Yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant – II Samuel 23:5

Last week we mentioned a few of the covenants that God made with man. One that we didn’t mention was the Davidic covenant in II Samuel 23:5. The new covenant that Jesus introduced in Matthew 26:28, Mark 14:24, and Luke 22:20, will extend into the time of the new heavens and the new earth.

Any rational person who reads the Bible will be confronted with the fact that God dealt with His creation through covenants. So I must confess that I am a believer in some type of covenant theology. I suppose I would be close to the “new covenant” group. I do not believe in infant baptism or child baptism. Jesus has set an example for us, He was baptized as an adult at the age of 30 (approximately). We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Baptism does not save anyone. But when a person is brought to faith in Christ, adult baptism should follow at some point in time. The principle of immersion in water for cleansing originated in the Old Testament. See Leviticus chapters 14 and 15.

The New Testament baptism represents the cleansing process that sinners have experienced when they were born again by the Spirit of God. They were convicted of sin, they repented of their sin, and they have turned away from their sin; they are no longer slaves to it. It is an outward sign of an inward change that we are publicly making to those around us. At some point in time we will consider the topic of “water baptism” in a few articles.

All the covenants that God made with His creation culminated in the new covenant that Jesus introduced. Even the “new heavens and the new earth,” as well as the rest of creation (other than man) are part of the “new covenant.” This covenant was introduced by Christ, but it was spoken of in Isaiah 11:6-11, Jeremiah 31:31, Revelation 21:5, and other places as well.

To be able to comprehend the deep mysterious things of God, the Bible should be read covenantally. We have the Bible divided into two covenants or testaments. The word “testaments” comes from the Latin word “testamentum,” which means covenants: reference, The Gospel Coalition, Covenant Theology.

According to The Gospel Coalition, the word covenant occurs over 30 times in the New Testament and almost 300 in the Old Testament. Covenant terminology and related categories and themes are found in every part of it. Jesus told His disciples to remember and celebrate the “new covenant” because of what was accomplished on the cross and what it should mean to us. This is one of the reasons we should embrace some type of covenant theology.

Then in I Corinthians 11:23-29, Paul reminds his readers of that which he received from the Lord. “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, this do, as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me.” Covenant theology helps us to understand God’s will for all that He has created. From before creation, and down through history, it has always been about the glory of God. It has never been about man. And when we experience the new heavens and the new earth, the glory of God will be our goal, our joy and delight. Contact the author at thoughtsonword@gmail.com if you have any comments or questions.

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Lyndon Stimeling, of Richfield, has been writing about faith and family for many years. He has self-published four books, Common Thoughts on The Word in 2016, Eye of a Needle in 2017, Common Thoughts on The Word II in 2019 and A Bridge Between in 2023. He has also had articles published in The Coming Home Journal and local newspapers and has written a children’s book.