THE PROMISE | Divisionsofhistory

The Promise - Redemption From Death

There are actually 2 genealogies presented to us in the gospels in regard to Jesus; one in Matthew 1 starts with Abraham, and the other in Luke 3 starts before with Adam. This is intentionally so for it points us to the earthly and heavenly streams running through the bible. The genealogy in Luke starts the earthly line from Adam, a physical descent through Joseph - Jesus adoptive father. Whereas the genealogy in Matthew 1 starts with the heavenly line from Abraham and the promise given to him, a spiritual descent through the Holy Spirit - enabling Mary to conceive Jesus. [2] As such Jesus is the referred to as the Last Adam, sinless like the first once was [3].

So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.

1 Corinthians 15:45-47

The Promise to Abraham is to be adopted as sons of God.[4]

“It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.” Romans 9:7-9

The verses that follow show that it is through the process of election, which is free to choose, who are part of the heavenly stream.

“Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated..” Romans 9:10-13

Hate? This is strong word that for us seems unfair. But, the apostle Paul sees it from the view of God's mercy and compassion, and part of a bigger picture. Only God know the heart of every man and which way they would eventually turn. God uses this for his purpose.

Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.

Proverbs 19:21

Paul gives another example.

It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

Romans 9:16-18

The reader ought to familiarize themselves with Paul's words in Romans 9 - himself quoting from the Old Testament prophets.

What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? As he says in Hosea:

“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”

and,

“In the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

Romans 9:22-26

The illustration above distills some of the crucial elements of the bible with view of these earthly and heaven streams. Though there is so much more than can be shown in a simple graphic. It portrays the journey of the Jews and the Promise of new life in a snapshot - we can easily identify with the certain elements within our own life story: of being without hope after the fall, the need of moral standards, the failure of meeting those standards & the need of a Redeemer and the hope that we have in Jesus.

Please make special note that the Promise takes a different trajectory to the experience on the ground during the period of prophets and kings. It is this pathway that by grace we now walk as a church.

You can hear the despair and fruitlessness, that sin brings to life following on from the time of the Fall. But Lamech forsees in the time of his son, Noah, when earth will be in a better position to be fruitful (helped by the post-Flood sediments).

Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.” Genesis 3:17

When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. He named him Noah and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.” Genesis 5:28-29

[God said to Noah after the Flood] “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” Genesis 8:22

There is relatively little time between the Flood and the point at which the seed of Promise finds a root in the fertile soil of Abraham's soul. The intervening time began seeing the dying of the long lived who proceeded from Noah's Ark with ever shortening life spans. People were desperate to secure their lives past death, even to the point of obsession.

The influence of the Flood and rich sediments, had wide implications for the cultures that settled around that time: whether to exhaust the nutrients and move to elsewhere in the Fertile Crescent (see 'Neolithic' settlement in Judea [5]) or plant in the where the Nile renews the nutrients annually (see King Narmer [6]). Here we find the origins of the meaning of the word 'Ark'. The Hebrew word for Ark (tebeh) is only used in two places in Genesis [1] - It is a loan word from Egyptian for a box/chest/coffin and so conveys strongly held belief in rising from the death when they are buried beneath a pyramid shaped mound which they believed emerged from the primordial waters (just like the story of Noah). Jesus too was buried and became the promise of new life when he rose from the grave. He alone can redeem from the grave. Job expressed this hope when he said "

I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

Job 19:25-27

To the Egyptians following the Flood, the matter death and what happened after death, required the Egyptians invest heavily in guaranteeing their successful passage to the afterlife, with the pharaohs and priests there presiding this side of death. On the other side a persons heart would be weighed against a feather to see what corruption there was inside.

But what does the bible actually teach about death, heaven and hell? Although our fate is sealed when we die, do we go straight to Heaven or Hell? In the West we have been so conditioned, that we can miss the full teaching of the bible about the prevailing of the kingdom of God over the kingdom of darkness, and a resurrection for an uncorrupted life on earth forever.

The two questions a Christian needs to ask themselves to see if they have a correct grasp of their future are:

Where do you go when you die?
Where do you go when you are raptured?

