An attribute is a quality or characteristic for which a person is known. We're going to explore several attributes of God over the next few weeks. I'm glad you're joining us!  

A covenant is more than a promise given to someone. It is a formal, solemn, and binding contract between two or more.   

In the Old Testament, a covenant was sealed by a cutting of animals in two, between which both parties would walk. We see this in Genesis 15, Jeremiah 34:18, and Jeremiah 34:19.  

We see the word covenant used today in legal and social terms. Homeowners associations enter into covenant agreements as do men and women entering marriage. The idea being that the parties agree on promises, stipulations, privileges, and responsibilities. This concept involves parties of equal situation. Both bring something to the table, and both leave with something from the other.  

In the case of the God-covenant, we see the Almighty offer a covenant to His creation. Hosea speaks of Adam breaking covenant while Jeremiah speaks of the covenant of day and night that no one can alter. When God first talked to Noah, He told him He was going to remove all humankind from the earth, but He also said He would not break His covenant.  

Stay with me here, I know it can get boring. Take a deep breath and let’s go on.  

God created humans to be His image bearers. They are to reflect Him in all ways wherever they are. In return, He would be their God, guard, and protector. The stipulations?  

• Continue in an intimate obedient relationship with God.  
• Honor the sabbath in order to enhance that relationship. 
• Be fruitful and multiply to fill the earth. Marriage, children, growing families, then communities.  
• Cultivate and rule over creation.  

In exchange, God spoke blessings over the first man and woman — indicative of what He would speak over us today. He gave them the authority to serve as agents on the earth. He provided their sustenance, including a paradise in which to live, animals to enjoy, food to eat, intimate time with Him, the lack of shame. They didn’t have to toil to get their food, He provided it to them. There was no captivity to sin.  

In the covenant, He spoke of the potential for disobedience — it is a contract, you know. You cover what happens if there’s a breach. He told them that if they ate of that particular tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die.  

We know that they indeed broke the covenant, but God never did. He allowed them to live, but it was not the same life that He had provided for them initially.  

The same with the Abrahamic covenant, where He told Abram that He would make the man the father of many nations. All Abram had to provide was obedience. And… he messed that up. He tried to secure the child he was promised by human means. He lied. He was a mess! And yet, God kept His covenant to make Abraham the father of many nations. His descendants are as many as the stars in the sky.  

What’s this mean for us? Every covenant that God entered into remains. Every promise is true. Just as God is unchanging, His word also is. We can trust that regardless what has been done, whatever failures we have experienced, however poor our choices have been, God’s covenant toward us remains in place.  

Let’s rest in this truth today. God is the Covenant Keeping God.  

Coffee, Bible, Journal. 

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