Just Like the Rainbow

Isaiah 54:7-10

Take a moment and concentrate on the words of this passage. Remember the placement of the text, conveniently nestled in behind the horrific and promising 53^rd chapter, which describe what Jesus went through on the cross. Now, God is speaking to us in light of what His Son has just paid for at Calvary, and the implications are staggering and telling of what God’s New Covenant is all about.

This passage is a promise from God to His people. He told us to “Sing” in the first verse of the chapter, and then promised us that we would have more children (fruit). We are told to enlarge our tents in verse 2 and then guaranteed that we will break forth on the right hand and the left (verse 3). “Fear not” is the command of verse 4, and our “Maker is our husband” is given to us in verse 5.

When we arrive at verse 7, we are given the blessed assurance that any forsaking of God’s people that occurred prior to Calvary was “for a small moment”. God’s anger was “a little wrath”, but now “with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer” (Isaiah 54:8). God is now speaking to us in gentle terms, and calling Himself ‘Redeemer’. That 53^rd chapter must have really made a difference!

The time of God’s anger and wrath against man and sin has been expired in Jesus at the cross. Just to solidify this assurance, God tells us that He will no longer be angry with us or rebuke us; and this promise is as iron-clad as the one that He made to Noah regarding flooding the earth. When Noah landed the ark, God made him a promise, sealed with the sign of the rainbow that He would never cover the whole earth over with water again. When God sees the rainbow, He is reminded of His covenant. Regarding His wrath against man, God views the cross with as much intensity as He does that rainbow.

We are now under a “covenant of peace” (Isaiah 54:10), which will never be removed from us. Due to Christ paying for our peace, we have perfect peace in Christ. God now deals with us based upon our acceptance or rejection of the finished work of Jesus. This is why no one goes to hell for sins that they have committed, but rather for rejecting the light of Jesus Christ (John 3:17, 18). God is operating under a covenant of peace that signifies that the war is over between God and sin. Jesus has conquered all, and if we are in His love, we too are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37).

Just how serious is this rainbow business when it comes to reminding God of His covenant? When John had his revelation of Jesus Christ, he saw into heaven and witnessed God sitting on the throne. He saw, “a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald” (Revelation 4:3). There is no need for a rainbow in heaven after all of that time to remind God not to flood the earth; but it does stand as a shining reminder that God is now operating under a covenant of peace. Notice that there is an emerald or green glow about the rainbow. Green is the color of freshness, or newborn. In God’s eyes, the covenant of peace is perpetually young and fresh!

Take a deep breath and relax…God is not mad.

The Covenant of Promise

Genesis 15:6-18

God counted Abraham as a righteous man, though there is ample evidence that Abraham did not live like a righteous man. The reason that God viewed Abraham as righteous was that Abraham believed what God told him, and God called this “faith”. That faith made Abraham righteous in God’s eyes, though his actions spoke otherwise.

God has always chosen to deal with man on the basis of covenant. In covenant, two parties decide upon an allegiance, swearing to one another by the killing of an animal and eating of a covenant meal. If one party breaks the covenant, they are held accountable by death, thus you did not enter these things lightly.

When the Lord chose to give Abraham a promised land, Abraham wanted proof that he would inherit it (Genesis 15:8). God then introduced covenant to Abraham, asking for a specified number of animals to be sacrificed. Their bodies were to be divided and placed apart with a walking space in between the pieces. The two parties involved in covenant would then pass between the pieces, stopping to cut their hands and then bind them together to mingle their blood with one another. Then they would eat and converse to seal the covenant.

After Abraham places the carcasses on the ground, he sits and waits on God to do whatever it is that He is going to do. In the meantime, the fowls of the came down upon the carcasses and Abraham worked to drive them away. God sees this action and makes a crucial decision. If God enters covenant with Abraham, then Abraham must live up to some pre-set, specified set of rules. If he fails, he breaks covenant and God must kill him. This negates his inheritance, for he won’t be around to take what God wants to give him. This poses a great problem, which is characterized by Abraham’s action in driving away the birds. God needs to make this covenant happen in way in which Abraham puts no effort into it, and has no standard to live up to. The only way to remove the possibility for Abraham to fail is to remove Abraham. Thus, God puts him to sleep during the ceremony.

