A Thread in the Covenants of God

In the beginning, God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and God gave them, Adam and Eve, responsibilities, things to do. So today we want to look at what happened right at the beginning.

How God had a wonderful relationship with Adam and Eve. And that, in a sense, was prophetic to an even greater future relationship that he wanted to have with mankind. However, that lovely, healthy relationship was destroyed.

And we then want to look at it today at the thread that is existent in the promises that God married to his people, which showed prophetically how he, God, would fulfill that reconciliation with mankind, so that the plan of complete reconciliation and that relationship between God and man would be established to the original intent and desire. Furthermore, we want to look at how God has, you and I, personally involved in building that relationship with him, because that relationship is based on an agreement between you and I, of course, and God individually, because he has made a promise with you and I, and he wants to make a commitment and a promise with you and I, and he wants us, likewise, to make a promise with him, to be at one with him, to have that relationship with him, that healthy relationship with him. And in the end, that is what a new covenant is all about. A covenant, or an agreement, or a promise made with individuals like you and I, with him, and ultimately with all humanity. And the question is, so what? It is so that you and I may be part of his family, so that we can be part of his family. So let's therefore start at the beginning in Genesis chapter 1, when God first created Adam and Eve. Genesis chapter 1, verse 26 through 28. And he says, then God said, let us, let God the Father and Jesus Christ the two, make that decision together, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish, of the sea, and over the birds, of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And so God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created the male infemile, he created them, and 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, and over the birds, of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. You see, what we have here is little hims, little of a clue of his plan. Then we are to be part of his family, because he made Adam and Eve in his own image, to be like him, like we heard in the song, to be just like you, to be like him.

And so, this whole physical life was a training ground, a teaching ground, for them to be like the Father. Yes, Adam and Eve were created in the physical image of God, but there would be a lot of shaping mentally and emotionally and spiritually from the character point of view, so they could be like the Father. And furthermore, they were also to have dominion, to have rulership, to have responsibilities of caring for the environment, caring for the animals, for the whole environment, which basically points to the ultimate responsibility as the children of God that we will have to care for the whole universe. That would be our responsibility. Within that, we would be rulers, because we'll be a dominion, a responsibility of rulership. We'll be a royal family, a ruling family. And then, a little bit further, at the beginning of chapter 2, you can see then, on the seventh day, God entered his work and he rested, bringing the analogy that ultimately, this relationship will be a peaceful relationship, where there will be rest and rest in eternity in a good, healthy relationship with the Father. But then, we're boundaries in this relationship. There were do's and don'ts. There were things you can do and things you cannot do in every relationship that exists. You know, when we rise up to children, there are things they can't do, things they can't do. In a family, there are things we can and cannot do. They are boundaries. And as an example of those boundaries of right and wrong, we can see in Genesis 2, verses 15-17, and God said, look after the God and keep it, take care of it. There are certain things you need to do, certain things you need to work, but also, there are certain things that you must not do. There's a little tree of certain things. There are boundaries, certain things you cannot do. Certain things says, do not touch, like we can our children. Don't do this. There are certain things, no no's. Certain yes's, there are certain no no's.

And furthermore, to achieve this building work of getting through the garden and all that, there were the two who were supposed to work as a team, in love, as a husband and wife, in a commitment to one another of husband and wife commitment, based on love. And there we can see there, in Genesis 2, verse 18, and it says, God said, it's not good that man should be alone. I'll give him a helper comparable to him, and like wife and a woman, he's a helper comparable to her.

And then in verse 24, it says, therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one. They shall become one, bringing this meaning of unity, and unity based on genuine love, which meant a commitment, a mutual promise of loyalty and fightfulness and commitment of one to another in a loving relationship.

And so, let us just consider what this involved right at the beginning. There was a commitment based on love in a marriage, but which was an analogy of a commitment that would have to the father and to the family to build up that family, which basically is a covenant. It's a commitment. It's a promise to be loyal to one another. It's a covenant. It's a promise. It's an agreement. Furthermore, there was a test ground, an area to grow, to prove, to mature, to develop. There was a test ground, and it was a job to do, albeit it was temporary, to look after the garden.

The great ultimate would be looking at similar of that in the future with an ultimate rest, which represents the seven. And so, the ultimate goal is pointing to a God family just in a physical environment, building a little family, having dominion, having a responsibility, but pointing to the ultimate goal. Of a family relationship with God, the Father, and us mankind. So that was right at the beginning. And everything was going very well. And now, what happened? Satan got into the picture, and he destroyed that trusting relationship between God and man.

