Kenneth Copeland - The Covenant Name Change (2023)
Kenneth Copeland: Hello everybody. This is Kenneth Copeland, Greg Stephens and the whole class. Praise God. And this is the Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast, as you know. This is going to be more of a survey this week than just teaching. Testament: to make a will, a solemn authentic instrument in writing by which a person declares his will, a person declares his will. Faith begins where the will of God is known. Now, I'm completely, totally convinced that the translators of the King James version of the Bible did this to let everybody know that this Book is the will of God. This is otherwise called a will. A testament to be valid must be made when the testator is of sound mind. It must be subscribed, witnessed, and must be subscribed. It must be written down. Well, this one is... Witnessed and published in such manner as the law prescribes. A man in certain cases may make a valid will by words only, and such will is called nuncupative. The name of each general division of the canonical books of the sacred Scriptures as the Old Testament. The New Testament. The name is equivalent to covenant, and in our use of it, we apply it to the books which contain the old and new dispensations, that of Moses and that of Jesus Christ. Well I'll tell you that said it.
Greg Stephens: That's it. That's the old Webster's definition. Now, the modern dictionary says all, but not that accurate.
Kenneth Copeland: It's a Latin word.
Greg Stephens: Yes, it is. And so let's look at it now in print in the ninth chapter of the book of Hebrews. "Then verily, the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary," and so forth and so on. Now, come on down... Well now this is something, in verse 8. "The Holy Ghost is signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not made manifest". Come on, now, look at the verse 12, "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause, he is the mediator of the New Testament. That by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is a force after men are dead. Otherwise it is of no strength at all while he lives," he had to die.
Kenneth Copeland: That's right. That's right. Chapter eight, chapter nine, chapter ten, all talk about the present day ministry of Jesus Christ, what he's doing right now. He right now is that intercessor, mediator of this better testament, better covenant. This is a very interesting word. There's a... we've discussed Brother Copeland, you and I, several times about covenants, and we've always discussed covenants from God to man and never man to man, little bit man to man. But there are several covenants, sought covenant being one, shoe covenant. You don't hear about them a whole lot but they're in scripture. Thigh covenant is one. That's very interesting. And thigh covenant comes from this word testament. I don't want to be crude, but they would put their hand under the thigh and swear by the seed.
Greg Stephens: Let's go to the scripture reference for that. Do you have it.
Kenneth Copeland: I do, well there's one in Genesis 47, and the other one was with Abraham when Isaac is going to get a bride.
Greg Stephens: Well now, and another thing, Abram talked about it when he said, "I've lifted my hand". And of course, he lifted his hand to God. He couldn't touch him. But that's what that signified. He lifted his hand to him. Now, we as God's people, we need to realize and understand, that's what this is all about. I surrender to you and I praise and I worship you because I am touching you with my praise and inaugurating in my life today the covenant that's between us. Because we've been circumcised of the heart.
Kenneth Copeland: That's right. When you swore into the army, I swore into the Air Force. You raised your hand and you made an oath to defend the Constitution. And so this is exactly what he was doing. He was making a covenant oath. Okay in Genesis 47, this is as Isaac is... Here we go, let me find the verse 28. "And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years". Verse 29. "And the time drew nigh that Israel must die". Now, he called him Jacob and he called him Israel. So I'll tell you about that later. "and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh". This is that covenant. This is that testament covenant, "and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt: But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head". And that's when he died.
—Now, isn't that something. He departed this earth making covenant.
—Making a covenant promise with his son, Joseph. Joseph is a type of Jesus and so he brought him... He promised to not leave him in Egypt, to bring him out. And so we get another word from that root testes. And so you're swearing by your seed. So you put your hand under your thigh and you swear. A unique in Roman court couldn't testify because they had no seed. So he's saying, "Swear by my seed". God takes seed very, very serious. Abraham now will do the exact same thing with his servant, Eliezer. He said, "Put your hand on my thigh and swear it". He's going to go find a bride for Isaac. And so he's swearing by the seed.
