“And you shall be unto me a kingdom of Priests, and an Holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9
God’s wonderful eternal plan for His children is seen in the above verse.
Yet, we learn through scripture that from before time God knew how mankind would sin and also how He would send a Savior to redeem them.
We read God’s message of salvation through a Savior in both the Old and New Testaments. It is through the covenant of grace God made with man that we would see his plan. This covenant of Grace is undeserved favor. What sinful man deserved was God’s wrath.
To see the first mention of God's plan we must go back to the book of Genesis. When man was first formed he was without sin. There was no commandment given from God yet, therefore he was not in sin. (I do not agree with the phrase that some will use, 'Adam was perfect'. When I buy a new appliance for my home I believe it is good but until I have tested it I do not say it is perfect. To say something is 'perfect' we must put it through various tests or circumstances.)
Let us begin at Genesis 2:8
"The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed.”
“Out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Gen. 2:9
Here we now see the One Commandment God gave the man:
“Of every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Gen. 2:16-17
God would make a ‘help meet’ for man, taken from his side:
“And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.” Gen. 2:22-23
We see how subtle the serpent was, whereby he deceived the woman in making her doubt what God had said. She was also told “ye shall not surely die.”
“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise. She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” Gen. 3:6
Afterwards they knew they had sinned (“the eyes of them both were opened; they knew that they were naked”). They attempted to make their own covering for sin (made from fig leaves), and then hid from God.
The Shepherd’s voice was soon calling out for His lost sheep, “where art thou?” And the man said, “I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.” He would blame the woman: “She gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” And the ‘woman’, she also found someone to blame: “the serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." Gen 3: 9-13
From this first sin of disobedience we see how mankind has since failed to recognize sin in their own lives.
Now to those 'Blessed' of God. . . "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." Gen. 1:29
Surely, from this lesson in God’s Word we now realize that there are two trees to eat from. Man will eat from either one or the other. We must ‘eat’ from God’s ‘tree of life,’ from the true ‘seed’ Christ who died on that tree (the Cross) which brings eternal life.
“And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.” Mark 14:22
There is only one other tree to eat from. . . the ‘tree of good and evil’. Satan would try to deceive the very 'elect' (if it were possible) into following after him into disobedience!
We must recognize who Satan approached with his deception. It was ‘the woman’, who was to be the ‘help meet’ of man.
“She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.” Gen. 3:6
We shall see what happened to the man:
“Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” Gen. 3:23-24
Has Satan beguiled you? Do you know from which tree you are eating?
Christ is seen as the 'second Adam', whereas earlier the 'woman' was taken from Adam's side . . . On the Cross, it was Christ's side that was pierced and the Church (the 'woman') was born (or born again).
"Jesus answered and said unto him: Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3
“But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came their out blood and water.” John 19:34
(His children are washed in His blood and continually cleansed through the washing of water, His word.)
The Bible tells us that man was banished from the garden. He was now a sinner, following after the serpent in rebellion and would eventually also die physically. Since man descended from Adam, they inherited his sinful nature and are under God’s wrath and curse.
The first hint of God’s plan is told us in the garden when he told Satan:
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel.” Gen 3:15
This verse reveals to us that the ‘woman’ (the ‘help meet’) would become the church, the redeemed. She is taken out of man and redeemed through the 'Son of man', Christ. She is the ‘elect’, the ‘chosen few.’ Christ is the true seed.
"But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." 1Cor.6:11
Let us carefully read Genesis 1:26-28:
"And God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he him. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it.
We must remember God is Spirit. The Old Testament saints looked forward to a Savior, the N.T. saints look back on Him. All believed God and are 'created in God's image'. We were already flesh and blood but are now led by God's Spirit.
Let us also read Genesis 2:7:
"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
The above is a description of the physical man formed only of the dust of the ground. (God breathed into his nostrils.) But, he is not of the spirit. He needs a 'help meet' which was 'the woman.'
"That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." John 3:6-7
We can now understand. One is of man 'formed' out of the dust of the earth and one "created in God's image", Jesus Christ. Have you been born again?
"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Romans 8:29-30
God's children were known by Him even in those days when "the heavens and earth were finished, and all the host of them." Gen. 2:1 We realize God saw us through time, even as He said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."
As we look ahead into the book of Revelation, we see how angry Satan is with the woman who was born again in Christ.
"And the Dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Rev. 12:17
And once again, going back to the Old Testament, we see a gradual unfolding of God’s plan of salvation. Man is in such darkness he must first recognize what sin is. The law is seen as a “schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we may be justified by faith” Gal. 3:24. We are taught how grievous sin is through the many blood offerings and sacrifices of bulls and goats to ‘cover sin.’ The Old Testament sacrifices had no power to take away sin but God used these types or shadows to point us to the true Lamb of God who would yet come to redeem us from our sin. Christ was that fulfillment. Man was not saved through the keeping of the law, but by the law is the knowledge of sin. Through it God shows man how much he is in need of a Savior. Christ fulfilled all the law for us.
“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.” Romans 3:20-22
Christ was the ‘mediator of a better Covenant’. This covenant was made with man in which God purposed to save the ‘elect’ or ‘chosen few’ from among mankind. These few are sometimes called the Woman, the Church, his children, the redeemed of God, etc.
“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” Eph. 1:4-5
This covenant is by faith in Jesus Christ. It is through faith in His finished work alone that our sins are forgiven. We lay hold of the salvation found in Christ as the Holy Spirit applies God’s grace to our hearts by giving us the very faith to lay hold of Christ. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit was a most important gift that was promised and received by us after His Ascension. Through the Holy Spirit’s power of regeneration and sanctification we are made new creatures in Christ.
It was on the Cross that Christ, the true lamb of God, redeemed us with his blood; and through His death on the Cross, God’s penalty for sin was paid. He died in our place.
"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
We are blessed with eternal life and are once again in fellowship with God. It is only because of Christ’s sacrifice and His obedience to God that His children inherited these blessings in the covenant of grace. We are now clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
God Himself declared the price of sin, but . . He Himself paid the price in our stead!
“And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burndt offering: so they went both of them together.” Gen. 22:8
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4: 12
Through the Cross the power that Satan had over Man was broken. Man is no longer held in bondage to sin.
For God “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son.” Col. 1:13
We can freely serve God and receive His blessings. Christ was the true ‘seed’ in which “all the families of the earth would be blessed.” This is no longer confined to the nation of Israel. True Israel consists of those ‘circumcised of the heart.’ All nations now have the knowledge of the Lord and His salvation, both Jew and Gentile.
“Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life." Revelation 22:14.
