A covenant of God remains forever. God makes a covenant, because He fully knows the fruit of it. A good tree always produces good fruit and the covenant of God is like a good tree. It never fails nor does it relapse. It is not the womb that miscarries. For God who makes a covenant is full of wisdom and truth. His covenant stands as He possesses the ability and the vision to fulfill it. Such ability and vision no one has, neither man nor angels. God makes covenants with men. He makes them with those whom He has chosen. When God desires to make a covenant with man, He does so by first calling him and when he finds him faithful, chooses him to declare His intentions. Subsequently, men consider themselves blessed by the almighty God. He makes a covenant with them so that He could show them His unchangeableness. Hence, His covenant becomes the source for faith through which men are able to hope in God. It contains the power and the understanding to convince men about God. Therefore, the chosen always revere God and obligingly fall on their knees before Him. A covenant of God becomes a lamp to the chosen. It becomes a part of their life. Through it they grasp the intent of God. And, they strive to live in relation to the covenant they received from God.
God knew beforehand those that would certainly keep His covenant. They are worthy of His calling. Therefore, God also who calls many, but chooses a few is justified in His choosing. A covenant of God is for an epic result and it seeks man’s attention toward God’s desire. It beckons him to heed the instruction of God to walk before Him blamelessly, presses him for the works of God that justifies his blamelessness and cultivates in him the joy that goes beyond human fondness besides the suffering he endures. This is God’s will for the chosen as it has become evident to Him that he will uphold His covenant. Nevertheless, this is inexplicable to those that are without God’s election i.e. to the world around us and certainly the ungifted Christians. A covenant of God is a promise that comes as a gift from God. And, when God called Abraham and knew him as one who would keep His covenant, He confidently said, “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you” (Gen. 17:7).
If man had not sinned against God in the Garden, God would not have needed to establish such a covenant with Abraham. Such covenant became necessary to call man from sin and into God’s presence. It came with the power to believe. Truly, it is the power that convinces man of the presence of the almighty God. Hence, the faith in Abraham which appeared through a covenant became the pattern for all who come in the likeness of Abraham. They give the attention the covenant of God desires from them. When God gave His covenant to Abraham, He gave him knowing that he would teach his household and his children to walk after Him in addition to keeping it. And because Abraham was faithful to God’s choice, he was able to harness the ability and the vision of God, and became the father of many nations. Abraham’s faith that appeared from the covenant became for his household and children the source to possess God. This became evident when the likes of Isaac, Jacob and the rest continued in the covenant of God and God also once again ratifying His covenant with them. Now, it is obvious that Abraham did not become the father of many nations in the flesh, but became the father of many nations in the covenant. For this reason, Paul also elsewhere indicated that not all Israelites that are descendants of Abraham are children of God. And, those who are of God were never left to disappointment. “The LORD said, ‘Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand’” (Judg. 1:2).
As long as they continued in the covenant of God Israel had the sense to inquire of God. The Lord also did not disappoint them. God made covenants with Israel knowing that they are needed for Israel to believe in Him. Israel’s understanding of God’s covenants made them trust in God. They did not hesitate to inquire of God and God’s covenants made their wisdom complete. It is absolutely necessary to understand the importance God heaps on His covenant or promise. A covenant or promise of God is given to the chosen, because it is the appropriate way to believe in God. It gives appropriate guidance and fulfills our wishes. It is the wisdom without which victory over the enemy becomes impossible. Altogether it is the answer to a query; even an answer for a crisis. Often people take the liberty to act according to their will. But, he who is of the faith that came forth from the covenant which God gave to Abraham acts on the contrary. He has the heart to inquire of God and the faith to obtain His promise. For it is the only way. If God’s covenant is the source of faith in God, and he who is of faith must inquire of Him to obtain an answer to a query, then His word is the source of His covenant or promise. When we do not inquire, it does not profit us. For the word of God is given to us for two reasons. First, to obtain the faith that came into Abraham; second, to inquire of God and receive. Both are inseparable. The first is obtained when one is found to be faithful by God at His calling and he receives a covenant of God. The second is performed by the power lingering in the first. Then, he or she becomes a descendant of Abraham.
However, the problem appears only when the first is not properly understood and obtained. It leads to improper faith and to works that are not of God. What is the outcome? “Judah was defeated by Israel, and they fled each to his tent” (2 Chron. 25:22). When the faith that helps us to hope in God is not obtained, there can be no opportunity for the covenant that gives wisdom leading to victory. They did not possess the faith of their father Abraham or of their predecessors that achieved victories. Moreover, they did not possess the heart to hear the word that God spoke through His prophet. Therefore, Judah was defeated. For in the case of the churches that do not possess proper faith their end will be worse than those that fled to their tents. For there will be no fleeing to the tents at the coming of the Lord Jesus, but weeping and gnashing of teeth. They were called, but were not chosen. They do not carry or emit the excellence that God gives to His chosen ones. “You are fairer than the sons of men; Grace is poured upon Your lips; Therefore God has blessed You forever” (Ps. 45:2).
The glory and restitutes God gives to those who possess His covenant are greater than the imagination of man. For when Abraham’s body was as good as dead, a covenant of God became the cause for removing the deadness. This was only possible as God’s covenant produced in him the power to believe. Therefore, he also fulfilled God’s desire in His covenant. He heeded God’s instruction to live blamelessly. God displayed His works in Abraham. He was tested by God and suffered, but all the more received joy beyond imagination. This is the effect of receiving God’s covenant and He gives it to those whose heart turns faithful at His calling. Sin, its power and the weakness of the flesh will always bring man to nothing, but the covenant of God raises man from deadness to life. Through a covenant of God man is set apart both from the world and the ungifted. For the world and the ungifted work and speak contrary to the nature and will of God. For this reason, the Spirit says, “and those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8).
If you have not been faithful at His calling, you have not obtained the covenant of God. Or, you have not obtained God’s covenant, since the word preached to you by men did not harmonize with God’s calling. You have not yet known the importance of His covenant. Moreover, you are yet to realize the power of belief that alone comes through God’s covenant, which is His promise to those who are found faithful at His calling. These become His chosen ones. On the other hand, if you received God’s covenant, you will supply all that it seeks from you to fulfill God’s desire. You become a glory to God and a revelation to those yet to believe. And Paul, who turned faithful at Christ’s calling, became a glory to God. The covenants God made with Paul pressed him for the works of God which also justified his blamelessness. One such covenant is seen when he writes, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 1:1). God, who began making covenants or promises with men even before Abraham, never ceased making them. Now, He has sent His word to you through His Spirit that you should utilize it to the fullest by turning faithful at His calling. As long as you continue in the covenant of God you will have the sense to inquire of God. You will not waver in unbelief, but grow strong in faith giving glory to God.
A Christian is God’s chosen only when he or she possesses the faith that was present in Abraham, which he received from the covenant of God. And, God’s word is the source of His covenant. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it” (Rev. 2:17).