REDEMPTIVE COVENANTS PARADGIM

A covenant by elementary definition is an obligational agreement between two willing and uncoerced parties. Although God in his power and sovereignty doesn’t have to enter into covenants with his creation, there are several instances in the Bible where he extends his grace and commits to such with humanity. Despite the fall of man, God remains intentional in his plans to redeem Man from his self-relegated state. Although the fall was self-imposed, the reverse is not true; he cannot self-redeem. It can only happen by the grace of the sovereign one in whom he had life prior to the fall. Redemption, therefore, becomes the most critical endeavour for man without which he remains dead in sin. Why would God enter into a redemptive covenant with man? As with any Judicial or arbitration matter, the cause has to be addressed with remedies thereof. Via a redemptive covenant, God expresses man’s obligations that guarantee him access to what he lost. A case in point is the Abrahamic covenant and the new covenant in Jesus Christ which are both redemptive in nature by the grace of God. The two address the same issue of man’s redemption, and must therefore be immutable in principle and Spirit as God is harmonious.

In the Abrahamic covenant, God by his grace extended an invitation to Abraham (then, Abram) despite coming from a pagan family.

Joshua 24:2-3 NKJV

“And Joshua said to all the people,” Thus says the LORD God of Israel: your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the river in old times; and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac”.

Genesis 12:1-3 NKJV

“Now the LORD said to Abram:” Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will curse him who curses you, and in you, all families of the earth shall be blessed.”

In subsequent verses, God reaffirms and builds on this promise to Abraham. (Genesis 12:7, Genesis 13:14-17, Genesis 15:5, Genesis 15:18-20). in his part, Abraham (Abram) believes and its accounted to him as righteousness.

Genesis 17:1-14 NKJV

“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am ^[a]Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. ² And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” ³ Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: ⁴ “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of ^[b]many nations. ⁵ No longer shall your name be called ^[c]Abram, but your name shall be ^[d]Abraham; for I have made you a father of ^[e]many nations. ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. ⁷ And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. ⁸ Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in^[f] which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰ This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; ¹¹ and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹² He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. ¹³ He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

This chapter gives pronounced insight and the particulars of the covenant as drafted by God. He outlines the requirements for the partaker of this redemptive covenant. It is between him and Abram and by extension his descendants as plainly outlined. In it, there are several items that we deduce to be of great import to God. They form the immutable core of God’s redemption plan which was maintained even in the new covenant in Jesus Christ. The whole Abrahamic covenant was a metaphoric shadow of what was to be accomplished in Jesus Christ.

By Grace through Faith

As earlier established, it is by grace that God extends a welcoming hand to humanity. He did the same with Abram in spite of his life being hugely influenced by paganism through his Patriarchs. Faith was central to man’s fall and thus also essential in his redemption. God appears to Abram and instructs him to depart from the land he knew. Astonishingly, Abram despite his cultural and religious background believes in God and obliges to his instructions. His belief in God enlists him as a worthy partaker of the covenant God was to institute. It should therefore never be lost to us that it is first by the Grace of God qualified by our Faith in him that the foundations of a covenant with him are laid.

Circumcision

In this covenant, God placed a lot of emphasis on circumcision on the foreskin of every male as described in the chapter. undoubtedly, there must be profound significance and symbolism in this ritual. Why the foreskin? why not a mark on any other part of the body or a tattoo?

First, of the visible physical body parts of a human being, it can be considered as the most private and intimate. A mark on it was symbolic of the intimate nature of the walk with God. A reflection of one’s personal relationship and attachment with God. A reminder that occurs during your most secluded moments should invoke self-reflection without the distractions of the world. It is a personal call with a personal mark requiring personal action, not a collective religion. It is discipleship.

Secondly, Circumcision consists of bleeding. The emphasis God puts on blood is irrefutable as clearly stipulated in several verses in the Bible. It symbolizes life.

Genesis 9:4-6 NKJV

^“ But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother, I will require the life of man.⁶ “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man, his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God, He made man.

