L2 Sabbath 7 January: God’s Covenants  

Memory Text: ‘Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of the Lord your God.’ (Deuteronomy 28:1,2 NKJV) 

Proverbs 3:1-10 – Obeying God’s commands – holding on to mercy and truth keeping them in our hearts blesses us. We’ll be blessed with:  

• Long life and peace  
• God’s favour and man’s favour 

When we trust God entirely, acknowledging Him in all our ways He’ll direct us. Verse 9 is about honouring God with all of our wealth and possessions. When we do God will provide us with plentiful – full and overflowing.  

Malachi 3:7-11 talks about the broken covenant between God and Israelites by unpaid tithes and offerings. God says to the descendants of Jacob that ever since the time of their ancestors they have not kept His commands. God appeals to them saying ‘Return’ and He ‘will return’ to them. However, they have robbed God in tithes and offerings because of this the whole nation is cursed. God commands ‘Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse’ so that there is food in God’s house. Tithing is rewarded by God ‘Test me in this’, God says ‘if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.’  

In Matthew 6:25-33 – Jesus tells us not to worry about the things we need. Look at nature the birds are fed and the lilies of the field are clothed. If God takes care of nature even clothing grass with a short life span how much more will He clothe us? Jesus says don’t worry about what to eat or drink or wear because God our heavenly Father knows we need all these things. ‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’  

God and humans have both bilateral contracts (covenants) and unilateral contracts.  

A bilateral contract is an exchange of promises. In Contract Law each party’s promise is known as consideration. Consideration was defined in Currie v Misa (1874) LR10 Ex 153 (p.162) as; ‘Some right, interest, profit or benefit accruing to the one party, or some forbearance, detriment, loss of responsibility, given, suffered or undertaken by the other’. Just as the lesson judges have also put it, “I will do this for you, if you will do that for me”, highlighting the bargain aspect of such agreements. In bilateral contracts, each party is both a promisor and a promisee.  

Unilateral contracts (covenants) on the other hand are one-sided because only one party promises to do something or performs an act enforcing the promise. God’s unilateral covenants with humanity include:  

• God makes the sun rise and sends rain on the righteous and wicked (Matthew 5:45) 
• God promised never to flood the whole earth again. Rainbows are a reminder (Gen. 9:9-16) 
• Seasons will continue to change for as long as the earth exists (Genesis 8:22)