How Does God Say I Love You, Part 4: Violation of the Covenant

How Does God Say I Love You, Part 4: Violation of the Covenant

MESSAGE SUMMARY:

“Rejecting the Covenant and the God of the Covenant will eventually lead a person to a place of stubbornness, hardness of heart, and then their destruction.”

Throughout human history, God has reached out to humans for a personal relationship and to express His love for humankind. We have a God that loves us so much, and God’s love for us is expressed to us through His “covenants”. Also, God’s “covenants” reveal to us His grace and faithfulness. In today’s message, we will discuss God’s Covenant with Moses. A “covenant” can be defined as an “oath or promise of God”. In a Biblical covenant: 1) God establishes the Covenant; 2) God always implies that “I am your God, and you are my people” – God desires a personal relationship with us; and 3) God sets the Covenant’s terms and rulers.

We begin by looking at Israel’s current king in 2 Chronicles 36, King Zedekiah, who was successor descendant of King David and a Godly father, King Josiah. We need to remember that King David had built the kingdom and the nation of Israel into a great nation through a foundation of a commitment to God and the Covenant God had given to His people – King David made God His priority, and David made God’s priorities his priorities. God is interested in those who seek first His kingdom. Also, from King David’s life, we know that God expects one who sins to repent and return to Him. David’s son, Solomon, tells us to “fear God and keep His commandments”.

After King Solomon, God’s people experienced a series of Kings – some who kept God’s Covenant and some who do not keep God’s Covenant. Subsequently, David’s single Kingdom, that brought together the Twelve Tribes, is divided into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Zedekiah is in deep trouble and in an impossible situation with Babylon laying siege to Jerusalem. Rather than calling on God for help, Zedekiah sends an envoy to Egypt. Zedekiah has rejected God and God’s Covenant (2 Chronicles 36:12-14): “He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the LORD. He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD, the God of Israel. All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the LORD that he had made holy in Jerusalem.". In desperation, Zedekiah now appeals to the Prophet Jeremiah for a miracle from God, whom he had rejected, to save his kingdom from the attack by Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar (Jerimiah 21). God answers Zedekiah’s plea for salvation through Jerimiah in Jerimiah 21:5-7: “’I {God} myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, in anger and in fury and in great wrath. And I will strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence. Afterward’, declares the LORD, ‘I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives.’".

Our God is a Covenant God, and He keeps His Covenants. When the people of God obeyed their Covenant with God they were blessed; but when they disobeyed, they were cursed – just like the people under King Zedekiah.

The significance of the Scripture from 2 Chronicles 36 and Jerimiah 21 for us today: 1) God is a Covenant God; 2) as recipients of the New Covenant through Jesus, we are assured of God’s forgiveness; 3) rejecting the Covenant and the God of the Covenant will eventually lead us to a place of stubbornness, hardness of heart, and then to our destruction; 4) God will try again and again to draw us back to Himself, but if we are hardened we don’t hear God; and 5) our relationship with God is based solely on our relationship with God and not God’s relationship with others – Zedekiah’s father was a Godly man who did great things for his people, but Zedekiah’s unfaithful relationship with God and God’s Covenant brought destruction to Zedekiah and his kingdom.

God desires a personal relationship with each of us, and God has given us His Covenants upon which to build our relationship with Him. Have you asked Jesus into your life so that your sin is atoned? If not, then there is a blot between you and God. Remember, the God who made Covenant with Moses is Jesus of our Trinitarian God.

 

TODAY’S PRAYER: Keeping the Sabbath, Lord, will require a lot of changes in the way I am living life. Teach me, Lord, how to take the next step with this in a way that fits my unique personality and situation. Help me to trust you with all that will remain unfinished and to enjoy my humble place in your very large world. In Jesus’ name, amen.    Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 129). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FORGIVEN. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): 2 Chronicles 36:11-23; Jerimiah 21:1-10; Hebrews 3:12-15; Psalms 49:1-20.

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