Cameroon Bible Institute

Lesson 3: Divine covenants
God was a master planner so determined to expand his kingdom on earth just like earthly kings through Christianity covenants. To understand this  a study of archaeological discoveries exposed three types of royal documents from the ancient Near East: royal parity treaties, which are covenants in which kings of relatively equal status negotiated the terms of their relationship with each other; royal grants- writings that reveal how ancient kings formally bestowed lands or special status to their faithful servants and finally suzerain- vassal treaties and other documents associated with them and these are international agreements that great kings established with lesser , subservient kings and their nations. But  note that with divine covenants, God in his  sovereignty  dictated the terms of his  covenants.
Examples of God’s covenant through which he administered his kingdom are six in number:- God’s covenants in Adam, Noah,Abraham,Moses,avid and the new covenant. To ensure the success of these covenants, God made different policies that were appropriate for his kingdom in different stages in history.
To describe the history of divine covenants effectively, in this student, God’s  are divided into universal covenants, national covenant with Israel and the new covenant.
The dynamics of God’s interactions with his people remained consistent under each administration of each covenant from Adam to  the new covenant. God’s covenants involved different people at different  times..  and in different ways while impacting the application of covenant dynamics for the people of God’s covenant.
It would be difficult to overstate the importance of divine covenants for understanding the old testament. We serve Christ who has brought the new covenant and as his followers, we learn  all we can from God’s covenant in the old testament  so that we can live for him in this age.