Monday: The Pattern of Salvation
“Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment, and I will take you for my people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians’ ” (Exodus 6:6-7, RSV).
Look at the above verses: What principle do we see in them, as before, regarding the role of God toward humanity in the covenant relationship (focus on how often the word I appears in those verses)?
Image © Kevin Carden at Goodsalt.com
The deliverance of Israel from Egyptian slavery and the deliverance of Noah and his family from the Flood are the two prominent salvific events in the writings of Moses. Both provide insights into the science of salvation. But it is the Exodus event in particular that provides the basic pattern.
When God says to Israel (through Moses) “I will redeem you” (Exodus 6:6, emphasis supplied), He literally says “I will act the redeemer-kinsman” or go’el.
“The word redeem in verse 6 [of Exodus 6] refers to a member of a family buying back or ransoming another member of the family, especially when that member was in slavery for debt or about to go into slavery. Israel apparently had no earthly relative to redeem her, but God was now Israel’s relative, her kinsman redeemer.” — Bernard L. Ramm, His Way Out (Glendale, CA: Regal Books Division, G/L Publications, 1974), p. 50.
How do you understand the idea of God’s “ransoming,” or buying back, His people from slavery? What was the price that had to be paid? What does that tell us about our worth? (See Mark 10:45, 1 Timothy 2:6, Revelation 5:9.)
In Exodus 3:8 God says that He has “come down” to rescue Israel. This is a common Hebrew verb for God’s interaction with humanity. God is in heaven, and we are on earth, and only as God “comes down” to earth can He redeem us. In the truest sense of the idea, only when Jesus came down, lived, suffered, died, and was resurrected for us can we be redeemed. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14, RSV) is another way of saying that God came down in order to save us.
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By now we have probably seen enough restatements of the covenant to see a pattern emerging. Each time, it is restated, it is terms that are relevent to the recipient. For Noah who had just experienced the worst flood in history, the promise was that the earth would never be inundated again. For Abraham, who was old and looked set to die childless, it was the promise of a son and ultimately a sea of descendants. For Moses and the Children of Israel, who were coming out of bondage in a land that they could not call their own, it was the promise of a land where they could live in freedom.
Each covenant carried with it two components, a solution to their current situation, and the promise that ultimately the problem of sin would be overcome. No doubt this lesson series will address the covenant as it applies to us today, but maybe we need to think about what two-fold application we should look for.
One thing that I have become aware of as I have studied the covenants in the past is that we have often pushed our idea of salvation into the future. I have often called this the "Eternal Retirement Plan". We need to think a bit more about what salvation means in the present. The covenants talk about the present and the future and just as the old covenants gave assurance about the present, we also need to grasp the idea that we too have been promised something for the present. If we understand that, then perhaps we can make a lot for sense when we talk to our secular friends about our spiritual values and what the mean to us.
As always, thanks for your commentary Mr. Ashton. The lesson includes a phrase "science of salvation", which i find very interesting and prompts me to think about how salvation occurs, which i have never considered that salvation is a science. salvation is a set of facts that are 100% guaranteed by THE LORD, THE I AM. I have been schooled in the sciences and think in the scientific method. When considering that the steps that The LORD takes to 1. forgive me, 2. redeem me, 3. protect me, and 4. guarantee me Eternal Life in the New Earth free from the slavery of sin, i am eternally thankful and i follow The Holy Spirit which leads me into Fellowship with The LORD.
What is the pattern of salvation revealed in the Everlasting Covenant including in the Covenant at Sinai?
(1) He changes our hearts to be like His - I am the LORD who makes you holy, be transformed
(2) restore and/or deepen the relationship to be special -I will be YOUR God, you will be MY people - He outlines His Principles of Life and we absorb them into our hearts and minds and actions
(3) share the blessings with the rest of the world- all will be blessed through you
(4) if you fail and/or fall there is a way to continue the relationship, I will forgive your sins and I will impute/count/reckon My righteousness to you. All as demonstrated in the sanctuary service.
1Cor 6:11
And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Heb 13:20-21
20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
thanks for your commentary Ms. DeBeer.
I derive strength and find hope in todays lesson. Being surrounded by uncertainties and living in fear day by day, GODs covenant is sure and new as always.
Please we need the prayers of those we love, we want our friends to pray for us.... we live in fear every day due to the rise on insecurity in Nigeria, even the State Capital is not safe.... no where is safe, but in CHRIST JESUS our safety is assured.
Dear Sarah – I hear your calling for prayer and I will pray for the Father’s peace to remain in your heart as you are surrounded by turmoil. The places we call ‘home’ are overtaken by turmoil in all its forms; turmoil has overtaken peace in this world. Yes, the only place of true peace is found in the heart of our Lord Christ Jesus; there, our peace is secured by His everlasting Love. May you and your loved ones be comforted by His assurance that He is with you always.
