This series, entitled “Christ and Moses,” will be an examination of our status as sons of God. This, of course, will be a multi-part series and the intention is to look squarely and unblinkingly into the matter of whether or not Christians should go back and observe the Law of Moses. Or perhaps, more accurately, it should be put: people who were never under the law, should they go back under the law or should they go under the law? There is much teaching today in the world that looks at returning to the practices of the Old Testament as a means by which the faith of a believer may be perfected. In a sense, what is being taught is that you can be saved by grace through faith but what pleases God is that you go back and observe such things as the Ten Commandments, specific to such matters as the Sabbath, Kosher laws and the like. Quite a religious industry is forming around these notions but is it Biblical? And, more than that, even beyond the point of “Is it Biblical,” is it useful to you as a believer or is it actually harmful? These are the questions that I wish to examine but I want to do so within a broad framework and that framework is to compare two covenants of Scripture: the covenant of Law, enacted at Mt. Sinai, and another covenant designed to produce Sonship.
As we begin this examination I would like to take up the word, “covenant.” The word “covenant” itself refers to the extension of a person or, as it were, the extension of a hand. So when we think of the Old Testament as a covenant or when we think of any covenant it is as though God is extending a hand to man; God is, as it were, extending Himself in some fashion. It means that the matter of covenants in the Scriptures is a very serious matter because in ways it involves the extension of God to man. This would be, quite obviously, the extension of God’s goodness and God’s grace to man.
I would like to begin with an interesting Scripture. This is found in the book of Revelation, chapter 13, verse 8. Here it says, “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.” Now we are familiar with the fact that the Scriptures teach us that Jesus was slain—Jesus being the Lamb—John described Him in the gospel of John as “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (Inserted – actual verse—“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” – John 1:29) So the reference to the Lamb here is very clear in Scripture. It is a reference to Jesus Christ, a man who was to be the sacrifice for all mankind.
John—when Jesus appears to him at the place called Aenon near Salim where there was much water, and where John was baptizing—when Jesus appears to John, John makes the declaration, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” By contrast of course, no lamb—no animal—was ever said to be able to take away the sins of the world. The Lamb, the Scriptures tell us, was slain from the foundations of the world.” (Inserted –Revelation 13:8)
What does that mean, though? It is clear that Jesus died on the cross at Calvary. That’s an historical fact and the reality of the life of the Christian, but how could it be that the One who was identified by John, and identified throughout Scripture as “the Lamb,” even when there were lambs (animals) slain in the Old Testament, it was apparent that this was in anticipation of Jesus coming… that these were types and shadows, and in fact, according to the book of Hebrews these lambs and the blood of these lambs could not take away sin. (Inserted – actual verse—“But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” – Hebrews 10:3,4)
So when John declares that Jesus is the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world, he is speaking to the fulfillment that was foreshadowed previously by animals that were sacrificed. But since Jesus is the Lamb, how could it be that at once He is slain from the foundations of the world and also slain at Calvary? Why would this be so? Because clearly the foundations of the world, in terms of time, is a very different time from Calvary. We know specifically when, in human history the event of Calvary occurred but we do not know, in terms of human history, when the Lamb was slain from the foundations of the world because this predates human history. It is an event done beyond time.
Well which one is true? How is it possible to have the same event be true in two different venues and at two different times? Well the answer, of course, is that there are two realms. One is the realm of time and the other is the realm of the eternal. The Lamb was slain from the realm of time at Calvary, but the same Lamb was slain before time in the realm of the eternal. Now this is critical—this distinction is critical—because the Lamb being slain from the foundations of the world means that this is an event that frames human history because the relevance of the Lamb being slain is a relevance to human history. The fact that He is slain before man is created indicates that something is going on which, in turn, frames human history and the slaying of the Lamb is an essential part of that which frames human history.
