What Every Christian Must Understand About Being in Covenant With God Through Jesus Christ
One of the greatest revelations a Christian can receive is the revelation of God as a covenant-keeping God.
Many believers know God as Creator. They know Him as Father, Healer, Provider, Deliverer, Shepherd, and King. But there is another dimension of His nature that gives tremendous stability to the Christian life: God is a God who makes covenant and faithfully keeps covenant.
This truth runs like a golden thread from Genesis to Revelation.
God does not merely make promises casually. When He enters into covenant, He binds Himself according to His own character and faithfulness. And for the Christian, this truth becomes especially powerful because we are not standing before God merely as descendants of Adam hoping for mercy. Through Jesus Christ, we have been brought into the New Covenant established by His blood.
Jesus is the Mediator of that covenant. His blood is the blood of the covenant. His finished work is the foundation of our relationship with God.
Understanding this changes the way you pray, the way you respond to trouble, the way you deal with guilt, the way you face spiritual warfare, the way you understand God’s promises, and ultimately the way you relate to God Himself.
God Reveals Himself as a Covenant Keeper
One of the clearest descriptions of God’s covenant nature is found in Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 7:9 KJV
“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;”
Notice how Scripture describes Him.
He is God.
He is faithful.
He keeps covenant.
He keeps mercy.
God’s covenant faithfulness is not something external to His nature. It flows directly from who He is.
God keeps covenant because God is faithful.
This means our confidence in covenant does not begin with our strength, discipline, goodness, or ability to make things happen. It begins with the character of the God who entered into covenant.
That is why the Christian must settle something very early:
God is not a man.
Numbers 23:19 KJV
“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
Human beings can promise and fail.
People can mean well today and change tomorrow.
Circumstances can make people unable to fulfil what they intended.
But God is fundamentally different.
The writer of Hebrews goes even further.
Hebrews 6:17–18 KJV
“Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:”
Scripture does not merely say that God chooses not to lie.
It says:
“It was impossible for God to lie.”
That means covenant confidence ultimately rests upon the unchanging character of God.
My confidence is not, “I am strong enough to make God’s Word happen.”
My confidence is:
“The God who spoke is faithful.”
The Bible Is the Story of a Covenant-Making God
From the earliest pages of Scripture, we see God establishing covenants.
He entered into covenant with Noah.
He entered into covenant with Abraham.
He established covenant with Israel through Moses.
He made covenant promises concerning David and his throne.
And eventually, all of God’s redemptive purpose comes into focus in the New Covenant established through Jesus Christ.
Consider God’s dealings with Abraham.
Genesis 17:7 KJV
“And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.”
Years passed.
Abraham died.
Isaac came and went.
Jacob came and went.
Eventually the descendants of Abraham found themselves suffering under Egyptian oppression.
Yet something remarkable happened.
Exodus 2:23–25 KJV
“And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.”
The Bible says:
“God remembered his covenant.”
This does not mean God had forgotten and suddenly recalled it.
In Scripture, when God “remembers” covenant, it frequently speaks of God moving to act in line with what He had already committed Himself to do.
Israel’s circumstances had changed.
Generations had changed.
Leadership in Egypt had changed.
The political environment had changed.
But God’s covenant had not changed.
There is a lesson here every believer needs:
Time does not weaken what God has covenanted.
Years passing do not reduce God’s faithfulness.
Circumstances changing do not invalidate His character.
What God has spoken remains anchored in who God is.
Jesus Christ Is the Centre of the New Covenant
This is where covenant becomes directly relevant to every Christian.
Our relationship with God is not based upon the covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai.
We have been brought into something better.
Hebrews 8:6 KJV
“But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.”
There are three powerful expressions in that verse:
A better covenant.
Better promises.
A better Mediator.
Jesus Christ stands at the centre of the New Covenant.
Hebrews 9:15 KJV
“And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.”
Christianity therefore is far more than adopting Christian beliefs or attempting to live by Christian moral principles.
Through Jesus Christ, the believer has been brought into a covenant relationship with God.
The New Covenant Was Established Through the Blood of Jesus
On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus deliberately interpreted His approaching death using covenant language.
Matthew 26:27–28 KJV
“And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
Luke records His words this way:
Luke 22:20 KJV
“Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.”
Jesus was telling His disciples that His death would establish something entirely new.
The Cross was not merely the execution of an innocent man.
