The Covenant People

The question is often asked, “What do you mean by Covenant People? Who are the Covenant People?” “The great Covenant or agreements of the Bible were instituted by God with his creatures, beginning with Noah after the deluge, when He promised Noah there should never again be a worldwide flood, and showed the glorious rainbow with its prismatic colors as a sign of this covenant. It was therefore unconditional, applying to all creatures on the whole planet Earth (Gen. 9:12). As many know to their sorrow, the earth experiences many local floods, but not in over 3000 years a world wide inundation.

The next Covenant initiated by God was with Abram, renamed by God, Abraham (Gen. 12:14 17 and all of Gen. 15). This Covenant was unconditional, and applied only to Abraham and his descendants, to be marked by circumcision and obedience (Gen. 17:9ff). The promise was that a son, Isaac, would father a race called by his name, of millions more numerous than the stars and the sands of the seas. The land then occupied by eleven other races named by God, the land of Canaan, was given to them by God for their inheritance, and later divided between the twelve tribes of Jacob, renamed Israel, meaning Ruling with God, or Ruled by God. This is why the third commandment forbids the taking of the Lord’s name falsely or without proper authority, which was done in 1948 with the creation of the Israeli state, which has been in a state of war and chaos ever since, as God said, “for I will not hold him guiltless that taketh My Name in vain”. The promise of Isaac, a miracle child, has been fulfilled in all the Anglo Saxon (Isaac’s sons), Celtic, Nordic peoples of Europe spread all over the globe since the earliest advent of sea going vessels. These fair English speaking tribes and clans have fulfilled every promise made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob Israel, our wonderful patriarchs.

The third, or Mosaic Covenant, was bound when God chose Moses to lead the Israelites out of their bondage in Egypt. Their slavery had begun when the fair Hyksos or Shepherd Kings were dethroned by a new dynasty, alien and hostile to Joseph’s people. The Covenant with Israel at the base of Mount Sinai, the decalogue delivered to them by Moses, was conditional, containing promises of blessings, and threats of curses and punishment in consequence of Israel’s disobedience. Let us here note that only the Nation of Israel was bound by this law and Covenant with God. This was the beginning of Israel’s nationhood (Ex. 19:16 18) and was in fact, a Theocracy with the people declaring aloud (in Ex. 19:8), “Whatever the Lord has said we will do!” This wonderful Covenant is found in Ex. 19:3 6 when God tells Moses, “Speak thus to the house of Jacob, and tell this to the sons of Israel—You have seen with your own eyes what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you here to me. If only you will now listen to me and keep my Covenant, then out of all peoples you shall become my special possession; for the whole earth is mine. You shall be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation. These are the words you shall speak to the Israelites” (NEB). The great blessings were promised IF Israel was obedient to God’s Laws, BUT dire consequences were to result from disobedience. These IF and BUT clauses of God’s statutes and judgments are found in Lev. 25 & 26 and Deut. 27 & 28. We can easily see in history and current events so forcibly thrust upon our consciousness by the media, how, God’s Holy (or set apart) nation has followed idolatry, adultery, and other transgressions, bringing shame and degradation, poverty and illness upon the formerly blessed people.

This brings us to another oft overlooked Covenant or promise given by his father Isaac to poor, weeping, Esau, as we read in Gen. 27:30 42, again from the New English Bible: “Your dwelling shall be far from the richness of the earth, far from the dew of heaven above. By your sword shall you live, and you shall serve your brother, but the time will come when you will grow restive and break off his yoke from your neck.” The beginning of strife and enmity between Esau and Jacob, the supplanter, is recorded here and has continued through the intervening centuries. Read Psalm 83 as David laments the conspiracy of hatred against him. Now the yoke of Jacob is indeed broken, and Esau Edom Idumeans are in ascendancy or dominion over all the affairs of world economics, politics, religion, education, arts, finance, armaments and media like the tentacles of a monstrous octopus. This time of Jacob’s trouble prophesied in Jer. 30:7 will not be understood unless one realizes this dominion of Esau, and the age long jealousy and hostility now being expressed in action against God’s people. It also clarifies the passages in Mat. 23:24, Luke 21:12, and Rev. 20:4 & 6:9 11, telling of persecution still to come before the millennial Kingdom is established on Earth. The unreasoning phobias of those who anticipate the destruction of Planet Earth would all be dispelled by reading of God’s plans for using it for at least 1000 years as a haven for His throne occupied by His Son, Jesus Christ, and His people, whom He has not cast off, according to His promise to us.

This is the result of the next, or Davidic Covenant. To David of the Royal Line of Judah it was promised that “…the sceptre (or rod of rulership) should never depart from Judah, nor the lawgiver (parliament) from between his* feet” (Gen. 49:10 1l). The symbol of the lion in British heraldry is described in verses 8 and 9. That David should never lack a man to sit upon his throne was promised in I Kings 9:5 and 11 Chr. 6:16. That the Throne of David would be established forever, everlastingly, is promised in I Chr. 22:10, and many other passages. The Hebrew word brith means covenant, and the Hebrew word ish means man, in two senses, given by Young’s concordance, a husband, implying cultivation, nurturing, or taking care; and appointed to, or having duty and responsibility. This origin of the name “British” expresses the function of these Covenant people who inhabit the civilized, or developed world, in contrast to the Third (or undeveloped) World.

The jealousy engendered by the obvious blessings of God upon the Throne of Britain and the British people wherever they dwell, and now upon the United States of America, has caused them to be the targets of many attacks and attempts to lessen their influence and power, promised and given by God.

And finally, the New Covenant, which is in the Blood of Jesus Christ, the lamb slain before the foundation of the world for the redemption (or buying back) of Israel, and the salvation of all individuals of every race and nation who will receive His incomparable gift. As in Hosea we read Ch. 1:9, 10: “The Israelites shall become countless as the sands of the sea which can neither be measured nor numbered; it shall no longer be said ‘They are not my people’, for they shall be called Sons of the Living God. Then the people of Judah and Israel shall be reunited, and they shall choose for themselves a single head (James VI of Scotland became James I of Great Britain, and commissioned the best seller of all time, the KJV) and they shall become masters of the earth.”

Only Christians can be Sons of the Living God and joint heirs with Christ, as Paul taught us. So the Covenant People who were the Nation Israel, divorced by God for their whoring after other gods, i.e., idolatry and adultery, can only be reconciled to God, and achieve the status of wife again, by the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Paul states in Gal. 3:14 and Eph. 3:6 that the gentiles, not of the nation. Israel, should through Christ become as the seed of Abraham and heirs of the promises. He also chided the Jews in Rom. 11:11 by recalling their failure to obey the law and explained God’s purpose of creating jealousy and stirring them to emulate the Greeks and Romans who embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Covenant People NOW are those who pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through Christ, our Saviour and Redeemer, that God may bless and keep us. Amen.