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Sunday, December 9, 2012

We Have The God of Covenants, Signs, & Promises!

"...and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."  (Genesis 3:15    NKJV)

Here we have a Covenant.  God established the premise that the only way any person who truly feared, (i.e. revered, held in awe, ect.), God could live in this world with satan running wild would have to be in a [type of] relationship with satan in which enmity, or outright hatred, was the most relevant attribute of that relationship.

"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:  Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."  (Isaiah 7:14    NKJV)

These words of God were spoken to King Ahaz by the prophet Isaiah to convey a Sign of God's faithfulness to His promise to him after he refused to ask for a sign, and after the prophet made it clear that he was well aware the Ahaz was trying to play mind-games, we as New Testament Believers have to accept these words as the affirmation of a Covenant established between God and man.  This verification by God of the Messiah to come carried much significance for not only the Jews of that specific time period it was voiced to by Moses, but also right up until the time the final condition of the Messianic Prophecy was fulfilled. 

"13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, "Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you."  15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.  16 For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute.  17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.  19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, 20 where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."  (Hebrews 6:13-20    NKJV)

Now we have a Promise that outlines for us a '...hope we have as an anchor of the soul,...' 

We've looked at three Scriptures that display for us three very important attributes of God.  Without any of these three characteristics of the God - man relationship, that relationship would be incomplete. Now let's look a little closer at each of these three attributes.

1)  The first Scripture we looked at, Genesis 3:15, is actually very important to the establishment of the second of the Biblical Covenants, the Adamic Covenant.  God goes on in Genesis 3, speaking through Moses, to outline the conditions of that Covenant before fixing Adam and Eve up with some clothes and then kicking them out of the Garden in the eastward of Eden.

2)  Then we have a Sign in the second Scripture, Isaiah 7:14, that goes a little further to make clear what may be a little confusing to some, in regards to the Lord God making reference to the coming Messiah mentioned in Genesis 3:15.  (Note: Genesis 3:15 is actually the first time any person in the Bible, specifically God, first performed in the role of an Evangelist, or 'bearer of good news/glad tidings.'

3)  Finally, in the last of the three Scriptures, Hebrews 6:13-20, we have the all-important Promise that should be at the very core of every New Testament Believer's life.  An often overlooked fact here is that this Promise isn't limited to the hope of an eternity with God.  This Promise is of a life in the Kingdom of God, and that life begins the moment we come to the Throne of Grace and accept the shed blood of Christ as [the only] atonement for sin.

"20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!'  For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."  (Luke 17:20-21    NKJV)

Up until now we've looked at Scripture supporting that we do indeed have a God of Covenants, Signs, and Promises, and each of these Scriptures make reference to the coming Messiah.  Now let's look at this Covenant, this Sign, and this Promise fulfilled.

"18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows:  after His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.  19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.  20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in here is of the Holy Spirit.  21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."  22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."  24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son.  And he called His name Jesus."  (Matthew 1:18-25    NKJV)

As we read earlier in Hebrews 6:18, "it is impossible for God to lie..."  With this in mind, it shouldn't have come as any surprise that in His time, the promised Messiah was borned of a virgin of the House of David.

So, where does this leave us, as New Testament Believer's, today?  Do we sit back and mark time until the rest of the Biblical Prophecies are all fulfilled?

"21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.  22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.  23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  (John 4:21-24    NKJV)

While Jesus was in fact talking to the Samaritan woman specifically about her people and how and where they worshipped God, we have to take these words as words of warning for this present day.  Our time, as New Testament Believer's bound by the commitment we each made in regards to what we call 'The Great Commission' is growing shorter and shorter with each passing day.  This is evidenced by the constant changes we're seeing in this world gone totally mad that we live in, changes that while are not good for the general welfare and safety of mankind, are Scripturally necessary.

Are you ready for the end of days?