...The Early Covenants between God and Man Gabriel B. Eagle Grand Canyon University: BIB 351 October 18, 2014 The Early Covenants between God and Man Throughout the Hebrew Old Testament and especially throughout the history of the nation of Israel, covenants have been made and used between many different parties. God has made the most significant and important covenants with his creation. Some of these early covenants provide a very interesting insight on exactly what the word ‘covenant’ means. According to the Biblical texts and narratives provided in the Hebrew Old Testament, especially in the Pentateuch, there is a constant theme and definition that can be gathered on the word ‘covenant’ and its meaning. A Biblical Definition of ‘Covenant’ After surveying the Pentateuch, one can see how a ‘covenant’ is the creation of a union between two parties, oftentimes commemorated through special ceremonies, eventually seeking to establish some kind of solemn promise, sometimes resulting in tasks needed from both parties. The clearest example of this union is seen through the Abrahamic Covenant (Beckwith, 1987). Through this covenant, God and Abraham were brought together in a special kind of union, one in which solemn and divine promises were made both by God and Abraham (Wenham, 2003). As a result of these promises, both God and Abraham had tasks to accomplish, obedience by Abraham and fulfillment of blessing by God, in order to fulfill and respect the covenant. Three Main...
Words: 716 - Pages: 3
...God’s purposes on earth will be fully realised. Dwight Pentecost comments in his book that “This age will see the fulfilment of all the covenants that God made with Israel” . In this paper, however, the position that will be defended is pre-millennial view. To help us get a grasp of this discussion, let us look at the biblical history of premillennialism in the Old Testament. BIBLICAL HISTORY OF PREMILLENNIALISM IN THE OLD TESTAMENT A good student...
Words: 1082 - Pages: 5
...Everyone stained by Adam and Eve ("original sin") | | All begin with clean slate | Righteousness | | No one | | Within our power to choose | Satan | | Fallen angel | | Agent of God | Torah | | Written only | | Written and Oral | Commandments | | Not eternal or valuable | | Eternal and of ultimate value | Exclusivity | | Only Christians go to heaven | | All righteous have a place in the world to come. | Land of Israel | | Irrelevant | | Crucial | Jews | | Replaced by the church; or irrelevant | | God’s chosen people | Judaism is one of the world’s oldest religions, dating back up to 2000 years BC from the time when God first called Abraham to leave his home and follow Him. At that time, God made a covenant (or agreement) with Abraham in which He promised to make Abraham the father of a great nation and that one day his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan if Abraham followed him. God’s plan was gradually revealed through the Old Testament and built on with further promises to Moses, David and the prophets. This plan in essence is to undo many of the effects of the fall (the sin of Adam and Eve in Eden which led to the loss of God’s initial blessing and made man God’s enemy). The key elements of this were: * a land (to replace Eden) * being blessed and being a blessing to others (to replace the curse) * a new relationship with God (to replace the broken one) Through Moses, God gave...
Words: 5210 - Pages: 21
...Assignment 1: Comparison of Two Religions Judaism is a religion which is a set of ideas about the world and how we should live up to it. Jewish belief also centers on the idea of one God and the love that He shares with all his creations through his covenant. Jews do not have a specific set of mandatory beliefs and rituals they have to follow, but one Jewish belief is the Rambam's thirteen principles of faith. The Jews practice their faith in many ways some people go to festivals or Shabbat for prayer services to read the Torah. Others may go to temples or synagogues which are Jewish houses for prayer and studying. Most Jews practice their faith reading the Torah which is known as the Old-Testament or Tanakh.(Judaism, 1968) There are three holy books the Jews study they consist of the: Torah which is the Law, Nevi'im the Prophets and lastly Kethuvim known as the Writings. The Jews also practice their faith by obeying the 613 mitzvot as well as they could, following the Judaism Rabbinic law and rules. One example of Jews practicing their faith is celebrating Hanukkah. (Kaplan, 1932) This is basically a Christmas for Jewish people, they light up a nine-branched candle known as the menorah. They do various activities such as lighting up a candle every night and eight candles would be lit in the last evening, eating oily foods reminding them of the miracle of the oil and play games such as "dreidel" which is a game with spinning tops that includes four Hebrew letters. There are...
