covenant of god

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Covenant of promises

The promises of eternal life

made possible by Jesus Christ

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INDEX

1 The everlasting covenant of God

2 Creation

3 The purpose for creation

4 The covenant of God before the sin of Adam and Eve5 The covenant of God after the sin of Adam and Eve

6 The covenant of God in the fullness of creation

7 The covenant of God in revealed in creation - Adam and Eve

8 The covenant of God in revealed in creation - The day and night sky - The sun and moon - The

stars

9 The covenant of God in revealed in creation - Blue sky - The clouds

10 The creation used by God to teach of His covenant

11 The covenant of God is in the word of God - the Holy Bible

12 The curse on the serpent

13 Clothes of skin

14 Cherubim and the tree of life15 The offering of Abel

16 Noah and the Ark

17 The covenant through Abraham

18 The beloved son of whom the nation will come

19 Salvation by the faith of the beloved son

20 The family separated in character

21Promised land of the covenant of God

22 The covenant to Isaac

23 The covenant of God in Jacob - Unity between God and man

24 The covenant of God in Jacob - The name of Israel

25 The covenant of God in the life of Joseph

26 The covenant of God through Moses - Conditions of Humility

27The burning bush, the covenant in the name of God

28 Exodus

29 The covenant in the law

30 The vow of the covenant

31 The covenant of God in the wilderness - The manna

32 Water out of the rock

33 The covenant of God in the crossing of Jordan

34 The Promised Land flowing with milk and honey

35 The covenant of God in the conquest of the Promised Land36 The covenant of God through David, teaching of Jesus

37 The covenant of God through David, teaching of those needing redemption

38 The covenant of God through David, teaching of Jesus and those he will redeem

39 The covenant of God through Solomon

40 The covenant of God through Isaiah

41 The covenant of God through Isaiah - creation

42 The covenant of God through Isaiah Jesus Christ

43 The covenant of God through Isaiah the kingdom of God

44 The covenant of God through Isaiah the saints

45 The covenant of God through Jeremiah Israel, the Jews

46 The covenant of God through Ezekiel Mercy and forgiveness47 The covenant of God through Ezekiel Resurrection from the dead


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48 The covenant of God through Ezekiel A house of prayer for all nations

49 The covenant of God through Ezekiel fulfilment of the promise to Abraham

50 The covenant of God through Daniel

51 The covenant of God through Daniel the inheritance of the saints

52 The covenant of God through Daniel the coming of the kingdom of God

53 The covenant of God through Daniel the coming of the kingdom of God time periods54 The covenant of God through Daniel the coming of the kingdom of God 70 weeks

55 The covenant of God through Daniel the coming of the kingdom of God 2300 days

56 The covenant of God through Daniel the coming of the Messiah

57 The covenant of God through Daniel the assurance of history

58 The covenant of God through Daniel.time, times and half a time

59 The covenant of God through Hosea to Malachi

60 The mercy of God through Micah, Amos, Joel, Jonah, Nahum and Malachi

61 Patience of God through Amos and Nahum

62 The Saviour on mankind through Jonah, Micah, Zechariah, and Malachi

63 The mercy of God in judgement through Habakkuk

64 The Kingdom of God through Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Habakkuk, Haggai andZechariah

65 Israel in the Kingdom of God through Zechariah and Hosea

66 The Gentiles in the covenant of God through Hosea, Joel, Jonah, Zechariah and Malachi

67 The Covenant of God in Old and New Testament


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Chapter 1

The everlasting covenant of GodThe covenant of God - given to mankind by God - is a covenant of mercy, grace, long

suffering, goodness and truth. It is a divine oath in which God has purposed that men

and women will be saved from their cursed condition of mortality to a blessed state of

immortality (as the angels) to live on this earth for ever (Matthew 22 v 23-30). Godcreated the earth for His pleasure (Revelation 4 v 11), and that pleasure is that the

earth will be inherited by a son that God would raise up out of the mortal inhabitants

in whom God would be publicly known through obedience to His will and whose

earthly nature God would change from being mortal to immortal after his death and

resurrection, through whom many sons and daughters would be saved.

Realisation of this inheritance is subject to the conditions of the covenant that God

set, who caused these conditions be recorded by holy men of old in the Holy Bible (I

Corinthians 15 v 51-55); (Matthew 22 v 30; (2 Peter 1 v 21) which conditions were

met in their entirety by Jesus Christ.

