Lesson 20 The Eternal Covenant Purposed

                   The Eternal Covenant Purposed

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

Scripture begins, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen.1:1). In His word God shows us that in the beginning of time He was there (see Jn.1:1-3). There was a purpose to marking out a period of time in eternity - for a creation.

In the simplicity of the first statement concerning Himself, God shows Himself to be eternal and pre-existent to the time which He began. Also He showed Himself to be self-existent and sufficient for the things which He purposed and which He had planned for the period of time marked out in eternity.

We have God’s word for it that there are three personal beings in one essence God (see Is.48:16-17; Mt.3:13-17; Rom.1:20; Heb.9:14; 1 Jn.5:7). The Hebrew word for “God” here in Genesis 1is Elohim, the Mighty One. Elohim is a plural word. The Hebrew has a singular and a dual plural and a more than dual plural.

Elohim is more than dual plural. No number is given, but as we continue to study Scripture we learn that there are three persons and only three persons who are personal beings of Deity. Not one of the beings is begotten. Each one is eternal, self-existent and pre-existent to the beginning of time.

A person has an intellect, a mind with which to think thoughts and learn wisdom and take in knowledge and reason for oneself. Also a person has emotions with one’s own personal feelings and desires. Each person has his own personal will to make choices and carry through decisions of the choices.

With God, the three personal beings are of one mind, with one desire, and all of one will. God, in essence Deity, has a mind, but He does not learn. He is omniscient - all-knowing (Is.40:13-28; Rom.11:34).

We might ask ourselves, Why did this one God with three personal beings begin something by creating the heavens and the earth? What did He have in mind for His time, space and matter? As we read further in chapter 1 of Genesis, in verse 26 we read, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.” The plural word Elohim is used here also, and the pronouns “us” and “our” are plural. However the word “image” is singular.

We understand that God purposed to have other personal beings and that He created them, and that He created them male and female (Gen.1:27). God shows us that the purpose of the created heavens and earth is for an environment for His created mankind (see Is.45:18).

In the Pentateuch, the first five books of Scripture, written by Moses, God shows us how in six days He ordered His time, space and matter into the right environment for the man He created (see Gen.1). God shows Himself to us in His word, in His works and in His ways.

God is eternal - circular - without beginning or end. God is Life - eternal life (Jn.1:4). He is; that is, He has being. God is Light, eternal light. In Him is no darkness at all (1 Jn.1:5). God is Love - eternal love (1 Jn.4:7-9).

In His very being God is spirit (Jn.4:24). God is an immaterial, invisible being of spirit. Spirit does not have an image, yet He purposed to make man in His image. This meant He must make an image for Himself.

Only an omniscient, all-wise, all-knowing God could conceive a plan to have man in His image, after His likeness. Only an omnipotent, all-powerful God, who is also omnipresent, could carry the plan through.

Eternal God, personal being in very essence eternal Deity cannot reproduce His very essence. “Eternal” is “without beginning or end.” God could and did share the very essence of His spirit being with His mankind.

Man, each one a personal, living being, would be a thinking, feeling, choosing living being. And each one would come into being in time. Each one would have a beginning. Man also would, as a spirit being, be invisible and immaterial, without image.

There must be an image for God and man to share. The image must be corporeal. An image can be seen and touched. God chose a body for an image. The first body image must be created. There is no eternal image. A personal being can be put in a body as a dwelling place. The body will clothe the inner personal being of mankind. The clothing of the body would make the invisible person dwelling in it visible.

The living soul of spirit being in the body would animate the body. The speech and action of the body would make known the invisible personal being who is doing the thinking and feeling emotion and making choices. These are all carried out in the speech and the activities of the body and are also shown in body language.

In eternity past, before God began to carry out His plan in time, He formed the plan and designed man in His image, and made His Eternal Covenant with Himself with hope of eternal life for His man (Tit.1:2; 2 Tim.1:9-10; 1 Pet.1:18-25). The created body for man is the first step in the image of God. The image of God must be of eternal life.

There need be only one created body for man. Seed is put in the body of man to reproduce after his kind, bodies of human flesh. The seed would contain a germ cell of life to bring forth a like body of the life of the germ cell in the seed (1 Cor.15:38). This is true in the vegetable kingdom and the animal kingdom, as well as the creation of humanity.

It is especially illustrated in the vegetable kingdom. The seed for a body can be a seed coat containing a germ cell of life, or a bulb, or any part of a living plant from which a new plant will grow. The germ cell is needed to bring forth the new body after its kind of life. Life must come from pre-existing life and like reproduces like kind.

We see this in the creation of God’s first man. Jehovah God Himself formed the body for the first man. He formed it from the dust of the ground and breathed into the nostrils of the body the breath of life, and man became the soul of life, a living soul (Gen.2:7). “Breath” is the key to the life of the soul, the personal being of man. In Proverbs 20:27 the same Hebrew word for “breath” in Genesis 2:7 is translated “spirit.” “The spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah.”

The life of the soul activates the mind, emotions and will. The life of the soul is the very breath - life - of God Himself. It is spirit life, the life God is, shared with man by the eternal God. It is therefore endless life. The personal being, having come into being of spirit life, will always be.

Man himself, in his very being, was given life from the pre-existing life of God. It is life of His kind - spirit being. Not so the life of the created body. The life of the created body was not pre-existent. The life of the body of human flesh is in the blood (Gen.9:4; Lev.17:11). God breathed or blew the first breath into man’s lungs through the nostrils of the formed body and began man breathing on his own.

The body of the earth is the image of man in human flesh. You see the body. You can touch it. A created body is a thing of time. The body of human flesh will have an end. The personal being in the body has no power of sharing eternal life with the body. The personal being has life shared with God. God, who shared His eternal life with the personal being of man, must also give life to the mortal body. Life for a body is in the germ cell of life of a seed.