At Calvary, redemption was being accomplished.
Sin was being dealt with.
Forgiveness was being secured.
The powers of darkness were being defeated.
And the New Covenant was being established through the blood of Jesus Christ.
That is why Hebrews later refers to:
Hebrews 13:20 KJV
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,”
The blood of Jesus is therefore not merely something Christians mention during prayer.
It is the blood of the everlasting covenant.
The New Covenant Rests Upon God’s Initiative
One of the great differences between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is seen in God’s promise through Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 31:31–34 KJV
“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.”
Notice how many times God says:
“I will.”
“I will make.”
“I will put.”
“I will write.”
“I will be their God.”
“I will forgive.”
This is deeply important.
The New Covenant rests primarily upon what God undertakes to accomplish through Christ, not upon man’s attempt to earn acceptance before God.
This does not remove obedience. But it changes the foundation of obedience.
We do not obey in order to persuade God to enter covenant with us.
We obey because through Christ, God has brought us into covenant and given us His Spirit.
Jesus Is the Guarantee of the Covenant
Hebrews gives Jesus another remarkable title.
Hebrews 7:22 KJV
“By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.”
A surety is a guarantor.
Jesus is not merely the Messenger announcing the covenant.
He is not merely the One who teaches us about covenant.
Jesus Himself stands as the guarantee of the better covenant.
This means that our confidence cannot ultimately rest upon ourselves.
We must continually look to Christ.
He is the Mediator.
He is the sacrifice.
He is the High Priest.
He is the surety.
He is the One through whom we come to God.
We Have a Living High Priest
The work of Jesus did not end at the resurrection.
He rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and now represents us before the Father.
Hebrews 7:24–25 KJV
“But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
Think about the expression:
“He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
The believer has a living High Priest.
Our covenant relationship rests upon both the finished work of Christ at Calvary and His continuing priestly ministry before the Father.
Jesus died for us.
Jesus rose for us.
Jesus represents us.
Jesus intercedes for us.
Therefore Christianity is not merely looking backwards to something Jesus did two thousand years ago.
We presently have a living covenant Mediator.
Through Christ, God Has Become Our Father
Covenant is not merely legal.
It is deeply relational.
Galatians 4:4–7 KJV
“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
This is one of the greatest covenant realities.
God is not simply the powerful Being from whom we obtain blessings.
Through Christ, we have received the adoption of sons.
We can call God:
“Abba, Father.”
Therefore covenant should never become merely a formula for obtaining things from God.
The greatest covenant privilege is God Himself.
He has become our Father.
We have become His people.
The Blood Gives Us Access to God’s Presence
Under the Old Covenant, access to God’s immediate presence was restricted.
Only the high priest entered the Most Holy Place, and that only according to God’s prescribed order.
But through Christ, something extraordinary has happened.
Hebrews 10:19–22 KJV
“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
And having an high priest over the house of God;
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”
The Christian has:
“boldness to enter.”
And the basis is:
“the blood of Jesus.”
This should completely change the way we pray.
We are not strangers standing outside God’s house trying to convince Him to notice us.
Through Christ, the way has been opened.
We can draw near.
Not arrogantly.
Not presumptuously.
But confidently.
The New Covenant Gives Us Forgiveness
Sin is man’s greatest problem before God, and the New Covenant deals decisively with sin.
God declared:
Hebrews 10:16–17 KJV
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”
This does not mean sin has become insignificant.
It means Christ’s sacrifice has dealt with sin so completely that forgiveness is now available on a righteous basis.
1 John 1:9 KJV
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Notice John does not merely say God is merciful.
He says God is:
“faithful and just.”
Why just?
Because Christ has already paid the price.
Forgiveness is therefore not God pretending that sin never mattered.
It is God applying the finished work of Christ to the repentant believer.
Covenant Gives Us an Inheritance
Sonship brings inheritance.
Romans 8:16–17 KJV
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
Paul writes again:
Ephesians 1:11 KJV
“In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:”
The Christian life therefore involves discovering and walking in what God has given us in Christ.
But our inheritance must always be understood in Christ.
This protects us from turning covenant into a licence to claim anything we personally desire.
God’s Promises Find Their Fulfilment in Christ
Paul makes a powerful statement.
2 Corinthians 1:20 KJV
“For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.”
The critical words are:
“in him.”
Christ is the key to understanding God’s promises.
