C O V E N A N T I N G
Public social covenanting is an important but forgotten act of Christian worship. A covenant is a vow or oath made seriously before God. Marriages, for example, are public covenants between husband, wife and society.
Christianity assumes many covenants. The Covenant of Grace involves the promise of God the Son to act as Savior of sinners chosen by God the Father. God made specific promises to men like Noah, Abraham and Moses. These are agreements initiated by God.
But men are also free to vow obedience to God. And any truly Christian nation will swear a public covenant to be the Lord's people.
Godly leaders in the Bible often made public covenants with God. For example, see Ezra (10:3) and Nehemiah (9:38). When good prince Joash took the throne, ...Jehoiada made a covenant betweene the Lord, and the King and the people, that they should be the Lord's people: likewise between the King and the people. (2 Kings 11:17)
Such civil, man-made covenants are binding on the political entities that make them. For example, Joshua swore a covenant to allow the Gibeonites to live (9:15). Hundreds of years later, King Saul killed the Gibeonites and God punished King David with a famine (2 Samuel 21:1).
Centuries of passing time and the change from judges to monarchy did not invalidate this covenant! God expects us to be faithful to the covenants of our national fathers.
At the time of the Protestant Reformation, political covenants became important. Some were merely private defensive promises to resist persecution. The French "Heugonauts" probably got their name from the covenants they swore. In Germany, Lutheran rulers formed the Smalchaldic League. And in Scotland, covenants changed national history. The National Covenant of 1580 served as a temporary creed for Presbyterians. The Solemn League and Covenant (1643) included three kingdoms. England, Ireland & Scotland promised to be Christian nations.
The National Covenant specifically repudiates popish errors. The Solemn League is a promise to God that we will:
1) Work to preserve the Reformed Faith;
2) Seek to destroy Popery and Prelacy (episcopalian government);
3) Defend the Parliament and the King;
4) Expose traitors to the Reformation;
5) Keep the three kingdoms united;
6) Defend each member of the League.
The Solemn League concludes with a call for humble repentence of our many sins. Times change, and circumstances change with them. We may not have a king. But popery has not become wholesome! Because these promises made by our British fathers are Biblical, we are bound to keep them.
Islam in its own Words
Ballad of Jenny Geddes
of Scripture Study