The Bible is a collection of communications, histories, letters, prophecies and teachings that were written over a 1,600 year time frame. They discuss the overall time period starting at the time when God created everything until 95 AD, but the prophecies contained within reach into the eternal future.
What has happened throughout the course of human history is not simply a product of random accidents and happenstance. God did not create everything and then just sit back and watch what would happen. He created humanity with free will, but at the same time, He is working to guide people and everything that is toward a final destination.
God is omnipresent, meaning He is everywhere at all times, and is in all times. He is omniscient, meaning that He knows everything that was, that is and that will happen in the future. He is the great I AM. The ever existing one. He exists apart from everything that is, including time and space and the dimensions that we cannot perceive apart from an understanding of theoretical physics and divine intervention. All of these factors are working together, so that God can and does interact with His creation in the past, present and future. He knows what's coming. And because He's loves us, and wants a personal relationship with each of us, He tells us what is coming, not simply so that we can know the future, but to give us every opportunity to make choices about our lives.
The most important decision that we have to make concerns our eternal destiny, and that is what this entire website is about. God has interacted with humanity directly over the ages and has made covenants and agreements with different people and different groups for different purposes. It has been a progressive process towards a designated end. But make no mistake, He is guiding it all to come to its final destination, just like each of our own current lives on earth will one day come to an end. God has made promises to humanity, and whether you know it or not, He has made promises to you.
The following will discuss the covenant promises God has made to groups and individuals throughout the Bible, and how they affect every person on the the planet.
The Adamic Covenant
Genesis 1-6, Romans 5, 1 Corinthians 15
God created the first man, Adam, in His image, out of the dust of the earth, and breathed life into his body. He created the first woman, Eve, from Adam's side so they could work together to populate the planet Earth and take care of it. They were created in perfection and they walked and talked with their Creator. He was their friend. This is our identity and purpose. To have a relationship with God, to love and worship Him, to have relationships with one another that are good and to caretake the planet and all its inhabitants in ways that are good, right, just, pure and and beautiful.
But Adam and Eve were tempted by the fallen angel, Satan, and they chose to sin - they did wrong - and this broke the perfection they were created in. This sin had innumerable consequences, because everything God created in its perfection has its source in Him. Sin, wrong, evil severs that connection. God had to send Adam and Eve away from His presence. It caused a separation in the relationship they had with God. It brought division in their relationship with each other. Everything that was created in perfect harmony began to unravel, and the story of humanity has been perpetual sin, dysfunction, abuse, neglect and heartache. Sin exists in each of our own lives.
As a consequence of this severing, the earth that man was entrusted with was cursed and became difficult to work and take care of. The functions of biology, our own bodies, began to struggle and die, and the process of populating the earth became painful, along with the difficulty of maintaining relationships with one another. The identity and purpose God created for mankind became difficult, confused and lost. Most of all, mankind's sin separated Adam and Eve from having a relationship with God, and our own sins separate each of us from having a relationship with God. Make no mistake, there is still a great deal of beauty in the world, and in each of us, because God created us. But the perfection that everything was intended to have, and our relationship with Him, has been broken.
But God made promises to Adam and Eve to make a way to restore everything - the relationship of humanity with God, people with each other and people with the planet. All things will one day be restored and made brand new. And He made a promise to Satan, that he would defeat him in the end and destroy his attempts to usurp humanity's worship and the dominion of earth for himself.
God promised to send a Child through the line of Adam and Eve. A Human, who would also be God's Son, to reconcile all that had been broken and defeat Satan, and his offspring, in the end. This Child is Jesus. Jesus had to be human so that He could serve as a sacrifice for humanity, and die in our place for our sins. He had to be God, so that He would be sinless and perfect and would not have to die for His own sins. This is God's plan to save humanity. God is just and must punish sin. This punishment is eternal separation from God in hell - a place God never wanted us to go - a place for Satan and his fallen angel cohorts. But God did not want this separation to happen, so He sent Jesus to serve the death sentence for us. This way God's justice could be satisfied and His love and grace could be offered to each of us.
