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Understanding the Abrahamic Covenant and Its
Relationship to Biblical Future Prophecy

The Old Testament concept of an earthly kingdom emerges first from the Abrahamic covenant and is then expanded upon in the Palestinian, Davidic and new covenants. These four covenants shape the Old Testament idea of the visible kingdom of God (which, as we will see, is inseparably tied to the nation of Israel). A simple analogy may help to illustrate the relationship of these covenant promises to other Old Testament prophecies concerning the kingdom. If we think of the covenants (the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic, and new covenants) as the bold lines of a coloring book, determining the shape of the picture, we could then think of other prophecies as the colors applied within those lines. The covenant promises form the outline of God’s plan for Israel. Other millennial prophecies supply additional details that must be understood within the framework of the covenant promises; together they form a picture of God’s plan for Israel’s future (which includes certain blessings for the Gentiles).

Since the covenants define the kingdom program for Israel, it is important that we begin with a thorough examination of these covenants before looking at the other prophetic passages.

The Abrahamic covenant

The provisions of the Abrahamic Covenant are stated in Genesis 12:1-3, 6-7; 13:14-17; 15:1-21; 17:1-14 and 22:15-18. It is important to examine all of these passages in order to glean all of the provisions. Genesis 15:1-12 is of particular interest since it also includes the account of the solemn ceremony in which God sealed His promises as an unconditional covenant with Abraham (Abram) and his descendants after him, forever.

[Genesis 12:1-3] The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

[Genesis 12:6-7] Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

[Genesis 13:14-17] The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”

[Genesis 17:1-14] When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

[Genesis 22:15-18] The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

[Genesis 15:1-21] After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

In these passages God made the following promises to Abraham personally. 1) Abraham’s name will be great (12:2). 2) He will be the father of many nations (17:5). 3) His descendants will be innumerable (13:16; 15:5; 22:17). 4) Kings will come from him (17:6). 5) God will be his God (17:7). 6) The one who blesses Abraham will be blessed, and the one who curses Abraham will be cursed (12:3). 7) The covenant is to be a perpetual (eternal) covenant (17:7).

In addition to the personal promises made to Abraham, God also made the following promises to his descendants. 1) They will become a great nation (12:2). 2) They will, at some time, come to possess the land forever (17:8). 3) God will be their God (17:8). 4) They will be victorious over their enemies (22:17). 5) God’s covenant will be established with them forever (17:7). The covenant also includes a blessing for the Gentiles, that they would be blessed through Abraham (12:3; 22:18).

The Abrahamic covenant expressly promises that Abraham’s descendants will come to possess the land which God showed to Abraham, and that they will live in that land as recipients of divine favor forever. That these promises have never been invalidated is a point that will be considered later; first we will look at the relationships between the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic, and new covenants.

The Palestinian covenant

The Palestinian covenant, so called because it was made with Israel upon their entrance into the Promised Land, is recorded in Deuteronomy 29:1-30:20. Moses indicated its connection to the Abrahamic covenant when he said:

[Deut. 29:12-13] You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the LORD your God, a covenant the LORD is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

What God swore to Abraham in the Abrahamic covenant (and subsequently confirmed to Isaac and Jacob), He was prepared to implement as Abraham’s children stood on the verge of their entrance into the land over four hundred years later. This covenant seems to have had two purposes: 1) to ensure that the people understood their inheritance of the land was the direct result of the promises previously made to Abraham (29:12-13), and 2) to clarify for the people the conditions under which they could expect to enter into the enjoyment of this promise; the condition being their continued obedience to God (29:16-29). One of the most interesting features of this covenant is found in 30:1-10, here God indicates that they would rebel in the future and their rebellion would cost them the enjoyment of this covenant blessing, such that they would be dispersed from the land, but the covenant itself would not be invalidated. Rather, the blessing would be reserved for a generation that would call upon Him and to which He would respond by bringing them back into the land.

[Deut. 30:1-10] When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you. You will again obey the LORD and follow all his commands I am giving you today. Then the LORD your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The LORD will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, if you obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

The Palestinian covenant should be seen as a reaffirmation and amplification of the land promises previously made to Abraham, and its perpetual validity is apparent from the language of the covenant itself.

The Davidic covenant

The Davidic covenant is found in 2Samuel 7:12-17, in which God says to David,

“When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.”

There are four key provisions of this covenant. 1) David will have a son who will build the house of the Lord (v.13)—which was fulfilled in Solomon. 2) While God would correct David’s son, He would never take the throne from him (vv. 14-15). 3) God promised that David’s house (his lineage) would endure forever (v.16). 4) God also promised that the right to the throne of Israel would forever remain with David’s line of descendants (v.16).