The covenant of God is a solemn and irrevocable pledge made by God (who never

changes) embracing everlasting benefits to be bestowed by God upon any men or

women who become willingly bound to Him as faithful subjects through faith in Jesus

Christ. The oath has predetermined conditions that are just and honest, open to belief

and sufficiently substantial to be embraced by faith in any man or woman as an oath

unto their salvation. The conditions of the oath are non-negotiable in interpretation

and are contained in the scriptures as an open invitation from God to be agreed to by

any man or woman, in order for them to volunteer to enter into that covenant by

reciprocation of the oath as a bond for life. Entrance into the hope of the covenant of

everlasting life on this earth is by baptism into the death of Christ - and continuance

therein in which continuance there is a joyful increase of hope in the gift of the

eternal benefits that are promised within the covenant and an encouragement to keep

the conditions of the covenant in inward happiness.

The Exodus from Egypt - example of the Covenant of GodWhen Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth he referred to the exodus of the

Children of Israel from Egypt when they passed through the Red Sea as a figure of

baptism (1 Corinthians 10 v 1-2). The teaching of the exodus is a series of significant

incidents beginning with, 1) Israels servitude to the Egyptians, 2) the Passover feast

and passage through the Red Sea and 3) the receiving of the words of the will of God

(the law) at Sinai and the reciprocal vow of the children of Israel to serve God aloneand to keep all His commandments. In this series of incidents which were overruled

by God, His principle and teaching of baptism was established and made ready to be

introduced when the type of the Passover lamb was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The

teaching of the Exodus remains valid to this day to provide a simple understanding for

us which is essential for our intelligent baptism.

For our baptism to be a meaningful, and for us to embrace a real hope of salvation by

resurrection from the dead and redemption from an otherwise eternal grave, we must

have a simple uncomplicated understanding and a sincere acknowledgement of the

first principles of truth taught in these events. These principles are described in the

following chapters.*********************


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Chapter 2

The creation

God created the heavens and the earth in 6 days for His pleasure according as it is

written, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou

hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. (Revelation 4v 11).

The pleasure of God is that the earth will be inherited by His son (Psalm 2), who by

keeping of the conditions of the covenant of God when he was a mortal man would

give God the pleasure He desired, as it is written, And lo a voice from heaven,

saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3 v 17), and

again, While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a

voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;

hear ye him. (Matthew 17 v 5).

The creation of the heaven and the earth was deliberate and was done by the angelsaccording to the plan of God, By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and

all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. For he spake, and it was done; he

commanded, and it stood fast. (Psalm 33 v 6) and again, For thus saith the LORD

that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath

established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD;

and there is none else. (Isaiah 45 v 18).

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Chapter 3

The purpose for creationThe purpose for which the earth was created was that God should be a Father (Psalm

103 v 13) and that His firstborn son (a son of man, Matthew 1 v 16); and the son of

God, John 1 v 34) and a family of friends as his companion (after his likeness, John

15 v 14) should inherit it for ever (Matthew 19 v 29); (Matthew 25 v 34). The first son

Adam, proved disloyal to the oath but the second son Jesus Christ, proved faithful to

the covenant (Romans 5 v 17); (I Corinthians 15 v 22 & 45) and was given the title by

God of the firstborn and rightful inheritor of the earth (II Samuel 7 v 12-14); (Isaiah 9

v 6-7); (Ezekiel 21 v 27).

The creation, and the purpose for that creation, are inseparably united by the covenant

of God which is an immutable oath that encompasses both the work of creation of the

heaven and the earth by His Spirit, and the work of the new creation (a righteous

family on earth) that He is still doing by the power of the Holy Spirit, to the unfailing

end that God will complete the purpose for which He created the heaven and the earth

in the beginning.

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Chapter 4

The covenant of God before the sin of Adam and Eve

Before the sin of Adam and Eve the covenant of God was a simple oath that bound

mankind together with God and allowed that Adam and Eve should enjoy the bounty

of the perfect creation of God where all creatures were at peace with each other andwhere they were set to dress the Garden of Eden without any limit of time, but with

the condition that Adam and Eve keep the law of God as loyal and trustworthy

servants. This allowed them to eat of every fruit of the garden with the exception of

the tree of knowledge of good and evil, whereupon if they did, a time limit would be

placed on them by the termination of their life in death (Genesis 2 v 15-17).