Keep you in prayer Sarah
My prayer for peace and security for all in nation of Nigeria.
"Look at the above verses..."
We are reading this after it has come to pass, and we may be confident that God keeps promises He has made. These “exceeding great and precious promises” only fail when any conditions set forth are not met in those to whom the promise is given.
"How do you understand the idea of God’s “ransoming,”..."
Though the study of Propitiation is often misunderstood, all agree that Jesus gave His own sinless life as a ransom for sinners, thus providing a legal means for God to pardon my sin. This "ransoming" came at a very high price.
Hello Robert – may I assure you that the Father’s “exceeding great and precious promises” never fail. That which causes the ‘failure to benefit’ is not in the hand of the Father, it is in the hand of man.
It is man's own willingness or refusal to accept the Father’s “exceeding great and precious promises” by faith. Accepting or refusing the Father's offer, accepting or daubting that He will keep His promises, sets in motion the consequences which follow – blessings and gratitude, or loss and missery!
Man’s self-imposed conditions based on his fears and trepidations do not change God's benevolent Will or Way. It is man’s unwillingness to accept His gifts with/by child-like, innocent, unassuming faith which causes them to become unavailable.
the Father’s “exceeding great and precious promises” never fail
Well put Brigitte. From yesterday's lesson:
These illustrations indicate that our God is very much aware of our helplessness... In both the figures of the eagle and the parent carrying his child we sense God’s concern for our well-being.
Because God sees our helplessness, His promises are unidirectional... from Him to us. In the examples from yesterday, imagine if a parent agreed to care for their helpless child only under certain conditions. Imagine if an eaglet's parents cared for them only conditionally.
In Exodus 6:6-7, God is saying "This is what I'm going to do for you because I love you with an everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3).
God doesn't say "but you must first keep your end of the bargain or promise to give me something in return or works, works, works..."
God's love for His wayward children is agape love... it is unconditional, self-sacrificing and does not make demands (1 Corinthians 13:5 NLT).
The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God's government; He desires only the service of love; and love cannot be commanded; it cannot be won by force or authority. Only by love is love awakened. Desire of Ages, p. 22
We don't deserve or earn the LORD's love but He requires us to live by His Principles of Life set out at Mt Sinai to literal Israel and in the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus Christ to spiritual Israel.
At Mt Sinai God said IF you obey My words and keep My covenant you will be My treasured people.
Jesus Christ said IF you love Me keep My commandments.
Were there conditions for His blessings?
Read Leviticus 26, yes the LORD did say if you obey I will bless you but if you rebel I will bring punishments upon you, now days we would call it tough love to get His people to repent and return because He still loved them.
Lev 26:40-45
40But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me— 41and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled and they will make amends for their iniquity, 42then I will remember My covenant with Jacob and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.
43For the land will be abandoned by them, and it will enjoy its Sabbaths by lying desolate without them. And they will pay the penalty for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and abhorred My statutes.
44Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or despise them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. 45But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their fathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD.”
Shirley – May I suggest to replace the word 'if' with the word 'as' or 'when' during reading ‘'if' you obey’ in the scriptures you quoted? 1John1:9KJV gives a good example for 'if' being interchangeable with 'when' or 'as'. If we believe …, as we believe …., when we believe …, or if we are faithful … , as we are faithful …, when we are faithful … , all acknowledge the state of active faith in time, not a condition.
You notice the similarity in the meaning of these words, only expressing action/function not conditioned intent.
God states/advises/instructs us to know that ‘as we obey, or ‘when we apply’ faith, or ‘if we follow his word’, He faithfully interacts with us.
All interaction which takes place between the Father and the believer is ‘faith generated action’. As/when/if we give our life into His capable hands, His Grace responds to our faith and all will be well.
I think that in the context of obedience, the word ‘'if' we obey’ is being misinterpreted to imply a precondition which we have to meet or fulfill outside of faith, adding ‘something’ from us to His unconditional acceptance of our faith in order to fulfill His promises to us. 'By faith through grace' are we born/formed again!
‘As we obey’, or ‘when we live His faith’, God’s faith-based promises are being fulfilled at that very moment.
'If' is an internal, condition-based requisite by our mind, leading to either - ‘as’ and ‘when’ our faith acts, or, should the mind decline ‘if’, then faith is not being acted upon.
The effectivenes or availability itself of God's "exeeding great and precious promises" is not impacted by either choice.
Brigitte, the word IF is in the Word of the LORD and it is not my choice to change the Words of the LORD, He said IF not me.