It would take two kinds of bodies of human flesh for the image of the earthy body of human flesh. First God created man in a body of the earth, earthy. It was a male body and seed was put in the body to reproduce after its kind - a body bearing the image of the earthy. The seed, when planted, would bring forth after its kind, a body bearing the image of the earthy - a body of human flesh. For conception of the germ cell of human flesh, the seed must be planted in a body of like kind, a body of the earth, earthy - a body of human flesh.

Therefore God must have a female body, a body of human flesh with a womb, where the seed of man can be planted to conceive life and develop an embryo and bring forth another body of its kind - human flesh. Man’s seed would bring forth either a male or a female body. The seed implanted in the womb of earth would determine which kind of earthly body would be birthed - a male or a female.

All earthly bodies, each birthed a body of human flesh, have one purpose. Each body of human flesh is a seed coat for a body in the image of God - the image of the heavenly Lord from heaven (see 1 Cor.15:35-49). At birth the seed coat is not given the eternal life germ cell to bring forth a body in the image of God - a birthed son of God.

For His image, God must have an immortal, imperishable body. The created body will not do. For the image of God, it must be after His kind - a body with life of spirit being. For such a body, God must have a seed. The seed will bring forth an immortal, imperishable body. The immortal, imperishable body brought forth from that seed will have seed in itself - seed for much fruit of immortal, imperishable bodies - flesh and bone bodies bearing the image of God.

For the seed coat God must have a body of the earth - in the image of the created body of human flesh. In that body of human flesh, God would put eternal life, the germ cell needed to raise up the body of the earthy out from the dead, alive, immortal and imperishable (see Jn.5:26; 1 Pet.1:3-5; 3:18).

The earthly body would be a seed coat to fall into the ground and die. The germ cell of eternal life would give life to the body and raise it up born again, with life of spirit being - the life of the germ cell. The body of spirit being raised up out from the dead would be Seed to bring forth much fruit of immortal, imperishable bodies of eternal spirit being to live forever (Jn.12:23-24; 11:23-27; 1 Cor.15:50-57; Phil.3:21).

God being omniscient, through His foreknowledge, could see that if He made beings other than Himself and gave them the freedom of choice, man would choose to lean to his own understanding and choose for himself other than what God had purposed for him.

God’s purpose for the body of human flesh in which He has clothed mankind is to be a seed coat for a forever living body. Therefore the personal being clothed with the body must not think of the body as his. The body is a creation of God, given to the person as temporary covering to cover, that is, to clothe the inner man until he receives the body birthed of the incorruptible Seed, the Word of God. Therefore, the body is God’s by right of creation (1 Cor.6:19-20). If the personal being does not choose to obey the truth to be born again, he will be unclothed forever (see 2 Cor.5:1-3).

Once a soul has been enlifed with spirit being and birthed in a body of human flesh and blood, the person will always be. God’s life of spirit being is. Death has no part in life eternal. The death of the body does not end the spirit life of the personal being - the soul. The soul is merely clothed with the body. The person wears the body like a garment.

Also, the person who dwells in the body must not think of the body as him. He is the personal being, the one who animates the body. The earthly body is only for here and now for one’s time upon earth. The earthly body has one purpose - it is the seed coat for a body in the image of God.

Man must, in his lifetime, choose to be born again (see Jn.3:3-8). He must, in the very being of his soul, come to understand God’s purpose for his being and choose to receive the Gift of eternal life shared with Him in God’s Anointed Son, Jesus, that he might bear the image of God forever.

As the body is given to the personal being of soul to keep and animate in the will of God - so - the soul of life is also given to the personal being to activate in the will of God. Man is to be enlightened as to the will of God in the very spirit of his being.

First man is enlightened through hearing the report of the gospel of Christ, who is the outshining of God’s glory (see 2 Cor.4:4-6; Heb.1:1-3). This light is given through the Holy Spirit shining the light into a darkened heart through a witness to the righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Jn.16:7-15; 15:26-27). This witness of the report of the gospel is passed from faith to faith. One having heard the report of the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation and having believed into Christ Jesus to become the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, passes the report on to others that they might have faith in Jesus Christ (see Rom.1:16-17; 10:13-15).

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 they with one another. They had the gospel of the glory of God as declared in the heavens in “The Heavenly Revelation of the Son of God’s Covenant,” which had been placed in the heavens on the fourth day of creation (Gen.1:14-19; Ps.19:1-6; 97:6; see Job 9:6-9; 38:2-7, 31-33). And 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 He began His public ministry in being baptized and anointed with the Spirit of God. 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 teach him the deep things of God, as each one desires to know (1 Cor.2:9-14; 3:16; Jn.14:26;              1 Jn.1:2-7).   

God is absolutely righteous and He is absolutely just. He only does right and justice. He only does good. 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).

As Adam was the progenitor of the entire human race to come from his seed, Adam could be put to the proof of the lawlessness of the heart of man in the flesh of humanity, of the earth, earthy. There would be no need for the proving of each one born of Adam’s seed. In the garden the heart of Adam was put to the proof - and proved all to be lawless at heart. Man would choose for himself and have his will over the will of his Creator-Redeemer. That is sin. Sin is lawlessness (1 Jn.3:4).

Jehovah God exposed the lawlessness in the heart of mankind in 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 (see 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).

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 eternal life. Both righteousness and eternal life 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 eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the ages eternal” (Tit.1:1b-2).

Before the beginning of the ages, there was 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 eternal life. 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.20:19-27). 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.2:24-31; 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 eternal life 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; see Lk.24:13-48). 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 eternal life (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 eternal life 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 Eternal 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 be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Heb.13:20-21).

This ends our lesson.