Immanuel
Protestant Reformed Church
Lacombe, Alberta

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• The Idea of the Covenant
• The Terms for the Covenant
• Elements of the Covenant

• Covenant

• A Relation of
  Fellowship
• A Spiritual
  Seed
• Gathered in the
  Generations
• Unconditionally
  of Grace
• Realized and
  Perfected

• Believers And
  Their Seed
• The Idea of
  the Covenant
• An Exposition
  of the Doctrine
  of the Covenant
• Unconditional
  Covenant
• Keeping
  God's Covenant
• The Covenant
  Of Grace:
  An Organic
  Unity
• Predestination
  The Heart
  Of The Gospel

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One of the most unique and significant expressions in Scripture is the repeated statement, “I will be a God unto thee”

Lest we imagine that this simply refers to the fact that God is the sovereign Lord over all the earth, Who governs all things by the Word of His power and according to the purpose of His will, we do well to note at once that this is a divine promise. It is the assurance that God gives to His covenant” people in Christ, bestowing upon them all the blessings of salvation which He has prepared for them in Christ’ All the blessedness of God’s covenant is expressed in the simple words, “I will be a God unto thee.”

A Covenant God.

When God established His covenant with Abraham, He says,

“And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” Gen. 17:7.

And when Moses is sent to deliver Israel from the bondage of Egypt to bring them to the land that God had promised to Abraham, the Lord says to Israel:

“And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God. And ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.” Ex. 6:7.

Therefore God is repeatedly called the God of Abraham; and of Isaac, and of Jacob. Often He is called. the God of their fathers, or the God of Israel, (especially in the prophecy of Jeremiah); or He declares, “I am thy God, and ye are My people.”

What is true of spiritual Israel in the old dispensation, is likewise true of the church of the new dispensation. God is also their God, for He spoke in prophecy through Jeremiah, saying,

“But this shall be .the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Jer. 31:33.

If there should be any doubt that this refers to the church of the new dispensation, this doubt is immediately removed as, soon as we note that this prophecy is quoted in Heb. 10:16 as referring to the New Testament church.

In that sense God is also called “the God and Father of Jesus Christ,” for Christ is the Head of His people in God’s covenant, since God has chosen them in Him from eternity.

Prophetically Psalm 89 states of Him,

“He shall cry unto Me, Thou art My Father, My God, and the Rock of My salvation. Also I will make Him My firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for Him for ever more, and My covenant shall stand fast with Him.” Psalm 89:26-28.

No wonder that Ephesians 1:3, 4, declares,

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him”

Only in Christ is God’s covenant promise realized, so that God says to His people chosen and redeemed in Christ, “I will be a God unto thee.”

A Deliverer.

A God must be able to deliver. He must be mighty to save. Our God must deliver us from the dominion of sin and death, and take us unto Himself in His covenant, if He is actually to be a God unto us. This idea is expressed repeatedly in Scripture. As, for example, when Jacob fled to Laban in order to preserve God’s covenant from the destruction threatened by Esau,

“And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in the way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God.” Gen. 28:20, 21.

When God gives His, law to Israel at Sinai, He reminds them,

“I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage”

When Isaiah speaks with holy irony about the foolishness of Israel’s worship, he says,

“He burneth part thereof in the fire. With part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied. Yea, he warmeth himself and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. And residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image; he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me, for thou art my god.”

This sin is the more abominable, because Israel seeks deliverance from a vain idol before the face of the living God, Who alone is able to deliver. God maintains,

“I, even I, am the Lord; and beside Me there is no saviour. I have declared, and have saved,’ and. I have shewed, when there was no strange God among you; therefore ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.” Isaiah 43:11, 12.

The covenant God delivers His people from sin and destruction, to take them unto Himself as His people forever.

“Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions. But I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them. So shall they be My people, and I will be their God.” Ezek. 37:23.

