1.0 From The Foundation of the World

Who is God

God is majestic, all knowing and all powerful. Yet He is with each one of us, a loving, and merciful God. We know from the Bible that God has always been. The A Godhead@ (1) is a term to describe the one God who is three persons (2). We cannot understand this, but must take by faith what is revealed in the Bible. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the three persons. They have been present from eternity. God also knows the end from the beginning. He is A Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, ... which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty@ (Rev 1:8). The great ever present A I Am!@ (Ex 3:14).

Attempts have been made by the early A Church Fathers@ to describe the Trinity. What they wrote would have to be called educated guesswork (3). It is better to just accept the simple statement above, that God is three persons in one. A Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection@ (Job 11:7)? (4)

The Council

The three persons within the Godhead held council before the Creation of this earth (5,6). God determined to create from the dust of the earth an intelligent being who would have free choice. He accepted the risk in free choice as He desired a love freely given. He even knew that man would choose wrongly. However His desire for true love and the value He placed on free choice was so important that He took that risk. In Council a plan was made to deal with sin if it should arise.

In the Plan of Salvation it was determined that Jesus, the Second Person of the Godhead would come to earth as a man, fully do the will of God by living a lawful, sinless life, thus showing what God is like.

Jesus was a gift given by both the Father and the Son, and is described in these two verses:

Jesus Christ, who is the Lamb of God did the will of the Father at every step in His life on earth. When the time came, He went to Calvary to make a sacrifice that A all men@ might be saved if they would. Jesus is the Lamb of God and the A Hero@ and the focus of the Covenant (7).

The Lamb of God

Jesus is the lamb brought to the slaughter of Isaiah 53:7. The sin offerings and the daily sacrifices in the temple were types of Jesus, the true Lamb (Exodus 29:38, 39). The Passover Lamb pointed forward to Him and salvation through the blood (Exodus 12:4,5; 1 Cor 5:7).

The continual morning and evening sacrifice of a lamb, under the Jewish law, pointed to the priestly ministry of Jesus Christ, for ever pleading His blood before the throne of God (Revelation 5:6).

John the Baptist, pointing to Christ, calls him emphatically, A The Lamb of God@ (John 1:29, 36). All the lambs which had been hitherto offered had been furnished by men. Jesus, the true sacrifice, was provided by GOD, as the only sufficient and available sacrifice for the sin of the world. In Christ there is atonement for sin and effectual removal of sin from His people (8).

In the Bible, a AUniversal Covenant@ is implied rather than described. The character of God is portrayed in His law, with which all creation is governed. Adam and Eve in Eden as well as all sinless created beings were under this A covenant.@ The terms were very simple, A Obey and live, disobey and die.@ Sinless beings B angels in heaven and men on other planets all lived in close fellowship as did Adam and Eve in Eden. God was in the center of their lives and the focus of all their plans, their thoughts, words, and actions. They did not focus on law, it was just natural for them to obey their Lord.

In this A Covenant@ there was a mandate, a work to be done. God commanded Adam and Eve to A be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth@ (Genesis 1:28). This was the promise of family and land, not just Canaan, but the whole earth! Man was given dominion over the earth, he was to name the animals and to till the garden, and he was to eat of the grains, nuts and fruit. Only one tree was restricted from them: they were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. All other aspects of law were gained by observation of what God did B including resting on the seventh-day.

Was Jehovah to them a God, and were they to Him a people? Yes! This relationship was acted out on a daily basis.

Were Adam and Eve living in the grace and power of God? Were they taught a lifestyle that was free from sin? Yes! By beholding Him, communicating with Him, and observing that He isA gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth@ (Exodus 34:6) they became more and more like Him. Sin? What was sin? They knew nothing about sin, and it was God= s intent that they not have this knowledge!

These facts made up the relationship between God and Adam and Eve. A similar relationship existed with all sinless created beings. Some have called this the A Universal Covenant.@ Nothing was said in the Bible about a A Universal Covenant@ except what can be implied from Genesis.

Even this one restriction (Genesis 2:116, 17) was a promise of love, and included:

Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit do not live bound by time as we do. They know all things and they knew before hand that Adam and Eve would sin. Yet . . . they still created them. He still gave them the power to choose good or to choose evil. A loving God desired a love freely given.

Before the fall Adam and Eve were perfect and had strength to obey. If they had obeyed God, they would eventually have been confirmed in righteousness and the temptation removed.

How Many Covenants are There?

We have already talked about the universal covenant for sinless beings. Now what happened after Adam sinned? A Plan of Salvation had been made before the world began. The Bible did not use the word A Covenant@ at that time. However, covenant principles were worked out B Jesus was to come as the Messiah to live among men, die on the cross, be resurrected, and be our High Priest in Heaven.

Does God have more than One Covenant of Redemption? Consider that there is:

This covenant was unique. No other covenant was made before the foundation of the world. No other covenant was made as a binding agreement between the Father and the Son. And no other covenant was confirmed or ratified by the sacrifice of the Son at Calvary. This was called the covenant of redemption, the everlasting covenant, the new covenant, and my covenant (9, 10).

The central focus of this Covenant was the promise of the Messiah who would live among men, die a sacrifice for sin, be resurrected and serve as our High Priest in Heaven. God= s purpose was to restore everything that had been lost in Eden. Along with this central focus there were promises that varied according to the needs of people at the time. Through grace people= s lives would be changed, and man would return to God his praise and his service. There were also the signs of the Covenant: circumcision, Sabbath, baptism, and the Lord= s supper. God= s covenant people would also be known by their love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and faith.

The covenant was given in simple form to Adam and to Noah. More details were provided to Abraham; and much more detail was given to Israel at Sinai. A renewed emphasis was made for holy living in Jeremiah 31:31-34. The clearest picture of the character and purpose of God was shown in the incarnation, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Considering these facts, does God have more than one covenant? No! He speaks of A my covenant@ fifty one times in the Bible, including references in Romans and Hebrews. In every case A my covenant@ refers to the everlasting covenant of God. If the everlasting covenant is confirmed or ratified, does that mean it comes to an end, or is it established as fact? No question, the plan of salvation has now become an established fact, making effective all the sacrifices for the previous 1500 years, and providing a basis for faith into the future.

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