God purposed that if man did brake His uncomplicated covenant by disregarding the

law of the oath then God would then begin to reveal the full extent of His covenant

with mankind (which was always in His mind) by making known to them the fullness

of His will in many different ways, and that this purpose (encapsulated in His

covenant) would become known as the mystery of God (Ephesians 3 v 9); (Colossians1 v 26-27); (I Timothy 3 v 16). This revelation was to be by promises of God to man,

by the Law of God, by prophecy, by inspired writings, by the Gospel records and

letters of the apostles, by events in the history of the faithful which God overruled,

and by no means the least, by the natural creation of God (Romans 1 v 20). God

purposed that the whole revelation would be over a long period of time and would be

concluded in the writings of the apostles. During the time up to the apostles God

chose that He would reveal His purpose by open vision directly to faithful men and

women, where after (after the death of the apostles) God chose that He would reveal

His purpose only by preservation of the books of His word and by enlightenment to

the meaning of those words by a restricted measure (sufficient for understanding and

character change and no more) of the Holy Spirit working in those that do the will of

God according to His word, and not by direct open vision.

God is faithful to His part of the covenant but Adam proved to be an infidel to his part

and therefore the conditions of the oath were enacted by changing the nature of Adam

from being of unlimited duration to mortal. The Hebrew word for covenant has the

sense of that which goes between two divided parties and joins them together in

mutual benefit, in much the same way as a legal covenant does today. From the

creation of Adam to his sin there was a division between God and man, in that God is

eternal and cannot sin, whereas Adam was neither mortal or immortal but enjoying a

life span limited only by obedience, but with the ability to sin. The sin of Adamopened a breach between God and man which was so wide and deep that it could only

be bridged according to the terms of the full extent of the covenant of God which had

been figuratively hidden by types within the record of the physical creation of the

earth.

By the sentence of death being imposed upon Adam and Eve, they no longer had a

limitless time to enjoy the benefits of the covenant of God and as such the full extent

of the covenant of God could not be realised. But God is faithful and He had

covenanted when He created the earth that it was to be created for a family who

would govern that creation with the laws of His will, and over that family God would

place a man in His own image (a Son) as the head, and that companion-family offriends would help the Son of God to rule the earth for ever, and so began the long


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and slow revealing of the beauty of His covenant, which will not be fully

comprehended by anybody until it is completed according to the promise of God,

For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear,

neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that

waiteth for him. (Isaiah 64 v 4).

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Chapter 5

The covenant of God after the sin of Adam and EveThe covenant of God is eternal and does not change and was with God before the

earth was formed (Proverbs 8) nor can His purpose for creating the earth be thwarted

because of the sin of Adam and Eve (Isaiah 45). After the sin of Adam and Eve, the

details of the full extent of that covenant began to be revealed, which showed that a

Son of God was promised who would keep the law of God as a faithful son to his

Father (John 5 v 19-20) and who would be given a companion of many members, who

would be formed - by his Father - over a period of time prefigured in the 6 days takento create the heavens and the earth. These 6 days were a figure for the time to be taken

for the outworking of the fullness of the creation that God had in mind when He

created the physical heaven and earth (i.e. a day for a 1000 years, II Peter 3 v 8). This

means that over a period of about 6000 years God would work to replace the wilful

race of the mankind of Adams' descent by raising up another family - through another

son - who in response to the love and faithfulness of God would redeem a companion

of many people from death to become a composite family (whose father is God) who

will rule the world during a Sabbath of rest (the 7th day) of 1000 years, during

which God would rest after completing that part of His new creation, with a further

adding of members after the 1000 years of the kingdom (the 7th mellenium).

Thereafter there would be an eternal government of God over an earth where there is

no curse or death (Revelation 20 v 11-15), and, The last enemy that shall be

destroyed is death. (I Corinthians 15 v 26).

So sure was the purpose of the covenant of God before He created the heaven and the

earth, that the greater son raised up by God specifically to inherit the earth (of whom

the first son Adam was a failure, (Luke 3 v 38); (Romans 5 v 19) was in the mind of

God as He created the earth and was the sole motivation for His handiwork -

according as the apostle wrote of the second son Jesus Christ, Who hath delivered us

from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who isthe image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all

things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether

they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by

him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is

the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead;

that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father that in

him should all fullness dwell; (Colossians 1 v 13-19).

