Kenneth Copeland - The Chesed Covenant of Healing
We going to, of course all of my sessions as I've already said, will be concerning healing and particularly our covenant of healing. Open your Bibles or your iPads or whatever you have to the book of Ephesians first. There is an answer here in the second chapter of the book of Ephesians. It answers a very haunting question. Why is it, I don't understand this, it plagued me and plagued me for years. Why do I just preach and preach and preach and teach and teach and teach and lay hands on and we gathered together, and so few people receive their healing?
Now, the answer is right here. Particularly Western people, most particularly Western people, this is an Eastern book. It's two covenants. In the Western mind, covenant. Well, you know, so I mean that, and to most people, particularly people that don't even know anything about the Bible, a covenant is just, and something a neighborhood does, and doesn't let you paint your house pink or something, you know. Everything, everything God has done, he had to have covenant to do it. Well 'cause his plan, his idea before the foundation of the world was to create this utopia and then get it all fixed, get the thing all ready, and then create a family, amen.
And a man and a woman equal to God, in every way he looked like him, we can tell it because Jesus, we can tell it because of Jesus. You've seen Him, you've seen the Father. If you saw Adam, you seen the Father. And Adam's name is blood. He intended for him to take that pilot project and with the blessing of the Lord, and with his dominion and with their life together, continue and continue and continue until this planet became the garden spot of the universe. And then after that, then we could go to the other planets, and that's the reason man's always wanted to go to the other planet. It's in him, it's in there. And he just kept pushing until he finally got it done, but that's the reason why. So, here it is right here.
Second chapter of book of Ephesians verse 11. "Wherefore remember that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh". Who is a Gentile, who's a goyim? That's just somebody that doesn't know God. You're separated from God. "Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision". You see we were just talking about covenant all the way through this, and it's blood. "Called uncircumcision by that, which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. At that time you were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants", plural, "Strangers from the covenants of promise without hope, having no hope, and without God in the world".
Spencer, why is that called the Word of God? Because both words are blood-sworn oaths. It's called His Word, and that's just turned into another name for Bible. It's called His Word because his promise, his oath, it is his bond, is like Mylon LeFevre says, he is absolutely honest, he cannot lie. It isn't that He won't lie, He cannot. It is bond, Tom, He's bound to this, He is sworn to this.
Now, turn with me to Matthew 22, Matthew 22:41. There is a word, a covenant, especially, it is especially tied to the blood relationship. It is one of the most difficult words to bring into the English language. And if you don't know what it is, you don't see it in the first covenant, and it is so poorly translated. The English language is like that. It has way too many words in it, and you just mess around with all kinds of different words and just, you know, and the translators of the English Bible know less about it than anybody.
And some of it is so simple, like Charles Capps said, you have to have help to misunderstand some of this. And we've had some pretty high price religious help in times past, like, "Do you suppose it's God's will to heal today? Well, if it isn't he'd have to change his name". Jehovah Rapha. He's not about to do that. That word properly pronounced is, "Chesed". Huh, and when you see it, and you understand, it's one of those words that it's like trying to say, "Well, what would Jesus do"? Well, most people don't know what Jesus would do, but for old Americans like me, and you say, "What would John Wayne, oh, I get it". You'd keep your word, if he died for it.
And then I have a concept, and that's the way this word is. It is absolutely fabulous. Ah, I just begin talking about it now. I can just hardly stand myself sometimes, because I have this awareness of my background being native American, my grandfather, blood Cherokee, and I just, some way I just, I just wanted to be an Indian. Anyway, my whole point is this. This idea of a blood brother, boy, I, yo man, okay, come on now, to be in a blood covenant. And I thought about it in times past had looked into those covenants and then nobody ever broke them. White men broke them. I'll tell you, the red man that entered into an agreement, would rather die than to break his word, because of his covenant background, because of blood, that's the way they made agreements between tribes, was in blood.
And you didn't break it, if you did break it, your own family would kill you. To keep the curse from coming on you. African curses and blessings were like that. The first covenant of blood ever made on this planet, the first covenant of blood in the covenant of a man, not animals. The first was in animals, the 15th chapter of Genesis, it had, all had to do with the animal covenant. And Abraham walked, God walked in covenant. I'm totally convinced that he saw God's footprints in that blood, and entered into a covenant of circumcision. Now, are you listening to me now? One of the biggest things about that blood covenant and every blood covenant was the name change, it's still practiced today. Cathy, what was your name before you entered covenant with Len Mink.
Cathy: It was Cathy Gravitt.
