Covenantkeepers - Part 4
“Neither were they stedfast in his covenant”
By Walter Giddings
July 21, 2024
Featured Text: Psalm 78:32-39
(Psalm 78:10-11). How well has Israel, in History, performed as Covenantkeepers?
c 10 They kept not the covenant of
God, and refused to walk in his law;
p 11 And forgat his works, and his
wonders that he had shewed them.
“They kept not the covenant of God”!! Did we hear what we read? Does that sound good?!! The Reading of The Word of God, in unison, or responsively, is always a good exercise in Unity. There was nothing wrong with our reading. It is the Words. The Words are bad news in Israel and to Israel! (v.v. 32-39).
c 32 For all this they sinned still, and
believed not for his wondrous works.
p 33 Therefore their days did he con-
sume in [futility], and their years in
[sudden terror].
c 34 When he slew them, then they
sought him: and they returned and
enquired early after God.
p 35 And they remembered that God
was their rock, and the high God
their redeemer.
c 36 Nevertheless they did flatter him
with their mouth, and they lied unto
him with their tongues.
p 37 For their heart was not [steadfast]
with him, neither were they [faithful]
in his covenant.
c 38 But he, being full of compassion,
forgave their iniquity, and destroyed
them not: yea, many a time turned
he his anger away, and did not stir up
all his wrath.
p 39 For he remembered that they were
but flesh; a wind that passeth away,
and cometh not again.
Psalm chapter seventy-eight.
(Verse 37) “Neither were they stedfast [or faithful] in his covenant.” What a rotten history Israel has!! Which of the Parties to “the everlasting covenant” is the ultimate covenantkeeper?
(Psalm 105:6-10).
c 6 O ye seed of Abraham his servant,
ye children of Jacob his chosen.
p 7 He is the LORD our God: his judg-
ments are in all the earth.
c 8 He hath remembered his covenant
forever, the word which he command-
ed to a thousand generations.
p 9 Which covenant he made with
Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac;
c 10 And confirmed the same unto Ja-
cob for a law, and to Israel for an
everlasting covenant.
Psalm chapter one hundred five.
“For an everlasting covenant.” Can we see that the only Party to “the everlasting covenant” with the Perfect Record of covenantkeeping is The Great I Am God of Israel, the God of The Bible? What are we missing?
(Psalm 107:8). Can we hear in the voice of the Psalmist the deep sorrow and regret as he sings in Verse 8?
8 Oh that men would praise the
LORD for his goodness, and for
his wonderful works to the sons of
Adam.
Verse 15: same words!
Verse 21: same words!
Verse 31: same words! This is the repeating chorus of the 107th Psalm.
This Psalm contains repeating cycles of apostasy and revival! Each time God chastises his children to get them to return to him. And when they do return to Him, each time he shows them tender mercies and loving kindnesses, as a faithful Father! And all the while, as he punishes the rebels, he never fails as The Good Shepherd to tend the flock that remains close to Him! (vv. 41-43). The 107th Psalm ends on these 3 verses:
c 41 Yet setteth he the poor on high,
[far] from affliction, and maketh him
families like a flock.
p 42 The righteous shall see it, and re-
joice: and all iniquity shall stop her
mouth.
c 43 Whoso is wise and will observe
these things, even they shall under-
stand the lovingkindness of the LORD.
Psalm chapter one hundred seven.
(Verse 41) “And maketh him families like a flock” Has Jesus, the Good Shepherd, ever failed to tend His own? Do we understand the lovingkindness of the LORD?
Are we the Party that has the sorry record for covenantkeeping?!
This begs the question: how long did American Israel keep on covenantkeeping?
Immediately following Covenantkeepers – Part 1 last April, Pastor Don pointed out in our history a difference of opinion between The Pilgrims and The Puritans. The Puritans insisted on remaining members of the national church of England, while re- joicing they had escaped the corruption. The Pilgrims were those horrifying Separatists, rebels defying the monarchic authority of the Davidic line of kings!
God appeared to raise up another kind of Puritan. The Rev. Thomas Hooker, a graduate of Cambridge University (as so many Puritan Pastors were), as Pastor in Essex, England, ...
“... had become one of England’s most eloquent supporters of Scriptural Christianity. Unfortunately he was so eloquent that he attracted the attention of Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Learning that Laud was going to arrest him, Rev. Hooker escaped to Holland in 1630. Here he lived for three years until he felt that the Lord was calling him to go to New England.” Foster & Swanson. The American Covenant. The Untold Story. Foundation for Christian Self Government. 1981. The Mayflower Institute. 1983.
When the Rev. Thomas Hooker fled to Holland, with what Scripture was the Pastor in obedience?