Jesus did not pre-exist but was a reality in the mind and eye of God long before he

was born to such an extent that God created the earth specifically for him, so that God

(as a Father) would have everlasting pleasure, in the same way that any son is in the


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mind of a prospective father who anticipates and plans for his birth with love and

pleasure.

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Chapter 6

The Covenant of God in the fullness of creationGod finished the work of the physical creation of the heaven and earth in 6 days but

has, after the fall of man, continued to work towards the fullness of His creation, as it

is written, For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall

remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. (Isaiah

66 v 22) and again; For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the

former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. (Isaiah 65 v 17) where the

former creation is the reign of the enmity in mankind introduced by the weakness of

Adam and Eve and the new creation is the government of God by Jesus Christ over

the whole earth which will be liberated from the curse, as foretold in the scripture, Of

the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne ofDavid, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with

justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform

this. (Isaiah 9 v 7). The covenant of God is revealed throughout the whole of the

Holy Bible in many different ways, by word (the promises, the Law, the Psalms, the

prophets, the gospels and epistles), by action (the biblical record of the lives of men

and women) and by the natural or physical creation and some of those are now

considered.

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Chapter 7

The Covenant of God in revealed in creation

Adam and EveAdam was the first son of God who proved to be disloyal to his benefactor and was

justly stripped of his favoured position as the firstborn inheritor of the earth by the

sentence of decay and death that was set upon him, upon all mankind and the earth

(Genesis 3 v 16-19). There was therefore to be a further son to be born who contrary

to Adam, would prove to be faithful to his Lord, who would be a loyal protector of the

word of God and a strong provider for his wife and would ensure that the relationship

with his wife would be according to the will of God revealed in the physical creation

of Adam and Eve (Genesis 2 v 24-25).

The creation of Adam and Eve on the 6th day reveals the full extent of the object of

the pleasure that God sought in creation and is embodied in the covenant of God, in

that God would raise up a son and a bride-helper of His choice who together will

inherit the earth for ever. The record of the creation of Adam was unique, And the

LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the

breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2 v 7) and by this miracle, set

the pattern that taught that if Adam failed, God would raise up a second son (by His

will) who would also be formed by a miracle but would have no more privileges than

Adam. In the fullness of time Jesus Christ was created directly by God by the action

of the Holy Spirit in Mary, a mortal virgin, contrary to natural experience, And theangel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the


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power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which

shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1 v 35). Thus both men

were formed by direct intervention of God according to His will and neither had an

advantage over the other, any more than we (who contrarily were born by the will of

our parents) have an advantage over any other human being, but Jesus became the

new man of the Holy Spirit, the Son of God simply by obedience, Though he werea Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered (Hebrews 5 v 8).

The creation of Eve, however, was significantly different because she was created out

of the body of Adam as it is written, And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall

upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead

thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman,

and brought her unto the man. (Genesis 2 v 22), where the word bone means in the

original that which is strong, and the word made means to build up piece by

piece as a building is constructed. The result was the creation of a man and a woman

(out of the man) that was a sublime, holy, unbreakable union that is the essence of the

covenant of God and which still remains as the reason for the creation of the earth andas the ultimate focus of the pleasure of God, and is the key to the mystery of God

referred to by the apostles on several occasions, For we are members of his body, of

his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother,

and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great

mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5 v 30-32).

Let us consider the details of the wisdom of God in this creation. Jesus Christ was

conceived by direct intervention of God through the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1

v 35) and in like manner (after the example in Eve) the multitudinous woman bride-

companion of Jesus Christ is also to be formed by direct intervention of God through

the power of the Holy Spirit over a period of 6000 years, the period of the new

creation (Isaiah 65 v 17). As the formation of Eve was out of the deep sleep of

Adam, so the formation of the new woman is as a result of the deep sleep of death of

Jesus Christ (Romans 6.v 3-5), and as a rib bone of strength was taken out of Adam

to form Eve, so a representative part of the strength of the character of Jesus Christ

forms the basis for the formation of the character of each member of the composite

new woman who collectively will be the saints. According to the Divine pattern of

creation of Adam, the bones of a body form the skeleton of the body, the frame work

that, with the joints, give the body rigidity and agility, so that the body is able to do a

multitude of tasks. This physical phenomena is used to describe the spiritual body of

the new man Christ, in that the bones of the skeleton of his soul were the strong lawsand commands of God which allowed him to stand upright in righteousness, to be

agile in spirit so that he could outwit the wiles of the devil, be strong in faith to

enable him to engage the enmity in battle and to overcome it because it was written of