While Abraham sleeps, God passes between the pieces of animal in the form of “a smoking furnace and a burning lamp” (Genesis 15:17). The smoking furnace is a type of God, the booming voice of Mt. Sinai, while the burning lamp is a type of Jesus, the light in a dark place. God literally cuts covenant with Himself, for He won’t break the deal on either end. When Abraham awakes, God tells Him all that He has given him, and He gives Abraham no requirements to keep.

When you accept Christ, you are not entering into a Covenant with God; rather you are receiving the blessings of the Covenant that Jesus made with His Father. Jesus shed His blood in this Covenant so that you would not have to. You get the inheritance while Jesus paid the price. Paul said that when we accept Jesus, a powerful thing happens to you: “If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29). You and I are living under the same promise that Abraham was, without any obligation on our part. We can rejoice that we get the benefits of Covenant because Jesus paid our price. Hallelujah!

The Better Covenant; The Better Promises

Hebrews 8:6-8

If you were to ask many Christians, “What makes the New Covenant a better covenant?” many would respond, “We don’t have to kill lambs anymore”. This is due to the fact that Jesus died for sins, thus there is no need for animal sacrifice when we fail. Let me be blunt, if that is all that the New Covenant accomplished then that was a royal waste of time.

Jesus obtained a more excellent ministry than his priestly predecessors (Hebrews 8:6). He brought in a “better covenant, which was established upon better promises”. The purpose for bringing a better covenant was because the first covenant was found to have fault (Hebrews 8:7). The fault was not within the law itself, for it was holy, just and good (Romans 7:12). Instead, the fault was in the people on the other end of the covenant, “For finding fault with them…” (Hebrews 8:8). The “them” is Israel and Judah, just as it would be you or I.

The first covenant was faulty because it demanded perfection from a people that could never live perfect. No matter how hard someone tried, they would always be found in contempt of the law in one area or the other. Either they did things that were contrary to the law, or they failed to do the many things that the law demanded. Even in the atoning system of the Old Covenant, man was condemned constantly. If you failed and brought a sacrifice before the Lord, everyone saw you bring it and they knew that you had sinned in some respect. The law provided no privacy and no personal relationship. It was cold and it was distant, unable to help you in any way.

Jesus came to live that Old Covenant to perfection; fulfilling all of its many demands. When He died at Calvary, He cut a New Covenant with His Father, taking the faultiness out of the way. We were at fault under the Old Covenant for we could not keep the Law. Jesus has no fault, thus He stepped into our place and cut the Covenant between His Father and His perfect life. Now, we are the recipients of Jesus’ work, receiving benefits of a Covenant that we are not obligated to live up to.

The Old Covenant held man’s sins against him, while the New Covenant says, “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12). The Old Covenant is now decayed and truly old, “ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13), so to return to it for guidance or instruction is to go back to a system found faulty by God.

We have a better covenant and a better promise because we have a better sacrifice. Jesus did what no lamb or bull or goat could ever do; He removed the sin problem (John 1:29; Hebrews 10:4). If we are still dealing with sin it is because WE are doing it and not resting in what HE has already done. When we fail now, we are covered by the better covenant and the better promise and the knowledge of that causes us to live as we should, for His New Covenant is written on our minds and in our hearts (Hebrews 8:10).

Thank God for a better covenant, where Jesus keeps His end of the deal with the Father so that we get the blessings of heaven. Hallelujah!

The Covenant of Promise

Genesis 15:6-18

God counted Abraham as a righteous man, though there is ample evidence that Abraham did not live like a righteous man. The reason that God viewed Abraham as righteous was that Abraham believed what God told him, and God called this “faith”. That faith made Abraham righteous in God’s eyes, though his actions spoke otherwise.

God has always chosen to deal with man on the basis of covenant. In covenant, two parties decide upon an allegiance, swearing to one another by the killing of an animal and eating of a covenant meal. If one party breaks the covenant, they are held accountable by death, thus you did not enter these things lightly.

When the Lord chose to give Abraham a promised land, Abraham wanted proof that he would inherit it (Genesis 15:8). God then introduced covenant to Abraham, asking for a specified number of animals to be sacrificed. Their bodies were to be divided and placed apart with a walking space in between the pieces. The two parties involved in covenant would then pass between the pieces, stopping to cut their hands and then bind them together to mingle their blood with one another. Then they would eat and converse to seal the covenant.