We should therefore be careful about lifting promises from anywhere in Scripture and applying them to ourselves without understanding their context.
The correct question is not merely:
“What promise can I claim?”
The deeper question is:
“How does this promise find its fulfilment in Jesus Christ and the New Covenant?”
The Christian’s covenant confidence is Christ-centred.
The Holy Spirit Is God’s Guarantee
God did not only give us promises written in Scripture.
He gave us His Spirit.
Ephesians 1:13–14 KJV
“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”
The Holy Spirit is described as the earnest of our inheritance.
The idea is that of a deposit or guarantee.
God has placed His own Spirit within the believer as the guarantee that what He has begun, He will bring to completion.
We are not merely waiting for covenant promises from a distance.
The Spirit of God already dwells within us.
Covenant Grace Does Not Remove Obedience
This is one of the most important areas in which Christians must maintain balance.
The fact that we are under grace does not mean obedience no longer matters.
In fact, one of the promises of the New Covenant is that God Himself would work obedience into His people.
Ezekiel 36:26–27 KJV
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”
Under the New Covenant, obedience is no longer merely an external demand.
God changes the heart.
God gives His Spirit.
God works within His people.
Jesus said:
John 14:15 KJV
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
Therefore covenant does not teach:
“God is faithful, so I can live however I want.”
It teaches:
“God has loved me, redeemed me, given me His Spirit, and brought me into relationship with Himself; therefore I now live in loving obedience to Him.”
Obedience does not purchase covenant relationship.
Obedience flows from covenant relationship.
Covenant Does Not Mean a Trouble-Free Life
Another dangerous misunderstanding must be corrected.
Being in covenant with God does not mean a Christian will never encounter trouble.
Jesus never promised that.
John 16:33 KJV
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
Notice Jesus did not say:
“You will never experience tribulation.”
He said:
“In me ye might have peace.”
Covenant confidence is therefore not:
“Nothing difficult will ever happen to me.”
It is:
“Nothing I encounter can separate me from my covenant God.”
Paul expresses this beautifully.
Romans 8:35, 37–39 KJV
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Notice carefully.
Paul does not say believers never encounter distress, persecution, famine, peril, or death.
He says none of them can separate us from Christ.
That is deeper covenant security.
Covenant Changes the Way We Pray
Once you understand your covenant position in Christ, prayer changes.
You no longer approach God as a stranger.
You come through Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 4:14–16 KJV
“Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
The throne we approach is called:
“the throne of grace.”
And what are we told to do?
“Come boldly.”
Not because we deserve anything independently of Christ.
But because we have a High Priest.
Covenant prayer therefore says:
“Father, I come through Jesus Christ.”
“I stand upon what Christ has accomplished.”
“I believe Your Word because You are faithful.”
“I receive mercy and grace for my time of need.”
This is boldness without arrogance.
Covenant Changes the Way We Respond to Delay
Abraham provides one of Scripture’s clearest pictures of faith in the character of God.
Romans 4:20–21 KJV
“He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.”
This may be one of the greatest definitions of covenant faith:
Being fully persuaded that what God has promised, He is able also to perform.
Faith therefore does not begin with the size of the problem.
Faith begins with the character of the One who made the promise.
Delay does not automatically mean denial.
Difficulty does not automatically mean covenant failure.
Circumstances do not rewrite God’s character.
Covenant Gives Us a Foundation for Spiritual Warfare
Christian spiritual warfare must be grounded in what Jesus has already accomplished.
We are not trying to persuade God to defeat Satan.
Christ has already triumphed over the powers of darkness.
Colossians 2:14–15 KJV
“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”
The believer therefore resists Satan from the standpoint of Christ’s victory.
James 4:7 KJV
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Notice the order.
Submit to God.
Then:
Resist the devil.
Then:
He will flee.
Covenant authority must always remain under covenant government.
We cannot claim the authority of God’s kingdom while refusing submission to the King.
The Lord’s Table Continually Reminds Us of Covenant
Communion should never become empty religious routine.
Jesus gave us the Lord’s Table as a continual remembrance of Himself and His sacrifice.
1 Corinthians 11:23–26 KJV
“For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.”
Every time believers partake of the Lord’s Table, we remember:
His body.
His blood.
His sacrifice.
His covenant.
His death.
His resurrection.
And His promised return.
God Is Faithful to Complete What He Began
Covenant confidence also reaches into our personal walk with God.
Philippians 1:6 KJV
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”
And again:
1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 KJV
“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”
Notice once again where the confidence rests:
“Faithful is he.”
The Christian journey begins with grace.
It continues by grace.
And it will ultimately be completed because God is faithful.
This does not make us passive.
It makes us dependent.
We work because God works in us.
We obey because His Spirit enables us.
We persevere because His grace sustains us.
The Ultimate Goal of Covenant Is God Himself
Perhaps this is the deepest truth of the entire subject.
It is possible to become interested in covenant merely because we want protection, provision, breakthrough, healing, success, or answered prayer.
But God’s covenant purpose is much greater.
Throughout Scripture one covenant statement appears repeatedly:
“I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
And at the end of Scripture, that purpose reaches its full expression.
Revelation 21:3 KJV
“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”
This is where covenant is ultimately heading.
God dwelling with His redeemed people forever.
Therefore covenant does not ultimately terminate in things.
Not money.
Not possessions.
Not earthly success.
Not even physical healing or deliverance.
Those things may be expressions of God’s goodness, but the supreme treasure of covenant is:
GOD HIMSELF.
The Covenant Consciousness Every Christian Should Develop
When the revelation of covenant becomes established in your heart, certain convictions begin to govern your life.
You know that God is faithful by nature.
You know that God cannot lie.
You know that Jesus is the Mediator of your covenant.
You know that the blood of Jesus established the New Covenant.
You know that Jesus Himself is the surety of that covenant.
You know that you have access to the Father through Christ.
You know that the Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee of your inheritance.
You know that obedience flows from relationship with God rather than earning that relationship.
You know that trouble does not mean God has abandoned you.
And you know that God will ultimately complete His redemptive purpose in Christ.
That knowledge changes your inner conversation.
Instead of asking:
“Will God remember me?”
You remember:
God remembers His covenant.
Instead of wondering:
“Can I really approach God?”
You remember:
I have boldness to enter by the blood of Jesus.
Instead of thinking:
“Perhaps God has changed His mind.”
You remember:
God cannot lie.
Instead of concluding:
“The delay means God’s promise has failed.”
You remember:
What He has promised, He is able also to perform.
Instead of believing:
“My weakness has destroyed everything.”
You remember:
I have a High Priest who ever lives to make intercession for me.
And instead of trying to make God faithful through anxiety, religious effort, or emotional pressure, you learn to rest in this:
Hebrews 10:23 KJV
“Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)”
The Great Confidence of the Covenant Believer
Perhaps Hebrews 13 gives us the perfect closing prayer for this truth.
Hebrews 13:20–21 KJV
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
The covenant believer can therefore live with deep confidence.
My God is a covenant-keeping God.
Jesus Christ is the Mediator of my covenant.
His blood is the blood of the everlasting covenant.
God is my Father.
Christ is my High Priest.
The Holy Spirit lives within me.
I have access to the Father.
I have an inheritance in Christ.
God cannot lie.
God has not forgotten His Word.
His faithfulness is greater than my circumstances.
What He has promised, He is able to perform.
And the God who began His work in me is faithful to complete it.
This is covenant consciousness.
It is living every day with a settled awareness of who God has committed Himself to be to us in Christ, what Jesus has accomplished through His blood, what belongs to us under the New Covenant, and how we are called to respond in faith, love, holiness, obedience, worship, and service.
The strength of the covenant is ultimately not the believer’s ability to hold on to God.
It is the faithfulness of the God who has taken hold of us in Christ.
He is the faithful God.
He keeps covenant.
And through Jesus Christ, we have been brought into the blood of an everlasting covenant.
This is only the beginning of the covenant journey.
In the next blog, “The Blood of the Everlasting Covenant: What Exactly Did the Blood of Jesus Secure for the Believer?”
We will examine, directly from Scripture, what the blood of Jesus has accomplished for us in the New Covenant—our redemption, forgiveness, justification, reconciliation, access to God, cleansing, inheritance, victory over accusation, and the eternal realities secured for us in Christ.
Understanding that God is a covenant keeper is powerful. But understanding what the blood of Jesus has actually secured for you will help you live with greater faith, confidence, gratitude, holiness, and covenant consciousness.
Look out for the continuation:
The covenant was established by blood, and every believer needs to understand what that blood means.
The Message Bearer, Cornelius Bella
corneliusbella 