“Covenant and Chesed” | Billye Brim
Recap
We had our long-time friend of the ministry, Dr. Billye Brim, as our guest minister. She taught us about covenant and a very special word tied to it—chesed! God is a covenant-keeping God and He wants to enter covenant with us. She reminded us that He has a glorious plan for all His children. Because He is a covenant-keeping God, He will honor His plan for our lives as long as we honor and live under His demands for our lives.
Dive Deeper
Billye started her message by saying, “I’m going to speak about covenant and a very special word tied to it.” The very special word is the Hebrew word “chesed.”
Billye started with Psalms chapter 89, which is about God’s Covenant with Israel, that they’ll always have a king upon the throne. That applies to David and then to his greater Son, the King of Kings.
Psalm 89:34, “My covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips.”
Conversation with Kenneth E. Hagin…
Billye then shared a conversation she had with Brother Kenneth E. Hagin. He said to her, “There’s going to be an age change. I won’t be here, but you will. It’s not going to be suddenly everything changes, just like you stepped over a log and everything’s different. But things from that next stage are going to start manifesting in this end of age here. And there are going to be people who will go beyond the veil and come back and tell about the glory and the glory world. Some will be near-death experiences and some will not. They’ll just not die and go over there.”
Book, “My Time in Heaven” by Richard Sigmund…
One of those people is a man named Richard Sigmund. He has a book entitled “My Time in Heaven.” He wrote about his visit to heaven saying:
“The Throne Room of God was the most beautiful spot in heaven. During my second visit to the throne room, I was taken to an area that I had not noticed during my first visit. In this area, there were what appeared to be rooms in a high arched cathedral. They were all along a side wall. The rooms had arched entrances that led into a large area that was totally private. I saw my name ‘Richard of the family of Sigmund.’ And under it these words, ‘The covenant of Jehovah and the redeemed of the Lamb.’ I was shaking and unable to make even a sound. On a beautiful pulpit-like structure was a book that looked like a Bible. It was signed across the front with these words: ‘My covenant will I not break. I will not alter the thing that has gone out of my mouth.’
“I was astonished. I was reminded of the Lord and of the price He paid to redeem me and I wept uncontrollably. The book opened by itself and then suddenly Jesus was there by my side. He said, ‘This is My plan for your life and I will honor it as long as you honor and live under My Father’s demands for your life.’ I fell at His feet and cried, ‘Holy is the Lord My God.’ I never knew the power of covenant in that realm before, and I will never forget it. It shall stand for eternity. There were other rooms also; one for each born again believer. I wonder what the name is over your door?”
God has plans for each one of us—eternal plans. The power of Covenant is in chesed.
Billye said, “I became very deeply aware of this covenant and chesed in the following scriptures.
His chesed endures forever…
2nd Chronicles 5:1–14, ESV. They had finished building the temple.
“Thus all the work that Solomon did for the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, and stored the silver, the gold, and all the vessels in the treasuries of the house of God. 2 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel, in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. And all the men of Israel assembled before the king at the feast, which is in the seventh month. All the elders of Israel came. And the Levites took up the ark.”
They are going to bring the Ark of the Covenant into the new temple. Now verse 10:
“There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel.” God has an unbreakable covenant with the people of Israel.
Verse 11, “And when the priests came out of the Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, without regard to their divisions, 12 and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters; 13 and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments in praise to the Lord, ‘For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
They translated it as “His steadfast love.” But that’s not steadfast love. That’s chesed! For His chesed endures forever.
Book, “Chesed in the Bible” by Nelson Glueck…
Billye said, “My son pastors a church in Collinsville, Oklahoma. A man from his church came up to him and said, ‘Pastor Chip, your mother’s missing it on this. She’s saying having the people sing “for his mercy endures forever.” He said the word is not mercy. The word is grace.’ So Chip called to tell me. I thought I’ll look into this. And that very week I got in the mail an old book written by a very learned rabbi in Germany before World War I. The name of that book was Chesed in the Bible by Nelson Glueck. The whole book is about chesed. And he teaches the meaning and definition of chesed.”
Definition of chesed…
“Chesed is a Hebrew word often translated mercy or steadfast love. It is neither mercy nor grace, though both are a part of it. It is a word directly tied to one’s being in covenant. And the word for covenant is “berit” with another. It is an obligatory action. You’re obliged to do it. It is an obligatory action because of a covenant relationship. Chesed is the conduct required in the mutual relationship between allies, the obligations and rights acquired through a covenant are translated into corresponding actions through chesed.
“Chesed is the real essence of berit, and it can almost be said that it is its very content. Chesed is the very content of berit, or covenant, because you are in covenant with someone. You made covenant because you’re going to give each other your strengths.
Marriage is a covenant between two people. You stand before the Lord and pledge to each other that you are going to do certain things because you are signing up for these obligations.
Chesed is how God describes Himself…
In Exodus 34:6, Jehovah passed before Moses and proclaimed this about Himself: “The Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” ESV
God announced to Moses, “I made a covenant with these people and I am abounding in chesed. I love keeping chesed. I am abounding in chesed.”
They translated it “faithfulness” but it is the word emmet. Emmet is the Hebrew word for truth. Chesed and emmet often go together. “Truth” is the truth of the Word. And chesed is His faithfulness to keep it. So chesed and emmet are often together in the Bible. God announces to Moses that He is abounding in that. That’s who He is.
God is a covenant-keeping God…
Deuteronomy 7:9 says, “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.”
God is a covenant keeping God!
Read About It
Ps. 89:34, “My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.”
2nd Chron. 5:11, “And when the priests came out of the Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, without regard to their divisions, 12 and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters; 13 and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments in praise to the Lord, ‘For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
Ex. 34:6, “Jehovah passed before Moses and proclaimed this about Himself: “The Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”
Deut. 7:9, “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.”
Discussion Questions
Billye taught us about covenant and a special word that goes with it. What is that special word and what does it mean?
God has a plan for each one of us. What do we have to do in order for Him to keep His word to us about His plan?