This past Sunday we talked about the covenants God makes with his people. In part of his series of blogs coming from his new book Doctrine, Mark Driscoll wrote this blog on the idea of covenants from God on the Resurgence website. A covenant is a divinely initiated agreement whereby he stipulates the condition of a relationship. With all covenants there is a clear order, which begins with God’s intervening acts of deliverance and salvation. Second, God draws the person or people into relationship. Third, he calls the person or people to life change through the conditions of the covenant. The model given in the Scriptures is the covenant God made with his people in Exodus 19-20. God delivered the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery and then brings them to Himself at Mount Sinai. He calls them to this relationship and then gives them the Law as the conditions of relationship. As a result, Jehovah will be their God, and they will be His people.
As followers of Jesus, we live under the New Covenant explained in Jeremiah 31:31-34. In this covenant God writes his law on the hearts of his followers, and he declares that they will know him in such an incredibly intimate way.