That trusting relationship was broken. And so, there were consequences. There were consequences. The consequences was that man could not continue that way, because man was not adhering to his part of the covenant, of the relationship. And because of that, man was punished, and God put some additional rules into it. Some additional rules. It's like when the children obey, everything is fine, but when they disobey, there's certain consequences and additional rules that go with it. And in Genesis 3, verse 17 through 19, we can see the additional rules and laws in the sense that God put in place as far as the man was concerned.

And then to Adam, God said, because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree which I commanded you, saying, Shammari, in other words, because you've not obeyed me, but you've done what I told you not to do.

The ground is going to be cursed. You're going to have to work harder. You're going to have to work really hard at the sweep of your face. You shall eat bread. So, man would have to work harder than it was originally intended until God establishes that relationship back to where it should be. It's like when the children were so bad, the consequences have got to do certain things a little harder until a certain time period or whatever, and then things get a little easier.

But the punishment is there's going to be certain consequences. Likewise, the woman. We can read in verse 16. To the woman is said, and the woman, as we know today, the woman suffer a lot more when in children. And also, it says, Your desire shall be to your husband. He shall rule over you. And indeed, it is as if there is a curse in society today where a lot of men really maltreat women, as if it's fulfilling this prophecy. It's really sad. It's really sad how many women are treated. But the story does not end there because on verse 14 and 15 it says, The troublemaker, the instigator, Satan, he was cursed.

He said, Because you've done this, in verse 14, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field. Satan was cursed. And then he says, in verse 15, I'll put enmity between you and the woman, between Satan and God's church. We're reading in Genesis 3, verse 15. And between your seed, that's Satan's children, and her seed, that is Jesus Christ, the seed, the true seed of the woman. And then he says, He, that's Jesus Christ, shall bruise your head.

Jesus Christ will ultimately establish that relationship, will destroy the power of Satan, will destroy the power of deception of Satan, because Satan deceived Eve, and man just followed. Ultimately, God, through the seed of the woman, will destroy the power of Satan, and will bring that relationship back, that man and God will be back at once. You see, this was a promise that God made, saying, through the seed of the woman, which is Christ, He will re-establish that healthy relationship between man, and obviously woman, and God, through the seed of the woman.

And so, he has a promise, right at the beginning, saying, God wants to make man like him, but man has not played his part, has broken that part of his responsibilities. And because of that, man is failing. But God will bring out of the seed of the woman, which became Christ.

He will bring that seed, and that seed will cause the reconciliation to occur, so that mankind and God can be back at once with a healthy relationship. And brethren, that is a lesson right from the beginning, that God wants us to be His children, but we have failed, and even if we fail, He will bring us back through the seed of the woman, because He will not fight.

And that is a thread that we want to look at it today, because throughout Biblical history, thereafter, we then see a series of promises of God to Noah, to Abraham, to Israel, to David.

All having one thread through it, and that thread is, God will bruise the head of Satan, and therefore will do that through the seed of the woman, and will bring back that relationship between mankind and God to be back at once. And so, how is God going to do that through the seed of the woman? That was revealed through a series of promises that God made over Biblical history. And these promises that God made were covenants, were agreements, were commitments that God made to man. And these commitments, over time, revealed a little bit more, or additional facet, of how He would roll out the plan to restore all things to the way they should be, to the restoration of all things to the seed of the woman. So how was God going to restore this? Well, it would reveal it to us a little bit at a time through promises. In other words, through covenants. So let's look, and there are many covenants in the Bible that goes into a lot more in this greater detail. I'm just going to emphasize a few of them. And the first major step of these covenants was the covenant with Noah.