(Matthew 10:22-23). How often does “the organized church” persecute the little remnant churches? Does counterfeit always persecute the genuine?
p 22 And ye shall be hated of all men
for my name’s sake: but he that en-
dureth to the end shall be saved.
c 23 But when they persecute you in
this city, flee ye into another: for
verily I say unto you, Ye shall not
have gone over the cities of Israel,
till the Son of man be come.
Matthew chapter ten.
“Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.” Have the States of America become city-states?
The Rev. Thomas Hooker arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1633. He became Pastor of the church body at Newtown, now known as Cambridge, Massachusetts. He soon joined issue with Governor John Winthrop and the Boston Puri-tans over their attempts to set up aristocratic government from the top down, as a mirror to church national government in England. Knowing from personal experience, namely persecution intended to murder his living, and destroy his Liberty of Conscience [not his conscience, but his Liberty of Conscience] as aristocratic governments always do, Hooker wrote the following, 1638, to Winthrop:
“I must confess, I ever looked at it, as a way which leads directly to tyranny, and so to confusion, and most plainly profess, if it was in my liberty, I should choose neither to live, nor leave my posterity, under such a government.” Peter Marshall & David Manuel. The Light and the Glory. Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1977, page 207. quoting from Perry Miller. Errand Into The Wilderness. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1956.
Marshall and Manuel, pages 205-206, described the issue between Winthrop and Hooker in this manner: on the one hand, quoting Winthrop,
“.. you cannot trust most men to have the necessary wisdom to elect governors and assistants and magistrates. You’ll have them put-ting their cronies in, for favors, or putting in golden-tongued charmers who will promise the world and all, and deliver nothing... you [will] wind up with more bad apples in your barrel than you ever dreamed of. Government is best off in the hands of a few men that are totally dedicated to the work at hand ---God’s work. ... so long as he is totally surrendered to God and really means to serve his fellow man ... and has the brains and pluck to do the job.”
Do we have today the inevitable results of trusting most men to have the necessary wisdom to be electors? Do we have more bad apples in the barrel than we ever dreamed of? Do we even have rinos, republicans in name only?! Did our Forefathers throw Scripture out[!] by trusting men to be wise voters? Quick Survey, show of hands, how many agree with this side of the Issue? How many abstain?
The Percentage (%) is: _____
Can one or two among us offer reasoned opposition? Most of you attending assembly today had no idea your philosophy on civil government, based on The Scriptures, would be entertained. How are we doing on Pop Quiz? Any takers?
If we chose to, how could we present an effective other side of the issue? Here is the rest of the issue framed by Marshall and Manuel: on the other hand, Hooker,
“It is not a question of trusting the voters’ judgment; it is a question of trusting The Holy Spirit to work through them. ... [Was] one of the main purposes of The Reformation to restore to believers the responsibility for their own spiritual government? ... I know there is a risk. Yet it is the risk of the alternative that worries me even more.” Marshall and Manuel. The Light and the Glory. pp. 205-206.
The Congregation at Newtown (now Cambridge, Massachusetts) through Pastor Hooker requested permission to leave the Massachusetts Bay Colony and settle in the Connecticut River Valley.
“Winthrop was loath to let him go... Hooker was a peacemaker. He would take two men with semingly irreconcilable differences and would gently remind them what --- and Who --- was more important. To Winthrop, this was ... more precious than a year’s supply of food, or a shipload of new farming equipment.
“And yet Hooker was not just independently leaving. He was asking the Governor’s per-mission ... soon Winthrop came to see that if it were God’s will .. the two settlements could well prove to be mutually supportive. And this is, in fact, what happened. Ibid., pp. 206-207.
Hooker was both Pastor and Preacher as under shepherd to the Flock. What Scriptures supported Hooker’s stand? Will there be any Elections in the Kingdom of God?
(Deuteronomy 1:13). Hooker preached using this for his text:
13 Take you wise men and under-
standing, and known among your
tribes, and I will make them rulers
over you.
Deuteronomy chapter one.
Would choosing “wise men and understanding, and known among your tribes,” be good training for The Kingdom? Was this The System which was in place when God advised Samuel, the last judge in Israel, to let the People go to Judgment, instituting The Monarchy into The Commonwealth of Israel? And did Israel receive all the judgments Samuel prophesied would happen in having a king like all the Nations? Who says our Forefathers were not serious students of The Scriptures? Hooker taught the Puritans what the Pilgrims practiced: God’s allowance permits his People, Holy Spirit directed, to choose “able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness,” to fill positions of civil government. [Exodus 18:21] Today, are we getting the Administration we deserve? “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” [Psalm 11:3] What did our covenantkeeping forefathers do? Did they take up their cross, and after much self examination become Separatists and return to “the everlasting covenant”?
(Exodus 34:27-28). Where did Hooker stand on covenantkeeping?
c 27 And the LORD said unto Moses,
write thou these words: for after the
tenor of these words I have made a
covenant with thee and with Israel.
p 28 And he was there with the LORD
forty days and forty nights; he did
neither eat bread nor drink water.
And he wrote upon the tables the
words of the covenant, the ten
commandments.
Exodus chapter thirty-four.
“The words of the covenant, the ten commandments.” Is the validity of the new covenant based squarely upon the validity of the old covenant? Are the words of the covenant, the ten commandments, written upon our hearts because “the everlasting covenant” is “everlasting”?
Serious students of The Scriptures have hidden in their hearts the manifestation of two prime directions in The Ten Commandments: vertical and horizontal. These 2 Prime directions show to which 2 Relationships any one of the Commandments apply: our vertical relationship to our Heavenly Father, and our horizontal relationship, one with another, in Christ’s Body. Where did Hooker stand on covenantkeeping? In Hooker’s sermon, “The Sum of Church Discipline”, he expressed his “conviction that it was impossible to overemphasize the horizontal aspect of the covenant:”
“Mutual covenanting and confederating of the saints in the fellowship of the faith according to the order of the Gospel, is that which gives constitution and being to a visible church ... " Marshall & Manuel. The Light and the Glory, pp. 207-208.
Quick Review: What must happen first before “mutual covenanting and confederating of the saints in the fellowship of the faith according to the order of the Gospel” can occur? In the History of The Pilgrims and Puritans what occurred to make possible “mutual covenanting and confederating of the saints …”?
Do we need a hint?! Do our Associations show us what we are becoming?
Do we need a 2nd hint? What was the contention between the Pilgrims and the Puritans of which Pastor Don made note last Assembly in April? Did Hooker preach this Sermon to a body of believers who had already [blanked] themselves into Connecticut? [Fill in the blank]
Do The Scriptures counsel us: “Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” [Revelation 18:4]
“It is free for any man to offer to join with another who is fit for fellowship, or to refuse … by mutual reference and dependence they are joined each to the other … “In all combinations there is and will be some common end … If each man may do what is good in his own eyes, proceed according to his own pleasure, so that none may cross him or control him by any power, there must of necessity follow the distraction and desolation of the whole, when each man hath liberty to follow his own imagination and humorous devices, and seek his particular, but oppose one another and all prejudice the public good…
[Therefore] mutual subjection is, as it were, the sinews of society, by which it is sustained and supported.” Marshall & Manuel. The Light and the Glory. page 207-208. Quoting from Clinton Rossiter. “Thomas Hooker” The New England Quarterly Vol 25. pp. 479-481.
“Mutual subjection is ... the sinews of society, by which it is sustained and supported.” Could we ourselves have said this any better? In these words, do we see the connection between “The Sum of Church Discipline” and civil government? Did Pastor Hooker point out, “the sinews of society [are] sustained and supported” by the mutual subjection of congregational fellowship according to the order of The Gospel? What must occur first(!) before we can have the mutual subjection of congregational fellowship according to the order of The Gospel ? If we fail to come out of Mystery Babylon, will we become partakers of her sins, and receive of her plagues?! What is the word that describes “Come out of her”? Do our associations show us what we are becoming? Did Pharaoh withstand the Hebrew children, leaving Egypt, 10 times? Does Israel have The Will to stand alone, and not be reckoned with the other nations? The word is “separate”. Are we willing to be “Separatists”? Separatists according to the order of The Gospel?
Whatever became of The Pilgrims and The Puritans? Marshall & Foster in The Light and the Glory admitted the answer to that question eluded them for a time! Bradford in his History of the Plymouth Settlement shows us the Answer! The Hebrew Children in History have been the most populous migrators, since the Fall of Adam! The only possible exception is the End Time Invasion of American Israel in the 20th and 21st Centuries! [And that was only made possible by the sacrifice of the born and unborn to Baal and Molech !!!] Bradford recording the events of 1644 [Edward Winslow chosen governor], made note of something Israel does best: migration!
“Many having left here, owing to the district being so limited and barren, and their finding better accommodation elsewhere, ---and several others looking for opportunity to go, the church began seriously to consider whether it were not better to remove jointly to some other place, than to be thus weakened, and, as it were, insensibly dissolved.
Was The Pilgrim Congregation in danger of forgetting who they are and forgetting the pattern of Wilderness Israel? Did the departure of some of the next generation constitute covenantbreaking, and breaching “the unity of the brethren”? This is in sharp contrast to the departure of The Pilgrims from Holland to England to make the voyage to New England! Each member of the voyage was appointed to go and those that remained were appointed to remain. Pastor Robinson for several reasons was appointed to remain with the greater number, and Elder William Brewster they appointed as head of their Congregation on Pilgrimage. Elder Brewster had passed away peacefully April 18th, 1643, the year before. (Exodus 40:17). What was the pattern of Wilderness Israel?
17 And it came to pass in the first
month in the second year, on the first
day of the month, that the tabernacle
was reared up.
Who among us recalls where “the tabernacle was reared up”? (Look at Verse 38).
38 For the cloud of the LORD was
upon the tabernacle by day, and fire
was on it by night, in the sight of all
the house of Israel, throughout all
their journeys.
Exodus chapter forty.
“In the sight of all the house of Israel.” Now do we recall where “the tabernacle was reared up”? What was the 1st House reared up by The Pilgrims at Plymouth Settlement? “.. and on the 25th day [December] they began to erect the 1st house for common use, to receive them and their goods.” Bradford’s History page 74. The common house served as the center of their community, the meetinghouse for the Lord’s Day. It was “in the sight of all” New Israel! Is there a Proverb too true for “The Israel of God” [Galatians 6:16]: Out of sight; out of mind?! Bradford noted: “Much consultation took place, and opinions varied.”
“Some were for staying together here, arguing that people could live here if only they were content, and that it was not so much for necessity that they removed, as for enriching themselves. Others were resolute upon removal, and signified that here they could not stay, and that if the church did not remove it they must. This swayed many to agree to removal, rather than there should be a total dissolution, ...” Bradford’s History page 326.
The agreement for removal had provisos: room convenient for the whole body, and room for those to join them for their better strength and subsistence.
“With these provisos the majority consented to removal to a place called Nauset.” Ibid.
But Nauset was 50 miles away. It was on the outskirts of the country, remote from all society and could not support the whole body, much less room for growth. This made them change their resolution!
“… but such as were resolved upon removal took advantage of the agreement made, and went on notwithstanding; nor could the rest hinder them since they had already made some beginning. Thus was this poor church left like an ancient mother, grown old, and forsaken of her children … Her ancient members being most of them worn away by death, and those of later times being, like children, transferred to other families, she, like a widow, was left only to trust in God. Thus she who had made many rich, herself became poor.” Ibid., page 327.
We speak of the Covenantbreakers because their existence illustrates half the Cycle of Apostasy and Repentance. Can Repentance occur minus a Return to “the everlasting Covenant”? When we abandon the Meetinghouse, do we, by definition, become covenantbreakers? Is Assembly required? (Hebrews 10:24-25). Why was the Commonwealth of Israel calling the “congregation of Israel”? [Exodus 12:3, and 22 other verses] Should the sheep flock as close as possible to The Good Shepherd?
p 24 And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and good works,
c 25 Not forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together, as the manner of
some is; but exhorting one another:
and so much the more, as ye see the
day approaching.
Hebrews chapter ten.
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.” If we forsake assembly, how can we be covenantkeepers?! Did the New England church-towns call themselves New Israel? Separatists: your assembly here today is a sacrifice well-pleasing to The Head of the Body, Jesus Christ!
Bibliography
Covenantkeepers - Part 4
Psalm 78:32-39
“neither were they stedfast in his covenant”
Psalm 78:10-11. “They kept not the covenant”
Psalm 78:32-39. “But he ... forgave their iniquity.”
Psalm 105:6-10. Perfect record of covenantkeeping.
Psalm 107:8,15,21,31. “his wonderful works to the sons of Adam.”
Psalm 107:41-43. “… and maketh him families like a flock.”
England Persecuted Thomas Hooker. Foster & Swanson. The American Covenant.
Matthew 10:22-23. “when they persecute you ... “
“I should choose neither to live, nor leave my posterity, under such a government.” Marshall & Manuel. The Light and the Glory. 1977, page 207, quoting from Miller. Errand Into the Wilderness. 1956.
“You cannot trust most men to have the necessary wisdom to elect ...” (Winthrop).
“It is not a question of trusting the voters’ judgment;” (Hooker). pp. 205-206.
Deuteronomy 1:13. “Take you wise men and understanding, and known among your tribes ...”
[Exodus 18:21] choose “able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness …”
[Psalm 11:3] “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
Exodus 34:27-28. “the words of the covenant, the ten commandments”
The Light and the Glory. pp. 207-208. “according to the order of the Gospel”
[Revelation 18:4] “Come out of her my people”
Ibid. quoting from Clinton Rossiter. “Thomas Hooker” The New England Quarterly. Vol. 25 pp. 479-481. “the sinews of society”
Bradford’s History. migration
Exodus 40:17,38. “tabernacle … was reared up … in the sight of all … Israel”
Bradford’s History p. 326. Much consultation. “Majority consented to removal.”
Hebrews 10:24-25. “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together”
