| WRITINGS | HENRIETTA C. MEARS GOD'S GREAT COVENANTS from HIGHLIGHTS OF SCRIPTURE |
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Henrietta C. Mears GOD'S GREAT COVENANTS CONTENTS CLICK on TITLE below to GO to that SECTION LESSON 1 My Daily Covenant With God THE CHRISTIAN Sunday Is Freed from Sin Romans 6:6-23; 8:1-2 Monday Is Already Redeemed 1 Peter 1:18-25; Galatians 3.13 Tuesday Is Equal in Christ Galatians 3:26-29; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 Wednesday Has a New Country Philippians 3-20-21; Colossians 3:1I-4; Ephesians. 2:19 Thursday Sorrow Turned to Joy Romans 8:28-39; John 16-20 Friday Works Without Care Matthew 6.-25-34; 11:28-30 Saturday Has Everlasting Life John 3:15-21,31-36; 6:47; 5:24 FROM the beginning of time men have made covenants with each other. The covenant is of great value. When an employer hires an employee, he makes a certain agreement with him as to the services to be rendered and the benefits to be received. When a man buys a piece of property, an agreement is drawn up between the party of the first part and the party of the second part as to just what each will do. A business house decides to erect a new building. After inspecting the architect's plans, they make an agreement with the builder. The builder agrees to erect the building for a certain amount of money. That is his contract. The business house agrees to pay a certain amount of money. That is their contract. If the contractor breaks his contract, then the business house is no longer bound by it, and they will not have to keep their part. A good contractor would Say, "Whether this job bankrupts me or not, I must finish my contract. My reputation depends on it." This agreement gives men confidence in each other and puts business on a friendly relationship. When a covenant is signed and sealed, it is binding. PROBLEM 1. Look up In the dictionary to determine just what the word covenant is, both the noun and the verb. This dictionary definition makes us think of a covenant as a bargain, or an agreement between two persons. This is true when a covenant is made between two people. The word covenant, or agreement, really has three words to express its meaning in three different fields of thought. A contract is an agreement in the business world. A treaty is an agreement between nations. A covenant is an agreement in the religious world.We will find that when God makes a covenant with men there is no idea of a bargain, but it is a solemn declaration of what He proposes to do in the way of blessing to them. It is true that some of God's covenants in the Bible are conditional. He says, "If you do this, I will do that." But sometimes, realizing man's inability to keep his part of the agreement, God just makes a promise and He will see that it is carried out. God said to Abraham, "I will bless thee." (Genesis 12:13) Think of God binding Himself by a covenant to us as if He could not be trusted!GOD seems to come down to man and make covenants with him so as to inspire His children's confidence in Him. It makes His life and ours one. We found that the covenant between nations, which they call treaties, were tossed aside like a scrap of paper during the great World War. The rest of the world will have no dealings with an empire which does such things. They have lost confidence in that nation. BUT God wants man to see that what He promises, He will perform. "For He is faithful that promised." (Hebrews 10:23.) Do you know God as a covenant keeping God? If we only could know what God wants to do for us, and could have the assurance that it will be done by an Almighty power, and would wait for God until He really did it, this would make God's covenants the very gate of heaven. The covenant would draw us to the heavenly Father. BREAD COVENANT PROBLEM 2. What were some of the covenants that the Orientals made? Dr. 0. P. Gifford tells of a trip to the east of the Jordan. The sheik of that province gave a dinner.One dish was placed in the midst. Towels were given for napkins and tablespoons for cutlery. Each one dipped into the common dish and helped himself. At night, a thin mattress was spread upon the floor; that was the guest chamber. A man came into his tent and stood in the corner. Dr. Gifford got undressed and went to bed. In the morning when he arose, he saw an armed Arab sleeping on the floor at the foot of the bed. As he stepped out of the doorway, he stepped over the body of another armed Arab who had spent the night guarding the door. Dr. Gifford asked what all this meant. "You broke bread with the sheik, and he is responsible for your life and safety while you are his guest," was the answer. The sheik was responsible for Dr. Gifford's safety and life as long as he was in the province. This was the reason the sheik had taken bread in covenant with him. (Look up in the National Geographic for January, 1937, and see how the Oriental still does the same things and lives the same way.) THE LORD BROKE BREAD WITH HIS DISCEPLES DO YOU remember when the Lord Jesus Christ took the bread and brake it and gave it to His disciples that night of the Lord's Supper? He said, "This is my body." The disciples took the bread in covenant with God. Christ then became responsible for their lives and safety within His province, and remember that all power is given unto Him. "He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." (II Timothy 1:12) BLOOD COVENANT BUT more binding than the bread covenant is the blood covenant. The blood covenant in the Orient binds two men together for life. There was a missionary among the hill tribes of Burma whose arm was scarred where he had cut covenant with the chiefs of the tribes. Whenever he crossed the border of any province, he exchanged blood. That made his life absolutely safe in that province. Christ uses that old eastern blood covenant and with that makes Himself responsible for our safety on, earth and in heaven. His blood was shed for us. (1.Peter 1:18,19) PROBLEM 3 What was one of the ways they made a blood covenant? Dr. Trumbull said, "I stood once in little town at the foot of Mount Lebanon and saw two young men take a blood covenant. Each opened a vein in his arm, took a bit of blood on a blade of grass, and then one gave to the other one and he sipped it off the blade and the other one took the blade and they were both bound by the blood covenant." PROBLEM 4. How many covenants did God make with men? We will study the seven great covenants which God has made with man. 1. The Covenant with Adam.(Genesis 3:14-19) 2. The Covenant with Noah.(Genesis 8:20-9:27) 3. The covenant with Abraham.(Genesis 12:14; 13:14-17; 15:17; 17:18) 4.The covenant with Moses. (Exodus 20:1-31:18) 5.The covenant with Israel. (Deuteronomy 30:1-9) 6.The covenant with David. (2 Samuel 7:8-17) 7. The New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6-10:39) Each one of these covenants gives us some new fact concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. We mount on them as on steps until we come to the very last revelation that God gives us of His Son. PROBLEM 5. What two great words of Scripture give the history of man? The Bible really gives us the spiritual history of man from his creation to the consummation. It not only gives"Us d'history of man past and present@ but the future as well. What is the key to the Bible? There are two words which tell us the whole story. They are sin and a Saviour. Man has sinned and,God has provided a Saviour. Before God made any covenant with Man, there was a Covenant of Redemption made in.the etemity past, between the Father and the Son. Remember, Christ was "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (Revelation 13:8) The seven covenants that we are going to study tell us how God brought to pass His purpose in the redemption of the world. God promised a Saviour and this was how He was to come. If you study these seven covenants carefully in the order in which they come, you will have a summary of the whole teaching and purpose of the Bible. LESSON 2 My Daily Covenant With God GOD'S COVENANT WITH ADAM Sunday God's Reason Genesis 3:1-14; Romans 5:12-21 Monday The Covenant Genesis 3:14-19 Tuesday Sorrow Common To All Psalm 13:2, 90:10; 2 Corinthians 7:10; John 16:33 Wednesday Death Result Of Sin Genesis 2:17; Hebrews 9:27; Romans 5:12 Thursday All Under Sin Galatians 3:22; Romans 3:9-20 Friday Sin Destroys Fellowship 1 John 1:1-10 Saturday Sin And God's Children 1 John 3:1-24 GOD made His first covenant with the first man, Adam, in the Garden of Eden. Very little is told in the Bible about the first two covenants. THESE COVENANTS ARE FOUNDATION STONES IF THESE covenants, or, in fact, any one of them, were removed from the Bible, then the Bible itself and even the story of the Lord Jesus Christ would be hard to understand. First then, we will see that the Bible tells us of the covenant made with Adam. Why did a covenant have to be made with Adam? God had warned Adam as to what he would bring upon himself if he were disobedient. In spite of this Adam, created in the image of God, when given an opportunity to choose between love and obedience to his Creator, or a life outside of God's will, chose the latter. Because of Adam's sin, he dragged all humanity with him. What about your choices? Do you always choose the right? I wonder if we are not all like Adam? THIS covenant with Adam found in Genesis 3:14-19 tells what the conditions will be under which the human race will have to live from this time on. They are only worthy of death because "the wages of sin is death." but God makes this covenant that they might continue upon the earth. We will study the conditions of this covenant. CONDITIONS OF THE ADAMC COVENANT 1. Satan was cursed. Genesis 3:14.CONDITION 1. Why are all serpents cursed? Satan used the serpent, the most beautiful of all God's creatures, as his instrument in tempting Adam and Eve. Satan always works through some agent. The serpent was the most subtle.of all the higher order of creatures. Notice in what ways sin and its type in the serpent are alike. They are both poisonous, sly, lurk in hidden and dark places, strike in the dark and are the enemy to flesh of all kind. God cursed this instrument of Satan's and said, "Thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast .... upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat." (Genesis 3:14) The serpent of brass which God told Moses to put up in the wilderness, when the people were dying from snake bites, was a picture of Christ on the cross as He became sin for us. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." (John 3:14) CONDITION 2. Why does God say that woman shall have "multiplied sorrow"? Remember, it was Eve that really took the fruit first and ate it. She was the one who gave it to Adam. All you boys will enjoy this. But don't laugh too soon. Adam took also, and he did eat. God said for this reason, not only would a woman's life be filled with sorrow, but that man should be the head of the woman. She was created the equal of man. She was made his helpmate. But she lost this through her sin. I wonder why a woman's sorrow is so great? Do you realize that every sin you commit saddens your mother's heaxt? How many a mother's heart is broken because of the conduct of her sons and daughters. She goes down to very death to give us our life and then sacrifices everything for our joy and comfort. YOU know that in every land that is not Christian Y the women are treated badly. They have to carry the heavy burdens and work almost like slaves. When a boy baby is bom in heathen lands, the father and mother rejoice; but when aL little girl baby is bom, they feel she is worth nothing. But in lands where Jesus is King, the curse of womanhood is lifted and women are treated like queens. Christians are equal in Christ Jesus; both men and women are alike. (Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 2:15; 1 Corinthians 12:13) CONDITION 3. Why did God put a curse even on the ground? He gives us the answer in Genesis 3:17. "For thy sake." This seems like a strange reason, doesn't it? But the most unhappy people in the world are the ones that have nothing to do. Any person who has work to do is so much happier than the one who has nothing to occupy his time or interest. It is the idle hands that find mischief. It is a strange thing that newly tilled soil in which there never has been any evidence of weeds will produce them with the very first crop. They have tried to explain this by scientific investigation, but those of us who believe God's Word, believe that it is because of the curse that God put upon the ground. GOD would not allow man's home in this earth under the curse of sin to remain so beautiful that he would never desire a heavenly home. Besides God had decreed that man should labor and man would have nothing to do if the earth did not bear thorns and thistles and weeds of all kinds. Play was changed to work. Work was a blessing. The Christian, who has the joy of the Lord in his heart, can work without care. (Matthew 6:25-34; Philippians 4:19; Matthew 11:28-30) CONDITION 4. Are we to be surprised that people in this world have so much sorrow? Read Genesis 3:17. God says because they sinned, they will have sorrow. Sin always brings sorrow. "The way of the transgressor is hard." Sin not only brings sorrow to the one who sins, but to others as well. Can you think of an illustration of this? Not only do men have to labor to produce food, but the very food they produce is d source of sickness and death. Sorrow is common to all. When we accept Christ, the Christian's sorrow is turned to joy. (Rom. 8:28, 32; John 16:20; II Cor. 11:4) CONDITION 5. Why does everybody in this world have to die? Genesis 3:19 says, "Unto dust shalt thou retum." Not only did God send spiritual death because of man's sin, but physical death. The