And the covenant with Noah, you all know, God called in, like a hawk, like a big boat. And through this big boat, I'll save you and your family. And it shows you an analogy that Noah had to leave society, had to leave the world, and to be separate so that it could be saved. And you and I have to leave the world so that we can be saved. We have to leave the society. You see, if you turn to Genesis 6, verse 5, Genesis 6, verse 5, you can see, "...and 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 continuously." God saw that society was rotten, was perverted, and every intent, how good and how sweet it may come across, was evil continually. And brethren, Christ said like, at the end time, we'll be like in the days of Noah, society around us is just like that. It's just like that. And Noah both that are, took him 100 years. And if you think about, I mean, look at when the Psalms Wrong started, God who proved the Psalms Wrong started. It's taken a lot of time to build this family relationship. It takes time. But what we find is that Noah was righteous. Look in verse 9 of chapter 6, Genesis 6. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. Now, it does not mean that Noah never did anything wrong, but his heart and his intense was right. He wanted to be like the Father, as we heard in the Psalms. And he was striving to have that goal to be like the Father. And he therefore evolved with God. And God saw that, and therefore God was gracious towards him. He saw that, as we see in verse 8. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, because God was pleased with that. God was pleased with that. So, God saved Noah and his family. He took them out of the world, and that did evolve death. There's death, death of the old way, death of the old man to be a new man, to be different. And that is also symbolic to us. And there had to be through a flood, symbolic of a baptism, of being baptized in the change. So, we can see God start revealing the thread of how you bring things to a full restoration of all things, to restore man's relationship with God. He starts showing that man would have to come out of the world, and there would have to be a change. And there would have to be a washing away through baptism. And then, looking at verse 11 through verse 13, says, And earth was corrupt before God, and earth was full of violence. So God looked upon earth, and the need was corrupt for all the flesh that corrupts their way on earth. And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me, for earth is full of violence through them, and be all, I'll destroy them with earth. Mankind was destroyed. Yes, mankind was destroyed. But then, he says, he made a rainbow.

And then he said, I will never destroy mankind again. If you look at Genesis chapter 9, Genesis chapter 9 verse 11 through 13, Thus I'll 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 then verse 13, And I'll set my rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Can you see the analogy? The analogy is, once you've made that change, that spiritual, you've made that repentance, and you've made that commitment, and you keep going to live that new life, never again will you be destroyed again. Never will that relationship with God be destroyed, because you will now be bound by a really strong relationship with the Father, never to be broken again. And the rainbow is the sign of the covenant. And you can see there in verse 16, and it says, the rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I'll look on it to remember that ever-lasting covenant. That's an ever-lasting covenant that God is making with us, that when we change, when we leave the wall, and we repent, and we live a new life, and we are baptized, He makes an everlasting covenant with us, never to destroy us again, provided we fulfill the part of our commitment to understand that covenant.

So, you can see that was the first step of God revealing to mankind how He was going to establish that reconciliation through the scene of the woman. Not much revealed there yet, but it's a gentle hint. Let's look at the second step. The second step, the major step that we need to look at today, how God is bringing about that reconciliation, is the covenant with Abraham. And you know the story. Abraham, at first, he was told to leave his land, with his family, and to grow and sow, sow, and another land. And you know what? God told him, I'll give you great things, but it was all based on a promise of faith.

And that's why Abraham, Isaac, and Jep, are the father of the faithful, because this is a covenant with Abraham, which brings the story, and the meaning, and the importance of absolute trust in God, which is what faith is all about. And basically, he says that through his family, the world would be blessed physically and spiritually.

And that would happen through the seed of the woman that would come to restore all things. Now, turn with me to Genesis 12. We'll just read verses 2 and 3. Genesis 12, verses 2 and 3. I'll make you a great nation, I'll bless you, and I'll make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I'll bless those who bless you, and I'll curse him who curses you. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. What evidence did Abraham have at that time of that? Zero. But he did. He got out of the country, as we see in verse 1. He got out of the country from his family and from his father's house to a land that he would show him, based on a promise. Based on faith. And the hour we see, it's a promise of, it says, I'll bless you and those, and I'll make a great nation of you. So that's a physical blessing. But it's also a spiritual blessing, because it says, in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. That will bless the rest of the world through his seed. That will be the seed of the woman that was promised right there at the beginning in Genesis, at the time of Adam and Eve.

And so, Abraham will bite. He left the land. And then a little later, you can read in Genesis 17. Genesis 17, verse 1, he says, Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old, and the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him, I am the Almighty God, walk before me and be blessed. Now remember, he left. Maybe he was a young man or a younger man. You know, about, I already said correct, he was about seventy-five years old or so when he left. He's going to make a great nation in Arabian. Now he's ninety-nine years old, and he's still got no children, direct children from, through his wife Sarah. We know that Hagar and Ishmael, he had thought, well, maybe he needs to do something, but God now appeared to him. And look at it in verse five, he says, No longer shall your name be called Abraham, but your name shall be called Abraham. For I have made you a father of many nations. And then look at verse seven, he says, And I'll establish my covenant between me and you, and your descendant, that's the seed, which should be singular, the seed, after you, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendant after you. That's the seed.

