Some Of God’s Dealings With The Human Race

Issues – December 2016 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Some Of God’s Dealings With The Human Race

Some people believe the Church started with Adam. Without any expectation of the rapture, and thinking that we already live in the millennium, these individuals feel Christians will pass through God’s final judgment at the end of time. Many also say that the Church has replaced Israel. But what does the Word of God teach? The following pages are not intended to stir controversy. Rather, they seek to show things from God’s perspective – His thoughts expressed in His Word, the Holy Scriptures.

From Creation To The Fall And The Flood
The heavens are mentioned first in the creation account (Gen. 1:1). But from then on God directs our attention to the earth and its preparation for the first man. God revealed Himself as the Creator , or Elohim (Gen. 1). Subsequently He took the role of Sustainer and was called the L ORD God, or Yahweh Elohim (Gen. 2; see also Jn. 1:1-4; Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 1:3).

Everything was “very good” (Gen. 1:31 NKJV), yet soon afterwards, sadly, man failed in his charge to keep and cultivate the garden for his divine Master (2:15-17, 3:1-6). Adam and Eve were in a state of “innocency,” in that they had not done anything wrong. Yet, they were not immune to failure or sin. Almost immediately after God’s creation work was completed, the fall of man took place through satanic temptation and seduction, with disastrous consequences.

God was still in control and He maintained His rights without discarding man’s responsibility. He revealed Himself as Judge by asking Adam, “Where are you?” (3:9), but in His grace He offered an innocent animal as a sacrifice for Adam and Eve and clothed them with the skin of this guiltless substitute. They believed God, for they put their trust in Him in this new relationship, as seen in the name Adam called his wife: “Eve” – “the mother of all living” (vv.20-21). Also, God connected His relationship with the human race with “the seed of the woman” (v.15), which pointed to the coming Messiah.

Genesis 4 shows, however, that man had to learn that God’s plans cannot be fulfilled by human means or effort. Eve expected her first son, Cain, to be the fulfillment of God’s plan (3:15, 4:1), but she had to learn that her son could not fulfill it, being under the headship1 of a fallen man: the first Adam.

Their second son, Abel, a name meaning “vanity” and which connects to the worthlessness of man’s efforts, confirmed this point. But he, having understood the important lessons that God had taught his parents, brought to God a sacrifice as his substitute. This was according to God’s thoughts. Abel brought the firstlings of his flock and their fat (4:4) – representing the very best: God’s provision. Through this, though dead, Abel still speaks (Heb. 11:4). In contrast, Cain thought that God would be pleased with his own labor and sacrifice produced from a soil cursed by God. But that did not please Him, nor can anything like it ever satisfy God.

Notice that many details in these early chapters of Genesis point to man’s responsibility and God’s sovereignty, as well as His discipline and government. We see this not only in relation to Adam’s fall and the human race (Gen. 3-5), but also later with respect to the flood (Gen. 6-9), the Tower of Babel (Gen. 10-11) and other matters described in both the Old and New Testaments.

The Importance Of A Divine Sacrifice
After His intervention and judgment through the flood, God accepted Noah’s offering (Gen. 8:20-21) just as He had accepted Abel’s sacrifice. Noah’s burnt offering produced a sweet smelling savor – literally, an “odor of rest” – which ascended to God. It provided Him with “rest” even though the human race was still marked by failure, for “the imagination of man’s heart is evil” all his days.

The sacrifice gave God the necessary basis to dispense the blessings that the Noahic covenant stipulated (9:1-17). This covenant with the whole of creation is valid even now – lasting as long as the earth remains (see 8:20-22; 2 Pet. 3:10). It was established on the moral foundation provided by the sacrifice of clean animals – a beautiful illustration of the ultimate sacrifice of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, about 2,500 years later.

In His covenant with Noah and the human race, God showed patience with man (see Rom. 1:18-32, 3:19-23). He looked at Noah’s sacrifice and found in it satisfaction, or rest, as it pointed to the coming perfect Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ (Heb. 10:14). This better sacrifice, recorded in the Gospels, provided the basis for God to establish the new covenant (Heb. 9:23, 10:16-18, 8:10-13).

