Covenant – James G. Owen, Author

Faithfulness—Being and Remaining Faithful to God

By James G. Owen

A young man saw a lady across the church congregation wondering if she was single. So, after church he went to introduce himself to her. Upon meeting her they chatted for a while getting acquainted and then he asked her to if she would go out with him on a date the next week. She said yes, and a friendship began to spring. As we know there are steps in a relationship between a man and a woman. Eventually, they decided to be exclusive, and not to date another. This began a covenant, a promise not to consider another person for possible dating. Each remained within the covenant they made to each other, and their covenant was sealed by marriage. A covenant over another covenant. The marriage covenant ideally is to be for life.

As they continued to live being married the couple made time for each other, confirmed their feelings and emotions for one another, and their love for each other grew as the years went by. Never looking at another person, nor even had vain imaginations, their marriage was successful until one passed away. The spouse passing went to be with Jesus to be granted of their inheritance which is eternal life, which is a spiritual wedding between God and the past spouse. While we are here on earth having accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, we are betrothed to him awaiting our marriage. The physical and the spiritual covenants parallel to one another. We make the choice in whom we become betrothed and marry. This is an example of faithfulness.

Faithfulness defined is an allegiance, an oath or covenant created between two parties. To be faithful is to not commit any acts against the covenant made. As in marriage, one will not commit adultery and hurt the spouse. It is a promise made and shall not be broken.

In the moment we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior in receiving salvation we create a covenant between God and us. We are to be faithful to him as though he is the Groom, and we are the bride. For the Church is described in scripture as the bride of the bridegroom, and he will come after he has everything under his feet to claim his bride. All of us are his bride, collectively the Church.

“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.”

Isaiah 61:10

As our relationship with God and us we are to remain faithful, and we are faithful as stewards of our house. Our house is our body, soul, and spirit. In scripture our house is also described as a temple of God. For he dwells within us after sanctification has occurred in the salvation process. We are responsible for the upkeep of his house, to keep our sanctification current, and not yielding to sin or temptation. Even though we have trouble remaining faithful because of temptation and yielding to sin, God is always faithful to us in the relationship. He understands why we fail and continues to love us. All we must do is confess we have failed and restore the relationship. The relationship requires stewardship from each other.

“Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”

1 Corinthians 4:2

Two people in a relationship or covenant will be faithful and remain faithful if they genuinely love one another. They know that any breach of the relationship will cause pain, distress, and distrust. The same goes with God and us. He is faithful to us because that is his nature, and because he loves us and will take care of us in sustenance and care. When we need him, we can go to him in prayer and God will listen to us. Caring spouses will listen to one another and work out the differences too. Whether earthly covenants or spiritual covenants both takes work to remain in faithfulness. Forgiveness is part of remaining in faithfulness to one another, and if a man or a woman does not forgive it puts a strain on the covenant or will negate the covenant. Both must be forgiving to stay within covenant, and this is the same in relation to God and us.

“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;”

Deuteronomy 7:9

As we live our life righteously, think of how our life can be a testimony to someone who does not have a relationship with God. Our lives show either good fruit, or bad fruit. Either will cause a person to decide to live for God or not. They are watching us and how we are faithful and the manner we remain faithful. God never fails us. He can never be unfaithful because he is truth, love, and compassionate about being in a relationship with us, and he knows a righteous relationship is life, and that its result is eternal life with him. That is our inheritance. The inheritance for the married couple, the man and the woman are their testimony to future generations. This is the heritage of the earthly couple, their testimony. God’s heritage is the righteous living of his children who come to live with him eternally.

The success of being faithful and remaining faithful is having hope in each other and living a righteous life and placing our hope in God. His compassion is new to us every morning and his love is refreshed.

“They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.”

Lamentations 3: 23-24

Be faithful to each other. Be faithful in your promises remaining true to both sides. Above all remain faithful to God.

Notes:
Merriam Webster Dictionary online.

All scripture is taken from the King James Version, Public Domain, BibleGateway.

Gethsemane: The Stone Anointed with Oil and the Treachery of Judas

The week of Passover is about the slaying of a lamb to shed its blood for the Hebrew people so that their first born would not die in the night that the death angel passed over. It is also a time of which the Paschal Lamb’ blood was spilt to provide redemption for all the people. Also, this story tells all mankind that the blood of the Lamb that was spilt during his time in Jerusalem before his blood was fully split at the hill of Golgotha on a cedar tree by the Romans so that all men, regardless of ethnic group which one belonged could have salvation from sin. In the New Covenant, which was prophesied in Jeremiah, this covenant was fulfilled on the cross that Jesus shed his blood for us.

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that 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 that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, 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.