Words: 1643 - Pages: 7
...specifically for me an example would be an alarm clock. Think about it every night you set it and you put all your trust to wake you up early enough to go to school and even before school you trust it to wake you up to get ready and have breakfast. This example relates to jesus he has and will always be there for you except he's not like an alarm clock. Eventually an alarm clock will fade along with all the other things of the earth. Jesus is everlasting and will not perish. Now to get to why we are here today. Today i am going to argue for what the passage of first peter is trying to tell us. But first let me give a little background on peter. Peter was a disciple of jesus....
Words: 1050 - Pages: 5
...Israel and the Nature of Covenant in the ancient Near East A Paper Submitted to Dr. Percy D. Johnson, Jr. Of Beulah Heights University In Partial Fulfillment Of the Research Paper for the Course Interpretation of the Old Testament Bi601 Damon Richardson April 29, 2012 Introduction Exodus chapter 20 is foundational for the proper understanding of the basis of ancient Israel’s relationship with YHWH and the significance of the covenant that YHWH made with them. Therefore the focus of this paper will be to provide the basic framework for viewing this important chapter not only from an exegetical standpoint but more contextually from its ancient Near Eastern cultural matrix in order to gain some perspective and understanding as to the meaning of this familiar text. Genre of Exodus 20ff Over 50 years ago, George Mendenhall, wrote a series of articles centered on newly discovered documents from ancient Mesopotamia upon which he developed a six point formula from the examination of these fourteenth and thirteenth century Hittite treaties that shaped the way many later scholars came to understand the Biblical text in light of these ancient Hittite suzerainty-vassal covenants. Irvin A. Busenitz in his article Introduction to the Biblical Covenants wrote: The rise of the Documentary Hypothesis, fueled by the concept that religion in Israel developed along evolutionary lines, has in recent centuries suggested that ...
Words: 3609 - Pages: 15
...Water Baptism “Baptism points back to the work of God, and forward to the life of faith.” - J.A. Motyer Introduction Why is This Topic Important? The subject of water baptism is important for several reasons. First of all, it is a commandment of Jesus Christ and an important part of His great commission. Christ said, “… go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). It is obvious that if we do not properly understand or practice baptism, we are in danger of neglecting a very important desire of our Lord and Savior. Understanding the Bible’s teaching concerning water baptism is also important because we have an obligation to ensure that new converts to Christ understand the biblical view of baptism and its significance to their relationship with Christ. It would be very unfortunate for any believer to experience water baptism without really understanding its meaning. Finally, it is important to discuss this issue because there are a number of disagreements within Christianity related to baptism. Some of these are relatively minor, but others are extremely important and are worth some discussion. Section A will first discuss some introductory matters regarding the meaning of the word “baptism” and the different kinds of baptism in the New Testament (NT). Section B will cover specifically what the Bible teaches...
Words: 10506 - Pages: 43
............................................................. 9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 11 INTRODUCTION There is evidence from the beginning of the Biblical text starting in Genesis, to the conclusion of the text with Revelation that God desires for man to fulfill His call for missions. The story of missions begins with around four thousand years ago when God calls Abraham. The Scriptures offer a clear explanation of the original calling of Abraham. God commands Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1 ESV) Genesis 12:1-3 signifies an assurance whose completion extends throughout the Scriptures, it is the original representation of the Abrahamic covenant. This covenant is a fourfold everlasting covenant. First, is the seed, which refers to Christ? Paul replicates this when explaining, “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’” (Galatians 3:8) The “Good News” signifies the news of...
