The church is not a loose gathering of independent agents, each pursuing his own agenda while occasionally glancing sideways to nod at his fellow travellers. The church is a covenant community, a people bound together in faith, in worship, and in the trenches of real, daily obedience.

When we talk about covenant membership, we are not inventing something new. We are not stamping forms and filing paperwork because we enjoy the bureaucracy. We are stepping into an ancient pattern of belonging. The church is the household of faith, a city set on a hill, a body where every member has a function. And just as the people of God in Scripture have always been marked by public, accountable, and binding commitments, so too are we.

So, if we are to understand the weight of covenant membership, I think it would do us a lot of good to first visit a revival that failed.

The Revival That Failed

The story of Israel’s return from exile is a picture of a people desperate for restoration. They had seen their city burned, their temple torn down, and their inheritance trampled under foreign feet. They had lived under judgment, under Babylon, under Persia. And when the time came for them to return, they did what we would expect any repentant people to do: they rebuilt.

They rebuilt the temple under Zerubbabel. They restored the Law under Ezra. They rebuilt the walls under Nehemiah. And finally, as a crowning moment of their renewal, they renewed their covenant with God.

Nehemiah 10 records the people standing together, a remnant purified by exile, pledging themselves again to the commands of God. They wrote it down. They signed their names. They swore to obey, to be distinct, to uphold worship, to reject the sins of their fathers.

And yet, within a generation, the very people who had signed their names were drifting back into faithlessness. The temple was rebuilt, but God’s glory never returned to it. The Law was restored, but the people could not keep it. The walls were secured, but they could not keep sin out. Nehemiah himself, that great and tireless reformer at the time, ended his account not with triumph, but with a prayer that God would simply remember him for his efforts.

This was a revival, yes. But it was a revival written on paper, and paper fades. It was a covenant sealed with ink, and ink dries. It was a movement bound to the Law, but the Law alone could not save them.

Zerubabbel came from Davidic lineage, Ezra from Aaron, the High Priest, and Nehemiah was one zealous like a prophet though he was not one in function.

The Revival That Succeeded

Four hundred years later, another man stood in Jerusalem – the Son of David, the true High Priest, and the Prophet above all prophets. He would usher in a fourth and final wave of revival, one that would not fail. But the nature of His revival is striking. He would tear down the temple that Zerubbabel built, fulfill and seal the law that Ezra proclaimed, and foretell the destruction of the city that Nehemiah restored. He would bring it all to an end, yet accomplish what these men never could – He would take the very hearts of His people.

He did not come to rebuild the temple, because He was the true Temple (John 2:19-21). He did not come to restore the Law, because He was the fulfillment of the Law (Matthew 5:17). He did not come to secure the walls of an earthly city, because He was establishing an eternal Kingdom(Hebrews 12:28).

Where Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah had labored and wept, Christ would triumph.

The old revival was written in stone, but stone can crack. This revival would be written on hearts of flesh (Jeremiah 31:33). The old covenant was sealed with human promises, but human promises fail. This covenant would be sealed with the very blood of Christ (Luke 22:20).

And just as the people of Nehemiah’s day stood and pledged themselves to God, so too has Christ given us a commission—but unlike theirs, this one will not fail.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”(Matthew 28:19-20)

Nehemiah’s revival fell short, not because they weren’t sincere, but because human efforts alone cannot build an unshakable kingdom. Christ’s commission, however, is not founded on our effort but on His victory. He will build His Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).

Covenant Membership in the Church

What does this mean for us? What does any of this have to do with Covenant Membership?

Covenant Membership signifies that last wave of revival that succeeded. You are the inheritance of Christ’s great victory. When you become the covenant member of a church, that is far more than a mere formality. It is not an optional addition to the Christian life, nor is it a human tradition unnaturally forced upon the gospel. It is a visible expression of the unbreakable bond Christ has established between His people and Himself.

In Nehemiah’s day, the people sealed their covenant with a formal and public commitment. They stood, they wrote, they pledged. They recognised that belonging to God’s people is never a private affair—it is always a public, accountable reality.

And so it is with the Church. The New Testament gives no room for lone-ranger Christianity. To be a Christian is to belong to the Body (Romans 12:5). It is to be under the care of elders who will give an account for your soul (Hebrews 13:17). It is to bear the burdens of others and to be held accountable in love (Galatians 6:2). It is to be a living stone, built together into a dwelling place for God (1 Peter 2:5).

This is what covenant membership reflects. It is the visible, joyful, weighty declaration that we belong—to Christ, to one another, to the household of faith. It is a commitment not just to attend, but to invest. Not just to visit, but to build. Not just to exist, but to flourish as a people bound together by grace.

You Are the Revival That Succeeded

You are not called to build a temple with Zerubbabel, because you are the temple of the Living God (1 Corinthians 3:16).

You are not waiting for Ezra to impose the Law, because the Law is written on your heart (Hebrews 8:10).

You are not securing city walls with Nehemiah, because you are the city set on a hill (Matthew 5:14).

You are the revival that succeeded.

You are the fulfillment of prophecy.

You are the Church, the Bride of Christ, the people of the New Covenant.

So what will you do with this truth?

Christ has not given you a revival to rebuild. He has given you a Kingdom that will never be shaken. He has not left you with a Law that condemns, but with grace that transforms. He has not handed you stones and swords, but the Gospel of life itself.

Nehemiah’s people signed a covenant and failed.

But Christ’s people are sealed by the Spirit and will never fall away (Ephesians 1:13-14).

This is why covenant membership in the Church is not a duty—it is a privilege.

To belong to the Church is to be part of the only revival that will never fail.

So embrace the weight and the glory of it.

Live as those who belong—not to a failing revival, but to the unshakable, unstoppable, eternal Kingdom of God.

Amen!