Chapter 8 – Covenant
New Covenant
We now have The Urantia Book, the most important revelation of truth since Jesus more than two thousand years ago. What does a covenant have to do with this revelation?
Adam and Eve had a covenant of trusteeship on Urantia. Melchizedek instituted a covenant with Abraham. Jesus, being our creator father and now our titular planetary prince, was the giver of these covenants. Indeed it was the resistance of the Jewish leaders to the teachings of Jesus that brought about the termination of the Abrahamic covenant. Epochal revelations are all about covenants.
A covenant has been associated with each of the previous bringers of truth. While it is not specifically mentioned in connection with Caligastia, it is certain he agreed to a directive outlining his duties and responsibilities as planetary prince; otherwise he would not have been sent here. We have seen that Adam and Eve had a covenant concerning their trusteeship of our planet. Melchizedek and Jesus also were involved with covenants.
The covenant between Melchizedek and Abraham was made because Abraham was concerned he had no heirs. Melchizedek told Abraham that if he believed, his progeny would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. This covenant therefore also covered his offspring as long as they believed. The covenant proposed here is between each individual and our Heavenly Father.
Now we have another epochal revelation. If we seek to promote these teachings to our sisters and brothers we must accept a covenant, a binding agreement with our Father. If we accept such a covenant we will be protected, guided, and assisted in our efforts. As a result of this, we now have more than a book with advanced teachings; we also have a movement to bring truth, righteousness, brotherhood, and inclusion to each one of our brothers and sisters throughout the world.
I accept God’s covenant
That His favor is based on faith alone,
I pledge to follow His guidance
And share the message of truth
With my sisters and brothers.[1]
The covenant Melchizedek offered Abraham is even now offered to each one of us. God offers to do everything for us; all we need is to believe, to follow His guidance in our lives.[2] Our personal relationship with our Heavenly Father need not be complicated. We believe in His presence in our lives and He promises to guide our lives and provide our needs. God sincerely wishes to help us but first we must believe.
We need to realize we are the temple of God, and the spirit of God dwells within us;[3] we must believe the divine spirit will guide our daily lives when we accept the covenant to follow His guidance; saying “Yes I believe” and then turning aside, following our own impulses rather than God’s internal guidance, will not allow us to enter fully into the heavenly family. God does accept any affirmation of faith, but progress in the heavenly family, in spiritual awareness, demands deep, sincere faith. This matter of faith goes beyond a mere commitment; faith is an internal uprising of spiritual love and a genuine desire to follow His guidance, to do God’s will and to become more like Him.
Implicit in this covenant is the fact our Father will protect us. Archbishop Desmond Tutu said if he was doing God’s work fighting against the discrimination of apartheid then God had “better jolly well protect me.”[4] And God did protect him as He also protected Nelson Mandela and other fighters against spiritual injustice around the world. Considering the depth of hatred these fighters for personal dignity were up against, it is remarkable how well they were protected.
In our own country we had Martin Luther King, Jr.; I have stood next to the kitchen table of the parsonage in Montgomery, Alabama where Dr. King despaired about the hatred and violence against him and his young family. At that very table late at night after receiving another hate filled phone call in January of 1956, Dr. King prayed to God for the strength to carry on; he wanted to stand up for what is right but was afraid. At that point he experienced a powerful feeling of the presence of the Divine giving him assurance that God would be with him forever; afterwards he “was ready to face anything.”[5] God was able to protect him long enough for the message to get out to disadvantaged people everywhere. Each of us should have such a dream!
Again, total sincerity cannot be overemphasized. When we are dealing with our peers they have only external clues to discern if we are sincere in what we say. They may look into our eyes or at the way new hold ourselves, or whatever; they have no certain way to know if we mean what we say. Our Heavenly Father however, knows what is in our hearts, what our deepest thoughts are; the reason this is important is God wants to know if He can trust us: will we actually do what we say. He certainly knows if there is falsehood or weakness in our souls; insincerity and falsehood cannot be hidden from our spiritual guides who see into our very souls. This is so that they can better assist us in our spiritual growth.
The core of this covenant is faith; if we have faith, we absolutely know our Father is with us. When we have that certain faith, then He will bestow His favor on us, He will assist us in our daily lives. But for this to happen we must have faith.
Accepting this covenant is serious business; remember what happened when the Jewish leaders broke their covenant.
Jesus said it would not be easy to follow his lead; he certainly had an intense mortal struggle, so will we if we chose to follow his guidance. “Think not that I have come to bring peace but rather a soul struggle”;[6] if we sincerely accept this covenant and uphold our part of the bargain we will certainly be guided and protected.
This covenant is between the individual and God. It is open to everyone; those who work on behalf of the Fifth Epochal Revelation especially should accept the covenant. This covenant needs to be accepted individually, it involves our individual relationship with our Father; it must not become a group activity, a ritual of any kind. While we may work for the Fifth Epochal Revelation as part of a team, our spiritual relationships and guidance are as individuals; also the teams will be similarly guided and protected as long as the covenant is in place.
All who sincerely accept and follow this covenant will be protected and guided as long as they remain faithful to the covenant; it will guide, protect, and grant us wisdom as needed. As long as we remain faithful to the covenant, this revelation of truth will be protected.
Accepting the new covenant means that The Urantia Book and its teachings become the modern torchbearer bringing truth to our planet. The covenant takes these truths to a higher level; it gives them increased power, protection, validity, and energy.
After the previous covenant had been broken the plan to make the children of Abraham the light-bearers of truth to the world had been shattered.[7] It is now time for students of the Fifth Epochal Revelation to become the light-bearers of truth to the world. We must affirm the covenant, become aware of its implications, and incorporate it into our daily life.
Our troubled planet is in dire need of present day light-bearers.
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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; Based on 1017.4-6 ↑
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1020.7 ↑
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381.1 and Bible: I Corinthians 3, 16 ↑
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“The Book of Joy – Lasting Happiness in a Changing World,” His Holiness the Dali Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu with Douglas Abrams, Avery, New York, 2016, p 93 ↑
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“Why divine immanence mattered for the Civil Rights struggle” by Vanessa Cook, ed by Sam Haselby, https://aeon.co/ideas/why-divine-immanence-mattered-for-the-civil-rights-struggle, retrieved 12/25/18 ↑
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1782.1 ↑
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1910.1 ↑