If both answers are the same, Heaven, then something is amiss. How can you go to Heaven, then go to Heaven? Further probing is therefore required. Here is a list of who, what, where, when bullet points which the following 'Probing our ideas of Heaven and Hell.pdf' covers:

Heaven is the abode of God, and his heavenly presence is everywhere that we may dwell and find rest in him.
When the righteous died before Jesus came to earth, they had hope in a Redeemer and found Rest (for their souls).
Before Jesus ministry, evil was constrained in what it could do in Heaven, and purposed for justice accordance with God’s plan of salvation
Through Jesus authority on earth, Heaven was cleared of evil, the new battle ground was earth, where evil spirits still try to exploit human weakness, but the kingdom of Heaven prevails.
In dying bodies decay and the spirit is locked up in death if not for a Redeemer
Jesus died to save those who in life believed in him the Redeemer, and Jesus even witnessed to those before the Flood
The Rest is not the end; though it is being found in God’s presence.
Sheol/pit/death/Hades is a place to go to when life ends, a torment not being in the presence of God.
In the end when Jesus returns again, believers will get incorruptible bodies, the earth will be purged, evil will be consigned to Hell, and finally, Heaven will be God’s dwelling place on earth.

Probing our ideas of Heaven and Hell.pdf

(The actual turn of events of what will happen in the end is more complicated to go into now and involve Christ's millennial reign on earth - I offer a link which discusses excellently the end times [6] - there is more, however, to say in respect to the Daniel's Seventy 'sevens' mentioned in the link. But put it simply here, in Jesus death, the atonement (AT-ONE-MOMENT), he finished transgression, put an end to sin, atoned for wickedness, brought in everlasting righteousness, sealed up vision and prophecy and anointed the Most Holy Place (Daniel 9: 24). Daniel's visions and dreams should be primarily seen as finishing here, and then mirroring what the end time pattern is, towards the final end time. God prepares us ahead of time, for troubles that may come, even just past Daniel's own time when he is laid to rest, the Jews will experience troubles and a deliverance centring on 522 BC.

The events after Jesus death to the end are discussed generally and swiftly as a matter of course, collapsing the time between the two appearances of Jesus on earth : You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Matthew 24:6-8

This is how God sees time, being outside time himself.

‘But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.’ 2 Peter 3:8

Consider, Daniel's vision of the Ram and the Goat in about 539 BC (Daniel 8), picturing the conflict of Persia and Greece in the future. At the end of Daniel 10, we hear the Angel Gabriel helped by Angel Michael, fought against the Principalities of Persia and Greece. Here we are given insight into the power of intercession that prayer warriors like Daniel can have in the battles that take place in heaven and earth -“Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling.Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. Daniel 10:11-12

There is an outworking of the Promise, by which humans play a very active part by prayer to shape the future. It's mind-bending I know. You might choose on a whim to go on holiday or go for a walk or think a thought - God knew you'd do those things, but it was still you who choose by free will to do such things,

In prayer we have the ability to affect the future by coming before God in Heaven. Similarly, we can understand the past, present and future when we connect with God as we read the scriptures. Yet God engages with us at the level our own minds can grasp.

This helps us also to see the promise as the ancients did; for instance the coming kingdom of God shown in the visions of Ezekiel as gazing through a prism of the old testament making - a mighty army rising from a valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37 (not the Egyptian Valley of the Kings) and a river of life flowing from a glorious temple.in Ezekiel 47.

The simple illustration above shines much of the promise of eternal life through the lens of the Old Testament. God's love for the Jewish people, is undeterred by their rejection of Christ; their acceptance of Christ is anticipated in the future (Romans 11). In end times, the future of the Church is intertwined with that of Israel,

The mutual respect of the Old and New Testament is met in the person of Jesus,. This is why we see witness in the Old Testament. In the parable of the rich man, the answer was given that the rich man’s brothers had the witness of the prophets and the law. Also, Jesus preached only to the generations before the Flood when he was buried in the ground - for shortly after this was Noah’s covenant and the Promise to Abraham, both bore a witness.

