4.0 The Covenant!
February 2008
Topics:
After the Fall
God’s Plan After Sin
The Everlasting Covenant
Cain and Abel
What Happened When Adam Sinned
Before the fall, Adam and Eve did not even think of sin. They were friends with God and loved to visit with Him. God gave them pleasure, purpose and meaning in life. Being intelligent and free to make choices made life interesting and creative for them. In the deep wisdom of God and His unsurpassed love for them there was always more to learn. They patterned their lives after what they saw of God.
When sin came into the world, the nature of man was changed. He had mistrusted God and broken the bond. Self became the center and focus of his personality instead of God.
“When man transgressed the divine law, his nature became evil, and he was in harmony, not at variance, with Satan. There exists naturally no enmity between sinful man and the originator of sin. Both became evil through apostasy. . . . Had not God specially interposed, Satan and man would have entered into an alliance against Heaven; and instead of cherishing enmity against Satan, the whole human family would have been united in opposition to God.” White EG: The Great Controversy, p. 505
Satan does not directly pose as God. Instead he deceives the sinner into serving himself. And the sinful self is described as “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it” (Jeremiah 17:9)? In choosing against God, man had chosen “another god” and in so doing had surrendered dominion of the earth to Satan (Romans 6:16).
“Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness” (Romans 6:16 NIV)?
What does it mean when Satan, through the serpent said, “and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4). Several things are wrapped in this statement: Adam and Eve in Eden knew only good. Now their choices would be broadened. Evil had now become an option, and having experienced evil, it would be easier to sin again. Man would now choose his own way. But what a tragedy this was, for “it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23).
In following their own way, they were now to seek their own pleasure, to work for their own support, to gather to themselves “things,” to seek for their own power, and in these to seek for their own meaning in life. Ultimately, in all this self-seeking they were doomed to fail, and, separate from God, would die. In doubting God, believing falsehood against God, and directly disobeying God in eating the fruit, Adam and Eve had exercised the option to sin. And once this was done, sin was always an option.
“And the Lord God said, behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil” (Genesis 3:22):
God came to change all this. He gave a covenant binding Himself to die in man’s place. Life would continue and men would have a basis for faith. They would learn about the self-sacrificing love of Christ and His joy, gentleness, patience, purity and peace. In knowing Him, men could again become like Him and respond to Him in kind. God would again become Creator, Saviour and Friend. Sin would no longer be an option.
The “wisdom” that they had gained caused Adam to blame Eve, Eve to blame the serpent, and both to blame God. The fruit of disobedience was immediately apparent: condemnation, guilt, blame, loss of fellowship, and fear to meet God. Their love and their joy were gone.
“The test given our first parents was the lightest conceivable. It was so light that there could be no possible excuse for transgression.
“After Adam’s fall God could have let Adam and Eve die and start again with a new pair. But that would be to confess failure. Would it not be better to give Adam and Eve another opportunity? Perhaps they had learned their lesson and would not disobey again. God could simply forgive them and give them another trial. But that involved other considerations. If given another probation, and if they again should fall, would not still another trial have to be given them, and another, and another, without end? And if that were done would they ever learn the lesson that death lurks in the least deviation from God’s will?
“Unless they learned this, safety could never be attained in this world or in the universe. God could indeed forgive, but the matter was not so simple as that. Man had sinned and it was necessary that he learn what the wages of sin are, and that God does not arbitrarily decree death because of transgression, but that death is wrapped up in the sin itself.” M. L. Andreasen: The Book of Hebrews, Washington, D.C., Review and Herald, 1948, p. 28
If you were the Father, would you trust your Son to come into Satan's dominion, on this earth? Would you send Him here as a little baby? From the human standpoint, this is hard to believe. Was God taking a chance?
He said, “Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me” (Hebrews 10:5). When God created Adam, He put into the human body capabilities that could, by grace, withstand the fiercest assaults of evil and come forth victorious. Those capabilities were fully used when Jesus Christ lived on earth. They are still present today. In Christ, man will reach his fullest potential!
God’s plan is to have a close association between the human and the divine. This beautiful relationship began in Eden. This is demonstrated in the Bible which is the message of God written in the words of men. The mystery of godliness (1 Tim. 3:16) is Jesus, second person of the Godhead, living on earth as a man. The efficacy of the grace of God is to restore the image of God in men, who now show “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27).
This is the goal of the Christian today. We are sinners. We need the objective law to show us what is right and to show us what God is like. More than this, we need to know Jesus Christ. Our relationship with Him must be close and personal. Our thoughts, words, and actions must be patterned on what He says and does. Jesus must be everything to us. Is there a law? Of course. However, with Jesus, we do not focus on a “law.” Instead we see Jesus who is “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28), “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
Before sin, Adam and Eve had perfect trust, fellowship and approval with God. After sin, they stood under condemnation of the law and deserved death (Romans 5:18). In Jesus Christ the law was fulfilled in His sinless life and the condemnation satisfied by His sacrifice on Calvary. Only in the promise of Jesus, the coming Redeemer, were Adam and Eve saved from death, and given hope for restoration and reconciliation.After the fall, Adam and Eve knew they were guilty. By nature they were now sinful and unable of themselves to resist the evil one. They were also under the condemnation of the law and could look forward only to eventual death. However, all was not lost. They did not yet know the mercy of God (Romans 6:23; 5:18).
God graciously brought the guilty pair back under the everlasting covenant, with the new provision of forgiveness of sin. The everlasting covenant was decreed in the council of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit before this world was made. Jesus became “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8; see also Matt 13:35; 25:34; John 17:24; 1 Peter 1:20). He would Himself meet the demands of the law. He would Himself take the sin of mankind, and offer His life a sacrifice.
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).
In these few words the covenant of redemption was instituted. Man would not be helpless before evil, there would be enmity between the serpent (representing Satan) and the woman (representing mankind). Man would have a conscience and would at least desire to do good. The seed of the woman (now representing the Messiah) would destroy Satan and all evil, but not before Satan would cause suffering for the Messiah (His trial and crucifixion).
God immediately clothed Adam and Eve in skins (Genesis 3:29). The inadequate and uncomfortable fig leaves were removed. Symbolically, the “covering” for man’s sin could come only through shed blood (Heb 9:22). In this act of mercy is seen the prototype of the sacrificial system, pointing forward to the Messiah who would make the true sacrifice for sins.
Cain and Abel were born to Adam and Eve. The Bible gives no details, but apparently Adam and Eve had begun to offer lambs as sacrifices. When Cain and Abel reached maturity, they were themselves to offer lambs for sacrifices. With unlimited range land to feed on, lambs were cheap. Abel offered a lamb. Cain offered choice fruit as a sacrifice, thinking his was the better offering. But God recognized Abel’s offering and not his! He was crushed.
Cain, the older brother, was expected to be the leader in all things. His offering of fruit was an attempt to offer something of value. Cain showed a misunderstanding of the reason for the sacrifice. He showed rebellion against God by going his own way and disobeying a direct command. And finally, he tried by his works, to gain the favor of God by his “valuable” sacrifice,
He expected God would be pleased with his generosity. The problem was that a blood offering was required. In giving fruit, Cain refused to recognize that he was a sinner, and that only by the death of the Redeemer could his sin be forgiven (Hebrews 9:22).
While the sacrificial system was instituted at this time, there is only occasional mention of sacrifices until Sinai. But this occasional reference to sacrifices probably indicated a pattern where sacrifices were offered on a regular basis.
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