Understanding our covenant relationship with God

A covenant relationship is an elevated relationship like no other. It supersedes all other relationships and obligations. When we enter into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, it is a covenant relationship that we enter into. Understanding the nature and binding terms of a covenant will help us appreciate God’s commandments, as well as His feelings about us and about sin, better. 

When God makes a covenant with us, He fulfils all His promises to us for eternity, even to our future generations. The Lord is a good God who keeps covenant and shows steadfast love to us. Every word that goes out of His mouth will accomplish its purpose. Every covenant He makes is meant to bless us.

2 Chronicles 6:14 ESV  and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart,

Psalm 105:8 ESV  He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,

Isaiah 55:11 ESV  So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

The first covenant God made with mankind was with Adam. God gave Adam immense blessings as well as dominion over the earth, and instructed him to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 1:26-30, 2:16-17). When Adam broke that covenant, God pronounced a curse for Adam’s transgression. In His grace, the Lord also promised a future redemption for mankind from Adam’s downfall, which we now know to be God’s new covenant with us through His own Son’s death and resurrection for our sins (Genesis 3).

Romans 5:12-14 ESV  Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

Covenants in the Bible

In general, here are some aspects of covenants that God makes.

• Covenants will be forever binding | Isaiah 54:10 ESV  For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
• Covenants involve oaths and obligations that require loyalty, obedience, and commitment | Exodus 19:5 ESV  Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;
• Covenants cannot normally be annulled or made invalid | Galatians 3:15,17 ESV  To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.
• Covenants are set in place through some sacrifice, ceremony, or declaration (*see list of examples at the end) | Luke 22:20 ESV  And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
• Breaking covenants will bring repercussions such as curses | Jeremiah 11:8 ESV  But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.’”
• Covenants affect the future generations of the person making the covenant with God (and may even include the land or animals) | Genesis 9:8-10 ESV  Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth.

Covenants are everlasting. That is the reason why Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the Law, because the Law was based on a covenant that His Father in Heaven had made. Instead, He took on the curses of the covenant so as to give us a new one.

Galatians 3:13-15 ESV  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 

Matthew 5:17-20 ESV  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Covenants can also be made between or for people. The Bible records covenants that have been made:

• Between God and people groups e.g. the house of Israel | Jeremiah 31:33 ESV  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
• Between God and individuals e.g. God made a covenant with David, promising him that his lineage would continue to rule Israel, if his descendents remained faithful to God | 2 Chronicles 7:16-18 ESV  For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’
• Between individuals and their families e.g. David and Jonathan made a covenant to stay loyal to each other’s households | 1 Samuel 20:13-16 ESV   But should it please my father to do you harm, the Lord do so to Jonathan and more also if I do not disclose it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. May the Lord be with you, as he has been with my father. If I am still alive, show me the steadfast love of the Lord, that I may not die; and do not cut off your steadfast love from my house forever, when the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” And Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord take vengeance on David’s enemies.” 
• By individuals for themselves e.g. Job made a covenant “with his eyes” to not look upon another potential lover (Job stayed loyal to his one and only wife) | Job 31:1 ESV  “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?

Note: For a list of examples of covenants from the Bible, please refer to the end of this post.

The role of covenant in marriage and sex

An example of a covenant that we still make today is marriage. 

Marriage is not just a contractual agreement made between two people, as the world may tell us. Marriage is a covenant that God is also involved in, because it is both a physical and spiritual union. God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one. The marriage covenant is a reflection of this “oneness”.

John 10:29-30 ESV  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

1. Covenant union

God created marriage to unite a man and a woman in a covenant relationship that will bind them together forever. (This is why adopted children always have a deep yearning to find their birth parents, no matter how long they have been separated, because they are the fruit of their parents’ covenant relationship.)

Matthew 19:4-6 ESV  He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

2. Sex seals the covenant

God’s covenants are often made with blood, where blood represents life. God made a covenant with Abraham through the sacrifice of some animals, for example, and He sealed His covenant with Moses through the sprinkling of blood on the sacrificial items of worship and God’s people.

Hebrews 9:19-21 ESV  For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship.

Marriage is another example of a covenant that is sealed with blood. God designed the first act of sex to be the “seal” in a marriage covenant between a man and his virgin wife, as they shed blood through their first intercourse. Each time they have sexual intercourse afterwards, they reaffirm their covenant with one another. 

