Download PDF version:  Covenants Intentionally Coupled with Judgment

It is interesting to note that whenever the Lord discusses the topic of a covenant, He will also bring up the reality of judgment.  This flies in the face of the popular notion among many Christians who believe that the Lord does not bring judgment on a nation, let alone His Church.  For them, the God who is love does not, could not, dispense judgment because they believe it is incompatible with who they think He is.  The truth is that the Bible is very clear:  The Lord of Heaven and Earth promises to release judgment when His people or a nation refuse to listen to His voice, a topic I have written on at length.  For the reader, I recommend reviewing my blog posts tagged “judgment” on our ministry website.

The earliest appearance of the word covenant occurs in the Biblical account of Noah in Genesis 6:18.  The Lord was grieved with the “wickedness of man, [which] was great upon the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (vs. 5).  As a result, the Lord decided He would blot out man and every other living creature from the face of the earth.  He was prepared to kill everything that lived because of the wickedness and violence in the Earth, except for one man, Noah and his family.  In short, He was going to release supernatural judgment that would be cataclysmic and appalling in degree.  Rest assured; the devil was not going to destroy every living thing as he doesn’t wield that level of authority.  Judgment is exclusively reserved for the Lord, which is not to say that He won’t give the devil the authority to bring destruction, however, the initiative begins and ends with the Lord.  The Lord made certain that Noah, as well as everyone who would read the Bible, understood that His fingerprints would be all over the event, saying, “And behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish” (Gen 6:17).

However, in Noah’s case, he found favor with the Lord (vs. 8); Noah was found to be a “righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God” (vs. 9).  As a result, the Lord reveals the plans of His heart to Noah and with it, the design for the ark by which Noah and his family can be saved.  His plan was that they were to be involved in the saving of two of every kind by bringing them into the ark, to keep them alive.  In stark contrast to the destruction that would come upon everyone (and everything) else, the Lord announces the following:

Genesis 6:18 (NASB95; emphasis mine)

¹⁸ “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.

It is a gross understatement to say that the covenant, the Lord’s promise initiated by Him, made all the difference in Noah’s life and the lives of the members of his family.  In this account, a covenant (His promise) is established by the Lord, as well as the fact that He will send a mighty and terrible judgment upon all the earth, the likes of which have no equal since that time.  Every person that Noah and his family members had ever known, along with every living creature outside of those destined to be saved, would perish once the Lord released destruction.

Once Noah did according to all God had commanded him, the Lord told him to “enter the ark, you and all your household; for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time” (Gen 6:22-7:1).  This is a staggering declaration from the Lord.  Noah walked with the Lord and listened to His voice – two criteria which were absolutely necessary to avoid judgment and be saved.  Let us never settle for doing part of what the Lord calls us to do; let us do ALL that He instructs.  But how can we follow through with His plan if we cannot hear His voice?  It’s simple – we can’t, in fact it is impossible.  Throughout the entirety of the Bible, we are taught to listen to the voice of the Lord.  Even Jesus, the Messiah, claimed that He never did anything on His own initiative (Jn 3:11 & 32, 5:19 & 30, 7:16, 8:26), but always did what the Father revealed to Him by the Holy Spirit.  The Bible is clear, if not emphatic:  We must hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and do what He tell us to do.  The emphasis the Bible places upon this fact is undebatable.  As Jesus said no less than 16 times spanning the Gospels & the Book of Revelation, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mt 11:15, 13:9 & 43; Mk 4:9 & 23, 7:16; Lk 8:8, 14:35; Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 29, 3:6, 13, 22, 13:9), adding the words “what the Spirit says to the churches” in Revelation.

Another highly important, foundational example of the covenant being coupled together with judgment is found in the life of Abraham.  As in the case of Noah, the Lord initiates a conversation with Abram (his name at the time).  Abram settles in the land of Canaan.  But what do we find?  We find that the “men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord” (Gen 13:13).  The history of the flood had been lost to history, but more importantly it had been lost to the inhabitants of Sodom and their close ally, the city of Gomorrah.  The covenant the Lord intended to make with Abram had yet to be made, but when it was, he would learn, as we are learning, that when one enters a covenant with the Lord, an aspect of judgment will also be revealed.