salvation which God has provided for us in Christ overcomes the curse of sin and provides both physical and spiritual salvation. Our bodies are waiting to be changed like unto His glorious body. Some day we shall be like Him. The Christian has everlasting life. (John 6:47; 5:24; Phil. 3:21) THE FIRST PROMISE OF A REDEEMER CONDITION 6. When did God promise a Saviour to man? In Genesis 3:15 we see that Christ the Messiah is going to come as the 'seed of the woman," to redeem the world. Before the world began, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit had made a Covenant of Redemption. God had a great plan of salvation. "He haith chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world." (Ephesians 1:4) Christ was to come to give His life for the world that He might glorify His Father. This is why Christ was promised as "the seed of woman" who was to come in the likeness of man to die for man. He was to be the Son of a virgin. Jesus was the seed of a woman. (Matt. 1:16) All others have a human father. God alone was the Father of Jesus of Nazareth. Mary was used only to prepare the body of Jesus. Here is the first promise of a Saviour. This tells us the beginning of God's work of redemption through a godly "Seed." You remember we followed the development of this godly Seed, first, through Seth and Noah and Shem and Abraham and David, right down to the Lord Jesus in our study of the Blood Line of the Messiah. As you look over these conditions that God stated in His covenant with Adam, you will see that they are the very things that exist today. These will continue until our Lord comes back to establish His kingdom. But here is a wonderful thought for those of us who are His children! Although we live in a world that is under these curses, still we can be freed from them for the Christian is in the world, but not of it. (John 15:19; 17:14) Christ frees us from the power of sin, and he whom Christ sets free Is free indeed. LESSON 3 My Daily Covenant With God GOD'S COVENANT WITH NOAH Sunday Covenant With Adam Confirmed Genesis 3:14-19, 8:20-22 Monday Human Government Set Up Genesis 3:9:1-6 Tuesday Christ's Government Set Up Isaiah 9:1-7 Wednesday Earth Assured Against Flood Genesis 9:8-17; 2 Peter 3:7, 12 Thursday Prophecy Concerning Ham Genesis 9:24-25, 10:6-20 Friday Prophecy Concerning Shem Genesis 9:26-27, 10:21-31 Saturday Prophecy Concerning Japheth Genesis 9:27, 10:2-5 ABOUT sixteen hundred years after God made His covenant with Adam, He made a second covenant with the man Noah., All during this time God left people to the guidance of their own conscience. You remember that Satan told Adam in the Garden that the day he would eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that his eyes would he opened and he would be as a god, knowing good from evil. This is like all of Satan's lies. There is enough truth to make them appear all right. But a part truth is a dangerous thing. The temptation to become as a god was the very ambition that overcame Lucifer when he tried to exalt himself and become as God Almighty. Satan not only knew the power of temptation, but the result of it, so he spoke from experience when he talked to Adam and Eve. It is true that Adam and Eve did come into a knowledge of good and evil. Did it make them happy? We shall find out later. Good is whatever God wants us to do, and evil is anything...that we want to do ourselves. How people reverse this today and imagine that the thing they want to do themselves is the good thing, and the thing that is hard is the thing that God wishes. DO YOU know that man has been trying to be as God ever since he tried it the first time? Satan did his work well, but the sad thing is that instead of man becoming as a god, man became as the devil. Jesus told men this very plainly when He came.(John 8:44) PROBLEM 1. Does a knowledge of good and evil bring happiness? Whenever anybody knows what is right and what is wrong, he is responsible to do the right thing and to keep from doing the wrong thing. A little child four years old was playing in a park. He was attracted by the brilliant colors of the beautiful flowers. He went into the midst of the bed and picked an armful of flowers. Behind him was a sign which anyone could read, "$25 fine for anyone picking flowers." Could any policeman take that little child to the court and make him pay? Of course not! Why? Because he cannot read. He does not know right from wrong. If a grown-up did that, he would be responsible to pay the fine. God wanted to spare us from a knowledge of good and evil. He wanted us to go about as care free as a little child and enjoy everything in His beautiful creation. The whole world is carrying the burden of responsibility to only do good and keep from doing evil. Isn't it strange that every man in this whole world has a conscience that tells him right from wrong! This means that everybody must bear this responsibility. PROBLEM 2. Will a man be saved if he obeys his conscience? Man's future depends upon his perfect obedience to the will of God. How then can anyone be salved? No one can do God's will. God knows how impossible it is for anyone to meet the demand of his own conscience. Our conscience tells us what is right, but it does not help us to do it. This is the reason that God in His grace makes salvation a gift. We do not merit it, because grace is unmerited favor. You cannot do a thing to earn salvation. It is the gift of God. PROBLEM 3. How do men act when they have the knowledge of good and evil? Turn to Genesis 6:5 and read these words: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." God tried men out for over sixteen hundred years. He gave them every chance, but they completely failed in doing all the good that they knew. Man's nature was imperfect, and when it was tried, it was proven to be utterly sinful. PROBLEM 4. How does the condition of the world before the flood compare with the condition of the world today? Jesus says that the awful sinfulness described in Genesis 6:5 will he repeated as the end of this age draws to a close. Read His very words in Matthew 24:37-44. The wickedness of men will grow worse and worse. When King Jesus returns to this earth, He wonders whether He will find any true faith left. PROBLEM 5. Should a Christian be guided by his conscience alone? Many people have an idea that if they just obey their conscience, they will be all right. The sad thing of it is that people allow their consciences to become very dull. They are no longer sensitive to right or wrong. You no doubt know some of your comrades at school who have cheated and lied about their work so long that they have no scruples about it at all. To cheat is not a sin to them, though probably the first time they did it, they worried much about it. Now, their only worry is whether they can "get by" or not. Conscience is not the guide of the child of God. Read John 14:26 and 16:13 to see who is the Christian's guide. It is not our responsibility as a child of God to obey our conscience. It is our responsibility to follow God's instructions as He sets them forth in His Word. (Galatians 4:1-7) PROBLEM 6. What did God determine to do because of man's awful sinfulness? He tells us in Genesis 6:7, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air." This is the reason that God sent a flood to destroy the earth. Noah, though not altogether faultless, was a believer and a preacher of righteousness. God saved Noah and his sons and their wives and God entered into a covenant with him. We may read the details in Genesis 9. The Conditions in the Covenant God Made with Noah 1. The covenant with Adam was confirmed. 2. The seasons began. 3. Human government was set up. 4. Earth assured against flood. 5. Prophecy concerning Ham's descendants. 6. Prophecy concerning Shem's descendants. 7. Prophecy concerning Japheth's descendants. CONDITION 1. How did God reaffirm to Noah the covenant He had made with Adam? One can answer this question by reading Genesis 8:21. God has cursed the round, but He will not curse it again for man's sake. God has not yet lifted this curse and will not, till Christ comes to reign. The desert then will "blossom as the rose." CONDITION 2. When did the seasons begin? Probably we never can appreciate the violence of that flood. The earth was rent and torn. "All the fountains of the great deep were broken up." What does science tell us of the results of this flood? Not only does Scripture testify to this world catastrophe, but archaeologists and geologists bear witness. It does not seem so strange that the earth would bear a record of the flood, but the most interesting and unique witness is the witness of astronomy. THE POLES CHANGED SCIENTISTS tell us that the earth has changed its position on its axis. In a paper read before the Victorian Institute in 1899 attention was called especially to the evidence in this universe that the poles of this earth were suddenly changed. "In the last two Verses of the eighth Chapter of Genesis, we have a suggestion that the shifting in the position of the poles would explain a change from perpetual spring to that of the four seasons which we have at present." God promised Noah that He would never again destroy the earth for man's wickedness, neither would He smite animal life. Instead He would allow the curse to fall upon man himself. "No longer would he experience the comfort of a hospitable climate, but the seasons with their sudden changes and extremes of temperature would hinder rather than help him." "It is noticeable that the terms 'seed time and harvest,' "summer and winter,' are not found in the first chapter of Genesis, and we have every reason to believe that they were unknown until after the deluge." How constant have been the seasons ever since! We know that fall will follow summer and spring, the winter. God said it would always be so. CONDITION 3. When did God give to man the responsibility of human government? God gave man a conscience and made him responsible to do good w h en it was shown to him. But man failed utterly and every imagination of his heart was evil. INSTEAD of making it easy for him, God now places greater burdens on his shoulders than before. Up to this time God made man responsible for governing himself. Now man has to become responsible to God to govern other men as well. God transfers to man the responsibility of human government. God wanted the government to be upon His own shoulders, but because man would not obey God, He transferred the weight of government to weak and sinful man. GOD knew that it would be hard to maintain authority over rebellious men. Men will never obey unless there is punishment. So as to make this possible, God gave man the right to take life for life. (Genesis 9:6) This is the basic principle for all government. Whenever this law is set aside and life imprisonment is put in its place, trouble follows. Even God regarded this law. Man should die because of his sin for "the wages of sin is death.' God did not do away with this law, but instead, gave His Son to take the place of others and to die in their stead. Sin must be punished. CONDITION 4. Will the earth ever be destroyed again by a flood? It is in this covenant with Noah that God promises distinctly that the earth will never be destroyed again by water. When the earth is finally destroyed, it will be by fire. (II Peter 3:7,12) God gave a sign to Noah that He would keep this promise. He said, "I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh: and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all. flesh that is upon the earth." God is going to look at the rainbow and remember His covenant. How faithful God is! CONDITIONS 5-6-7. What were the prophecies concerning Noah's descendants? God said that Ham was to produce a race of servants. (Genesis 9:25-27) We see Ham's descendants rebelling against this. They were the ones who really built up the first civilization after the flood in the Euphrates and Nile Valleys. But history shows us that their civilization did not last You, know the story from your ancient history. Shem was to produce at race who are to be peculiarly favored of God, the Jews. Remember, it was through this line that the Messiah was to come. Japheth was to produce the "enlarged races." These are the people who have spread civilization, great literature and the arts abroad over the earth. History has wonderfully proven all these prophecies about the races of the earth. THIS is the covenant God made with Noah after the flood. God made this covenant. He will keep it. Man can go on now bearing the government of the world and know that the world will not be destroyed again by a flood. LESSON 4 My Daily Covenant With God GOD'S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM Sunday A Promise Genesis 12:1-3. 13:14-18, 17:1-8, 18, 19 Monday Tested Genesis 22:1-2, 12-18 Tuesday Unchangeable Isaiah 14:24, 27; Hebrews 6:13-19; Galatians 3:7-8, 17-19 Wednesday God Honored Genesis Romans 4:3, 13-17; John 8:31, 56 Thursday Confirmed To His Seed Genesis 26:1-5, 35:9-12; 48:3-4 Friday Confirmed To Moses Exodus 6:3-8; Deuteronomy 7:6-9 Saturday Abraham's Faith Romans 4:13-25 IF a beggar would draw a check for a million dollars, everybody would laugh at him. His check would be worth no more than the paper it was written upon. If a Rockefeller would make a like check, any bank in this world would gladly accept it. It would be just as good as gold, because everyone knows that a Rockefeller is worth many times that amount. So it is with a promise. A promise is worth no more that the man that makes it is worth. What is God's promise worth? He is back of every word He utters. When we know this is true, we can really trust God. Spurgeon tells the story of a certain Negro. Once he was asked how he believed. He answered, "Massa, dis is how I believe: I fall flat down on the promise; I can't fall no lower."Today we study a covenant of promise made by a God who could stand back of every word He spoke. He made it to a man who had the faith of the Negro, who fell back on the promises of God and believed them, and God counted his belief unto him for righteousness. God called Abram out from the midst of idolaters and told him to go into a land that He would give. God then made a covenant with Abram personally. The larger part of Genesis is given to this covenant. Thirty-nine chapters out of fifty deal with Abraham and his children. From this very moment god ceases to deal with any nation other than Abram and his posterity. The Jews are God's chosen people. PROBLEM 1. Why did God choose Israel? God did not choose Israel because Israel was the greatest nation, or superior to all other nations, but because god wanted to use Israel for His glory. He wanted a nation He could use to make His name known to the rest of the nations. The Conditions in the covenant that God made with Abram 1. The promise of the nation's greatness. 