Without an understanding of covenant practices, it will be hard to believe His Love for you. The Bible is a book of covenants, therefore, if you understand covenant then you'll understand the Bible and what it reveals, His Love.

1. The Covenant Code
Revealing the Love of God

2. The Covenant Code
Introduction

3. The Covenant Code
• A code reveals the meaning of words, actions, or symbols.
• Covenant means "to cut" and carries the idea of eating.
• The practice of making covenants is in the past of every family on Earth.
• The handshake, swearing an oath in court, tattoos, hyphenated names, and
the elements in marriage ceremonies all came out of covenant practices.
• Covenant making to mankind is like a dream that can't be remembered.
When it's talked about people have a hint of it yet they have no idea about it
• God chose covenant to reveal His Love to man.
• Without an understanding of covenant, a person will struggle with believing
the Love of God.
• The Bible is a book of covenants. Therefore, without an understanding of
covenant practices a person cannot understand it nor what it reveals – the
Love of God!

4. The Covenant Code
God's Challenge

5. The Covenant Code
• How does someone who has never lied convince liars that He's not lying?
• How do you believe the unbelievable?
• How do you comprehend that which is incomprehensible?
• Gen 3 – God kills an animal to clothe Adam and Eve?
• 1 Sam 17:36 – David compares Goliath to animals?
• Matt 15:26 – Jesus calls a woman a "dog"?
• God's challenge is to get people to trust Him by understanding His Word.
• He created man to walk with Him. How can that happen IF the man
doesn't believe Him and worse, keeps running from Him?

6. The Covenant Code
The Covenant will Settle the Issue

7. The Covenant Code
• Genesis 15:1 (KJV) 1 After these things the word of the LORD came
unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I [am] thy shield,
[and] thy exceeding great reward. 2 And Abram said, Lord GOD,
what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my
house [is] this Eliezer of Damascus? 3 And Abram said, Behold, to
me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine
heir. 4 And, behold, the word of the LORD [came] unto him, saying,
This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine
own bowels shall be thine heir. 5 And he brought him forth abroad,
and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able
to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6 And
he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for
righteousness. 7 And he said unto him, I [am] the LORD that
brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to
inherit it. 8 And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I
shall inherit it?

8. The Covenant Code
• Abram BELIEVED IN the LORD.
• God counted him righteous.
• Abram wanted to know how he could trust Him to give him land.
• He didn't have a problem with God giving him children, he couldn't figure
how God was going to give him that land.
• The LORD did not get angry when Abram questioned Him.
• The LORD had to deal with doubt, fear, and unbelief.
• The LORD answered Abram's question with a covenant ceremony.
• Abram was a rancher and understood covenant practices.
• The LORD HAD to solidify His Promise so that Abram could walk in it!

9. The Covenant Code
The Covenant Ceremony

10. The Covenant Code
• Blood Covenant Practices
• The Promises
• The Blessings
• The Curses
• The Exchange
• The Names
• The Meal
• The Memorial

11. The Covenant Code
• The Promises
• Representatives were selected from the parties.
• A place was selected.
• Animals were selected.
• The parties would negotiate the terms of the
covenant.
• In an unilateral covenant only the stronger party
made promises.

12. The Covenant Code
• The Blessings
• Blessing, empowered to be successful, happened when the
Promise was fulfilled.
• The party or parties HAD keep their promise(s)
irregardless of what the other party did or didn't do. They
would swear to their God thereby being held accountable by
that God.
• Blessing the other party was WHY covenants were made.
• Blessings eliminated needs, needs the party or parties
COULD NOT meet themselves.

13. The Covenant Code
• The Curses
• The Curses were the consequences of not performing the promise(s).
• Since covenants were to several generations, the curse(s) reached those
same generations.
• The threat of the curse(s), which in a blood covenant was death, kept the
parties in line.
• There was no curse on the Abrahamic Covenant nor on the New Covenant.
• Why not?
• Both are unilateral covenants requiring no action of the recipient.
• God made the Promises, man simply accepts or rejects.

14. The Covenant Code
• The Exchange
• They would their coats which represented
their identities.
• They would exchange their belts that held
their weapons representing their
strengths.
• They would exchange their blood.

15. The Covenant Code
• The Names
• At the end of the ceremony they would combine their
names.
• A person's name represented everything about them.
• The name carried authority.
• They often hyphenated the names.
• The name gave them access to everything the other
possessed.

16. The Covenant Code
• The meal was a party.
• This what everyone looked forward to when they heard about a covenant
ceremony.
• They would feed each bread saying "I'll starve before I let you starve. Here,
take my body and eat".
• They would give wine to one another and say "here's my blood, I'll die for
you because we are one".
• They would build a memorial out of rocks or plant a tree.
• They would revisit the memorial once a year.
• Education was the key to keeping the covenant.