This battle with sin has been raging all around us, and within each of us, for thousands of years. But some day, as God has promised, it will all come to and end. At the end of the age, before Jesus returns, the consequences of every design that God has set in place, will be corrupted to its fullest extent. This includes a scheme of Satan, that he has been developing and enacting for years, to corrupt the very genetics of mankind so that we are no longer human, are no longer representations of God. Satan's design ultimately, is to change the biology of humans at our smallest, most fundamental level - our genetics - so that we are no longer human, and therefore Jesus's death and resurrection, His payment for our sins, won't apply to us. Jesus was the substitute who died for humanity, not human/angel hybrids.
Genesis 1:26-28
"Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 3:14-15
"So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. "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.”
Romans 5:12-19
"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous."
1 Corinthians 15:42-49
"So will it be with the resurrection of the dead: What is sown is perishable; it is raised imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being;” the last Adam a life-giving spirit. The spiritual, however, was not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so also are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so also shall we bear the likeness of the heavenly man."
The Noahic Covenant
Genesis 6-11, Deuteronomy 32, Matthew 24, 2 Peter 3, Revelation 6-8 & 12-13
Over time, through several centuries after Adam and Eve's fall, the population of the earth grew and so did their sins. Mankind made more and more sinful choices, and suffering and division exploded. Satan devised increasingly cunning ways to deceive people into worshiping him. False religions were born worshiping other 'gods' who were in fact, fallen angels and demonic entities. Other fallen angels joined Satan in his mission of usurpation and destruction of what God had made.
A group of fallen angels decided to corrupt not only people's worship, thoughts and choices, but humankind's very genetics. They did not want people to have their origin in the Creator God. They wanted people to be created in their image. So they left their domain in heaven, came to earth and had sex with human women creating hybrid Giant Nephilim offspring of their own. And they did not stop with humanity, they also set about to corrupt the genetics of animal and plants as well. The earth became corrupted in thoughts, actions, choices and genetics to the point that only Noah and his family were both genetically pure at a biological level, and judicially pure in their choice to follow God in faith.
God sent a worldwide flood to destroy everything that had been corrupted down to the level of the building blocks of life. But He saved Noah and his family and genetically pure animals in an Ark to escape the flood waters. After 40 days, the waters receded and a cleansed earth was re-born.
God made a promise to Noah, to never flood the earth again. And He established the concept of human government to hold back the proliferation of sin and its consequences throughout the earth. Government to this day still sometimes serves this purpose, though it has also been corrupted on every level as mankind has used it to control and enslave, rather than to set free. And Satan, fallen angels, demons and entities have worked behind the scenes to direct human governments where they would like them to go.
This concept of government set up a picture for us to understand that God is judge. He will judge all sins one way or another. The covenant God made with Noah set the precedent of 'life for a life.' As a just God, He must judge sin. No one is perfect and without sin. So we can either pay for our own sins by going to hell after we die and serving the eternal death sentence, or we can accept God's gift to us - life for a life. Jesus was perfect, so when He died on the cross, He was not dying to pay the punishment for His own sins, He was dying for ours. God accepted Jesus' death as the death sentence served for all humanity. Anyone who wants Jesus' death to pay for their own death sentence before God can have this free gift. God will accepts Jesus' death in your place if you want it. Just pray to God and tell Him you believe that Jesus died for your sins and He will forgive you and give you eternal life with Him after you die.
At the end of the age, before Jesus returns, the consequences of every check and balance that God has set in place, will be corrupted to its fullest extent. The governments of the world, rather than protect humanity, will give their power over to Satan, his puppet the Antichrist and the worldwide religious leader, the False Prophet. They will have fully corrupted this institution that God created to serve and protect humanity.
Additionally, they will again corrupt the genetics of humanity to the fullest extent that they can, so as to prevent people from being reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ. They will do this through the 'mark' of the beast, that will be inserted into the hand or forehead of people who give the Antichrist and Satan their allegiance. This mark will give these people the ability to link into the global financial system. It will be a biological agent that will give people a physical reaction as their bodies try to reject this foreign material being placed inside them. This decision to take the 'mark of the beast' will be consciously made as a rejection of Jesus Christ and eternal salvation, in favor of the Satanically possessed Antichrist, who will offer temporary survival. The 'alien' agenda, the sexual experimentation on humans who are abducted, has been part of their attempts to bring this final science into fruition, to corrupt the human genome damning us to hell, and to usurp worship for themselves.
Genesis 6:1-8
"Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord."
Genesis 9:1-13
"So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man. And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it.” Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth."
