Be Mindful of His Covenant

“Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually.  Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; O ye seed of Israel his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones.  He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth.  Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations; even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac; and hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.  Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance; when ye were but few, even a few, and strangers in it.  And when they went from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people; He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.”  1 Chronicles 16:11-22

God covenanted with Abraham, and that covenant was an everlasting covenant that extended to Isaac and Jacob and their descendants.  He gave them the land of Canaan.  He led them, He protected them, He went with them in their journeyings and would let no one do them any harm.  He was to them a Good Shepherd.

Not only that, He also promised them that they would be the head and not the tail, that they would possess the gates of their enemies, that they would be fruitful, and would multiply, and would be as the stars of heaven and as the sand of the seashore in number.  Many great and wonderful promises!

In our text, God tells them to remember that covenant.  They were to be always mindful of it, make mention of it often and recount it to their children, and to their children’s children, to the end that they would never forget!  Because if they were ever to forget that covenant — if they were ever to forget that they are the people of God, His chosen ones — it would surely be a stumbling block to them.

But they forgot!  Not only that, over time they even applied that wonderful covenant, and all of those wonderful promises, to another people who are not the seed of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob at all, but are rather the seed of Esau.  And it has indeed become a stumbling block to them — to us — for we are that people, the people of the covenant, the people of the Book.  

History tells us that our people — the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Germanic, Scandinavian and kindred people of the world today — descend from the Scythians, who in turn descend from the Khumri, who were actually the Israelites of the Assyrian captivity.

After their captivity, they made their way through the Caucasus mountains by way of the Dariel Gorge and on to Arsareth, as recorded in 2 Esdras 13:40-45

“Those are the ten tribes [of Israel] , which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the king, whom Salmanasar the king of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so came they into another land.  But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a further country, where never mankind dwelt, that they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land.  And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow places of the river.  For the most High then shewed signs for them, and held still the flood, till they were passed over.  For through that country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year and a half: and the same region is called Arsareth.”  2 Esdras 13:40-45

Herodotus confirms this.  He writes of this very same migration in chapter twelve of his fourth book, and refers to these same Israelites as Scythians and Cimmerians.

So you see, we are that people — the people of the covenant — and we must never forget it.  We are to be always mindful of it and to make mention of it often, because when we own this beautiful truth it evokes a sense of kinship and affinity within us, a glorious sense of belonging and brotherhood, that gives us direction, strength and courage, all of which we are going to need greatly in the days ahead.

People of God, let us no longer relegate our position or benefits to another people!  Let us no longer shrink back or be ashamed of God’s blessing upon us, or His faithfulness to us!  We are exhorted to be strong and of a good courage.

Let us then seek the Lord and His strength.  Let us seek His face continually.  Let us remember His marvelous works and be always mindful of the covenant that He has made with us.  We are His people, the apple of His eye — a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people unto the Lord our God!  Let us act like it!