2. The promise of blessing. 3. The promise of a Redeemer. 4. The promise of land. 5. The promise of earthly seed. 6. The promise of heavenly seed. 7. The covenant is everlasting. CONDITION 1. Has God kept His promise with Israel that she will be a great nation? Just think! The Jew today without a ruler, without a capital, without a government, army or navy, numbers after years of persecution about eighteen million. They are scattered in sixty different countries. God had a plan in His mind to do wonderful things or His chosen people. It is one of the marvels of history today that no other race has ben ale to survive like the Jew. He has the same features today as his father, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You can recognize a son of Abraham any place by the crook in his nose. He has characteristic features that everyone recognizes. Although scattered as he is in every country and nation, he has never been assimilated. He survives as a Jew. he may be an American Jew, or a French Jew, or a German Jew, but he is still a Jew. NOT ONLY are the Jews great in number, but great in wealth and glory. We know that they hold the money bags of the world today. Our great moving picture industry is in their control. They rule the railroad and manufacturing centers of the United States. A Jew may start out a peddler and end up a millionaire. In New York the banking houses, jewelry trade and clothing firms are controlled by Jews. CONDITION 2. What great blessing did God promise Abram? God says to Abram, "I will bless thee." And then He adds, "I will make thy name great." The only condition of this blessing was that Abram would trust God. We have called your attention before to the fact that Abram, later changed to Abraham, was the founder of three great religions, Judaism, Christianity and Mohammedanism. These all may be traced back to Abraham. To him belongs the credit, under God of course, for the persistence of faith in one God. All the other nations worshipped many gods. WHEN God made this covenant with Abram, He laid down no condition whatsoever. It was made because Abram already believed God was not going to give him great blessing as rewards, or because of his merit, or because he deserved it, but because He Himself promised it. The blessing promised to Abraham and to his posterity depends not on Israel's faith, but on God's covenant. CONDITION 3. What was the greatest promise that God made to Abram? Here it is: "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." This indeed is the great promise of the covenant. It is to be fulfilled in Abraham's seed, Jesus. (Galatians 3:16; John 8:54-58) Christ is the only One who could bring blessing to the whole earth. This indeed is the promise of the world's Redeemer. It refers back to the promise made to our first parents, Adam and Eve, in the Garden. (Genesis 3:15) This "Seed" was to come through the line of Isaac and Jacob, for although the Turks, the Edomites, the Arabs, and the Ishmaelites are children of Abraham, they are not God's chosen. This is real Gospel - the promise of a Saviour Can you enumerate what blessing Christ has brought to you as an individual? Take a few minutes to think these over and to put them down. Christ is the source of every blessing. Remember the worlds, "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus." CONDITION 4. Did God make the provision of a land for His chosen people to live in? The one condition of blessing that god put down in this covenant was that they must stay in the place of blessing to receive the blessing. His chosen people must dwell in the land that He would give then - that was Canaan. The blessings of the covenant were there. There is a real lesson here for us. As the children of Israel's blessings were in the land, so the Christian's blessing are in Christ. THIS was a wonderful land that God gave to the Jews. It lies at the very center of the world. It is not a thriving nation today. The jealousy of the other nations has made it possible for the Turk to hold it a long as he has. but God has given it to the Jews and some day they will possess it. A GREAT LAND Do you know what the size of the land was that God promised to Abraham? Many people have an idea that this country would not even hold the Jews that are alive today. Listen to what God says in Genesis 15:18, "Unto they seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates." The Promised Land is not just a little strip on the Mediterranean of which we so often think. But the length of the land is from north to south about six hundred miles. This makes the Promise Land about three hundred thousand square miles, or about twelve and a half times a large as Great Britain and Ireland. CONDITIONS 5 - 6. What does God tell Abraham about his descendants? God has promised Abraham descendants that shall be as numberless "as the sand which is upon the sea shore", and a posterity of believers that shall be as innumerable "as the stars in the heaven". Whoever can count to the last star? AS WE already have suggested, Abraham's earthly descendants include a multitude, the Turks, the Arabs, etc., besides the descendants through Isaac and Jacob and his twelve sons. "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness." We, too, must believe God if we shall have eternal life and enjoy His promises forever. No man is saved because he is a child of Abraham. He cannot count on this man's worthiness. He must walk in the way of Abraham and exercise faith for himself. This spiritual family that God promised to Abraham are related to him by a common faith. These God compared to the stars, indicating that they would be heavenly people, in the world, but not of it. They are the seed of Abraham because they are members of the body of Jesus Christ, who was the "Seed". (Ephesians 5:30; Romans 4:16-17; Galatians 3:6, 7, 29) CONDITION 7. How long will God keep this covenant with Abraham? This promise was everlasting because it shall never cease and points forward to the future. The covenant that God made with Abraham was not with him alone, but it was a covenant with the nation of whom he was to be the father. It was between God and the descendants of Abraham. ABRAHAM himself never enjoyed the possession of the land. He died in the faith that he would some time know the fulfillment of god's word. This would mean that he would be raised from the dead. We read that he fully understood this through faith. (Hebrews 11:8-19; Acts 26:6- 8; Galatians 3:18) We see from these passages and many others that the Jews are yet to dwell in Canaan. Not only those who are still alive, but all "who died in the faith". LESSON 5 My Daily Covenant With God GOD'S COVENANT WITH MOSES Sunday The Law Exodus 20:1-17 Monday The Law Given To Israel Exodus 20:2, 19:3-5; Romans 2:14 Tuesday Failure Under The Law Romans 3:3-25 Wednesday Judgment For Failure 2 Kings 25:1-11 Thursday No One Righteous Under Law Romans 3:9-12, 23; Galatians 3:22 Friday The Believer Not Under Law Ephesians 2:8; Romans 3:27-28, 4:5, 6:14, 7:4; Galatians 2:19, 4:4-7 Saturday The Believer Not Liable To condemnation Romans 8:1-3; John 5:24; 1 Peter 1:5 AN ACCURATE STANDARD Some experts in London worked for ten years to finish what is said to be the most perfect yard stick in the world. It is made of platinum and iridium and was designed to be used as the standard of the British government. Every year for ten years it was to be examined, and if it varied by a millionth of an inch, it would be discarded. GOD has given the Christian the law for his standard and rule of conduct. Its principles never change. "The law of the Lord is perfect." God knew that unless we had a standard by which to measure ourselves, and to know what we ought to be, we would never know that we were "falling short". A grocer would not know he was short-weighing unless he had a scale. A silk merchant would not be sure he was giving a full yard of goods unless he had a yard measure. MISSING THE MARK This is what the word sin means-"missing the mark, or falling short", like the arrow that misses the bull's eye. God wants us to do everything for His glory. When we fall short of this, we sin. Sin is not just doing something wrong. There is a sin of omission as well. Not doing a thing, when we know we should do it, is sin according to God's Word. Listen to it: "To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." (James 4:17.) There was plenty of sin in the world before the law was given. You remember)er that Genesis 6:5 aid that every thought and imagination of man's heart was wicked. No doubt they did not realize how wicked they were, until the law was given. GOD'S FOURTH COVENANT God made His fourth covenant with Moses at Mount Sinai. God set down very definite laws and attached definite penalties if these conditions were not obeyed. Paul says that this covenant "was added on" to the Abrahamic covenant. It was "added" because of the people's transgressions. The law did not make men sin. It just showed them that they were sinners. THE children of Israel really desired a law at Sinai, just as they desired a king in later years. They thought it would be easier to follow out the definite instructions of the law than to live under grace, as their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, had lived. But the law proved their undoing, for they failed to obey it, and so became subject to its penalties. The children of Israel found that the law "worketh wrath". Men sooner or later feel the punishment of the law when they disobey it.
The law was given only to Israel because God was not dealing with any other nation. You remember God created Israel to be the nation through whom His Son, Jesus Christ, was to come. If you turn to Exodus 20:2, 19:3-5, and Romans 2:14, you will see that the law was given to Israel alone. This was a covenant of works. God said, "Thou shalt", and "Thou shalt not". The reward for Israel's obedience under the test of the law was her own conscious blessing and happiness. If Israel was obedient, she would have the experience of being a peculiar treasure unto the Lord God above all other people. God said, "And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." THE LAW really was given to the Jew, not to the Gentile. But the Gentiles are none the less under law. The only person who is not under the law is the Christian. This is not because God does away with the claim of the law, but because the claim has been fully paid; the sentence of death has been carried out by Jesus Christ, who took the guilty sinner's place and died for his sin. The law has come to an end for the believer. (Romans 10:4.) "Jesus paid it all,Christ not only forgives us our sins, but He paid the penalty of our sins. Jews and Gentiles are under obligations to obey the law of God. The Christian is not. Christ did that for him, too. CONDITION 2. How was the law given? The law was given in three divisions: (1) Moral Laws; (2) Social Laws; (3) Religious Laws. God gave these laws to be obeyed. There were two parties in this covenant, God and His people. God's covenant was written on tables of stone. It was obedience to this covenant of works that made the people of Israel the children of God. MORAL LAW THE commandments give us the standards that we described in the first paragraph of this lesson. The moral law had nothing of Christ in it. The commandments express the righteous will of God. They must be obeyed. If one cannot obey them, he must be punished. Even our Lord Himself was "made under the Law". He was made under the Law given to Israel, for our Lord was born an Israelite. (Galatians 4:4.) He kept the whole Law perfectly. (Hebrews 4:15.) No other person before or since ever has kept the Law. (Romans 3:9-12,23; Galatians 3:22.) Christ did not live apart from the Law. He lived under the Law and fulfilled its every demand. He was the only perfect man on this earth, and this was because He was the God-Man. SOCIAL LAW GOD showed His chosen people that it made a difference how they lived together. He wanted them not only to believe in God as their Father, but He wanted them to act as if they really were the children of God. Remember, people will judge your Christian life and your belief in the Lord Jesus Christ on how you act. You are an "epistle.... known and read of all men." EVERYTHING in the religious law pointed to Jesus Christ. Many of these religious ordinances are described in the book of Leviticus. Whenever a lamb was offered as a sacrifice, it pointed forward to the Lamb of God, Whose blood was shed for us. When the high priest went in to the Holy of Holies on the day of atonement, it pointed forward to our High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who makes intercession for us constantly before the throne of grace and makes it possible for us to go to