Basic HTML Version
-5-
covenanted with God to obey Him, and God promised material and nation
al blessings and dominance. But He� NOT give--or promise to give
--the Holy Spirit and eterna.
1 salvation.
Before proceeding further, let's get everything in its proper
setting.
The first man, Adam, was required to make a choice. The super
archangel Lucifer, having become Satan the Devil, an immortal ,
spirit
being of tremendous supernatural power, was there when Adam and Eve
were created. In order to QUALIFY to receive God's Holy Spirit, sym
bolized by the tree of life--and also to restore the Government of
God to earth--Adam had to make the choice of whether to reject Satan
and Satan's attitude and way, and choose to obey God and the Govern
ment of God.
But Adam chose to reject God, and believe Satan. He made the
fateful decision--for himself and his posterity which is the whole
world. God drove out the man from the garden of Eden, and shut mankind
off from access to the Holy Spirit--except such as God should specially
call.
We need the above background to understand. Too often people
start viewing biblical teaching in a manner comparable to tuning in
a "movie" two-thirds of the way through. We need this background
of what went before.
God had called Noah, and saved humanity alive through his family.
God had called Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel), fathers of the
PROMISES. One of the promises to Abraham was multiple "seed"--nations,
the promised land--material national greatness.
Four hundred and thirty years after Abraham God called the descen
dents of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to be a special people of God,
and to inherit the promised land. Other nations were still CUT OFF
from God. God had specially prepared and called Moses. Through Moses
God made the proposition to the Israelites. He gave them their choice.
God proposed to the Israelites: "Ye have seen what I did unto
the Egyptians•••Now, therefore, IF ye will obey my voice indeed, and
keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above
all people" (Ex. 19:4-6).
There was a very large IF in this covenant agreement. But the
people glibly agreed. "All that the Eternal hath spoken we will do,"
they promised.
So the covenant was ratified by blood (Ex. 24:4-8). It was also
a marriage covenant by which Israel promised to obey her Husband.
It made them a separate NATION. Its basic law was the spiritual Law
--the Ten Commandments. He gave them His civil law of statutes and
judgments to govern them as a nation. He also gave them, as a CHURCH
or congregation, the law of Moses--a sacrificial law as a substitute
for the sacrifice of Christ to remind them of sin, and a ceremonial
law of physical works (Grk. ergon in N.T.) which were rituals, and
things to do morning, noon and night--a temporary substitute for the
Holy Spirit.