Israel was a nation that lived by and relied on
their covenant with God. Those who knew their
God and the integrity of their covenant with Him
were mighty and did exploits in His Name.

David was a prime example. He credited his
covenant with God as the power behind his
ability to slay the lion, the bear and the giant. In
1 Samuel 17:26-37, we find David assuring King
Saul that he was well able to slay Goliath. “Who
is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should
defy the armies of the living God?… The Lord
that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and
out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out
of the hand of this Philistine” (verses 26, 37).

Circumcision was the sign of the covenant. By
calling Goliath uncircumcised, David was making
this very pointed statement: He may be a giant;
he may be strong; but he has no covenant with
God, and that’s why I can kill him. Of course,
you know the rest of the story. David bravely
slew Goliath in the Name of the Lord—because
of his covenant.

The book of Hebrews promises that we have
an even better covenant than David had. Our
covenant has better promises. But to know exactly
how much better they are, we must understand
what the promises of the old covenant were.

The covenant David stood on was made long
before he ever faced the giant. God established it
with a man called Abram. He promised to make
Abram the father of many nations. He promised
to give him a great deal of land as an inheritance
so his descendents could live peacefully on it.
And in Deuteronomy 28, you will find more very
specific promises that God made to Abram’s
descendents—promises of health, well-being,
blessing and victory.

These were very awesome promises. It was
hard for Abram to believe God actually wanted to
do these things for him. In Genesis 15, we read
how God made a blood agreement with Abram in
order to convince Abram once and for all that He
meant what He said. Abram asked, “How shall I
know that I will inherit this land?” The Lord
answered by telling him to prepare for a blood
covenant. He said, “Take me an heifer of three
years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a
ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a
young pigeon. And he took unto him all these,
and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece
one against another: but the birds divided he not”
(Genesis 15:9-10).

Kenneth Copeland Ministries