In Gen 15, the Lord promises a son to Abram.  This is where Abram “believes the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Gen 15:6).  However, the dynamics of Abram’s relationship with the Lord were about to dramatically change – they would enter into a covenant (vs. 9-21).  The Lord states, “My covenant is with you” (Gen 17:2 & 4), then reveals that the sign of the covenant would be every male would be circumcised in Abraham’s household.  This quickly leads to Abram’s and Sarai’s identities being changed by the Lord – now they are now known as Abraham and Sarah (Gen 17:5, 15).  The next step in the progression of Abraham’s relationship with the Lord was about to be revealed.  Judgment was coming.

Genesis, chapter 18 unfolds with the Lord and two angels appearing to Abraham, and then to Sarah.  Hospitality is extended and the Lord reveals the coming fulfillment of His promise (foundational to the covenant) that Sarah will give birth to a son within the year.  But more to the point of this essay is that the Lord recognizes it is essential to the fulfillment of His covenant promise to Abraham that He reveal His intention to judge Sodom and Gomorrah:

Genesis 18:17–19 (NASB95; emphasis mine)

¹⁷ The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, ¹⁸ since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? ¹⁹ “For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.”

In making the covenant, the Lord’s priority was to reveal to Abraham (as He did with Noah), his household and his descendants (that includes you and I) that He does not tolerate wickedness.  Furthermore, He will bring judgment if an individual, city or nation warrants it.  It was critical for Abraham to understand that even though he was in covenant with the Lord, righteousness and justice were required so that He could do what He had promised to him.  The covenant was conditional!  This is emphasized by, “Walk before Me and be blameless…[then] I will establish My covenant between Me and you…” (Gen 17:2; emphasis mine).

Immediately following the above verses, the Lord reveals that the “outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave” (Gen 18:20).  Nothing had changed from the days of Noah – the Lord was still watching over the affairs of men.  The precedent of judgment had been demonstrated in the Garden of Eden and in the flood that covered the Earth.  As far as the Lord was concerned, nothing had changed as He observed the wickedness in these two cities in the days of Abraham.

Somehow Abraham knew what the Lord’s intentions were, though their dialogue does not explicitly reveal it.  The revelation of impending judgment caused Abraham to intercede with grave concern for the righteous.  I would venture to say that many, if not all of us, would react the same way.  In the conversation with the Almighty, Abraham is seeking to understand Him more than he already does.   Is the Lord righteous?  Will He “sweep away,” (as translated in the NASB95 version) i.e., kill the righteous with the wicked?  The Lord patiently responds to each of Abraham’s progressively iterative questions concerning whether He will spare Sodom, which is concluded with “I will not destroy it on account of the ten [righteous]” (Gen 18:32).  Abraham learned something about the Lord, as should we, which the Bible teaches:

Psalm 19:9 (NASB95)

⁹ The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.

Abraham also learned that judgment was not simply an academic topic, but that it was real and terrifying.  From the narrative, it appears that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed the next day.  Abraham stood watching the terrible sight of “the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace” (Gen 19:28 NASB95) because the Lord had destroyed the cities of the valley which included Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim (Deut 29:23).  Abraham now knew that the Lord moved in judgment because he had witnessed it first-hand.  He could now testify to his family and his descendants that truth that was foundationally critical to fulfilling his part of the covenant.

As we turn to Moses, the purposeful union between the covenant and judgment becomes even clearer.  The Lord commands that Moses bring the following message to the sons of Israel:

Exodus 19:4–6 (NASB95)

⁴ ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. ⁵ ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey

My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; ⁶ and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”

The Lord begins by referring to the judgment He brought upon the Egyptians (vs. 4), an intentional opening statement we dare not miss.  Pharoah had not listened to the voice of the Lord through Moses and Aaron, therefore, judgment came with great vengence resulting in the destruction of Egypt and Pharoah’s army at the Red Sea.  The Lord then establishes that priorities of “obeying My voice and keep My covenant” (vs. 5).  When the people agree to the Lord’s terms set forth above (vs. 8), the Lord reveals that He will “come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of the people (vs. 11).  Immediately following, He instructs Moses to set bounds around the mountain that the people cannot cross without judgment being rendered in the form of death.  The transparency of the coupling between the covenant and judgment is clearly evident before the statutes of the covenant were to be revealed in the ten commandments later in Genesis chapter 20.