Deuteronomy 32:7-9
"Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage."
Matthew 24:36-44
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."
2 Peter 3:1-13
"This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."
Revelation 6:12-17
"And when I saw the Lamb open the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black like sackcloth of goat hair, and the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth like unripe figs dropping from a tree shaken by a great wind. The sky receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?”
Revelation 13:16-18
"Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666."
The Abrahamic Covenant
Genesis 10-12,15,17,22; Matthew 23, Romans 3-5,9-11, Zechariah 12-14, Rev. 19-22
God told mankind to spread out, but as the population increased, people still stayed together and they devised a plan. Nimrod, who himself 'began to became a gibborim', (a giant connected with the fallen angel hybrid progeny), built cities and a tower. This ziggurat, like the many built around the world, were built to reach to the heavens. The fallen angels had descended to earth on Mt. Hermon, and throughout the earth since that time, people have gone to mountain tops, or built mountains themselves, so they could reconnect with the fallen angels, their 'gods'. So God stopped the building of the Tower of Babel and disrupted the languages of people, forcing them to spread out and form groups. Had they succeeded in bringing the fallen angels down again to mix with humanity as a whole, all people's genetics again would be under threat of hybridization and corruption, and would be set once again on a path of being un-redeemable by God.
After God divided the nations, He then chose a family line, through which He would bring Jesus Christ into the world to save humanity from judgment and destruction. God made promises to Abraham, that He reiterated to his son Isaac, his grandson Jacob (Israel) and his twelve sons who would go on to become the nation of Israel through their family tree. He promised them a land, a seed (descendants) and a blessing through Whom the whole earth would be blessed. This blessing was and is Jesus Christ who died for the sins of the world, rose again defeating death and hell for those who trust in Him, who ascended to heave for a time, but will return to earth to defeat Satan and all his schemes setting the whole earth back to a place of justice, peace and goodness again. Through these promises that God gave to Abraham, and ultimately the nation of Israel, God gave them an identity promised to preserve them so that Jesus would be born to complete this ultimate mission.
Much of the Hebrew Scriptures contain the history of Israel, and how God preserved them down through time, even during great persecution, suffering and captivity, and their own disobedience. Satan attempted through many foreign kings and kingdoms to destroy them with wars and genocidal campaigns so that Jesus would not be born and save the world. But they were never destroyed as a people. God has always had a remnant of faithful followers whom He rescued, just as He promised that He would.
Even after Jesus was born, God has preserved the nation of Israel. His promises to Abraham were unconditional and unilateral, meaning that they were based on God's faithful character and power to keep His promises. Even though many in Israel were a part of the action that killed Jesus, His followers were also from Israel, a small band of brothers and sisters believed in Him and began took take the message to the world. There have always been Christians of Jewish descent, a preserved remnant, though many do not follow Jesus as their Messiah today.
But the promise given to Abraham was given to all who follow his example of faith. Abraham believed God, and the promises made to him, and it was counted to Him as righteousness. No one gets to heaven by being a good person or doing good things. Our goodness, our righteousness, our justification before God is that Jesus, who was perfect, died in our place fulfilling God's requirement of life for a life. If we die, without accepting Jesus' death for us by faith, believing that God will save us from eternal punishment, then we will pay our own punishment in hell for our own sins. But if we accept God's free gift of salvation through faith - by believing Jesus died for us - then, in return, God counts our debts for our sins paid for by Jesus, and we are forgiven. Jesus' righteous perfection is imputed to our account. When God looks at the believer, He sees Jesus' perfection, not our sins.
During the final Seven Years before Jesus Second Coming, Satan will attempt to destroy all the family of Israel and all the Christians through a genocidal campaign against them. Anyone who does not take the 'mark of the beast' will be hunted. But God will preserve those Jews who see the sign of the Antichrist, the Abomination of Desolation, and they will flee to a place where He will protect them until He comes to defeat the Antichrist at the battle of Armageddon. These people of Israel will be physically saved from annihilation and will enter into the physical land of Israel as their inheritance forever just as God had promised their ancestors thousands of years earlier, realizing that Jesus is their true Savior and King.