Well then the question is: what is the thing that frames human history because that also explains why human history was even started. Why did God create man? The explanation of the Lamb gives us also the answer that human history comes about within the context of something that involves the Lamb. Now the Lamb is a price that is paid… the shedding of the blood of the Lamb is a price that is paid. So the price is paid before man is created, so the question is: For what reason is this price paid? This price is paid, according to John 3:16, that the sins of the world might be taken away. (Inserted—actual verse—“ ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”)
What that’s telling us is that before God created man, a) God knew that man would sin and b) Knowing that man would sin, God provided a full sacrifice, a full payment for the sins of man. The conclusion is inevitable, and that is: that it was anticipated that man would sin and God fully paid the price for all of the sins of mankind before man was created. That means that there is an operative framework for human creation. That framework is a covenant that God makes, which covenant He pays for before He creates man. Now, with whom would God make a covenant before the foundations of the world? The Lamb is slain from the foundations of the world; that is, no man is around. Adam is not around; his progeny is not around. With whom then would God make a covenant for the salvation of man? Simple. God made a covenant with himself, guaranteeing that He would make it entirely possible for man to be saved before God creates man. Now how is this possible?
Well again, as we were saying, there are two realms: there is the realm of time, which is linear, and it began with the days of creation referred to in the book of Genesis. On the sixth of these days of creation God creates man. It will end at a point beyond the millennium as the millennium comes to a close, referencing, according to Scriptures, approximately 7000 years of human history. Now, with that being so, there are events that precede human history. For that to be the case these events must take place outside of time and any event that takes place outside of time takes place in the “other realm”—the realm of the eternal. Now what that does is that it establishes that there is a difference between “time” and the “eternal.”
In “time,” we are on a sequence of events leading to certain conclusions so there is yesterday, today and tomorrow and in order to know what tomorrow will be, we must go through yesterday and today. We cannot actually tell, in this linear progression, what tomorrow will be. We know “tomorrow” when “tomorrow” comes. We know “yesterday,” however and we have some sense of “today.” So what we do is we take the fixed events of yesterday, we overlay them with the events of today, and we extrapolate to the future. That is typically the way that man knows what the future probably will be like.
But with an eternal point of view, you have a very different reference. In the eternal point of view, the end of a matter is known from the beginning so one does not simply wait to find out what events are going to be in an eternal perspective. In an eternal perspective, you understand what the end is from the beginning. Therefore, the future is not an issue. The purpose of looking at things from an eternal point of view is never to know the future; you know the future. An eternal point of view, however, helps us to understand a rational one. When God is about to do something, from an eternal point of view, He already knows the whole matter. He knows the conclusion before He inaugurates the first event.
So God will put something in human time that has an eternal frame of reference that is complete. If you are viewing the event in time from an eternal perspective, you know what the event means in time because it has a full reference, a complete reference, already known and already established. If however, you are viewing the same event from the point of view of time, you only know that event. You do not have the context that references that event, so the event stands alone in time. And for you to properly understand that, additional events have to be put in the sequence leading to the completeness so that you look at the composite of these events over time and you infer an eternal purpose.
If you can begin observing “time,” knowing the eternal fullness, the completeness of the matter in the eternal, then everything in “time,” makes perfect sense—because you know its reference. If, on the other hand, in “time,” you do not know what the eternal perspective is then you are guessing and you will be, at best, slipshod in your perspective of what the thing means. I’ll give you an example. There are two events that are related to each other that are recorded in human time, recorded in the Scriptures. They are the events of the creation of woman, with the opening of the side of Adam, and a second reference to a man’s side being opened in Scripture occurs in the gospels. That event, of course, is the opening of Jesus’ side on the cross, to which there is this scripture: “A new and living way was opened through the veil, that is to say, his (Jesus’) flesh.” (Inserted – actual verse—“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,” – Hebrews 10:19, 20)
Now when God opened the side of Adam, He took a rib out from which He made a woman and brought her to the man and the man said, “ ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.’”—a reference in Genesis, the 2nd chapter. (Inserted – Genesis 2:23) Now, when the same event is referred to—and this time in the New Testament, in the book of Ephesians, the 5th chapter, the following is said, “ ‘For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’” And it goes on to say, “This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.” (Inserted – Ephesians 5:31,32)
So the two events are linked directly by Scripture. The event of the cross in which the side of Jesus is opened is linked to the creation of Eve out of the side of Adam… the two are linked in Scripture. Then what is the point? The point is that the second of the two events—that of the cross—explains the first. God created a woman, opening the side of a man and removing a rib from which He makes the woman. This is to show us how… that before the creation of woman, man and woman were in the same person called “man.” The extraction of the rib in the creation of the woman meets with the response from Adam, “This is now flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones.”