That brings up a question: How can God allow and even maintain a relationship with the earth or with humanity as He proved with the rainbow? The Creator-Sustainer is God: He is Light (1 Jn. 1:5) and Love (4:8). How could such a holy and righteous God have anything to do with the earth and humanity in their sinful condition after the fall, Noah’s flood, and especially after the rejection of the Messiah by His own people? To make such a relationship possible, God needed a “called-out” people with whom He could be associated and through whom He might reveal Himself.

Ultimately, on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice there would be a people prepared by God and linked with heaven to live for Him. They would acknowledge His rights and maintain them in the very world that is waiting for divine judgment (Gen. 10-11; see 1 Th. 1:9-10 for today). In history, God revealed Himself in the election and calling of Abram (Gen. 12), to whom God committed Himself in an unconditional covenant to guarantee a Seed, a land and a throne linked with a dynasty.2

On the basis of Christ’s accomplished work, God committed Himself unconditionally to His people, and He will fulfill the guaranteed elements. The new covenant highlights the new foundation on which this new relationship is established by the Messiah Himself through His sacrificial death and His resurrection.

God Intervening In Grace – Messiah’s Coming
God is the only One who can bring life into a scene of death3 (Gen. 21; Rom. 4:16-21) in true resurrection power (Rom. 4:24-25; see also Gen. 22; Heb. 11:11,17). He revealed Himself to Abraham, the “father of a multitude,” as the Almighty (Gen. 17), when the patriarch had no heir.

God, the Almighty, is able to keep His own for Himself, as sheep among wolves, in the very world opposed to Him and under Satan’s leadership, and in the midst of a rebellious and perverse generation (Phil. 2:12-16). God had made Himself known to Abram, a name meaning “exalted father,” as the Most High (Gen. 14:18-20) – that is to faith, to the father of all the believers.4 According to His rights and with these glories He will show Himself to the whole world in a soon coming day, as He already does to faith now. All this, and much more, is developed in the life of the father of the faith-family and in the patriarchs.

At various times and in several ways Abraham’s descendants did not respect this link with God; they even rejected it. Abraham himself failed in this, but he was restored again and again. Then, “in the fullness of time” (Gal. 4:4), the Son of God ? the eternal Son of the eternal Father, through the eternal Spirit ? came into this scene. He is the true Man from heaven, “the Second Man,” and He represented an entirely new order of things, without any possibility of failure or sin (1 Cor. 15:47; 2 Cor. 5:20; 1 Jn. 3:5; 1 Pet. 2:22).

However, the world created by Him did not recognize Him, nor did humanity in general. Not even His own people acknowledged Him, for they were not willing to submit to His claims (Jn. 1:1-18). After many proofs of His heavenly origin and mission – confirmed by seven remarkable signs in John’s gospel – “His own” definitely rejected the Christ of God, their own Messiah.

In contrast to this, heaven proclaimed its delight in this Man at His birth (Lk. 2:9-14), at the start of His public ministry (3:21-22) and towards its end, on the Mount of Transfiguration. Through the Shekinah glory cloud, God demonstrated His satisfaction (Lk. 9:35; Mk. 9:7; Mt. 17:5; 2 Pet. 1:17; compare with Jn. 12:28). He confirmed this in Christ’s resurrection, for He was raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father (Rom. 6:4). After ten days He ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9-10; Heb. 1:3) and He is there as a Man, seated on God’s throne, at His right hand – which means that He is God (Rom. 9:5)!

What is the significance of this important truth for believers and the human race in general? God found full satisfaction in the Man Christ Jesus and His work. He demonstrated His delight by raising Christ Jesus from among the dead and by welcoming Him into heaven, giving Him a place of honor (Heb. 5:5-10, 10:12) and “the Name above every name” (Phil. 2:9 lit.). Yet, the earth rejected Him – and still does – until every knee will bow to Him and confess that “Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (vv.10-11).

