Lesson 1-B The Eternal Covenant Purposed

1/28/2013

Lesson 1-B

                                           The Eternal Covenant Purposed

                        Hebrews 13:20; Titus 1:1-2; 2 Timothy 1:9-10

              

In the beginning Jehovah God Himself in the person of the incarnate Son taught Adam and his wife of Himself as the coming Anointed Son of God. Adam and Eve shared the witness of the Holy Spirit with their children and them with one another. They had the gospel of the glory of God declared in the heavens. The report of the coming Son, man’s Redeemer-Deliverer, continued to be passed from faith to faith.

Today we have the more sure word of the prophecy (2 Pet.1:19-21). Our report is: Jesus has come as prophesied - born of a virgin (Mt.1:18-23). “He grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon Him” (Lk.2:40).

When He was about thirty years of age being baptized and anointed with the Spirit of God, He began His public ministry. A voice from heaven bearing approval, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (see Mt.3:13-17; Mk.1:9-11; Lk.3:21-23).

We share what has been witnessed to us: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor.15:3-4).

That each one of His creation of mankind may have the power to keep his heart with all diligence, and activate his heart in the will of God, God shared the very life of His spirit being with the inner man - the personal being - as the means of he and God understanding one another. When one has believed into Jesus Christ and has received the Gift of righteousness, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell with him in the tent body and teaches him the deep things of God, as each one desires to know (1 Cor.2:9-14; 3:16; 1 Jn.1:27).

God is absolutely righteous and He is absolutely just. He only does what is right and just. Man, being other than God, has a will of his own. He is not righteous, but lawless, sinful. Righteousness is what God is and only God is.

Righteousness must be shared with man through God’s Anointed Son, Jesus. Man must choose to believe in and receive the righteousness of God through putting his faith in Christ Jesus. “He has made Him, who knew no sin, become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor.5:21; see Rom.5:17; 1 Cor.1:30).

Jehovah God exposed the lawlessness in the heart of mankind from the very beginning (see Gen.2:16-17; 3:1-6). Through his first man the sin came into the world and death through the sin. Death passed through to all men born in bodies of human flesh (Rom.5:12). The bodies of the earth, earthy, were consigned to death, to become lifeless, and to return to the dust of the ground from where they came (Gen.3:19).

Adam was the progenitor of the entire human race. Adam was the representative man tested for all men to be born in his image of human flesh, of the earth, earthy (see 1 Cor.15:21-22).

Man’s two personal enemies, sin and death, must be overcome for him (see Heb.2:14-15; 1 Cor.15:26, 54-57). Man must be given the Gift of righteousness for power over lawlessness. He must be given the germ cell of eternal life in the seed coat of his humanity, that he might be raised up out from the dead in a deathless, glorified body of life everlasting. Both righteousness and life everlasting are in the Son of God. Both brought down from heaven as a Gift from God to man, a Gift freely given to be freely received (Rom.3:21-24; 5:15; 1 Jn.5:11-12).

In his letter to the Philippian assembly, the apostle Paul tells us of a transaction that took place in eternity past. We have no other record. Paul learned of this when he was being personally taught by Jesus during His three years in Arabia (Gal.1:10-18). Here in Philippians 2 we have a record of what was in the mind of Christ Jesus in eternity past when He was one of three personal beings of Deity, saying, “Let Us make man in Our image.”

“Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of [in very essence] God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form [the very essence] of a servant [slave], and was made in the likeness of men, and, being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross” (Phil.2:5b-8).

In this transaction we have an Eternal Covenant between the three personal beings of the Godhead.  It was to Titus, one of his sons after the common faith, that Paul wrote, “According to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging the truth which is after godliness, in hope of life everlasting, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the ages eternal” (Tit.1:1b-2).

Before the beginning of the ages, there were only the three personal beings of Deity, God, three personal beings of spirit, immaterial and invisible. They promised one another to give man hope of living forever in the body. All would be God’s doing. Each personal being of Deity would be faithful to doing His part in giving His creation of man life everlasting. The promised hope would surely be fulfilled.

To another son in the faith, Timothy, who became a pastor, Paul wrote, “Do not, therefore, be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord” ... “but be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the eternal ages, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death, and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim.1:8-10).

