SEEING JESUS IN NAMING THE ANIMALS

Seeing Jesus in Naming the Animals

¹⁸ And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” ¹⁹ Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. Genesis 2:18-20.

When it comes to Adam naming the creatures God created to live in His creation, scientific study comes to the fore. Adam didn’t say to the parrot, “I shall name you Polly!” Or to the cow, “I’ll call you Daisy!” Or “Dobbin!” to the horse or “Fido!” to the dog! or Flipper! to the dolphin. No! He named the creatures according to their essence. He catalogued them each according to their kind. Why? Because that’s the way God made them. “Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind’; and it was so” (Gen. 1:24). Says John Frame,

God’s word interprets His creation. After he creates the light, we read that “God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night” (Gen. 1:5). Similarly in verses 8 and 10. Calling or naming in the ancient Near East was not merely labelling. These names were not arbitrary designators, or chosen merely for aesthetic reasons as we often choose names for our children. These names said something about the thing that was named. In giving names to his creatures, and later asking Adam to name the animals (2:19-20), God established a linguistic system in which the true nature of everything could be expressed. As he has by his plan preinterpreted all things, so in creation he applies that interpretation to the world and makes that interpretation authoritative for all creatures. That interpretation includes evaluation. God looks on his creations and declares them good (1:4, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31).[1] 

Before we look at “It is not good that man should be alone”, let us mention in passing that fallen man has reinterpreted creation and the creatures therein. “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen” (Rom. 1:25). Therefore, it is best and far safer and more accurate to let God interpret His own creation including His own written Word. Thus, Sola Scriptura.

Now, we have already stated that the method that we are using to see Jesus in Genesis is a form of Biblical Theology. It is a method of using the Word incarnated to interpret the Word inscripturated. It is to let Scripture interpret Scripture. We have mentioned the words Sola Scriptura. Sola Scriptura means by Scripture alone. It came out of the Reformation. It asserts that the infallible Bible is the final authority when it comes to faith and Christian practice. Now, as we’ll see once we get into the thick of Adam naming the animals, Sola Scriptura also includes utilising church tradition, creeds, and historical theological insights when it comes to understanding Scripture.

            We have already utilised Mr Magoo as a fun way to illustrate some of the dangers of being myopic when looking at the Scriptures. Another not so funny myopic view is named Solo Scriptura, which aptly describes Mr Magoo squinting at Scripture. Solo Scriptura may resemble the words Sola Scriptura, but it is an animal of a completely different kind.

Solo Scriptura also goes by the name Nuda Scriptura, and, as the name suggests, it means Bare Scripture. Like a cuckoo’s egg laid in an inattentive and therefore an unsuspecting bird’s nest, Nuda Scriptura or Solo Scriptura insists that the only rule of faith is Scripture alone while rejecting all the Church’s historical creeds, confessions, and church authority. It’s kind of an “every man for himself!” way of interpreting Scripture. Thus, according to this approach, any Mr Magoo-like view of Scripture is as good as any other.

No doubt, these “nudists” will either ignore or pretend not to see the following quote from the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 1, Of the Holy Scripture, and what it says under sections 9 and 10,

 

9.  The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself: and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is not manifold, but one), it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly.

10.  The supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.

            By naming all the animals the LORD God brought to him, he was going to see how alone he was. “But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.” Budgies are good company and chimps would be a good help around the house and dogs may be man’s best friend, but nothing compares. Only a woman will do. The LORD God was going to make a comparable helper for Adam to help him bring God glory by accurately interpreting God’s revelation of Himself in creation. We’ll see up ahead when we get to it, that eating the forbidden fruit is related to Adam wanting to interpret creation his own way and not God’s way. He wanted to determine for himself what was good and what was evil apart from God’s preinterpretation. In other words, Adam sought autonomy from God.

You’ll remember that Adam already has the means of interpreting God’s revelation wherever it is found in creation. For he already has God’s Word in his mind and written on his heart. The character of God, as revealed in His Ten Commandments, has already been written on his heart. This is a major aspect of being created in God’s image and likeness. Therefore, Adam is able to utilise the hermeneutic of the Word interpreting the Word, of which Sola Scriptura is the post-Fall equivalent.

Let’s not forget that before he lost it for himself and for all mankind, Adam had true knowledge. Yes, like Jesus, the second Adam, before the Fall, the first Adam was without sin, sin that seeped into and tainted every aspect of our being when Adam sinned in the garden rebellion. Therefore, he would glorify God simply by looking at His handiwork. He was invited by the LORD God (i.e., the preincarnate Jesus) to look at the creatures He had created.

