The title of today’s blog post is a fascinating question asked by Dr. Paul Henebury  in his latest article at his blog: here  The question is asked in the messianic redemptive context of Isaiah 42 and Matthew 12 and is within the greater context of Dr. Henebury’s explorations of the Bible’s covenants.

Can you answer Dr. Henebury’s question: Which Covenant Could Christ Be?

For what it is worth my reply to Dr. Henebury is below. For those interested, before you read my reply I’d encourage you to read his article to get the full context of his question and then see what you come up with yourself. It’s a wonderful subject and worthy of every Berean’s consideration. Dr. Henebury’s article is here.

Authors Note:
For those of you wondering, I hope to finish up Part II of Rebooting a Christian Conspiracy Theory by next week. I was hoping to post it this week but not quite done yet.

My Answer to Dr. Henebury’s question:
Which Covenant Could Christ Be?

Good evening Dr. Henebury,

I’ve enjoyed reading your latest articles exploring the covenants. They make for such a wonderful treasure hunt in Yahweh’s word.

You asked “Which covenant could Christ be?” This is a wonderful challenge so here is my take for what it is worth.

I agree that Matthew 12 can be seen within the messianic redemptive theme of Isaiah 42.

Concerning Matthew’s quote of “in His name Gentiles will trust.”, this is more directly expanded upon in  Isaiah 11 where the passage describes the ‘Branch’, the “root of Jesse” to whom the “Gentiles seek”.  In Romans 15 Paul quotes Isaiah (11?) describing Jesus as the “minister of (to) the circumcision for the truth of God” which truth “confirms the promises made unto the fathers”. Those promises made to the fathers, Paul explains, are related (in part) to the “mercy” Yahweh will show the gentiles.

Romans 15:8-12   8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:  9 And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.  10 And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.  11 And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.  12 And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.

Isaiah 11:1,10
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:….

  10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

Isaiah 49 builds upon this theme by describing a “servant”, a “light to the Gentiles”, a “Redeemer of Israel” , a “covenant for the people”.

I believe a strong case can be made that the “covenant to the people” of Isaiah 42 and the “covenant of the people” of Isaiah 49 can be traced back to the first covenant Yahweh swore with any man in the Bible. That covenant is found in Gen: 22:16-18 is promise by Yahweh “by Himself” to Abraham that in Abraham’s seed all nations of the earth will be blessed.

Genesis 22:16-18
16 And said, By myself have I sworn [shaba], saith YHWH, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:  17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 

18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

What I think is so awesome about this oath (shebuw’ah) Yahweh swore (shaba) with Abraham is that it is confirmed to Isaac and then later described as the “covenant and mercy” of Yahweh by Moses when he is exhorting Israel just before crossing into the promised land. Here is the confirmation given to Isaac:

Genesis 26:3-4  
3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath [shebuw’ah] which I sware [shaba] unto Abraham thy father;  4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;

In the following Moses explains this covenant to Israel. Notice Moses makes clear that Yahweh’s blessings upon Israel are not because of their greatness but because He loved them and that He was going to keep “the oath (shebuw’ah) which He sware (shaba) to your fathers.” An oath which Moses later explains in Deu. 9:5 begins with Abraham.

Deuteronomy 7:12 
12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that YHWH thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware [shaba] unto thy fathers:

Deuteronomy 7:6-9  
6 For thou art an holy people unto YHWH thy God: YHWH thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. 

7 YHWH did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:  8 But because YHWH loved you, and because he would keep the oath [shebuw’ah] which he had sworn [shaba] unto your fathers, hath YHWH brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9 Know therefore that YHWH thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

Deuteronomy 9:5
5 Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations YHWH thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which YHWH sware [shaba] unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Confirming that the “covenant and mercy” of Yahweh is in fact the oath (shaba) Yahweh swore (shebuw’ah) with Abraham we have the witness of Zechariah, Peter, Paul, and Mary the mother of Yeshua. Notice in these first two examples that Zechariah  and Mary who were before the cross saw Israel’s messianic redemption first as a national or physical deliverance from their enemies. Peter on the other, who had the benefit of hindsight, saw this covenant (in part) – this shaba with Abraham, as primarily related to Yahweh’s redemptive promise through Yeshua to restore Israel’s spiritual fortunes.

Luke 1:68-75 
68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,  69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;  70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:  71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; 

72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;  73 The oath [shaba] which he sware [shebuw’ah] to our father Abraham,  74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,  75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.

Luke 1:54-55  
54 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;  55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.

Acts 3:25-26 
25 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.  26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

Galatians 3:16-17  
16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.  17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.

To make my final argument for the case that Yeshua is the fulfillment of the “covenant and mercy” that Yahweh swore (shaba) with Abraham I offer you Daniel 9. In this wonderful prophetic passage the first words out of Daniel’s mouth are a plea for Yahweh to remember His “covenant and mercy to them that love Him and keep His commandments”.  As we saw above this is a direct quote from Deu 7:9 and in the context of the oath (shebuw’ah) Yahweh swore (shaba) with Abraham.

Daniel 9:4 4
And I prayed unto YHWH my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;

So how does Yahweh answer Daniel’s plea for His “covenant and mercy”, for his plea to redeem Israel and reestablish his holy dwelling place? Yahweh sends Daniel a prophecy of 70 (shib’iym) Sevens (shabuwa) which tells when this covenant and mercy, this Yeshua (Salvation of Yahweh) would come. In awesome congruence the very roots for 70 and Sevens comes from the Hebrew word for Shaba (to sware).

So my answer is that Christ is the Covenant Yahweh swore (shaba) with Abraham. A covenant that promised all nations of the earth (including Israel) would be blessed by Yahweh Salvation – His Yeshua!

Warm Regards,
William