Monday: Covenantal Love
Daily Lesson for Monday 6th of January 2025
The Bible often depicts God’s special love relationship with us by using family or kinship metaphors, particularly metaphors of the love between a husband and wife or of a good mother for her child. These metaphors are used particularly to depict the special relationship between God and His covenant people. This is a relationship of covenantal love, which involves not only God’s love for His people but also expectations that people will accept this love and will love Him (and one another) in return.
Read Deuteronomy 7:6-9. What do these verses teach about the relationship between God making covenants and God’s loving-kindness?
Image © Educational Concepts Collection at Goodsalt.com
Deuteronomy 7:9 describes a special kind of love that God has with His covenant people, a relationship that is partially dependent on whether or not they remain faithful. God’s love is not conditional, but the covenant relationship with His people is.
The word translated “lovingkindness” or “mercy” in Deuteronomy 7:9, ḥesed, itself exemplifies the covenantal aspect of divine love (and much more). The word ḥesed is often used to describe the greatness of God’s mercy, goodness, and love. Among other things, ḥesed refers to the loving-kindness, or steadfast love, for another within an existing reciprocal love relationship. It also initiates such a relationship with the expectation that the other party will show this loving-kindness in return.
God’s ḥesed shows that His loving-kindness is extremely reliable, steadfast, and enduring. Yet, at the same time, the reception of the benefits of ḥesed is conditional, dependent upon the willingness of His people to obey and to maintain their end of the relationship (see 2 Samuel 22:26, 1 Kings 8:23, Psalms 25:10, Psalms 32:10, 2 Chronicles 6:14).
God’s steadfast love is the basis of all love relationships, and we could never match that love. God not only freely gave us existence but also in Christ He freely gave Himself for us. “ ‘Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends’ ” (John 15:13, NKJV). No question, the greatest expression of God’s love was revealed when the Lord “humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8, NKJV).
|
What are ways that you can constantly keep the reality of God’s love in your thoughts? Why is it important to do that? |
(14)
When I read James Michener’s historical novel "The Covenant" in the 1980s, about South Africa it struck me how the Afrikaner Dutch Reform Church justified their apartheid action on their interpretation of the covenants in the Bible. The comparison between the Dutch Reform Church, a conservative Bible-believing faith community and Seventh-day Adventists was not lost on me. The issue was that they believed they were being true to their covenant relationship with God and justified their actions according to that belief, and I wondered how they could be so wrong and Seventh-day Adventists so right.
The soul-searching initiated by this reminded me that if we use our relationship with God to vindicate our actions we can be seriously led astray. We can look at other Christian groups who through the ages justified persecution and suppression and in some cases genocide, while believing they were doing the will of God and working within his covenant.
The covenants were/are not about privilege but responsibility. Perhaps, the closest we come to the biblical notion of the covenant today is the marriage contract. If we try and use that to enforce the behaviour of our partners, we have lost the intent of the marriage contract.
What is the need for covenant love (hesed) when agape love is there for everyone? In what circumstances is covenant love appropriately needed. These forms of love are not mutually exclusive. The distinction lies in their purpose and context. In essence, these are ways how God expresses His relationship with humanity and His creation. As we know, agape love is universal, unconditional, and all inclusive (Matthew 5:44), whereas covenant love is specific to a particular context and people (Exodus 19:5–6, Jeremiah 31:31–34, Luke 22:20). It is essential to note that agape love is foundational to covenant love (Jeremiah 31:3). Agape love is the “mother” of all forms of godly love. Why is covenant love needed when agape love (universal and all inclusive) is already in existence? What does this tell us about the nature of God?
1. God is specific and knows particular needs for particular peoples – No doubt God wants everyone to be saved (2 Peter 3:9, 1 Timothy 2:4-6), however, He knows individual needs and therefore comes into special relationship to facilitate salvation. God is not only universal, but specific and relational. Our God is a personal God.