While the text of the covenant does not make reference to the Abrahamic covenant, the connection is apparent since the people that David’s line will perpetually have the right to rule are the people of promise under the Abrahamic covenant. The prophet Jeremiah later demonstrated a connection between these two covenants when he uttered the following prophecy:

[Jer. 33:25-26] …This is what the LORD says, “If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed laws of heaven and earth, then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.”

The Davidic covenant expands upon the “national” (or kingdom) aspect of the Abrahamic covenant by stating that the right to the throne of Israel will forever remain with David’s line. This is the reason the New Testament makes the point of establishing that Christ is a descendant of David, since He is the one who will ultimately rule over Israel in fulfillment of the covenant promises.

The new covenant

The prophecy of the new covenant is found in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Here Jeremiah prophesies,

“The time is coming,” declares the LORD,” when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. ”I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, Know the LORD, because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

In this prophecy God promised that He would someday establish a new covenant with Israel, a covenant by which He will write His laws on their hearts (v. 33)—probably a reference to the giving of the Spirit, indicative of regeneration. The result will be that all Israel will know the Lord (v. 34). While the implementation of this covenant is dependent upon the work of Christ upon the cross, that work does not in itself fulfill this promise, for it has not yet resulted in the salvation of Israel as a nation. Therefore, we must conclude that the New Covenant is yet to be fulfilled (though Christ’s completed work on the Cross has already established the basis for this covenant’s ultimate fulfillment). The new covenant reveals the nature of the special relationship (first promised in the Abrahamic covenant) that Israel is to have with God. Gentiles are not left out of the picture, since they too are to be blessed under the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 12:3; 22:18).

The unconditional nature of the covenants

It is important to recognize that the Abrahamic covenant, as well as the other three covenants, are all unconditional in nature. This does not mean that there are no conditions to be met in order for them to be fulfilled, for in that sense, there is a condition—genuine faith. Rather, the unconditional nature of these covenants refers to the fact that Israel’s disobedience, both past and present, has not, indeed cannot, invalidate these covenants, because their continuance was never linked to Israel’s faithfulness--only the “enjoyment” of their blessings was conditioned upon faith. Though generations of Abraham’s descendants have turned from God, yet God maintains His covenanted promises, ready to fulfill them to that elect generation who will, at the appointed time, turn to their rightful Messiah—Jesus Christ.

When the unconditional nature of these covenants is understood, it becomes apparent that whatever partial benefits Israel may have enjoyed historically as a result of these covenants, in no sense can it be said that they have been fulfilled. The position of covenant theology, which generally sees no place for the fulfillment of these covenants in the future, is that their continuance was conditioned upon Israel’s faith; and since Israel broke faith with God, manifested ultimately in the rejection of their Messiah, these covenants have been invalidated, as far as Israel is concerned, and the promised blessings transferred to the Church (allegorically, of course).

There are three reasons for believing that God has not abandoned His covenant with Abraham. 1) The form of the covenant given in Genesis 15:9-21 is that of an unconditional, or unilateral covenant, in which all of the responsibility for the fulfillment rests solely with one party, in this case God. The scene in Genesis 15:1-21, in which Abraham divided various animals, and God, depicted by a great smoking furnace, passed between the divided pieces, is a picture of the sealing of the Abrahamic covenant, somewhat equivalent to the formal signing of a treaty. The fact that only God passed between the divided pieces is significant. Normally, in this type of covenant, known as a suzerainty-vassal treaty, both parties would pass between the pieces together, thus indicating their mutual obligation to keep the conditions of the covenant, lest they bring upon themselves a curse and become like the animals they passed between. That God alone passed between the pieces is indicative that the covenant obligations rest solely upon Him. In other words, it was not up to Abraham or his descendants to do anything to validate this covenant. Of course no individual, nor the nation as a whole, could enter into the blessings of the covenant apart from faith (Gen. 17:13-14). Nevertheless, faithlessness on the part of an individual, or an entire generation of individuals, would not invalidate the covenant itself; it would merely exclude that individual (or generation) from the covenant blessings. In other words, the validity of the covenant, and the enjoyment of its provisions by a specific set of people, are two entirely distinct issues. God rejected those who rejected the covenant relationship, but He did not reject the covenant itself. If a generation arises that will accept the covenant relationship, they will have the covenant fulfilled to them. Since the promises were made concerning a people, they will be fulfilled when an elect generation of Jews turns to God through acceptance of Jesus Christ, their Messiah. 2) Even though Abraham’s descendants were disobedient and fell into idolatry, subsequent statements made in the Scripture indicate that their disobedience had not invalidated the covenant. For example, the Abrahamic covenant is invoked in 1Chronicles 16:16-18, a thousand years after it was made with Abraham. During much of that time, Israel had lived in idolatry, yet the covenant itself was not invalidated. The psalmist in Psalm 105:1-11 says,

He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: “To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit.”

