Everlasting Covenant

Dr. Couch, what is the everlasting covenant?

ANSWER: This adjectival description is applied to the Abraham covenant. So it can be applied several places to several covenants. God told Abraham "My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you" (Gen. 17:7). With Isaac "I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant ..." (v. 19). "The covenant which God made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, … to Israel as an everlasting covenant" (Psa. 105:10). "The covenant which He made with Abraham, … to Israel as an everlasting covenant" (1 Chron. 16:16-17). You will be priests and ministers of the Lord … I will make an everlasting covenant with them" (Isa. 61:8).

The Mosaic Law "it is an everlasting covenant for the sons of Israel" (Lev. 24:8).

The New Covenant: "I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, … I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety. And they shall be My people; and I will be their God, and I will give them one heart and one way, … And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them ..." (Jer. 32:37-40).

Future fulfillment of the New Covenant: "It will be the Lord their God they will seek. They will ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces in its direction; they will come that they may join themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten" (50:4-5). Unger writes on Jer. 50:5:

"They will join themselves in a perpetual covenant, the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31-34) based upon Christ's finished redemption work (Zech. 12:10-13:1), in contrast to the Old Covenant (the Law) which they broke."

The Abrahamic and New covenants are eternal, and so is the Law (Mosaic) Covenant. Christ fulfilled it eternally though we are no longer under it.

Thanks for asking.
—Dr. Mal Couch (4/11)

Elect

Dr. Couch, the doctrine of election is an awesome truth. What does the word "elect" mean? ANSWER:  The Hebrew word for "elect" is Bah' Char and means "elect" or "chosen."    (A) In a corporate sense the nation of Israel is chosen even though individually the Jews have sinned in that they have not accepted their own promised Messiah. God's promises still remain—the Jews will someday turn to Christ and be back in the good graces of the Lord once more. The Jewish people are "chosen" through the Abrahamic covenant (Psa. 105:8-11). The Abrahamic covenant was confirmed "to Jacob for an everlasting covenant, saying, "To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance." Notice that the giving of the land is the sign of that covenant. It belongs to the Jews as a perpetual inheritance. The foolish covenant guys (allegorists) try to say that the land no longer belongs to the Jewish people. They have not read their Bible!    God's chosen ones, with a shout of joy" were given "the lands of the nations, that they might take possession of the fruit of the peoples' labor. … Praise the Lord!" (vv. 42-45). As the "chosen ones" they will someday receive prosperity (106:5).    (B) There are two classes of the angelic host. There are those who are joined to the devil; they belong to him (Matt. 25:41). They were cast forth from heaven when he fell. But there are those who did not leave their position with the Lord. They are the "holy" angels (Luke 9:26), and the elect or chosen angels (1 Tim. 5:21).  Then there are the believers who are the elect of the Lord. "... just as He chose us ..." (Eph. 1:4). The Greek word here is eklego which means "to out call." Or, "to call out." We can call this word also "to elect." This election took place before "the casting down of the world," or "before the foundation of the world" (v. 4). The result of this calling would make us "holy and blameless" because we are now placed into the holy Son of God—this is our new position! This includes also His predestination which means "to before encircle," or "to put a fence around." The word is "pro-orizo" in Greek.The word of God is so clear and makes such sense when we let it just speak to us! It is not complicated!    Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch (12/10)

Verses Used by Amillenialists

Dr. Couch, what are some of the verses the amillennialists use to claim that the Abrahamic covenant is almost exclusively about spiritual descendants with no physical promises given to the physical descendants of Abraham? ANSWER:  They use Matthew 5:5; Galatians 3:29; Romans 4:13-15, and Revelation 21-22. On: (1) Matthew 5:5. This passage is to the Jews in regard to the "kingdom of heaven" which we know by Jewish history is the messianic Kingdom. The promises have to do with spiritual blessings, and physical blessings (the land) that will be given to Abraham's physical seed, Israel, in the Kingdom. The Jews will then "own" the world. First of all, it only has to do with those who are "gentile". If they have certain spiritual and emotional qualities, they will be blessed by the things of the earth, and then only in the Kingdom. This section even closes by saying that those Jews who are persecuted "for the sake of righteousness," theirs "is the Kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:10). All of the good things about that Millennial Kingdom will belong to them. The amils will do anything to broaden their point so that they can say these verses "indicate that the blessisngs promised to Abraham pertains not so much to his physical descendants but to his spiritual descendants through faith in Christ." Christ gave these Beatitudes (Matt. 5:1-11) in offering the Kingdom to Israel. This is not aimed at Abraham's spiritual seed! (2) Galatians 3:29. Paul says in Romans 4:16 that we are "of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all." We are Abraham's seed by faith in Christ not by our physical relationship to him (Rom. 3:29). I am therefore a son of God by faith and "an heir through God" (Rom. 4:6-7). Galatians 3:29 says "if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise." The only thing this has to do with us is salvation as Paul explains in Galatians 3:6-9. "By faith I am a son of Abraham" (v. 7). And Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, 'All the nations are blessed in you (Abraham).' So then, those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham the believer" (vv. 8-9). The physical seed receives both the land promises and the spiritual promises but the spiritual seed (the Gentiles) receive the spiritual promises. We read in the OT, to Abraham, "To your seed I have given this land" (Gen. 15:18). Read Genesis 17:6-8. To Abraham's seed Isaac it was said: "For to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. I will give your descendants all the nations of the earth [they shall be] blessed" (26:3-5). And Joseph said to his brothers "God shall bring you up from this land (Egypt) to the land (the Holy Land) which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob" (Gen. 50:24). That's not me! (3) Romans 4:13-15. All this passage says is that Abraham's descendants would be heir of the world, not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. By context, this has to do with his physical seed not his spiritual seed. It was the Jews who were trapped in Law keeping not the pagan Gentiles. This is true in that the Kingdom is worldwide. Christ will reign from shore to shore in the Millennium. And of course the church will be there but this is not a spiritual promise but the physical promise from the verses above and many, many more!    When studying the Bible keep the lines straight. Don't wrongly mix the various parts that should not be mixed.    Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch (Apr., 10)