Previously on the Plan of Salvation

God Created Heaven and EarthCreated out of His love. Everything was good.

God created manAnd breathed life into him.

God created EveTo complete man and let them participate in the creative

love of God.

In the Garden of Eden

• Original Holiness

• Original Justice

• Tree of Life

• Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

The FallORIGINAL SIN • CONCUPISCENCE • DEATH

The PromiseREDEMPTION • A SAVIOUR • FROM MANKIND

God’s Plan of Salvation

COVENANT

I I

What is a Covenant?

An act of

love?

An act of

control?

Covenant is God’s Nature

• The giving of love

• The giving of self

• For the other’s good

• For no demand of return

Seeking Covenant with God is our Nature

• Interior call to know our Creator

• … know our purpose

• … know our destiny

• Response to our creation in God’s image

The Original CovenantIN LOVE MADE • FOR LOVE LIVED • TO LOVE ETERNAL

3000 B.C.before

Genesis 6

The Spread of EvilINSIDIOUS • ADDICTIVE • MULTIPLIES

In the days of Noah• Men have

forgotten God

• Concupiscence wins

• Man abuses his freedom

• Sin multiplies

“When the Lord saw how great was the wickedness of man …

His heart was grieved.”

Genesis 6:5

What would you do?

What did God do?• God chose mercy

as an expression of love

• Gave 120 years for conversion

• He chose to save the righteous

The Noahic Covenant

• For all mankind

• A promise of abiding love and mercy

• Never to destroy creation by flood

The Noahic Covenant

• The sign was a rainbow

• The call was to familial love

• The promise is forever

Creation CovenantCreation Sin

Noah Chosen

Noahic Covenant (Mercy)

?

2100 B.C.before

Genesis 11

The Tower

of Babel

PRIDE • REBELLION • VAINGLORY

The Rise of NationsWAR • GREED • POWER

2091 B.C.Genesis 12

The Call of Abram“Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s

house to the land that I will show you.”Genesis 12:1

Our Father in Faith• Pure, unquestioning

faith

• Total trust in and obedience to God

• The opposite of Adam and Eve

• Model of Christian faith

The Abrahamic Covenant

• Land

• Descendents

• Source of blessing for the world

The Abrahamic Covenant

• Circumcision as a sign of the covenant

• A reminder that flesh cannot save and the need to trust in God alone

The Abrahamic Covenant• Abram becomes

Abraham

• Sarai becomes Sarah

• Addition of same Hebrew character in their new names.

• Confirmation of God’s promise

Creation CovenantCreation Sin

Noah chosen

Noahic Covenant (Mercy)

Abraham chosen

Abrahamic Covenant (Strength)

Sin

1898 B.C.Genesis 37

The Betrayal of Joseph

JEALOUSY • TREACHERY • DECEIT

“Come, and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say,

'A wild beast devoured him.' Then let us see what will become of his

dreams!"Genesis 6:5

A Web of Deceit• Jacob deceived his father, Isaac, to

steal the blessing rightly belonging to his brother, Esau.

• Jacob (Israel) is deceived by his sons into thinking Joseph is dead.

• Who will pay for their deceit? The tribes of Israel will be enslaved in Egypt.

1600 B.C.Exodus 1

Sons of Israel Enslaved“So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard

labour. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.”

Exodus 1:11

1446 B.C.Exodus 13

God Reveals Himself

“I AM WHO AM”Exodus 3:14

Freed from Slavery• Monumental

gesture of God’s love.

• Assurance of God’s powerful protection.

• Passover memorial of liberation.

The Golden Calf

IDOLATRY • INGRATITUDE • INFIDELITY

“Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Exodus 32:1

The Mosaic Covenant• The ‘Rule Book of

Love’ • Illuminating the

nature of love:for God and for neighbour

• Reveals God’s love as truth and patience

The Mosaic Covenant• Sealed with the

sign of sacrificial blood

• The Ark of the Covenant

• The Sabbath

• The Passover

Creation CovenantCreation Sin

Noah chosen

Noahic Covenant (Mercy)

Abraham chosen

Abrahamic Covenant (Strength)

Sin

Sin

Moses chosen

Mosaic Covenant

(Truth)

1043 B.C.1 Samuel 8

Israel Demands a King

1 Samuel 8:19-20

“Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice; only — you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

INCONSTANCY • DISDAIN • HUBRIS

1024 B.C.1 Samuel 16

The Shepherd King

“Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David

from that day forward."1 Samuel 16:13

The Davidic Covenant• An eternal kingdom

• Dynastic rule

• The Messiah

• The Temple, built by his son, Solomon: the sign of God’s abiding presence and favour.

Creation CovenantCreation Sin

Noah chosen

Noahic Covenant (Mercy)

Abraham chosen

Abrahamic Covenant (Strength)

Sin

Sin

Moses chosen

Mosaic Covenant

(Truth)Sin

David chosen

Davidic Covenant (Eternality)

Covenant

Election Disloyalty

THAT ALL MANKIND SHOULD HAVE SALVATION

THROUGH GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE, ISRAEL,

AND THEIR ETERNAL KING IN DAVID’S LINE,

WHO WILL RESTORE THE DIVINE LAW OF LOVE.

Psalm 132 10-18

Think of thy servant David, and do not refuse audience to the king thou hast anointed.

Never will the Lord be false to that inviolable oath he swore to David: I will raise to thy throne heirs of thy own body;

if thy sons hold fast to my covenant, to the decrees which I make known to them, their sons too shall reign on thy throne for ever.

The Lord’s choice has fallen upon Sion, this is the dwelling he longed for:

Here, for ever, is my resting-place, here is my destined home.

Trust me, I will bless her with abundant store, the poor shall have bread to their heart’s content;

I will clothe her priests in the vesture of triumph, cries of rejoicing shall echo among her faithful people.

There the stock of David shall bud, there shall a lamp burn continually for the king I have anointed.

I will cover his enemies with confusion; on his brow the crown I gave shall shine untarnished.

Reflections

• What do these covenants tell you about God?

• What is God promising you today?

• What is your response to God’s promise to you?

Preparations• Find out as much as you can about the following

people we will meet next week:

• Amos

• Jonah

• Hosea

• Isaiah

• Micah

• Jeremiah

• Daniel

• Ezekiel

• Zechariah

• Malachi