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TRUTH LESSONS—LEVEL TWO

LESSON FOUR

THE COVENANT WHICH GOD MADE
WITH THE CALLED ONE

OUTLINE

  1. The One who made the covenant—Jehovah:
    1. Jehovah.
    2. The God of glory.
  2. The one with whom the covenant was made—Abraham (Abram):
    1. His background.
    2. Called to go out of Ur.
    3. Stopping on the way at Haran.
  3. The contents of the covenant:
    1. The first time:
      1. God telling him to get out of his country, from his kindred, and from his father’s house, unto a land that He would show him.
      2. God to make him a great nation.
      3. God to bless him and to make his name great.
      4. All families of the earth to be blessed in him.
      5. God to bless those who would bless him and to curse those who would curse him.
    2. The second time:
      1. God to give the land of Canaan to his seed.
    3. The third time:
      1. God to give the land of Canaan to him and to his seed.
      2. God to make his seed as many as the dust of the earth.
    4. The fourth time:
      1. God to cause him to have a son born of himself.
      2. God to make his seed as many as the stars in heaven.
      3. God to give the land of Canaan to him and to his seed.
    5. The fifth time:
      1. God changing his name from Abram to Abraham, making him the father of many nations.
      2. Nations to be made of him and kings to come out of him.
      3. God to confirm His covenant with him and with his seed and to be a God to him and to his seed.
      4. God to give to him and to his seed the land of Canaan for an eternal possession.
      5. God requiring him and his seed to be circumcised.
      6. God changing his wife’s name from Sarai to Sarah, who would bear a son for him and would be a mother of nations.
    6. The sixth time:
      1. God to greatly bless him.
      2. God to multiply his descendants as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is upon the seashore, and they to possess the gate of their enemies.
      3. God to cause all nations of the earth to be blessed in his seed.
  4. The result:
    1. Though keeping the covenant, Abraham leaving the land of promise twice.
    2. The house of Jacob, his descendants, leaving the land of promise and going down to Egypt.

TEXT

When the descendants of Noah violated the covenant that God had made with Noah, forming nations to oppose God and eventually falling into idolatry at Babel, God came to call Abraham as the head of a new race and to make a covenant with him, the fourth covenant that God made with man.

I. THE ONE WHO MADE THE COVENANT—JEHOVAH

A. Jehovah

We have said that in making the first covenant Jehovah is the One who was, who is, and who will be. He always is and never changes, and He always exists and never passes away; He is the self-existing and ever-existing One (Exo. 3:14-15; Rev. 1:8). He is the “I Am,” who is well able to meet all the needs of the called one and to be the attraction, encouragement, strength, guidance, support, supply, protection, and care to him in his journey. It was this One who always is who came to make a covenant with the called one.

B. The God of Glory

Jehovah, the One who made this covenant, is the God of glory. Acts 7:2 says, “The God of glory appeared to...Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran.” The glory here might have been visible glory, as when the cloud and the fire appeared to Israel (Exo. 16:10; 24:16-17; Lev. 9:23; Num. 14:10; 16:19; 20:6; Deut. 5:24) and filled the tabernacle and temple (Exo. 40:35; 1 Kings 8:11). God’s glory was a great attraction to Abraham. It separated him from the world unto God (Exo. 29:43), and was a great encouragement and strength which enabled him to follow God (Gen. 12:1, 4). It was the God of such glory who appeared to Abraham to make a covenant with him.

II. THE ONE WITH WHOM THE COVENANT
WAS MADE—ABRAHAM (ABRAM)

A. His Background

Abraham was formerly called Abram. When God appeared to him to make a covenant with him, he was in a situation with the darkest background. At that time the human race had fallen to the uttermost. Man abused the God-given authority to form nations, built a city for himself to have a man-made, godless life, built a tower for self-exaltation to oppose God, and fell into a situation of idolatry. Even Abram’s father was there serving idols (Josh. 24:2). No one was concerned for God’s interest, and no one cared for God’s purpose. When Abram was called by God, he was in such a situation with a dark background.


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