Covenant Review

1. LESSON: Covenant Review

A. What is a Covenant?

• God is a covenant-making God:He makes promises with His people, and He keeps them!
• A Covenant is:
  • More than a contract
  • 2 parties/people –> 1 (e.g. marriage)
    • What’s mine is yours; what’s yours is mine
    • Someone hurt you = someone hurting me
    • For life; till death do us part
  • Usually signed by blood or exchange of personal belongings (e.g. wedding rings)
  • Penalty for breaking covenant = death
• There are 3 major covenants in the Bible:
  • Abrahamic Covenant
  • Mosaic (Old) Covenant
  • New Covenant (like the name of our church, tNCC)
  • We also looked at David and Jonathan’s Covenant, which is a picture of God’s kindness to us for Christ’s sake

B. Key lessons from Covenants

(highlight key points and Christ lesson; keep it short and sweet)

i. Abrahamic Covenant

• God promised Abraham many good things:
  • Promised Land
  • Abraham’s family > great and blessed nation
  • Abraham’s seed will bless all families of the world
  • Gen 15:1 “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
• God cut a Covenant with Abraham between animals torn into 2:
  • Only God walked through the animals, while Abraham slept
  • This covenant cannot fail because God cannot fail — Unconditional
• Christ lesson:
  • At the cross, Jesus cut the New Covenant with God — hence it cannot fail!
  • At the cross, Jesus took the punishment for our sin — His body was broken and bloody just like the animals.
  • Jesus is the promised seed of Abraham that will bless all the families of the world!

ii. Mosaic Covenant

• After bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, God made a Covenant with them to:
  • Teach them His 100% perfect standards
  • Set them apart as a different nation
• Conditional Covenant:
  • OBEY FULLY = BLESSED
  • DISOBEY ANY = CURSED
• Mission impossible: Even though the Israelites all said “Yes, we will obey!” they failed again, again and again.
• Christ lesson:
  • Only a PERFECT man could keep God’s laws 100%.
  • Jesus is the only perfect man who ever lived!
  • Jesus:
    • Lived a sinless life
    • Fulfilled the WHOLE law
    • Took ALL the curses we deserved
    • So that we can receive ALL the blessings in Him!

iii. New Covenant

• Because Israel couldn’t keep the Old Covenant, God promised them a New Covenant.
• In Jeremiah 31:33-34, God promised:
• “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israelafter that time,” declares the Lord.

  I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.

  I will be their God, and they will be my people.

  No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’

  because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,”

  “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

• The biggest difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is:I WILL vs THOU SHALT NOT
• Not about what we can do, but what Jesus has done!
• New Covenant = ALL ABOUT JESUS!

iv. David & Jonathan’s Covenant

• David and Jonathan were best friends. They made a Covenant with each other — What’s mine is yours. What’s yours is mine.
• When David became king, he looked out for Jonathan’s family so he can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake.
• He found Mephibosheth — Jonathan’s son who was crippled.
• Because of his covenant with Jonathan, David showed Mephibhosheth kindness and gave him:
  • Assurance: Do not fear
  • New Life
  • Restoration
  • Provision
  • A Place at the King’s table
  • Sonship
• Christ lesson: Because of Jesus, we receive the kindness of God!
  • Jesus gives us:
    • Assurance: No fear
    • New Life (Eph 2:4-5)
    • Restoration —Jesus came to restore us to the Father and all the Adam lost in the garden of Eden (Joel 2:25)
    • Provision (Phil 4:19)
    • A Place at the King’s table (John 6:53)
    • Sonship (Galatians 3:26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.)

2. SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES

• Matching Game
  e.g. Match pix of Abraham with pix of baby Isaac; pix of David/Jonathan with pix of Mephibosheth; pix of Moses with pix of 10 commandments; pix of Jesus with red heart
• Memory Game
  e.g. Have 2 sets of each pix. Face downwards. Get kids to find a pair of the same pix.
• Quiz
  On key lessons of Covenants; Christ lesson; memory challenge (Jeremiah 31:33-34)
• PostersProvide 4 A3-sized posters with name of Covenant (and pix) and markers. Divide kids into 4 groups. Get each group to work together and write about one of the Covenants — what they learnt from it, the Christ lesson, Scripture verse etc.

• Close in prayer