Do you believe the coronavirus pandemic will change life as we have known it? Do you sense the coming decade will be turbulent?
Drilling deeper, have you been living by covenant or by the prosperity of the world’s greatest economy? Have you been relying on the Lord as your Healer or have you placed your trust in America’s excellent healthcare system? Is the Lord your Protector or do you rely on the government to protect you?
If you are like me, we have been living more by the greatness of America than by faith in our covenant-making, covenant-keeping God. I think we can all learn to live in greater dependency upon the Lord and His covenant promises.
Hold Fast to the Covenant
The Lord has used this pandemic to prepare the church for greater challenges to come. As the coronavirus weakens, now is the time to learn how to live by God’s covenant promises. We need to be equipped now to live by covenant before the next crisis hits.
Most likely, things will go back to normal in the months and years ahead. But like many are suggesting, it will be a new normal. Only time will tell what this new normal might look like. Whatever the future holds, the Lord is using this pandemic to prepare His people for greater trials to come.
One way the Lord is using the coronavirus is to show how fragile life is. Three months ago, the American economy was the strongest it had ever been. Fast forward 90 days and unemployment is at Great Depression levels.
A similar shift has taken place with our healthcare. Three months ago, we could depend upon the American healthcare system to solve many health issues. Twelve weeks later, we need God’s divine protection to stay safe and healthy from an incurable virus. At this time, God Himself is our only immunity from Covid-19.
This is why I have been writing about covenant for close to two months. Believers must learn now to hold fast to their covenant relationship with the Lord as the world around us is increasingly shaken.
This leads to the third step of covenant making—the exchange of robes, belts, and weapons. As you will see shortly, this step gives us confidence that the Lord will be our ever-present help as we navigate the turbulent days ahead.
The Exchange of Robes, Belts, and Weapons
In the covenant ceremony, after each representative was selected and the animal was sacrificed, the two delegates often exchanged robes, belts, weapons, or some other token to symbolize their covenant. Specifically, they wanted to remember their agreement to no longer live independently but as one. All they were and possessed belonged to the other.
We see this step in Jonathan and David’s covenant. When Jonathan made a covenant with David, he “stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, including his sword and his bow and his belt” (1 Sam. 18:4).
When Jonathan gave David his robe, belt, and weapons, it illustrated beautifully his loyal friendship to David. It depicted his desire to protect David with his life.
As King Saul’s oldest son, Jonathan was the natural heir to the throne. Even so, Jonathan knew David would be king of Israel one day. Perhaps he knew of Samuel’s prophecy and realized his need for protection when David was crowned king. Since he was from Saul’s lineage—and Saul had become David’s enemy—this covenant was essential for his future protection and security.
When Jonathan gave David his robe, belt, and weapons, he surrendered his individual rights to David. This included his future kingship and authority. He laid his royal destiny down to help David fulfill God’s purpose for Israel.
A couple chapters later, we see this covenant in action. Jonathan placed his friendship with David above his relationship with his father. When Saul threatened David, Jonathan said to his covenant friend, “If it please my father to do you harm, may the LORD do so to Jonathan and more also, if I do not make it known to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. And may the LORD be with you as He has been with my father” (1 Sam. 20:13).
This covenant was not just one way. When David became king, he was loyal to Jonathan’s family. In 2 Samuel 9, we see how David treated Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth. David searched for any surviving members of Jonathan’s family so he could bless them. When he found Mephibosheth, David restored his rightful inheritance and allowed him to eat at the king’s table. David did this because of his covenant relationship with Jonathan.
Who Can Stand Against Us?
How does the exchange of robes, belts, and weapons apply to us? The exchange of robes symbolizes putting on each other and becoming one.
As the Son of God, Jesus took off His glorious robe of divinity and clothed Himself in the humble robe of sinful humanity (Phil. 2:5-7). He was clothed with our filthy garments of flesh, taking upon Himself all of our sins, liabilities, and weaknesses. On the cross, He crucified the sins of our flesh once and for all. Not only that, but Christ clothes us with His royal robe of righteousness. He imputes to us His righteous nature, giving us a legal position of righteousness.
In addition, Christ gives us His belt—the part of the armor holding the weapons in place. The belt symbolizes Christ giving us His strength, supplying us with His grace in exchange for our weaknesses. Jesus took the form of a humble servant so He could represent us in the New Covenant. Jesus is our sympathetic High Priest who has been tested like us yet is without sin.
Since Christ overcame by His resurrection, His name is above every name. At His name, everyone will bow, both in heaven and on earth. As heirs of the New Covenant, we have access to the strong name of Jesus Christ. We can call on His name for strength, protection, and deliverance. We can pray in His name and God will answer our prayers. When we are desperate for God and feel like we can’t make it, we have access to God’s power in the name of Jesus Christ. This gives us the ability to overcome and to live victoriously.
Not only do we have Christ’s robe and belt. We also have access to His weapons. In ancient covenant-making, the exchange of weapons symbolized taking on each other’s enemies. As our New Covenant representative, Christ has defeated every enemy, including sin, sickness, the devil, demons, and death.
Because we are in covenant with Jesus the Overcomer, He will help us defeat our enemies. Our enemies are now His enemies. This includes every external enemy who attacks us or our family and every internal enemy of our souls. Christ the valiant Warrior is our defense. He will come to our aid with His vast array of weapons to help us defeat our adversaries.
Since we have Christ’s robe, belt, and weapons, we can be confident that God will be our ever-present help in times of need. Like Paul said, “If God is for us, who is against us?” (Rom. 8:31). Nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ.
Clothed with Christ’s royal robe of righteousness, His belt of truth fastened around us, and armed with His spiritual weapons of war, we can “overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37).
In these challenging times, more than ever before, we need to draw from Christ’s robe, belt, and weapons so we can overcome every enemy arrayed against us.