The salvation of the body in redemption of being raised up out from the dead and the salvation of the soul in being set free from sin, all given to us in Christ Jesus a holy calling to become a son of God. The gospel of Christ is “the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom.1:16).

God had a way to fulfill His Covenant purpose to have sons of God in His image. The “image” is a “body of flesh and bone” (see Lk.20:34-38; 24:36-43; Jn.20:19-29). Flesh bodies would be brought forth through seed. As we have seen in Scripture, the first body was formed for man from the dust of the ground and God put seed in man to reproduce after his kind - bodies of human flesh and bones with the life in the blood, mortal, perishable bodies.

It is in the body man must unite himself to His Creator. It is imperative the birthed body of the Son be in the likeness of man of the earth, earthy. God, through His own method of bringing forth bodies through seed, had a way to prepare a body of human flesh, a mortal body in the likeness of man, for the seed coat for His Son to be birthed of human flesh. Since one personal being of Deity volunteered to become the Son and take the likeness of man, one of the personal beings must be the Father of the birthed Son.

In His planned purpose, God had two men - each in a body of human flesh. Each body was a seed coat. One body was formed from the dust of the ground. One was prepared in the womb of a virgin.

In the body formed of the dust of the ground, God breathed a soul of life, a personal being of spirit life, God’s life. God had His first son of man to reproduce after his kind, bodies of human flesh. Each body was a seed coat for a body in the image of God. But there was no life in the seed coat for a body in the image of God. Without life eternal to raise it up an immortal, imperishable body in the image of God, the seed coat is dead - lifeless.

The prepared body for God’s second man, the last Adam, was a seed coat of human flesh with eternal life to raise up a body as the image of God. In that seed coat of human flesh dwelled the personal being who is God and who was willing to take the likeness of man (Jn.1:1-14; Rom.8:3). The life of that seed coat was eternal life. Out of that Seed God would have the body of His image. He would then have the means of having sons of God in His image (see Gal.3:26; Col.1:12-22).

The seed coat contributes to the body to be raised up from the seed, but an earthly body cannot bring forth an immortal, imperishable body. The Anointed Son of God, who is eternal life, must be received for the seed coat to have the germ cell of eternal life to raise up a body out from the dead, a body in the image of the heavenly Lord from heaven.

Because of sin, all bodies of human flesh, born of the seed of man, have been consigned to return to the dust of the ground. For God’s seed coat of human flesh, for the image of the heavenly, that consignment must be bypassed. The seed coat must be birthed, but the seed of man cannot be used. The Seed of the image of God must be able to put away sin and overcome the consignment to death of all bodies bearing the image of the earthy.

For the personal being of Deity coming to take the likeness of man, He must be a son of man, that is, the body must be of flesh of humanity, the likeness of man, but it must not see corruption (see Ps.16:10; Ac.2:24-32; 13:35; Rom.8:3). It must not go back to the dust of the ground. It must be mortal. Death is necessary to the plan, but the mortal body must not perish.

God had a way. He would use the germ cell of living flesh of a woman for the seed coat of human flesh for His birthed Son of Man. We are all familiar with Luke’s narrative of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. The angel Gabriel came to Mary to announce that she was chosen to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Is.7:14; see Lk.1:26-35).

This prophecy was first written in the heavens in the sign of Virgo (see Gen.1:14-19; Ps.19:1-6). Gabriel explained to Mary how she could conceive without knowing a man. The Holy Spirit would be the Father’s means of preparing the seed coat of the body of flesh of humanity in the womb of the virgin.

Quoting from Psalm 40, the writer to the Hebrews shares the fulfillment of the prophecy. Until the birth of Jesus, His work of putting away sin and overcoming death was pictured in figures and symbols of the sacrifices and offerings. But “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.  For this reason, when He [Jesus] came into the world, He said, ‘Sacrifice and offering You would not, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me) to do Your will, O God.’ Above, when He said, ‘Sacrifice, and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin You would not, neither had pleasure in them, which are offered by the Law,’ then He said, ‘Lo, I come to do Your will, O God.’ He takes away the first, that He may establish the second” (Heb.10:4-9). God’s Eternal Covenant with hope of life everlasting must be ratified in the blood of Jesus Christ shed in death. In His death justice has been done (see Heb.10:20; 10:26-29).

