This week we have filled our bellies with rich food, laughed and enjoyed family and friends. We have made new memories and reminisced about times gone by.
This is the time of year that we count our blessings. It’s time to remember that friendship, family and community is important.
In our bible study group, we are finishing up a study on covenant. Covenant is an agreement between parties that commit to fulfill certain responsibilities to one another.
God made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants. That includes us! We are apart of that covenant through Jesus’ sacrifice of His life for us. If you have committed to Him for your eternal life by agreeing with Him that we are all sinners in need of a Savior, then you are part of that covenant.
There are many stories of covenant in the Old Testament. One is the covenant between David and Jonathan. Theirs is a story of true friendship, loyalty and trust. It is a beautiful story that protects, sacrifices and honors an agreement of covenant with one another.
Even after Jonathan and Saul are dead, David remembers his promise to his friend. David has become King over Israel and conquered enemies around them. He is retired from active fighting because his strength grew weak. He calls in one of his servants, Ziba. Isn’t there someone from Jonathan’s family I can show lovingkindness to?
2 Samuel 9:1 “David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” Ziba, the servant, tells David there is one Mephibosheth.
David has Mephibosheth brought to him. When Saul and Jonathan were killed in battle, Mephibosheth’s nurse flees with him in fear that he would be killed as a descendant of Saul and Jonathan. In fleeing, she falls with the five year old child and
Mephibosheth is crippled in both feet.
David remembers his promise never to harm any descendant of Jonathan. He brings Mephibosheth to the palace, restores his land back to his family and gives him a place at His table.
Because of David’s covenant with Jonathan, Mephibosheth now sits at the King’s table.
We have a privilege of sitting at the King’s table also. Just as Mephibosheth did nothing to gain a seat at the table likewise we have no merit to bring and sit at the Father’s table. But we have through Jesus a covenant partner who longs to bring us to sit with Him at His feast.
Revelation 3:20 New International Version (NIV) “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”
Covenant is a serious agreement.
- It involves exchanging one’s identity. II Corinthians 5:20 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
- It requires a sacrifice. John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command.”
- It is finalized with a sacrificial meal. “Revelation 3:20 New International Version (NIV) 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
We are to remember that sacrifice each time we come to the table of communion. Matthew 26: 26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
All of God’s promises are true! We are His covenant children. He remembers His own. When we come to the table, we should remember His blessings to us. We have the same responsibility. That is to remember our promise to follow Jesus with our lives.
May the blessings of this season be with you.