When God divided the nations, He did so that those nations would form groups and make their own decisions. This action helped to keep peoples from once again coming together and following Satan's schemes as a whole as they did at the Tower of Babel. At the end of the age, the whole world will come under global governance again. National lines will be erased, and Satan, the Antichrist, False Prophet, fallen angels, demons and 'entities' will gain control of all nations gathered again into One World Under Satan. But God will preserve a remnant in Israel, and many of other nations throughout the world, who do not take the 'mark of the beast' during the final Seven Years. These people will get to live in a world governed by King Jesus when He comes to defeat His enemies and set up His Kingdom for 1,000 years.
Genesis 12:1-3
"Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Matthew 23
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How oftenI wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chick sunder her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say,‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Romans 4:1-8, 23-25; 5:1-2
"What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”..."Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification."... "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
Romans 11:25-32
"For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all."
Revelation 12:13-17
"Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."
Zechariah 12:8-10
"In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them. It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn."
The Mosaic Covenant
Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 28-30, Galatians 3-4, Ephesians 2, Revelation 19-22
Along with the identity of a people and a land, God gave Israel a Law. This Law governed their moral, civil and ceremonial actions, and set them apart from the other nations of the world. He gave it as another parameter to curb the sinful heart of people and preserve truth in the world. This covenant was bi-lateral and required the cooperation of the people. It also came with a list of blessings and cursings. As long as the people lived according to the Law that was meant for their protection and purity, they would have peace and prosperity. When they did not, and lived in the sins of the nations around them, even to the point of worshiping their gods who were fallen angel and demonic entities, then they would lose their protection and prosperity. Again and again, when they disobeyed the Law, they were attacked and captured by foreign nations - often being carried off out of their land that God had given them.
But the Law could not make them pure. It could set boundaries on their choices, thoughts and behaviors, but it could not cure sinful hearts. The same is true of the laws for other nations. They set boundaries and parameters and to some degree to keep societies under control, though they can be used for evil and subjugation as well. Ultimately, everything that can be corrupted is corrupted. Apart from the intervention of Jesus Christ, nothing can be purified.
Jesus came to fulfill the Law. He was the only one who lived it perfectly. He never broke a single part of it, because He is God as well as Man. It is only by being connected to Him, that anyone could fulfill the Law and become perfect. When a person accepts Jesus' free gift of salvation, God counts Jesus' death on the cross as payment for their sins. The death sentence has been paid. That person's slate is wiped clean before God. They are forgiven all their debts for all their sins.
Jesus then comes to dwell within that person by the Holy Spirit. He begins to change the persons thoughts, emotions, motivations, desires, drive, behaviors, and activities to be aligned with His perfection, and His perfect 'law of love'. The person actually begins the process of becoming like Jesus Christ. This process is called Sanctification, and it lasts throughout the whole life of the believer on earth. The life of the believer is transformed over time to be in alignment with the law of God through their connection with Jesus Christ as He fills and empowers them to follow His heart and ways.
Unfortunately, those who are not aligned with Christ will continue to follow their own sinful desires and ambitions, and the world as a whole will become worse and worse over time. During the final Seven Years before Jesus' Second Coming, the world will completely unravel and lawlessness will abound in every nation until the world will fill up the full measure of their sins. This will climax with horrifying results of massive wars, famines, plagues, the Antichrist's genocide and the death of billions.
When all this horror comes to its fullest measure, all of humanity will be given a horrific ultimatum - take the Antichrist's 'mark' on/in the hand and forehead and be allowed to participate in commerce and survive, or choose not to, and be killed. He will seek to kill every Jew who realizes him to be the long prophesied false Messiah, every Christian who knows he is the Antichrist, and anyone else who sees through his lies - though these will be few. In very large part, the world will choose to worship and align with Satan and the Antichrist instead of God and Jesus Christ.
It is vitally important to think about these issues today. No one is guaranteed another day no matter what part of world history we live in. Who will you align with? What 'law' or set of values are you trying to live up to, only to be faced again and again with the frustration that you cannot reach unattainable perfection or even some measure of 'good'? If you are faced with a choice between momentary survival that results in eternal damnation or execution that results in eternal life, what will you choose? Whether you know it or not, you face that even today.
When Jesus comes, He will set up His kingdom on earth. It will be His government and His Laws that will run the world. His Law will be perfect, and judgment will be perfect. But just like today, the only way to live according to the Law, will be through accepting that Jesus died for humanity fulfilling the Law's perfect requirements. Through faith in Jesus, a person receives His perfection applied to their account, and becomes aligned with Him. He is the only way, the only truth and the only life. No one can have a relationship with the perfect, holy God, except through Jesus Christ.