The terrifying sight of the Lord descending upon Mount Sinai where “there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound” intentionally designed to bring terror and fear in the hearts of the sons of Israel (Ex 19:16).  The Lord’s message was simple – entering a covenant with the Lord is not a trivial matter; it includes the danger of certain judgment if we decide to break the covenant and stop listening to the Lord’s voice:

Jeremiah 18:7–10 (NASB95; emphasis mine)

⁷ “At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; ⁸ if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. ⁹ “Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; ¹⁰ if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it.

Blessing and cursing are the two hands of the Lord; He has the power to bring both upon a church, a city, state or nation.  He is the God who is love (I Jn 4:4 & 16), but He is also the God who brings judgment.  To preach one without the other is to preach a lie, because it does not set forth the whole truth of who the Lord is and what He can and will do.

Notice below how the Lord emphasizes of the warning of imminent danger to the people and the priests if they do not listen to His instructions given to them through Moses, all given in preparation to the revelation of the ten commandments and the rest of the Mosaic law:

Exodus 19:21–24 (NASB95)

²¹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down, warn the people, so that they do not break through to the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. ²² “Also let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves, or else the Lord will break out against them.” ²³ Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds about the mountain and consecrate it.’ ” ²⁴ Then the Lord said to him, “Go down and come up again, you and Aaron with you; but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, or He will break forth upon them.”

The coupling is evident again when the Lord discusses the promised land –

Exodus 23:20–21 (NASB95)

²⁰ “Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. ²¹ “Be on your guard before him and obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your transgression, since My name is in him.

Entering the covenant with the Lord provided for blessing and cursing (i.e., judgment), are again clearly outlined in Lev 26, Deut 28 & 30:15-20, and are again coupled together.  There can be no mistake that it is intentional.  But one crucial question remains – can the same pattern be found in the New Testament, the new covenant prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and fulfilled in Jesus Christ?  Indeed, it can.

First, we must be clear that the old covenant set a burden (designed to reveal their sin and their desperate need for a Savior (Ro 8:3-4 & Gal 2:16-21)), upon the people of Israel that Peter declared at the Council in Jerusalem:

Acts 15:8–11 (NASB95; emphasis mine)

⁸ “And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; ⁹ and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. ¹⁰ “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? ¹¹ “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”

Jesus announced the new covenant of His blood to His disciples during the last supper, and there again, we see the coupling of the blessing in salvation with judgment:

Luke 22:19–22 (NASB95; emphasis mine)

¹⁹ And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” ²⁰ And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. ²¹ “But behold, the hand of the one betraying Me is with Mine on the table. ²² “For indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!”

It is not simple coincidence that during the announcement of the new covenant, that in the very next two verses the Lord announces that one (Judas) would betray Him and then says, “Woe to that man by whom [I] am betrayed.”  Jesus uses the Hebrew word ouai, which is a grief filled denunciation, foretelling that judgment would come to Judas which was fulfilled in Mt 27:5, a fulfillment of prophecies in Jeremiah 19:1, 4, 6, 11 & Zechariah 11:12-13, related to the judgment the Lord declared against His people.

