- from CatholicCulture.org
A covenant is an agreement or promise between two individuals or two groups. For Christians, the term covenant refers both to the agreement between God and the Israelites in the Old Testament and the agreement between Jesus and His followers in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, God promised that if the Israelites would remain faithful to Him, He would protect them from outside dangers. This covenant becomes a sign of hope throughout the Old Testament and mirrors our own relationship with God in that, no matter what the Israelites do, God never fully abandons them and never stops trying to call them back into relationship with Him. In the New Testament, Jesus represents a new covenant in which He promises that those who follow Him will have eternal life. It is this covenant that we embrace today. As long as we follow Jesus and obey His commands, we can be assured that we will make it to heaven and be with God forever. Even when we turn away from God by sinning, we know that this covenant remains in effect and God will still take us back through the sacrament of Reconciliation. It is this faithfulness on the part of God, seen in both Testaments, that is the hallmark of covenants. This is why marriages are referred to as covenants: the husband and wife are supposed to mirror God and His people in their faithfulness to each other. In the end, because of God’s covenants with us, we know that God will watch over us and keep us safe for all time.