ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 Sapate ‘Okatopa 1, 2023

Cutting a Covenant

Fahi ua, ko e Fuakava

PSALM 50:4-5

HE CALLS TO THE HEAVENS ABOVE AND TO THE EARTH, THAT HE MAY JUDGE HIS PEOPLE: "GATHER TO ME MY FAITHFUL ONES, WHO MADE A COVENANT WITH ME BY SACRIFICE!"

SAAME 50:4-5

4 ‘Oku ne ui mai ‘a e ngaahi langi mei ‘olunga, pea mo māmani, Ki he fakamaau ‘o hono kakai. 5 “Mou fakataha mai, hoku ‘ofa‘anga, kiate au; Ha‘a fai kovinānite mo au ‘i he funga ‘o e feilaulau.”

It's helpful, when reading the OT in English, to do instant word changes in your head when you encounter certain terminology. For instance, when you read "law," think Torah, which means "teaching." Or, when you see "obey," think "listen to the voice of." Likewise, when you encounter the common phrase "make a covenant," substitute "cut" for "make." A covenant is karat ("cut") because it is made "by sacrifice" (Ps. 50:5), by animals karat into pieces. When God cut a covenant with Abraham (Gen. 15:18), the patriarch cut animals in two. Then God in the form of "a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between the pieces" (Gen. 15:17). What was God indicating by this action? That should he break this covenant, his fate should rightfully be the same as those animals. It was an audacious, binding pledge of divine loyalty to Abraham and his heirs.

When the Father cut the new covenant with us, the Lamb of God was karat. Cut by whips. Cut by thorns. Cut by spikes and the tip of a spear. By his body broken and blood outpoured, we have the highest pledge of divine loyalty and love the human mind can fathom. 

Blessed are you, Lord Jesus, for cutting the new covenant with us.