Through understanding the covenants in the Bible, we see that God fulfils his promise to save a sinful people for himself, to forgive our sins and reconcile us to him through Christ. Christ is the One in whom all God’s covenant promises find their “yes and amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Through Christ, the only perfect covenant-keeper, God shows himself to be the One who is faithful, good, loving, holy and entirely trustworthy. 

All of us will experience the pain of broken promises at some point in our lives. Whether it is disappointment and hurt when a trusted friend betrays our confidence or the devastation of adultery in a marriage, we know what it is like to have promises broken. In fact much of our lives are characterised by broken promises, from the empty words of politicians to the lies we often read and hear in the media. These days, being true to one’s word is a rare quality.
In the midst of this myriad of broken promises we face in this sinful world, God is the only One who truly and perfectly keeps his promises, all of the time. Because he is infinitely good, he is faithful and true to all his promises. In fact, the Hebrew word ’êmêt, which is often translated as “faithfulness” in the Old Testament, also means “truth.” Faithfulness and truth are therefore inextricably connected. God’s promises are true, because he is faithful. God does not lie. Thus he is always true to his word.
God Will Be True to His Covenant Promises
God is not only faithful and true in an abstract sense, but he is faithful and true to us as his own people. How is this so? God expresses his faithfulness to us through covenants that he makes with his people. What then do we mean by “covenant”? And why are covenants relevant?
Simply put, a covenant is a promise with obligations. God’s covenants with us contain the nature of his promise to be our God and we his own people. In the covenants in the Bible, God makes unbreakable promises to be faithful to his people. His people are to respond to his promises through covenantal obligations. From God’s covenants with Adam to Noah, Abraham to Moses, and David in the Old Testament, through to the New Covenant in Jesus Christ, we see God’s faithfulness expressed.
What relevance then do these covenants have in our lives?
Our Relationship with God is Covenantal
Firstly, they show us that our relationship with God is covenantal. Covenants are the way in which God relates to his people.
Our relationship with God is not something that happens in isolation.
Read More
Related Posts:

One of the most prevalent errors made when discussing holiness is to slide into the view that we are somehow justified before God by our holiness. Ryle is careful to observe throughout this book the distinction between sanctification and justification. Justification is by faith alone in Christ alone. But those who have been justified bear the fruit of the Spirit and grow in holiness. In other words, they are sanctified by God. They are now to love Christ and the things He loves. This is very easy to forget in our day and age when walking an aisle is equated with conversion and walking in the light is considered optional.

In the early centuries of the church’s existence, Christian apologists would sometimes appeal to the distinctively holy lives of Christians as evidence for the truth of Christianity. Would such an appeal be of any use today? According to numerous surveys, the behavior of professing Christians is not discernibly different from the behavior of those who profess other religions or no religion at all. The phrase one often hears on the lips of pagans who observe contemporary Christian behavior is: “The church is full of hypocrites.” This should not be. We worship a holy God who calls His people to be holy and who has provided the means by which they may be holy.
The problem of lax and hypocritical Christianity is not a new one, and one of the best treatments of the entire subject is a classic written by J.C. Ryle (1816–1900), who served as the Anglican Bishop of Liverpool for twenty years. Ryle was a deeply committed and non-compromising evangelical Christian. In fact, Charles Spurgeon referred to him as an “evangelical champion.” His book Holiness has been reprinted numerous times since its original publication in 1879. It is deservedly considered a Christian classic on the subject of sanctification. It ranks up there with the work of John Owen on the mortification of sin.
I first read Bishop Ryle’s Holiness some twenty years ago. The book was deeply convicting and made a lasting impact on my thinking. Ryle’s work is convicting because he does not appeal to silly gimmicks and other manmade answers to the problem of sin. He appeals over and over to Scripture, to the Word of the living God, and he drives the Word of God home through careful and direct application. If you are complacent in your sin and do not want to be disturbed in your enjoyment of it, do not read Ryle. This is a book about the necessity of sanctification, the necessity of holiness. It deals with weighty subjects, the weightiest in fact: God, sin, Jesus Christ, the gospel, the Holy Spirit, justification, sanctification, heaven, and hell. It is a book for those who want to move beyond milk and get to the meat of the Word.
Frankly, some older Christian books are difficult to read because of the style of writing that was common in previous ages. To contemporary readers, many of these works seem dry and wordy, tedious and dull. I have run across many such books myself. Ryle does not fall into that category. Ryle’s writing is more comparable to that of someone like Charles Spurgeon. He writes with such an intensity and passion that the reader cannot easily become bored.
Read More
Related Posts:

It’s telling that the Associated Press chose not to show respect for religious values when it comes to sexual morality. For AP, June Pride Month licenses its writers to insult religious people for their ancient and current beliefs. This is a form of intolerance veering into hatred, especially anti-Jewish hatred, that deserves to be called out and shamed every time it occurs.

As I read the paper the other morning, I found an article titled, “Pride parade held amid tensions.” It was an Associated Press article and related to a Pride parade in Jerusalem. In the very first paragraph, it engaged in open insults against religious conservatives in the Israeli government.
Israel is always interesting to me due to reading the Torah (or, as Christians say, the Old Testament) beginning when I was a child. Therefore, I pay a certain amount of attention to news related to that nation. I also have had the privilege of visiting the Holy Land and places important to both Jews and Christians.
The article’s first paragraph read:
JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of people on Thursday marched in Jerusalem’s Pride parade — an annual event that took place for the first time under Israel’s new far-right government, which is stacked with openly homophobic members.
I was shocked to read those words: “. . . which is stacked with openly homophobic members.” How do they know they’re “homophobic” and not simply religious Jews and people?
Shame on the Associated Press for resorting to name-calling, e.g., “homophobic members.” Would they call people who are religious and disapprove of adultery, “adulteryphobic?” Or would they call those who oppose pedophilia “pedophobic?” There are other sexual acts or relations that could also be named that are mutually considered sinful and forbidden by Islam, Orthodox Judaism, and Christianity.
Read More
Related Posts: