The Seven Covenants of Calvary

The seven covenants of Calvary wrought out in the sufferings of the Man Christ Jesus in seven sorrows at Calvary are prefigured in Israel’s national worship. God, having led primitive Israel out of Egypt, brought them to rest before Him at Mt. Sinai. They had lived many years under the idolatrous worship of the Egyptians who had ten primary deities and scores of lesser gods, one for each need. At Sinai God began to teach them that He, their one God, was sufficient for all their needs. They knew about Him through the God-ordained star constellations which were figures of the truth. They knew that the seven head sins of Satan, with their many lesser sins and hurts, were to be overcome in God’s Lamb Sacrifice. Abraham had prophesied in Genesis 22:18, "My son, God will provide Himself a Lamb for a burnt offering." etc. All Israel had waited through the long sojourn in Egypt for that One to come in whom would be bound up all their hope of a perfect and sevenfold redemption. At Sinai their almighty Jehovah began to make covenant promises that would deliver them from the hurts of sin. He called Moses into the Mount and ordered their form of theocratic worship in which He was to be their Head, to govern their state affairs through the Wilderness. In their order of worship He set memorials of Calvary’s seven-fold redemption to keep them constantly reminded of covenant promises.
These seven national memorials which were to be annually before them, were each composed of seven individual acts of worship, thus forming forty-nine forms of worship. In Lev. 25:8 God covenanted with His people that on the forty-ninth or seven sevens of Sabbaths, He would usher in the fiftieth or "Pentecost" of blessings. This fifty year Pentecost was a time of rejoicing, for all they had lost would then be fully restored.
Now let us examine these seven national memorials mentioned above. The first was in Jehovah’s seven compound names, each denoting one of the coming seven covenants of Calvary. The second was in their seven annual feasts. The third was seen in their seven pieces of holy furniture of the Tabernacle. The fourth was in their seven sprinklings of sacrificial blood. The fifth was seen in the individual seven acts of sacrifice, and the sixth was the seven ministrations of the priesthood. Then the seventh of the seven national memorials of Israel’s worship was the seven sufferings mentioned in Isa. 53:4-7. Space forbids naming each of the seven individual acts of worship incorporated in these seven national memorials, but we desire to mention the seven individual memorials of the compound names of Jehovah. They are Jehovah Jireh (Supplies), Jehovah Rapha (Heals), Jehovah Nissi (Banner of Victory), Jehovah Shalom (Peace), Jehovah Raah (Shepherd), Jehovah Tsidkenu (Righteousness), and Jehovah Shammah (Helper).
God’s ordained plan of sevenfold redemption, which was to be set in seven covenants with the believer, was first prefigured in Eden. There He slew the first sacrifice and the lamb slain at the beginning or foundation of the world or human race and its shed life blood became an atonement or covering for man’s sin and the skins or covering from the hurts of sin. The life blood of the animal substitutionary sacrifice could not redeem the sinner from his judgment but was only an atonement or covering. And his sin must be moved forward to Calvary where God’s Lamb, even Jesus Christ our Lord, must die to provide redemption grace for all sins and believing sinners. For if animal blood could have redeemed the sinner, there would have been no need of God’s Lamb being offered. But the sinners knew that the life blood of the innocent animal sacrifice was but a substitution for the life blood of the coming Messiah whose life blood was a substitution for their own life condemned by their sin. Thus, they looked forward by faith and received the seven benefits of the sevenfold covenants of Calvary, even as we now look back by faith and believe and receive these same benefits. The Psalmist David wrote to remind us in Ps. 103:2, "Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not al His benefits."
The individual sinner must show forth the earnest of his faith in God’s coming sevenfold redemption through the Messianic sacrifice and identify himself with it by his acts of memorials at the brazen alter. There, as he entered the court of the tabernacle, leading his lamb sacrifice, he must walk through the blood of former sacrifices sprinkled on the ground. It was a blood walk to remind him of the penalty for sin. At the altar, in the presence of the priests, he obeyed God’s commandments and laid his hands upon the head of the sacrifice. This not only identified him with his sacrifice, but was to him a figure of laying or committing his sin upon the life of the innocent sacrifice. Then he confessed faith in the promises and faithfulness of his almighty God. Then he must slay his own sacrifice, and the priests, catching the warm life blood, sprinkled it over the four brass horns of the brazen altar. If one of the leaders of Israel sinned they must bring a larger sacrifice, a bullock, and go through the same acts of confession. Then as he slashed the throat of the sacrifice the priests quickly lifted the animal and laid it back down into the burning flame of the altar and tied the four legs to the four horns of the altar.
This last act was what the heavenly Father had to do, as Jesus Christ our sacrifice, with His bleeding, suffering back laid in the seven sufferings of the cross, has His hands and feet fastened to the four nails or horns of the brazen altar of the cross. The Psalmist saw this scene and wrote in the Psalms 118:27, "Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar." The priests of Israel laid the slain lamb each morning and evening in the burning flame of the altar as their daily sacrifice. It was a memorial for their faith to reach forward to Calvary and claim their deliverance from the hurts of sin. "The chastisement of their peace was upon Him." (Is. 53:5). Today we look back to Calvary and see the chastisements of our peace upon Him, for they are upon Him or upon us, depending on where our faith reckons them to be. Can you, suffering one, see your daily chastisements being suffered by your Lord at Calvary? If you can, you go free; if not you bear them for your sin of unbelief. Can you, sick or afflicted Christian, see your individual sickness suffered by Him back at Calvary? Can you believe, "Himself took your infirmities and bare your sickness"? (Matt. 8:11). It is impossible for two bodies many mile apart with centuries between to bear the same sickness or affliction. When you can see your individual suffering in Him at Calvary your lying symptoms will pass away.
Now let us examine these seven covenants of Calvary that our Lord completed in His seven sufferings of the cross, where He fused life and death together to produce a new power: resurrection life. There are many scriptures for these seven covenants: Justification, Sanctification, Divine Healing for soul and body, Divine Health for soul and body, Divine Peace - Rest, Resurrection Life and the Glory of God. Until one finds rest in the first he never finds rest in the others. You must believe the work of redemption was finished at Calvary. Justification is for the believer’s spirit, which was recreated in regeneration at our confession of faith in Christ’s work at Calvary. His Spirit entered to seal us until the day of our translation (Eph. 4:30). It is eternal and secures by His covenant Word and work, an eternal salvation and standing as God’s child. The last six covenants are for the believers soul life and are daily benefits.