Sabbath: The Everlasting Covenant

Image © Pacific Press

Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study: Genesis 12:1-3, Romans 4:1-5, Exodus 2:24, Deuteronomy 5:1-21, Deuteronomy 26:16-19, Deuteronomy 8:5, Matthew 28:10.

Memory Text: “And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you” (Genesis 17:7).

“Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth — to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people” (Revelation 14:6). Notice, “the everlasting gospel,” everlasting as in always existing, as in having always been there, as in having been promised to us in Christ Jesus “before time began” (Titus 1:2).

Hence, it’s no wonder that the Bible talks at other times about the “everlasting covenant” (Genesis 17:7, Isaiah 24:5, Ezekiel 16:60, Hebrews 13:20), because the essence of the gospel is covenant, and the essence of the covenant is the gospel: God out of His saving grace and love offers you a salvation that you do not deserve and cannot possibly earn; and you, in response, love Him back “with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30), a love that is made manifest by obedience to His law: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments” (1 John 5:3).

This week we will look at the idea of the covenant as expressed in the book of Deuteronomy, where the covenant and all that it entails is made manifest.