If disobedience, or lack of faith could invalidate the Abrahamic covenant it surely would not have survived the first one thousand years of Israel’s history. 3) The subsequent Palestinian, Davidic, and new covenants are also indicated as being unconditional, eternal covenants. When seen in light of their connection to the Abrahamic covenant, it becomes clear that they all must share the same unconditional quality.

Concerning the unconditional nature of the Davidic Covenant, God (through the psalmist) in Psalm 89 says:

[vv. 28-37] “I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail. I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure. If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes, if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered. Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness and I will not lie to David that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like the sun; it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.”

Almost four hundred years later, on the eve of Israel’s expulsion from the land because of rampant idolatry, God spoke these words through the prophet Jeremiah:

[Jer. 33:20-22] This is what the LORD says: “If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, then my covenant with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.”

Both the nature of these covenants and subsequent biblical statements reflecting back on them indicate they were made unconditionally, meaning they have not been invalidated by Israel’s past unbelief and that God intends to see them fulfilled through his sovereign election of a future generation (Jer. 31:31-37).

The implications of the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic, and new covenants

The Abrahamic covenant which promises the descendants of Abraham a land forever has neither been invalidated nor fulfilled. Unless we can conceive of God as being unfaithful, the fulfillment of these promises must be a future reality. The connection between the Abrahamic covenant and the subsequent prophetic descriptions of the kingdom (e.g., Isa. 11:4-10; 35:5-10; 60:1-22; 65:17-25; Ezek. 34:25-31; Joel 2:21-27; 3:18-21) leaves no doubt that the Abrahamic covenant is the basis of the kingdom promises for Israel.

The Palestinian covenant repeats the land provisions of the Abrahamic covenant and further expands upon the basis for Israel’s enjoyment of this promise (which is faith, and faithfulness). In this covenant, God foresaw Israel’s disobedience and dispersion (Deut. 30:1-8) and promised their restoration upon a return to faith in Him. Of course, Israel’s ultimate return to the Lord can only occur as a result of inward spiritual conversion.

The Davidic covenant is an expansion upon the national aspect of the Abrahamic covenant in that it specifies that David’s house is to have a perpetual right to the throne of Israel. The promise requires that when the kingdom prophecies are fulfilled, a member of David’s house must rule over Israel. This will ultimately be fulfilled in the person of David’s ideal Son, the Messiah (Isa. 9:6-7).

The prophecy of the new covenant specifies how God intends to bring about the implementation of the Abrahamic covenant —by genuine spiritual renewal on the part of Abraham’s descendants. It would be nonsense to suppose that a non-elect, unregenerate people could live in a state of perpetual blessing and special divine relationship as envisioned in the Abrahamic covenant. Therefore, before God can fulfill His promises to Abraham He must raise up an elect generation of Jews who will respond to His offer of salvation, and thus enter into the blessings of the covenant. It is important to recognize that election is at the heart of Israel’s conversion, for if salvation ultimately depended upon man, the fulfillment of these promises could never be anything more than a remote prospect. Yet God intends, by His sovereign choice, to bring spiritual life to Israel so that His covenanted promises can be infallibly brought to pass.

In summarizing the implications of these four covenants, we see that God intends to regather Abraham’s children, breathe spiritual life within them, and plant them securely in their land, with David’s Son—their Messiah—ruling over them forever. The implementation of this program will necessitate a partial regathering of Israel prior to the millennium, and a full regathering early in the millennium (Isa. 11:12; 49:8-26; 66:1-20; Amos 9:11-15; Zech. 8:1-23).

The Millennial Phase of the Visible Kingdom

Naturally, since the promises made in the Abrahamic covenant and subsequently confirmed to Israel and expanded upon in the Palestinian, Davidic, and new covenants are eternal, they cannot be fulfilled in any finite period of time. The visible kingdom, envisioned in Old Testament prophecy, is an eternal kingdom. As stated previously, it is only in the New Testament we learn this kingdom is to be manifested in two phases: the first phase, generally referred to as “the millennium,” involves the first one-thousand years (approximately) of the kingdom which will take place on the present earth (Rev. 20:4-7); the second phase will be manifested forever in the new heavens and earth (Rev. 21:1-22:5). Because the characteristics of these two phases differ significantly, they are generally treated separately as “the millennium,” and “eternity” (see figure below).

Phases of the Visible Kingdom of God

[The visible (earthly) kingdom of God will unfold in two phases. The millennium (the first one-thousand years) is the first phase. The second phase, referred to as “eternity,” will take place on the new earth to be created after the destruction of the present earth at the end of the millennium. The New Jerusalem, the heavenly city, will be present during the eternal phase of the kingdom.]

Adapted from What the Bible Says About the Future

Understanding the Abrahamic Covenant and Its Relationship to Biblical Future Prophecy