Words: 3304 - Pages: 14
...monotheism” Distinctiveness of Israel “Gods of the heathens are nought” Examples: Maimonides 2nd principle (Box 1.1) – “God is one” Yigdal hymn (p. 29) – Maimonides put into poetic song, part of Jewish daily prayer book Shema (Box 1.2) – Part of official evening and morning prayers – Also inscribed in black ink on “kosher” animal skin parchment, placed inside containers: Tefillin – strapped to forehead and left arm at weekday morning prayers => Mind, head, heart Mezuzah – fixed to doorposts of Jewish homes at eye level => constant reminder of oneness of God each time the believer passes God as Invisible & Indivisible Second commandment (B) ...You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;5 you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. Moses and the “face” of God Maimonides’ 3rd principle: God is incorporeal – metaphorical language – Jewish scriptures and Talmud occasionally refer to God’s hands, eyes, mouth etc. but Jewish insists that such anthropomorphisms are metaphorical in nature => God as transcendent (“holy”) Examples: Struggle against idolatry eg. golden calf – Moses destroys the...
Words: 1613 - Pages: 7
...Christians Pray Imprecatory Prayers? 10 “Wrong” is not the same as “Sinful” 12 Concluding Thoughts 13 Bibliography iv INTRODUCTION Between the September 11th terrorists, ISIS, and other terror plots and organizations which openly call for the extension of Christians, more Christians than ever are wondering how to properly think about and handle such violent and gruesome persecution. One idea which is regaining traction is imprecatory prayers or “cursing” prayers. These prayers of cursing are found throughout the Bible but the most notable examples are found in Psalms. Christians struggle, however, with whether or not praying these prayers is in keeping with the orthodox teachings of Christ whose teachings involved mercy, grace, and forgiveness. So can and should Christians utilize the imprecatory psalms as part of their regular prayer life or not? This paper will attempt to answer this question by first briefly examining an example of an imprecatory psalm and the context surrounding it and then comparing it to the New Testament teachings of Christ. IMPRECATORY PSALMS According to The Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible: Psalms which contain curses (imprecations, maledictions) against enemies. These elements do not make up an entire psalm, but verses of this nature appear in more than a dozen (5, 17, 28, 35, 40, 55, 59, 70, 71, 79, 80, 94, 129, 137, 139, 140). A number of other psalms express the same ideas as future or...
Words: 3996 - Pages: 16
...compare and contrast the doctrines that make up the world’s largest and most recognized religions, Christianity and Islam. Islam, a major world religion, founded in Arabia and based on the teachings of Muhammad, who is called the Prophet. One who practices Islam is a Muslim. Muslims follow the Koran, the written revelation brought by Muhammad. The Muslim world population is estimated at more than 1 billion. Islam is the quickest growing religion. On the other hand, the Christian world population is at 2 billion people and it is considered as the bigger religious group. The central element of Christianity is the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus of Nazareth, attracted a following of people who believed him to be a new prophet. Christianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament. Central to the Christian faith is the gospel, the teaching that humans have hope for salvation through the message and works of Jesus, and particularly his atoning death on the cross. Most Christians believe in the doctrine of the Trinity ("tri-unity"), a description of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which retains the monotheistic belief of Christianity's heritage through an ineffable confluence. Differences...
Words: 2469 - Pages: 10
...(Plan) Do Miracles Really Happen? The Hindu milk miracle was a phenomenon, considered by many Hindus as a miracle, which started on 21 September 1995, in which statues of the Hindu deity Ganesha allegedly "drank" milk offerings.] Before dawn, a Hindu worshipper at a temple in south New Delhi made an offering of milk to a statue of Ganesha. When a spoonful of milk from the bowl was held up to the trunk of the statue, the liquid was seen to disappear, apparently taken in by the idol. Word of the event spread quickly, and by mid-morning it was found that statues of the entire Hindu pantheon in temples all over India were taking in milk. Showkat Nanda, a young photo journalist, captured on Wednesday, January 23, a rare pattern made by clouds in the sky of North Kashmir’s Baramulla town forming the Arabic spelling of the word Allah. "When I glanced towards the sky, it was something unique to capture, as I saw an indiscernible pattern of clouds forming word ALLAH," Nada told IslamOnline.net. "I was truly surprised. I observed it for a while and continued to click with my camera." Jesus then went to the tomb of Lazarus with Mary, Martha and the rest of the mourners. There he asked them to remove the stone that covered the hillside burial place....
