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 GOD
MAKES COVENANTS WITH INDIVIDUALS INSIDE OF FAMILIES.
By: Arnold Kennedy.
INTRODUCTION.
The popular idea promoted in religious churches is that individuals are
born into the Christian faith by proselytising individuals of any family of races to
"ask Jesus into their hearts" and thus be "born again".
Such multi-racial individualism does not bring about the covenant relationship with God as
described through Scripture.
When we look right through Scripture, we find a different picture
whereby members of a covenant family hear the Gospel of the Kingdom and are justified.
Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Paul is speaking to Israelites who had been under the Law Covenant.
When Titus writes to God’s elect, [and no one else] in
speaking about regeneration he says:
Titus 3:4,5,6,7 But after that the kindness and love of God our
Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but
according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the
Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being
justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
In both aspects of justification and regeneration, the message is to a
covenant people. Let us see they were a covenant people before justification and
regeneration.
FAMILY COVENANTS ARE GOD’S MEANS OF DEALING WITH MAN.
Covenants and not made with individuals alone. The first mention of a
covenant is with Noah and his family.
Genesis 6:18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou
shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives
with thee.
Genesis 9:9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and
with your seed after you.
Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as
yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the
which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
We have to note that the reference to, "And with thy seed after
you" connects Noah’s family in this covenant relationship. The
emphasised phrases leave us in no doubt about family inclusion.
The next covenant mentioned between God and man is with Abraham and his
seed -[or family].
Genesis 15:18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram,
saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto
the great river, the river Euphrates:
Genesis 17:2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will
multiply thee exceedingly.
Genesis 17:7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee
and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a
God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
Here we have a covenant that is everlasting, made to an abundant
offspring. The everlasting covenant is confined to that seed of Abraham which descended
through Isaac, as we read in the New Testament, in Romans 9:7, "Neither, because
they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, in Isaac shall thy seed be
called.".
Genesis 17:19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son
indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for
an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
From these verses we can see that the covenant is everlasting and
therefore it is unchangeable. The covenant cannot apply to any other party or be
multi-racial. It cannot be changed in the New Testament, as it is everlasting. God says,
"My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips".
Before drawing any conclusions regarding the spiritual state of children as participants
in covenant promises, we will look at both Testaments in regard to this subject.
COVENANT SEED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.
These Scriptures show the everlasting nature of the covenant.
Psalm 105:8-11 He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word
which he commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his
oath unto Isaac; And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an
everlasting covenant: Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of
your inheritance:
Isaiah 61:8 For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt
offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting
covenant with them. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their
offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the
seed which the LORD hath blessed.
Jeremiah 32:40 And I will make an everlasting covenant
with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in
their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
Ezekiel 37:26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it
shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and
multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
Churches may say, "That might have been so in the Old Testament,
but it does not apply today", thereby not believing Jesus and thus forgetting a
fundamental in interpretation.
Luke 16:31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the
prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
The covenant to Abraham and to his seed is the major covenant, but
before we continue with that theme, there is another great covenant made to King David and
to persons who would come from his bowels, that is, from his family.
2 Chronicles 6:16 Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel,
keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, There
shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet
so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before
me.
2 Samuel 7:11 And as since the time that I commanded judges to be
over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also
the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house.
Jeremiah 33:17 For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to
sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.
This is a family covenant to Israel alone that religious
churches choose amend saying that Jesus is now that king upon the throne of David and thus
is King of all ‘believers’ of every race, but they cannot explain how they think
that Jesus descended from David’s bowels in the normal male-line descendancy manner,
Jesus having had a virgin birth. Nor will they define the throne as one existing today
over the nation of Israel, as these verses demand. It is true that Acts 2:30-32 says,
"Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him,
that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on
his throne", and we can see that Jesus was born of Mary who was a descendant of
King David.
COVENANT SEED IN THE NEW TESTEMENT.
When we come to the New Testament pages, we find how Jesus came to
fulfil what was promised by all the holy prophets about God’s covenant with Abraham
and Abraham’s seed.
Luke 1:71-73 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the
hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to
remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham.
The "we" in this passage is limited to those Israelites being
addressed. Israel alone has the "fathers", Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the
covenant to Abraham being confirmed to Isaac and Jacob [Israel].
There are many difficulties created in the passage below through
tradition trying to adapt them to fit the modern ‘gospel’.
Acts 3:20-26 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was
preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all
things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
For Moses truly said unto the fathers [i.e. fathers of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord
your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all
things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which
will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Yea, and all the
prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise
foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God
made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the
earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless
you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
The important detail that identifies the context are the references to
what Moses said about precisely to whom Jesus would be raised up to, that is, it is to
Israel. This limits the application to "of your brethren", this being a
ethnic seed as is confirmed by all the prophets from Samuel on. The reference is to
the seed of Abraham and to that covenant that was made to them and them only.