Jesus that not a bone of him should be broken (John 19 v 36) after the teaching of

the Passover lamb (Exodus 12 v 46). This came to pass literally when he died earlier

than it was normal in a crucifixion (so the usual practice of breaking the legs to

prevent escape from the cross was not carried out) to fulfil the fact that Jesus never

broke one command of God. Of these strong bones of obedience to the word of God

(of the bones of the ribs cage, the bones closest to the spiritual heart and vital organs

of Jesus) God is building up a companion for him (from that spiritual 'rib bone') to be

a wife to share the inheritance of the earth, where that 'rib bone' represents the specificcommand of Jesus that we love our one another as he has loved us which command


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is taken from the example of the love that Jesus showed to God, as it is written, If ye

keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's

commandments, and abide in his love This is my commandment, That ye love

one another, as I have loved you These things I command you, that ye love

one another. (John 15 v 12,10 & 17), and If a man love me, he will keep my words:

and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode withhim. (John 14 v 23).

Upon this basis, the skeleton-like framework of our faith is to be strongly built

according to the covenant of God and if and when we loose the power of the meaning

of this command in our lives - the spirit of our character will become weak and

cumbersome and we will become as one of those who metaphorically have no 'back-

bone', thus retarding our ability to engage in conflict with the enmity.

By baptism into the death of Christ (Romans 6 v 3) we enter into the covenant of God

to take hold of the bone of this command, to keep it with the strong and agile faith

that God will by the Holy Spirit (through His covenant in Christ Jesus) reshape ourcharacter and prepare us unto sanctification to be built up (as a building is built up,

(II Samuel 7 v 12-16); (I Peter 2 v 1-10) as interlocking members in fellowship with

others into the composite bride-wife of Christ, as it is foretold in the Psalms and by

the apostle, My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and

curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance,

yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in

continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139 v 15-

16) where substance is framework of bones or a skeleton.

Paul used the same analogy for this new creation of God in Christ, For as the body is

one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are

one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one

body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all

made to drink into one Spirit For the body is not one member, but many.

Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (I Corinthians 12 v 12,

13, 14 & 27), and again But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all

things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined

together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual

working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of

itself in love. (Ephesians 4 v 15-16).

When Eve was finally built up, God presented her to Adam in a holy marriage

ceremony of to a union of fidelity (Matthew 22 v 1-13) as a foretaste of the greater

fulfilment of His covenant when God will present His Son with the chaste bride of the

saints (II Corinthians 11 v 2) made ready over a period of approximately 6000 years,

when the angels and all creation will rejoice, Let us be glad and rejoice, and give

honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself

ready. (Revelation 19 v 7) at which time Jesus will exclaim the spirit of the words of

Adam when he received Eve as his wife This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of

my flesh (Genesis 2 v 23).

The covenant of God is deeply embedded within His creation and has been a dailywitness to every man and woman in every age for 6000 years, and is the reason why


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fornication, infidelity and lax moral behaviour is so abhorrent to God. The teaching of

the covenant of God embodied in the sanctity of marriage is only a mystery if we

become entangled with our wandering fleshly mind, with hypocritical pious traditions,

stultifying church protocol, psuedo-religious education and lax spiritual morals for the

sake of friendship which all direct us away from simple truths.

The outworking of the covenant of God therefore is the pleasure that God desires to

enjoy in a family of righteousness, in a threefold cord of 1) a Father that pitieth His

children (Psalm 103 v 13), 2) a Son in His perfect image (Matthew 3 v 17); (Matthew

17 v 5); (John 14 v 9) and 3) a daughter-in-law of many righteous people (Revelation

21 v 9-27). Adam and Eve destroyed this relationship by their disobedience, but

which has been renewed by the righteous obedience of Jesus Christ who immediately

before his death prayed to God that he had finished the work that God had set him to

realise His pleasure of an eternal threefold chord, These words spake Jesus, and

lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that

thy Son also may glorify thee: I have glorified thee on the earth: I have

finished the work which thou gavest me to do. I have manifested thy nameunto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest

them me; and they have kept thy word. And for their sakes I sanctify myself,

that they also might be sanctified through the truth. That they all may be one;

as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the

world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me

I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and

thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that

thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (John 17).