In a broader scope, salvation is granted by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, but refusal to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, was crucified, buried and rose on the third day results in judgment – eternal separation from the Lord in the fires of Hell (Lk 12:5; 2 Pe 2):

John 8:21–24 (NASB95; emphasis mine)

²¹ Then He said again to them, “I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.” ²² So the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” ²³ And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. ²⁴ “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

The Lord announces judgment against cities where He had performed miracles but did not repent:

Matthew 11:20–30 (NASB95; emphasis mine)

²⁰ Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. ²¹ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²² “Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. ²³ “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you?  You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. ²⁴ “Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”

And then quickly followed, demonstrating yet again the easily observable pairing, with the Lord’s prayer to the Father below as to how He had revealed salvation that had been hidden from the wise and intelligent:

Matthew 11:25–30 (NASB95)

²⁵ At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. ²⁶ “Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. ²⁷ “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. ²⁸ “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Implicit to the above verses is that salvation is a covenant promise, freely given, made possible through the shed blood of Jesus Christ to those who continue in His teaching by both hearing and following His voice.  In contrast, judgment remains and is certain to come upon those who refuse salvation through Jesus the Christ or who walk in continual disobedience to the Holy Spirit at any time, thinking they are wise and intelligent.  An example of this is found in the account of Ananias and Sapphira who conspired to lie to the Holy Spirit, misrepresented themselves to the Church, and were instantly killed by the Lord (Acts 5:1-11).  Let us note that judgment fell upon them in a Church service.  This is what the Lord is prepared to do in any church.  He will, and does, bring blessing or judgment in our day; to think otherwise is not Biblical.

Our journey through the Bible would not be complete without reviewing the Holy Spirit’s messages to the Churches (in covenant with the Lord) in the Book of Revelation.  To the church at Ephesus, the Lord warns that He will remove their lamp stand if they do not repent and return to their first love, i.e., they will no longer exist because He will judge them.  He will close their doors if they do not listen (have ears to hear) and change their ways (Rev 2:1-7).

The Holy Spirit warns that He will bring judgment to the church in Pergamum because of the false teaching that promotes sexual sin.  Without repentance, He promises to come to “make war against them with the sword of [His] mouth” (Rev 2:16).  A similar indictment is presented against the church in Thyatira, with the addition of warning a so-called prophetess who boldly teaches immorality and the eating of meat sacrificed to idols.  Here the promised consequences are far more severe.  To her and her followers, certain judgment will be released that includes sickness, tribulation and death by pestilence (Rev 2:20-23).  Please note, this is the Spirit speaking to a New Testament church – one that has accepted the New Covenant of the Spirit (2 Cor 3:6) which promises judgment for those who walk in habitual, blatant and unrepented sin; a concept far removed from the teaching found in the majority of churches today.

To the dead church of Sardis, the Lord declares, “I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God” (Rev 3:2 NASB95).  The warning continues:

Revelation 3:3–6 (NASB95; emphasis mine)

³ ‘So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. ⁴ ‘But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. ⁵ ‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. ⁶ ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

The implications are sobering.  They are accused of not walking in the basic tenants of the faith, not remembering what they had received or heard – they had soiled their garments by walking in sin.  If they did not repent, He tells them that they will suffer the ultimate judgment, echoing Jesus’ teaching of the foolish virgins who missed their opportunity to be saved, the Lord telling them, “Truly I say to you, I never knew you” (Mt 25:1-12).  The bottom-line was that they were in peril of losing their souls, a Biblical teaching that flies in the face of the heretical doctrine known as “once saved, always saved.”

The church at Laodicea was declared to be in serious jeopardy of judgment.  They were accused of being luke-warm, neither hot nor cold, and would be spit (literally vomited) out of the Lord’s mouth, if they did not repent (Rev 3:16).  They had deceived themselves into thinking they were “rich and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing” (Rev 3:17 NASB95).  How close the proud are to judgment.

These are the two paths set before all: blessing or curse.  Individuals and churches who claim the truth of the Old and New Covenant must understand and believe that both include provision for judgment.  They must understand the coupling clearly taught within the pages of the Bible; we dare not suggest or teach otherwise.  When neither the Church, who know little, nor the masses, who know nothing, of the truth found in the Scriptures, we must preach the certainty of salvation AND judgment which are purposely coupled in both the Old and New Covenants.  To do otherwise is to risk judgment promised and reserved for unfaithful stewards and false teachers, and rightfully so.

Let us embrace the truth of who the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are, not who we think they are, lest we be found to have played the fool when judgment from Him comes.

Mark C. Biteler