GOD’S COVENANT COMMUNITY
The point of this chapter is to try to discern whether there’s some sort of blueprint for what the Lord intends for his people: how we’re meant to be, think, behave, and come across to others. My approach involves tracking through those events and ideas in Scripture which have particularly caught my eye as I’ve read though it. Others will have been struck by a somewhat different list of things, I imagine. If we can see a divine pattern or plan, then maybe we can have some reasonably objective means of assessing the story of the Church in Europe and the West, and that of Western societies that have understood themselves to be Christian, over the last two millennia.
After the Fall
Basic to God’s answer to the Fall was the raising up a family for himself, who’d be set apart from the rest of corrupted humanity. When Abraham responded to the Lord’s word to him, he was just an individual – but one who’d father a family which, in turn, would become the nation Israel. And Israel was meant to be a family of families, not just another nation-state.
The Lord calls Israel ‘my son’ (Hosea 11:1). In another image, he refers to himself as Israel’s husband (e.g. Is 54:5; Jer 3:14). Under the Old Covenant, we can see, close family relationships best describe how God expects to interact with his people. The language he uses in the Old Testament concerning this relating can be very emotional; for instance Jer 31:20: ‘“Is not Ephraim [Israel] my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the Lord.’ God’s covenant offer is of love towards his people – and he looks for their love in return (Deut 5:8). Moreover, those within the covenant he expects to love one another (Lev 19:18).
The covenant set up with Israel was based on grace. An extraordinary promise launched Abraham on his adventure away from security, and into the unknown (Gen 12: 2-3). Before being given the Ten Commandments, the people of Israel were reminded of their deliverance: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Ex 20:2). The Old Covenant, despite what is so often said, wasn’t designed as a religion of works. The pattern, rather, was that the people of the covenant would first experience heaven’s kindness and help, and only then be expected to respond in appropriate ways, and with gratitude. The ‘law’ (Torah) outlined appropriate – as well as required – ways of response within this covenant of grace. High on the list of what was expected were obedience to the Lord’s commands, and holiness, individual and corporate.