            Now, because all mankind is descended from them, let us acknowledge that the genes of Adam and Eve contained genetic information for every human skin and eye colour.  Likewise, the animals would be proto-dogs, proto-cats, proto-doves etc. Wolf-like animals with all the genetic information from Great Dane to Chihuahua, cow-like animals that would develop into branches from bison to Aberdeen Angus. Camel-like animals from dromedaries to llamas. Mastodons and mammoths would be some kind of elephants etc. Same with sheep and all the other critters. And, yes, of course, there would be those critters called “dinosaurs.” However, Adam would not have categorised any kind as dinosaur simply because this is a fairly recent categorisation by fallen man as part of an unbiblical theory. No doubt these would have been catalogued by Adam under the designation lizard-like, from tyrannosaurus rex to stegosaurus etc. To be sure, as one would expect, the fossilised remains of many of these animal kinds have been found in post-Flood sedimentary rock. However, those who ignore Scripture have had to concoct theories such as comets crashing to earth to prop up their anti-Scripture theories. This is merely an extension of Adam rebelling by wanting to interpret the LORD God’s creation for himself without God.

We see revelation of their Creator even in simple sayings such as swift as a hawk, strong as an ox, graceful as a gazelle, gentle as a dove, wise as an owl or a serpent etc.

So, where do we see Jesus in the naming of the animals? Well, He called Herod “that fox” (Luke 13:32), and the Pharisees and religious people a “brood of vipers”, snakes etc., but this is not what we mean.

The Word “called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night” (Gen. 1:5), “called the firmament Heaven” (1:8), “the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas” (1:10), “He brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name” (Isa. 40:26). And just as the first Adam named his wife Eve, so the last Adam named His bride, Sheep. “Know that the LORD, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture” (Psa. 100:3). “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). He calls us by name. Therefore, like Adam naming the creatures, He is naming us.

When Adam named the animals, he was looking below the surface. He knew what was in them just as Jesus “knew what was in man” (John 2:25). Adam was learning how to tell the difference between clean and unclean animals, just as Noah new the difference when the LORD God sent them to him on the ark. “You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female” (Gen 7:2).

Why would Adam need to know the difference between clean and unclean animals? Because the clean animals were going to represent the Word who was going to become flesh and become a life-giving sacrifice. “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar” (Gen. 8:20). So, Adam naming the animals had to do with Jesus laying down His life as a substitute to pay for our sins against Him.

Image from Web

        Peter knew the difference too, “Peter … saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But Peter said, ‘Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.’ And a voice spoke to him again the second time, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common’ This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again” (Acts 10:11-16).

Don’t miss the LORD God’s Gospel message in the first animal sacrifice, “Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21). And let’s not forget that when Adam named the creatures, he knew that none of them were comparable to him. He knew that there need to be a perfect substitute, a human substitute, a human representative, a covenant representative, to represent him before God’s tribunal.

Therefore, naming the animals was connected to the threat of death for eating the forbidden fruit. It was related to the penalty. Adam, “You are of more value than many sparrows” (Matt. 10:31). “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (Micah 6:6-7). Yes, Adam, it is going to cost you the fruit of your body for the sin of your soul. “Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli … the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God” (Luke 3:23, 38).

Are you, like me, getting the impression that by Adam naming the animals he was naming his own worth, including the worth of mankind that would descend from him? “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). By naming the animals Adam was not only learning about them and their Creator, he was learning about the serious consequences of disobeying the LORD God, for breaking His covenant. He was learning the meaning of death. “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17b).

The LORD God changed people’s names, such as naming Abram Abraham, Jacob Israel, Cephas Peter, Saul Paul and all the rest. Harking back to His covering Adam and Eve with skin from a proto-sheep, He named Himself “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29b). This is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8b).

Yes, when Adam named the animals, including the proto-sheep, we think of the verse, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth” (Isa. 53:7). However, with the penalty for eating the forbidden fruit in mind, while applying it to Jesus, we think of Jeremiah saying, “But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, ‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more’” (Jer. 11:19).

Image from Web

           So, back to the Lamb. “Whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name” (Gen. 2:19b). None were “comparable to him” (Gen. 2:20b). Did he catalogue and categorise them each according to its kind by writing their names and descriptions in a book. Charles Darwin took a Mr Magoo view of things as he tried to catalogue God’s critters while sailing around the world on the Beagle.

What about the Word who became flesh naming people, cataloguing them each according to their kind? “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast – all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world” (Rev. 13:8).

So, we see Jesus the Lamb of God in Adam naming the animals. And we see that Adam could tell the difference between the clean and the unclean, just as Jesus knew who were His sheep, the ones He knew by name. “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).