2. Covenant love provides specific assurances and security to those in the relationship as a means of motivation when the going gets tough. God knows our specific challenges and He becomes a personal God. “They will be my people, and I will be their God” (Jeremiah 7: 9, Jeremiah 32:38).
3. Our God loves everyone (universally and unconditionally), however, because our God is also personal relational, He expects us to have personal responsibilities. Therefore, covenantal love establishes a relational framework for a sweet relationship with God. We as humans are bound to forget some stuff, God in His love puts in place a structure to remind us of our responsibilities (Exodus 19:5–6).
4. Our God wants us to have a purpose and to be a community of believers. God is always supportive of His people. He sets up mutual boundaries to guide us from straying away. He reminds us of who we are ((1 Peter 2:9). It is comforting to be reminded by God that we are His special people in a special relationship.
While agape love is a display of God’s universal and unconditional love, covenant love is a display of God’s unwavering commitment to His people and his eternal plan of salvation. They are complementary (Jeremiah 31:3).
Read the first chapter in Peckham book. He explains some misconceptions of agape.
Did God choose Israel, and not the other nations, to be His covenant "elect" people?
This is a challenging question, especially for those of us who have felt the negative side of favoritism. Or who have stood in gym class waiting to join a team and are picked last ... or even more painfully, everyone is already running off and you are "chosen" by default of being the last. No one even waits for you to come forward to stand with your team. It's like you don't exist and you are unwanted and unneeded.
From my understanding of Scripture, the answer to my initial question is yes and no, both. Yes, God did choose Israel for a special relationship with Himself, and did give them special blessings. But no, God did not favorite Israel above others as in preferring them to others or loving them more than others. He actually chose Israel for "His team" in order to better draw EVERYONE into the winning game. He chose Israel "for" others, not "above" others. He chose Israel for a covenantal relationship because that was His best plan for drawing all people to Himself. It wasn't because Israel "had the best game", was the most athletic, the best looking, the most likely to love Him, most famous, most wealthy, smartest, etc. They were, and are not, better than anyone else, or loved by God more than anyone else.
As I read in the Old Testament to dig deeper into this, I was surprised at how many passages bore this out. In addition to the key text for today, Deut. 7:6-9, there are several revelations in Isaiah that really speak to me. But first, let's remember when it all started. Abraham chose to respond to God's love (that is freely given to everyone) by loving and trusting Him back. And God, in that two-way relationship with Abraham, promised him that he would be the "Father of many nations" and that "in him all the people of the Earth would be blessed" (Gen. 12:3; 17:4-6; 22:18). Did any other people at Abraham's time have a love relationship with God? I'm sure. So again, this was not based on Abraham's superior standing with God, but simply upon God's choice to covenant with Abraham to bless all the world through him. Abraham was actually least likely to be a father from all likelihood as he and Sarah were so old, so right off we see that God chooses the least likely choice, the foolish and weak to shame the wise and strong, so that no one can boast in themselves (1 Cor. 1:26-31). By the time Abraham's "seed" was in captivity in Egypt, they were comparatively small and weak and had no land.
But I want to get to these beautiful Isaiah texts. I want to invite you to read with me Isaiah 42:6-7; 49:3,6; 56:6-8; 66:20-21. Each of these emphasize the role of Israel, and then more importantly, the mission of the Messiah who was to come through Israel (and who fulfilled His role in a way that Israel never did), in drawing all the world back to God. God's intention was always that Israel would proclaim His love for the entire world. King David and his son Solomon seemed to understand this global mission (Ps. 22:27; 67:2-7; 72:17-19; 86:9; 117:1-2; 1 Kings 8:43).