Exodus 20:1-17
"And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Deuteronomy 28:9-24
“The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
“But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. “Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. “The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me. The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed. “The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth....."
Galatians 3:10-25
"For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.” Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor."
Ephesians 2:4-10
"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
The Davidic Covenant
Genesis 49, 2 Chronicles 7, Matthew 1, Acts 2, Revelation 19-22
God's promises to Israel, were repeated to Isaac, to Jacob (Israel), and to Jacob's 12 sons who became the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel. God gave prophecies to Jacob about the future of his sons and their descendants. To his son Judah was promised a scepter that would not leave Israel forever. This is the first promise in the Bible of an eternal King and kingdom.
Once the nation of Israel had been established, they looked around at the other nations and became jealous for their kings. Israel chose one man for their king, but God chose another - David, a man after God's own heart.
God promised that David's kingship would never end.
Through David's line, other kings were born, the nation divided into two, and through their idolatry and faithlessness were carried off into other nations to be ruled by other kings and other gods. This happened just as God had promised them that it would if they disobeyed His Law.
Eventually, some of Israel were allowed by foreign rulers to return to rebuild Jerusalem. Another Temple was built, and new leadership was established. But Israel was never completely sovereign over their own affairs.
When Jesus Christ was born, Israel was under Roman occupation. As promised, Jesus was a descendant of Abraham, who was sent to bring salvation to Israel and the world. And as promised, Jesus was a descendant of David who would offer Himself as their king, be rejected and murdered, but who will someday return and establish His throne, the throne of His father David, in Israel forever. He will defeat all earthly human kings and Satan's demonic fallen realm as well, and will be the King of kings and Lord of Lords forever.
Genesis 49:10
"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people."
2 Samuel 7:8-16
"Now then, you are to tell My servant David that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to be the ruler over My people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make for you a name like the greatest in the land. And I will provide a place for My people Israel and will plant them so that they may dwell in a place of their own and be disturbed no more. No longer will the sons of wickedness oppress them as they did at the beginning and have done since the day I appointed judges over My people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD declares to you that He Himself will establish a house for you. And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he will be My son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My loving devotion will never be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I moved out of your way. Your house and kingdom will endure forever before Me, and your throne will be established forever.”
Matthew 1:17
"In all, then, there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ."
Acts 2:29-36
"Brothers, I can tell you with confidence that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that He would place one of his descendants on his throne. Foreseeing this, David spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, to which we are all witnesses. Exalted, then, to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” ’Therefore let all Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ!”
Revelation 19:16
"And He has a name written on His robe and on His thigh:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."
Revelation 20:4-6
"Then I saw the thrones, and those seated on them had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark on their foreheads or hands. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years were complete. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years."
The New Covenant
Jeremiah 31
Over time, Israel rejected God. They followed other gods and broke the Mosaic Covenant, the Law that God had given them to save their lives and to have fellowship with Him. The erected idols and worshiped the gods of the surrounding nations. As a result, the kingdom was fractured in to Israel and Judah, and then just like God said, they were taken out of the land He promised their forefathers into other foreign lands. They were ruled over the by the peoples and gods they chose to serve.
While in captivity, God told the prophets of Israel that He would still have mercy on Israel and Judah. They would once again be one nation, would live in the land of Israel in peace and plenty, have a descendant of David as their just and good King, and they would be reconciled to their relationship with God dwelling with Him forever.
But they would not do this on their own. The problem was that no amount of human willpower, good living, governments or laws can fix the core issue. The core problem is that humanity has a sinful heart. The first humans were created in perfection, but they chose rebellion, and their choices, just like our own, have caused irreparable damage to our relationship with our Creator who is perfect and holy - save for the death and resurrection of Jesus. We can never attain perfection, and that is what is required.
So God gave Israel the New Covenant. A promise that he would fix the core issue. He would perfect the human heart so that it is no longer sinful anymore. In the New Covenant, God promised to write His Laws on Israel's heart so that they would no longer be trying in vain to live up to a long list of external dos and don'ts. Instead, God's heart, God's desires, God's ways would be within the heart of man.
