God's Covenants Regarding Seeking Him
By Brian E. Trenhaile, MTH, Rev. A, Published April 24, 2011
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
I. Old Testament Examples
Blessings to Those Who Come to God
Curses to Those Who Do not Seek God.
II. New Testament Examples
Blessings to Those Who Come to God.
Curses to Those Who Do not Seek God
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTRODUCTION
God makes covenants with those who seek Him. We were created for fellowship with God,[1] so it is logical that He would promise blessings to those who seek Him. God is consistent in both the Old and New Testaments on this matter. He wants us to come to Him.
God desires it, so He speaks to us about His desire for our fellowship.[2] In the following quotation, look at all the blessings that He promises to those who come to Him.
God is an inviting God. … God is the King who prepares the palace, sets the table, and invites His subjects to come in. In fact, it seems His favorite word is “come.” “Come let us talk about these things. Though your sins are like scarlet, they can be made white as snow.” “All you who are thirsty come and drink.” God is a God who invites. God is a God who calls (Lucado, 174).
The wonderful promises that God makes are normally two sided. There is a human responsibility side that cannot be ignored. A good definition follows, “Covenants are conditional promises made to humanity by God” (Ahns 2). Some scriptural examples cited (Ahns 1) are: “Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments” (Deuteronomy 7:9) and “And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments” (Daniel 9:4). Notice also that “Covenants had specific items that had promises or curses .. rewards or penalties” (Ahns 6). This is God’s pattern; therefore it is also prevalent throughout this presentation.
I. old tESTAMENT eXAMPLES
This section contains a sampling of promises that God made to those who came to Him under the Old Covenant. These principles also apply to those who are under the New Covenant.
Blessings to Those Who Seek God
God promises to bless those who seek Him. One of these blessings is a relationship with God, “I love those who love me; and those who diligently seek me will find me” (Proverbs 8:17, NASB). Imagine that! We can have a relationship with the most loving and important being in the universe. Daily believers can have summit meetings with the Most High. But, diligence is needed to receive this promised blessing: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13, NIV). Some other conditions and wonderful promises are contained in the following verse, “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land” (II Chronicles 7:14).
In the following quote, about coming to God, Janet Fairbrother shares how Satan blocks us and how God does the exact opposite.
Sometimes we bend our ear to the enemy who hates us and begin to focus on us: our unworthiness, our frailty, our weaknesses. We allow condemnation to set in and refuse to receive the grace and mercy our God wants to pour out on us … Jeremiah 3 is a chapter that shows God’s emotion and deep longing for us to come to Him for help. Hear His plea to His people in verses 11, 12, 19 and 22. Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord, I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful declares the Lord, I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt – You have rebelled against the Lord your God, You have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me, declares the Lord. I myself said, How gladly would I treat you like sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation. I thought you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me. Return, faithless people; I will cure your backsliding … He not only says He will forgive us and be merciful to us, but He also says He will not be angry; He will treat us like sons, and He will cure us! All we need to do is acknowledge our sin and fall at His feet … When we are lacking confidence before God, we are stuck in condemnation! We must return to the simple truth that we are saved by grace and get our eyes off us and back onto our Almighty God who loves us! Don’t let the enemy’s hate for you convince you to live in condemnation. God’s love is crying out for you to return to Him and receive His mercy and grace. Jesus has already paid the price for your redemption (Fairbrother 1, 2).
Curses to Those Who Do Not Seek God
Deuteronomy 28 lists many of curses for those who do not come back to God. Great suffering follows as a result of these curses. Among other things, this suffering includes sickness, poverty, slavery and misery. Joshua also told the people the following:
And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good (Joshua 24:19, 20).
II. New Testament Examples
Similarities in the New Testament abound. When we diligently seek God, He promises to reward us. The author of Hebrews said, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). God left man with a conscience, so that man would seek Him. God orders the affairs of men so that they seek Him and find him (cf. Kendall, 15, 16 & 19). The following verse illustrates this fact. “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us” (Acts 17:27).
Blessings to Those Who Seek God
The following words of Christ are full of wonderful promises to those who come to God.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good--not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne (Matthew 11:28-30).
