This is how God relates to all humanity—through covenants. He relates to all of humanity through his covenant with Adam, which we’ve broken; and he relates to a sub-group of humans—a very large group—through his covenant with Christ.
…I want you to think: “covenant!” That was the take home lesson of the first session of our “crash-course on the covenants” last week.
Believe it or not, you won’t find the phrase “relationship with God” anywhere in your Bible! But what you do find is talk of a covenant between you and God. King David could say: “[God] has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure” (2 Sam 23:5). Every time you sit at the Lord’s Table, Jesus wants the fact that you’re in a “covenant” with him to be ringing in your ears (1 Cor 11:25).
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with talking about our “relationship with God”. When we’re explaining Jesus to the man on the street, “relationship” is going to be a clearer expression than “covenant”! But I think there’s real value in training ourselves to mentally switch the word “relationship” with the word “covenant”.
Why?
Because the word “relationship” is vague. It describes any kind of connection between two people, usually of an emotional variety. If I say “I’m in a relationship” it could mean anything from being married and about to celebrate my Golden Wedding anniversary, with my children and grandchildren surrounding me, to a brief fling that will last under a month. Relationships today are inherently flexible and customised. A “relationship” is something private between two people, in which they have to work out what “works” for them, and no one else can tell them.