My comment and the LORD's Word is clear obedience is not a pre-condition to the LORD loving His created humans, literal or spiritual Israel. The LORD saved Israel from slavery in Egypt and all from slavery of sin and then His blessings are conditional upon obedience not His love or His offer of forgiveness.
Read the whole of Lev 26 -it is clear that the blessings, not the love, is conditional. His promise of fruitfulness is conditional:
Lev 26:3-4 KJV If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; (4) Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
Lev 26:14-16 KJV But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; (15) And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: (16) I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
As per my previous comment - that didn't mean the LORD didn't still love them:
Lev 26:44-45 KJV And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God. (45) But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.
I agree with Shirley's comments, since the conditions set forth are clear and unequivocal. FAITH is action, not merely "agreement". Our first act of faith is repentance when called to "repent and believe". Look at the letters to the 7 churches in Revelation 2 & 3, and notice the call to repent(5 times) and the promises for "him that overcomes"(7 times). The condition is overcoming(by grace through faith) if we would receive those "exceeding great and precious promises".
God's promise to Israel failed only because they refused to comply with His will for them, which was only good, and never evil(Jer 29:11). Instead, we read about the 10 northern tribes being dispersed among the nations by Assyria, followed by Judah at the hands of the Romans in 70 AD. The people of God today are those who "keep His commandments and have the faith/testimony of Jesus", from among every nation. There is no physical nation of Israel today that are blessed by God "above all people", only those who have "received [Jesus], and believe on His name"(John 1:12).
There is no covenant for unbelief, only faith. "For without faith, it is impossible to please [God]"(Heb 11:6).
Again, our faith "earns" nothing, we only receive. Faith(action) is the term of agreement. We simply cannot be "saved by grace through" unbelief. It is impossible without faith, and without works of faith there is no faith.(James 2:26).
If we just read Deut 28 this is all very obvious isn't it? We will fail of receiving the promised blessings by our unbelief.
35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Perhaps to each individual God gives a promise. Kind of a contract ... that says if you commit to Me, I will give you a miraculous faith-walking experience. This faith experience is based on your needs (i.e. Abram childless) and My(God's) need ("cleanse" the world by flood) to demonstrate My power and justify your faith in Me. What has God promised you? What impossible situation exists in your life? What impossible task has God asked you to do for His glory?
We have seen clearly throughout the scriptures the pattern that God is always the initiator in the plan of salvation. He pursues man saying, "I will save you, I will deliver you from bondage, I will give you the land to possess as I promised your fathers, I am your God. We have also seen that God has been faithful to all His promises even when man is unfaithful and rebellious, rejecting His love and salvation, but God is relentless. Jesus came down personally and dwelt among us , becoming one of us in order "to seek and to save that which was lost". That includes all of us.
That's how important we are to God!
Notice how God has personally taken it on Himself to show up in certain critical situations here on earth. In Daniel 3 Jesus was right there with the three Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace, so much so that even the evil pagan king recognized Him distinctly. He showed up in Genesis 32, for Jacob in his plight and wrestled with him and even changed his name to Israel, the name that God's chosen people would be called. There were other urgent matters God had to deal with directly such as the tower of Babel Genesis 11. He said, "let Us go down and see...let Us go down and confuse their language". This was serious business! These people had lost it! God had to intervene.
Oh how we picture in our minds God "coming down" in the cool of the day in that perfectly created beautiful garden to commune with His then perfect creatures, Adam and Eve. How they must have relented and repented when they were evicted from that hallowed place. Thanks be to God, through Jesus, we have this hope burning in our hearts, hope in the coming of the Lord. Jesus has promised "I will come again". Then we shall see Him face to face in all His glory. May we be faithful till that day.
For some reason as I read thru the comments, I must admit that this thought reoccurs in my mind, "all that the Lord says WE will do". 🙁........
Lyn, the LORD said that the words the people said were good, in addition He wanted them to have the Words of the LORD in their hearts and minds as well as in their mouths.
Deu 5:27-29 KJV Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it. (28) And the LORD heard the voice of your words, when ye spake unto me; and the LORD said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken. (29) O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!
Deu 6:4-9 KJV Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: (5) And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (6) And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: (7) And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. (8) And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. (9) And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
They didn't. They couldn't. New covenant is based on better promises. "Lord, take my heart. I cannot give it to you..."
Dana, what about the promises - faith - of all these people listed in Hebrews 11:
Heb 11:32-40 KJV And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: (33) Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, (34) Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. (35) Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: (36) And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: (37) They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (38) (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. (39) And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: (40) God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
As a new believer, all these comments are good, will they grab attention to new comers, I say maybe, therefore it is a thus saith the Lord, all he's say, I will do. Let's not get caught up in paragraph of words, and put more emphasis on prayer, and action.