Contractual Faith:

Define “Covenant”
The term “covenant” is of Latin origin (con venire), meaning

. It presupposes two or more parties who come together to make a contract, agreeing on promises, stipulations, privileges, & responsibilities.

We find several covenants in the Bible (Adamic Cov.), most between God and a group or individual. Arguably, there are more than what’s listed below, but most scholars agree on these four main covenants throughout Scripture.

• Noahic Covenant - a covenant after

, in (Gen 9), God makes a promise to all of Creation; He will never to flood the world again.

• Abrahamic Covenant - a covenant between God and Abraham and the slicing animals (Gen 12). God puts Abraham in a deep sleep and passes through the pieces by himself, meaning God takes on the covenant twofold, including the curses involved if He doesn’t uphold His end of the deal. In this covenant, God promises to make Abraham a great

(Israel), give him the

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, and make Abraham’s name

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.

• Davidic Covenant - God makes a covenant between Himself and King David. Through David’s line, Jesus will deliver God’s people. And while we see David’s family goes astray in (1 & 2 Sam and 1 & 2 Kgs), God fulfills His end of the covenant, and through David’s line comes

.

• Mosaic Covenant - the Mosaic Covenant is established between God and the

through Moses. This covenant, detailed in Exodus-Deuteronomy, includes the

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and the laws governing religious practices, moral conduct, and social justice. It is a

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covenant, emphasizing obedience to God’s laws. The Mosaic Covenant sets Israel apart as a holy nation and outlines

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for obedience and

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for disobedience.

Here’s the spiritual requirements of God’s Covenant’s:

Forgo instant gratification for future gain.

Here’s the challenge for believers. We tend to bargain with our faith and future all the time.

Forgo immediate gratification (

), and the future will be better consequently. (this is a very truthful outcome)

As humans we’ve learned that if we

, give up certain immediate desires, sacrificial offering, then we can make

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bargain with the future.

We see this in Jonah’s testimony… Jonah’s going about his own business, and the Word of the Lord comes upon him (vs 1)

(vs 2) God calls Jonah to

, because the people have wandered off the path, and “I’m calling you to inform them.”

But, Nineveh (Babylonian’s) are the enemy of Israel, of who Jonah has no care for or interest in, so good riddance as far as he’s concernced.

(vs 3) And Jonah rose up, boarded a boat, and headed to

(opposite direction of Nineveh). All

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God’s call.

Here’s our hidden lesson within Jonah’s choice:
When God calls us (and He has and will) into a covenant arrangement, we have a spiritual requirement, a

, to uphold our end of the covenant.

(vs 7-8) the others on the boat all assume someone isn’t right with God… (vs 10) why did you flee from His presence!

The other men on the boat knew Jonah had Contractual Faith he should be upholding to God.

So, Jonah is thrown overboard for not speaking up for God, upholding his end of the covenant. (all is taken care of?)

Now Jonah is drowning in the waves of the storm God brought forth, but it gets worse. This creature from hell comes up from the abyss and takes Jonah down to hell for three days (Jon 2:2). This is the

of God’s

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!
Not to fear the wrath or retribution, but the cost associated with the Lord just as invested as we are, and more.

God’s Covenants are a

agreement, where God has more invested than we do!

Jonah, under unbearable circumstances, by his choices, repents and agrees to uphold his

.

God said let’s try this again! Jonah goes to Nineveh (Jon 3:1) and now he prophecies to Nineveh God’s love and warning.

(vss 3-5) Nineveh

God, the greatest among them to the least. This is powerful, this is a great revival, Glory!

God showed Jonah, and us, a little sacrifice on your part, forgo a little instant gratification, and look what can get

!

But, notice Jonah’s response, he was still more concerned about his temporal circumstance (Jon 4:3)

How quickly Jonah had forgotten God’s

for him when he was inside the fish. Jonah was happy when God saved him, but he was angry when

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was saved. - Jonah was more concerned about his own

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than his Contractual Faith.

Catch this…
We, whom God has called into a Covenant Agreement, have a spiritually moral obligation of Faith!
We miss such truths by looking at them as fables, or simply identify them as miracles, or love stories.

C.S. Lewis identifies this as “Chronological

” meaning because it’s ancient it doesn’t apply to us!

While God’s Covenants deal with nations/tribes when we look at Davidic, Mosaic, Abrahamic, they are also individualistic!

Every believer in Jesus Christ has a spiritual

to uphold our Contractual Faith in such Covenants. We must look beyond the immediate gratification of now and focus on the promises of God.

Spiritually, we must focus on the Eternal Perspective when walking in God’s Covenants towards His promises.

If we’re wondering what role or how much does God have in His Covenant Agreements, what’s His obligation!

Consider:
Many miss this in scripture: that every angel stood ready, waiting for just one command at the crucifixion.

A single plea & Jesus could summon divine intervention from Heaven, bringing swift and unimaginable destruction.

(Mt 26:53) - The outcome of humanity teetered on a single decision! Does Jesus summon 12 legions of angels?

A legion consisted of 6K. 12 legions = 72K Angels that could’ve been summoned by Jesus!

To put this into perspective, (2 Kgs 19:35; Isa 37:36) recounts that a single angel struck down 185K Assyrian soldiers in one night.

72K Angels (one killed 185K soldiers) = 12.3 billion souls were in the very choice of Jesus.

Golgotha would not be remembered as a horrific act against the innocent God, but rather divine wrath.

Imagine the weight of that moment, Jesus battered & broken, possessed all the power to utter one word to change it all!

Yet, instead of calling upon the endless angels at His disposal… He chose something far greater.

Jesus chose to fulfill His Word in His

to us… Mercy and Love beyond comprehension.
Jesus endured the suffering to uphold His promised Covenant’s rather than immediate gratification from His suffering!

By one choice, forgoing instant gratification in the temporal for the eternal,
Jesus changed history by keeping His Contractual Faith towards us!

(Psa 89:34-35) – we have

if God does not keep His Covenant’s towards us!

The author of Heb closes his benediction with (Heb 13:20) ensuring us God’s promises are

!

In (Heb 10:19-25) we see a description of man’s Contractual Faith to God’s promised Covenants