Kenneth: All right, when you entered into covenant you took his name.
Cathy: That's right.
Kenneth: This is where that came from. If you entered into covenant, entered into a covenant of blood with a powerful family, then you took that family's name or the name was hyphened. And you see a family today that's, well, Rodney Howard-Browne, a long long, long, long, long time friend of mine, I talked to Rodney about this and he said, "I don't know". He said, "It just goes so far back". But it's still hyphened, which indicating. And of course Rodney is from South Africa, which is connected to Great Britain, and it goes back so far. The two families got together, the Howard family and the Browne family. And he became Rodney Howard "hyphen" Browne, that signifies covenant.
Anyway, let's get to "Chesed". Matthew 22:41, are you there? "While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them saying, 'What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he?' They say unto him, 'The son of David.'" That's huge. Now, what is "Chesed"? 23rd Psalm. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters, He restores my soul He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His namesake. And yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over. Surely goodness and "Chesed" shall follow me all the days of my life".
Here it's translated mercy. Surely goodness and 'Chesed' follow me all the days of my life. God changed Abram's name and named him Abraham. That H, Hashem, my God, my God, and he gave him his name. Well, what happened then? In Philippians, the second chapter. "And he exalted him". And the King James in English says, a name, ah, get off of it. He gave him his name. And the third chapter of the book of Hebrews, "I bow my knee before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named". Come on, I said named. We're branded.
Second Chronicles chapter 20. "It came to pass after this also, the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and so forth came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then there came some and told Jehoshaphat saying, 'There comes a great multitude against you from beyond the sea on the side of Syria, and behold,'" men, and all all this news. "And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord proclaimed a fast around Judea". Well, and you know the story. "Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court and said, 'O Lord God of our fathers, you the God in heaven, and rule not thou over the kingdoms of the heathen, and thine hand is there no power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.'"
Hey, what's he doing? He's calling on his covenant God. How does he do it? He just goes to the Word and just starts talking to Him about it. Isaiah God said, "My word will not return unto me void". Well, how does it return to Him? In prayer, in seeking Him and reminding him of his covenant promises. Reminding Him who he is and who you are. He said, "Even, I am He that bought about your transgression for my own sake". I said, "I don't get that Lord". For His sake, why? We are His covenant people. And the only thing he has on his mind is for you to be whole, spirit, soul, body, financially, socially, the nation, everything about you, everything, all of it all.
"Well Brother Copeland, I think money", I don't care what you think about money, you need it, and a lot of it. And He'll pay you more than you're worth. Ask me how, I know. Hallelujah, I learned a long time ago, particularly the idea that comes out of his covenant people in that desert. I mean, listen, He's covenant to these people. And He's so bound to them, but the laws of the Spirit cannot be ignored. And they kept saying it, "Every way you could think of, we're gonna die in this desert. He brought us out here to kill us. It'd be better if he killed us, blah, blah, blah. And we're gonna die in the desert. We gonna die in the desert. We gonna die in the desert". And they get what they said. He said, "I've had enough of that, you're gonna die in the desert".
And now, a horrible thing took place that is still cursing Christians today. Three score and 10, four score if by strength, that is never, God didn't even say that. He was forced into saying that because nobody over 20 years old is getting out of this desert alive, it was a curse. The only time span that God said, right at the beginning of the Bible, and this is a covenant statement, the days of man will be 120 years. 99.99% of the Christian don't even know it's in the Bible. And if it is, well, yeah, like we could do that. Praise God, most of you know, the Lord asked me if I would do that.
And I said, well, absolutely I'll do that, dear Lord. Well, I had to go back to work. You don't wanna get a message like that when you're overweight. Boy, it's bad, man. I mean, hit that exercise room and hit it hard. And now I'm out, I'm enjoying, man. I never dreamed I would enjoy a treadmill like I do now. Well, you ought to rest into my, I fully intended to, I fully intended to.
But I wake up at the same time, and I thought, I mean, that's during the meeting, I've got my treadmill in the room. And then I thought, you know, I could just, ah, get up Copeland. I just, I can't do without it. And it's just right up in front of my eyes all the time because my Jesus, my blood brother, I found out he's my blood brother, my blood brother, my blood brother. And my blood brother asked me to do that. And so I said, "Yes, sir". He asked me to do it, but to me it's a mandate. So I had to, and here's what got me, when you begin to think covenant all the time, I just can't get enough of that. I just want more, I want more and more of it. I am seriously addicted to the Spirit of God. And so I, but I'm that way about being in covenant with Him all the time.