this throne with boldness. CONDITION 3. What was the condition that would bring blessing? Let us not mix up blessings that God would bring to Israel if she were obedient, and the purpose that God was going to work out through Israel. God's purpose was to produce the "seed of the woman". (Genesis 3:15.) God would carry out His purpose regardless of how Israel acted. The blessing to the children of Israel, during the time that God was working out His purpose, depended wholly on her obedience to the law. The reason that God gave Israel the law was to keep her in the place of her own blessing. There was no condition attached to God's purpose. It depended wholly upon Himself. He was going to bring forth "a seed", a Saviour, for the salvation of the world regardless of Israel's disobedience. Israel's blessing was wholly conditional. If she obeyed, she would receive a blessing. If she was "stiffnecked and disobedient", she would be cursed. There is no "if" in God's promise to produce "the seed". God's promise to the Christian is much the same. His salvation is an unconditional promise to all who believe. (John 3:16.) It depends wholly upon God's faithfulness to His own promise. But the Christian's happiness in this world, during the time in which God is working out his salvation, depends wholly upon the Christian himself and his own obedience to God's commandment. Every one of God's children should know this truth. His testimony and walk and service depend upon this, If a Christian is to be happy, he must obey God's instructions. CONDITION 4. How was the Tabernacle a type of Jesus Christ> Every ceremony that was performed in the Tabernacle pointed forward to Jesus Christ. This wilderness Tabernacle that God told Moses to make was the meeting place between God and His people. In the Book of Hebrews we read that it was a copy of heaven itself. This is what heaven will be - a perfect fellowship with our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Now the Old Testament Tabernacle was the place where God met with Israel. You remember we called your attention to the fact that every lamb that was sacrificed, that every offering that was made, pointed forward to the Lamb of God. The Altar of Incense was a type of Christ, our intercessor. It is through Him that our prayers go to the Heavenly Father. In the Laver we see the type of Christ as He cleanses us from everything that is sinful. Everything in the Tabernacle would be a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. . The child of God is no longer under Law, but under Grace. What does this mean? That he is to obey God, not because he has to, but because he wants to in order to please the Heavenly Father. A Christian obeys God, not to keep from going to hell, but because he is on his way to heaven, and he wants to show this fact in his daily walk. (Ephesians 2:8; Romans 3:27-28.) Is this true of your life? LESSON 6 My Daily Covenant With God GOD'S COVENANT WITH ISRAEL Sunday Dispersion For Disobedience Deuteronomy 30:1, 28:63-68 Monday The Future Repentance Of Israel While In THe Dispersion Deuteronomy 30:1-2 Tuesday The Return Of The Lord Deuteronomy 30:3; Amos 9:9-14; Acts 14:14-17 Wednesday Restoration Of Israel To Palestine Deuteronomy 30:5; Isaiah 11:11-12 Thursday Conversion Of Israel Deuteronomy 30:6; Romans 11:26-27; Hosea 2:14-16 Friday The Judgment Of Israel's Oppressors Deuteronomy 30:7; Isaiah 14:1-2; Joel 3:1-8; Matthew 25:31-46 Saturday Israel's Prosperity Deuteronomy 30:9; Amos 9:11-14 ENTERING THE PROMISED LAND GOD gave a special covenant to Israel as they were about to go into the Land of Promise after their forty years of wandering in the wilderness. These were Moses' last words to the people whom he had led so faithfully out of Egypt to the very borders of Canaan. It is this covenant which gives us the condition under which Israel entered Palestine. This was the portion of the Promised Land that was to he their immediate home. Remember, Palestine is not the whole of the Promised Land, but only a very small portion of the three hundred thousand square miles. CONDITION 1. Why were the children of Israel to be scattered over the earth? Palestine in the terms of this covenant was to be held for Israel only as long as they were obedient to the law. Hear God's words to the children of Israel, "Ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. And the Lord Shall scatter thee among all people, form the one end of the earth even unto the other ... and among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest." (Deut. 28:63-68.) GOD FLASHES A DANGER SIGNAL IN THE WILDERNESS THIS is God's statement, and it will come to pass. Think how exactly true this statement is. God had given Israel promises of great blessing if they would only be obedient to Him. But God in His kindness put up this red light in the wilderness to warn them of oncoming danger. Can you imagine the engineer of a great train unheeding a signal that had been placed beside the track for his safety? Would he go on paying no attention to its warning? No one would do that. But this is just what the children of Israel did. Israel would not heed God's warning, and so we see a nation in wreckage, broken up; its pieces scattered over the face of the earth. Scattered among all the nations of the earth, as they are, how can we account for the fact that they still exist as a distinct people, when so many of the other great nations have disappeared or have lost their power? THE EVERLASTING JEW HERE is the Jew. Why does he exist after all the persecutions which his nation has endured? "Pharaoh tried to drown them; but they could not be drowned. Nebuchadnezzar tried to burn them; but they could not be burned. Haman tried to hang them; but it was of no avail. All the nations of the earth have persecuted them; but here they are, and more numerous at the present day than ever before. Why? Because God called them an everlasting nation." PUNISHED BUT PRESERVED Remember, God is going to punish His chosen people for their disobedience, but His plan is to preserve them. Just as an earthly father punishes his children if they are disobedient, but does not disown them, so does our Heavenly Father treat His children. A bad son is just as much his father's child as a good son. The only difference is that the good son has blessings that the disobedient child cannot enjoy. WE SEE the Jews among all the different nations of the earth, and yet they cannot be absorbed by them. We see them without a king and without a prince. They have lost their independence. They have lost their country. It is written by the prophet Hosea, "The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice...." (Hosea 3:4) They have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, but has God rejected them on that account? If God had dealt with the children of Israel according to what they deserved, the minute they had crucified Jesus, His Son, He would have left them to themselves. But God does not deal with us according to "our sins, nor reward us according to our iniquities." (Psa. 103:10.) CONDITION 2. Will Israel ever repent? God says they will. Listen to His words in Deuteronomy 30:2, They shall "return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey His voice." God knew that the children of Israel would be scattered over the earth because of their sin, and He also knew that after they were punished, they would return to Him. PUNISHMENT is good for each one of us. When we were children and our mothers made us go to our own room when we did something wrong, it had a very wholesome effect upon us. When we were alone, away from the family circle, we could think. This is just what the Lord did to the disobedient Jew. He allowed him to be led away captive. When he was a captive in a strange land, he had a chance to think. WE cannot doubt God's word when He says that the Jews will repent for their sin and turn back to God when we see how marvelously the prophecy of the dispersion of the Jew has been fulfilled ' God says that the Jew is to be gathered from the four corners of the earth. This great gathering already has been commenced. CONDITION 3. Will the king promised to Israel return and set up a kingdom? In Deuteronomy 30:3 we find that the Lord will return and gather them from all nations whither the Lord has scattered them. What does it say? Every orthodox Jew is looking for his Messiah to come. The Jew expects the Messiah to come as a king to establish His Kingdom. REMEMBER, Israel cannot have a kingdom unless she has a king. The throne of David has been empty for over twenty-five hundred years, waiting for David's greater Son, Christ, to sit upon it. When Christ comes, everything will be changed for the Jew. Let us look at the next condition and see one of the great changes. CONDITION 4. When will Palestine be given to the Jews? God has not "cast off " His people entirely. Israel is to exist as a nation to the very end. They maybe persecuted, or put to death, and undergo every cruelty. People may try to diminish their number and their influence. The Jew may be chased from one country to another, as he was in the Middle Ages. Or, the wealthy, honored and influential Jew may try to become a part of the nation in which he lives. All this may be true, but nevertheless they always will remain a separate nation until Jesus comes. Neither trials nor prosperity can ever change this. HOME AGAIN! GOD says that He is going to restore this people to their own land. Read Deuteronomy 30:5. God promised Abraham and his descendants a land which they have not yet fully possessed, and God's word must prove true. What a wonderful thing it will be when the Jew will be restored to his own land! Then there will be a converted nation with Jesus Christ as their King, and Jerusalem as the great center in the coming age. It will be a time of universal peace, and Israel will be the center of the nations. God says that the Jews are going to return to their own land. Let us watch the newspapers and see what happens. CONDITION 5. What will be the condition of the Jew to bring about this complete restoration? WITHOUT CHRIST The Jew is in a sad place today. He is without Christ. They keep the Passover; but where is the Lamb? They are religious; they are moral. They have retained many wonderful and noble virtues, but they are without the knowledge of the Saviour. Israel was chosen to be the light of the nations, but she has failed in her mission. She has rejected her Saviour. But He says, "One day they shall look unto me whom they have pierced." A whole nation shall see the Christ whom they have crucified. What a nation it is! A nation separated from all other peoples, chosen by God, and educated by His wisdom and love, reserved to become a blessing to all the world. Instead of fulfilling their commission, they stoned the prophets and finally with cruel hands nailed God's Son to the cross. But, at last, they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced and a nation shall be born in a day. It will be a look of repentance, for only a sight of the crucified Lord will show them their sin and grief. It will be a look of faith-a faith that will save. CONDITION 6. What will happen to those nations who have treated this nation so cruelly? History has proven over and over again that the nations who have treated the Jews with kindness have fared well, and the nations which have persecuted the Jews have suffered the consequences. America and Great Britain are wonderful illustrations of countries which have shown kindness to the Jew. "And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee." (Deut. 30:7) CONDITION 7. Will Israel always be down-troddened? God distinctly tells the prosperity that His people are to enjoy. He says, "I will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand." (Deut. 30:9.) "And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof.... And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them." (Amos 9:11-15.) The nation of Israel has had a great past; her present history is most Interesting. Now watch, for she also has a great future! LESSON 7 My Daily Covenant With God GOD IS FULFILLING HIS COVENANT WITH ISRAEL Sunday The Title Deed To Palestine Genesis 13:14-17, 17:4-8 Monday The Jews Punished Zechariah 7:4-14 Tuesday The Jews' Future Blessing Zechariah 8:1-15 Wednesday The Jews' Future Restoration Ezekiel 36:16-38 Thursday David's Everlasting Throne Ezekiel 37:21-28 Friday The King Of The Jews Rejected John 19:16-30 Saturday The King Of The Jews Triumphant Revelation 1:7, 5:11-14, 11:15, 19:11-16 PALESTINE TODAY AND YESTERDAY LET us go aboard one of our great ocean liners and cross the Atlantic. On [the way] we'll go through the Straits of Gibraltar and sail across the beautiful Mediterranean up to the splendid, modern harbor of Palestine, and land at the city of Haifa with its population of 50,000. It is situated by Mount Carmel, where Elijah called fire down out of heaven, and which today, pine tree clad, and exposed to a refreshing sea breeze, is Palestine's summer resort. Let us stand there in Palestine today and look back four thousand years. If we use our imagination, we can recall that day when God spoke to Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees and told him that He would give him this land as a possession. During all those forty centuries there have been only a few short periods when this country, Palestine, known as the Promised Land, has been under the rule of an organized government. PROBLEM 1. How Is God beginning to fulfil His promises to Israel? The last question in our study of God's Covenant with Israel asked if Israel would always be downtrodden. Turn back and read God's promise (see Condition 7, Lesson 6). Let us see how God is beginning to fulfill this promise today. OF LATE there has been a stirring in this land. There is building