And then look at it in verse fifteen, And then God said to Abraham, As for Sarah, your wife, you shall not call us Sarah, but Sarah shall be a name. You know what's because she'll be the mother then. And I'll bless her, and also give you a son by her. And then I'll bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations, kings of people shall be from her. Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed. Come on. I'm ninety-nine years old. My wife is ninety. It's already past the age of bearing children. This is a joke.

Come on. And then he said, Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is nine years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, Oh, that Ishmael might live before you. Oh, yeah, Ishmael. You know, the plan I made, you're on the side there.

And then God said, No, Sarah, your wife shall be the son, and you shall call his name Isaac. It means laughter. And I'll establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant. And he's the second of the name.

So here is a covenant, again, a promise. A covenant, a promise. A promise based on faith. Because a child would come from whom could not be children. And not only could she not be children, but an age of childbearing had passed.

And then he made a sign. To circumcise Abraham. You can see the story there about circumcision. Verse 24, when Abraham was 99 years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his poor skin. And so that covenant had a sign. A sign is a symbol of a covenant. A covenant is a contract of agreements, like when you get married. You make a contract, an agreement, to be loyal to your spouse. And you have a sign which might be, for instance, the wedding bank.

It's just a sign. It's a contract, it's something else. It's the promise you made. And the wedding bank is just a sign. The circumcision was just a sign.

In that case, that there was that. But furthermore, it involved blood. Because when Abraham cut something, he cut that circumcise that poor skin. There's a little blood, or a lot of blood. And so there is blood. So that circumcision was a sign, involved cutting, or it involved cutting, and involved blood. Again, starts giving additional understanding how that son would be killed. Jesus Christ would involve him being cut in pieces, and would involve him dying, and would involve blood. Then in chapter 22, verse 8 to 12, then Abraham said, My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.

So you and I know the story. God tells Abraham, now he is born a child. His child is now Isaac, he's growing, he's now a teenager, or maybe, according to some people, he's probably about 25 years old. So it's not just a baby. Now, remember, that means Abraham was about 125 years old or so. Now a man which is 120 years old, it's not as strong, has maybe a 20 or 25 year old young man.

So he goes with Isaac, and Abraham said to Isaac, My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. He says, We gave for Abraham who is a lamb. And then he says, Well, you are the lamb.

But God also promised that through him will be nations and descendants and things like that, and he will bless through his generation. So we didn't know how God was going to do it, but it was an act of faith.

And so he bound Isaac, he suddenly laid him on the altar upon the wood. You can read that in verse 9. Now, if you are 120 years old and you're telling you're 20, even if he's 18 or he's 25 years old, son, I'm going to do this to you. He might put a little bit of objection or a fight back. So it's not just Abraham's faith, it's Isaac's faith. That's why they're the father of the faithful, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It's not just Abraham's faith, it's Isaac. And as he's going to do it, then the angel of the Lord is described, called from heaven, which was Christ, that is the messenger of the father.

And he said, Abraham, Abraham. And in verse 15, he says, the angel of the Lord called to Abraham and a second time out of heaven and said, by myself, I have sworn, sworn, says the Lord, because you've done this thing and I'm not without your son, your only son. A blessing I'll bless you, multiply or multiply the sevens as the stars of earth, as the sand, which is on the sea shore, and your descendants shall possess the gate of the enemies.

And your seed, in your seed, which is Christ, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you've obeyed the populace. This promise now becomes unconditional. God says, I will do it. Even if some of your descendants go wrong, I will do it. You will file, or some of your descendants will file, but I will not file. I will do it.

You see, if I'm wronging this plan of how he's going to bring the seed of the woman to reconcile mankind. But this second major step emphasizes faith. Faith. And because of that faith, Abraham was accounted as righteous, was counted to him as righteousness. And that's what you and I need to have. We need to have faith as well. So it's the second major step in this series of promises, which the first one emphasizes the need to leave the world and go through a baptism. This one emphasizes faith.

Can you see how it talks about when you talk about Peter gave his sermon in Acts 2.38 and he says, repent and believe and then be baptized. How it all starts tying together that thread of bringing that reconciliation of mankind back to God. Now we go on to the third major step. The third major step was the power of Moses of doing the Sinai covenant, which we call the Old Covenant.