Words: 1406 - Pages: 6
...The Theological Background of Christian Zionism: Part I - Reflection By Mikael Knighton on Sunday, May 8, 2011 at 11:39am The Theological Background of Christian Zionism Part I - Reflection By: Mikael Knighton Christians Standing with Israel, Founder The Theological Background of Christian Zionism is a three part series authored by Mikael Knighton, founder of Christians Standing with Israel. The series consists of three installments: Reflection, Reconciliation, and Reconsideration. The series has been published in both the US and in Israel, where it was translated to Hebrew and published in the NATIV, a Jewish magazine facilitated by the Ariel Center for Policy Research (ACPR). Synopsis Over the centuries, Christian support of the state of Israel has been looked upon with a suspicious and vigilant eye. In fact, history will clearly show that the essence of pure evil, operating under the guise of “Christianity”, has facilitated a complete and justifiable collapse in Judeo-Christian relations. Only recently has the relationship between the Jewish people and Christians become fruitful, and the "mending" process, albeit positive, continues to evolve. Even so, the question remains: “Why do Christians support the state of Israel?” Christian Zionism, a theological belief that identifies the restoration of the Jewish people to their biblical homeland as the literal fulfillment of biblical prophecies foretold thousands of years ago, may arguably exist as the most...
Words: 3638 - Pages: 15
...Apologetics Application Paper: FINAL Joseph R. Tapp APOL 500 B05 October 12, 2014 Introduction Throughout history the word of God has been spread many ways, by many different methods, some of which were brutal and ugly. Not all people grasped this word as it was spread. Some even started to believe that there was no God, or if there was, based on their observations he wasn’t a God they wanted to know. Such a group are those that call themselves Anti-theists. Anti-theists promote an ideology that denies the existence of God, any god, and that all religion is evil and not good for us. In this paper the anti-theist worldview will be examined to understand the worldview, its key attributes and why one might be so inclined to pursue such an ideology. The worldview will be compared to the Christian worldview, the purpose of which will be to refute the arguments of the anti-theists worldview and provide a basis for which the anti-theist can be presented with information that might enable them to have a change of heart/mind and begin their journey to acknowledging Christ with the hope of ultimately receiving him. Significant Elements of the Anti-Theist Worldview What is Anti-Theism? Anti (against) -theism is quite simply the opposition to theism, specifically to God or to a god. It is not just the opposition to the Christian God, the Creator, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, no, anti-theism...
Words: 4852 - Pages: 20
...Religion and Peace 22 indicative hours ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The focus of this study is the distinctive response of religious traditions to the issue of peace. Syllabus Outcomes: H1 explains aspects of religion and belief systems H2 describes and analyses the influence of religion and belief systems on individuals and society H5 evaluates the influence of religious traditions in the life of adherents H6 organises, analyses and synthesises relevant information about religion from a variety of sources, considering usefulness, validity and bias H7 conducts effective research about religion and evaluates the findings from the research H8 applies appropriate terminology and concepts related to religion and belief systems H9 coherently and effectively communicates complex information, ideas and issues using appropriate written, oral and graphic forms. Incorporating a Catholic emphasis: In approaching the teaching of this unit within the context of a Catholic Religious Education program it is expected that: 1. Each lesson would begin with prayer that is meaningful for students and pertinent to current local...
Words: 3661 - Pages: 15