The living flesh of the womb used to prepare the body must be of a virgin womb, an undefiled womb, where no child had been conceived through man’s seed (see Mt.1:18-25). The body to be prepared for Jesus was holy. The One to dwell in it is the holy God, the Eternal (see Ps.22:9-10; 139:13-14).

In Jesus, the birthed Son of God in a seed coat of human flesh, God has a living seed to bring forth a body which is the image of God - a deathless, glorified body of spirit being of the life eternal in that seed coat. “Except [the seed] fall into the ground and die, it abides alone” (Jn.12:24a). There would be no deathless, glorified body of spirit being. Jesus would be forever in a seed coat of human flesh. There would be no seed of the Word of God to be planted in the hearts of the bodies of the earth, earthy. There would be no sons of God bearing His image.

“But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit” after its kind (Jn.12:24b). In the Son begotten from the dead God has His image. God can fulfill His purpose to have man in His image - much fruit of sons of God. In that one body, raised up in the image of God, God has germ cell of eternal living flesh and bone for every male and female born of man’s seed, of the earth, earthy.

“For the joy that was set before Him, [Jesus] endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb.12:2b). The crucifixion was necessary that Jesus and His creation of man have an exodus out of the body of human flesh consigned to the dust of the ground (Jn.12:27; Mt.10:32-38; Lk.9:23-26 Rom.5:12-21).

Jesus set His face like flint to go up to Jerusalem and suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day (Is.50:7; Mt.16:21; Lk.9:22, 51). In Psalm 16 we have the heart attitude of Jesus. “I have set Jehovah always before Me. Because He is at My right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore My heart is glad, and my glory rejoices. My flesh also shall rest in hope. For You will not leave My soul in Sheol, neither will You permit Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show Me the path of life. In Your presence is fullness of joy. At Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore” (Ps.16:8-11).

The lifeless seed coat of the human flesh of Jesus must be wrapped in spices and laid in a tomb. The Person who lived in it, the Son of Man, must go to Abraham’s bosom in Sheol, but He had no fear. The body would not see any corruption. Every care had been taken to keep the body from defilement. The sin which had been taken on that holy body had been consumed in the offering of His body in sacrifice. His soul would not be left in Sheol. His personal being would have a body of glory to be put on (see 1 Jn.1:1-2). He would be raised up on the third day.

The body of Jesus was raised up the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Cor.15:3-4). In the raising up, a change of form is made - a complete change of condition. The body is raised up deathless and glorified with life of spirit being - God’s life.

In the body raised up out from the seed of the body of God’s birthed Son, Jesus, one personal being of Deity has an image of God - a body deathless and glorified. God has a Son begotten out from the dead sharing His life everlasting (Rom.1:1b-4).

And all those in Abraham’s bosom would not be left in Sheol. Their day would come in The Resurrection of Life. They too would stand upon the earth in deathless, glorified bodies of spirit being like unto Jesus’ body (Phil.3:21; see Job 19:25-26). They would be raised up in the image of God.

Through the gospel of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. The gospel of God’s Anointed Son [Messiah, Christ] is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. The righteous shall live through faith in God’s Anointed Son. Each one shall be born again a son of God bearing His image.

The invitation of Jesus “Come unto Me” (Mt.11:28). He promised, “If any will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mt.16:24). The Greek word for “deny” has the meaning “to disown.” One must hear the truth that he is not his own, he is a creation of God, and disown his rights to himself.

If one does not serve God’s purpose to become a son of God, there is no purpose to his being. One must turn from his own way and go God’s Way and make his exodus out of the mere creation of a body of human flesh (Jn.14:6). “For whosoever will save his life [his soul of spirit being] shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He shall reward every one according to his works” (Mt.16:25-27).

The good news of the hope of life everlasting through being born again of the Seed of the Word of God can be planted in the mind of each heart born in a dead seed coat of the earth, earthy. Having received eternal life in God’s begotten Son, the earthly body becomes a living seed to bear the image of God (Rom.8:11; see Eph.1:13-14; 1 Cor.1:30; 2 Cor.1:22).

“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom is glory forever and ever. Amen” (Heb.13:20-21).

This ends our lesson.