Keep My Covenant וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֖ם אֶת־בְּרִיתִ֑י

We are in chapter nineteen of Exodus with our word for today which is a phrase. וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֖ם אֶת־בְּרִיתִ֑י keep my covenant. It is used 8 times in the Old Testament. Our phrase is the second part of the conditional statement God is making with his people. Yesterday we looked at the first one which was obeying God’s voice. Let’s look this second one with our phrase in our chapter. Exodus 19:5-6 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֖ם אֶת־בְּרִיתִ֑י and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. We have looked at the word for covenant previously. We are talking about an agreement between two parties. Agreements are entered into for the mutual benefit of both. We will look at the benefits that will be experienced from keeping God’s agreement in the days to come. Let’s look at other examples of God offering benefits to those who keep his agreement. Psalm 132:12 If your sons יִשְׁמְר֬וּ בְּרִיתִי keep my covenant and the statutes I teach them, then their sons will sit on your throne for ever and ever. Isaiah 56:4-7 For this is what the Lord says: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me   וּמַחֲזִיקִ֖ים בִּבְרִיתִֽי and hold fast to my covenant— to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters. Part of the agreement we see involves keeping the Sabbath rest which we have looked at previously. We saw how the church started meeting on Sunday instead of Saturday right after Christ resurrection from the dead on that day.  

Genesis 17:9-10 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must אֶת־בְּרִיתִ֣י תִשְׁמֹ֑ר keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. This agreement that is made with Abraham involves circumcision. This was one of the ways God made a distinction between his people apart from all the other people groups in the world at that time. It was to show holiness and obedience to God for his people at that time. Today we have the New Covenant through Christ death in our place.

The good news is that God always keeps his agreement with us regardless of what we do. He always holds up his end of the deal. Leviticus 26:9 I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, וַהֲקִימֹתִ֥י אֶת־בְּרִיתִ֖י אִתְּכֶֽם and I will keep my covenant with you. Daniel 9:4-6 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “Lord, the great and awesome God, who שֹׁמֵ֤ר הַבְּרִית֙ keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land. Notice that before he lays out the sins of the people he appeals to God’s faithfulness to his agreement identified with his character of grace and mercy. This is at the heart of the new covenant in that we couldn’t keep our end of the agreement to follow God’s will, his laws so Jesus had to come and do that for us and then die in our place. I’ll close with this great verse that reminds us that yes we are not perfect so in that sense we are faithless but as long as we hold on to our relationship with God he will be faithful in his love and salvation for us. 2 Timothy 2:11-13 Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.