But understand there were other covenants already. There was the covenant with Abraham, there was the covenant with Noah, there was the covenant with Adam and Eve. And there were others. But we call that the Old Covenant or the Sinai Covenant, which was basically done with millions of people. With the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And that covenant emphasized the law. The law. See the covenant to it, Abraham emphasized faith. Now this covenant emphasizes the law. Not that the law didn't exist before, but it was 35 because now we're talking about a nation. And it also included the tabernacle, the building of the temple, and sacrifices and rituals, which pointed to Christ's sacrifice as the ultimate sacrifice in the worst seed of the woman.

And again the Sinai was circumcision for the Israelites. Let's look at that covenant in Exodus 19. Genesis, Exodus 19. Exodus 19, verse 5 through 8.

And then all the people said in verse 5, all that the eternal has spoken, we will do. There's a covenant, there's an agreement, there's a vow, like a marriage covenant, you know, you do this and I'll do this. And the people said, yeah, we'll do it. And then you can see the description of that through the next few pages. And when you get to chapter 24, 24, Exodus 24, verse 7, and then says, starting in verse 4, Moses wrote all these words of the Lord. And in verse 7, then he took the book of the covenant. So the book of the covenant consisted that section from Exodus 20 to 23, inclusive. And so in verse chapter 24, that was the book of the covenant. He took the book of the covenant and read it, and they said, all the Lord has said, we will do and be obedient. And then Moses took the blood sprinkled on the people and said, this is the blood of the covenant. This is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made you according to all these words. And that basically is the end of the covenant. So the covenant originally was that section. Obviously, things were added to it. Later on, Moses added other things. And there were different statutes that said they were added, and it basically became the first five books of the Bible and the whole Torah as it's understood. But history has shown that those people did not fulfill the part of the covenant. They just did not do the part. And basically, it's proved that you could have the nation with all understanding, with everything going for them, look at it even up to the time of Solomon, they had everything going for them. And they so failed because there was one ingredient in the Bible. And that ingredient is God's Holy Spirit. Basically, the lesson of Old Testament Israel is the following. You can have all the knowledge, you can have all the instruction, you can have everything going for you, you can try as hard as you want, but you and I won't fail.

Because we cannot do it by ourselves. We need the help of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, we're going to fail to stop. Full stop. That's the lesson of that. But it showed the importance of law. They are law. There are certain things we got to do. There are requirements. There are things we got to do.

And there were also rituals pointing to the ultimate sacrifice, which is trust. The sign again was a circumcision which again involved blood and involved the cutting of the full scheme. Then Israel acts to survive. There were 40 years in the desert, still under the leadership of Moses.

Right at the end, before Moses died, Daniel was talking to the following generation, because the generation that had made the promise, they failed. So now, he gets to the second generation after that. And that is at the end of the book of Deuteronomy. So turn with me to Deuteronomy 30. Deuteronomy 30.

Now, if you just look back, Deuteronomy before that, there's the blessings of obedience and the curse of disobedience in Deuteronomy 28. So now, we're down to Deuteronomy 30. And it says, this is now Moses giving a sermon. Because the whole book of Deuteronomy is basically that sermon. A really long sermon. So I'm not going to speak that long into that. But, Moses was giving that sermon. And at the end of it, he says, now pay attention to some very interesting things he says here in Deuteronomy 30. In verse 1, now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing, which is in chapter 28, you know, the blessings, and the curse, which is the curses for disobedience.

Now, what is Moses saying? He's saying, God's going to bless you, and you're going to do so by, and you're going to file, and you're going to be cursed. That's what he's saying. You're going to file, and you're going to be cursed. So these things will happen. The blessings and the curse, which are set before you, this will happen. Then, you're going to be in slavery. And you call them to mind. Now you'll remember in slavery. Oh, we heard these things. I remember. Among the nations, where the Lord your God drives you.

In other words, you have been sent to slavery, to different nations. And then you're going to remember, oh, actually, it was. Verse 2. And you return to the Lord. You repent. You truly repent to God, to the Lord your God, and obey His voice. Now, in slavery, you repent and you obey His voice. Now, think about prophecy. I was talking about the great multitude that comes out of the great tribulation, because they've repented. And obey His voice. That's the great multitude coming out. Why? Because it comes to mind what we told them now through Beyond Today and these other programs. They're doing nothing about it, but then they'll remember, will come to mind, and there's that great multitude that repents.

Continue reading in verse 2. And you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice. According to all that I command you today, you and your children. You see, there's required law. You see, there's faith. They're cut into a favor, and they're cut into a future life.