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Before he went to his death, Jesus prayed through the night at an old olive press among the grove of olive trees, which is located between Jerusalem and the Mount of Corruption (Mt. of Olives). He prayed in agony because he was a man. He was not afraid, had no fear, but knew his destiny was to be the sacrifice and die. His death was to come by the accusations, and the desire of the Judeans who felt threatened by his ministry and wisdom, because he confronted their sins and telling the people when asked if he was the Messiah, Jesus said, “I AM”. In parts of Palestine Jesus was rejected as he cast out demons from those possessed, and those who kept their possessions fled to their city, and those who came to meet him told him to leave. (Matthew 8:34) They would not accept him, yet even this rejection of the messiah was prophesied as well in scripture. (Isaiah 6:10)

“And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.”

Luke 23:2

“He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”

John 1:11

“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

I receive not honour from men.

But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.

I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.”

John 5:39-43

Isaiah’s prophecy set the stage for Jesus to be rejected by the Judeans. During his time in ministry, the gospel was given to the Judeans by John the Baptist. Jesus had very little contact with the Judeans because the sought to kill him, and he knew if they were successful then his death was to too early. So, he went among the Hebrew tribes in the rest of Palestine in Galilee, and preached, taught, healed, delivered, and raised the dead.

“Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

^“While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:

That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?

Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,

He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.”

John 12:35-40

All the rejection, and the sins of the world was upon his shoulders and grieved his spirit because of mankind’s sin, idolatry and pagan worship, sickness, diseases, mental disorders, demon possessions, the Law of Traditions, and their evil behavior. Every sin you can think of was all over the world, all in the region of Palestine. Therefore, he grieved, prayed, and sweated blots of blood over the millstone that was anointed by oil in a place called Gethsemane.

It was during this night after he prayed that Judas came with a band of people and Judeans. Here is the setting of Juda’s betrayal for a pittance of 30 pieces of silver. Every step of Jesus’s life was prophesied, and now being fulfilled. This is what happened during the first part of Passover, Jesus preparing for his death and being the last sacrifice for man.

Notes:

All scripture used was taken from the King James Version, Public Domain, BibleGateway.

https://www.thattheworldmayknow.com/gethsemane-and-the-olive-press

How God’s Glory Interacts with Man in Man and How Man Benefits

Being a Pentecostal all my life, I have come to understand how God interacts with man within man by his Holy Spirit. Man is the temple of God in which he comes to dwell, and there is no other temple that he desires. This interaction of the Holy Spirit within the temple man is an intimate relationship enabling man to hear God’s voice and to use man’s five senses to know God’s presence. It was about two weeks ago before the churches and other public places was shut down that I was at an eldership meeting when the presence of the Holy Spirit came into the building. The fire of God was present, and people could feel the heat from the fire that an angel was dispersing through the people. I went to get in line to be prayed for and I could sense and smell the presence of the Lord. This is not a first-time experience for me as I have encountered the fragrance of God on other occasions by prayer in my own home.

Within the works of the Holy Spirit there is pleasure as God gives joy, peace, and strength to the people, and may express himself through man in the form of laughter, dancing, or just by praise from the person receiving a blessing, or a need met. Listed below are some thoughts I had while reading Psalm 111 during my studies of last fall.

“For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14 KJV

^“His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever.

He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.” Psalm 111:3-4 KJV

“God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.” Psalm 89:7 KJV

Praising God opens door to his work and his glory. His glory is pleasurable, honorable and righteous.
His works are eternal.
His works set as a memorial (altar). Man will remember the work or the miracle. His works are a witness of himself.
As God works, man can see the works of God.
His works are founded in truth.
His judgement is a result of the truth.
His word is assured, set, and never changes.
His word sent redemption, salvation, deliverance, and healing by his work on the cross.
Reverence. The fear of God knowing he has all power to do as he wishes with his creation. Reverence creates wisdom and understanding resulting from innate knowledge.
The door is opened to the fullness of understanding his word.
God never forgets his covenant to man.

In Conclusion, God also interacts with man through covenants. His interaction of man we can see as we study those covenants of the Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Davidic, and the New Covenant. All of these covenants show the glory of God in his promise of a messiah to Eve, his promise of never destroying the earth again by a global flood as we see his rainbow in the sky after a rain, the promise of a blessing to all nations through Abraham’s seed, and that seed that will bless all nations is Jesus. The interaction with man through the Davidic is the promise of a king to rule over a new Earth and Universe that is an everlasting kingdom where sin is not even known, no evil, no danger, and that the Earth is another Eden. This is the messianic era that is future after all things are set under Jesus’s feet. God’s glory is to interact with man in man by saving men, women, and children who want to be with the Lord eternally, obeying him, interacting with him through his Spirit knowing he is a good, loving, and gracious God.

Notes:

All scripture used was taken from the King James Version, Public Domain, Biblegateway.