BIBLE LESSON TITLE: THE COVENANT
This week’s MelVee Bible Study panel is anchored by Melusi Ndhlalambi is joined by Gladwel Soko and Shaun Ryan to discuss lesson 11 on “The Covenant.” The lesson is underpinned by Jeremiah 31:31 which says, “The days are coming, declares the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.” Although the Bible speaks of “covenants” in the plural (Rom. 9:4, Gal. 4:24), there is only one basic covenant, the covenant of grace, in which God bestows salvation upon fallen beings who claim it by faith. The idea of plural “covenants” arises from the various ways God has restated the essential covenant promise in order to meet the needs of His people in different times and settings. But whether it’s the Adamic covenant (Gen. 3:15), the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 12:1–3, Gal. 3:6–9), the Sinaitic covenant (Exod. 20:2), the Davidic covenant (Ezek. 37:24–27), or the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31–33), the idea is the same. The salvation God provides is a gift, unmerited and undeserved, and the human response to that gift—in a sense, humanity’s holding up its side of the deal—is faithfulness and obedience.
The first mention of the New Covenant is in Jeremiah, in the context of Israel’s return from exile and the blessings that God would grant them. Even amid calamity and trouble, the Lord extends to His wayward people the offer of hope and restoration.
