The Covenants
I used to seriously question why would God care about me, of all people? I had a vague notion that if God really did care, He must have made it known somewhere along the way that He desired to have a relationship with Mankind, and Humanity could have a relationship with Him. The surprising answer is actually revealed in Sacred Scripture—The Holy Bible
The truth is, from the very start, God had an affinity for His Creation and for His Creatures. We can surmise this because God gave Adam and Eve a beautiful place in which to live. He gave them eternal life, and a world free of pain, sickness and toil. In return, God made a Covenant, an agreement, with Adam and Eve that they could have all of these gifts if they would simply obey one command. But, Satan entered Paradise and, in their Pride, they disobeyed God, thereby swapping Mankind’s immortality for a flawed, Fallen Nature. But the point here is that God made a Covenant with them—one man and one woman —an earthly married COUPLE. God wanted a loving relationship with humanity! This was the First Covenant between God and His people. (Genesis 1:26-2:3)
God will never break a Covenant, but human beings will, and we have always done so. As time passed, civilization further deteriorated under the destructive influence of Satan causing God to intervene once again. This time, God established another covenant to show how He cared for those who love and obey Him. God made this covenant with Noah and his holy family. The agreement was that they would be spared God’s wrath if they did as God wanted. And so, they built an ark, and “Uploaded” at least 2 of every animal—by necessity male and female. Then, God sent a relentless storm!!! It rained so long and so hard that every remaining person on Earth was destroyed, while Noah’s family was saved, and they would essentially “Restart” the human race. The sign of the covenant was the Rainbow! Thus, the Second Covenant was made between God and an earthly FAMILY. (Genesis 9:8-17)
And it came to pass that God would make a covenant with a man named Abraham. Because of Abraham’s unshakable trust in God, as shown by Abraham’s willingness to obey God, as we will see later, God promised to make a great nation for him and all of his descendants, with Abraham as their chieftain. God’s covenant with Abraham came with the condition that all males must be circumcised. Thus, the Third Covenant was made between God and an earthly TRIBE. (Genesis 12:1-3; 17:1-14; 22:16-18)
For hundreds of years, the Israelites were enslaved by the Pharaohs, in Egypt, until God intervened by making a covenant with Moses, their mediator and leader. This is when God declared that the Jews would be His “chosen people”. God promised to free them as part of a covenant which, as you may have guessed, carried several conditions. First, they were to keep the 10 Commandments that God wrote, in stone, and presented to Moses on Mount Sinai. Second, they would commemorate the Feast Day when they were freed from Egyptian slavery—The Passover. Thus, the Fourth Covenant was made between God and an earthly NATION. (Exodus 19:5-6; 3:4-10; 6:7)
In God’s time, He made a covenant with David, of “David and Goliath” fame. God promised that King David’s kingdom would last forever. One of the caveats was that David’s son, Solomon, would build a Temple to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God also promised that He would never take away David’s royal throne even if he were to commit grave sin. God’s covenant with David laid the foundation for the coming of The Messiah! In John 7:42, it says the Messiah would come from the House of David. That is why God promised that The House of David would last forever, with the Fifth Covenant was between God and an earthly KINGDOM! (2 Samuel 7:8-19)
At last, The Messiah did come! The incarnation, birth, life, passion, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ were all foretold in the ancient Sacred Scriptures. Furthermore, Scripture reveals that all of the 6 Covenants made by God with Man followed a specific, logical sequence: a Couple (Adam & Eve)–> a Family (Noah)–> a Tribe (Abraham)–> a Nation (Moses)–> a Kingdom (David)–> the Universe (Jesus)!
The sequence of the 6 Covenants of God with His people reveals the love God has for us. Ultimately, Jesus Christ is the mediator between The Father and Mankind as you will now see—when Jesus establishes the Sixth, and Final Covenant.
This Covenant was achieved with the sacrifice by a Royal High Priest, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”; and, a Sacrificial Victim—not an animal sacrifice; nor, the Passover Lamb of the Fourth Covenant, but the sacrifice of The Lamb of God. Jesus Christ is both The Royal High Priest and Sacrificial Victim of the Sixth Covenant—a Universal and Eternal covenant! He gave us a Universal [Catholic] Church to guide us, feed us, and to perpetuate His Final Covenant.
Here’s how He did it:
At the Last Supper, as Jesus ate with His Apostles, He broke bread and gave it to them saying, “Take this all of you and eat it, for THIS IS MY BODY.” When supper was ended, He Took the cup of wine and said to His Apostles, “Take this all of you and drink of it. THIS IS THE CUP OF THE NEW AND EVERLASTING COVENANT WHICH SHALL BE SHED FOR YOU, AND FOR MANY, FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.” And then He said, “DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.”
There it is!!! On the night of Holy Thursday, Jesus fulfilled the five Old Testament Covenants with one New Testament Covenant—which is both New and Eternal! There will be no more Covenants between God and Man! Jesus did this in the context of the Passover meal, and He commanded the Apostles to do the same thing—to commemorate His Paschal Sacrifice. At the Passover, the Jews had to eat the lamb. At Mass—the New Covenant Meal—Jesus’ followers consume the Lamb of God … “Take this and eat this, for THIS IS MY BODY.”
The next day, Good Friday, Jesus was crucified and died as He had predicted the night before. The sacrifice was complete. Jesus, Himself, told us so … “IT IS FINISHED!” But, the once for all sacrifice will be commemorated for all eternity as, The Marriage Supper of The Lamb! [Rev 19:9]
The sacrifice was over, but, on the third day, Easter Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead and ushered in a New Dawn! The Covenant broken by the Original Sin of Adam and Eve was restored by sacrificial Blood of Christ!
THAT’S HOW MUCH GOD LOVES YOU!
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Here are 2 things to ponder:
1) Noah’s Ark was found on a mountain in Turkey!
2) There is a fascinating artifact that seems to prove that the biblical account of Adam and Eve is at least 5500 years old! In 1932, an archeologist named E. A. Speiser, of the University Museum of Pennsylvania, made this remarkable discovery. He found a small relic near the biblical city of Nineveh. He estimated it dates back to 3500 B.C.
The image on the relic was that of a naked man, a naked woman, and a serpent. By their posture, the man and woman appear to be ashamed and cowering while the serpent lurks behind them. The relic is cared for by the University Museum in Philadelphia.
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