Covenant Fellowship

“I will be a God unto. thee,” expresses also a relation of covenant fellowship between God and His people. God is a God to them by dwelling among them. This is literally expressed in Ex. 29:45,

“And I will dwell among the children of Israel,and will be their God.”

And also in Psalm 46:5,7,

“God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that right early. . . . . The Lord of hosts is with us ; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.” .

The prophet Zephaniah tells us that God dwells among His people because He loves them, rejoices in them with joy and with singing, Zeph. 3:17. Which must mean, that it is joy and blessedness for His people to experience that fellowship of God. They stand before His face, draw near to Him in worship, delight in His presence, rejoice in His blessedness and extol His praises in wonder and adoration. It is good for them to draw near to God.

John on Patmos sees the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And he hears a great voice out of heaven saying,

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” Rev. 21:3.

The fulness of eternal salvation is expressed in the glorious promise:

“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” Rev. 21:7.

That, according to Hebrews 11:16 is God’s self-vindication over against His people in this present world of. sin and misery. There we meet the amazing statement

“Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared for them a city.”

This can only mean, that otherwise God might have good reason to be ashamed that He ever roused the hopes of His people with the promise that He would be their God. For what does He do for His people, as far as their earthly advantage, is concerned?

They are strangers upon the earth and aliens in the world. Often they go about as paupers, even though they are called princes. They fight a long and ofttimes wearisome battle against the powers of wickedness that beset them on every side. They are despised and mistreated. And they also must walk in the midst of suffering and death in this present time. Wicked men do not seem to suffer as they do. Yet, in spite of all that, God is not ashamed to be called their God. For the simple reason that He has prepared for them a city.

That city is heavenly, spiritual, eternal. It is the living fellowship with God and all the saints about the throne. All the suffering of this present time cannot weigh up against that glory that awaits them. They are absolutely sure that they will receive this: blessed fellowship from their God, for He has prepared it for them: He never fails to accomplish all that He has set out to do. And His promises are sure ; they never fail

No wonder that God is not ashamed to be called the God of His people. The heavenly city He has prepared for them.

A Calling to Holiness

It naturally follows that this promise carries with it a calling to holiness, obedience and fear.

“Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with a11 thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” Deut. 6:4, 5.

“For I am the Lord that bringeth you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. Ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” Lev. 11:45.

“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” Micah 6:8.

From these various passages it becomes evident, the the calling to holiness follows upon God’s work of grace in the heart, whereby God become’s our God. It is only possible to hear and to obey that calling through that work of grace in our hearts. It is the fruit of the establishment of God’s’ covenant with us.

It is also a covenant obligation. God is the holy God; Who can have no fellowship with sin. He abhors “sin and holds Himself afar from sinners.

“Thy testimonies, Lord, in faithfulness excel; and holy must Thy servants be who in Thy temple dwell.” Psalm 93.

And finally the most grievous sins. are those committed in the sphere. of God’s covenant. It took a Judas to betray the,Christ. It was a Peter who denied Him. Israel’s sin is always spiritual adultery.

“Thou Art My God.”

Finally, God’s assurance, “I will be thy God,” finds an echo in the heart of the believer, whereby he confesses: “Thou art my God.”

The psalmist declares,

“O God, Thou art my God, early will I seek Thee, My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see Thy power and Thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary.” Ps; 63:l.

This same experience caused Christ to suffer “inexpressible anguish, pains, terrors and hellish agonies” on the cross, for He was forsaken of God, banished from before his face as an outcast from His covenant, cut off from the land of the living, until He cried, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

For our sins He suffered on the cross, to bring us to God, in order that this God may be our God forever and ever. God proves Himself to be our God by delivering us from all our woes, taking us into His, fellowship, and giving grace to live in covenant friendship with Him. With the psalmist we learn to say,

“Thou. art my God, I will exalt Thee. O give, thanks unto the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever.” Psalm 118:28.

We have touched on just a few of the almost innumerable passages that run all through Scripture. May it help us to realize that “‘blessed is that people whose’ God is Jehovah.”