This leads us to the belief that initially, man and woman were fully integrated. The thing taken out of the one makes something of the other that is perfectly compatible with the one. With the side of Jesus being opened, the Scriptures say that, “A new and living way is opened through his veil, which is to say, his flesh,” and references those who are lead to Christ, who are Christians, as being the bride of Christ, and salvation occurs by the insertion of the bride into the husband. (Inserted – actual verse—“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” – Hebrews 10:19-22)
So we are meant to be saved, “in Christ.” That speaks not so much of the physical body of Christ, which was physically resurrected and physically transformed and taken into heaven. This however is a reference to the body of Christ. The difference, of course, is between the body of Jesus and the body of Christ. The reference to the body of Jesus is a reference to his person; his person is fully invested in heaven with the investiture of being King of kings and Lord of lords. And the Lord shall be revealed from heaven at the appropriate day. But the body of Christ—a reference to His anointing and the inclusiveness of His anointing—is a reference to us, who are “in” Christ. Jesus being the head, which is in heaven, and ourselves, the body, which is both in heaven and on earth according to the Scriptures in the book of Ephesians. (Inserted – actual verse—“And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.” – Ephesians 1:9, 10)
Now, what we are seeing with this example is that there is a reality that is in time but the explanation of that reality in time comes from the eternal. When you see the event of Adam, if taken by itself, you do not have an understanding of what it means. It is poetic, it is beautiful in its implications but beyond that it is stalled. When however you understand the complete picture that Jesus is indicating in the creation of Adam—that the woman may be taken out of the man and therefore the woman may be re-inserted into the man—you have the gospel preached in the message of the creation of woman.
We’ll come back and reference this during the course of this series of messages but the point of all of this is to establish that before God created man there were events already launched intended to benefit man and that means that the framework of creation—the framework in which man is created—is an existing covenant: God with God, guaranteeing that whosoever wills, might be brought into this existing covenant. This is a covenant of sonship and the reference of it is found here in the book of Hebrews, the sixth chapter, which says this… this is speaking about the fact that God created man with the intention of saving him. Verse 13 of Hebrews 6 says, “When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, ‘I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.’ And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things (the oath and the promise) in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.” Now he goes on to say, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” (Inserted – Hebrews 6:13-20)
So he tells us who is swearing to whom and on whose behalf. Before the foundations of the world God swore to God and God swore to God, because whenever you have a covenant you must have party number one and party number two. Party number one promises to party number two and party number two promises back to party number one. But in this case, man is also meant to be benefited. So you have a third party. He [man] is not a part of the covenant because he is not “A” or “B”—he is not God or God—but he is intended to benefit from the covenant that God has made with God. Now that third party is man and the specific man to whom this promise is given is Abraham.
God swears to God that God will have sons… that God will have sons, and in human time God will attach this covenant specifically to the lineage of Abraham. God however began with having a son whose name was Adam—the very last verse of Luke, chapter 3, says, “Adam is the son of God.” (Inserted – actual verse—“The son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.” – Luke 3:38) So God begins creation with a covenant that He has established with Himself to have sons. Now when God swears to God about any matter and God swears back to God—when that’s the case—whoever is benefited as the third party has a promise that is unshakeable. This covenant that God makes with Himself is a covenant to have sons… to have sons. Whoever becomes the son of God has a promise that is as unshakeable as the Word of God. Heaven and earth shall pass away but that promise will not be shaken. (Inserted – actual verse—“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” – Matthew 24:35) Join me as we continue this discussion. I’m Sam Soleyn and I’ll see you again.
Scripture References:
Revelation 13:8
John 1:29
Hebrews 10:3,4
John 3:16
Genesis 2:23
Ephesians 5:31,32
Hebrews 10:19-22
Ephesians 1:9,10
Hebrews 6:13-20
Luke 3:38
Matthew 24:35
