TomNicholas.org

INTRODUCTION — Covenant: God’s Most Missional Act

Anthropological missiology begins with a simple but profound truth:

God meets people where they actually are—not where we imagine they should be.

In Article One, we saw God communicating with humanity in Genesis—walking with Adam and Eve, reasoning with Cain, speaking through the Flood and its sign, directing sacrifice, guiding the patriarchs, and shaping culture after Babel.

But there is one place in Scripture where God’s anthropological missiology becomes unmistakably clear and breathtakingly powerful:

Covenant.

To modern ears, covenant may sound abstract or religious.

But in the ancient world, covenant was the most binding, intimate, identity-shaping relational structure known to humanity.

Covenant created:

a new bond a new identity a new future a new set of mutual obligations a new relational reality

So when God chose to reveal His faithfulness, holiness, love, and mission, He chose this one form—the form people already understood most deeply.

He did not choose it because He needed human structures.

He chose it because humans needed a structure that could carry the weight of divine revelation.

This article explores how covenant functions as God’s missiological masterpiece—

a divine message spoken inside a human cultural form so that the truth could be grasped, embodied, and passed down for generations.

1. Covenant Was the Ancient World’s Deepest Relational Reality

Long before Israel existed, covenants held the ancient world together.

They governed:

peace and war land and inheritance tribal bonds marriages and adoptions kingship and loyalty national alliances

A covenant was not “just a promise.”

A covenant created a new relational reality—one so binding that to break it was to risk curses, exile, or death.

People understood covenant instinctively.

It shaped their sense of loyalty, belonging, and identity.

This is why God chose covenant—it was the clearest relational language the ancient mind possessed.

If God wanted to say,

“I am committing Myself to you forever,”

there was no clearer way than covenant.

2. The Structure of Ancient Covenants—And How God Uses It to Reveal Himself

Archaeology has uncovered dozens of covenant documents from Hittite, Assyrian, and broader Mesopotamian culture.

They share a consistent structure—especially suzerain-vassal treaties, where a great king enters covenant with a lesser king.

Remarkably, the biblical covenants—especially the Sinai covenant—follow the same recognizable pattern.

This is not copying.

This is God speaking human, entering a cultural form so His people could understand a divine relationship.

Here is the pattern and how Scripture mirrors it:

1. Preamble: Naming the Sovereign

Hittite treaties begin:

“I, the great king…”

Exodus begins:

“I am the LORD your God…”

— Exodus 20:2

God begins with identity—His holy name and His relational authority.

2. Historical Prologue: What the Sovereign Has Done

Hittite treaties recount past deliverance or protection.

God says:

“…who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”

— Exodus 20:2

Obedience is grounded in a relationship of rescue.

This is love before law.

3. Stipulations: Expectations of Covenant Relationship

Ancient treaties demand loyalty.

God reveals:

The Ten Commandments Ethical instructions The call to love God and neighbor

God uses the familiar form but fills it with a radically moral and relational ethic—far beyond anything seen in human covenants.

4. Blessings and Curses: Outcomes of Obedience and Rebellion

Hittite treaties spell out consequences.

Deuteronomy does the same:

Blessings for faithfulness (Deut. 28:1–14) Curses for rebellion (Deut. 28:15–68)

But God’s blessings and curses flow from His holiness—not arbitrary political power.

5. Witnesses to the Covenant

Pagan treaties call on the gods as witnesses.

God rejects false deities and summons creation:

“I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you…”

— Deuteronomy 30:19

The universe becomes covenant court.

6. Covenant Meal: Sealing the New Relationship

Ancient covenants ended with a shared meal.

At Sinai:

“They beheld God, and ate and drank.”

— Exodus 24:11

This is staggering intimacy—

a holy God sharing table fellowship with His people.

The form is familiar.

The meaning is divine.

3. Covenant Signs: When God Communicates Through Embodied Symbol

God knows that humans learn not only through words but through physical, visible signs.

So every biblical covenant includes a sign that communicates divine truth in human form.

A. The Rainbow — A Universal Sign of Peace

After the flood, God declares:

“I set My bow in the cloud…”

— Genesis 9:13

In ancient culture, a warrior hanging up his bow meant peace had come.

God takes this symbol and reveals:

Judgment is restrained. Mercy governs creation.

This is anthropology and theology woven together.

B. Circumcision — A Sign of Identity and Belonging

Circumcision existed in some ancient cultures.

But God transforms it into:

a sign of covenant identity a sign of holiness a sign of generational belonging a physical boundary marking God’s people

Same form.

Entirely new meaning.

C. Passover — A Sign of Redemption

Passover uses:

a meal storytelling blood on the doorway a family gathering

These elements were culturally familiar—but God transforms them into a powerful declaration:

God delivers through substitution, mercy, and presence.

D. Sabbath — A Sign of Creation and Covenant

Sabbath is the weekly covenant signature:

rooted in creation woven into the calendar shaping identity forming a missional rhythm

Sabbath is anthropological (fits human design)

and revelatory (reveals the Creator).

4. Covenant Reveals God’s Missional Heart

Covenant shows that God is not abstract, distant, or indifferent.

He is:

relational faithful committed trustworthy pursuing

Covenant communicates God’s mission in the clearest possible way:

“I am your God, and you are My people.”

Through covenant, God:

1. Reveals His character in human categories

Loyalty, love, justice, mercy, faithfulness.

2. Creates a relational identity for His people

They are not random tribes; they are His covenant family.

3. Prepares humanity for Jesus

Every covenant points forward to the New Covenant in Christ’s blood.

4. Uses culture without bowing to it

He speaks through known forms but redefines their meaning.

5. Shows us how mission works

God does not erase culture—He redeems it.

CONCLUSION — Covenant as God’s Bridge Into Human Culture

Covenant is one of Scripture’s clearest demonstrations that God is a missionary God.

He does not stay distant.

He steps into human relational structures.

He takes the most binding, identity-shaping form the ancient world knew and fills it with His holiness, mercy, and love.

Covenant teaches us:

God speaks our language God uses our cultural forms God binds Himself to us God reveals Himself through relationship God’s mission is always personal, relational, and rooted in commitment

If Article One showed us how God speaks,

Article Two shows us how God binds Himself to humanity in ways they can truly understand.

With these two pillars in place, we can now move deeper.

Article Three will explore:

wisdom literature and Egyptian parallels temple and sacred-space language feasts and the cultural grammar of worship apocalyptic imagery in Daniel and Revelation

All of which reveal this same astonishing truth:

God has always entered human culture to reveal divine reality—

so that people in every time and place may know Him.