This is the threefold chord that Solomon referred to in the book of the Ecclesiastes,

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.

Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone

And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not

quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4 v 9-12) where to withstand means to stand in

reverence as described in Solomons own actions when he prayed to God on behalf

of Israel, For Solomon had made a brazen scaffold, of five cubits long, and five

cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court: and upon

it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel,

and spread forth his hands toward heaven (II Chronicles 6 v 13).

By this we understand that God prevailed against man by passing the sentence ofdeath upon him and then another son stood in reverence in the breach by glorifying

God and dying for a companion wife who as a faithful betrothed spouse responded in

unity with his victory, thus fulfilling the pleasure of God by uniting God with His

offspring for ever as the Revelation foretells when referring to God and the saints,

And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. (Revelation 22

v 4), and when shown as the 144,000 (Revelation 14 v 1-5), as the 12 tribes of Israel

(Revelation 7 v 1-9), the Redeemed, (Revelation 7 v 10-17) and the holy city

(Revelation 21 v 10-27).

The covenant of God is bound within the sanctity of a perfect marriage of faith and

fidelity where Jesus Christ and the saints come together with vows that, in the eyes ofGod, cannot be broken and form a union that will last for ever, and is prefigured for


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us in the inseparable vows of both the physical bodily co-joining of a man and a

woman and their civil vows of a verbal oath who come together in marriage as a

daily witness of the covenant of God with mankind.

This principle of the covenant of God was at the forefront of the mind of the Psalmist

when he rejoiced in the natural creation of God, The heavens declare the glory ofGod; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. There is no speech nor language,

where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and

their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,

Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man

to run a race. (Psalm 19 v 1-6).

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Chapter 8

The day and night sky

It is not possible to be unmoved by the splendour and majesty of the sky in its dailyencapsulation of our own small world, and in its apparent traverse over our heads in a

constant and predictable formation, according to the annual changes of the seasons

merging from one to the other. It is a silent witness that proclaims with a loud voice to

those who seek the covenant of God that His purpose is real, true and will be

concluded.

The sun and moonThe principle of the physical and civil co-joining of a man and a women in holy

matrimony embodied within the covenant of God is made clear through the creation

of Adam and Eve as an unbreakable union as Jesus taught, Wherefore they are no

more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put

asunder (Matthew 19 v 6). The purpose of their co-joining was to replenish the earth

with a family of mankind, all in the image of God and after His likeness (Genesis 1 v

28) and was prefigured for our benefit in the creation of the sun and the moon

working together to rule the earth according to the will of God their creator (Genesis 1

v 16).

The sun is the focal point of the solar system and radiates energy and light to all the

planets (sustaining all life on earth) and God has used the sun as a type of the focal

point of all His work of creation, a figure of a son of God around whom the whole of

the work of God revolves, as it is written, But unto you that fear my name shall theSun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow

up as calves of the stall (Malachi 4 v 2). This speaks of the return of Jesus Christ to

the earth to fulfil all the promises of God, as being like the dawn sunrise of the new

day heralding the rulership of the law of God throughout the whole world (II Peter 1 v

19). The life of Jesus was as the shining light of the morning star in a darkened world,

so he will (by the covenant of God) be as the light of the sun that will dispel all

darkness from the face of the earth.

To complete the figure God created the moon as a companion to the sun and a witness

to the inhabitants of the earth. As the moon is a reflector of the light of the sun, so the

'faithful' are reflectors of the light of God through Jesus Christ, who one day will beunited to, and be the eternal companion of Jesus (the sun) with no glory of her own,


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but that only of her husband, as it is written in the Song of Solomon of the mystery of

the love between these two people Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair

as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners? (Song of

Solomon 6 v 10).

The starsThe stars are fixed in their location in the heavens and are both points of reference to

the passing seasons and as direction navigation on the earths face. They stand in unity

and accord, reliable and never failing, a multitude coalesced as one as we pass them in

the rotations of the earth.

As confirmation that a 'multitude' will make up this bride-wife of Christ embodied in

the covenant of God, God created the constellations of the stars (the Solar system) to

beautify His creation and to emphasize His promises and purpose foretold in the

creation of both Adam and Eve, and the sun and moon, in a third confirmation of the

creation of a multitudinous family of righteous people that will inherit and have

dominion over the earth for ever, all due to the zealous work of the beloved Son ofGod and the mercy of God. God extends a welcome through Jesus Christ and His

covenant to any member of the human race to enter into that covenant by obedience to

the will of God, which will are the terms and conditions of the oath.

