This is the fourth in a short series of articles considering the principle of Covenant Renewal.

In this series on Covenant Renewal, we have taken examples from the Old Testament, including at Sinai under Moses, in Judah in the days of Josiah and also in Jerusalem when Nehemiah was governor. On each occasion, a response was being made to God’s gracious dealings with his people. They covenanted to be obedient and loyal to the God who had provided redemption through a promised Deliverer (the Messiah).

Covenant Mercy

At God’s appointed time, the Deliverer came and, as foretold in the Old Testament, he gave himself “as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Through faith in Jesus Christ, his people experience a great salvation: being saved from the bondage and tyranny of sin. They are reconciled to God the Father, brought into union with God the Son, indwelt by God the Holy Spirit and adopted into God’s family with the sure and certain hope of eternal life in Heaven.

How should God’s people respond to such great salvation? The heart of their response ought to be love. In Psalm 116, the believer bears witness to God’s wondrous grace in his life. He testifies in verse 6: “… when I was brought low, he saved me.” But his opening words in the psalm are even more emphatic: “I love the LORD.” This ought to be the response of every Christian to God’s great salvation in Jesus Christ: joining with all the saints to love Jesus “because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

An obvious question arises: how are God’s people to express that love? Jesus gave a simple answer: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)

The Words of the Covenant

Some will ask the question, ‘To what commandments was Jesus referring?’ From Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), it is clear that he understood ‘commandments’ to mean the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai. By observing them, the children of Israel would show their love and gratitude to the God who had redeemed them from Egypt (Exodus 20:1). These same Commandments are the covenant response of the Redeemed, in every age, to God’s everlasting Covenant of Grace. Remember how they are described in Exodus 34:28 “… And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.”

Keeping the Covenant

A refrain that runs through the Old Testament is the challenge for God’s people “to keep the covenant”. When we understand the Ten Commandments as “the words of the covenant” then keeping the covenant means living in obedience to God’s Moral Law. In doing so the blessings of the covenant will be multiplied in the life of the believer. For example:

1. Blessing on family life: “But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant” (Psalm 103:17–18) and remember to do his commandments.

2. Assurance of God’s love: “All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies” (Psalm 25:10)

Divine chastening would be the consequence of not keeping the covenant. The inhabitants of the northern kingdom of Israel were taken into exile: “because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded…” (2 Kings 18:12).

As a church contemplating renewing our covenant obligations to the Lord we must do so thoughtfully, sincerely, and in the fear of God. “When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay” (Ecclesiastes 5:4, 5).

Confession of Sin

Biblically and historically covenant renewal was always preceded by a humble confession of sin. As God’s people in the world we are called to be holy as God is holy (1 Peter 1:16). As we examine our lives we recognise how far short we fall from God’s perfect standard. We sin daily. We do not love God or our neighbour as we should. We often fail “in humility [to] count others more significant than ourselves.” (Philippians 2:3) And do we always bear “with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2).

Holy Living

As we prepare for Covenant Renewal, a valuable exercise would be to get re-acquainted with the Westminster Catechisms, Larger and Shorter, especially the parts that explain the Ten Commandments (J G Vos’s commentary on the Larger Catechism is excellent). Many readers brought up in our Sabbath Schools will be familiar with Shorter Catechism question 60: How is the Sabbath to be sanctified? In a culture that increasingly ignores the Fourth Commandment, the answer presents a fresh challenge to believers:

The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days, and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.

A positive attitude to the Sabbath, recognising it as a precious gift from the Lord, will result in much covenant blessing (Exodus 16:29; see also Isaiah 58:13, 14).

It is only by daily dying to sin and living to righteousness that we will shine brightly for Jesus Christ in a dark and sinful world. That challenge ought to be constantly before us “so that others may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Commitment to Mission

In 1990 our church covenanted:

“We will use every opportunity to spread the light of the gospel of grace and will use our gifts for the glory of Christ and the upbuilding of His church.”

Since then, many efforts have been made to make Christ known, but we haven’t been as zealous as we ought in reaching out to the lost at home and abroad. We must confess this sin of omission and recommit ourselves as a denomination and as church members to this noble work.

Covenant Response

Responding to God’s covenant of grace by covenanting has been recognised by God’s people as Biblical throughout the history of the Church, especially at the time of the Protestant Reformation and in subsequent periods of church history. The National Covenant was signed extensively throughout Scotland in 1638 and the Solemn League & Covenant throughout England, Scotland and Ireland in 1643-44.

Our own branch of the Church has consistently recognised the obligations of covenanting – in Scotland at Aughensaugh in 1712, and at Crawfordjohn in 1745. Covenant Renewals also occurred in Ireland at Dervock in 1853, at Ballymoney in 1901, Belfast in 1911 and at Creevagh, Co Monaghan in 1990.

Covenant Blessing

Covenant renewals have often brought periods of blessing on the Church, even though this blessing has at times been accompanied by increased persecution or opposition. Thomas Houston, RP minister of Knockbracken 1828-1882, recognised the blessing accompanying Covenant Renewal. Writing in 1876, he said: “The act of covenant-renovation tended to foster deeply in the minds of those who engaged in it a sense of the value of the principles of the testimony of Christ, and to bind them to their faithful maintenance and general diffusion.”

As our denomination, God willing, enters into Covenant Renewal at Synod 2022 and subsequently in each congregation, may God, by His grace, pour out upon us the blessing of reformation and revival to the glory of Christ.

This article was originally written for the Covenanter Witness, the official magazine of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland. Make sure you check out their magazine as it arrives in your churches every month for more great articles like this!