Law is love. And that thread continues. How God will bring the reconciliation of mankind. There's that thread all along. And it says, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart, with all your soul. In other words, you're going to be fully repented completely, really, genuinely, truly repented.

You see, so that is going to happen. Now, let's jump. You can study this in your own time. Then let's jump to verse 5. Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed. And you shall possess it. And He will prosper you and multiply you more than your forefathers. See, when you repent, He's going to bring you back. That's the second Exodus. When Christ comes back, they will repent. And Christ, as the King on earth, will bring them back and He'll bless them and He'll prosper them.

And it says, and look at verse 6. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart. And the heart of your descendants will laugh the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live. Brethren, can you see that the old covenant, now this is the old covenant.

And the old covenant says, you're going to fight, but I will not fight. And I will bring you back. And I will then circumcise your heart, which is the new covenant. So the old covenant already points to the new covenant. But it will have a different circumcision. It will not just be a circumcision of the flesh. It will be a circumcision of the heart. How? With the Holy Spirit. With the Holy Spirit. You see, so that is a third major step. It's the old covenant.

Now there is another step, a fourth major covenant. And that's what they do. That covenant then still adds additional detail to the promise of how God will bring their conciliation through the seed of the woman. It brings the promise of worship. It brings the promise of ruling our nations with kings. So it won't just be a family, but it will be a royal family. Not just a family, but a royal, ruling family like Adam and Eve at the beginning of their dominion. So it brings that dominion, compounding it with a royalty.

Look in 2 Samuel, 2 Samuel chapter 7. 2 Samuel chapter 7. 2 Samuel chapter 7. It shows Nathan the prophet coming to David and giving him a promise from God. And you can read that in your own time. But look at it in verse 14. And it says, I'll be his father, and he shall be my son.

And he's talking about David's son, which is Solomon. And he says, And if he solemn commits iniquity, I'll chasten him with the rod of men, and with the blows of the sands of men. But my mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. So he's basically talking about Solomon. But then, in verse 16, he now takes it beyond Solomon.

And he says, And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever. That's beyond Solomon. That kingdom, that your kingdom through David, it's going to be an eternal kingdom.

Your throne shall be established forever. And so, now we see how these promises are self-fascinating, because at the end, they're tying to the ultimate plan of salvation, but they're also tying to prophecy, because they are promises of things that are going to happen, and God will make it happen that way. So it's prophecy. And look at how, further down the line, it shows that through David, there will be a son of David, which will be the seed of the woman, which will be the king, which will be Christ, because it will come through David. Yes, it's the son of man of Adam, through Noah. It's the son of Abraham, it's through him, Isaac and Jacob, but it comes there now through David, the seed of the woman. And look out there, sizing in Isaiah chapter 9, Isaiah chapter 9, as a prophecy, verse 6 and 7, Isaiah chapter 9.

Verse 6 and 7. It says, For unto us a child is born. This child is Christ. Unto us a son is given. That's Christ. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. In other words, the promise was given to David of a kingdom forever, is going to be through Christ, and he'll be the king of kings forever. And his name, that's Christ's name, shall be called Wonderful Counselor. It's not just a counselor, he's going to be a wonderful counselor. He'll give good advice. Mighty God! Christ is God. He's not a father, but he's God. He's everlasting father. Yes, through Christ, the Creator. He's the Father of Adam. He's the Creator. And so, God, the Father in the sense is like the Grandad, you know? Prince of Peace. He's the one who's going to bring peace to the world. Of the increase of his government and peace, there'll be no end. So, you see, this prophecy now makes sense to what God promised to David. It starts clicking it all together. And you see that thread of how God, through the seed of the woman, which is Christ, how he will bring that to full full. He came through Adam, the Son of Man, the seed of the woman, which was Eve, through Noah, through Abraham, through David. He's the Son of David. And we see this thread right from the time that God first started. That God first made a promise to Adam and Eve. And always, through these other cabinets, adding additional information and additional detail to how he's rolling out this plan to restore all things back to the state that it should be. And the fifth major step is the new covenant, which was the fulfillment of that old covenant reconformation that you and I read a while ago in the Deuteronomy 30 verse 6, where it says that he will circumcise the heart. You know, at the end of the forty years in the desert, Moses spoke to them and says, You will sin, you will go out, but I'll bring you back and I'll circumcise your heart. So we get to that new covenant. That new covenant was promised. Look with me, please, in Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 31.

Jeremiah 31, 31.

