The Biblical Covenants & End Time Events

- Like to begin with:

I. Context of the Biblical Covenants

- this is basically a 3 minute overview of what we dealt

with last week

A. God is King Forever

Scripture makes it clear that the Lord is King forever

& ever

that kingdom exists without interuption and

includes all that exists

B. Man Was Given Dominion & Responsibility

- Man was created in the image of God and therefore

had the ability and the responsibility to subdue

his world, his situations, and himself

- under God, he was a "dominion haver"

C. Satan Tried To Construct A False Kingdom & Is

Therefore A Dominion Usurper

- made statements such as

"I will exalt my throne above the stars of God"

"I will be like the most high"

Satan came to the garden with a temptation - man had

a decision to make:

- Will I represent God properly and exercise

dominion over this creature, this situation,

and my own self

- Will I follow Satan's false kingdom and

therefore be dominated by the very creation

that I was supposed to exercise dominion over?

You know what happened:

D. Mankind Fell

results were:

1. war

- between Satan & Christ

- between followers of Satan & followers of

Christ

2. all men would be born on the wrong side of the

battlefield (born sinners)

3. death

- spiritual death - sep. from God

- physical death

- potential of the second death

- Though we tried to tie that up last week and talk about

some present day applications, the bottom line

historically was that we left man last week in pretty bad

shape.

- As a result of these points, you've got passages like

Gen. 6 where God says this about man:

"The wickedness of man was great in the earth, and

every imagination of the thought of his heart was

only evil continually"

Gen. 11 - where the people are going to build a city and

a tower, whose top would reach to heaven where they

could make a name for themselves

- You almost don't want to turn the page to Genesis 12 to

see what is going to happen next

- Instead of reading about severe judgement from God or

increased wickedness from men

- we read about God coming and making a promise, a

covenant with man

II. Examples of Biblical Covenants

A. Abrahamic

1. background

though we won't take time to read these verses,

the passages say:

a. polytheist - Josh 24:2

b. barren - Gen. 16:1

read Gen. 12:3

2. provisions

a. land

b. seed

c. blessing

- promises were made a formal covenant in Gen. 15

- these promises are repeated over and over in the

Scripture

- if you read through the book of Genesis, I think

you'll be amazed at the number of times these three

ideas are mentioned

- in fact, these three promises form the framework

for all future covenants

B. Palestinian

Deut 29-30

emphasis - land

C. Davidic

II Sam. 7:12

emphasis - seed

D. New

Jer. 31:33-34 (read)

emphasis - blessing

E. Summary

1. Have these covenants been fulfilled?

- Answer - no

- just ask any Jew if they have all the land they

were promised (then get ready to hear an earful)

- all prophecy in the Bible that has been

fulfilled has been fulfilled literally

- Jesus to be born in Bethlehem

- He was born in Bethlehem!

2. Are these covenants fulfilled in the church?

- no - must always maintain a distinction between

Israel and the church,

- promises made to Israel will be fulfilled

in Israel

- Paul - Rom. 11 - Hath God cast away His

people - God forbid

3. What do these covenants have to do with end time

events?

- many facets of the covenants will be fulfilled

in the end times

- Millennial Kingdom will take place on this

earth - God's people will get their land

- Millennial King will be Jesus Christ - from the

loins of David even though Satan tried many

times to stamp that line out

- Those of us living in the kingdom and in the

eternal state will have God's law written on

our hearts

- He will be our God and we will be His

people

4. Do these covenants have any implications to the

church today?

Yes - for many reasons

- for example

- knowing that the Jews had rejected Him

- knowing that He was going to build His

church

- in the upper room - He lifted the cup

and said, This cup is the new covenant

in my blood

Point is - the church is experiencing some of the benefits that will be enjoyed by all of God's people in the end times

III. Application of Biblical Covenants

A. God delights in making and keeping promises

LORD - covenant God

B. God wants to provide a home/place for his people

- have you ever been in a position where you had no

place to live?

- can be a very unsettled feeling - even if for a few

days

- point - some people live like that spiritually

John 14:1-3 - Let not your heart be troubled, ye

believe in God, believe also in me. In my

Father's house are many mansions, if it

were not so, I would have told you. And if

I go and prepare a place for you, I will

come again, and receive you unto myself,

that where I am, there you may be also

Hebrews 11:8-10 - By faith Abraham, when he was

called to go out into a place which he

should after receive for an inheritance,

obeyed; and he went out, not knowing where

he went. By faith he sojourned in a land

of promise, as in a foreign country,

dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the

heirs with him of the same promise; For he

looked for a city which hath foundations,

whose builder and maker was God.

C. One of the great blessings of salvation is a "fleshy"

heart

- there's a great contrast in Gen 1-11 & Gen 12 -

rest of Bible

- Gen 1-11 - man going from good to bad

- Gen 12 - man going from bad to good

- if they'll put their trust in God's promises

- for the person who trusts Christ:

- that image that was lost can be

progressively renewed

- that dominion that was abdicated can be

progressively restored

- that heart that was toward the things

of God and the people of God can be

softened and made pliable