God’s Covenants Are With Israel, Not With The Church
After their redemption from Egyptian bondage, God made His covenant with Israel and limited it to them (Ex. 19:4-8), just as the new covenant will be with Israel and Judah (Jer. 31:31-34; Rom. 11:26-27). In the period of grace in which we live today, however, God shares with believers the spiritual blessings that will ultimately come with this new covenant.5 Thus, we may enjoy them now, although we are not under that covenant. God has no covenant with the Church. Instead, He has a much closer relationship with it.

In this context, Paul called himself and those with him “ministers of the new covenant” (2 Cor. 3:6), applying its principle for today, because God is for us (consider Rom. 8:31). But Paul made it very clear that God did not intend to bring the believers, whether taken from among Jews or Gentiles, under the law of Sinai (see Gal. 3-4; Eph. 2:11-13).

Our privileges bring responsibilities – not as legal obligations under the law but as a response from the heart. This response is not by keeping the law in thankfulness or for whatever reason, but through a moral transformation under the influence of the Holy Spirit and by our glorified Lord in heaven (Rom. 12:1-2; 2 Cor. 3:18). We are indeed under a rule – “the law of Christ” – but it belongs to the new creation, to a new order of things (Gal. 6:2,15-16), even though we still are in the context of the first creation as a testimony for God.

The book of Acts describes how the believers, called from among the Jews and from Judaism, had the same privileges as those called out of paganism. The enemy tried in different ways to bring the believers under a yoke (see Acts 15 for an example). If he could do so, it would take away the liberty of sonship under Christ and negatively impact their lives, ministry and worship – reducing the wonderful relationship with the Lord to mere religion. Sadly, this development has taken place in the history of the Church, foreseen by God but not intended by Him.

Similar events repeated since then in various ways and from generation to generation have brought many believers into bondage, just as with Israel on several occasions. In fact, every new generation of believers has to learn the same lessons6 that the first generation needed to learn. There is nothing new under the sun.

The book of Acts shows us the Church as a vessel of God’s testimony, sailing over the waters of this world. The Church is not of this world, but it is in it and a testimony towards it – as long as the water stays out of the ship. Acts also shows the heavenly origin and destiny of the Church, while the Epistles present the doctrine of this position and calling of the Church, linked with a glorified Man in heaven. “We see Jesus ... crowned with glory and honor” (Heb. 2:9) is our continuous occupation linked with an ongoing response (Heb. 13:15), now and forever for the glory of God.

ENDNOTES
1. To be in a permanent relationship with God, one needs to repent and believe (Rom. 3:21-26, 1:16-17); and from God’s side to be transferred into a new family under a new Head: Christ (5:12-21).
2. These elements are distinct but they belong together. With Abram’s calling the seed aspect is emphasized (Gen. 12) and repeated to Isaac and Jacob. Later, through Moses, God confirmed the land aspect (Dt. 28). With David God confirmed the royal throne and a dynasty (2 Sam. 7; 1 Chr. 17). The new covenant reconfirmed these points, putting them on a new basis, beyond possible failure. The Mosaic law was temporary to show the people’s failure, but it could not replace God’s unconditional covenant (see Gal. 3).
3. God’s counterfeiter, Satan, will imitate this power for a short period of time (Rev. 13:15; 2 Th. 2:4,9-11).
4. In Romans 4 Paul emphasized seven points with respect to Abraham, the father of all believers, and his faith:

1. Abraham believed God (v.17).

2. He believed in hope and against hope (v.18).

3. He was not weak in faith, when contemplating the impossibilities (v.19).

4. He did not waver in unbelief (v.20).

5. He grew strong in faith (v.20).

6. He gave glory to God (v.20).

7. He “being fully assured that what He [God] had promised, He was able also to perform” (v.21 NASB).

5. We are blessed with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ (Eph. 1:3). These are “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (3:8 NKJV), according to God’s purpose from before the world’s foundation. We enjoy already the blessings linked with the future new covenant. These are connected with the earth; in the world to come people will fully enjoy them.
6. The first generation had to learn them as they were “spoken by the Lord” (Heb. 2:1-3) and are taught in the 21 Epistles.

By Alfred Bouter