The popular idea promoted in religious churches is that individuals are born into the Christian faith by proselytizing individuals of any family of races to “ask Jesus into their hearts” and thus be “born again”. Such multi-racial individualism does not bring about the covenant relationship with YEHOVAH God as described through Scripture.

When we look throughout Scripture, we find a different picture whereby members of a covenant family hear the Gospel of the Kingdom and are justified:

Romans 5:1: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:"

Paul is speaking to Israelites who had been under the Law Covenant.

When Titus writes to YEHOVAH’s elect, (and no one else) in speaking about regeneration he says:

Titus 3:4, 5, 6, 7: "But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

In both aspects of justification and regeneration, the message is to a covenant people. Let us see if they were a covenant people before justification and regeneration.

Covenants are not made with individuals alone. The first mention of a covenant is with Noah and his family.

Genesis 6:18: "But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee."

Genesis 9:9: "And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you."

Hebrews 11:7: "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."

We have to note that the reference to, “And with thy seed after you” connects Noah’s family in this covenant relationship. The emphasized phrases leave us in no doubt about family inclusion.

The next covenant mentioned between YEHOVAH God and man is with Abraham and his seed -- (or family).

Genesis 15:18: "In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:"

Genesis 17:2: "And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly."

Genesis 17:7: "And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee."

Here we have a covenant that is everlasting, made to an abundant offspring. The everlasting covenant is confined to that seed of Abraham which descended through Isaac, as we read in the New Testament, in Romans 9:7, “Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, in Isaac shall thy seed be called.”

Genesis 17:19: "And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him."

From these verses we can see that the covenant is everlasting and therefore it is unchangeable. The covenant cannot apply to any other party or be multi-racial. It cannot be changed in the New Testament, as it is everlasting. YEHOVAH says, “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips”.

Before drawing any conclusions regarding the spiritual state of children as participants in covenant promises, we will look at both Testaments in regard to this subject.

These Scriptures show the everlasting nature of the covenant:

Psalm 105:8-11: "He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance:"

Isaiah 61:8: "For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed."

Jeremiah 32:40: "And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me."

Ezekiel 37:26: "Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore."

Churches may say, “That might have been so in the Old Testament, but it does not apply today”, thereby not believing the Messiah and thus forgetting a fundamental in interpretation:

Luke 16:31: "And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

The covenant to Abraham and to his seed is the major covenant, but before we continue with that theme, there is another great covenant made to King David and to persons who would come from his bowels, that is, from his family.

2 Chronicles 6:16: "Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me."

2 Samuel 7:11: "And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house."

Jeremiah 33:17: "For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel."

This is a family covenant to Israel alone that religious churches choose to amend saying that the Messiah is now that king upon the throne of David and thus is King of all "believers" of every race. They refuse to define the throne as one existing today over the nation of Israel -- as these verses demand. It is true that Acts 2:30-32 says, “Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne”, and we can see that the Messiah was a descendant of King David through his father, Joseph.

Covenant Seed in the New Testament

When we come to the New Testament pages, we find how the Messiah was born to fulfill what was promised by all the holy prophets about YEHOVAH’s covenant with Abraham and Abraham’s seed:

Luke 1:71-73: "That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham."

The “we” in this passage is limited to those Israelites being addressed. Israel alone has the “fathers”, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the covenant to Abraham being confirmed to Isaac and Jacob (Israel). There are many difficulties created in the passage below through tradition trying to adapt them to fit the modern "gospel":

Acts 3:20-26: "And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the fathers [i.e. fathers of Israel], A prophet shall the LORD your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities."

The important detail that identifies the context are the references to what Moses said about precisely to whom the Messiah would be raised up to, that is, it is to Israel. This limits the application to “of your brethren”, this being a ethnic seed as is confirmed by all the prophets from Samuel on. The reference is to the seed of Abraham and to that covenant that was made to them and them only. Strong’s Concordance confirms that “all the kindreds of the earth” does not mean all races but rather “the Israelites which distributed into twelve tribes, descended from the twelve sons of Jacob, these were divided into families which were divided into houses”. This again demonstrates the family covenant relationship.

The "first" in the last sentence of the last verse quoted above refers to the first action of YEHOVAH God in the process of restoring a true theocracy, in “turning everyone of you [i.e. everyone of Israel] from his iniquities” This is confirmed in the verse below:

Romans 11:26-27: "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins."

In this we see the covenant relating to “Jacob”, a family. It does not include others outside of this family.

Galatians 3:16: "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ" (= anointed, the capital “C” being a traditional but wrong insertion).

From here we can continue to confirm the covenant family theme, noting that the New Covenant is made only with the two Houses that comprise all of the family of Israel:

Hebrews 8:8-10: "For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, when I WILL MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the LORD; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people."

We can look at some more verses with “covenant” (or "testament") in them:

Hebrews 9:15-16: "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."

Hebrews 10:16-18: "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the LORD, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin."

Hebrews 12:24: "And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel."

Hebrews 13:20: "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, [i.e. Israel] through the blood of the everlasting covenant."

Now we can clearly see the meaning of:

Matthew 1:21: "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins."

The salvation spoken of concerns the family which is “His people” Israel. The many passages in the first two chapters of Like’s gospel show this family covenant limitation are thus are in agreement.

