Everlasting Covenant

The other day someone sent me a couple of links to a Derek Prince teaching on governmental authority in the church, not that this is the subject of this letter… We already know Whose shoulders the government of the kingdom is resting on.  In his teaching Derek referred to Isaiah 24:5, a scripture that I had not taken serious notice of, until now.  This particular word, tied together with last week’s letter, added another dimension to the seriousness of the hour in which we are living.   In the previous letter I brought up Psalm 125:3:  “For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted [goral in Hebrew, also means one’s lot in life] to the righteous, lest the righteous reach out their hands to iniquity”. (In case you have not read the article or want to reread it here is the link “Allotment”.)

When the wicked rule and the righteous nation partakes of iniquity, as our ancestors learned at Baal Peor (ref. Numbers 24), for example, the consequence of sin will bring on the “curse”.  Isaiah addresses the reason for the curse:  “The land is defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the Torah, changed the ordinance, and broken the everlasting covenant” (Isaiah 24:5).  The first two speak for themselves, as sin is a violation of YHVH’s commandments.  But which “everlasting covenant” was YHVH referring to?  The first such covenant was with Noah and every living creature (see Genesis 9:14-16). 

Because this everlasting covenant was not made specifically with mankind, man cannot break it.  However, the next “everlasting covenant” was made specifically with a man and his progeny.  YHVH, speaking to Abram and to his seed, says: "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be Elohim to you and your seed after you…”  (Genesis 17:7, see also 1 Chronicles 16:17-18; Psalm 105:10).  YHVH confirmed it again to Isaac, Jacob and to the whole nation of Israel.  Nevertheless, generation after generation kept violating this covenant. But because YHVH made this everlasting covenant while Abram slept, He swore by Himself that He would be faithful to keep it. The scene of violating the covenant has never changed throughout history. But,”If we are faithless, He [YHVH] remains faithful; [because] He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).  

YHVH promised another, “new”, everlasting covenant: "For I, YHVH, love justice… I will direct their work in truth, and will make with them an everlasting covenant. Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the posterity whom YHVH has blessed" (Isaiah 61:8-9). "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more" (Hebrews 8:12). 

  

^“Now may the Elohim of peace who brought up our Lord Yeshua from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Yeshua the Messiah, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20-21).   Pray that we do not violate this everlasting covenant!