I've been studying my Bible again... yep, a dangerous thing to do. You never know what might happen when you do that. Just think of the history -- the Reformation, the Great Awakening. Worlds get turned upside down.

Have you ever basically believed something your whole life, but never knew that anyone else had actually put it to words? Kind of nice when you find out what you thought you were reading in your Bible is actually one of the historical doctrines of the Church. Very nice, indeed.

And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.

Genesis 17:7

What a promise! God promised to be not only Abraham's God, but also the God of his descendants. What more could you want?

God has just told Abraham that all that He is, He will be for Abraham. And not only for Abraham, but also for his descendants.

Now, yes, there is more to the Abrahamic covenant than this. Yes, there was a promise of land, too. But don't miss that there is definitely a spiritual relationship established here between God, Abraham, and Abraham's children. God is relating to Abraham as an individual and also to Abraham's family.

But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children's children,
To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

Psalm 103:17-18

God's mercy is eternal. Most of us have about seventy to eighty years to live. Not even Methuselah lived for eternity, past to future. (I speak as on earth). Yet, God's mercy is eternal. Its the full breadth of eternity. For as long as He has existed, for as long as He will exist, there is His mercy. It will outlive you.

But is His mercy for everyone? Well, no. It is for those who fear Him. It is for those who keep His covenant. For those who keep His commands, without which they would not be keeping His covenant. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:3-6). "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified" (Romans 8:29, 30).

But look who else receives His mercy: "And His righteousness to children's children." "The children of Your servants will continue, And their descendants will be established before You" (Psalm 102:28). If the children will also keep His covenant, then His mercy is upon them to a thousand generations.

Can they keep His covenant unless they be in His covenant?

Now, I'm not suggesting that the children of Abraham were automatically born saved. But what the Bible clearly teaches here is that the Covenant extended to the covenant-keeper's children. It is a Covenant with the individual and with the individual's family.

Israel certainly understood the family aspect of the Covenant. The Israelites automatically assumed that their children were under the Covenant. The child could grow up and break covenant, yes, but at birth they were in the Covenant if the parents' were covenant-keepers.

Now, that's the Abrahamic Covenant. What about the New Covenant? Does any of this carry over?

The Israelites also misapplied the family aspect of the Covenant, and thought the Covenant was their birthright even if they broke it. Paul said to them, "Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham." (Galatians 3:7)

He goes on, "Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise." (Galatians 3:15-18)

(Notice that Paul includes the Mosaic Covenant within the Abrahamic Covenant.) The Abrahamic Covenant is fulfilled in Christ, the Seed. It is still in force, but now it is in force in Christ. If I am ingrafted into Christ, then I am in the Covenant.

That Covenant was with individuals and with families. As an individual, I am in Christ and I am in the Covenant. Also, my family is in the Covenant. I did not say that my family is automatically saved. Being in the Covenant and being saved are not identical.

But wait, am I just taking something from the Old Covenant and applying that to the New Covenant? Is that ever done in the New Testament (as if the above example from Galatians 3 does not suffice?)

When Peter was empowered by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, he preached, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).

We've got that, right? We know that you repent to be saved. But he did go on, "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call" (Acts 2:39). It's the family again! God's covenantal relationship with the family of the believer continues into the New Covenant! Did Israelites in the Old Covenant have to believe to be saved? Yes. Do the children of believers have to believe to be saved in the New Covenant? Yes. But was the Covenant also with the children of believers in both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant? Yes!!

Here's a passage that always stumped me:

But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace. For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

1 Corinthians 7:12-16

Sanctified? Holy? Huh?
Here is the Covenant Family. If you are a believer, then your family is in the Covenant. Are they automatically saved? No. Are they in a relationship with God? Yes. There is grace in your home. God is the God of your family. If you will keep covenant with God, if they will keep covenant with God, that blessing continues to be passed down. If you or they break covenant, then we see that that individual is clearly not saved and under God's curse as a covenant-breaker.

Here's one way I would like to apply this. I have read parenting books that refer to your children as little pagans. Sorry, wrong, that's not true. Are they unsaved? Do they need a Savior? Yes. Are they pagans? No. God is their God and they are in Covenant with Him. They are in a special relationship with God.

I'm sure there will be comments on this one.