When Jesus Christ came, He fulfilled the Mosaic Law by living it perfectly. He is God, and so He is the only one who is perfectly good and can live up to its requirements. Because of Jesus' perfection, He was not under the death penalty for His own sins. So when He died, He died in the place of each of us. God, the judge required a life for a life when sin was committed. Under the Mosaic Covenant He required that the people sacrifice a Lamb for the atonement of the people year after year. He accepted the death of Jesus as payment for each of us. By doing this, Jesus became the final sacrifice, our debt is paid, our sentence served, and we are free to live eternally with Him forever. But we have to choose to accept this free gift by faith.
When a person chooses to accept God's gift by believing that Jesus died for them, the Holy Spirit comes to live within them and begins changing how that person thinks, feels and behaves. Over time, the heart of God becomes our own. We want what He wants and we become more like Jesus in love and grace and peace and justice. But as long as we live in our present physical bodies that are affected by sinful desires, we have a war within us to choose daily to live by those sinful desires, or to surrender to the power of the Holy Spirit to change us.
The Holy Spirit is given to us as a seal and guarantee of our inheritance. This means that those who believe are promised eternal life. That promise is not just that we will go to heaven after we die. It is also that one day we will receive a new resurrected body that will have no sin or sinful desires and we will forever have the law of God written on our hearts. We will never sin again. And we will never even want to. It is also a promise that we will live with Jesus in the Kingdom, the New Jerusalem, the New Heavens and the New Earth forever when He returns to set the world right again.
The New Covenant was given to Israel and Judah, and it will not be complete until the Kingdom Age. When Jesus came the first time, He was rejected by the leadership of Israel and most of His people, and they were complicit in His murder. But God used Jesus' death to bring salvation to the whole world. Just as God promised to Abraham, through his line all the families of the world, all the nations, would be blessed. This blessing is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that brings new hearts, minds, souls, spirits and bodies to everyone who believes in Him.
Jesus told His followers to go into the whole world and make disciples of all nations. During the final Seven Years, this mission will be complete. And the Bible says a curious thing will happen next. Those of Israel at that time will realize that Jesus Christ was and is their Messiah, Savior and King and will come to believe in Him and follow Him en masse at the End of the Age. They will join Him in His Kingdom just as He said. God is faithful to keep His promises. And no matter how history twists and turns, He is always in control. He will always work everything to the good of those who love Him in the end. He is faithful. He is powerful. He is ingenious. He is gracious. He is forgiving. He is love.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Galatians 3:15-24
"Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be canceled or amended. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God freely granted it to Abraham through a promise. Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator. A mediator is unnecessary, however, for only one party; but God is one. Is the law, then, opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come from the law. But the Scripture pronounces all things confined by sin, so that by faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to those who believe. Before this faith came, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian."
Hebrews 9:11-15
"But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made by hands and is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God! Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant."
2 Corinthians 3:3-18
"It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence before God is ours through Christ. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God. And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
"Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at the face of Moses because of its fleeting glory, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry of righteousness! Indeed, what was once glorious has no glory now in comparison to the glory that surpasses it. For if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which endures! Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was fading away. But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed. And even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."
1 Corinthians 11:23-25
"For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes."
Romans 11:25-36
"I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited: A hardening in part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
“The Deliverer will come from Zion; He will remove godlessness from Jacob. And this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
"Regarding the gospel, they are enemies on your account; but regarding election, they are loved on account of the patriarchs. For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.
Just as you who formerly disobeyed God have now received mercy through their disobedience, so they too have now disobeyed, in order that they too may now receive mercy through the mercy shown to you. For God has consigned everyone to disobedience so that He may have mercy on everyone.
"O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?”
“Who has first given to God, that God should repay him?”
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
To Him be the glory forever! Amen."
THE CHOICE FOR YOUR ETERNAL DESTINY
There is a pastor I know of who likes to explain how to accept this free gift of eternal life for yourself in a way that he calls the ABCs of salvation. Simply talk to God. He loves you, He’s listening and He can hear you anywhere.
A - Admit you are a sinner - that you’ve done things wrong.
B - Believe that Jesus died in your place and took the punishment
that you deserve. And He will forgive you for every sin right now
- past, present and future.
C - Confess with your mouth.
Just pray and tell Him you are accepting His free gift,
and He will give it to you. It’s that simple.
Comments