Genesis 3. The Eternal Covenant.
Behind Genesis 3:15 and the Promise of a Conqueror to avenge Satan for the Fall he caused in the Garden of Eden is The Eternal Covenant. So far, three covenants have been mentioned.
After the Fall, God made another covenant with Adam called The Covenant of Redemption. In this covenant, God made a promise to Adam that one of his sons would crush the head of the serpent that had brought this misery upon them. In this promise, God intimated He would redeem man and restore him to his original state. The Covenant of Redemption is one covenant. It has four more sub-covenants to it to. Each of these sub-covenants to four different men – Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David – reiterate the same basic Promise made to Adam in the garden with each giving a little bit more information than the one previous to it. The covenant before it is reaffirmed with more detail and enlargement. With each man, more information comes about the covenant God promised in Genesis 3. It is sort of like opening a telescope. There is one telescope, but the telescope opens up and becomes longer and longer. Each section that is pulled out is larger than the previous section, is part of the previous section, and with each section one can see more and more details as he looks through it. The telescope is Genesis 3:15 and the Covenant of Redemption promise. God is going to send a Conqueror over Satan. But that same covenant promise is renewed with four other men. Each of those men is an extension of the same telescope. No one is looking through separate telescopes or getting a covenant promise that is different than the previous ones. Everyone is looking through the same lens. With each man, more and more information about God’s covenant promise in Genesis 3:15 is included. More details become visible.
An interesting thing takes place with each extension, or enlargement of information, of the Covenant of Redemption. The information about the promise and what will be accomplished beyond crushing Satan’s head keeps getting fuller and fuller. More and more details about the fullness of the Redeemer’s work keeps coming. On the other hand, more and more information keeps coming out about the Redeemer Himself too. Whereas the information about covenant’s accomplishments become wider and wider, the information about the Conqueror becomes narrower and narrower. In other words, the details about the Redeemer become more and more pin-pointed. His identity and recognizability become more distinct. As one reads through the Scriptures, a portrait of the Redeemer begins to emerge. These two tracts of information are illustrated below. (See Diagram 1 below)
The third covenant is The Eternal Covenant. The Eternal Covenant is the covenant that members of the Godhead made with each other. What would be the most logical answer as to when God decided to send the Conqueror and subsequently made His covenant promise? Most people would probably say shortly after Adam’s sin. (See Diagram 2 below)
This may seem the most logical conclusion, but the Bible speaks of an Eternal Covenant made within the Godhead BEFORE the creation of the world. This information was unknown until the Redeemer Himself came and opened the door slightly so that we could glimpse into eternity past. But He made incredible statements that clearly indicate a pre-creation covenant between Himself and His Father.
First, Christ said over and over again that as the Son, His only desire was to please the Father, to whose will He was submissive even though He was equal with the Father. These are a few examples.
John 5:30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
John 14:31 But the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
In addition, as One obedient to the Father’s will, Jesus said that the Father had sent him. He did not make the decision Himself to come. It was not He who took the initiative to love us and will to save us from our sins. Furthermore, He did not come with His own message or words or determine how He was even going to say all that He did. He was sent with a message from His Father who told Him exactly what to say and how to say it. Now these are amazing statements about the second person of the Trinity, but below are a few excerpts from His own words in the New Testament.
John 7:16 …my teaching is not mine, but His who sent Me.
John 8:42 …I have not come on My own; but He sent Me.
John 8:28, 29 …I do nothing on my own authority but speak as the Father taught me. And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.
John 12:49,50 For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent Me commanded Me what to say and how to say it. I know that His command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.
John 14:24 …These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent Me.
John 6:38 For I came down from heaven , not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.
John 3:16, “God (the Father) so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son…“
John 4:34 My meat is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
Jesus’ words are very clear. He was senthere with the Father’s message, not His own message. In fact, over 200 times in John, it is said that Jesus was sent by the Father. Although He is equal to God as deity, though the world was made through Him (John 1:3), though He is the centerpiece of redemption, nevertheless, the Son said that never once did He say anything on His own or ever say anything more or less than what His Father had commanded Him to say. He did all this because His food was only to do the Father’s will and finish His work.
