Seeing Jesus in the Covenant
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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]
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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.
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