Rest, mentoring, no degradation, gentleness, comfort, pleasant treatment, relief, ease, refreshment, and blessed quiet are promised. But there is a condition. We must come to Him. The context of this verse implies that we come to Him in times when we are busy and stressed.
Security, provisions, and fruitfulness are promised to those who come to God. Jesus promised security when He said, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (John 6:37 NASB). Jesus also promised provisions when He said, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst” (John 6:35 NASB). On the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Seek ye first … and food and clothing will be provided to you” (cf. Matthew 6:25-34). Fruitfulness is also promised to those who have come to Him.
Jesus said, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. ‘Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:4-5 NLT).
There is also liberty for those who come to Jesus. The Bible says, “Whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (II Corinthians 3:16, 17).
Answered prayer is another benefit of coming to Him. Jesus said, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7, NASB). He also said, “For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened” (Luke 11:8-10, NASB). The only way you can ask, seek and knock is by coming to God.
Christians have the privilege of coming before God as His ambassador. “Through Him also we have [our] access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God's favor) in which we [firmly and safely] stand. And let us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God” (Romans 5:2, AMP). The reason He gave us this wonderful access is so that we would come to Him.
When we come to Him in constant prayer, we will experience His peace. This is wonderful peace that God lives in. This is God’s promise, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6, 7).
Curses to Those Who Do Not Seek God
Many blessings are conditional upon coming to Him. So if we do not come to Him, we forfeit tremendous blessing. For example if we stop coming to Him, we open ourselves up to severe trouble. Jesus said, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned” (John 15:6 NASB).
Those in the most danger are people who have never truly come to God, but they think they have! Jesus said to the Pharisee’s, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life” (John 5:39-40, NASB). Jesus also had the following warning for others in this same category.
Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS' (Matthew 7:22-23, NASB).
But, God loves mankind and definitely wants us to return to Him. This theme is consistent throughout the Bible. In the New Testament God promises that He will fellowship with us and also honor us when we come to Him. The Apostle James illustrates this concept in the following verses.
Come close to God, and God will come close to
you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your
loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears
for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and
deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom
instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will
lift you up in honor”
(James 4:8-10, NLT).
conclusion
Awesome covenant blessings await those who come to God. A sampling of these wonderful promises includes peace, refreshment, joy, liberty, answered prayer, fruitfulness, salvation, security, provisions and healing from backsliding. These promises make sense because they are tied into our original purpose of fellowshipping with God. But, to be blessed, we need to remember, to fulfill our portion of covenants that God’s makes with us.
Besides “come,” there are other keywords associated with coming to God. These include “return” and “seek.” Some of these words have slightly different meanings, but the end result is the same; we have returned to our Maker. God loves us, but we need to come to Him so that we can experience His full blessings. He does not ask us to come to Him so that He can lord it over us. He asks us to come to Him so that we are in the proper place to be blessed.
We are created for fellowship with God. When we walk in this purpose we are content and at peace. “You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You” (Isaiah 26:3 AMP).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ahns, Sandra. Covenants – Teaching Syllabus & Study. Kaneohe, Hawaii: Pacific Christian University, 2008.
Fairbrother, Janet. Return to Me, According to Your Faith Devotional. 3 pp. Albuquerque, New Mexico: Fury of Faith Ministries, 2 June 2008.
Keough, Tammy. Lesson 1 – The Reason for Creation, Lecture Notes for TH-404 Plan of Redemption, 5 pp. Kapolei, Hawaii: Pacific Christian University, 12 May 2008.
Kendall, R. T. Understanding Theology, Volume I. Fearn, Ross-Shire, UK: Christian Focus Publications, 2002.
Kenyon, Edward. The Bible in Light of Our Redemption – Basic Bible Course. Lynnwood, Washington: Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society, 1999.
Lucado, Max. Grace for the Moment, Volume I. Nashville, Tennessee: J. Countryman Publishers, 2000.
Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptural quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture references marked NKJV are taken from the NEW KING JAMES VERSION, Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982, by The Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture references marked NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org).
Scripture references marked NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. NIV ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Scripture references marked NLT are taken from the NEW LIVING TRANSLATION ®. NLT ®. Copyright © 1996, 2004 by the Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