Jeremiah 31, 31. It will be all the days are coming, says the eternal, when I'll make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the dead and took them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. This is the covenant I'll make with the house of Israel. After those days, says the Lord, I'll put my law into their minds and I'll put it in their hearts. How? With God's Spirit. Through the circumcision of the heart, God's Spirit will circumcise, will cut their human nature out of our heart. It's God's Spirit that circumcise our heart, that cuts the sin of our flesh out. And I'll be their God and they shall be my people. And it says, I'll forgive them, forgive their iniquity and their sin. So you see, that new covenant was prophesied.

Now look also how Ezekiel prophesied that new covenant. Now this is very interesting. So let's go on to Ezekiel chapter 36. Ezekiel chapter 36.

As you can see, I've been trying to move through history and through the Bible, always basically going forwards. Look how it was prophesied in Ezekiel 36.

Verse 21. That I had concern for my people, for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations within their land. You know the Israelites went to slavery. So when Ezekiel is prophesied, the Israelites had really gone to slavery. Not Judah, but the Israelites had gone to slavery. And they are still profaning God's name, even though they're in slavery. And so God says, I have concern for my holy name. Therefore, says, say to the house of Israel, that says to the Lord God, I do not do this just for your sake or house of Israel, but for my name's sake. You know, because He's promised and He's going to fulfill His promise and He's going to do it. Which you have profaned among the nations, whatever you went. In other words, what God is saying is, I made a promise. And my promise stands. You have failed, and you are still failing, but I'll make it succeed because I said so.

Verse 23, And I'll send a fire, my great name, which has been profaned among all the nations, which you have profaned in the midst. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord, when I am hallowed in you before your eyes. For I'll thank you from all under nations, and gathering you out from all the countries.

We'll bring them back from slavery.

Think you are on land. I'll sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. I'll cleanse you from all your forthiness and from all your idols. I'll give you in your heart, and I'll put a new spirit within you. I'll take the heart of stone out of your doubt, in your heart of flesh. I'll put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statues.

What law are they going to use? What law are they going to use? God's not giving them a new law. It's giving them a tool to obey the law, which is God's only spirit. But it's still the same law.

To walk in my statues, and you will keep my judgments, and do them.

And look in verse 31. Then you'll remember your evil ways and your deeds that you are not good, and you will loathe yourselves on your own sight. Now, it says it's going to bring them back. And then, in the next chapter, he gives additional information about that. In the next chapter, you'll know it's the Valley of Dry Bones.

And you know, we usually read that on the last great day, on the last day of the peace, on the eighth day. And it says, the Israelites will be resurrected. They will be brought back. Those very stubborn ones that died in the wilderness, they'll be brought back. Those ones that died in slavery, they'll be brought back. It's not just the descendants, but they themselves, they were rebellious, will be brought back, will be resurrected because of the promises to hybrid.

And why does it resurrect them? Look in Ezekiel 37, verse 13 and 14. Then you shall know that I'm the Lord your God, when I've opened your graves on my people, and brought you from your graves. You'll resurrect them. Those that had gone wrong, not just the descendants, but those ones that have gone wrong in the second resurrection will bring them back. And I'll put my spirit in you. They will repent. They'll learn the truth. They will then obey God with these spirits. And you shall live. And I'll place you in your own land. And then you'll know that I'm God.

And that I'm the constant, because it's not you. I did it, because of my word. I did it.

And then the rest of the chapter is also interesting, because it says, look now, take this piece of wood and take that piece of wood. And one is for Judah, looking verse 16, and the other one is for Joseph. And it says, and it's for you, Son of Man, take a stick for yourself and write on the word for Judah, and for the children of Israel's companions, in the words of Judah, which is Benjamin and Levi, those at once were Judah. And then take another stick and write with for Joseph the stick of Ephraim, and for his companions, in the words, the ones that went with Ephraim, which is Manasseh, Reuben, and all the others, the rest of the Israelites. And then join them to make for yourself into one stick, and they shall become one in your hand. Those two nations will become one. Look in verse 21, it says, and I'll gather them from every style, bring them into down land, and they shall, in verse 22 says, they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. They'll become one nation, and that'll happen in all tomorrow, so that the servants will come back, and their forefathers will also be resurrected in the Second Resurrection. They are fulfilling all this through the New Covenant.

Through the New Covenant. And it says, verse 24, look at verse 24, David, my servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd, and they shall walk in my judgments and observe my statutes, and do them. And my servant, David, shall be in their prince forever. You see, so there's a resurrection, and it'll all come back. And then you get down to the time of Christ. When Christ said at the boss of a taint of the swine, this is the blood of the New Covenant. And then he died fulfilling the possibility of that New Covenant.