everywhere. Edifices are springing up like mushrooms. They are building on the banks of the Jordan, on the shore of the Dead Sea, beside blue Galilee and on the mountains and plains. $26,000,000 was devoted to building in 1935. There is a constant flow of immigration to this land, but still there is abundant work for all and the surplus in the national treasury is increasing. In March, 1935, over 7000 Jews legally entered Palestine. Why are the Jews returning in such ever-increasing numbers to Palestine in spite of the League of Nations? Why is there no depression, no unemployment or national debt? Because God has promised it. Jeremiah predicted it 2500 years ago. Read Jeremiah 23:7,8. PROBLEM 2. What part of the covenant with Abraham is God fulfilling today? Surely God is reviving the Jewish nation in a marvelous way, not in some new location, but in the land that god gave to Abraham and to his seed by an everlasting covenant. (Genesis 12:1-3) The people that have been scattered for 19 centuries are returning to their homeland. Today Palestine is the most prosperous country in the world. How do we account for this? God's Word said that Palestine should be rebuilt and restored in the latter days, and God is fulfilling His predictions in our very day. Read Isaiah 61:4. They are indeed building in "the old wastes." For the first time since Christ's ministry, Palestine has her own money, the first money that has been issued in Palestine for 1900 years. LOOK AT PALESTINE'S POSITION ON THE MAP! PROBLEM 3. What has happened to the Jew for the past 30 centuries? EVEN during the Hebrew monarchy, from Saul and David to the later kings of Israel and Judah, (1000 B.C. to 600 B. C.) the period which we think of as a period of independent rule in Palestine, even then, we find this little country dominated by Babylon, or Egypt, or Assyria. Under the Maccabees, the Jews gained a period of independence for about one hundred years. But just think of it! Apart from these few short periods this land, which God has promised to Israel, has been merely a district or province controlled by Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome,-or later by Moslem Khalifs, ruling from Damascus, Baghdad and Cairo. AN ALIEN IN THEIR OWN LAND PROBLEM 4. How soon Jerusalem was Christ's prophecy concerning the destruction of the temple fulfilled? Jerusalem was captured by the romans after a five month's siege, and the Temple was burnt down in 70 A.D. This was a direct fulfillment of Christ's words in Matthew 24:2. "See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." These words were spoken when the glory of the Temple was at its height. Following this destruction the era of building in Jerusalem ended. Toddy the "waste places" are being repaired. The Jewish state was crushed at that time and Jerusalem was made the site of a heathen temple. In 132 the Jews rebelled, and it was not until three and a half years that the savage fighting ended. After that the Jews lived in Palestine (their own Promised Land) merely as aliens. Then Christianity began to set its stamp on Palestine. After the time of Constantine, Christianity dominated the country until the invasion of the Persian in 614 and the Arabian Moslem conquest in 636. Then the Mohammedan became powerful and built the Moslem shrine, the Dome of the Rock, on the site of the old Jewish Temple. Think of a Mohammedan controlling that sacred spot where Solomon built his wonderful Temple! This was the very spot where Abraham offered up Isaac. Now the Jews dare not step as much as a foot in this sacred area. THE CRUSADES It was not until the Crusades that the Christian attempted to drive out the infidel from the Christian Holy Places. For nearly a century (1099 to 1187) the Crusaders had control of Jerusalem. But their power was broken by Saladin. Despite repeated attempts in the next 100 years, the early successes of the Crusaders were never gained again. The Turkish rule began well in 1517. Napoleon's adventure in Palestine in 1799 brought this country once again before the western nations. A NEWS FLASH - "JERUSALEM TAKEN" PROBLEM 5. When did the rule of the wicked Turk end in Jerusalem? This holy city which had been ruled by the Gentiles for 2500 years, and 1200 of these years by the Turk, was freed on Sunday, Dec. 9, 1917, during the great World War. HOW WAS JERUSALEM TAKEN? As General Allenby came near to Jerusalem, he wondered how he could best conquer these despotic Turks and capture the city from them. He hated to even think of having bloodshed in that holy city. He did not want to destroy the walls. He just marched up to Jerusalem. While he was approaching nearer and nearer, a rumor spread over the city that a strong army under one whose name was Allenby was coming. To the Turk "Allah Bey" meant the prophet of God. The Turks were terrified, thinking judgment from God had come upon them. They fled and allowed the General to walk into the city without firing a shot. He alighted from his horse, and bareheaded, walked through the Jaffa Gate. PALESTINE FOR THE JEWS THERE was an interesting commission given to Great Britain at this time to place "the country under such political, administrative, and economic conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home and the development of self-governing institutions, and also for safe-guarding the civil and religious rites of all the inhabitants of Palestine, irrespective of race and religion." Problem 6. Why is it that the children of Israel have never really ruled and possessed the land that God promised to them through their fathers, Abraham. Isaac and Jacob? (Genesis 35:10- 12) This land of Palestine was promised to Abraham and to his posterity. God gave it to them. Why has the Jew not possessed it all these years? Why is it that no other nation can gain lasting control of this same piece of valuable land? The covenant that we study today will help us understand and answer these questions. The covenant that God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which promised the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, and the nation Israel and the Land of Promise, was a covenant which depended entirely upon the faithfulness of God,- not upon Israel's faithfulness. It is true that when Israel is unfaithful, she is punished, just as we as Christians are chastised and punished when we depart from our Lord Jesus Christ. GOD'S PURPOSE CARRIED OUT PROBLEM 7. Does God always carry out His purpose? But God's plan cannon be changed. God allowed the children of Israel to be afflicted for four hundred years in Egypt, but He brought them out on account of the covenant. He allowed them to be carried captive to Babylon for seventy years, but He brought them back on account of the covenant. He has punished them for nearly two thousand years on account of their rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, but He will bring them back because of His covenant. God's purpose to give Israel a Redeemer has never been changed. THE Jew has always been fond of Palestine. His religious sentiments bind him to that place. He looks to it as his land. But many centuries of Jews have been born, and lived, and died without seeing the land that was so precious to them. For two thousand years it has been the lodestar of the Jewish vision, and the object of their faith. In Palestine all their hopes and aspirations are centered. BACK TO PALESTINE PROBLEM 8. What are some of the agencies that re carrying out God's plan to bring the Jews back to Palestine? Up until the last years, the Jew just thought of Palestine as his religious home. Just a few old and scholarly devotees, trickled into the country. Although there have always been some Jews in Palestine from the earliest times, they have not for over nineteen centuries existed as a nation in this land. Many efforts have been made these last years to restore the Jew to his own land. The first of these we know is the Zionist Movement. One of the great leaders of this Movement tried to organize working Jewish communities in residential quarters in Jerusalem and elsewhere. Then there was a "Back to Palestine" activity among the Jewish people in Russia. "Love of Zion" societies were started, which spread rapidly throughout Russia on to other parts, Berlin, Vienna, and New York. These all helped to establish some of the earliest colonies in Palestine. In these villages, the farmers were assisted financially by the great Baron Edmond de Rothschild. A few years before this, some daring souls in the old Jewish community of Jerusalem founded what is now a prosperous orange growing center in the heart of the citrus belt, which was once a barren region. The climate here is much like that in Southern California. THE Zionist activity in Palestine was greatly handicapped and came to a standstill with the outbreak of the World War. In 1914 the total Jewish population was 16,000. In November 1917, Zionism was given a great impetus by the issuance of the Balfour Declaration. Colonization in towns and rural areas has developed a total population of 300,000 Jews, from a community of about 84,000 recorded in 1922. The Jew is in every phase of the life of Palestine today. Where are all these Jews coming from? They have already come from 64 nations. This all is happening now, but there is to be a day when there shall be a complete restoration of this wonderful country to the Jew. LESSON 8 My Daily Covenant With God GOD'S COVENANT WITH DAVID Sunday A Covenant Of Promise 2 Samuel 7:12-29 Monday Unchangeable Jeremiah 33:19; Numbers 23:19; Psalm 78:67-71, 89:34-37 Tuesday Confirmed Unto His Seed 1 Kings 9:2-7; Psalm 89:4, 28-33, 132:11-14 Wednesday God's Faithfulness Joshua 23:2, 14; 2 Samuel 7:1-3, 8, 9; 2 Chronicles 9:3-8 Thursday A "Seed" Genesis 3:15, 12:2-3, 26:1-5, 28:10-15 Friday David's Greater Son Luke 1:26-38 Saturday David's Son, Israel's Hope Isaiah 9:1-7 WHEN the birth of the Prince of Wales was announced, throughout all the length and breadth of the British Empire there was rejoicing. Here was the longed-for heir to the British throne, so on land and sea salutes were fired, flags were unfurled, and ringing bells proclaimed the joyful news. But listen, there is to arise a Prince out of the house of David who will redeem His people. He, too, will come for judgment and for salvation. The Prince of the house of David is also to be Immanuel, - God with us. When He was born in yonder hamlet of Bethlehem, a royal salute heralded Him. The angelic host appeared to the shepherds and said, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Some day this Prince of David will sit upon the throne. A MAN AFTER GOD'S OWN HEART The children of Israel had entered into the Promised Land; but had Joshua given them rest? No. They had no peace. God raised up mighty judges, of whom Samuel was one of the greatest. Then Israel, because of their unbelief, wanted a king, and Saul was elected. The people chose this first king, but God over-ruled even in their disobedience and in His grace He called forth and anointed David, a man after His own heart. THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISRAEL IN DAVID we see a picture of the future Anointed One. David was a man chosen from the people who went through many trials. But his faith was in God, and God exalted him mightily. He had a great influence over his people because they knew that the Lord God loved him. He sympathized with all those about him in their sorrow. He, too, was a shepherd king. Remember, the Lord Jesus is to be a shepherd king. It was to this king, David, that God spoke through Nathan, the prophet, and unveiled to him the future kingdom. The Golden Age of Israel had been reached. A period of weakness in the older centers of civilization, Egypt and Mesopotamia, enabled the genius of David to form a strong, centralized government. Its influence extended for a while from the Euphrates to the Egyptian frontier. Look at the map and see the extent of this conquest. The fruits of this prosperity were shown in the luxury of Solomon's reign. LET us see what was in the covenant that God made with David. Listen to the words of the covenant, "Thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee; thy throne shall be established for ever." (II Samuel 7:16) GOD CONFIRMS HIS OWN PROMISE Won't you turn to Psalm 89:3-4, 35-37, and see how God afterward confirmed this promise to David by an oath? Have you ever had anyone make a very wonderful promise to you, and then have a long time slip by without his saying anything about it? You took for granted he had forgotten. Then he came to you and said, "I haven't forgotten my promise. I am going to carry it out." DOES GOD MEAN WHAT HE SAYS? This is how God confirmed His promise that He had made with David. Did God mean what He said to David when He promised that his house, and his kingdom, and his throne should be established for ever? Does God always mean what He says? If He does, then assuredly He meant exactly this. God made this promise to David and did not put any condition on it. What God promises He will bring to pass. Here are a list of all that was included in this covenant that God made with David: 1. A Davidic "Seed". 2. "A House". 3. "A Throne". 4. "A Kingdom". 5. National Punishment. 6. Unconditional Mercy. 