Strong’s concordance confirms that "all the kindreds of the earth"
does not mean all races but rather "the Israelites which distributed into twelve
tribes, descended from the twelve sons of Jacob, these were divided into families which
were divided into houses". This again demonstrates the family covenant
relationship.
The ‘first’ in the last sentence of the last verse quoted
above refers to the first action of God in the process of restoring a true theocracy, in
"turning everyone of you [i.e. everyone of Israel] from his
iniquities" This is confirmed in the verse below:
Romans 11:26-27 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written,
There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
In this we see the covenant relating to "Jacob", a family. It
does not include others outside of this family.
Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.
He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ [=anointed,
the capital "C" being a traditional but wrong insertion].
From here we can continue to confirm the covenant family theme, noting
that the New Covenant is made only with the two Houses that comprise all of the family of
Israel.
Hebrews 8:8-10 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, when I WILL MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL
AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH: Not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt;
because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the
Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to
them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
We can look at some more verses with "covenant" (or
‘testament’) in them.
Hebrews 9:15-16 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new
testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were
under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal
inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the
testator.
Hebrews 10:16-18 This is the covenant that I will make with them after
those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will
I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission
of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Hebrews 12:24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the
blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Hebrews 13:20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep,[i.e. Israel] through the blood of the
everlasting covenant.
Now we can clearly see the meaning of:
Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call
his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
The salvation spoken of concerns the family which is "His
people" Israel. The many passages in the first two chapters of Like’s gospel
show this family covenant limitation are thus are in agreement.
For those who are unconvinced that the covenant/family position
continues through the New Testament, we will consider a lot of Scripture. Most of these
include the word "promises", that is, promises made by God in the sense of a
covenant. We have quoted Luke 1:71-73 "To perform the mercy promised to our
fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham…."
Here we see a statement of God’s purpose in regard to Israel and the Israel family.
There is no license to extend the application to any other peoples. Such an extension is a
great heresy! And, it is a popular heresy!
Early in the book of Acts, we find confirmation about a promise made to
the Israelite nation and their children, whether this family was near or afar off;
whether they were Judeans or among the Greeks.
Acts 2:39, For the promise is unto you, and to your children,
and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
They were to be witnesses to Israelites who had been scattered among
the other nations.
Acts 13:23-24 Of this man’s seed hath God according to his
promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus: When John had first preached
before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
Although this promise here does not refer to Abraham and his family, it
confirms the "unto Israel" and "to all the people of Israel"
in the promise made to Abraham and to his family through Isaac and Jacob [Israel].
The theme about family promises continues through the New Testament.
Acts 13:32-33 And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the
promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us
their children.
Acts 26:6-7 And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise
made of God unto our fathers: Unto which promise our twelve tribes,
instantly serving God day and night, hope to come.
Romans 9:4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the
adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of
God, and the promises.
Romans 15:8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the
circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:
Galatians 4:28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children
of promise.
The promise made to Abraham and his children is described in Hebrews 6
as being immutable, "because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself".
The word ‘promise’ or ‘promises’, which occur six times in this
chapter, are well worth considering if there is any doubt about what they mean.
Now we can look at other examples about family inclusion and family
belief in the New Testament.
Acts 16:15 And when she was baptized, and her household,
she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my
house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
1 Corinthians 1:16 And I baptized also the household of
Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
Acts 11:13-14 And he shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house,
which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is
Peter; Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be
saved.
Acts 16:31-34 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and
to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed
their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them
into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his
house.
Acts 18:8 And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on
the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed,
and were baptized.
Acts 21:8-9 And the next day we that were of Paul’s company
departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist,
which was one of the seven; and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters,
virgins, which did prophesy.
2 Timothy 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy
scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in
Christ Jesus.
WHAT BEING "COVENANT SEED" MEANS.
We have seen that God deals with man by making a covenant with a person
together with that person’s seed. The covenant involves both blessings and curses.