And then you read Paul in Hebrews. And that's a fascinating section that I'll recommend you to do some Bible study, Hebrews 8, 9, and 10. And it says, you had an old covenant, and it was only an example, there was only a role play, it's like a dramatization, it's like a theater, of the reality which is inevitable. And he gave Moses instructions to both exactly as he gave it.

Because that only pointed to the reality, which is Christ, going through the veil when he died, and you're reading in the Apostles, when he died, the veil was stored in the temple, and then he goes through to the Holy of Oasis, which is the throne of God. And that whole symbology, let's call it, it's like a theater or an act, or a role play, was role played in the old covenant with the veil, all those laws and the blood, etc., pointing to Christ, and to the tabernacle, and to the giving of the Holy Spirit, and the cutting of the circumcision. And that's all explained in Hebrews 8, 9, and 10. It explains that how the old covenant just pointed to Christ dying once. And there it says it's the redemption of the sins that you've made under the old covenant. Maybe that's something that's worth seeing. Look in Hebrews 9, verse 15. Hebrews 9, verse 15.

Hebrews 9, verse 15.

Hebrews 9, verse 15.

It says, For this reason he that Christ is mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant. Now, if the old covenant, or as it calls it, of the first covenant, which is the Sinai covenant, which is, for these relax, that's what they call the first covenant here. If that covenant is done away, if the old covenant is done away, if everything in the Sinai covenant is erased, think about it. That's what people say. The old covenant is done away. It's erased. It doesn't exist. Okay, if it's done, then why are there transgressions under the first covenant? And why is it the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant? If it's erased, there's no sin. And if there's no sin, there's no lead for cross-sacrifice.

Then everything's a joke.

And so, why? Because there is sin. Because the first covenant is not erased. It exists. It's pointed to the need. There's a need of law. Because remember, the law doesn't cite you. The law doesn't cite you. The law shall says what is sin. It was, the law says, guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Therefore, death. Death. Death. The law doesn't cite you. The law just says, what is right and what is wrong. Now, when you do right, yeah, okay, then you're not guilty. But when you break the law, you guilty. That's all the law does. It doesn't make you right. It's Christ's blood that makes us right. And that's why it says, it continues there about the sprinkling, the shedding of blood for the remission of sins. And that's why Christ's blood cleanses the very conscience. You read that. There's just some beautiful bit of Scripture, yeah, in Hebrews 8, 9 and 10. So brethren, we now hope you can see a little bit better the link that runs through the covenants. I have covered this very lightly. I mean, I just gave you a basic treat. I suggest you study now a little bit more the covenants, thinking and keeping in mind this thread. Because the thread is, in the end, that the seed of the woman which is crossed will be our reconciliation to bring us back to be at one with the Father, with God, to have a one-on-one relationship with God the Father. You see, all the covenants point to the culminating new covenant. Yes, you and I are under the new covenant. We're not under the old covenant. We are under the new covenant. But all those covenants have components or parts that are still applicable in new covenant, like the laws are applicable. All of them pointed to Christ in one way or another to the seed of the woman. And this new covenant's got greater promises, because it's got the promise of eternal life. I didn't go through all those scriptures in Hebrews 8, 9, and 10, which shows how it promises eternal life and all that. But the beauty about it is that it was the new covenant. It's something that you and I, when you and I get to a point of true repentance, you and I individually make that covenant with the Father. And we promise God that we believe in Christ, that we have action faith, and it ties us into the promise of faith or the covenant of faith playground. That we will abide the law, therefore we repent and try to see into this old covenant of the law. The moral laws are in effect. And then, we are baptized, rising right to the time of Noah, but it's the baptism, the washing away of the water, and civilized, as we really run, the dying of all self. We are there making a commitment of circumcision of the heart, because it is God's only spirit that circumcises our heart, that cuts the human nature of sin in our hearts. It's cutting it, circumcising our hearts. And that means that you and I are individually involved, one by one, making that covenant with God, till the whole of humanity will make that covenant with God. And thereby, bringing us all to be part of God's royal family. And that is the thread, brethren, of the promises of God, how He will restore an eternal relationship for us to be like Him, like the Father, like we heard in the special music today, so that you and I can be part of the family of God. So that we, as the Church, can be part of that family, marry Christ, marry the seed of the world.