7. A Kingdom Established Forever. CONDITION 1. What was the first promise in this covenant? Remember that the first covenant which God made with Adam promised a Redeemer, a "seed". Every other covenant reveals God's purpose in working out His plan of giving that Redeemer to the world. It had been some three thousand years ago that God had made this covenant with Adam. He had renewed this covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then He spoke to David and made His covenant with him. WE know that God must have promised David d seed, because a house and a throne could not be established without a son. He says, "I will set up thy seed after thee." The promise is that there is to arise a Prince out of the house of David, Who will redeem His people. Was Solomon then this promised son? No. We remember that he failed, wise as he was, to keep even the unity of the kingdom which his father had established. Was Solomon's son the one? We only have to read the story of Rehoboam to know how utterly he failed. The promised seed of David was to be "a greater than Solomon." He was the Lord Jesus Christ, David's greater Son, and some day He will sit upon the throne of His father David. CONDITION 2. What does God mean when He promises David "a house"? It is interesting to see God that God promises to build a "house" for David, after David wanted to build a house for the Lord. God told David that he could not build a house for Him just then. The building of the Temple was to be left for his son, Solomon. Instead, God said that He would build a house for David. He did not mean one that is built of cedar or marble, but a posterity, a family. The word "house" is used more than 2300 times in the Old Testament and almost every time in exactly the same sense as it is generally used and understood by us. IT WAS a great thing to belong to the "house" of David, because nothing could destroy it. God had promised to establish it. The Old Testament is full of how the house of David sinned against God ,and fell into condemnation. But still the promise stands. THUS the "house" of David was chosen by Jehovah that He might fulfill His purpose. The promise still awaits fulfillment. When we consider this covenant, we are not interested in all the "ups" and "downs" that happened in David's life. Our interest is in the covenant that God made with David, a covenant that was unconditional on God's part. After a lapse of thirty centuries it is still waiting its fulfillment. We can follow this covenant through the Scripture until we find its glorious fulfillment set before us in the Book of Revelation. CONDITION 3. Did God mean that He was going to establish a real throe for David? THE word "throne" in the Old Testament always has a literal significance. It always means just what it says. The great covenant keeping God promised that the throne and kingdom of David were to remain for ever. Although it has been over 2500 years since a king has sat upon David's throne, nevertheless, the promise remains that David's throne is to endure. The coronation of David as king over all Israel resulted in making Jerusalem the political center of the kingdom. Henceforth, Jerusalem, the city of the Great King, is spoken of as a type of the New Jerusalem, "whose builder and maker is God." Before David became king of all Israel, six sons were born to him,- three died in infancy, and of the other three, two were murdered and one perished in a rebellion. Of the children that were born to David after he was crowned king, only two are of any interest to us, Nathan and Solomon. The right of succession to the throne was being guarded by Jehovah. It is through Nathan that Mary, the mother of Jesus, comes. It is through Solomon that Joseph is born. Thus the throne is made secure for the greater Son of David. CONDITION 4. What kind of a kingdom was promised to David? DAVID'S trust in this covenant was unwavering to the last. He had no idea of the establishing of any other kingdom than his own. A king never came to a mighty throne with a greater promise than Solomon. Yet Solomon failed. When he failed, the fate of David's throne and kingdom for the present was sealed. AN UNCHANGING GOD But Solomon's failure did not-change God's covenant with David. One greater than Solomon, the Son of David, would yet appear, even the Lord Jesus Christ. The covenant shall then be fulfilled. This is the kind of a God we worship. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1:17) The kingdom of David is in ruins. The children of Israel are world wide in dispersion. Jerusalem is still in the hands of the Gentiles. There is no hope save in God. He is the One that will fulfill His covenant. If David's kingdom is to be established, there must be d king. The announcement that the angel Gabriel made to Mary confirmed the covenant that God made with David. Concerning the Son to be born he says, "He shall be great ... and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David." THE Messiah that was promised should establish the throne of David in Jerusalem and from that center He is to rule "from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." (Psalm 72:8) CONDITION5. Was Israel to be punished because of her disobedience? When Jesus Christ came to this earth and offered Himself as King, He was rejected. John says, "He came unto Ms own, and His own received Him not." (John 1: 1) This still did not change God's plan nor the covenant that He had made with David. All the prophets had predicted that the Messiah was to come. He was to be of David's line and was to reign as King over all ' Israel. Instead of this we have the King crucified, the throne of David in ruins, Jerusalem trodden down by the Gentiles and Israel scattered to the ends of the earth. Her disobedience had to be punished. From that day to this, Israel has been blind as to what God's plan was to be. But when they see Him whom they have pierced, they will claim Him as King. CONDITION 6. Does God remain merciful in spite of Israel's sin? God has been just in His punishment of the children of Israel because of their disobedience. They have been stubborn and stiffnecked. They would not obey the warning signals that God placed all along the line for them. When they had stoned His prophets and finally put His only begotten Son to death, whom God sent into the world to be their Saviour and Redeemer, you would think that God would have said, "Never again. You have lost your chance. I have done everything." BUT Paul says that the unbelief of the children of Israel has made them blind to all the mercies of God. If any Jew's spiritual eyes become open, he may receive the blessing of the Gospel and a knowledge of the Saviour. This is the mercy of God. CONDITION 7. What does God say is to be the extent of this kingdom? Listen to God's words again. "Thy throne shall be established for ever." (II Sam. 7:16) The duration of this kingdom according to the promise is measured by the word "forever."
LESSON 9 My Daily Covenant With God THE NEW COVENANT Sunday A New Covenant Jeremiah 31:31-36 Monday A Better Covenant Hebrews 8:6-13 Tuesday Mere Types Of Old Covenant Hebrews 9:1-10 Wednesday Realities of New Covenant Hebrews 9:11-24 Thursday A Better Sacrifice Hebrews 9:25 through 10:18 Friday Christ The Way Hebrews 10:19-39 Saturday Old Covenant Broken Romans 3:9-28 GOD AND THE NEW COVENANT IN the New Covenant God is going to prove what He can do with man. Unfaithful and feeble as man is God wants to prove what He can do when He is allowed and trusted to do all the work. In the old covenants man failed in whatever depended upon his obedience. The New Covenant in which God is going to do all the work shall never be broken. He Himself keeps it and insures our keeping it. The New Covenant which God makes with man is in Christ Jesus. It was established and confirmed on the Passover night, (Matt. 26:26-30; 1 Cor. 11:2326) when Jesus ate His last supper with His disciples before His crucifixion. He made a blood covenant with them. As Christ gave them the wine, He said, "This is my blood of the new testament (or covenant), which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26:28) The blood He was to shed on Calvary for our redemption was the blood of the New Covenant. The New Covenant of Grace was given to take the place of the Covenant of the Law given to Moses. "The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (John 1:17) EVERLASTING COVENANTS God had made other covenants with Noah, Abraham, and David, but these were unconditional and enduring. They will never become old. They will never be replaced by any other covenant. They were everlasting covenants. But the covenant with Moses was conditional and depended upon man. To understand what the New Covenant is we must first understand what the Old Covenant was. The Old Covenant was made on the day Israel came out of Egypt. It was given to Moses for the people. Read God's words in Exodus 19:3-6. MAN FAILED UNDER OLD COVENANT THE old covenant was conditional,-"if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me." The requirement was that Israel should "obey my voice, and keep my covenant." This Israel agreed to do. "And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." (Ex. 19:8) In the Old Covenant man had the opportunity of proving what he could do, and he utterly failed. Remember, man is, a sinner and God wants him to see this so He can offer him a Saviour. Sin destroys our fellowship with God. God has created man for this very thing. Christ not only came to bear our sins and restore the fellowship that man lost with God in the garden of Eden, but to bring us blessings. He lived without sin under the very Law of Moses that the people could not keep. Then He died to bear the penalty for the sins of all the world who could not keep the law. Let us look to see in what way this New Covenant is better than the old one of the law. 1. It was better than God's covenant with Moses. 2. It was established on ]:letter promises. 3. It was written on the heart. 4. Gives a knowledge of God. 5. Wipes out sin. 6. Rests on a finished redemption. 7. Includes Israel. CONDITION 1. In what way is the New Covenant better than God's covenant with Moses? "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, He said, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant". (Heb. 8:7,8) When God spoke to Israel through Moses, He said, "If ye will obey my voice." "If ye will," and "If ye will not," but when He speaks to us in the New Covenant, He says, "I will." There is no "if" about it. "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people." God is going to complete this covenant with us when Jesus comes again. Suppose the Lord had laid down a condition as He did in His covenant with Moses, and had said, "All these things will come to pass 'if ye will obey my voice'." How long we would have to wait for peace and righteousness. When the King of Peace comes, He will bring peace. We never can obey His voice. The old covenants depended on man's obedience, one which he could break and did. (Jer. 31:32) The New Covenant is one which God has made which shall never be broken. He Himself keeps it. CONDITION 2. Upon what kind of promises was this New Covenant based? Do not fail to read Jeremiah 31:33-34. God could not establish the New Covenant of Grace with man before the ruins of the Old Covenant of Works were removed. Christ must not only fulfill the law perfectly in which man has so utterly failed, but He must pay for the sin of the people in their disobedience under the old covenants. Here is an illustration: A beautiful church was destroyed by fire. Only a heap of wreckage and ashes remained. The people immediately went about to build a new structure on the same spot. In order to do this two things must happen. First, the old ruins of the former church must be removed. After all the debris and ashes have been taken away, the new building can be constructed. This is what Jesus Christ must do. First, He must take away the ruins which the sin and disobedience of man have caused. He did this when He died upon the cross and bore the sin of the whole world. But this was not all. After the ruins of sin were removed, Christ wanted to build a new structure. God requires perfect obedience to His laws. Christ was absolutely obedient. He brought the obedience which God had required of men. When He died upon the cross, He said, "It is finished". Everything that Adam lost by his sin, Christ redeemed by His obedience. Christ made the New Covenant in His blood, and you may be sure that He will keep it with man. CONDITION 3. Where was the new law to be written? God did not write His covenants this time on tables of stone, but on the fleshly tables of the heart. He said, "I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts." God wanted us to obey the law because we loved Him. People obeyed under the law because of fear. They knew that they would suffer a punishment if they disobeyed. Remember, the first great commandment is to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." And the second is like unto it, to "love thy neighbor as thyself." If these two laws are written in our hearts, we will obey all of the other laws without even thinking of the law. Turn to Exodus 20 and see if everyone of the commandments cannot come under these two great laws. Is God's law written on your heart? Can you say, "I love to do thy will, O God"? CONDITION 4. Why did God give the law? God gave all the covenants of the Old Testament for one purpose, that man might really know Him. Man was created in the image of God to have fellowship with Him. When man sins, he is separated from God. God wanted man not only to know Him as Creator, but to heartily love Him and live with Him in eternal happiness, to glorify and praise Him. No doubt Adam and Eve knew God as their Creator. We do not know just how far their knowledge of Him went, but it must have been very great. They talked with God and walked with Him. Because of sin people do not know God today. You know what happens when there is a misunderstanding between friends. There must be a confession of what is wrong and everything made right before there can be any fellowship again. That is the reason that Jesus Christ came into the world. He came to tell forth God. He said, "I am the way to God." Again, "If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also." Through Christ, under the New Covenant, we may know God. Do you really know your Heavenly Father? Is there any sin in your life that is keeping you from Him? What must you do if there is? (I John 1:9) CONDITION 5. What does this "New Covenant" do with our sins? The whole Bible contains God's great plan of redemption. What God really wants to do is to restore an intimate companionship between Him and us. Christ wants to call us "friends." He says "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." This communion in Eden was broken off by sin and wilful disobedience. It is restored through the forgiveness of sin by the blood of Christ. Read I John 1:9. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." In the Old Testament this was symbolically set forth by the blood of sacrifices. In the New Testament a cleansing of sin by the blood of Christ is fully brought about. At the time when Christ sat with His disciples at the Lord's Supper, Jesus spoke of His blood as the blood of the New Covenant. Our Lord makes a contrast between the blood of the Old Covenant, namely that of bulls and of goats, and the blood of the New Covenant, namely the blood of Jesus. The blood of bulls and goats could not take away the sin of the world, but Christ's blood so completely covers men's sins that God can see them no more. It removes our sins as far as the east is from the west. It blots them out as a thick cloud so that God remembers them against us no more forever. (Psa. 103:12; Isa. 44:22-23) CONDITION 6. Upon what does this "New Covenant" rest? We remember that the solemnest covenant of all was the covenant of blood. When Jesus Christ made His covenant of redemption, He said, "This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." When Jesus made a compact for the redemption of our souls from the power of sin, it meant the shedding of His blood. Christ is eager to make an agreement with anyone who feels his helplessness. He will make such an agreement with him that will be eternally binding. He will make a blood covenant. . When we gather around the table at the communion service and partake of this symbol of His blood, we acknowledge that we are His, purchased by His precious blood; and He thus pledges by a solemn covenant that He will take care of us and see that our sins are put away and that we are kept safely to the end. Alas! My covenant with Him is sure to be broken. I cannot keep Him, but He can keep me, and He will. (II Tim. 1:12) It was not the life of Christ, but the death of Christ, that was the purchase price of our redemption. "The blood of Jesus Christ. His Son cleanseth us from all sin." "We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." Christ has paid the complete price by the blood of His cross. We axe 11 purchased with His own blood." There is not one thing left for us to do as far as our redemption is concerned. Christ has made a promise in His blood, and He will keep it. CONDITION 7. Does God include His chosen people in this New Covenant? Christ's finished work of redemption included both Jew and Gentile alike. Paul said, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth: to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." LESSON 10 My Daily Covenant With God GOD'S COVENANT WITH US Sunday The New Covenant Matthew 26:17-30 Monday The Covenant Memorial 1 Corinthians 11:23-24 Tuesday A Memorial Meal Luke 22:7-20 Wednesday A Costly Redemption 1 Peter 1:15-25 Thursday Covenant Fellowship John 15:7-17 Friday Fellowship With Christ 1 John 1:3-10 Saturday The Blood Of THe Covenant John 19:16-37 OUR COVENANT LORD GOD through the centuries made covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Israel, an David, but this is the startling fact today !hat Christ Himself came down into this world to make a covenant in His own blood with us. He was the guest of only a few when He was here on the earth. There was only one man of old to whom the Saviour sent the message, "Where is the guest chamber where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?" Today He is the guest of all who will have Him. Listen to His words in Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me." There is no guest in all the world like Jesus. A MEMORIAL MEAL PROBLEM 1. What Is the covenant feast that Christ has prepared for us? When the Lord Jesus Christ established the Last Supper, that He wants us to celebrate in memory of Him until He comes again, He sat at the head of the table as host. What a feast it is! How could it be anything else when the hand of the Saviour Himself spreads the table? 61 When we go to the Communion Table, we go to the costliest feast that has ever been spread in all of this world. The Roman emperors used to spend a fortune on a single feast. But they would not be equal to this. The costly drink which Cleopatra prepared when she dissolved pearls in wine was cheap when compared with the wine which fills the communion cup. There halve been banquets in New York that have been so costly that people were shocked by the expense of them. But they are as nothing when compared to the feast which the Son of God spreads for His own. It is true that this table is spread with severe plainness. It looks like a very simple repast. But remember this! It cost more than all the sparkling gems and all the precious metals of the earth. It exhausted the very treasury of heaven to provide it. You remember Peter impressed it upon us that we were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the blood of Christ. (I Peter 1:18) PROBLEM 2. Who is worthy to sit at this feast? Of course, we are not worthy of a place at this table. Nobody is. (ICor. 11:27) We have our places at this table merely by the grace shown us by Jesus Christ. If we had an invitation to the table of some great king, we would not hesitate to accept it. We would tell it to all of our acquaintances. We would like to have it announced in the newspapers. We would hand down to our children the letter which conveyed this message, as a real heritage. A KING'S TABLE SPREAD BUT the invitation to the Communion Table is to the table of the King of kings. It is a greater honor to sit at this table as a guest of Jesus Christ than to Sit at the right hand of the greatest ruler in this universe. Don't ever fail to go to the Communion Table whenever it is spread. It is a great honor indeed! PROBLEM 3. What kind of a covenant does Christ make with us at the Communion Table? Christ says that this costly cup of wine at the Lord's Supper "is the covenant in my blood". (I Cor. 11:25) The elements on the table tell us that Christ died, "the just for the unjust," to bring us to God. We are invited to the Lord's Table that we may "show the Lord's death". It is also a sign of close fellowship. To sit at Christ's table is a mark of friendship. THE PARTIES OF THE COVENANT THIS is the agreement that you make with Christ at the Communion Table. There are two parties in this agreement which make distinct pledges to each other,-the Lord Jesus Christ and you. The Saviour agrees to keep safely what you commit to Him. (II Tim. 1:12) You promise to be loyal to Him who has redeemed you at the cost of His own precious blood. You remember that the blood covenant was the most solemn in its character. PROBLEM 4. What do the symbols of this covenant mean, - the bread and the wine? Christ used bread and wine as symbols of the covenant that He has made with us. We use the cross and crown as symbols. We use the lamp as a symbol of the Word. You know you can do what you please with bolts of red, white and blue cloth, but when this cloth is made into the Stars and Stripes, they are made symbols of the United States of America. No one can do what he pleases with it now. If anyone drags that flag in the dust, he is openly defying the nation for which it stands. If you salute the flag, you salute the Republic. If you, degrade the flag, you degrade the Republic. "I pledge allegiance to the flag, and to the country for which it stands" are our words. The minute we make the red, white and blue cloth into a flag as a symbol it is something beside cloth. Listen carefully and think seriously! When the bread and the wine are placed upon the Communion Table as a symbol of the body and blood of Christ, they. are something beside flour and grape juice. When you take these symbols as the body and blood of Christ, you renew the covenant that binds Christ to you and binds you to Christ. PROBLEM 5. What does God expect to do for no If we enter into a covenant of blood and bread with Him? GOD is waiting to make a covenant, or renew a covenant, with you. But when you take the body and blood of Christ and take Him as your guard and guide, it is for you to keep your part of the covenant. When Christ enters in to the covenant of bread with you, He means that He will supply your needs. He says that He is the Bread of Life. Feed upon Him and let His blood, in the symbol of the wine, cleanse you day by day from sin. PROBLEM 6. Does God enter into a covenant only with those who are strong enough to keep their part? Christ is eager to make an agreement with any person in this world who feels his helplessness and knows his sinfulness. He wants to make such an agreement with him that will be eternally binding. He will make a blood covenant. He extends His pierced hand toward the sinner who seeks His help and says, "This is my blood of the now testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." You remember in the old days, that a covenant was sealed with the blood of bullocks and lambs slain upon the altar, but the new covenant is made in the blood of God's own Son. Very often Christians hesitate to come to the Lord.'s Table, because they feel themselves too unworthy. The worse you feel about yourself, the more you need to come. The emblems on this table indicate, that Christ shed His blood to make us worthy. PROBLEM 7. How should this covenant relation affect our living? If we understand what we are doing when we take the blood in that cup which Christ hands to us as He makes His new covenant with us, our lives will be very different. We should realize that it is this blood of Jesus St, His Son, that cleanseth us from all sin. If this is true, the past is blotted out. What we have to do is to go forward. Let us live by the grace of God as one should live who has been washed by the blood of Christ. We cannot return to the sin from which our Saviour has cleansed us. To make this higher resolve is our part of the covenant that we make with the Saviour as we take the cup from His hand at the Communion Table. This covenant which Christ makes with us in His own blood gives us peace and assurance all through life. Remember, we may fail, but the covenant in, Christ's blood is everlasting. Whoever enters into this covenant with Christ will find that He never fails those who put their trust in Him. "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." (Hebrews 13:20-21) LESSON 11 My Daily Covenant With God COVENANT FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD Sunday Fellowship With God 1 John 1:1-9 Monday Tests Of Fellowship 1 John 2:1-14 Tuesday The Love Of The World 1 John 2:15-29 Wednesday Christian Fellowship 1 John 3:1-10 Thursday Living Together 1 John 3:11-24 Friday Love-life 1 John 4:11-21 Saturday Rewards Of Fellowship 1 John 5::1-21 ARE we sure that we know why God wants to Make a covenant with His children? Remember, He created them in His image to have fellowship with Himself. Sin has broken this fellowship and separated us from Him. He wants to draw us back. The covenant means a very close agreement between two parties. It is only as we have union with Christ that we have life. In John 15 it says, "I am the vine, ye are the branches." The life of the branch comes from the vine. Sin cuts the branch away from the vine, and the branch dies. This eternal union between Christ and the believer is the very essence of his salvation. The English word covenant comes from two Latin words, - cum venire, which means "coming together." This indicates a very close agreement, like the marriage union. PROBLEM 1. How does our covenant relationship with God affect our conduct? How are we to live if we have entered into a covenant relationship with Christ? Does our creed affect our conduct? If Christ enters into our life in a covenant relation, He will assume the responsibility for our life. As Paul puts it, "It is no longer I that live. but Christ that liveth in me." If Christ fills our lives, as water fills a reservoir, then whenever our life is expressed in any way, it will be like opening the faucet. The life that is stored up within will come out. What is the outflow of your life in your words and in your deeds? Does it show forth Christ? PROBLEM 2. What are the standards of living for the child of the covenant? There is nothing that people despise as much as to have anyone say he is a child of God and act as if he were the child of the Devil. People have a right to expect that children of God will act differently. We ought to constantly see if our life keeps step with what we believe. God's Word should be the constant standard for our behavior. WHEN we read the 13th chapter of I Corinthians and really see what standard God has put there for those of us who have entered into a covenant with His Son, we see, how far we fall short of having our lives filled with the love of the One who died for us. When we read in God's Word that "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ", it stimulates us to a greater earnestness in all that we do, for it is there that Christ will reward us for our labor. PROBLEM 3. What relationship will our covenant with Christ give us? The first thing that we find in this covenant relationship with Christ is friendship and fellowship. When He invites us to His table, it is a mark of friendship. In John 15 Christ calls us "friends." To some, a table is