After Abraham places the carcasses on the ground, he sits and waits on God to do whatever it is that He is going to do. In the meantime, the fowls of the came down upon the carcasses and Abraham worked to drive them away. God sees this action and makes a crucial decision. If God enters covenant with Abraham, then Abraham must live up to some pre-set, specified set of rules. If he fails, he breaks covenant and God must kill him. This negates his inheritance, for he won’t be around to take what God wants to give him. This poses a great problem, which is characterized by Abraham’s action in driving away the birds. God needs to make this covenant happen in way in which Abraham puts no effort into it, and has no standard to live up to. The only way to remove the possibility for Abraham to fail is to remove Abraham. Thus, God puts him to sleep during the ceremony.

While Abraham sleeps, God passes between the pieces of animal in the form of “a smoking furnace and a burning lamp” (Genesis 15:17). The smoking furnace is a type of God, the booming voice of Mt. Sinai, while the burning lamp is a type of Jesus, the light in a dark place. God literally cuts covenant with Himself, for He won’t break the deal on either end. When Abraham awakes, God tells Him all that He has given him, and He gives Abraham no requirements to keep.

When you accept Christ, you are not entering into a Covenant with God; rather you are receiving the blessings of the Covenant that Jesus made with His Father. Jesus shed His blood in this Covenant so that you would not have to. You get the inheritance while Jesus paid the price. Paul said that when we accept Jesus, a powerful thing happens to you: “If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29). You and I are living under the same promise that Abraham was, without any obligation on our part. We can rejoice that we get the benefits of Covenant because Jesus paid our price. Hallelujah!

The Better Covenant; The Better Promises

Hebrews 8:6-8

If you were to ask many Christians, “What makes the New Covenant a better covenant?” many would respond, “We don’t have to kill lambs anymore”. This is due to the fact that Jesus died for sins, thus there is no need for animal sacrifice when we fail. Let me be blunt, if that is all that the New Covenant accomplished then that was a royal waste of time.

Jesus obtained a more excellent ministry than his priestly predecessors (Hebrews 8:6). He brought in a “better covenant, which was established upon better promises”. The purpose for bringing a better covenant was because the first covenant was found to have fault (Hebrews 8:7). The fault was not within the law itself, for it was holy, just and good (Romans 7:12). Instead, the fault was in the people on the other end of the covenant, “For finding fault with them…” (Hebrews 8:8). The “them” is Israel and Judah, just as it would be you or I.

The first covenant was faulty because it demanded perfection from a people that could never live perfect. No matter how hard someone tried, they would always be found in contempt of the law in one area or the other. Either they did things that were contrary to the law, or they failed to do the many things that the law demanded. Even in the atoning system of the Old Covenant, man was condemned constantly. If you failed and brought a sacrifice before the Lord, everyone saw you bring it and they knew that you had sinned in some respect. The law provided no privacy and no personal relationship. It was cold and it was distant, unable to help you in any way.

Jesus came to live that Old Covenant to perfection; fulfilling all of its many demands. When He died at Calvary, He cut a New Covenant with His Father, taking the faultiness out of the way. We were at fault under the Old Covenant for we could not keep the Law. Jesus has no fault, thus He stepped into our place and cut the Covenant between His Father and His perfect life. Now, we are the recipients of Jesus’ work, receiving benefits of a Covenant that we are not obligated to live up to.

The Old Covenant held man’s sins against him, while the New Covenant says, “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12). The Old Covenant is now decayed and truly old, “ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13), so to return to it for guidance or instruction is to go back to a system found faulty by God.

We have a better covenant and a better promise because we have a better sacrifice. Jesus did what no lamb or bull or goat could ever do; He removed the sin problem (John 1:29; Hebrews 10:4). If we are still dealing with sin it is because WE are doing it and not resting in what HE has already done. When we fail now, we are covered by the better covenant and the better promise and the knowledge of that causes us to live as we should, for His New Covenant is written on our minds and in our hearts (Hebrews 8:10).

Thank God for a better covenant, where Jesus keeps His end of the deal with the Father so that we get the blessings of heaven. Hallelujah!