Leviticus 17:14 NKJV

“ for it is the life of all flesh. Its blood sustains its life. Therefore I said to the children of Israel, ‘You shall not eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off”

By one’s own blood, Abram and his descendants became partakers of the covenant. By one’s own blood, a declaration of one’s life commitment to the covenant was made. By him requiring the indulgence of one’s blood for the covenant, the fulfilment of it as a reciprocal was to be by blood in Jesus Christ.

Thirdly, It entailed cutting off of flesh. The cutting off of the foreskin was symbolic of cutting off of  flesh or carnality the main cause of sin. Carnality being the barrier between man and God had to be cut off. It was the initial reason for separation from God. For re unification in the covenant, what caused separation had to itself be detached from Man for him to be in a worthy walk with God. It was symbolic of how man in his quest to walk with God should deal with flesh and carnality. Later, the Prophets, Jesus and the apostles clarified on what this aspect of circumcision really meant. The removal of one’s foreskin qualified one for nothing. But by understanding that carnality was enmity to God and had to be put away for one to be considered right with God.

Deuteronomy 10:16 NKJV

“And you shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiff-necked”

Jeremiah 4:4 NKJV

“Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem Lest my fury comes forth like fire and burns that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.”

Matthew 5:30 NKJV

^“ And if your right hand causes you to ^[a]sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”

By no means was Jesus advocating for self-mutilation through the amputation of seemingly sinful members of our bodies. But by this parable if one evaluates the root cause of sin which should be dealt with, one would arrive at carnality which needs to be tamed. Likewise, by no means was God implying that one became pure and part of his family by the mere removal of his foreskin, but by dealing with the flesh, carnality whose reminder was made permanent on one’s flesh through circumcision.

In a covenant with God, nothing is without significance. Of importance is that every male child was to be circumcised on the eighth day after birth. I, therefore, wonder, what was the significance of the eighth day? The Jews don’t have special names allocated to days e.g Monday, Tuesday etc. They call them first, second etc with an exception of the 7^th day which they call the sabbath. So, how do you get an eighth day in a seven days week? Ideally, the eighth day is also the first day. In regard to circumcision, on your first day you’re born in sin, on the eighth day you’re admitted to God’s community by shedding the essence of sin through the symbolism of circumcision. The eighth day ideally being your first day marks your new 1^st day (birth day) in God as a new creation.

How did the Abrahamic covenant find fulfilment in the new Covenant in Jesus Christ? The new covenant was also by the Grace of God made effective through one’s faith.

The Circumcision of Christ

Not only was he circumcised as per the Jewish law on the eighth day, but he bore and met the intended implication of circumcision by crucifying the sinful flesh on behalf of humanity on the cross. His body bearing the sins of the world was put to death at crucifixion. Just as one’s foreskin was cut off symbolising departure from the flesh, his physical body was literally cut off from him and with it, humanity’s carnality.

Colossians 2:11-14 NKJV

^“ In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body ^[a]of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹² buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. ¹³ And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ¹⁴ having wiped out the ^[b]handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross”

Isaiah 53:8 NKJV

“He was taken from ^[a]prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken”

In the Abrahamic covenant, one entered by his own blood. In the new covenant, Jesus shed his own blood for many. In the old, the foreskin was cut off for one’s enrolment symbolising departure from flesh. In the new, Jesus’ body was put to death and cut off for the sake of many symbolising death of flesh. In the old, one was deemed new in the covenant on the eighth day of his life being also the 1^st day of being born again in God. In the new, Jesus resurrected on the day after the sabbath (7^th day) ideally the eighth day thus ushering us into new life being born again of the spirit after putting the sinful flesh to death.

The concept has always been the crucifixion of flesh by putting faith in God. Even through the Abrahamic covenant, Man still couldn’t meet his end of the bargain. In Jesus Christ, God incarnated into a human being been born of a woman into the sinful world under the law, and met man’s obligation of the covenant thus relieving him off the burden. The only thing man has to do as has always been since Adam is to put his faith in God through obedience. He has always been available for us, waiting for us to recognize him in our lives through faith and obedience as our God.

Genesis 17:7 NKJV

‘’And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.’’

Revelations 21:6-7 NKJV

“And He said to me, “It^[a] is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. 7 He who overcomes ^[b]shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son”

Amen.