How Do You Enter Into Covenant?

People have a big problem with swearing but that is exactly what Abraham did.

There are different things the bible says you don’t swear by. When the Lord first opened my eyes that I needed to enter into a covenant I struggled with understanding it. I wondered how to add covenant.  Basically, it is believing the Lord and swearing an oath to Him. That’s it and His grace. I tried many things to get the feel of entering into covenant. It was all unnecessary. I just needed to rest in it. I struggle with words to teach the depth of it. We use a term “down deep in our heart” to a point where you just lay on it. If you have ever been in a plane and get above the clouds it looks like you could just lay on the clouds and rest. 

In a sense I think we, as a whole have gotten away from the meaning of covenant and keeping our word. Millionaires and people in the mafia make deals based on just a hand shake and their word. There is a trust there. If you didn’t keep your word you would be out of the picture. The people of our day are not used to keeping their word. My dad was a stickler for keeping his word. My dad used to say swear not to your own hurt. You used to hear a man is only as good as his word. I haven’t heard that in a long time. You have lawyers trying to break contracts. People don’t try to keep contracts anymore. They look for the fine point somewhere to get out of them. A verbal agreement does not mean much these days.

Psalm 15:1-4 (KJV) ¹ LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? ² He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. ³ He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. ⁴ In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

The Lord cannot lie. There is no shadow of changing in Him. If there is any wishy-washy in a situation it is on our part. Abraham’s belief was accounted to him for righteousness. He didn’t earn it. The primary thing Abraham did was left all the gods. Abraham and his father were idolaters. The primary sin he did was looking to other gods instead of to the one who created the heavens and the earth. All the titles of our God let us get a hold on who He is. One way He is described is Adoni the blesser. When they turned to all the other gods it was for crops, personal health, protection, victory in war. Whatever their need was they sacrificed to and honored other gods. The one true God says, I am your blesser. I am the one who gives you good crops, rain etc. Turning to other gods is adultery and fornication.

Psalm 14:1 (KJV) ¹ The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God (Adoni;the blesser) They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

Joshua 24:2-3 (KJV) ² And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. ³ And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.

Genesis 12:1-3 (KJV) ¹ Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: ² And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: ³ And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

People teach saying Abraham went to heaven because the word says he slept with his fathers. They use that as proof that he is in heaven. The word says his fathers were idolaters. If you believe idolaters aren’t in heaven then it means he was dead. He was in the grave.

After Abraham left his family he walked looking for the place that we will all see when he sees it.

Genesis 14:17-20 (KJV) ¹⁷ And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale. ¹⁸ And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. ¹⁹ And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: ²⁰ And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.

Our God owns everything. He is the possessor of the heaven and earth. He is able to provide whatever you need. God is explaining to Abraham how he ended up where he is at; the position he is in.

Genesis 14:21-24 (KJV) ²¹ And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. ²² And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD (the Covenant keeping god), the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, ²³ That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: ²⁴ Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.

The Sodomites; male prostitutes made money by being temple prostitutes. Abraham would not take anything from the king of Sodom.

Genesis 15:1 (KJV) ¹ After these things the word of the LORD (yahweh the covenant keeping god)  came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

At that point he raised his hands and prophesied what the Lord would do in the new covenant through the blood. The anti-type was when they put blood on the doorpost when coming out of Egypt. They didn’t know where they were going but they believed God was delivering them. They knew by the act of putting blood on the door that everything was going to be alright. After going through the covenant of blood they had no feeble knees, no blindness, no sickness and no disease.

In our day having coming into covenant we have gone through the door which is Jesus. He said I am the way unto the Father through a blood covenant. That same death angel goes around now. Shouldn’t we have the same mind set and same comfort? It is nice to have healing but it wouldn't be even nicer to never get sick.

Wrap your heads around the strength of swearing an oath. It does not mean you do not have tribulations but we are to have victory in the tribulation.

Matthew 5:34-36 (KJV) ³⁴ But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: ³⁵ Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. ³⁶ Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.

Matthew 23:16-18 (KJV) ¹⁶ Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! ¹⁷ Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? ¹⁸ And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

Matthew 26:74 (KJV) ⁷⁴ Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.

Romans 10:9-10 (KJV) ⁹ That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
¹⁰ For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

There is swearing and then there is swearing before the Lord. Which is what Abraham did. It speaks about what you are supposed to do in Romans 10:9-10. The primary thing back then was getting out of everything that pertained to false gods.

