A covenant, (berith in Hebrew, diatheke in Greek) is "a bond in blood sovereignly administered," - O. Palmer Robertson. As a bond, it commits and binds the parties of the covenant to each other. As a bond in blood, it is a bond of life and death. There is an ultimacy and finality in the covenantal commitment of God and men to each other. And all of God's covenants are sovereignly administered God sovereignly and graciously imposes his covenant promises, demands and relations on people he has sovereignly chosen as participants. There is no bargaining. It is not a relation of equals. In biblical covenants God remains sovereign and man remains servant. This is why unfaithfulness to the covenant on the part of man is an heinous sin deserving of judgment and death. No era in the history of redemption from Adam to Christ, (to the end of the world), stands outside the realm of God's covenantal dealings with his people in Christ.