The Promise of Redemption

I hope you can appreciate the central theme of the Promise of life from death, encapsulated in the Ark and the death and resurrection of Jesus. Now let us see how the apostle Paul explains preeminence of the Promise.

The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say ‘and to seeds’, meaning many people, but ‘and to your seed’, meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: the law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.

Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator.

Galatians 3:16-19

Paul, says that the blessing of inheritance was given to Abraham in advance by grace given through the promise of new life in Jesus. Paul was referring to this Promise for which Abraham was called for - which is cemented in Genesis 15 with a solemn oath while Abraham is in a deep sleep. Again a similarity is drawn with when Adam was put into a deep sleep and Eve is made - Adam's physical lineage beginning, compared to the beginning of Abraham's spiritual lineage.

.A promise is defined in the dictionary as 'a declaration or assurance that one will do something or that a particular thing will happen.'. When God says something it actually becomes a thing. He speaks it into being.

‘I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great,and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you... ‘To your offspring [Seed] I will give this land.’ Genesis 12:2-3,7

All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. Genesis 13:15

After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” Genesis 15:1

On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates — the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites,Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

Genesis 15:18-21

“I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

Genesis 22:16-18

The Law should be seen as describing the right way to live our lives, it is how a just God would govern. It is perfect, and like a plumb line (Isaiah 28:17) it is an exacting master. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). We are all therefore condemned "For the wages of sin in death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23). But we have a hope: Jesus holds the keys to the prison "I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades." (Revelation 1:18).

Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So, the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. Galatians 3:23-25

Crucially, God established this promise long before the Law that is realised through faith in Jesus, the Seed. The use of the word 'seed' is important as it conveys the message that it is the source of life that is planted at the appropriate time and provides a security in the hardest of times. In fact, shortly after Abraham received the promise in Genesis 12, he went down to Egypt because of a famine in the land. He had been given the assurance of the connection of the 'Seed' to the promised land and so was prepared to venture from there a little while. It was even revealed to Abraham that his descendants would be strangers and enslaved in a land not their own for 400 years (Genesis 15:13). The same promise is passed on down the line to Jacob in Genesis 28:13-15 with strong ties to the land of Israel. This is further confirmed by Isaiah 6:13 in regard to the holy seed that will remain in the land even though disaster befalls them.

Naturally, any break in the descendant line, would have broken the chain of succession to Jesus. Israel's enemies tried many times to do this, but they did not succeed even though they might have boast so. For instance, the Merneptah Stele from 1205 BC, the pharaoh Merneptah announces "Israel is laid waste and his seed is not", but obviously Israel still is around. The bible is immersed in this type of agricultural imagery, the bible isn't the same without it. Remember the Word is the seed seeking out fertile soil, in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:1-13.

When Jesus came he was fulfilling the promise and releasing the life of the seed. In Matthew 13:31-34, the parable of the mustard seed growing onto a tree, Jesus was revealing the true fulfillment of the promise in the Kingdom of God. Trees are a familiar and useful symbol in the bible, for the New and Old Covenants in the bible (Romans 11 where the Gentiles are grafted; Zechariah 4 a vision showing the gold lampstand and the two olive trees).

He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. Galatians 3:14

The blessing of inheritance is accessed through the redemptive sacrifice of Christ, through faith. The Holy Spirit in us is a guarantee of what is to come.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:13-14

The potential power for spreading the new life in the Kingdom of God is illustrated many times in the gospels - the following verses focuses on life through the death of Jesus as the 'Seed' planted in the Promised land.

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

John 12:24

Footnotes:

[1] Does Ark mean Box?

https://answersingenesis.org/noahs-ark/was-noahs-ark-shaped-like-a-box/

[2] WHY ARE JESUS' GENEALOGIES IN MATTHEW AND LUKE DIFFERENT?

https://www.conformingtojesus.com/why_are_jesus_genealogies_in_gospels_different.htm

[3] Jesus Christ: The Last Adam

https://answersingenesis.org/jesus-christ/jesus-christ-the-last-adam/

[4] Adopted spiritual sons, not by flesh

https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/romans-9-8.html

[5] 'Neolithic settlement near Jerusalem