Covenant Protection

When I read the devotional this morning by Jon Paulien I was surprised that it was such a follow-up to what I had just learned yesterday in my own meditation on Romans. The reading was about the seven trumpets of Revelation and discussed the significance of trumpets all throughout the Bible.

He pointed out that from Numbers 10:8-10 we learn “that trumpets were sacred instruments whether used in worship or in battle. They called on God to remember His covenant. When He heard the trumpet's call, He would protect and defend His people in battle (verse 9). And as priests blew trumpets over the sacrifices of Hebrew worship, God 'remembered' His people and forgave their sins (verse 10).

“Thus whenever the priests sounded the trumpets God acted. So the blowing of trumpets was a symbol of covenant prayer. When God's people pray on the basis of His promises, He will respond. He will deliver them from human enemies and also from sin.”

So what does this have to do with what I have been studying lately? It was the prayer at the end of the devotional that linked it in to the issue of desiring revenge that has been on my conscience induced by this passage in Romans. “Lord, help me to renounce retaliation in my everyday life. Help me, instead, to trust You to do what is right and deal with my 'enemies' if that becomes necessary.” (The Gospel From Patmos p. 163)

It suddenly hit me with alarming force. Whenever I indulge a desire for retaliation and experience bitterness-poisoning, it is because I am not praying and trusting in God's covenant relationship with me. I am in essence living outside of His covenant as a stranger to the promises because I am trying to take justice and protection into my own hands. This may show up as resistance that is demonstrated in my life to authorities whether they be benign or abusive. If I become angry and negative about situations in my life and fail to trust in my covenant relationship with God then I am trusting something or someone else to get me through that situation and I have very good reason to be afraid. For there is no other option to successfully get through trouble than to rest in and engage the covenant provisions that are available to me and secured by the death of Jesus Christ for me.

This brings in a whole other teaching that has been a significant insight for me in the past few years. The teachings about blood covenants by Craig Hill were a major revelation to me a few years ago and have resided in the back of my mind as a resource for understanding many other things having to do with salvation. Now I see more clearly how that applies to what I am struggling to understand and absorb into my life right now in this passage of Romans. I need to view these issues in the light of the covenant in order to properly understand more clearly where my real problems lie. I need to see that my resistance and antagonism to authority arises out of a lack of trust in the power of God and His covenant promises to keep my heart safe in the face of abuse and injustice.

Jesus' life and example, especially when under attack and abuse, are given to show me what it looks like to trust fully in a covenant relationship without leaning on your own resources to protect or defend yourself. This is the exact opposite of what we term “the survival instinct”. But the survival instinct in our heart has been so corrupted by our sinful flesh that it invariably leads us to take things into our own hands when it appears God is not being faithful to His covenant promises for us.

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:3-4 NIV)

If I find myself desiring revenge, then it is a symptom that I am not utilizing or accessing the great and precious promises through which I can participate in the divine nature. When I allow bitterness to poison my heart and not leave it in God's hands I am being corrupted by evil desires instead of participating in the divine nature. For the divine nature will relate to authorities just the same way that Jesus demonstrated in His life while here on earth.

Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant according to the book of Hebrews. What I have been learning about the concept of mediator recently reveals that Jesus is trying to get us to believe the real truth about God's passionate love for us, not trying to change God's mind about us. It is our minds and hearts that need winning and transforming, not God's. So as Mediator of a new covenant, Jesus wants to train my heart to trust in God's covenant promises to me instead of thinking that I have to protect myself or desire to bring “justice” on those who hurt or offend me.

The more I think about this the more clearly I begin to see that this issue of covenant trust is deeply intertwined with the other issues in this passage of Romans twelve and thirteen. I need to think about this more, but even more importantly I need to begin practicing trust and choosing to rest in God's covenant provisions. I need to employ the use of the promises God has provided and fill my mind with them daily so that my heart will become more and more synchronized with the divine nature, the very heart of God.

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