Previously on the Plan of Salvation
God Created Heaven and EarthCreated out of His love. Everything was good.
God created manAnd breathed life into him.
God created EveTo complete man and let them participate in the creative
love of God.
In the Garden of Eden
• Original Holiness
• Original Justice
• Tree of Life
• Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
The FallORIGINAL SIN • CONCUPISCENCE • DEATH
The PromiseREDEMPTION • A SAVIOUR • FROM MANKIND
God’s Plan of Salvation
COVENANT
I I
What is a Covenant?
An act of
love?
An act of
control?
Covenant is God’s Nature
• The giving of love
• The giving of self
• For the other’s good
• For no demand of return
Seeking Covenant with God is our Nature
• Interior call to know our Creator
• … know our purpose
• … know our destiny
• Response to our creation in God’s image
The Original CovenantIN LOVE MADE • FOR LOVE LIVED • TO LOVE ETERNAL
3000 B.C.before
Genesis 6
The Spread of EvilINSIDIOUS • ADDICTIVE • MULTIPLIES
In the days of Noah• Men have
forgotten God
• Concupiscence wins
• Man abuses his freedom
• Sin multiplies
“When the Lord saw how great was the wickedness of man …
His heart was grieved.”
Genesis 6:5
What would you do?
What did God do?• God chose mercy
as an expression of love
• Gave 120 years for conversion
• He chose to save the righteous
The Noahic Covenant
• For all mankind
• A promise of abiding love and mercy
• Never to destroy creation by flood
The Noahic Covenant
• The sign was a rainbow
• The call was to familial love
• The promise is forever
Creation CovenantCreation Sin
Noah Chosen
Noahic Covenant (Mercy)
?
2100 B.C.before
Genesis 11
The Tower
of Babel
PRIDE • REBELLION • VAINGLORY
The Rise of NationsWAR • GREED • POWER
2091 B.C.Genesis 12
The Call of Abram“Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s
house to the land that I will show you.”Genesis 12:1
Our Father in Faith• Pure, unquestioning
faith
• Total trust in and obedience to God
• The opposite of Adam and Eve
• Model of Christian faith
The Abrahamic Covenant
• Land
• Descendents
• Source of blessing for the world
The Abrahamic Covenant
• Circumcision as a sign of the covenant
• A reminder that flesh cannot save and the need to trust in God alone
The Abrahamic Covenant• Abram becomes
Abraham
• Sarai becomes Sarah
• Addition of same Hebrew character in their new names.
• Confirmation of God’s promise
Creation CovenantCreation Sin
Noah chosen
Noahic Covenant (Mercy)
Abraham chosen
Abrahamic Covenant (Strength)
Sin
1898 B.C.Genesis 37
The Betrayal of Joseph
JEALOUSY • TREACHERY • DECEIT
“Come, and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say,
'A wild beast devoured him.' Then let us see what will become of his
dreams!"Genesis 6:5
A Web of Deceit• Jacob deceived his father, Isaac, to
steal the blessing rightly belonging to his brother, Esau.
• Jacob (Israel) is deceived by his sons into thinking Joseph is dead.
• Who will pay for their deceit? The tribes of Israel will be enslaved in Egypt.
1600 B.C.Exodus 1
Sons of Israel Enslaved“So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard
labour. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.”
Exodus 1:11
1446 B.C.Exodus 13
God Reveals Himself
“I AM WHO AM”Exodus 3:14
Freed from Slavery• Monumental
gesture of God’s love.
• Assurance of God’s powerful protection.
• Passover memorial of liberation.
The Golden Calf
IDOLATRY • INGRATITUDE • INFIDELITY
“Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Exodus 32:1
The Mosaic Covenant• The ‘Rule Book of
Love’ • Illuminating the
nature of love:for God and for neighbour
• Reveals God’s love as truth and patience
The Mosaic Covenant• Sealed with the
sign of sacrificial blood
• The Ark of the Covenant
• The Sabbath
• The Passover
Creation CovenantCreation Sin
Noah chosen
Noahic Covenant (Mercy)
Abraham chosen
Abrahamic Covenant (Strength)
Sin
Sin
Moses chosen
Mosaic Covenant
(Truth)
1043 B.C.1 Samuel 8
Israel Demands a King
1 Samuel 8:19-20
“Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice; only — you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
INCONSTANCY • DISDAIN • HUBRIS
1024 B.C.1 Samuel 16
The Shepherd King
“Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David
from that day forward."1 Samuel 16:13
The Davidic Covenant• An eternal kingdom
• Dynastic rule
• The Messiah
• The Temple, built by his son, Solomon: the sign of God’s abiding presence and favour.
Creation CovenantCreation Sin
Noah chosen
Noahic Covenant (Mercy)
Abraham chosen
Abrahamic Covenant (Strength)
Sin
Sin
Moses chosen
Mosaic Covenant
(Truth)Sin
David chosen
Davidic Covenant (Eternality)
Covenant
Election Disloyalty
THAT ALL MANKIND SHOULD HAVE SALVATION
THROUGH GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE, ISRAEL,
AND THEIR ETERNAL KING IN DAVID’S LINE,
WHO WILL RESTORE THE DIVINE LAW OF LOVE.
Psalm 132 10-18
Think of thy servant David, and do not refuse audience to the king thou hast anointed.
Never will the Lord be false to that inviolable oath he swore to David: I will raise to thy throne heirs of thy own body;
if thy sons hold fast to my covenant, to the decrees which I make known to them, their sons too shall reign on thy throne for ever.
The Lord’s choice has fallen upon Sion, this is the dwelling he longed for:
Here, for ever, is my resting-place, here is my destined home.
Trust me, I will bless her with abundant store, the poor shall have bread to their heart’s content;
I will clothe her priests in the vesture of triumph, cries of rejoicing shall echo among her faithful people.
There the stock of David shall bud, there shall a lamp burn continually for the king I have anointed.
I will cover his enemies with confusion; on his brow the crown I gave shall shine untarnished.
Reflections
• What do these covenants tell you about God?
• What is God promising you today?
• What is your response to God’s promise to you?
Preparations• Find out as much as you can about the following
people we will meet next week:
• Amos
• Jonah
• Hosea
• Isaiah
• Micah
• Jeremiah
• Daniel
• Ezekiel
• Zechariah
• Malachi
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