And notice that Jesus, like Adam pre-Fall, can tell the difference between sheep and goats. “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’” (Matt. 25:31-34).

---

[1] John M. Frame, Systematic Theology – An Introduction to Christian Belief, (P&R, Phillipsburg, New Jersey, 2013), 188.

COUNT THE STARS

                                                                COUNT THE STARS 

“Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be’” Genesis 15:5.

Introduction

Image from Web

            The general gist of what we are looking at in the following is: Every Christian is a star, but only God can count us!

The Lord has already told Abram of His plan to make Abram “a great nation” in Genesis 12:2. “You shall be a blessing … And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (12:2b-3b). So, what’s the problem? Well Abram’s wondering where his descendants are going to come from. He has no children. He’s not getting any younger and neither is his wife, Sarah. And to complicate matters we’re told in Genesis 11:30, “Sarai is barren.” Yet the LORD has stated that through his descendants, not only will Abram be blessed, but so will all the families of the earth.

We see then that the Lord has already promised Abram a future blessing. He already knows something of the magnitude of this blessing. He already knows that this promised blessing has to do with making restitution for his sins. He already knows this because he’s been building altars of sacrifice around the place, (see e.g. Gen. 12:7, 8; 13:4, 18). He already knows his sin needed to be paid for. The sacrificial animal was a picture of that. He already knows that the animal he places on the altar is merely a substitute for himself. He already knows that the promised blessing has everything to do with the removal of his sin. And he already knows because the Lord has already revealed it to him. So, what then is the problem?

The Problem

Can’t Abram just believe the promise and get on with it? Isn’t that how the Old Testament saints were saved, i.e. through believing the promise of salvation? So here we meet the problem face to face. It’s subtle, so pay attention. I put it to you that there’s a difference between believing in the things a person says and actually believing in that person. It’s the difference between believing in a promise or believing in the one who makes the promise. I said it was subtle, didn’t I?

Image from Web

        Let me see if I can explain this further. New cars come with a manual, don’t they? – an instruction book. If you follow the instructions in that manual your car should run great. Follow the manual or instructions for anything, washing machine, video-player, TV, automobile, whatever, and you have a money back guarantee, you’ll have no problem. In other words, the instruction manual is a sort of promise, isn’t it? It’s promising that if you put the nuts and bolts on the right way and press the proper switches, the thing will work.

Now, I don’t have to tell you that the Bible is a manual of sorts. And I don’t have to tell you lots of people use the Bible as a manual. They get results, from a well-ordered family to a well-ordered society. You only have to trust in the promises of Scripture and put them into practice to see that they work. But here’s my point: Do you know the person who wrote the manual for your car? Do you know the person who wrote the manual for your washing machine, toaster, video-player? Maybe you trust in the Bible as your manual. Maybe you’re just trusting in the promises the Bible makes. Do this or that and you’ll be all right. But are you trusting in the One who wrote the Bible?

If you’re still having a problem seeing how you can separate the promise from the promise-maker, then consider the Mormons. You’d hardly meet a nicer bunch of people than the Mormons. Some of you will remember the Osmond family who were big in the 70s and 80s. They were a musical band of pop singers (if you don’t know!). The Mormons exemplify a great deal of what the Bible teaches, don’t they? But who would dare say that the Mormons know the One who wrote the Bible? Jesus addresses this very thing where He says to the Pharisees, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). The Mormons, (unlike Christians who are Trinitarian and therefore worship one God), are tri-theists and thus worship three gods. Therefore, the Mormons have another Jesus, i.e., a Jesus different to the One revealed in the Bible.

So, what does all of this have to do with Abram? Well, up till now he’s been trusting in the promises of the LORD. The LORD has promised him land, and He has promised him descendants. And the LORD has promised that all the families of the earth shall be blessed in Abram. So, here’s Abram’s problem then: How is this promised blessing supposed to come to pass without an heir, i.e., without a son from his own loins? His redemption, his forgiveness of sins, his eternal life, his blessing depends upon this heir. That’s what the promises are all about. That is how Abram understood them.

Abram’s problem then is this: Where is the substance of the promise? Where or who is the One in whom I’ve to put my trust? “I know he’s to be somewhere in among my descendants. But how can this be since I personally don’t have any?” So Abram starts going on to God about his servant Eliezer having to be his heir. And that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to him. It’s like when the angel Gabriel told Mary the mother of Jesus that she was going to conceive. “How can this be?” she asked, “Since I do not know a man.” Mary was also reminded that Elizabeth her relative who was called barren conceived a son in her old age. “For with God nothing will be impossible” is what she was told. Abram, in our text, is suffering something of the same problem as Mary. He knows what God’s planning to do because God has already told him. However, he’s struggling to understand how God is going to execute His plan. So the issue of offspring is weighing heavily on Abram’s mind (e.g., Gen. 15:2-3).