This is why one’s first sexual experience usually leaves the deepest impression. A strong connection forms due to the covenantal nature of sex. 

3. The Holy Spirit is present during sex

One point that is not often talked about is the fact that the Holy Spirit has a portion in the sexual union of God’s people. God seeks godly offspring to populate and represent Him on earth. In a godly sexual union, the Holy Spirit is present to give life to and bless a couple’s conception of a new life and spirit. 

Malachi 2:14-15 ESV  But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 

Hence, sex is not just a physical act but a spiritual union. Sex can and will touch someone very deep in their spirit. (This is why rape and incest can feel very defiling and desecrating. Victims feel defiled inside and find no comfort from physical treatments, because it is their spirits that have been violated. What brings deep and genuine healing is the Holy Spirit’s “washing of regeneration and renewal.”)

Titus 3:4-6 ESV  But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 

4. Sex outside marriage is a sin against God’s design for covenants 

When we understand that sex is the seal for the covenant relationship in marriage, we can better appreciate why God is against sex outside of marriage. It creates ungodly spiritual ties and yokes us to other people outside a proper covenant. Also, see Beware the ungodly yokes we form

1 Corinthians 6:15-20 ESV  Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Through Malachi 2:16, the Lord warns us to, “guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.” It is also why in God’s eyes, looking at someone else lustfully is the same as committing adultery with them, because we have allowed our spirits to wander off, outside a covenant.

Malachi 2:16 ESV  “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

Matthew 5:27-28 ESV  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 

5. Divorce breaks covenant and leads to devastating consequences (curses)

Divorce breaks the covenant of marriage, which is a connection made through God’s Spirit. This is why divorce feels deeply wrenching in our spirits. By breaking covenant, divorce leads to painful consequences on future generations as well. God warned through the prophet Malachi that divorce will “cover our garments with violence.”

Malachi 2:16 ESV  “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

Also, see Putting God first in marriage and God’s will for marriage, divorce, and remarriage

The marriage covenant God makes with His people

Once we understand covenants in the marriage context, we can have a greater appreciation of why God calls Himself our Husband, and how grieved He is when we are faithless to Him and seek other “lovers” from this world. When His people choose “friendship with the world” over God, He calls us, “adulterous.”

Jeremiah 31:31-32 ESV  “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 

James 4:4-5 ESV  You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?

Our relationship with God is also based on a blood covenant, which is the precious blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is also present during our joining with the Lord. The Holy Spirit is the One who comes to live with us in covenant and to “put God’s laws on our hearts, and write them on our minds.”

1 Corinthians 11:25-26 ESV  In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

1 Corinthians 6:17 ESV  But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

Hebrews 10:15-18 ESV  And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” then he adds,  “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

When we live as “adulterous believers” who keep on sinning deliberately, the Bible shows us that there “no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgement,” because we have “profaned the blood of the covenant” and “outraged the Holy Spirit.” God Himself will divorce us when we continue to live in iniquity and without genuine repentance.

Hebrews 10:26-31 ESV  For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Isaiah 50:1 ESV  Thus says the LORD: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

This is why every believer is called to prepare himself or herself for Jesus’ return, purified and cleansed of our sins by living a life that is set apart for Him, “as a pure virgin to Christ”. Jesus loves us, His church, passionately and He deserves our love, worship, and devotion.

2 Corinthians 11:2 ESV  For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

Ephesians 5:28-29 ESV  In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,

Side note: Just as we make a covenant with God through Jesus, non-believers can also make demonic covenants with Satan through various oaths, rituals, acts, and objects. These are covenants made with death and hell (Sheol). This is a topic that may be covered in a future post.

Isaiah 28:15 ESV  Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement, when the overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;

Testimony: Renouncing a covenant made with the spirit of death

“As a teenager, in the depths of my depression, I used to self-harm and cut myself.  On several occasions, I would make bloody lacerations on my body and sing the twisted lyrics of heavy metal rock songs, inviting death to take me. I had not realised that I had made a blood covenant with Satan as a child!

When I repented and revoked this contract through the redemption and power of the blood of Jesus, I literally saw a black sticky goo being lifted off my heart and thrown into a fire – forever gone.

Suddenly, I felt a warmth in my heart and the purification of God’s light. I could breathe again. I declared that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and I was not familiar territory for these dark spirits and that they can never ever find their way back to me.”

List of covenants mentioned in the Bible