So WHY was the Son sent by the Father and WHAT was it He was sent specifically to do as the woman’s Redeemer? There is an allusion to His work in the Garden of Gethsemane in Luke 22:42 when Jesus prayed, “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me; yet, not my will, but yours be done.” It was the Father’s will that Jesus go to the cross. Even though the pressure was immense to do otherwise, He submitted because “I do exactly what My Father has commanded Me.” Paul says in Philippians 2:8 that Jesus “became obedient to death”, implying that Jesus had a command from the Father that He obeyed perfectly. Jesus made specific reference to this death on the cross in John 10:17, 18, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” So the work and will of the Father that the Son was commanded to do as the obedient Son who always pleased His Father was to give His life on the cross to redeem Adam and Eve and their seed.
But WHEN was this command given? Again, the Scripture alludes to a covenant within the Trinity that took place long before Adam’s sin in the garden. Paul says that “God chose us in Him (Christ) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His (the Father’s) sight. In love He (the Father) predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His (the Father’s) pleasure and will to the praise of His (the Father’s) glorious grace…” I Peter 1:20 says the same thing, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.” Somewhere in eternity past, the Father chose the Son to be the Redeemer, and the Son submitted to the Father’s will to do exactly as the Father had commanded Him. The will of the Father even then included the cross because in Revelation 13:8 John calls Jesus “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.”
In this light, the last words of Jesus on the cross before His death have a much deeper meaning. As the obedient Son who always does the Father’s will and pleases Him, as the One who was sent here by the Father from before the creation of the world to give His life for the sheep and lose none of them, as the One chosen by the Father and commanded to crush the head of the serpent and redeem man, He accomplished all this when he said, “It is finished.” (John 19:30) He did not mean, “Thank goodness, my suffering is finally over, and I am now going to die.” He meant that He had completed the plan the Father and He had agreed upon in eternity. Redemption for the man and woman was completed. So Diagram 2 below should actually look like this. (See Diagram 3 below)
It is sometime asked, “If God knows everything, why did He put the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden in the first place? And why did He allow the things in Genesis 3 to happen?” There is only one answer. It was Divinely planned. Beyond this answer, only the Lord Himself knows. “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. .” (Acts 2:23)
- The Eternal Covenant
- The Creation Covenant
- The Covenant of Redemption
After the Fall, God made another covenant with Adam called The Covenant of Redemption. In this covenant, God made a promise to Adam that one of his sons would crush the head of the serpent that had brought this misery upon them. In this promise, God intimated He would redeem man and restore him to his original state. The Covenant of Redemption is one covenant. It has four more sub-covenants to it to. Each of these sub-covenants to four different men – Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David – reiterate the same basic Promise made to Adam in the garden with each giving a little bit more information than the one previous to it. The covenant before it is reaffirmed with more detail and enlargement. With each man, more information comes about the covenant God promised in Genesis 3. It is sort of like opening a telescope. There is one telescope, but the telescope opens up and becomes longer and longer. Each section that is pulled out is larger than the previous section, is part of the previous section, and with each section one can see more and more details as he looks through it. The telescope is Genesis 3:15 and the Covenant of Redemption promise. God is going to send a Conqueror over Satan. But that same covenant promise is renewed with four other men. Each of those men is an extension of the same telescope. No one is looking through separate telescopes or getting a covenant promise that is different than the previous ones. Everyone is looking through the same lens. With each man, more and more information about God’s covenant promise in Genesis 3:15 is included. More details become visible.
An interesting thing takes place with each extension, or enlargement of information, of the Covenant of Redemption. The information about the promise and what will be accomplished beyond crushing Satan’s head keeps getting fuller and fuller. More and more details about the fullness of the Redeemer’s work keeps coming. On the other hand, more and more information keeps coming out about the Redeemer Himself too. Whereas the information about covenant’s accomplishments become wider and wider, the information about the Conqueror becomes narrower and narrower. In other words, the details about the Redeemer become more and more pin-pointed. His identity and recognizability become more distinct. As one reads through the Scriptures, a portrait of the Redeemer begins to emerge. These two tracts of information are illustrated below. (See Diagram 1 below)
The third covenant is The Eternal Covenant. The Eternal Covenant is the covenant that members of the Godhead made with each other. What would be the most logical answer as to when God decided to send the Conqueror and subsequently made His covenant promise? Most people would probably say shortly after Adam’s sin. (See Diagram 2 below)
This may seem the most logical conclusion, but the Bible speaks of an Eternal Covenant made within the Godhead BEFORE the creation of the world. This information was unknown until the Redeemer Himself came and opened the door slightly so that we could glimpse into eternity past. But He made incredible statements that clearly indicate a pre-creation covenant between Himself and His Father.
