The Perfection Of Forgiveness
Sections In This Study:
Part One - Forgiven Seventy Times Seven
Part Three - Sevenfold Covenants And The New Covenant (see below)
Part Four - The Spotless Lamb Of God
Part Five - The Perfection Of Christ
Part Six - We Are Spotless In The Eyes Of God
Part Seven - Sevenfold Forgiveness
Part Three - Sevenfold Covenants And The New Covenant
One thing I noticed this past year while going through the book of Genesis with my online Bible study group is that many of the covenants God made with man are sevenfold - meaning there are seven parts to each one of them.
Also, unlike God’s promises - which contain our parts and His parts (ie. if we fulfill our part of the promise, the Lord will fulfill His part) - God’s covenants only depend upon God Himself.
The Hebrew word for covenant is Strong’s #h1285. “ḇerîyṯ; from 1262 (in the sense of cutting (like 1254)); a compact (because made by passing between pieces of flesh).”
Compare these two covenants - Abraham making a covenant with Abimelech, and Abram (Abraham) making a covenant with God.
In Genesis 21, we see Abraham making a covenant with Abimelech.
Genesis 21:22-24 And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest: Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. And Abraham said, I will swear.
The Hebrew word for swear or to make an oath means “to seven oneself, i.e. swear (as if by repeating a declaration seven times).”
Genesis 21:31 Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them.
Beersheba means “Well of the Oath.” This oath involved both making a covenant with each other. They would have both walked through the animal sacrifices together, pronouncing a curse on either party if one or both parties forfeited or broke the covenant.
But now consider the following passage where God makes a covenant with Abram:
Genesis 15:7-12, 17 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him… And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
Genesis 15:18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
God made a covenant with Abram (later changed to Abraham). As stated before, usually Biblical covenants involve the cutting up of animals (ie. sacrificing them), and both parties walking between the pieces. The significance of this means they are swearing to each other that if either side forfeited their part of the covenant that the same thing that happened to the animal sacrifices would also happen to the party that broke the covenant.
God put Abram to sleep, then took on the form of a burning lamp and went through the pieces of the sacrifices by Himself, indicating the covenant depended only upon Himself - not on both Abram and God together, but only upon God.
The Bible also states that God swears by Himself, vows to Himself alone because there is no one greater. God sevens Himself!
Seven passages where God swears by Himself:
A. Hebrews 6:13-20 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
B. Genesis 22:16-18 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
C. Exodus 32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
D. Isaiah 45:23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
E. Jeremiah 22:5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.
F. Jeremiah 49:13 For I have sworn by myself, saith the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.
G. Amos 6:8 The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.
The following is a list of seven sevenfold covenants made by the Lord God with various men He has chosen or with mankind:
A. Covenant with Abraham - Genesis 12:2-3
1) And I will make of thee a great nation,
2) and I will bless thee,
3) and make thy name great;
4) and thou shalt be a blessing:
5) And I will bless them that bless thee,
6) and curse him that curseth thee:
7) and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
B. Covenant with Jacob - Genesis 28:13-15
And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac:
1) the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
2) And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south:
3) and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
4) And, behold, I am with thee,
5) and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest,
6) and will bring thee again into this land;
7) for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
C. Covenant with Israel - Exodus 6:6-8
Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and
1) I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians,
2) and I will rid you out of their bondage,
3) and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:
4) And I will take you to me for a people,
5) and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
6) And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob;
7) and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD.
D. Covenant with Israel regarding the possession of the Promised Land - Joshua 21:43-45
1) And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers;
2) and they possessed it,
3) and dwelt therein.
4) And the LORD gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers:
5) and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them;
6) the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand.
7) There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.
E. Covenant with David - 1 Chronicles 17:12-14
1) He shall build me an house,
2) and I will stablish his throne for ever.
3) I will be his father,
4) and he shall be my son:
5) and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee:
6) But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever:
7) and his throne shall be established for evermore.
F. The New Covenant - Jeremiah 31:33-34
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD,
1) I will put my law in their inward parts,
2) and write it in their hearts;
3) and will be their God,
4) and they shall be my people.
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD:
5) for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD:
6) for I will forgive their iniquity,
7) and I will remember their sin no more.
G. Covenant regarding the Messiah’s birth - Luke 1:31-33
And, behold,
1) thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son,
2) and shalt call his name JESUS.
3) He shall be great,
4) and shall be called the Son of the Highest:
5) and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
6) And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever;
7) and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Notice, not a single one of these covenants depend upon man. Yes, God chose Mary as a willing vessel to bear Jesus in her womb - but it was the Holy Ghost Himself who would cause her to conceive without having relations with any man (see Luke 1:35).
To sum up, the Lord God made these seven sevenfold covenants with man, sevened Himself and swore by Himself to keep them - put the responsibility solely upon Himself - upon penalty of death.
And man continually broke God's covenants, over and over again.
Isaiah 24:5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
Then to save us, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself bore the penalty of Israel’s (and man’s) repeated breaking of His covenants, by bearing the penalty of those broken covenants Himself. Jesus became a Man so He could die for man’s sins - He was sacrificed on the cross for us to reconcile us to God the Father!
Hebrews 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
What love the Saviour showed to us on the old rugged cross!
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
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