—Now, think about what this says to us, because...
—In Hebrews.
—No Galatians.
—Galatians. Not having a... how can I say this Father? This will make much greater impact on our relationship with Jesus in the 3rd chapter of the Book of Galatians.
—Yeah it's wonderful.
—And we come down here 24th verse. "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ... But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster or under the law. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, or in Christ then are ye Abraham's seed,"
—and heirs...
—You're Abraham's seed. They didn't say no, you're not children. You're Abraham's seed. That's where it comes from.
—That's where it comes from. Jesus is the promised seed. And so if we're in Christ, we are part of that promised seed. We have been given the same covenant for me for renewing on my mind in the New Covenant. I call it the New Covenant of Abraham in the seed.
—That's what it is.
—In the seed, Jesus.
—And another place we were, as non-Jews. We were the wild olive branch grafted into the root. We are just as much part of that tree as anybody else.
—That's Romans 11.
—So now, but we're not done with this. "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise". That is even far more powerful than what we just read in the book of Genesis, because we are under a sworn oath from God, and I can prove it in the book of Hebrews.
—When he said it is finished, it was done. Lucifer, Satan, Demons. They can't stop this.
—And I'm surprised. Well, not really, but by centering up on "it is finished". And now that's not a mistake. That's not what I'm saying. But that's not the most important thing there. Jesus fought the thing with the Word in the 22nd Psalm, which was about him. And it begins, "My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me" and it ends with, "It is finished". Now in the King James it doesn't, but in the Amplified, it does. He just stepped off on the Word of God and he defeated hell with that when it... More than once he said, "They that being a prophet spoke of me" and he took what David said and he defeated the devil and all of hell with it with his covenant promise. Can we not do the same?
—Yes, we're expected to do the same.
—We're expected to do it.
—Because of where he's seated now. His ministry now and what he's doing now. We're supposed to... the body is here, that's us. Now, positionally I'm seated with him. But physically, I'm still here and I'm still walking in this testament. His last will and testament. And now it's been given unto me. Now, it's a very interesting thing and I don't know if we want to go here now or not, but Jacob wrestles with God.
—Let's go get that. Praise God.
—Throughout history, God changes names. And this one has a magnificence about it. And it... Anyway, let's go there.
—I believe there's something we can learn from this. You can find it in Genesis 32. Genesis 35. We were already over there. God changes his name. He changes... covenant people always have had name changes. There were negative name changes. Joseph had his name changed by the Egyptians negatively. Daniel had his name changed by the Babylonians. The three Hebrew children had their name changed. But when God changes your name, it's a different thing. He changes Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah, putting his name in their name. Now he'll do the exact same thing with Jacob when he wrestles with God. Jacob's name originally didn't mean so much. I mean, he came out second. He's the trickster, he's the supplanter. He's the second in rank to his brother, Esau. But God has to change that because he's...
—Let's stop there.
—Yes, sir.
—Esau... Only word I can think of to describe him is vain. He was a hunter and obviously physically much of a man and a lot of ways Jacob was afraid of him. They were twins, but he sold out for a bowl of soup. The Covenant didn't mean anything to him. What he had inherited meant nothing any more than to fill his belly. And because of that, he sought after later, with much crying and many tears and couldn't change it. The reason he couldn't change it was because it was before the advent of grace and he broke a covenant, he did.
—His birthright. Your name becomes your essence in many ways, names are very, very important.
—Man I love this one.
—He will struggle, his name will be changed to Israel. What verse are we in here, where are we at?
—Okay here 32, verse 24. "And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me". He wants the blessing. And he said unto him, "What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed". Power with God and with men. "I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel:"
—In other words, he said, "My name is none of your business".
—Yes, none of my... right, right. So he's one that struggles with God and prevails. That's his name, Israel. Now back and forth through Scripture, we see the whole thing. 12 tribes will come from him. A nation will come from him. The promised seed of the Messiah will come from him. Now, over and over and over, you'll see the covenant was made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. And that's for a reason. The original name Jacob meant the one who followed or subservient the supplanter, secondary status. In the Hebrew, Israel is the overcomer. Now at his death we read it earlier about that covenant exchange of the names in there. But I notice something in that we just read it a while ago. His name is no longer Israel or no longer Jacob but Israel. And here in that same verse we've got Jacob and Israel.
