The Big Picture - A Promise Is A Promise
The Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants, two great promises of the Old Testament waiting for fulfillment.
There are five covenants between God and humans in the Bible. Can you name them?1 Understanding these covenants is an important part of understanding the rest of the bible. It is particularly important in regards to properly interpreting bible prophecy.
As most know, a covenant is kind of like a contract between two parties where both parties make an agreement with expectations to fulfill certain obligations. If those obligations aren’t fulfilled the contract can be nullified.
But some of the covenants made between God and humans in scripture are unconditional. The only obligation rests on God’s shoulders. Therefore, it’s really just a promise from God. This is the type of covenant that would best describe what we call the Abrahamic Covenant. (Article on whether or not the Abrahamic Covenant is conditional, hint: the only clear condition is circumcision)
The Abrahamic Covenant
GENESIS 12:1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
13:14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring FOREVER.
17:4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
Galatians 3:16 The PROMISES were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. 17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
Let’s pull out the specific promises made in the Abrahamic Covenant:
The Promise of Land - Which is the same location as modern day Israel, only much larger. (Similar to the Garden of Eden)
Many Descendants - rivaling the dust of the earth and the stars in the sky. (Multiply)
Nations and Kings would descend from him. (Have Dominion)
Through Abraham and the fulfillment of God’s promises to him, all of that nations of the earth would be blessed. (Be Fruitful)
The New Testament confirms that the promise made by God to Abraham remains unchanged. (There Is No Plan “B”)
Now, let’s think through the key ingredients required for what we call a kingdom. Keep in mind, a kingdom is a legitimate historical political structure, it is not just a fairytale that makes a great Disney movie.
Key Ingredients to Establish a Kingdom
You need a particular territory over which to rule. (The Earth, From Jerusalem)
You need a people over whom to rule. (Select People From The Combined Resurrected People of God From the Old and New Testament Periods Will Participate In Ruling and Reigning. Everyone Else Will Be Reigned Over)
You need a king to rule. (This Is What Jesus Christ Is Returning To The Earth To Do, He Will Have Select Kings To Rule Under His Direction)
If you were paying attention to our first message in this series, all of these ingredients for a kingdom were met in the garden of Eden from Genesis 1 and 2. Eden was to be the particular place where Adam and Even ruled, instructed by God to “fill (with people) the earth and subdue it (rule and reign)” (1:28).
Then if you look at the Abrahamic covenant, all of those same conditions are met as well. Really the Abrahamic Covenant is just a reboot of God’s original commission to humans in the Garden of Eden. Abraham is the new Adam. In fact, according to Jewish tradition, God created Adam at the same location where God called Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac as a demonstration of his loyalty and faith in God to fulfill his promise. (see, “The Threshing Floor of Araunah”).
This is the beginning of the message of the Kingdom of God. To this day, there is nothing that has changed about this message. It is the only Gospel that Jesus preached. The Gospel of the Kingdom.
The next great promise of God that is unconditional in nature is is the Davidic covenant. Here God promises to provide for a specific king to permanently rule from a specific location on the earth:
1 Chronicles 7:11 When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne FOREVER. 13 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, 14 but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.’ ”
The great question and concern of every Jewish person at the birth of Jesus Christ was, “when and how is God going to fulfill these yet unfulfilled promises?” This is the great subject that occupies much of scripture and is the focus of bible prophecy, both Old and New Testaments.
Take a look at the very first line in the very first book of the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew:
1:1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham
The Holy Spirit is clueing us in that with the coming of Jesus Christ into the world, God was beginning the fulfillment of these promises. Bible prophecy teaches us that at the second coming of Jesus, those promises will be completed. At the first coming of Jesus, as everyone knows, Old Testament prophecy was fulfilled literally through real historical events. Why would we suspect God will all of the sudden fulfill New Testament prophecy in some other way? He won’t. The things prophesied in the New Testament about the second coming of Jesus will be fulfilled literally through real historical events as well.
With this in mind, take a fresh look at the announcement of Jesus’ birth by the Angel Gabriel when he appeared to Jesus’ mother Mary:
Luke 2:30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
This is a prophecy that had partial fulfillment with the life and ministry of Jesus some two millennia ago, but will not be completed until the return of Jesus, where he will literally reign over the earth through a political relationship with the nations by way of David’s throne.
This claim is why Jesus was crucified. The claim to be a king set him up as a political rival to the Roman government. Here was the charge of which he was accused:
Mark 15:2 “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “You have said so,” Jesus replied.
And here is his conviction:
Matthew 27:37 Over his head they put the charge against him, which read, ‘This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.’
With this understanding in mind, Jesus is returning to the earth to realize these expectations, and he is returning in the same way that he left:
Acts 1:9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’ 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem.
And, as prophesied in the book of Revelation, he will inaugurate a global government under his kingship. Where? According to the original blueprint and as promised to Abraham and David, the exact same spot where it all started, Jerusalem, Israel:
Revelation 11:15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet (the last trumpet), and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying,
“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
who is and who was,
for you have taken your great power
and begun to reign.
18 The nations raged,
but your wrath came,
and the time for the dead to be judged,
and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,
and those who fear your name,
both small and great,
and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”
In light of this message, which honestly couldn’t be more clear, what are we, the church called to do? We are called to understand this message, and to instruct as many people as we can. It is prophesied in scripture that this will be the message that the Holy Spirit emphasizes before God brings these great promises of scripture to completion:
Habakkuk 2:14 For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Daniel 12:1 There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. 2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
The Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, and the New Covenant. (Good work following up!)