Joy in Christendom

Messianic Expectation

The Messianic Expectation is a theme, in fact it is probably the second biggest theme all through out the Old Testament.  That is to say that the promise of a Redeemer from the Father to His Children, provides Eternal Reconciliation to the Father by way of a Messiah.  As we see the Older Testament unfold, we notice that the Chirst-appointed promises, start out as vague and as we approach the first coming of Christ, they get more progressively specific.

This progression can most pointedly be seen, in the Covenants that God establishes with the Seed of Adam throughout history.  These Covenants are:

1. God establishes dominion and promises to kill Adam should he sin against him.  Adam who was made perfect, sinned against God.  God seeks out Adam who was hiding.  God provides a temporary covering for Adam (Gen 3:11-19), but also promises to save Adam and destroy the Devil (Gen 3:15).  All of Adam's seed is now tainted with Sin.
2. Noah (Gen 8:20-9:7).  God destroyed a world that was already too corrupt to allow it to continue.  Noah was spared.  God starts all over with Noah.  God commands Noah's family to disperse and populate the whole Earth and reiterates the Dominion mandate.
3. Abraham (Gen 12:1-3).  After the sinful actions of mankind at the tower of Babel, God makes another Covenant with Man through Abram.  God promises Abraham a greet seed.  God protects Abraham from himself and his efforts to botch the whole thing up and grants them the birth of Isaac.
4. Moses (Exodus 20).  God sends the "Seed" into captivity, allows them to intermingle with the Heathen to protect the seed. (Gen 38).  Israel, in captivity grows great and strong.  God, through Moses, delivers the seed from captivity.
5. David (2 Sam 7, 11).  The Chosen wanted a King, like the other nations.  The people appointed Saul, God appointed David.  God promises David an Eternal Thrown and promises the Messiah (2 Sam 7:5-17).

After these progressive covenants God sent prophets to remind His Children of their continued duty towards Him, their lack of ability to fulfill that duty, and reminder of the coming Messiah, God's provision of Reconciliation.  These can readily be seen in the following passages:

• Isa 7:14; 9:1-7; 52:13, 53:12
• Jer 23:1-6; 32:37-40; 33:6-9, 14-18
• Dan 2:31-45; 7:13-14; 9:24-27
• Mic 5:2-5
• Zech 9:9; 13:7; 14:1-11

We continually see man's persistent and unyielding sin against God and God's persistent presence, salvation, provision, and preparation for the coming Messiah.  God is the Faithful party, man is the whore.  Only with understanding this Glorious expectation can we truly begin to worship the Lord as the Eternal King, and perfect Messiah.  What a great time to be alive!

The Gracious Covenant of Works

What are we to make of the Creation Covenant, or what is commonly referred to the Covenant of Works?  There is much confusion today within the Church on the basic nature of this Covenant, which, I believe, being only a few degrees off on this one, gets us into strange territory, miles away from orthodoxy on the very nature of Redemption, the Work of the Holy Spirit, the Second Adam and God Himself.  We need to dispense with the idea that human works can merit anything from God, even before the Fall.

Firstly, Adam's obedience was never the grounds for eternal life.  For what can Man ever earn from God (see Belgic Confession Article 24, Galatians 5:6, 2 Cor 5:17).  Every breath that Adam took was a delightful gift from the Lord.  We should therefore, likewise never speak of man earning wages paid out by God.  Grace is not antithesis to the Covenant of Works, but the embodiment of it.

Adam's own inherent righteousness would not have been meritorious in nature; Adam was a son, not a "laborer".  The Edenic Covenant was not a contract and therefore Eternal life could never have been earned in such a way.  It was, in total, a gift of God, and man would obtain it in the way of covenantal obedience.  By way of contrast, we can say that unbelief was at the heart of Man's fall (see Gen 1:18-23 and Romans 4:20).

Secondly, we must remember that we are always indebted to God for the good works we do, and not He to us, since it is for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Phil 2:13). We do grave error to assume that this confession only applies to the dispensation of "grace".  The creation of man as the image of God was the very fruit of God's favor.