First, Christ said over and over again that as the Son, His only desire was to please the Father, to whose will He was submissive even though He was equal with the Father. These are a few examples.
John 5:30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
John 14:31 But the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
In addition, as One obedient to the Father’s will, Jesus said that the Father had sent him. He did not make the decision Himself to come. It was not He who took the initiative to love us and will to save us from our sins. Furthermore, He did not come with His own message or words or determine how He was even going to say all that He did. He was sent with a message from His Father who told Him exactly what to say and how to say it. Now these are amazing statements about the second person of the Trinity, but below are a few excerpts from His own words in the New Testament.
John 7:16 …my teaching is not mine, but His who sent Me.
John 8:42 …I have not come on My own; but He sent Me.
John 8:28, 29 …I do nothing on my own authority but speak as the Father taught me. And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.
John 12:49,50 For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent Me commanded Me what to say and how to say it. I know that His command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.
John 14:24 …These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent Me.
John 6:38 For I came down from heaven , not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.
John 3:16, “God (the Father) so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son…“
John 4:34 My meat is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
Jesus’ words are very clear. He was senthere with the Father’s message, not His own message. In fact, over 200 times in John, it is said that Jesus was sent by the Father. Although He is equal to God as deity, though the world was made through Him (John 1:3), though He is the centerpiece of redemption, nevertheless, the Son said that never once did He say anything on His own or ever say anything more or less than what His Father had commanded Him to say. He did all this because His food was only to do the Father’s will and finish His work.
So WHY was the Son sent by the Father and WHAT was it He was sent specifically to do as the woman’s Redeemer? There is an allusion to His work in the Garden of Gethsemane in Luke 22:42 when Jesus prayed, “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me; yet, not my will, but yours be done.” It was the Father’s will that Jesus go to the cross. Even though the pressure was immense to do otherwise, He submitted because “I do exactly what My Father has commanded Me.” Paul says in Philippians 2:8 that Jesus “became obedient to death”, implying that Jesus had a command from the Father that He obeyed perfectly. Jesus made specific reference to this death on the cross in John 10:17, 18, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” So the work and will of the Father that the Son was commanded to do as the obedient Son who always pleased His Father was to give His life on the cross to redeem Adam and Eve and their seed.
But WHEN was this command given? Again, the Scripture alludes to a covenant within the Trinity that took place long before Adam’s sin in the garden. Paul says that “God chose us in Him (Christ) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His (the Father’s) sight. In love He (the Father) predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His (the Father’s) pleasure and will to the praise of His (the Father’s) glorious grace…” I Peter 1:20 says the same thing, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.” Somewhere in eternity past, the Father chose the Son to be the Redeemer, and the Son submitted to the Father’s will to do exactly as the Father had commanded Him. The will of the Father even then included the cross because in Revelation 13:8 John calls Jesus “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.”
In this light, the last words of Jesus on the cross before His death have a much deeper meaning. As the obedient Son who always does the Father’s will and pleases Him, as the One who was sent here by the Father from before the creation of the world to give His life for the sheep and lose none of them, as the One chosen by the Father and commanded to crush the head of the serpent and redeem man, He accomplished all this when he said, “It is finished.” (John 19:30) He did not mean, “Thank goodness, my suffering is finally over, and I am now going to die.” He meant that He had completed the plan the Father and He had agreed upon in eternity. Redemption for the man and woman was completed. So Diagram 2 below should actually look like this. (See Diagram 3 below)
It is sometime asked, “If God knows everything, why did He put the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden in the first place? And why did He allow the things in Genesis 3 to happen?” There is only one answer. It was Divinely planned. Beyond this answer, only the Lord Himself knows. “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. .” (Acts 2:23)
Diagram 1
Diagram 2
Diagram 3