For those who are unconvinced that the covenant/family position continues through the New Testament, we will consider a lot of Scripture. Most of these include the word “promises”, that is, promises made by YEHOVAH God in the sense of a covenant. We have quoted Luke 1:71-73, “To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham….” Here we see a statement of YEHOVAH’s purpose in regard to Israel and the Israel family. There is no license to extend the application to any other peoples. Such an extension is a great heresy! And, it is a popular heresy! Early in the book of Acts, we find confirmation about a promise made to the Israelite nation and their children, whether this family was near or afar off; whether they were Judeans or among the Greeks.

Acts 2:39: "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call."

They were to be witnesses to Israelites who had been scattered among the other nations.

Acts 13:23-24: "Of this man’s seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus: When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel."

Although this promise here does not refer to Abraham and his family, it confirms the “unto Israel” and “to all the people of Israel” in the promise made to Abraham and to his family through Isaac and Jacob (Israel). The theme about family promises continues through the New Testament:

Acts 13:32-33: "And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children."

Acts 26:6-7: "And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come."

Romans 9:4: "Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises."

Romans 15:8: "Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:"

Galatians 4:28: "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise."

The promise made to Abraham and his children is described in Hebrews 6 as being immutable, “because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself”. The word "promise" or "promises", which occur six times in this chapter, are well worth considering if there is any doubt about what they mean.

Now we can look at other examples about family inclusion and family belief in the New Testament:

Acts 16:15: "And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us."

1 Corinthians 1:16: "And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other."

Acts 11:13-14: "And he shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter; Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved."

Acts 16:31-34: "And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house."

Acts 18:8: "And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized."

Acts 21:8-9: "And the next day we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy."

2 Timothy 3:15: "And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."

We have seen that YEHOVAH God deals with man by making a covenant with a person together with that person’s seed. The covenant involves both blessings and curses. This means that the seed, or children of that person, are also in a covenant position, and that the promises made by the oath of YEHOVAH God to the father also applies to his children in an ethnic sense. Now stop and think about this for a moment.

• Do most churchgoers think of their children in this covenant way?

• Are our children regarded as members of the elect?

• Do we let election take care of itself?

• Do our children attend church knowing their covenant position and just who they are?

• Do parents understand their responsibility to train up a child with this understanding in view?

• Are children regarded as a gift from YEHOVAH God?

• Do we wrongly attend a church that separates the sheep from the lambs when we meet together?

• Do we encourage them into the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the holy spirit?

• Could adopted children of another stock ever have the same covenant relationship position? No!

Exodus 19:5: "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:"

Exodus 19:6: "And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel."

Peter 2:9: "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:"

Yes, we of the covenant seed have to teach our children that we have a greater responsibility placed upon us, by YEHOVAH God, than is placed upon other peoples, and that our blessings are conditional on obeying the voice of the LORD? But, is that what is presented in the churches today?

The whole matter of the covenant people is wrongly transferred from the ethnic seed of Israel to be a "belief" matter only. The entry into the belief-only position is by a psychological conversion that does not include Biblical repentance. Since “sin is the transgression of the Law”, repentance involves a turning towards keeping the unfulfilled part of the eternal law of YEHOVAH God. What we find in practice is a multitude of psychologically "converted" people in churches who are filled with the spirit of lawlessness rather than the spirit of YEHOVAH God.

"[4] Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. [5] And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. [6] Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. [7] Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. [8] He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. [9] Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."

The modern heresy cannot contain these verses, nor the matter of a “seed=sperma” remaining in a present, active and indicative way. It will not admit what follows in this passage, “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother” Rather it says, “Once saved, saved for ever” and applies this to everyone else, even outside of the covenant seed. To keep to their individualist application, “all”, “every”, “whosoever” etc., are applied outside of the limitation of “all” of the context covenant people and their children, in a way that Greek grammar cannot tolerate.

The modern heresy refuses the Biblical presentation that children are bound in the same covenant relationship as their parents. The whole concept of 1 Corinthians 7:14, “ For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy”, is incomprehensible to them, the “now are they holy” being in the present tense. They refuse to believe anything about a covenant seed, or even about a “holy” seed.

Ezra 9:2: "For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass."

The mingling of seed (racial intermarriage) is not considered to be any trespass in today’s “Christian world”, instead they prefer the Messiah to have something against them by acceptance of the Doctrine of Balaam:

Revelation 2:14: "But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication."

1 Corinthians 10:8: "Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand."

So they change the meaning of “fornication” to suit their doctrine. The whole Biblical concept of imputed righteousness is changed.

Romans 4:20-25: "He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness."

To the modern church there is no such thing as a “righteous nation” -- (Isaiah 26:2, Genesis 22:4). We could count at least eight references to Israel being called a “holy” nation.

The physical seed of Abraham through Isaac is also described as a “holy people” -- (Deuteronomy 7:6, Isaiah 62:12, Daniel 12:7), and “a peculiar people or treasure” at least six times.

Israel is also called “ thine anointed”, “chosen”, “called” and a nation that is referred to as “this stone”. No wonder the modern church seeks to re-write Scripture by producing so-called “new translations” to try to hide these facts. They have to try to re-interpret words like “grafting”, “adoption”, “strangers”, “born again”, etc.

YEHOVAH God still deals with man on the basis of “the covenant”:

Deuteronomy 7:9: "Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;"

Nehemiah 1:5: "And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:"

The matter of covenant together with “and observe his commandments” is anathema, and is supposed to be wrong doctrine, to the modern church. Not understanding Revelation 22:14, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” makes them ineligible to partake of that tree of life. They effectively “make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” who confirmed exactly what the prophets foretold, “I am not sent but the lost sheep of the House of Israel”. (NOTE: The latter statement is Aorist, Passive and Indicative, i.e., it is a simple statement of unchanging fact).