Genesis 21:23-24 (KJV) ²³ Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. ²⁴ And Abraham said, I will swear.

Genesis 24:3 (KJV) ³ And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:

Genesis 24:37 (KJV) ³⁷ And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell:

There was another type of swearing or promise where Abraham was swearing by his life for us. If he is lying he would not have children.

Genesis 24:7-9 (KJV) ⁷ The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. ⁸ And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again. ⁹ And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.

The swearing here in Genesis was done before Yahweh the Covenant Keeping God.

Being in covenant is a matter of keeping in the forefront of your mind that you are in a covenant relationship with Him. Over six thousand times in scripture it says the Lord God of Israel the Covenant Keeping God, the Creator of Israel. In the Psalms David talked about meditating in his heart day and night and ruminating over it. David shows how he meditated on Yahweh being his Covenant Keeping God. Throughout the Psalms he’s using the name Covenant Keeping God. David’s confidence was in his covenant keeping relationship with God. We need to learn to think in those terms. We need to use it in the sense that David did. He used it in the sense that in the time of trouble the Covenant Keeping God was going to get him out of whatever mess he was in. By the end of the Psalms David is rejoicing that Yahweh is his deliverance and salvation.

Isaiah 12:2 (KJV) ² Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.

Jesus the Son was our salvation in the sense that He was the Lamb. His purpose was to bring us to the Father.

Genesis 25:33 (KJV) ³³ And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.

Throughout the bible it shows they did swear and if they broke it they expected cursing. If you look in the Strong’s Concordance you can go down the list of the places where it talks about swearing. The swearing was before the Lord. One thing that comes to mind is where they were not supposed to take any of the Babylonian garments and they lost a battle and said, what’s wrong Yahweh? If you are totally confident in your covenant relationship with God it’s not wrong to ask Him what went wrong. He told them there was sin the camp. Someone hid a Babylonian garment and coins. When I think of this I think of all the Christmas paraphernalia.  

Joshua 7:21 (KJV) ²¹ When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.

Another thing that comes to mind is they did not discern that they are one body. Because of the discrimination between the rich and the poor Israel was punished as much for not helping the poor and widows as they were homosexuality and all the other sins. In communion they are commemorating being one body and they have the poor sitting not allowing them to eat while they are eating.

1 Samuel 20:17-30 (KJV) ¹⁷ And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his own soul. ¹⁸ Then Jonathan said to David, To morrow is the new moon: and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty. ¹⁹ And when thou hast stayed three days, then thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place where thou didst hide thyself when the business was in hand, and shalt remain by the stone Ezel. ²⁰ And I will shoot three arrows on the side thereof, as though I shot at a mark. ²¹ And, behold, I will send a lad, saying, Go, find out the arrows. If I expressly say unto the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them; then come thou: for there is peace to thee, and no hurt; as the LORD liveth. ²² But if I say thus unto the young man, Behold, the arrows are beyond thee; go thy way: for the LORD hath sent thee away. ²³ And as touching the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, the LORD be between thee and me for ever. ²⁴ So David hid himself in the field: and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat meat. ²⁵ And the king sat upon his seat, as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall: and Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty. ²⁶ Nevertheless Saul spake not any thing that day: for he thought, Something hath befallen him, he is not clean; surely he is not clean. ²⁷ And it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month, that David's place was empty: and Saul said unto Jonathan his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday, nor to day? ²⁸ And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem: ²⁹ And he said, Let me go, I pray thee; for our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he hath commanded me to be there: and now, if I have found favour in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not unto the king's table. ³⁰ Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother's nakedness?

David said to Jonathan if I have broken our covenant than kill me yourself. That is pretty strong. How many of us would even think of something like that?

In an oath to Abraham the Lord told Abraham your children are going to mess up and I swear to you I am going to punish them but I am going to bring them out. It was not because of their goodness but because of His oath to Abraham. Every forty years they would mess up and straighten up again. The last great keeping of His promise is when the one hundred and forty four thousand will be sealed. They will not die when two thirds of the Jews will die. God swore to Abraham that his bloodline would not be cut off. We Gentiles are children of Abraham by faith and not though the bloodline. The Lord told the twelve apostles that they will rule over the tribes.

Isaiah 3:7 (KJV) ⁷ In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.

Isaiah 45:23 (KJV) ²³ I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Isaiah 48:1 (KJV) ¹ Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.

Isaiah 65:16 (KJV) ¹⁶ That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.