So, let’s look a bit closer at what’s going on and see if we can find the solution to the problem.

The Promise

We’re going to see, in the words of a couple of the commentators, that, “Abraham’s faith was faith in the God who had promised, [and] not merely in what had been promised.” The Lord has come to Abram in a vision. The whole of Genesis 15 records what happened in that vision. I’m not going to digress too long to talk about the nature of visions in the Bible. We’re more interested in the contents of the vision than the actual nature of the vision itself. However, we do need to make a couple of general comments on the nature of this vision because it does have an effect on the way we are to understand its content.

Image from Web

            

Before His Church had His completed written revelation, i.e., the Bible, the Lord used other ways to reveal Himself and His Plan of Redemption to His people. The Plan of Redemption as it is revealed is called the Covenant of Grace by theologians. God reveals Himself in His Covenant of Grace. The Bible, i.e., the Scriptures, is the record of this. Jesus, as stated earlier, says, “These are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). And as the Apostle Paul says about Jesus, “All the promises of God are in Him Yes and Amen” (2 Cor. 1:20). And he also says, “There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). We should keep in mind that Christ is the go between between God and men. Christ is the One who represents God before men. And He also is the One who represents men before God. He alone is the Mediator.

So then, in the Old Testament Christ the Mediator mediated between God and men in various ways. God was making Himself known to Abram by that method of revelation known as vision. Let’s look at a portion of Scripture which might help us. Then we’ll get into the more important content of the vision. The Book of Numbers 12:6-8, “Then He said, ‘Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision, And I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the LORD...’”  So, we see then, Abram is a prophet of God because the Lord has made Himself known to him in a vision, (see Gen. 15:1).

The curious thing about this passage is that the Lord seems to be making Himself known to Abram in a vision and in a dream. In Genesis 15:12 we’re told, “a deep sleep fell upon Abram.” However, there’s something we need to remember from the Numbers 12 passage: When the Lord made Himself known face to face, (literally, mouth to mouth in the Hebrew), the revelation was clearer than in a vision or dream. Face to face revelation is plain as opposed to dark sayings or riddles in vision or dream. It’s the difference between truth by parable and truth by verbal proposition. However, the LORD is revealing Himself to Abram in a vision and also a dream.

Abram’s mental faculties would be heightened and intensified by a power-surge from the LORD. Yet because of the nature of the revelation, Abram would still be straining his eyes to see. The Apostle Paul says what I’m trying to say in these words, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12a). The element of mystery is gone when the LORD makes Himself known face to face. We see then in Genesis 15 that the LORD is making Himself known to Abram, as it were, in the dark. “Oh for a match to strike for a glimpse of my Lord’s face!” Alas Scripture says, “The just [i.e., the justified, the righteous] shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17).

Image from Web

        If you were to think about it, one might get the impression that Abram’s more interested in what the LORD has promised than in the LORD Himself. We’ve already noted Abram’s concern about not having any offspring of his own, i.e., descendants whom the LORD has promised him. Therefore, we might be forgiven for being all the more suspicious of this in light of what the Word of the LORD says to him in Genesis 15:1 “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

We noted above that some wish to translate this: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your reward shall be very great.” And we must admit that it is possible to translate the Hebrew that way. But surely context has everything to do with it? The question before us is this: Was it the LORD Himself that Abram wanted or was it the LORD’s reward? Was Abram trusting in a promise or was he trusting in the LORD? Did he believe the things of God or does he believe in God? Does he have faith in the manual, or does he have faith in the one who wrote it? We’ve already seen that this is not the same thing. It’s the difference between believing God because He gives you things and believing in Him because of who He is. It can be the difference between following the teaching but not the teacher. This is why I don’t like the translation, “I am your shield, your reward shall be very great.” Because translated thus, look at what it makes Abram to be saying in the next verse, “Lord God, what will you give me, seeing I go childless?” It makes Abram (whom the New Testament calls the “Father of the Faithful” out to be interested mainly in what the LORD has promised him and not so much in the LORD Himself! “Abram, your reward shall be very great” “O goody! What am I going to get? Let me see, I wouldn’t mind some of those descendants You promised me, seeing I’m childless.”

Image from Web

        There are people who treat God like the great ATM in the sky. They punch in their secret code while they make sure no-one’s looking over their shoulder. They make the impersonal transaction and they’re off to spend their inheritance. However, like wanting the personal touch in talking to a bank teller face to face, so real Christians want to talk to God face to face. They’re interested in Him. They want to talk to Him, and God in turn, is interested in the real Christian.

