SALVATION AS A COVENANT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

SALVATION IS MORE THAN JUST A PURCHASE AGREEMENT. IT IS A TWO WAY COVENANT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

The Hidden Beauty of Salvation
My understanding of Salvation used to be that of a transaction. A repentant person says a prayer asking Christ to be his Savior and God gives that person Salvation, and Eternal Life, deal closed and done. Maybe you have been taught to see salvation in this same manner, but there is much more to it that has been covered up through time until much of the beauty of it is lost. There is much more to salvation than the simple transaction of saying a prayer and you are saved.

The hidden beauty of Salvation is that it is an invitation to and an ongoing relationship with the Creator of the universe. To be more specific in revealing the beauty of Salvation, it is a Covenant relationship. This is almost a foreign word to some of us today in Western Civilization Christianity. However this was the religious context in which the writers of the Old and NEW Covenant grew up in. The idea of the covenant relationship with God was so common that the writers of the New Testament did not spend a lot of time developing it for their readers.
The basis or reason for God establishing this covenant relationship with us throughout His revelation to us is His great love for us. If we lose sight of that then the covenant relationship becomes, in either setting of the Old or New Covenant, just a system of earning God’s favor.
There are a couple of man-made covenants, the wedding covenant, and the Suzerain (King)/Vassal (subject) covenant that are similar to the covenant relationship that God establishes with us. First of all the covenant relationship is God’s deal. You may not like the idea of a covenant, especially in the individualistic, self-realizing Western civilization, but you don’t have a say in the matter.

Here, our first comparison comes into play. In the Suzerain/Vassal covenant the Suzerain sets up the covenant because he has all the cards so to speak. The vassal just agrees to abide by the terms. In our record (the Bible) of covenant relationship with God you never see man setting up the arrangements. It is always only on God’s terms that we enter into a relationship with Him. Another way of looking at it is as the invitation to wed. Traditionally, the groom has given the invitation to the bride to enter into this relationship with him, not the other way around. We are invited to become the bride of Christ.

Secondly, there are consequences for one’s response to this covenant relationship. If one is obedient and faithful, then there are blessings and the aionios life (God's quality kingdom life). If one is disobedient then there are curses and death. These consequences affect life now and in the future. If now we cooperate with God by being obedient to His will we enjoy His blessings, which among other things is an ever deepening and more loving relationship with Him. If now we do not cooperate with God and in disobedience seek our own self-satisfaction, we experience the curses or the chastisement of God to bring us back into a right relationship with Him. If we repent, we remain in this covenant relationship and we are promised the inheritance of aionios life. If however we, by our disobedience forsake Him and do not remain in this covenant relationship, then we forfeit our inheritance of aionios life.

The Covenant relationship which is described as in Christ Jesus is entered into when a person receives Jesus Christ as Savior through a personal repentance and faith in Him and identified with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection through baptism in water by the authority of a scriptural New Covenant assembly of Jesus Christ.

Members of the Lord’s assemblies are the betrothed bride people waiting for our Lord (the bridegroom) to return. We are not the wife yet. That happens at the marriage supper of the Lamb provided we remain faithful and do not forsake our beloved Lord. Similar to the wedding covenant, who would marry a fiancée who has forsaken her husband to be?

Some have made a lot of effort to show different classifications of covenants in the Bible. They have identified several different covenants in the Old Testament ending up with us being now in a Covenant of Grace. On the surface that sounds great, however the covenant relationship has always been a Covenant of Grace. God has, from the very first fall into sin, graciously provided a way for man to continue in relationship with Him. God said that He was going to make a New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Yet if you read the scriptures, you will see that the difference in the new one and the old one is where the law will be. In the new covenant established through Jesus Christ, God puts His law in the hearts of His covenant saints through the indwelling Holy Spirit. There is no cancellation of the blessings or curses that are shown throughout the Bible in relation to the God’s covenant relationship with us.

Biblical Proofs that the Hidden Beauty of Salvation is a Covenant Relationship
The word 'covenant' shows up in 269 verses and in 35 of the 66 books of our Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

Specific New Testament references of our Salvation as a Covenant Relationship
Jesus said, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." Matthew 26:28, also see Mark 14:24, and Luke 22:20
Paul said, "Who also made us able ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit makes alive." 2Corinthians 3:6
The author of Hebrews said, "Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant." Hebrews 7:22

Examples of the elements (a call to faithfulness, blessings, and cursings) of the Covenant Relationship seen in the New Testament
John 15:1-8; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 8:12-13; 11:22; 1Corinthians 10:1-12; 15:2; Galatians 6:7-10; 2Timothy 2:11-13; Hebrews 6:1-12; 10:19-31; 12:25-29.
In your readings of the New Testament check and see if you don’t run across these elements of the covenant relationship:
1. A call to faithfulness.
2. Blessings for faithfulness in our relationship with the Lord, ultimately blessed with eternal life.
3. Curses for unfaithfulness in our relationship with the Lord, ultimately cursed with destruction.

Brethren, since we are in this beautiful covenant relationship with our Lord, we need to be ever anxious to spur on one another to faithfulness and quickly seek to restore those who fall into sin. If we repent, we remain in this covenant relationship and we inherit the aionios life. However, if we, by our disobedience forsake Him and do not remain in this covenant relationship then we forfeit our inheritance of the kingdom and the aionios life.