The Covenantal Relationship
So keep the words of this covenant to do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. - (Deuteronomy 29:9)
A covenant involves far more than a contract. In a biblical covenant, you not only sign on the dotted line but you enter into an intimate relationship with the other person or persons in the covenant.
In other words, covenants are predicated on a relationship. That’s not necessarily true in a contract. You can sign a contract to buy a home and have no personal relationship at all with the seller. You may not even know, or like, the seller. Likewise, you can sign a business deal because the deal makes sense but have no affiliation or relationship with the other party beyond the deal itself.
It is not so in a covenant. One of the primary components that distinguishes a covenant is the reality that it is entered into as a relational agreement. Marriage, for example, is a covenant and not solely a contract. Marriage not only includes a binding agreement, but it also binds the people involved in an intimate relational union.
A covenant is also a relationship of blessing. Whenever God makes a covenant, His intent is for the good of those who covenant with Him. When you enter into a covenant with God, it is so that “you may prosper in all that you do” (Deuteronomy 29:9).
God’s covenants are serious, and even inaugurated by blood, because they are meant to make a statement about a significant relationship that has been instated under His rule. You and I are part of God’s kingdom, and we are there by a covenant sealed with nothing less than the blood of Jesus Christ Himself.
Reflection: Why is it good that God relates to us with a covenant, not just a contract? Read Genesis 15. How significant is a covenant with God? The covenant through which God purchased our salvation involved not the death of an animal, but the death of His own Son. Ponder that and thank Him for it.
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