Notice in our passage that the Word of the LORD is conversing with Abram. He’s concerned about Abram, “Abram, do not be afraid.” Does this sound like someone you know? The One who says to His disciples, “Fear not!” The One who says, “Lo, I am with you always. I am your shield.” The One who is called Immanuel “God with us.” It is He who is talking to Abram. It is He who is Abram’s exceedingly great reward. He is the Word who would become flesh and walk on this earth for some thirty-three years. He is the One who would one day say to Thomas, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” He is the One talking with Abram in this vision. He is the One who makes known God. He is the One in whom Abram is trusting. He’s the One who is making Himself known in this vision and speaking to Abram in a dream as God.

So, how do we know positively and absolutely Abram’s trust is in the writer of the manual rather than the manual itself? “And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). Your Bible might have decided to leave out that little insignificant word. But believe me, the word “in” is in the Hebrew without dispute. And as we’ve seen, it makes the whole difference between Abram believing in the promises, and believing in the One who makes the promises. Abram, as we’ve seen before, didn’t put his faith in riches, even when those blessings and riches came from, or were to come from, the LORD. No, Genesis 15:6, “Abram believed in the LORD.” Here is that great doctrine taken up in the New Testament, i.e., the doctrine of Justification. The great doctrine which was rediscovered at the time of the Reformation. It’s the doctrine which is the very heart of the Gospel of Salvation.

Image from Web

            But just one last “kick at the cat” as they say in Canada, before we begin to tie things in a nice bow. And you’ll probably want to take me outside and clobber me for saying this! But what we’ve looked at is the difference between clinging to the old rugged cross and clinging to Jesus. I love that old hymn. It’s one of my favorites. However, if you’re clinging to a lump of wood, then let go.

Lots of people the world over know what Jesus did. But the question is not: Do you know what Jesus did? But rather do you know Jesus Himself? And of course, we learn more about Him through the things He did while on earth. We learn things about God through the things that He has made, which is to say that we can know something of the Creator by studying His creation. However, Paul in Romans 1:25 speaks of those who worship the creature or creation rather than the Creator. So, subtle as it is, using the same line of reasoning, I believe we need to be careful to believe in the One who makes the Promises, and not just the promises themselves. It’s not “Whosoever believes Him’ but rather it’s “Whosoever believes IN Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Abram believed IN Him and the LORD accounted it to him for righteousness.” He believed because the LORD had made Himself known to him, which is to say that the One who wrote the Book appeared to him, albeit in a vision and a dream.

The Profusion

We have a question left unanswered. Why was Abram so concerned that he was childless, i.e., that the LORD had given him no offspring? Well, I put it to you that Abram was keen as mustard to share his reward. He wanted EVERY family on earth to be blessed with his blessing. Abram loved God and he loved his neighbor as himself. But he needed a son in order for the blessings to flow to all the nations. Because that’s the way the LORD had already promised to him that it would happen.

Image from Web

        “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3b). The blessings on the families or nations would come through Abram and his offspring. As the Apostle says, “Those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham” (Gal. 3:9). Abram’s champing at the bit to see the promised blessings poured out on the whole world. As Jesus said, “Your father Abram rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Keep in mind that father Abraham was a non-Jew. The Day being spoken of was when Jew and non-Jew, (i.e., the ethnoi, meaning all the nations including the Gentiles), yes, ALL the nations, would know his God, the God in whom he was presently trusting.

And Abram along with all the saints in heaven long for the day, “When the earth shall be covered with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14). Had Abram been interested more in the promises than the LORD Himself, surely the LORD would have rebuked him? But instead, look at what our gracious LORD did for our father Abram. In Genesis 12:4 the LORD reassured Abram that Abram would produce a son from his own body. And in the very next verse says, “Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’” And you thought heaven was practically empty, didn’t you? You thought that most people were going to hell? Well, all I can say is what the LORD says, “Count the stars if you are able to number them.”

Well, in Abram’s eyes you are a star! How does it feel to be a star? Every time Abram looked at the starry skies he’d see you in heaven. I’m sure if you read Psalm 19 right about now it would begin to make a great deal of sense. Let me try you with the first couple of verses, “The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.”

Whether you’re in Scotland or upside down in Australia, look now to heaven. As Abram looked at his descendants (including even you and me) in the stars, do you think he knew our names? No, but the One in whom he put his trust knows our names. The Psalmist says of the LORD, “He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name” (Psa. 147:4). The LORD says, “Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing” (Isa. 40:26). Jesus Christ says to His Father, “Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12b).

