Chapter 8 – Covenant
What is a covenant?
A covenant is “a binding and solemn agreement to do or keep from doing a specified thing.”[1] A covenant is a significant pact between two individuals or groups whereby each proclaims what they will do as a result of the understanding. It has the impact of a legal document even though strictly speaking there may be no such legal backing. When making a covenant with God we would do well to treat it as having a greater backing than mere human laws and conventions because eternal values are involved.
Covenant is mentioned several times in The Urantia Book. For example Caligastia entrapped Adam and Eve into a violation of the covenant of their trusteeship as the visible rulers of your world.[2] When they took over leadership of this planet, Adam and Eve entered into a covenant outlining what they should do and what they should not do. Things went well for over one hundred years; they however fell into a trap by Caligastia and violated their covenant;[3] as a result they were declared in default and lost their immortal status. Making and upholding a covenant is serious business.
There are other examples of a covenant in The Urantia Book. One of these occurred in the dawn of time when the Universal Father and the Eternal Son entered into an infinite and everlasting covenant of divine partnership. This never-ending compact is made for the execution of their united concepts throughout all of the circle of eternity; and ever since this eternity event the Father and the Son continue in this divine union.[4] That is some covenant!
When Adam and Eve were moving from the first Garden of Eden in the eastern Mediterranean to the second Garden in Mesopotamia their caravan was halted and they were formally informed they are adjudged in default; they have violated the covenant of their trusteeship as the rulers of this inhabited world.[5] This tells us that violating a covenant may have severe consequences.
The Hebrew religion is based upon the covenant between Abraham and Machiventa Melchizedek.[6]
The prophet Samuel proclaimed that God had made an everlasting covenant with the people of Israel.[7]
As primitive people gradually improved, became more reliable and dependable, their concept of God also improved. The custom of sacrifice eventually became associated, as a result of advancing teachings, with the idea of the covenant. At last, the gods were conceived of as entering into real agreements with man; and this was a major step in the stabilization of religion. Law, a covenant, takes the place of luck, fear, and superstition.[8] Such a covenant was respected and indicated social progress.
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Webster’s p 366 Third College Edition Webster’s New World Dictionary of American English, Victoria Neufeldt and David B. Guralnik eds., Webster’s New World, Cleveland and New York, 1988, p 320 ↑
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All references are to The Urantia Book unless otherwise stated. The number refers to the single column version in the format page.paragraph; 583.3 ↑
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Appendix 2 has a fuller discussion of Adam and Eve ↑
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90.2 ↑
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845.1 ↑
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1052.3, appendix 2 has a discussion of Melchizedek ↑
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1063.2, see also Bible, 2 Samuel 7:12-16, and Ryrie Study Bible, p 488-9 ↑
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983.2 ↑