The Name of Covenant

As I have said in earlier discussions of covenant, the exchange of names is a very important part of the proof of the existence of a covenant. Taking the name, or a part of a name, of the instigator of the covenant, gives credence to the fact they are "in covenant", as well as the identity of the covenant-protector. The disciples were first called "Christians" at Antioch. (Acts 11:26) In the covenants God has made with this realm there is progression allowed by the open-ended condition of covenant to include future generations. In the covenants God uses with this realm, there is progression from the natural realm to the spiritual and on into eternity. This is what we see in the letter to the church in Philadelphia. The Name given in the New Covenant Jesus gave to us will be changed in the next, eternal, covenant. We saw the importance of the Names of God in the Old Covenant. In the New Covenant, Jesus is the Name by which we are redeemed and come into full salvation.

Our covenant response to God in this New Covenant is to follow Jesus completely to become an overcomer. What do we overcome? Jesus has overcome the world (this realm of darkness)and death, the grave and the devil. Our Adamic nature and our link to this realm are our responsibility to overcome. That will involve our unbelief, our passivity to following in His footsteps, and our ignorance of spiritual matters. The last, our ignorance, is most dangerous, for it is most susceptible to Satan's temptation. We learn from our Teacher, Counselor, and Guide, the Holy Spirit. He opens the Word of God to us and will woo us into hunger and thirst for God, to know His Ways and obey His Word. To lean on the Holy Spirit is the only safe way to attain knowledge of the spirit realm. Overcoming our natural responses to any circumstance, our human motivation and our human understanding by trust and obedience to God's Word, is not an easy response. A religious ritual that does not interfere with our lives is much easier and opens the wide road that most travel.

Giving the response to the Covenant under which you live, opens the door to the next Covenant God makes with mankind. We now live under the banner of the Name, Jesus. A faithful response to Him now will open the door to receiving His new Name and a new name for us. We will go into His eternal purpose as a covenanted people.