Image from Web

        Oh yes, if you look at the night sky, you’ll see that by far the majority stay put. However, you will see one or two moving about the place. Jude speaks of them where he says, “[They are] wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever” (Jude 13). But what about the vast majority? Well, the prophet Daniel says, “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever” (Dan. 12:3). So, count the stars – if you are able to number them.

Conclusion

Arithmetic was never one of my strong points. But I don’t think all Abram’s children (i.e., all who will believe) have been called into the LORD’s Church yet. In fact, I don’t think we’re anywhere near the number of stars in heaven. So, we can see that we’ve still got lots of work to do. So, keep on telling your neighbours about Christ. And if they say to you that the church is just about dead, you tell them what the Lord told Abram. “Count the stars if you are able to number them.” But keep your eye on the One Scripture calls “...The Bright and Morning Star.” Make sure, like our father Abram, you are believing in the LORD.

SEEING JESUS IN THE COVENANT

Seeing Jesus in the Covenant

            “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’” (Gen. 2:16-17). This is one of the simplest yet profoundest couple of verses found anywhere in the Bible. For it contains the Law and the Gospel in seminal form. Yet it is also one of the most misunderstood portions of Scripture.

When one mentions the word covenant regarding these verses, all the trees begin to shake in the garden. We tremble once more at the blood curdling roars of our old master, the devil. Here, he can be heard as he walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He devoured Adam and Eve. We must not let him devour us. We must keep our eyes on Jesus our protector. For if you miss what is going on here, you will be left only with, at best, a superficial understanding of the meaning of the life and death of the last Adam.

            There was a band in the 70s called Supertramp. They brought out an album titled Crisis? What Crisis? One is reminded of this title when one hears what some Christians have to say about these crucial verses. Covenant? What Covenant? The word covenant is not found in the Bible till you get to Genesis 6:18, “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.” We see clearly that God covenants with people, in this case, with Noah. But what about the pre-Fall Adam? Did the LORD God covenant with him?

Notice that it says that “the LORD God commanded the man.” The LORD God is the Word who would become flesh and dwell among us. Christians nowadays seem to prefer Yahweh Elohim over Jehovah Elohim as a Hebrew transliteration of LORD God found in many English Bibles. The point here is that Jehovah or Yahweh is accepted to be God’s covenant name. E.g., “LORD God, ‘LORD’ (Hebrew YHWH, ‘Yahweh’) is the personal and covenant name of God.”[1] Says John Frame, “Yahweh, Lord, is the name by which God wishes his people to know him. The Lord is the One who controls all things, speaks with absolute authority, and enters creation to draw creatures into covenant relation to him.”[2]

The LORD God or Jehovah is already God’s covenant name when He covenants with Noah. He is the God who has already covenanted. And notice that He says, “I will establish My covenant with you.” The words “My covenant” means that God is going to reveal His covenant to Noah and establish that covenant with him. Now, back to Adam. “And the LORD God commanded the man.” Who commanded Adam? The One who already has a covenant name, by which we mean the One who has already covenanted. As He did when He established His covenant with Noah, so He did with Adam. He revealed to Adam an aspect of His covenant and another aspect to Noah. For identification purposes, the former is what is generally referred to as the Covenant of Works and the latter as the Covenant of Grace. Works pre-Fall and grace post-Fall. When viewed through the eyes of Jesus, we shall easily see that these are simply two aspects or administrations of the same covenant which is commonly identified as the Covenant of Redemption.

Westminster Confession of Faith 7, Of God’s Covenant with Man,

 

1.The distance between God and the creature is so great that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto Him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of Him as their blessedness and reward but by some voluntary condescension on God’s part, which He hath been pleased to express by way of covenant.

2. The first covenant made with man was a Covenant of Works, wherein life was promised to Adam, and in him to his posterity, upon condition of perfect and personal obedience.

            Before a building is built, a lot of preplanning takes place; the building’s purpose, materials needed, costs, workers, design, etc. A plan is drawn up, a “blueprint”. Then the building is constructed. Things need to happen on the worksite and every problem possible of occurring should have been anticipated and remedies to these possible problems should have been worked out already. Creation has been planned. Creation has been created. Adam has gone strike and has to be fired from the job. A new or replacement for Adam needs to be found and all damage caused by Adam needs to be fixed. Are you getting the general idea? Eternal counsel of the Triune God. Creation, Fall, Redemption, Final Restoration etc.

