The bond of the Covenant

by Dan DeVitis

wish to write here today about something that has gripped my heart. It has to do with the bond of the covenant. We all understand covenants and their various types. Countries enter into treaties, workers negotiate a contract, friends make pacts, buyers sign sales agreement, promissory notes are made in money lending, couples have marriages, and neighborhoods have covenants. All of these are types of contracts that bind people together in some type of commitment.

However, the thesis of this message is not so much the covenant itself but the bond that holds the covenant.

Just what was God saying to Israel in Ex. 20:37 when He said, "I will bring you into the bond of the covenant"? Behind most, if not all covenants are if/then statements. If you do this…,then I will do that! Or, if you fail to do this, beware--blessings and curses, rewards or penalties may follow. This was made clear in the LORD's covenant to the Israelites: "Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep My covenant, then you will be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." (Ex. 19:5,6) This, of course, was a legal covenant based upon a Law: a legal system of sacrifices, holy (feast) days, and special conduct with relationship to God and fellow Israelites. This covenant was cut in blood (Jer. 34:18) and the sign of this covenant was the Sabbath day (Ez. 20:17)--the weekly acknowledging God's authority and their obedience, devotion and trust of God.

The bond of this covenant was what held the people in obedience. Whether it was just religious devotion, a desire for blessings, or the dread of curses, God held to the covenant and expected the same from the Israelites. However, the heart of man seemed prone to put own his will and desires above God's expectations.

So, in Ex. 20:37 God is essentially saying, "I will constrain you, by sore chastisement to submit yourselves to the covenant to which you are lastingly bound."¹ There is, therefore, that which constrains, holds, or binds together in covenants. In this instance, as in most covenants, the bond is external; that is, it is applied to the physical well being of the Israelites. Deuteronomy 28 lists, in detail, the blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.

However, Jeremiah the prophet spoke of a new covenant: "Behold the days are coming when I will make a new covenant…but this covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God and they will be My people….they shall all know Me…for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." (Jer. 31:31-34, see also Heb. 8:8-12) Six hundred years later, Jesus Christ lifted His cup of wine at supper and declared, "This is the New Covenant in My blood, which is shed for you." (Lk. 22:20) This New Covenant, cut in the blood of Christ Jesus, "made the first (Old Covenant) obsolete." (Heb. 8:13)

If the New Covenant is greater than the Old Covenant, then the bond of this covenant should be greater. And, if the precepts of this covenant are written in hearts and minds, so the bond of this covenant should be present there as well. Something within binds, holds, or fixes the hearts of the believers into a binding sense of relatedness to God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. However, it cannot, and does not, stop there.

As laminin, a 'sticky' protein, whose molecular shape is that of a cross, holds every cell of the human body together, ² so does the cross of Christ bind together each and every soul born of His Spirit. There is no outward law or commandment, no pledge of unity or response to a call for commitment. As the law of gravity draws and holds every piece of matter in the universe to one another, this law of the Spirit draws and holds together those in Christ Jesus by the inward bond of the cross of Christ resident in the heart of the (true) believer. The Body of Christ is drawn and held together as those of kindred spirits. ³

It is written of Christ, "And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist (better translated, hold together). He, Christ, is that real but invisible bond, that inward force that binds together believers in such a way of relatedness and care for one another. It is unwritten and unforced. It is mysterious, but as real as the force of gravity.

Without the realization of the existence of this magnetic bond of Christ, there is a falling short of the intention of the cross. T. Austin Sparks writes, "And the Church, all who are born again, may be sharing the one life of the Lord Jesus, and yet in the Body that life may not be showing itself in a coordinated, properly ordered (related) organism in expression: and do you think the Lord can be satisfied with just the life being there and the expression being fully contradictory? Surely not! So then there is something more than being born again and receiving the life of the Lord. That life is given for a purpose, and that purpose is to bring about this properly governed and ordered and regulated organism, the Church, which is His Body. I am speaking about that, not the mere existence of the Church, not the one mystical life of the Church, but the Church as a functioning thing under the sovereign government of Christ as its Head. The cross was intended to do that." ⁴ Thus Christ is not only the Head of the Body, His Church, He is also the binding force that holds each member together and brings a sense of unity and organized life to its expression.

This force of this bond passes through doctrinal barriers, but desires truth. It passes through walls of denominations, but pursues life over religion. This bond draws through social barriers of race, culture, gender, and economic status but seeks humility and a contrite heart in all. The power of this bond is not weakened by personality differences, but presses for Christ-likeness in character.

Now, may I speak personally for a while? While at a conference once, I had the opportunity to sit and talk with a couple I had just met. There was an instant bonding with this couple. It was not what they had to say, nor their race, or age, or culture, or any such thing. Simply, they were of a kindred spirit. You see, in the natural, they say opposites attract. But not so for those in Christ. It is the positive drawing of the Spirit of Christ in the hearts of believers that causes the attraction.

There is an undeniable bond with those I have never met, those kindred souls I've only heard of in India, Kenya, and Columbia, and even those I have not heard of lying in damp prison cells or otherwise persecuted for bearing the cross of Christ. I am quite close (bonded) to a company of men who came from very diverse upbringings, spiritual backgrounds, cultures, and personalities. I was recently asked, "How can this group get along? There are obvious personality contrasts and some doctrinal differences." To answer this, one must truly understand and appreciate the bond of the cross of Christ. It is present in the hearts. It overcomes those differences. We are of …a kindred spirit. I can say, in much grief, I am not in fellowship with man with whom such a bond exists. You see, his ministry has moved into a very cultish, unscriptural direction. O, the sense of bond is there, but the fellowship is not. I look forward to a time when we could sit, share our lives, and pour our hearts to one another. But, I cannot share in his ministry. He remains in my heart and prayers. Such is the bond of the covenant.

If pressed to make a distinction between the bond of the covenant and the scriptural understanding of agape love, I don't believe I could. I was once told, many years ago, "God will never require anything from you that His grace does not provide in Christ." And we know His commandment, "to love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another." (Jn. 13:34) Such is the fullness of the bond of the covenant.

Endnotes: ¹ Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, 1871. ² Laminin, by Louie Giglio, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e4zgJXPpI4. ³ Kindred spirit: activated by the same motives, of like character, like minded (see Phil. 3:20) ⁴ T. Austin-Sparks, The Cross, The Church, and the Conflict, Book One, pp. 25-26.