Covenants of Feeling? or of Promise?
They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus
judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
–Hosea 10:4
Promises are what make the
world work. When men cannot be trusted to keep their word anymore, there will
not be enough courts, lawyers, or policemen to keep order for even the courts,
lawyers, and policemen will not be trustworthy.
In Hosea's time the men of
Israel broke their word and took false oaths.
The result was like noxious weeds growing up in the field. ``Judgment''
was perverted, and the decisions of the courts poisoned the land. Hemlock is the poisonous plant by which
Socrates was executed.
What
Are Words For?
Words did not mean anything to
that generation because they were operating on another plane of morality. God
had made his requirements fully known in plain words. He had said it clearly by
Jeremiah: ``And say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel; Cursed
be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant.'' (Jeremiah 11:3)
Promises,
Promises, Promises.
But Israel refused, as
Jeremiah also said, "Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but
walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring
upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do.'' (Jeremiah
11:8)
It is not that Israel did not
make promises, for they did constantly.
The wicked make promises constantly, but they do not feel bound by them.
In fact, ``feel'' is the operative word nowadays. The covenant of promise has
been replaced by a covenant of feeling.
Nowadays, ``relationships''
are established by feeling instead of promise. People think they can ``relate''
to people on the basis of feeling, rather than the integrity of a promise.
Marriages are contracted and ruined on the ground of feeling. No matter what the promise is, a partner thinks he is
justified to break the marriage vow if the feelings have changed. Some are more
honest, perhaps, and take the vow ``as long as we both shall love,'' but only a
fool would enter such a marriage.
Breaking
Promises
People move from church to
church; preachers disregard ordination vows; Lawyers are paid huge amounts of
money to subvert the plain meaning of words and overthrow the law. Some of the
most visible sports figures, both players and owners, flagrantly disregard
contracts; political figures cynically break campaign promises; Supreme Court
justices brazenly subvert the plain language of the Constitution even though
they have promised in plain words to uphold its provisions as the supreme
covenant of our nation. Their decisions (judgment) become poisonous weeds
growing in the furrows of the nation.
The
Hope of Covenant
Does God forget his covenant?
Jeremiah again: ``And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant,
which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before
me.... I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand
of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the
fowls of the heaven....'' (Jeremiah 34:18, 20)
In the midst of this darkness,
however, there is hope, but it is the hope of covenant, not covenant-breaking. "O
Israel, return unto the Lord thy God: for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take
you with words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and
receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.'' (Hosea 14:1, 2)
The New
Covenant
Isaiah had promised that the
Lord would make a new covenant with the people, a covenant centered in Christ,
``This is my covenant with them, saith the Lord: My spirit that is upon thee, and
my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor
out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith
the Lord, form henceforth and for ever.'' (Isaiah 59:21) This was confirmed in
Hebrews 10:16: ``This is the covenant that I will make with them after those
days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds
will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.''
(Hebrews 10:16)
Those who believe in Christ
are covenant-keepers, not covenant breakers.
Words mean something to them, for they have the promises of God in their
heart. They know that they are responsible for every idle word, and do not
enter into promises lightly. When true Christianity is known in a land, men
keep their word; preachers honor the creeds they have sworn in ordination to
uphold, people keep their marriage vows, politicians live by the law, and the
courts render justice, not stinking weeds. ``Blessed is the nation whose God is
the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.'' Psalm
33:12
This is the heart of Christianity: to confess with the
mouth the Lord Jesus and to believe in the heart in his resurrection.. ``And
they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony;
and they loved not their lives unto the death.'' Revelation 12:11
Keeping
The Word
The faithful kept their word
even unto death, and against such the devil has no power, for his kingdom is
one of lies and faithlessness. See
Psalm 15, especially verse 4.
Write to:
Pastor C. W. Powell
6050 Del Paz Drive
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
719-590-1477