THE GOD OF GENESIS: REDEEMER
Notes
Transcript
GOD IS A REDEEMER
GOD IS A REDEEMER
21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?
7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
15 Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.
IN GENESIS 9 AFTER THE FLOOD GOD MAKES COVENANT:
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,
9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you,
10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth.
11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:
13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
COVENANTS ARE SACRED KINSHIP BONDS. THEY ARE RELATIONAL. SOLEMNLY SWORN AND RITUALLY ENACTED.
As Harvard professor F.M. Cross explains, covenant “is … a widespread legal means by which the duties and privileges of kinship may be extended to another individual or group, including aliens.” Covenants are sealed by oath-swearing, and the resultant familial bonds are ratified with the celebration of cultic rites and the regulation of legal conditions and obligations[i]
[i] Hahn, S. (2016). Covenant. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
In application, contracts are limited by the terms of the exchange of property (“this is yours, that is mine”), while covenants involve an exchange of life (“I am yours, you are mine”), which covers a virtually unlimited range of human relations and duties. In terms of motivation, contracts are based on profit and self-interest, while covenants call for self-giving loyalty and sacrificial love. Contracts are temporary while covenant bonds are permanent, even intergenerational. Such distinctions do not imply that covenants are necessarily opposed to contracts, since covenants call for both promise-making and oath-swearing (Heb 6:13–18). A contract is an arrangement in human affairs that may be reinforced by swearing a covenant, in order to add the more binding dimension of the divine.[ii]
[ii]Hahn, S. (2016). Covenant. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
REMEMBER GENESIS 15? GOD COMES TO ABRAM AND ABRAM COMPLAINS THAT GOD’S PROMISE HAS NOT BEEN FULFILLED AND THAT HE DOESN’T HAVE AN HEIR? GOD TELLS HIM TO GO OUTSIDE AND COUNT THE STARS – THAT IS HOW HIS OFFSPRING WILL BE. ABRAM STILL ISN’T SURE. SO GOD COMMANDS HIM TO GET A HEIFER, A GOAT, A RAM, A TURTLEDOVE AND A PIGEON – CUT THEM IN HALF AND LAY THEM OUT. THAT NIGHT GOD COMES TO ABRAM AND REAFFIRMS HIS PROMISES AS WELL AS GIVES A GLIMPSE OF UPCOMING CHALLENGES. THEN A “SMOKING FIRE POT AND A FLAMING TORCH” PASSED BETWEEN THE CARCASSES. V. 18 SAYS “ON THAT DAY THE LORD MADE A COVENANT WITH ABRAM…”
18 And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts—
HOW ABOUT GENESIS 17? ABRAM IS 99 YEARS OLD AND GOD FURTHER ESTABLISHES HIS COVENANT:
7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
HE THEN GIVES THEM THE SIGN OF THE COVENANT: CIRCUMCISION.
THEN IN GENESIS 22 AFTER THE LORD TESTS ABRAM WITH ISAAC GOD REAFFIRMS THE COVENANT:
15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven
16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,
18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
THERE ARE ALSO OTHER HUMAN COVENANTS.
REMEMBER GEN 31 WHEN JACOB TOOK HIS FAMILY AND FLED LABAN BUT LABAN PURSUED AND OVERTOOK HIM? LABAN SAYS IN V. 44 “COME NOW, LET US MAKE A COVENANT, YOU AND I. AND LET IT BE A WITNESS BETWEEN YOU AND ME.” SO THEY TOOK STONES AND MADE A PILLAR TO STAND AS A WITNESS. THEY OFFERED A SACRIFICE AND THEN SHARED A MEAL.
So, in that sense, the covenant established in Genesis is the foundation of the growing plan of revelation and relationship that God unfolds throughout the ot. And that comes to a climax in Christ, who is the culmination of God’s revelation and also is the basis for the possibility of relationship because it’s Christ and His death that give us the mechanism for relationship with God. Therefore, in His blood we find the new covenant, this new agreement, the new revelation, the new relationship that’s possible through Christ so that God’s plan is carried out to reestablish His relationship with those whom He has created.[i]
[i]Walton, J. H. (2016). OT302 Book Study: Genesis. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you,
28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.
33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.
2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street;
3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.
4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.
5 Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it:
6 “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,
7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.
16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.