—Yes, and the same thing.
—And I'm thinking, wait a second, why they never did that. God never did that with Abraham. He was always Abraham. He never called him Abram again. And I found it all through Scripture. Jacob and Israel both being used. God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They have a graphic, but I'm going to show you something right here. Israel, I S R A E L. He put Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in his name Israel. I is Isaac. His father. Sarah is his Grandmother S is Sarah, his grandmother. R is Rebecca his mother. A is Abraham his father. L is God.
—Elohim.
—Elohim, El Shaddai.
—And it's all there.
—And it's all there. But it's supposed to be reminding him. So I was always wondering why is this happening that scripture... It was confusing to me and I thought, somebody is lying. I mean, that's just honestly what I said. And so Isaiah chapter ten. Let me show you Isaiah Chapter ten. Do we have enough time?
—We're not going anywhere.
—Okay. May have to pick it up tomorrow. It appears that the switching back and forth has to do with something about him. Isaiah chapter 10 and verse 20. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob," So there it is in the same verse.
—What verse are you in...
—Isaiah 10:20. ..."shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth". So there we go. Israel, Jacob, Israel. "The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return". And so I begin to wonder, wait, we're bouncing back and forth between the two. But see, look at this. Jacob the remnant shall return. Even the remnant of Jacob. Brother Copeland, I started to see it. Everywhere Jacob is mentioned, it's the flesh, it's carnal. When they got away from their covenant, he refers to him as Jacob. When they walked in their covenant... When they returned, there it is Jacob returns to God, he's Israel.
—So he's talking to him personally, but Israel is referred to as the children of Israel or the children of Jacob. So he's talking to him as a man. He's talking to his children as a nation. That's the difference.
—That's right. So he had a covenant with a man and the fact that he would never give up under any circumstances. He had to just nearly break his leg, get him turn him loose for daylight. And the fact that he voluntarily, he volunteered to tithe, nothing was said about it. He volunteered it. So he did that as a man. When he did that as a man, his name was changed. So now God is dealing with him as a man pretty well as long as he was on the earth. After that, it was the children of Israel, the Prince, praise God.
—In this kingdom will be split under David. One will be called Israel, the other will be called Judah. They won't go by Jacob, but Jesus will even say I have not called but except for the lost sheep of Israel. That's the covenant people. That's after that covenant. That's after that tithe if you will, even. But any time he started to act or they started to shrink away, become second and not lead, they're called Jacob. Every time they step forward in their princely calling, they're called Israel to this day, and they will strive. You'll find that in Jacob's life, he'll strive with Laban. He's striving with Esau. That's going to be a thing. And it's been a thing ever since, because the evil one does not like Israel. He doesn't like the covenant, he doesn't like them. He doesn't like any of the seed of Abraham, including now us. And so it's vitally important that we walk in our covenant. It's vitally important that we stay in truth, because he said: "The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: The Holy One of Israel, in truth". And so we have to walk in the truth through our covenant. We have to understand it. We can't live in a different covenant than the one we're in right now. We read it earlier in Hebrews. We have a New covenant, a new priesthood, and a new and a better way. I call Hebrews better. Whenever I think of the book of Hebrews, it's just better.
—It's just better.
—Better than Moses. It is better than Aaron. We have a better high priest, we have a better tabernacle. The blood speaks better.
—And in the Book of Hebrews, it's Jesus the same yesterday, today and forever. But in that we have to have this understanding. All of these people we're talking about, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all of them were in the bosom of Abraham and Jesus led captivity captive.
—Right, that was the remnant that was by faith. And we're out of time again today. But I told you it was going to be interesting. Glory to God, we'll be back in just a moment. Praise You Jesus, praise You, Lord Jesus.