This means that the seed, or children of that person, are also in a covenant position, and
that the promises made by the oath of God to the father also applies to his children in an
ethnic sense. Now stop and think about this for a moment.
 | Do most churchgoers think of their children in this covenant way? |
| Are our children regarded as members of the elect? |
| Do we let election take care of itself? |
| Do our children attend church knowing their covenant position and just who they are? |
| Because there are both blessings and curses involved in the covenant, do parents
understand that obedience is required by both them together with their children. |
| Do we insist upon our children knowing who they are in terms of the ethnic nature of
God’s covenant in that not all seeds are the seed of Abraham? |
| Do parents understand their responsibility to train up a child with this understanding
in view? |
| Are children regarded as a gift from God? |
| Do we believe for our children in the covenant way indicated in Jer. 35:19, as below? |
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Because ye have
obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done
according unto all that he hath commanded you: Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the
God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.
| Do we allow our children "to learn the ways of the heathen", or do we
insist upon covenant education? |
| Do we wrongly attend a church that separates the sheep from the lambs when we meet
together? |
| As covenant members, do we encourage our children to understand the Lord’s table
and baptism, and thereby encourage them to make a practical visible confession of faith in
the knowledge of their covenant position? |
| Do we encourage them into the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost? |
| Could adopted children of another stock ever have the same covenant relationship
position? No! |
| Do we give them to understand the present-day identity of the House of Israel, as being
those of Celtic/Anglo-Saxon/Caucasian peoples, and that these people are a "peculiar
treasure" to the Lord? |
Exodus 19:5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep
my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people:
for all the earth is mine:
Exodus 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an
holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of
Israel.
Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an
holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who
hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
Yes, we of the covenant seed have to teach our children that we have a
greater responsibility placed upon us, by God, than is placed upon other peoples, and that
our blessings are conditional on obeying the voice of the Lord? But, is that what is
presented in the churches today?
THE TRADITIONAL DISSENTING VIEW.
The whole matter of the covenant people is wrongly transferred from the
ethnic seed of Israel to be a ‘belief’ matter only. The entry into the
belief-only position is by a psychological conversion that does not include Biblical
repentance. Since "sin is the transgression of the Law", repentance
involves a turning towards keeping the unfulfilled part of the eternal law of God. What we
find in practise is a multitude of psychologically ‘converted’ people in
churches who are filled with the spirit of lawlessness rather than the Spirit of God.
1 John 3:4-9
4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for
sin is the transgression of the law.
5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him
is no sin.
6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him.
7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness
is righteous, even as he is righteous.
8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from
the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the
works of the devil.
9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth
in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
The modern heresy cannot contain these verses, nor the matter of a
"seed=sperma" remaining in a present, active and indicative way. It will
not admit what follows in this passage, "In this the children of God are manifest,
and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he
that loveth not his brother" Rather it says, "Once saved, saved for
ever" and applies this to everyone else, even outside of the covenant seed. To keep
to their individualist application, "all", "every",
"whosoever" etc are applied outside of the limitation of "all" of the
context covenant people and their children, in a way that Greek grammar cannot tolerate.
The modern heresy refuses the Biblical presentation that children are
bound in the same covenant relationship as their parents. The whole concept of 1
Corinthians 7:14, " For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the
unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now
are they holy", is incomprehensible to them, the "now are they holy"
being in the present tense. They refuse to believe anything about a covenant seed, or even
about a "holy" seed.
Ezra 9:2 For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and
for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the
people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this
trespass.
The mingling of seed [racial intermarriage] is not considered to be any
trespass in today’s "Christian world", instead they prefer Jesus to have
something against them by acceptance of the Doctrine of Balaam.
Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou
hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a
stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to
commit fornication.
1 Corinthians 10:8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them
committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
So they change the meaning of "fornication" to suit their
doctrine.
The whole Biblical concept of imputed righteousness is changed.
Romans 4:20-25 He staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that,
what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for
righteousness.
To the modern church there is no such thing as a "righteous
nation"-[Is 26:2. Gen 22:4]. We could count at least eight references to Israel
being called a "holy" nation.
The physical seed of Abraham through Isaac is also described as a
"holy people" -[Deut 7:6, Isaiah 62:12, Dan 12:7], and "a
peculiar people or treasure" at least six times.
Israel is also called " thine anointed",
"chosen", "called" and a nation that is referred to as "this
stone".
No wonder the modern church seeks to re-write Scripture by producing
so-called "new translations" to try to hide these facts. They have to try to
re-interpret words like "grafting", "adoption", "strangers",
"born again", etc.
God still deals with man on the basis of "the covenant".
Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the
faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his
commandments to a thousand generations;
Nehemiah 1:5 And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great
and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and
observe his commandments:
The matter of covenant together with "and observe his
commandments" is anathema, and is supposed to be wrong doctrine, to the modern
church. Not understanding Revelation 22:14, "Blessed are they that do his
commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the
gates into the city" makes them ineligible to partake of that tree of life. They
effectively "make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of
God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" who confirmed exactly what the
prophets foretold, "I am not sent but the lost sheep of the House of Israel".
[NOTE: The latter statement is Aorist, Passive and Indicative, i.e. it is a simple
statement of unchanging fact].
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