So, what is it like to be God's "treasured possession" (Ps. 135:4)? 3 things: (1) God asked them to be a flagship nation, a light to the nations, to reflect His character as a kingdom of interceding priests who live by faith in God and in close loving community with each other. And even when they rebelled against Him, as He knew they would over and over again, and did not shine light accurately onto how humans are to behave towards God and each other, they were an example to the world of how God behaves. Everyone can see how God poured out both His redeeming grace and overflowing love (as we saw last week in Hosea), and His righteous judgment upon them. (2) They were to be stewards of God's truth (Ps. 147:19-20). They were given the symbolic Sanctuary service. They were given the 10 Commandments. They were given the Prophets and the Psalms (Luke 24:44). They had the honor of guarding God's Word and sharing it with others. And (3), as the greatest blessing, God chose Israel to be the human line through which the Messiah came to Earth (Matt. 1:22-23; John 4:22,42). Jesus's mother Mary recognized what a tremendous honor this was (Luke 1:46-55)...."all generations will call me blessed".
Thank you for reading to the end of this long post...I'm just so blessed by this revelation of God's love. He chooses us to be with Him in the most intimate of relationships not because He plays favorites, but because we are the ones He has chosen to live here and now "for such a time as this" (to quote another Esther 4:14). He is asking us, like He asked of ancient Israel, to be stretched beyond our comfortable borders. To travel lightly through the wilderness toward the Promised Land, trusting in Him to keep our shoes which bring the gospel of peace from wearing out. He's asking us to be a light on a hill, to be salt to those around us, to lean on Him when our friends turn away from us due to our faith in a One True God that convicts them. As He promised me this morning in my prayers, Jesus says to each of His covenant people, "My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Cor. 12:9).
Omwenga MwambI, The last sentence of your post was magnificent!
Thank you for sharing.
The repentant thief on the cross is the best example of being "Saved by grace and not by works." James is clear what our works are to be to go along with our faith: Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoners, etc. and etc. But the repentant thief had no opportunity for any of these "works." Yet, Jesus told him, "Verily I say to you this day, you will be with me in Paradise." So it is with us, in relation to any of God's Promises written in The Bible, we are just like that thief, we have no "Righteousness" to offer God at all. So we have just simply claim them by faith and go about our daily duties trusting that He will fulfill them in our lives as we go about to bless others with these "Precious Promises."
One of the most challenging aspects of God’s love for me to accept was His directive to ‘love my enemies and pray for them’. However, Jesus’ words on the cross, asking His Father to “forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”, finally touched my heart and deepened my understanding - Luke 23:34. From that moment, I found myself able to follow His directive 'to love my enemies and pray for them' – Matt. 5:44.
I realized that God’s Love remains constant, even when directed toward our enemies. His Love does not distinguish between friend and foe; it simply manifests differently. Just as Israel was called to trust in God as a nation, we too must learn to rely on His Ways - especially in times of adversity - acknowledging that His plans are far better than our own.
That said, I’m uncertain about the claim that “God’s Love is not conditional, but the covenant relationship with His people is.” Accepting His New Covenant relationship by faith, believing it to be based on His Grace, inherently requires us to follow Him by producing “good works” – Eph. 2:10. A lack of evidence of such works may suggest that someone has not truly entered into this covenant relationship with God.
This faith-based, spiritual Covenant establishes the new bond between God and the believer by writing His Law unto our hearts and minds. Those who accept this relationship become His workmanship, called to express His Goodness through His works - Gal.5:22-23. In this Covenant we glorify the Father through faith in His Son. While the flesh may resist, God’s steadfast Love and Grace enables us to faithfully and humbly yield to His Spirit’s guidance - John 15:1-16.
John 3:16 that is love for us that I can't even imagine. But I read Deuteronomy 2:33&34 and 3:6 and Numbers 16:32&33 and 21:6 and wonder why he had men,women and children all killed. I know they were bad but did God not love them? Would he not give them a chance to come to him. I know we are suppose to love everyone but I love my wife more than my neighbor which I like but not love and I don't hate anyone but there are people in the government I don't love but I try to like them. Is this wrong? Is there different levels of love?
Glenn, they were given more than enough chances and fought against God. That is why Joshua hung those who fought against God on trees in Joshua 10. For years they had heard about Israel's God and decided to fight against Him. By being hung on threes Joshua was letting everyone know their probation had closed and they had rejected salvation. See Dueteronomy 21:22-23.