ICS Daily Devotions
A Deal Is a Deal
Romans 8:34-35 (NKJV) Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is ALSO RISEN, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (emphasis added)
John 16:33 (NKJV) These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
Jesus’ death on the cross revealed to us a God who kept His covenant with Abraham to send forth the Messiah. It is through this covenant that all the families of the earth are blessed. Although the Jews were the chosen people and this covenant was made with Abraham, this promise extends to the world, to us Gentiles who have become Abraham’s seed through having the same faith as Abraham. What a blessing that we can actually read the account of how God initiated the unconditional covenant with Abraham! In contrast, God established the Mosaic covenant which is a conditional covenant to teach the Jews the weakness of the flesh due to the sin nature; for them to turn to God to overcome fleshly desires. The law shows us our weakness and the need for a Saviour.
We have a covenant-keeping God. He is the Great I AM; always in the present form, ever current. God’s promises come to pass in His perfect time. We can and we should trust in the Word of God because He is a God who watches over His word to fulfil it in our lives. We can and we should anchor our faith in His Word because God and His Word are ONE.
The course of Israel’s turbulent history followed the stipulated course of the Mosaic covenant. Their obedience brought about blessings, and their disobedience, curses; a recurring pattern that culminated in the exile. However, judgment was never the final word. All throughout, the prophets pointed toward a future hope, they gave prophecies about the coming Saviour which eventually found fulfilment in the first advent of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
God sent forth the Messiah through the Abrahamic covenant to resolve mankind’s sin problem. God will also journey with us in life because this is what covenant partners do. A covenant binds a relationship where it cannot be annulled. This is why nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God, He will neither forsake nor abandon us.
God thinks in covenantal terms. For Him, a deal is a deal!
Sermon Series: The Day that Changed the World – Resurrection Sunday