nothing but 6 feeding place. Surely Christ's table does not mean that. The table with Christ at the head stands for the most perfect companionship. Around the Lord's table there is good cheer. The conversation between us. and His children and Himself should bring real joy. He Himself is not only the Host but the Bread of life itself. PROBLEM 4. Where does God come in the life of a covenant child? In this covenant relation God comes first in the Christian life. " DO you seek to honor the Lord Jesus Christ, your unseen Host? Do you seek to please Him in everything? You will not always be asking the question of what is right and wrong in your life. You will ask instead, "Does it please the Lord Jesus Christ?" PROBLEM 5. Why must the child of the covenant week the welfare of God's Kingdom? When we seek God's Kingdom first in our lives, we not only seek God's glory but also the welfare of the Kingdom. There are two kingdoms in this world. They are at constant warfare with each other. The one is the Kingdom of Christ and the other is the Kingdom of Satan. Each of these has its own institutions. The institution that seeks to promote the Kingdom of Christ is the Christian Church with its arms outstretched in the form of hospitals, schools, missions and innumerable other agencies that get their support from the Church of Jesus Christ. The institutions of the Kingdom of Satan are all about us. And very different they are! Besides the gambling halls and dens of vice that we think of in connection with Satan, let us remember that he tries to take possession of the good things and use them for his own ends. Everything that Satan touches tends to destroy the faith of God's children. PROBLEM 6. How can we determine what is right or wrong? You say, "What things are wrong?" Christ wants us to be a full-rounded man or woman in mind, body, and spirit. Anything that helps to build us up in any of these ways I am sure would be pleasing to our heavenly Father who created us. Any recreation that is a re-creation is legitimate. Now I will show you how the Devil uses these good things for his own ends. Take the person who searches after wisdom. He is determined to find out all that he can in this world. He becomes an inveterate student of all the wisdom of this world, but He leaves God out. He does not know that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." You say, "is it wrong to study?" Surely not. But even that is wrong if God, Who is all wisdom, is not the center. For man's wisdom is only foolishness before God. HERE is a doctor who is determined that he will search until he finds a remedy that will free men's bodies from pain. He gives his life in experimentation. He makes a great name for himself, but He leaves God out. Think of leaving the Great Physician Who knows all things about the human body entirely out! The physician thinks that he does not need God. His institution boasts that man can find things out for himself. PROBLEM 7. Of what Kingdom is the child of covenant a citizen? The Christian is a subject of the kingdom in which God is first. He can do nothing then that will bring disrepute upon :this glorious domain. Young Christian, don't support the cause of the enemy. You would consider any soldier unworthy of the American uniform who would support the foe in any way. He becomes a traitor of the flag. Think of the shame connected with Arnold, the traitor in the Revolutionary War. This same principle holds true in the spiritual conflict between the forces of evil and the forces of righteousness. If you help the cause of Satan in any way whatsoever, by word or deed, you are a traitor to Christ. WHEN you find yourself questioning whether a thing is right or wrong, whether you should do this or that, whether you should go here or there, stop and consider it. The very fact that you ask the question means that there must be some thing of uncertainty in your mind about it. You do not stop to ask if it is right to go to school, or if it is right to be obedient to the laws of your country. You know they are right. PROBLEM 8. What kind of a life does the covenant child have? The covenant child has a different life. Christ said, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven." Remember, the righteousness of the Scribe and the Pharisee was an external righteousness. He did things because the law said he must. Everything he did was, for outward show. But his heart was black. Christ, called them "a generation of vipers." The righteousness of a Christian Is an internal righteousness. The Christian has no desire for many things in this world because his appetite has been changed. We know that the swine delights to be in the mire. He likes the husks and the garbage. But the sheep has a different appetite. He is a clean animal. The Christian has a different appetite from the world. It is no self-denial for the Christian to enjoy different things than others. He is like the sheep. He doesn't like uncleanness in body or mind. He is not compelled to do things against his wishes. PROBLEM 9. Must the covenant child look out for his own welfare? We must be careful what effect our actions have upon ourselves as well as on others. The Lord wants us to have a good time. He performed His first miracle at a wedding feast. We know that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. But remember the Christian is not here just to have a good time. We are not to be like a butterfly that flits from one flower to another. The Christian is here to bear fruit. Don't let anything that you do interfere with your spiritual life, nor with your physical well-being, for your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Keep everything in your life under the subjection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let Him sit upon the throne of your heart. LESSON 12 My Daily Covenant With God PRIVILEGES OF COVENANT CHILDREN Sunday Sonship 1 John 3:1-10; John 1:11-12; 2 Peter 1:4 Monday Prayer Hebrews 10:15-25; Ephesians 3:12 Tuesday Inheritance Romans 8:14-17; Galatians 4:1-7; 1 Corinthians 3:21-22 Wednesday Joy Philippians 4:4-23 Thursday Obedience Philippians 2:5-8; Acts 26:12-29 Friday Intercession For Others Genesis 18:23-33; James 5:16 Saturday Abiding In Christ John 15 IT IS a great thing to he born the child of a king whose domain is vast and powerful. That one is to become the possessor of great privileges by inh6ritance, because he is the son of a king. But greater than this is the privilege of being a child of God under the covenant. This is not a small matter. In John 1:12 we read, "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God." This really means "privilege." The Greek word means more than even this. It means power and privilege and a great deal more. It is a privilege that only the believer can have,- to be called the son of God. PROBLEM 1. Why Is this a This is a distinct privilege? This is the privilege that no one else can have. Neither can it be shared by everyone. It belongs to one that has entered into the blood covenant of redemption with the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a great deal of talk about the Fatherhood of God. We are told that God is the Father of all because He is the Creator of all. But this is not true. Here is a man who made a table. Is he the father of that table because he made it? You know better. In speaking to some here on earth, Christ said, "Ye are of your father, the Devil." Remember, all are not the children of God. Just as the child of a king has special privileges, so does the sonship of God give us untold blessings. PROBLEM 2. What does It mean for the child to have the nature of his father? Just as the child of a king has special privileges, so does the sonship of God give us untold blessings. God says that He has given us the spirit of children. We do not have to be afraid of our Father. We are not His servants. He has given us of His nature. This is a priceless favor. Our nature was once like our father Adam. We were rebellious and disobedient. But God takes that away and creates us a new creature after the image of Christ. He sends forth the spirit of His Son in our heart, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. BECAUSE we have the nature of Christ, we will grow like Him. How often it is said, "That boy is the exact image of his father." Why is this true? Has the son studied his features and tried to mold them to look like his father? No. The answer is that he is his father's son? The life that he has is from that one. PROBLEM 3. Why are the children of the covenant the only ones who can approach God's throne? When we have been made nigh by the blood of Christ, we do not have to come as a stranger to God's throne when we pray. Jesus teaches us to begin our prayer with "Our Father." What do we claim right away? Are we coming as a servant, or as a son? If I come as a child of God, I need have no fear for surely He cannot deny His own child. We do not have to go as servants and tell the Lord that we have done well, and so we want Him to bless us. But we go as children. If we were servants and came for our wages, I am afraid we would find that they would be the wages of sin, which is death. But when we go and say, "Father, I am Thy son," even though we have sinned, Christ has paid the penalty for it all. PROBLEM 4. What Is our inheritance as a child of the covenant? "And if children. then heirs; heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ." You notice it says, "If children." This statement is true if I have been born again into the family of God. Then I will have the characteristics of a child of God. If I am born into this divine family, then as a child I will become heir. We become heirs of all that God has. THIS can never happen in an earthly family. When an earthly father divides his inheritance, he gives each child his share. But the heavenly Father gives to each child all that He possesses. He hangs this motto up for His family, "All mine is thine." Just think! There is the same inheritance for all the children of God. Paul does not tell us that we are heirs in heaven. Our inheritance is much more than that. We are heirs of God. The Lord is my portion. We are not only heirs of God, but added to that joint-heirs with Christ. How much it adds to our happiness when we can share our joy with others. What a supreme enjoyment it will be to share everything with Jesus Christ. Let us not be children of God in name only, but in deed and in truth. Don't come short of any of the blessings that God has for you. Have you identified yourself with Jesus Christ? Are you ready to become a joint-heir with Him in all things? This prospect makes the things of the world look pretty shabby, doesn't it? PROBLEM 5. Should all of these prospects make the Christian life a happy one? The real Christian ought to be the happiest man in the world. He has nothing to worry about, for God has enjoined him to be careful for nothing. He has said, "Cast your care upon me." Take no thought for tomorrow. God has not only made provision.for a great inheritance for the future, but we are reminded that He will supply all of our need in an exceedingly abundant way above all that we can even ask or think and according to His riches. PROBLEM 6. What does Christ do for the Christian? When He comes into a life, He brings the violent temper under control. He speaks peace to the troubled heart. He makes John, the son of thunder, to become the meek apostle of love. Christ sheds abroad His love in the heart and gives us an assurance that our sins are forgiven; that God is our Father and heaven is our home. When a person realizes that he has become a child of God under the new covenant of the blood, does it make him happy?. We read that the converts at Pentecost did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God. When many believed in Samaria, we read that there was great joy in that city. The Christian religion is a religion of song and praise. The redeemed are a happy people. The angels sang in Bethlehem's field. The Bible closes with a song of the ransomed church of God. Surely we do not have to envy the world and her -pleasures. The possessions and joys of a Christian are far superior to those of the world.
PROBLEM 7. Does the Christan find joy in doing God's will? There are three reasons why we do certain things,-fear, interest, and love. Fear hangs over everyone's head. It is very powerful. It only works as long as a rod is over our head. Interest is also very powerful. If a person knows that if he does right it will promote his highest interests, he is very apt to do it. But even then the principle may fail. There is a remaining principle that never fails. Here is aL mother. Her dear little child four years old lies at the point of death. I can tell you where you will find her night and day. Not in the store, nor visiting her neighbors. No. There she sits by the bedside of her suffering child. WHAT holds the mother by that bedside? What makes her so kind and tireless in all of her attention? Is it fear? Is she afraid of the doctor? The idea of interest never once enters her mind. What is it then? You have answered the question already in your own mind. Why, it is love. It is love that makes her take a positive pleasure in performing the littlest task for the poor little sufferer. Let's take away the mother and put a hired person in her place. You may offer any reward, or threaten with any punishment and she can never take that mother's place. Why? Because mother is under the influence of the strongest feeling that makes men act,-love. Love to God is the great principle that should control our actions. Not fear or interest. "For love," says the apostle, "is the fulfilling of the law." That mother fulfilled all that any law from any doctor could demand and far more. |
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