This is the full copy of the article for today’s message. The streaming service limits the amount of text and I often have to truncate the text.

 

“Hesed Agapë – The Covenant Healing”

Hesed Agapë combines the Hebrew concept of Hesed (covenant-bound, faithful, loyal, and steadfast love) with the Greek concept of Agape (unconditional, self-sacrificing love) to describe a comprehensive, enduring, and grace-filled love that is both faithful in its commitment and boundless in its scope.

One of the major reasons that most Christians live without their healing is that they are unaware of what they have in their covenant, or ever more sadly they don’t even know they have a covenant, or what the word covenant means.

For many who have heard the word it is just another one of those words that they have heard used in church, but no one has ever talked about what it means, or what one is.

People who work in the finance industry may have come across the term in relation to loans that they manage. But for the most part it’s one of those ‘ancient’ words that has lost its relevance and its meaning.

I have taught people about covenants for more than 30 years and each time I do people’s lives have changed. Teaching Roman Catholics about the Blood Covenant has expanded their relationship and understanding of just what their Eucharist is really all about. For others it affects the way they regard their bible; coming to a realisation that it is not just a story, or a history book. Instead, it is a record of all of the covenants that God has made with humanity that eventually pathed the way for the incarnation of Christ, to the establishing of the New and better covenant that Jesus Christ, as both human and God, has made for all eternity.

words like Remember, Hope, Faith, Love, are all covenant words. When we read that “God remembered his covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob.” When he asks us to “Put him in remembrance” he is asking us to recall the knowledge of our covenant and show that wwe have Faith in the promises he has made..

“I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.” Isaiah 42:25-26 KJV

We are doing two things at the same time; reminding ourselves that he is God, and that we know the promises that he has made. But it doesn’t end there. Because we are putting pressure on the surety that we have, made in God’s own blood, by the pouring out of his own blood, that he is not only able to do what he has promised, but that he WILL do as he has promised.

Now, that statement is contained under the Old Covenant. The blood of Christ has done so much more than that. His blood hasn’t just atoned, or covered us for the issues in our lives that blocked fellowship with God, which is what the blood of the sacrifices that had to be offered year by year by the High priest going into the holy of holies in the temple. Instead Jesus has offered, as humanities final High Priest, his own blood, which is eternal blood once and for all time.

His blood is not atoning blood, but it is remitting blood, it has completely obliterated any evidence that there was ever anything preventing access to God’s throne of Grace. There is no need, ever, for any further sacrifices to be made for atonement. This final sacrifice is the reason why we are commanded to:

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 NIV

Confidence, in the King James it says “Boldly”, that doesn’t mean to come arrogantly, or brashly. It means that we actually belong there. That the access we have is ours by a right established through the blood of Jesus, to make us welcome. So, if we sin…

Hold on just a moment. Because there are some truly whacky ideas that have been promoted from pulpits, for centuries, about that word Sin. The word has been hijacked by religious folks and the enemy has held people in bondage to the point that they have been robbed throughout their whole lives, and is now used by people who wish to maintain their positions within their communities.

The word translated Sin, means to miss the mark. If you are taking part in archery, you have your bow, an arrow, and you have a target. Your goal is to hit the centre of the target, or the bullseye. If you don’t hit the bullseye, or if you don’t hit the target at all, that is a case of “Missing the Mark.”

But, it is highly unlikely that you will only have one arrow in your quiver. You get to try again. In fact once your quiver is empty, you will go and retrieve all the arrows you’ve shot, refill your quiver and continue to practice until you make the mark, consistently, no matter how you’re feeling.Then you might try another sport and go through the learning process all over again, with a different target. 

You don’t give up just because you aren’t an expert, you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep on going. 

That is precisely why we have that right of access to the throne of Grace. Before you allow your missing the mark, in the race set before you (as St Paul describes) to fester and be used by Satan to drag you down, that’s your time of need. 

“But, what if I keep on committing the same sin over and over again?” Good question. This is one of the things that most people are not taught. God’s Grace is eternal, it knows no bounds. That is how important an understanding of 

Hesed Agapë really is. The promise is “I will NEVER leave you, nor abandon you, even to the end of time.” Hebrews 13:5 and Deuteronomy 31:6. It is a promise carried over from the Old to the New Covenant. So the truth is that he was there with you. He already knows the mark you missed and how t help you deal with the outcome.

So, what has this got to do with Healing? Everything! One of the biggest reasons for Christians, even if they know they have a covenant, they have been led to believe, through extremely poor teaching, that they don’t deserve to be healed, because of those instances where they have “Missed the mark”. 

This is the same situation that Jesus found the Children of Israel to be in when the religious leaders of the time rebuked him for healing on the Sabbath, or for forgiving sins. They were enjoying the power they had created over the people and had set up traditions and rules of their own so that they could continue to enjoy getting fat and rich.

@@@@@Warning, Sacred Cow about to be tipped over:@@@@@

People have this image of Jesus as a meek (weak in their minds) and mild mannered, never raising his voice. Always gentle and quiet. Uh, Nuh! He railed against the sadducees and the Pharisees and didn’t mince he words as he shouted at them:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.  So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Matthew 23:27-28 ESV 

for their desecration of the promises of God through Abraham, Moses and on through the Major and minor prophets.Actually, read the whole of that chapter and just think about what he is saying, and then see what it would sound like sweetly and gently.

People also have this fake Jesus who they forget spent a whole day in the temple, watching the money-changers as they robbed and swindled the people coming into the temple to make offerings. He is described as spending his time making a whip and then using it on those swindlers and overturning their tables for their desecration.

Healing is a central part of the Salvation, the Sozo, Soteria, as a result of the New Covenant. Healing is a demonstration of the Hesed Agapë, the Loving Kindness, Tender Mercies, the Unconditional Love, the Grace of God. Not earned, not withheld, available to all who will come and take and receive it, simply because it is freely given.

Yes, Healing is a part of the Covenant. But you have to know that it’s yours, and you have to develop the Faith required to receive and take it as it is freely given by the Hand of the Father.