfect as He is perfect. It is currently not possible for the Most High, the holy, sinless God to abide with mankind. We are sinful and a holy God cannot abide sin anywhere near Him. We must first be cleansed, totally cleansed from every vestige of sin before we can ever hope to come and dwell in Yahweh's holy presence. This fact is mentioned by Jesus, Yahweh's Son in his famous sermon on the mount when he said:| Matthew 5: | 48: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” |
The whole plan of salvation is simply a means to that end. In short, the aim of the Everlasting Covenant is that the redeemed host will reach a state of absolute perfection in order that we may live with a perfect and holy God for all time.
4. The Rules of the Everlasting Covenant
Every covenant worthy of its name has conditional clauses and rules which the parties involved agree upon. It is not possible to find a covenant anywhere on earth which doesn't contain rules or conditions. The Everlasting Covenant is no exception. It also has rules. The rules and conditions in the Everlasting Covenant were designed and delivered by Yahweh Himself in the presence of billions of angels, millions of literal Israelites and thousands of believing foreigners. These rules, Yahweh's law, were actually spoken by God Himself when He descended on mount Sinai in the desert of Arabia. Everyone present heard His voice as He delivered His law. Broadly speaking Yahweh's law can be divided into two categories:- The Ten Commandments which Yahweh spoke out loud to all Israel and then wrote with His own finger on stone tablets.
- Other commandments which He spoke and which later Moses wrote in a book.
The Ark of the Covenant
The ten commandments were then placed inside a specially prepared box called the Ark of the Covenant. The cover of this box is called the mercy seat. It was made of pure gold. At each end of the ark were two cherubim made of beaten gold. The Almighty would commune with His people from above the mercy seat and between the two cherubim. Here is the record of these facts.| Exodus 25: | 18: “And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. 19: And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. 20: And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. 21: And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. 22: And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.” |
| 1 Kings 8: | 9: “There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.” |
The ark of the covenant is a scaled-down model of Yahweh's throne and His government; which is based on His holy law and infinite mercy. These facts are fully explained in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In this article I simply quote a few verses as pointers. You must read those four books to get the whole picture. The Bible says: that any person, Jew or Gentile, who believes in Israel's God and obeys His commandments is classified by the Almighty as His “peculiar treasure” - and is more precious to Him than all others.
| Exodus 19: | 5: “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:” |
More Texts
| Deuteronomy 4: | 13: “And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.” |
| Deuteronomy 9: | 9: “When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water.” |
| Verse 11: | “And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.” |
| Verse 15: | “So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.” |
| Psalm 105: | 10: “And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an Everlasting Covenant.” |
5. Outcomes of the Everlasting Gospel
In addition to its laws, the Everlasting Covenant has outcomes. Whether we realize or not these outcomes involve everyone who elects to become a believer in the Almighty and His Son. Briefly the two outcomes are as follows:Blessing for Obedience
| Deuteronomy 28: | 1: “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken
diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all
his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God
will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. 3: Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. 4: Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 5: Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. 6: Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. 7: The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. 8: The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 9: The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. 10: And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. 11: And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 12: The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. 13: And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: 14: And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.” |
| Psalm 103: | 17: “But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to
everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto
children's children; 18: To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.” |
Cursing for Disobedience
| Deuteronomy 28: | 15:“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: 16: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. 17: Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. 18: Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 19: Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. 20: The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. 21: The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. 22: The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. 23: And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. 24: The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. 25: The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. 26: And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away. 27: The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. 28: The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: 29: And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee. 30: Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof. 31: Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them.” |
Beware of False Prophets!
| Deuteronomy 29: | 18: “Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or
family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our
God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be
among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; 19: And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: 20: The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.” |
| Jeremiah 11: | 3:“ And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant...” |
The Whole Earth is Cursed! Why?
| Isaiah 24: | 1: “Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and
maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the
inhabitants thereof. 2: And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. 3: The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word. 4: The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. 5: The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.” |
6. The Sign of the Everlasting Covenant
Yahweh's Sabbath is His sign or signature of sanctification. It is the Almighty's badge of ownership on the true believer's mind; a memorial symbol that Yahweh the God of Israel is setting that person apart for Himself. Sabbath observance identifies the true Israelite. The Sabbath is the everlasting sign of the everlasting covenant. It will be kept throughout eternity by the redeemed host. That is what the scriptures teach.| Exodus 31: | 16: “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the
Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a
perpetual covenant. 17: It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. 18: And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.” |
| Ezekiel 20: | 12: “Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.” |
| Verse 20: | “And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.” |
| Isaiah 66: | 22: “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I
will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed
and your name remain. 23: And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.” |
The Everlasting Gospel
The everlasting gospel is the good news of salvation, an appeal to earth's multitudes to accept Yahweh's offer of salvation through His Son Jesus. The Everlasting Gospel is an invitation to sign up to the Everlasting Covenant. Those who positively respond to this invitation will declare their faith in the Creator and His Son by keeping that divinely appointed memorial of the creation and the sign of the Everlasting Covenant, the seventh day Sabbath.7. What about You?
What does this mean for the average person? It means this: every believer in the God of Israel, whether he/she be Jew or Gentile, should pay special attention to the Everlasting Covenant. The Everlasting Covenant, we need hardly repeat, is everlasting. It exists at this very moment. To be sure most of Israel, to whom it was first given, broke and rejected its terms. But that didn't cause Yahweh to abandon His covenant with Abraham and his ‘seed’ which on the higher plane meant Jesus and his followers. Oh no! Israel's and Christian disobedience simply activated those clause curses. Nevertheless the Everlasting Covenant still exists. Its laws and provisions are also eternal. They will last for all time, through endless ages in the new heavens and the new earth. The Everlasting Covenant has been signed, sealed and ratified with the blood of Yahweh’s Son, Yeshua the Messiah! If you are a true believer in Jesus Christ, then, according to the scriptures, you are a "child of Abraham" and are a party to this covenant. If you persist in disobedience the curses written in the book of the covenant will fall upon you. If you obey the terms of the covenant then blessings will be your portion. All this is plainly taught in the Bible. Hearken to these verses:| Isaiah 55: | 3: “Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an Everlasting Covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” |
| 1 Chronicles 16: | 15: “Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations; 16: Even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac; 17: And hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.” |
| Psalm 25: | 14: “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.” |
| Isaiah 56: | 6: “Also the sons of the stranger, that join
themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD,
to be his servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting
it, and taketh hold of my covenant; 7: Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.” |
8. The New Covenant
Many Christians dismiss the above arguments and Bible quotations with the exclamation “Didn’t you know that we are now under the new covenant?” Sure we knew. What they don't realize is that certain persons, laws and conditions are common to both covenants. For example Yahweh the God of Israel in the old covenant is still Yahweh the God of Israel of the new. Also notice from the quotation below that both covenants are made with Israel and Judah.| Hebrews 8: | 8: “... Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I
will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of
Judah: 9: 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 continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10: For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” |
Where, then, are the differences between the old and new covenants? The answer is:
- The old covenant had a manmade temple, an Aaronic priesthood, animal sacrifices and various rituals involving blood, flour, oil and repeated washings.
- The new covenant has a divinely constructed Temple, a Melchisedec priesthood, it is ratified with the blood of Yeshua the Messiah and the symbolism of the old is replaced by the reality to which the symbolism pointed.
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