The Everlasting Covenant - 2.0 Council from Eternity

2.0 Council from Eternity
Hubert F. Sturges, M.D., www.everlastingcovenant.com, September 1, 2010

Topics:

The Council from Eternity
Jesus’ Mission
Was This a Covenant?
Jesus is the Focus of the Covenant
The Lamb of God
Preparing to Come

Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). For this the hosts of heaven render Him praise, saying, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing” (Revelation 5:12).

The Council from Eternity (1,2)

The universe of God was built on the principle of freedom. God gave men and angels free will. They could choose to serve Him or not. They could obey His law or not. This freedom provided for a love that was chosen, not by instinct. It provided for creativity, interest, beauty, and the development of character. (See Genesis 1:26, 27, and article #3.1 References AEE, Topic #4, In the Image of God).

In His Foreknowledge, God knew that man would choose wrongly. Before the creation of this world in the council within the Godhead, the Father chose to give the Son, and the Son willingly chose to come and pay the penalty of the broken law. This plan was a mystery, held in reserve until such time as this plan was required (Genesis 3). What more does the Bible say (3,4)?

“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will–“ (Ephesians 1:4,5, NIV).
“This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time” (2 Timothy 1:9, NIV).
“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1:2).

Jesus’ Mission

When Jesus came to this earth, He followed the pre-arranged will of the Father. This plan was presented in the prophecies and symbolized in the sanctuary service. Yet when Jesus came, the Jewish nation did not understand His mission.

The Jews believed they were saved through their lineage with Abraham, and their meticulous keeping of the law; e.g. living an ethical, law-abiding life. They did not have a concept of personal sin, nor did they believe in a personal Savior.

Israel had a strong belief in one God, and to look on Jesus as Divine would have made Him a “second God” in their eyes. The Bible tells us that truth is often revealed only to those who are ready to receive it (4). Most could not accept or understand a triune Godhead (5). There were some who were ready to hear. Peter declared emphatically that “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The shepherd boys and the magi worshiped the Babe in Bethlehem. Mary’s cousin Elizabeth, and Simeon and Anna in the Temple recognized Him. There was a remnant who believed!

He did not fit their pattern for the expected Messiah. The prophecies of His first advent were mixed with prophecies of His second advent. The Jews did not have a concept that Jesus would die. They expected Him to set up a kingdom that would never come to an end. They had forgotten the meaning of the death of the sacrificial lamb (6-8). To the leaders of the nation and the theologians (Pharisees) Jesus was a mystery.

While these facts made it difficult for them to understand Jesus as the Messiah, or His mission; Jesus, Himself gave ample evidence as to Who He was through the prophecies and by His works.

Jesus is the Focus of The Covenant

“Was the plan made by Father and Son a Covenant?” Yes! It is. The Covenant is characterized by its focus on Jesus and His sacrifice on Calvary. There is also the Covenant promise, “I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” These features identify the covenant of God.

The Plan of Salvation is the Covenant of God, as it was made by God for man. The Bible also calls it “My” Covenant as it was initiated by God, and man had no part in it except to accept it by faith. It is the Everlasting Covenant that was made before Creation and spans all history to the New Earth. The term “New Covenant” from Jeremiah 31:31-34, and Hebrews 8:8-10; 10:16; Matthew 26:28, is used also to describe the covenant of grace.

All these terms refer to the Plan of Salvation. Jesus is the focus and the hero of the covenant (3). He would come to earth as a man, fully do the will of God by living a lawful, sinless life. He was the Lamb without blemish, eligible for sacrifice, a perfect sacrifice for sin (9,10). Then He would willingly go to Calvary and take the penalty for our sin.

6 “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
7 “Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
8 “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
9 “I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.
10 “I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation” (Psalms 40:6-10. See also Hebrews 10:7).

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

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
17 “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18 “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father” (John 10:17-18).

The Lamb of God

Jesus was 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 (3). The Passover Lamb pointed forward to Christ and salvation through His blood (Exodus 12:4,5; 1 Corinthians 5:7).

The continual morning and evening sacrifice of a lamb (7), under the Jewish law, pointed to the priestly ministry of Jesus, pleading His blood before the throne of God (Revelation 5:6) (3).

29 “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29; also vs 36).

Jesus was repeatedly spoken of as “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”(3) John the Baptist called Him “The Lamb of God” (John 1:29, 36). Jesus, the true sacrifice, was provided by GOD. He made effective all the symbolic sacrifices of animals in the centuries past (Hebrews 9:15). In Christ there is atonement for sin and effectual removal of sin from His people (6-8).

In the sacrificial death of the animal it was shown that sin was so offensive to God, that it separated the sinner from God, and in that separation there was death. The sacrificed lamb was an illustration or a symbol, and a prophecy of the ONE true sacrifice Jesus would make on Calvary. By His death men are brought back into favor with God and have access to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16) and just as important the law of God is upheld and strengthened for all the universe of created beings.

Was this understood by the people? No! It has been called “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints” (Colossians 1:26). The people had forgotten that the lamb pointed to a Redeemer who would destroy sin and restore what was lost in Eden (Genesis 3:15) (4).

Preparing to Come

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? What was at risk in the incarnation of Jesus Christ? See Article #17.0 Gethsemane.

The human Nature of Jesus Christ is a study with partial answers. He was born of Mary (Matthew 1:20), a normal human being - except that she was a virgin at the time of conception (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23, 25), and the baby was a “child of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 1:18). He came “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3; Luke 1:35) yet He was called “that holy thing.” The Bible indicates a normal childhood and young manhood.

Did He carry with Him knowledge from His Divine Pre-existence (Philippians 2:7, NASB)? If He did, He would not have been made like His brethren (Hebrews 2:17). He spent hours, even all night at times in prayer, depending on the Father, just as you and I are encouraged to do. These and other indications show that he lived a very human existence.

This came to a crisis in the Garden of Gethsemane. As a human being, He did not have assurance that His sacrifice on Calvary would be successful. Sin being so offensive to God, He feared that His death might be permanent. In the ensuing fierce struggle, He remembered His close relationship with the Father, and He committed Himself to His Father’s will.

What risk did the Father take? Some have said that the very existence of God and the heavenly order was at stake. This is, I believe, an overstatement. In His Divinity, the Father knew the end from the beginning. He knew that Jesus would be successful. But Jesus as a man did not have this knowledge. “But if Christ could be overcome, the earth would become Satan's kingdom, and the human race would be forever in his power” (White EG: The Desire of Ages, Gethsemane, p. 685-694). And if Christ should fail, the holy law of God would be left in question.

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, but can be successful only in the power of God. In Christ, man will reach his fullest potential!

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Articles In this section:

1.0 Covenants Explained
   1.1 References CEx
   1.5 General Terms
   1.6 Covenant Terms
   1.7 Theological Terms
2.0 Council from Eternity
   2.1 References CFE
3.0 Adam and Eve in Eden
   3.1 References AEE