Some would gasp at this idea, “Wow! You get all of that from just these two verses where God commands Adam not to eat a piece of fruit?!” Well, yes, I do! However, you won’t see even the half of this if you are still saying to yourself, “Covenant? What covenant?” J.V. Fesko says,

 

Genesis is an organic part of the Pentateuch and … no one book was supposed to be isolated from the four other books. In other words, critics … read Genesis 1-3 as if the rest of the Pentateuch did not exist, which is ironically similar to higher-text critical readings. They bypass the literary context of the first three chapters and read it in chronological succession as if the reader was not supposed to peer over the wall of the third chapter to see what follows. Hence, if the term covenant does not appear in the first three chapters, then the idea must not exist.[3]

We are using Jesus, the Word who became also flesh, to help us to see Himself in Genesis. He is the LORD God, the One with God’s covenant name. Would it help the reader if we stated it like this: Jesus is our covenant (Isa. 42:6, 49:8). Adam used to be our federal representative before God. But he blew it! Now it is Jesus for all who will believe.

So, once you see Jesus in this interaction between the LORD God and Adam, you will begin to understand more fully the importance of the life and death of Jesus Christ as our representative, i.e., as our substitute. “Pact, treaty, agreement, testament, bargain, confederation, contract, compact, alliance, oath, and promise etc., are all features of covenants. Therefore, why let simple semantics risk your missing out on the order and cohesiveness that covenant theology brings to the whole of Scripture, to the inner workings of the triune God, and to His relationship with humanity? Let us agree that, in its simplest form, a covenant at the very least is a bond.”[4]

Let us briefly talk about the Covenant of Redemption of which the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace are revelatory. Though still lengthy, the following has been abbreviated and is found in the Sum of Saving Knowledge under HEAD 2. The Remedy Provided in Jesus Christ for the Elect by the Covenant of Grace.

 

God … has revealed in His word a way to save sinners, viz. by faith in Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, by virtue of, and according to the tenor of the Covenant of Redemption, made and agreed upon between God the Father and God the Son, in the council of the Trinity, before the world began.

1.     The sum of the Covenant of Redemption is this: God having freely chosen unto life a certain number of lost mankind … did give them, before the world began, unto God the Son, appointed Redeemer, that, upon condition He would humble himself so far as to assume the human nature … and submit Himself to the Law, as surety for them, and satisfy justice for them, by giving obedience in their name, even unto the suffering of the cursed death of the cross, He should ransom and redeem them all from sin and death, and purchase unto them righteousness and eternal life … This condition the Son of God (who is Jesus Christ our Lord) did accept before the world began, and in the fulness of time came into the world, was born of the Virgin Mary, subjected Himself to the Law, and completely paid the ransom on the cross … He is in all ages, since the fall of Adam, still upon the work of applying actually the purchased benefits unto the elect; and that He doth by way of entertaining a covenant of free grace and reconciliation with them, through faith in Himself; by which covenant, He makes over to every believer a right and interest to Himself, and to all His blessings.

2.     For the accomplishment of this Covenant of Redemption, and making the elect partakers of the benefits thereof in the Covenant of Grace, Christ Jesus was clad with the threefold office of Prophet, Priest, and King: made a Prophet, to reveal all saving knowledge to His people, and to persuade them to believe and obey the same; made a Priest, to offer up Himself a sacrifice once for them all, and to intercede continually with the Father, for making their persons and services acceptable to Him; and made a King, to subdue them to Himself, to feed and rule them by His own appointed ordinances, and to defend them from their enemies.[5]

Therefore, when the LORD God says, “My covenant” He is referring to the eternal covenant between the Father and the Son made in eternity past and witnessed by the Holy Spirit of which He, by His written Word, testifies to the world.

        Now, here’s the thing that the short-sighted Mr Magoo misses. This is what the prooftexter hermeneutic misses. This is what those semantics players miss about the covenant. It’s a biggy! It has to do with the new covenant promised by the LORD God in Jeremiah 31 and in Ezekiel 36 etc., you know, the bit where the LORD God is going to write His Law in their hearts and on their minds, you know, by putting His Spirit within them. Long story short: In the new covenant the LORD God renews and restores what the old Adam lost in the Fall. Yes, true knowledge, holiness, and righteousness.

 

Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. Jeremiah 31:31-34.

Yes, “they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.” True knowledge of God indeed! The indwelling of the poured out Spirit will guarantee this. “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38-39). Wow! Men, women, and even children knowing God through His gift of the Holy Spirit.

 

The nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the LORD God, when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. Ezekiel 36:23b-28.

Image from Web

Yes, cleansed by the Holy Spirit as pictured by being sprinkled with clean water in baptism. The Church, the ekklesia, is the called out ones, called out from among the nations. The Law and the Gospel of God working together bring to God’s elect that which Adam lost when he broke the covenant, i.e., true knowledge, holiness, and righteousness.

