How Impactful are God’s Covenants to the Storyline of Scripture?

Here is an excerpt from the shorter book I am writing called The Oaths of God: An Introduction to Biblical Covenantalism.

I have already said that the concept of “covenant” is of great importance to rightly comprehending the Bible.  In this chapter I will argue for the enormous importance and impact of God’s covenants.  Let’s begin by looking at the covenant with Abraham.

I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed… Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. – Genesis 12:2-3, 7.

Before anyone objects that these verses do not describe the Abrahamic covenant as it was made, I readily admit it to be true.  Genesis 12 previews the covenant itself.  The covenant “ceremony” is actually found in Genesis 15, and the token of the covenant (circumcision) is found in Genesis 17.  However, this announcement by God to Abraham nicely sums up the contents of the covenant, dividing it into three concise parts: 1. Abraham would have descendants who would make up a nation.  2. The nation that would come from Abraham’s descendants would receive a land.  3.  Through Abraham and his descendants all the families of the earth would be blessed.

When reflecting on these promises one has to overcome familiarity with the material and envisage how stupendous they are.  As a mental exercise, I sometimes try to think of it as a plot for a fantasy novel, just to try to see it anew:

Let’s imagine a fantasy story where a single man is brought by a deity to a strange new land and promised via that god’s oath that he would become the father of a new nation, and that through him the whole of his world would be changed.  From him a Descendant would emerge who would bring peace and joy to the world.  From this basic plot a whole fictional saga could be produced.      

In terms of the Abrahamic covenant, Yahweh will create a nation from one man (a Patriarch) and promise him that He will give that nation a land specially chosen for them, at the earth’s center.  Through this Patriarch and the nation that comes from him Yahweh will bless the rest of the whole world.  That is no small matter.  In Paul’s discussion of the Abrahamic covenant and its bearing upon the Gentile Church in Galatians 3 he ties the “seed” promise to Jesus Christ.  Hence the Abrahamic covenant has to do with the future of Israel, the Gentiles, and the Messiah!  So, whenever we’re talking about the Abrahamic covenant the topic is enormous and profound. 

And this is a point about God’s six covenants that must be received; they are all about very consequential things.  And together they create a network of interrelated promises from God telling us what He intends to do with His creation.  Here is my outline of God’s Creation Project as defined by the covenants[1]:

1. Preamble: God created this earth in a state of serene goodness and interdependent complexity and placed it under the dominion of the first humans, who fell from their original blessed estate by listening to the Tempter, thus plunging mankind into an ongoing spiral of sin and death which eventually resulted in God judging the old world with a flood. 
2. This present post-flood creation, with its marvelous uniformity, will never again be overcome by a great flood, but will continue as it is until God acts to regenerate the natural world (Noahic covenant).  However, human beings continue to be sinful.   
3. After a period of time sinful men rebelled against God by building a great tower to themselves in Babel, which God stopped by diving their languages.  From the dispersion brought about after Babel God chose one man, Abraham, to be the one through whom He would bless the world.  The descendants of Abraham, his son Isaac, and grandson Jacob would grow into a nation who would be described as God’s special treasure (Exod. 19:5).  This nation (Israel) would be given a designated land (Gen. 15) in perpetuity.  Additionally, through Abraham’s seed what would become known as the Gentile nations would receive blessing.  What this blessing was would not become evident until the coming of the Promised One (Messiah) into the world (Gal. 3). 
4. This special nation (Israel) was brought into relationship with Yahweh via a theocratic covenant.  Although not a forever covenant, one of the principal things it did was to distinguish Israel from its neighbors.  Deuteronomy 29-30 speaks of a covenant renewal, in particular to do with the land.  Since the promise of the land is included within the unilateral oath of the Abrahamic covenant, it is best to relate it back to that earlier covenant.    
5. Within the time coverage of the Mosaic covenant Yahweh made other covenants that were called everlasting.  First, a covenant of peace was made with Phinehas and his descendants (who would become known as the Zadokites).  In this covenant Yahweh swore that there would be an everlasting priesthood from his line to serve Him.  In the other covenant David was promised a dynasty that would not end.  The “throne” of David would be in Jerusalem and would eventually be taken by the Messiah.  Hence, the Davidic covenant would be with Israel, but the extent of the Davidide reign in Messiah’s time would eventually cover the earth.
6. Three covenants, the Noahic, the Abrahamic, and the Davidic, will affect the whole world when they are fulfilled.  There are geophysical, spiritual, and even geopolitical ramifications built into these covenants.  But there is something lacking – cleansing from sin and the defeat of death!  Sin and death threaten the fulfillment of all God’s covenants.
7. Sin must be dealt with so that sinners become saints, separated to God.  And death must be defeated since it contradicts the nature of God who is life.  Thus, sin and death cannot be overlooked when studying the outcome of God’s covenants.  How could Yahweh bring to pass the Kingdom promises of restoration to Israel without redeeming and overcoming death for the Jews?  How could “peace on earth” ever come about without sinners being cleansed and minds and hearts utterly renewed?  How could Yahweh’s covenant with the descendants of Phinehas be realized until “the sons of Levi” were purified (Mal. 3:3)?  How could “the meek…inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5) if the selfish, the ungodly, and the profane are left in charge?  No, the Kingdom of God must be peopled with Spirit-filled, transformed saints of God; people who have been redeemed by the grace of God, and that grace is brought to sinners through the promised Messiah, whose own blood is the offering of another covenant; the New covenant (Lk. 22:20).  Hence, where Christ’s blood redeems the New covenant secures.  Things are tending to this New Covenant Kingdom.  And all that remains to be fulfilled in the other covenants – whether a perpetual land-grant and blessings of peace to Israel, a Davidic King reigning from Jerusalem, the continuation of the priestly line of Phinehas, the spread of blessings to all the Gentile nations – awaits the full spiritual and material effects of the New covenant, which will come to pass when the promised one returns.
8. When the once rejected Messiah returns, He will imprison the Tempter and reign upon this earth wisely and beneficently, but with a rod of iron in a Kingdom of many saints and some sinners until finally delivering it up to Yahweh after vanquishing the released Enemy and his minions forever, thus fulfilling the Bible’s oldest prophecy (Gen. 3:15).
9. Finally, Yahweh creates the Eternal Realm; a new heaven and new earth, utterly free from sin and death; a New Creation of righteousness, peace, and love wherein God and man interact joyfully forever.      

[1] Again, I encourage the reader to temporarily imagine that this is the plot of a fantasy novel.  It helps to see it afresh.