Here are some of the personal spiritual benefits of understanding God’s covenants:
1 First, they provide a clear view of how God deals with mankind, so as to preserve his own holiness, and to explain the basis of either judgement or salvation.
2 Secondly, they show that any relationship with God is entirely his initiative and doing.
3 Thirdly, they show God’s attributes of sovereignty and benevolence; his unchanging justice, mercy, power and faithfulness.
4 Fourthly, they show that God will certainly fulfil all his promises, and that our spiritual security is based on his solemn and unbreakable covenant undertakings.
5 Fifthly, they reveal and demonstrate the failure and Fall and incapability of man, and also the wonders of a Redeemer and grace.
6 Sixthly, they provide an insight into the cost of salvation, for the demands of the law show the scale of the righteousness Christ must offer, as well as the extent of his atonement for offences against that law.
7 Seventhly, they provide a key to the understanding of the whole Bible, delivering us from mistaken human elaborations such as dispensationalism.
8 Eighthly, they stir up our sense of obligation and indebtedness as believers, showing that we are embraced by God in a costly, unbreakable, everlasting covenant of grace.
‘This covenant [grace] is the only city of refuge for a distressed soul to fly to for sanctuary, when all the billows and waves of temptation run over him, or Satan doth furiously assault him. If we fly to this armoury, we can never want weapons to resist the devil, nor doubt of success against him’ – Benjamin Keach.