Adam is about to name the animals (Gen. 2:19). The LORD God is going to sacrifice one of them soon to cover the fallen Adam and Eve. Animals are going to be used in the sacrificial system under the Mosaic covenant as substitutes pointing to Jesus. The new covenant is new because instead of animals shedding their blood, Jesus would shed His. The poured out Holy Spirit would, as it were, sprinkle Christ’s cleansing blood of atonement on believers and their children as pictured in covenant baptism. But let us not get too far ahead of ourselves. Adam hasn’t even fallen yet.

Meanwhile back in the garden. God was ascribing Adam’s diet while entering into a covenant with him as humanity’s representative. “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17). The fruit of the tree of life was included in “every tree in the garden” that Adam could freely eat from. Only the fruit of one tree was forbidden him, “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.” Why? “For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

This is the same LORD God that had created everything, planted a garden of delight, put Adam in it to glorify and enjoy God in it by tending and keeping it for Him. Trees, rivers, fruit, birds, fish, and animals, God’s Law in his mind and on his heart, true knowledge, holiness, and righteousness. But best of all, fellowship, communion, with the LORD God. The Word came with His Word to Adam and covenanted with him.

In any covenant, generally, there is a preamble stating who the covenanting party is with a bit of history, then the covenant stipulations, which, of course, have certain penalties attached or implied for breaking any of them. Kenneth Gentry summarizes the usual covenant structure,

 

1.     Transcendence: Usually a preamble offering an introductory statement identifying the sovereignty of the covenant-making king.

2.     Hierarchy: An historical prologue summarizing the king’s authority and the mediation of his rule, by reminding of the historical circumstances of it.

3.     Ethics: A detail of the legal stipulations defining the ethics of faithful living under the covenant bond.

4.     Oath: The setting forth of the sanctions of the covenant, specifying the promises and the warnings of the covenant by the taking of a formal oath.

5.     Succession: An explanation of the arrangement transferring the covenant to future generations.[6]

Image from Web

                The first instance where Adam speaks is recorded in his words to the LORD God at his marriage to Eve, “And Adam said: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Gen. 2:23). Marriage, as we shall see when we get to it, is a picture of the LORD God’s covenant with His bride, the Church. Even Mr Magoo can see surely the LORD God and Adam is Jesus and His bride in seminal form. His character, yes, His Law, is in Adam’s mind and is written on his heart (Rom. 2:14-15). The LORD God ought to be Adam’s first love.

Adam’s prescribed diet is a window through which we can glimpse the future wedding feast of the Lamb and His bride. It was at Adam and Eve’s wedding feast that Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit. The rest is, as they say, history.

So, we see Jesus in the LORD God’s covenant with Adam. The Covenant of Works speaks of what Jesus was coming to do. “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matt. 5:17-18).

Jesus kept God’s Law perfectly as representative of all who will believe, and for them He also paid the penalty of death as their substitute. The new covenant is that Jesus has become our covenant. “Thus says the LORD: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard You, and in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You as a covenant to the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages; that You may say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’” (Isa. 49:8-9b).

Thus, Jesus has been given to us as a covenant. Jesus is one Divine Person with two natures, fully God and fully human forever. When Adam broke the Covenant of Works humanity became separated from God, i.e., spiritually dead. To break this new covenant, Christ’s two natures would need to become separated. If this happened, Jesus would cease to exist being the Word in the flesh, the God-Man. However, He is going to attend the great wedding feast and be married to His bride forever. “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Heb. 13:5b).  

---

[1] NIV Study Bible, (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1985), 8, footnote on Genesis 2:4.

[2] John M. Frame, Systematic Theology – An Introduction to Christian Belief, (P&R, Phillipsburg, New Jersey, 2013), 450.

[3] J.V. Fesko, Adam and the Covenant of Works, Mentor Imprint by Christian Focus Publications Ltd., Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire, 2021, 197.

[4] Neil Cullan McKinlay, The Covenant: Simple yet Profound, (Weemac Publishing, Brisbane, Queensland, 2022), 10.

[5] The Confession of Faith, The Larger and Shorter Catechisms, with the Scripture Proofs at Large: together with The Sum of saving Knowledge, (Free Presbyterian Publication, Glasgow, Fourth reprint 1985), 324.

[6] Kenneth L. Gentry, The Greatness of the Great Commission, (Institute for Christian Economics, Tyler, Texas, 1993), 18. See also Ray R, Sutton’s, That You May Prosper for more detailed information on the covenant structure.