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It Is Written

John Bradshaw

New Covenant

Coming up next, please stay tuned for It Is Written, presented by Pastor John Bradshaw.

When Adam and Eve chose to sin in the Garden of Eden, circumstances were set in motion that would guarantee the death of Jesus and the downward spiral of planet Earth.

Eating the forbidden fruit opened the door to evil and all its attendant misery.

Not long after declaring that the world was very good, God evicted the human family from the home He had prepared especially for them.

He could leave humanity to its fate, to die an eternal death.

Or, he could step into the midst of the chaos Adam and Eve had caused and save humanity.

In order to do so, God would give His Son Jesus to bear the sins of the world, giving the inhabitants of planet earth the opportunity to receive the everlasting life which they had willingly forfeited." So, what would God choose?

The Bible records the answer in some of history's best-known words.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God would choose to save His rebellious children, and in choosing to do so, He made a promise to people of all time.

Shortly after Adam and Eve sinned, God said to Satan, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.

He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

This was God introducing something called the everlasting covenant.

But what if later generations should reject the God of heaven and choose instead to worship idols?

What if God's people became so completely given over to sin that their enemies would triumph over them and they would serve heathen nations?

Even though His people had sinned and separated themselves from Him, God would do all He could to reestablish the saving relationship between Himself and His people by means of a covenant.

A covenant is an agreement in which parties bind themselves and each other to the fulfillment of certain conditions.

But unlike human covenants, in which human selfishness invariably gets in the way, God commits Himself to this covenant no matter what.

God's covenant is an ironclad pledge in which He promises to give Himself for the world.

It's a guarantee that He will never abandon His people and that He will continue to offer everlasting life.

The covenant established by God signifies a committed relationship between God and His children.

It was an arrangement for saving the human family and bringing it back into harmony with Heaven.

God Himself initiated the covenant relationship.

He took the initiative to appeal to the human family to come into union with him.

When Adam and Eve were hiding from God, God was pursuing them to call them back.

After That first covenant was made in the Garden of Eden.

God had destroyed the earth and given the destruction He brought upon the world, it was vital that God reassured Noah that He hadn't abandoned His covenant with the people of the earth.

Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, And as for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you.

Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood.

Never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.

And God said, This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations.

I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between me and the earth." That's Genesis 9 verses 8-13.

After devastating the planet, God reassured Noah, I made a covenant with your forebears, and I'm letting you know that in spite of what's just occurred, I intend to honor my covenant with you and your descendants.

The covenant was renewed again with Abraham, who was Abram at the time.

God spoke with the patriarch and said, I will make you a great nation.

I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." That promise pointed to the advent of Jesus as the Messiah.

Now, after this, the next thing Genesis says about Abram is that While in Egypt, he claimed Sarai was his sister and not his wife, fearing that if the truth was known, his life would be in jeopardy.

That cowardly act was a complete lack of faith in God.

Yet in spite of his disgraceful behavior, God did not cast off Abram.

2 chapters later, he renewed his covenant with his faulty friend.

Speaking to Abram, God said, "...I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it." Some time had passed since the covenant was last mentioned and Abram was no doubt wondering when he would become the great nation God had spoken of.

He inquired of God, saying, "'Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?" God then entered into a solemn covenant with Abram, saying, Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon.

The animals were killed and placed in order on the ground.

God spoke to Abram and said, Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them 400 years.

On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.

God spoke to Abram in the strongest possible language.

Abram was to know certainly that after a period of certitude, his descendants would come out with great possessions.

God's presence then passed between the dead animals, confirming that He had indeed given the Promised Land to Abram and his offspring.

In this covenant arrangement, both parties were saying, essentially, if I do not hold up my end of this covenant, may I become as 1 of these dead animals." This was a sign of God's absolute commitment to the salvation of the human family.

He was stating His total dedication to what He had initially promised in the Garden of Eden.

There was a way back to the heart of God for sinful people.

He wouldn't ever withdraw His promise of an unbroken relationship with humanity.

So why then was there an old covenant and a new covenant?

When Adam and Eve sinned, a way was established for them to return to the heart of God and to occupy the position they had lost by their fall from grace.

God established what the Bible calls the everlasting covenant.

But what does this mean to Christians today?

What's the difference between the Old Covenant and the New 1?

And how can you be sure you're living under the right 1?

Don't miss Living Under the New Covenant, a look into God's plan to restore sinners, and a journey in the love and mercy of Heaven.

Get your free copy of Living Under the New Covenant right now.

You can write to the address on your screen or visit www.iiwoffer.com.

Understand the covenants and experience the love of God living under the New Covenant.

God established a covenant with the human family when Adam and Eve fell into sin in the Garden of Eden.

With the passage of time, the covenant was reiterated.

When the covenant was re-established in Genesis 17, Abram's name was changed to Abraham.

Circumcision was given as the sign of the covenant, distinguishing the followers of God from those who were not under the covenant, foreshadowing the practice of baptism, and it was a sign of righteousness by faith.

Hundreds of years later, when Israel had escaped Egyptian slavery and was encamped at Mount Sinai, God proposed another covenant.

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people.

For all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." This was the Old Covenant.

The covenant made with Adam and reiterated with Abraham was the covenant of grace, the everlasting covenant.

This parenthetical covenant was the Old Covenant.

By the time they had come out of Egypt, the people had lost sight of the principles of the covenant made with Abraham.

Delivering Israel from Egypt and the armies of Egypt, when all hope seemed lost, was intended to fill them with love for God and confidence in His power.

At the same time, God wanted them to see their own brokenness, their inability to obey Him, and their need of a Savior.

Bringing them to Sinai, God gave His law and promised them great blessings if they would obey.

The terms of the old covenant were obey and live.

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