The Lord swore by Himself. That should be an anchor for our life. All we have to do is swear in agreement to it. We need to swear by the God of truth. The word swear is not always referred to but also as they have given their word. If there is an breach it’s on our end. The word says come boldly before the throne. If you are in need of forgiveness go before Him. His love is forever towards us. The word says we have the sure mercies of David and He sure made a mess of things in his life. David even enlisted other people into his sin with Bathsheba. David was a liar, adulterer and a murderer yet he was cleansed and moved on from his sins. Bathsheba didn’t put up any resistance and by law she should have. Yet she went on to be the great grandparent of our salvation Jesus Christ. Talk about mercy.

Psalm 18:1-19 (KJV) ¹ I will love thee, O LORD (Covenant Keeping god), my strength. ² The LORD (Covenant Keeping God) is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God (El the Almighty), my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

Verse 2 reinforces to me that I am a child of His. Reading the scriptures with understanding is a way of mediating. It’s a good thing to ruminate on the word day and night. The definition of strength is to get the victory. 

³  I will call upon the LORD (the covenant keeping god), who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. ⁴ The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.

As believers we go through different tribulations and troubles than one another. We have to believe we have victory over the different troubles and sorrows we go through.

⁵ The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
⁶ In my distress I called upon the LORD (the covenant keeping god), and cried unto my God (Creator): he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

Come boldly before the throne of grace.

⁷ Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. ⁸ There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.

When I think of verse eight it draws a picture in my mind of when someone is mad and they have their nose open and flaring like a bull. This is a picture of your savior coming to defend you. The word savior means to run to, to defend, to deliver; to sucker as when Jonathan ran to sucker David.

⁹ He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
¹⁰ And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. ¹¹ He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. ¹² At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. ¹³ The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire. ¹⁴ Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. ¹⁵ Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD (o covenant keeping god), at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

This shows the Lord was really mad. One of his babies; His believers; one of His covenant people cried unto Him and He is going to fight for them.

¹⁶ He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters (troubles). ¹⁷ He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. ¹⁸ They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD (Covenant Keeping God) was my stay. ¹⁹ He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

His delight was not because David was such a great person. He delighted in him because he believed God. The Lord desires mercy more than sacrifice.

Psalm 18:20-50 (KJV) ²⁰ The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. ²¹ For I have kept the ways of the LORD (the covenant keeping god), and have not wickedly departed from my God (Creator). ²² For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. ²³ I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. ²⁴ Therefore hath the LORD (the Covenant Keeping God) recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. ²⁵ With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright; ²⁶ With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward. ²⁷ For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks. ²⁸ For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD (the Covenant Keeper) my God (Creator) will enlighten my darkness. ²⁹ For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God (Creator) have I leaped over a wall. ³⁰ As for God (El the Almighty) , his way is perfect: the word of the LORD (the covenant keeping god) is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. ³¹ For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God (Creator)? ³² It is God (the Almighty) that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.

David is saying it is not through his own strength. It is because of our faith in His mercy that we have what we have.

³³ He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places. ³⁴ He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.

This is a prayer that I pray. I pray He teaches me to fight the spiritual warfare. Teach my heart to war. We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and darkness. We are not going to war with carnal weapons but with the sword of the spirit, the shield of faith, the breastplate of righteousness. Teach us how to fight the good fight. Teach us how to get the victory. You can’t see the shield of faith but you know He is there.

³⁵ Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. ³⁶ Thou hast enlarged my steps under me,that my feet did not slip. ³⁷ I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed. ³⁸ I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet. ³⁹ For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me. ⁴⁰ Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me. ⁴¹ They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD (the covenant keeping god), but he answered them not. ⁴² Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets. ⁴³ Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; and thou hast made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me. ⁴⁴ As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me. ⁴⁵ The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places. ⁴⁶ The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.⁴⁷ It is God (El) that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me. ⁴⁸ He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man. ⁴⁹ Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD (O covenant keeping god), among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. ⁵⁰ Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.

Throughout this Psalm David isn’t taking credit. He is talking about the covenant relationship that allows him to do these things. It’s not through our own strength. The word anointed in verse fifty is the "on looking" or prophesying of the Messiah. Reading through the Psalms seeing the word Lord and understanding the meaning is what I do to take meaning of being in covenant relationship with the Lord. I renew my mind to think in terms of Yahweh is my Covenant Keeping God. Meditate day and night on His word and who He is.