November
28, 2003
THE
COVENANT OF GRACE IN EDEN
"The
Lord God said to the serpent: - - I will put enmity between
you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He
shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel"
(Genesis 3:15, NKJV).
The covenant
of grace was first made with Adam and Eve in Eden when after
the fall there was given a divine promise that the Seed of
the woman would bruise the serpent's head. To all mankind,
this covenant offered pardon, and the assisting grace of God
to all who would trust Him through faith in "her Seed".
Thus the patriarchs received the hope of salvation through
the symbol of a lamb to be slain for their sins, prefiguring
the "Lamb of God" (John 1:29 & 35), to be slain
for the sins of all who would accept God's values and His
provision for their redemption and salvation.
God's
law, His values, existed before man was created. After Adam
and Eve chose to listen to and accept the words of Lucifer,
through the medium of the serpent, rather than the word and
warnings of their Creator, they forfeited their special connection
with their Creator and became subjects of the one they chose
to believe. God's law and His values do not change. They have
existed from the beginning and will continue to exist throughout
the ceaseless ages of eternity.
After
the transgression of Adam and Eve, the principles of the law
were expressed to meet man in his fallen condition. Jesus
- Michael - the Son of God, and the Father, instituted a system
of sacrificial offerings; that death, instead of being immediately
visited upon the transgressors, should be transferred to a
victim which would prefigure the offering of the One who would
perfectly live out the values and principles of the law of
God and become the Redeemer of the race, of those who love
and value what God has to offer. Through the blood of this
victim (a lamb), man could look forward by faith to the blood
of Christ which would atone for the sins of the world. "For
He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us,
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him"
(2 Corinthians 5:21).
The mission
of Jesus on earth was not to destroy the law, but by His grace
to bring man back to obedience to its principles. By His own
obedience to the law, Jesus testified to its value and immutable
character. He came to "fulfill" the law (Matthew
5:17, 18) for you and me, and place its values in our hearts
to live by (Ezekiel 36:26; 18:31, 32). Adam and Eve had this
promise from the beginning.
Adapted
from "God's Amazing Grace" p. 131.
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