Abraham was a man who responded to the conditions of the covenant of God by

obedience to His will and God gave him the promises of His covenant which

concerned a family of people who are referred to as his mortal seed which would be

in numbers as the stars in heaven for multitude. As an assurance to us of the truth of

the fullness of this promise there has been a literal fulfilment of the diverse but

distinct multiplication of his seed (which is unique in the history of mankind) in that

both Jew and Arab are direct descendants of Abraham. So God told him to Look now

toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto

him, So shall thy seed be. (Genesis 15 v 5).

In subsequent promises God also spoke of an eternal inheritance on earth for a family

of people also referred to as the seed, who not only would be in number as the stars

for multitude but would be as shining lights of differing intensity, of which the

brightest would signify a singular seed, Jesus Christ, (Galatians 3 v 16) who would

overcome the enemy of God, the enmity, and thus unite himself and his companion

(which is his seed by faith, Galatians 3 v 27-29) as one with God. This is the focus of

the pleasure that God purposed when He created the heaven and earth, so Abrahamwas promised, That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy

seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy

seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the

earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice (Genesis 22 v 17-18).

Abraham was told that this inheritance would be an eternal inheritance on earth and

that for his direct natural descendant seed, inheritance would be in the land where he

was journeying, which was the land then known as Canaan, And the LORD said unto

Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from

the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:

For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. AndI will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of


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the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the

length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. (Genesis 13 v 14-17).

Isaac, the son of Abraham (by promise and by miracle) had the same promise given to

him, And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto

thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth beblessed (Genesis 26 v 4).

Daniel was also a man of unswerving faith in the covenant of God and by obedience

to law of God he entered into that same covenant that Abraham had done and the

same covenant that we do in Christ, and he was inspired to record more detail of the

purpose of the covenant of God that is essential in understanding the covenant.

Concerning the return of Jesus Christ to the earth to establish the kingdom of God he

wrote; And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to

everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise

shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to

righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. (Daniel 12 v 2-3)

We are able to look at that same night sky that Abraham, Isaac and Daniel did, and

remember the same eternal covenant of God that they remembered, and to recall that a

family of righteous mortal people will be changed from mortality to immortality to

live for ever on this earth in a perfect state with no pain, no sorrow, no decay and no

death (Revelation 21 v 4). And as we look at the night sky we will remember the

ordinance of God that the moon with the stars were set to rule the earth by night and

are used by God to show that this is the role that God has purposed for His saints, and

so we can understand the scripture which says that the 'heaven and the earth shall

pass away' and a 'new heaven' will replace it in that the old is the rulership of

mankind and the new is the rulership of righteousness (Isaiah 65 v 17; II Peter 3 v 9-

10).

As we continue to look at that vast dome of blackness punctuated by the resplendent

bursts of starlight we also notice the differing intensities of the varying stars and

realise that there are saints who have done far more in obedience to the will of God to

glorify God than we have, we will remember the examples of Noah, Daniel and Job of

whom it was said, Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord

GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own

souls by their righteousness. (Ezekiel 14 v 20) and we will begin to realise that

without doubt they will be present in the kingdom of God, whereas we will befortunate to be one of the smallest and most dim of stars.

The stars are fixed and never move according to the command of God (Psalm 33 v 6-

9); (Job 38 v 4-7 & 31-33), and are so placed for us to remember how small we are,

and to rejoice in the handiwork of the Almighty God in showing to us the token of His

covenant so that we also can say, When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy

fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, What is man, that thou art

mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? (Psalm 8 v 3-4) and never

be tempted to worship the raw beauty of the stars in the vastness of the night sky, as

John was told when he was overawed by the shear splendour of power of God, that he

was only to worship God who made all things for His pleasure (Revelation 22 v 8-9)


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Of all the brighter stars, there is one that is the brightest of them all and can only be

seen in its full glory immediately before dawn to remind mankind of the covenant of

God that there will be a dawn of a new day of righteousness, the herald of which will

be the light of the world (the Lord Jesus Christ) in his victory over the enmity, and

he as the day star of the covenant of God, We have also a more sure word of

prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in adark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts (II Peter 1 v 19),

and again in the Revelation, I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these

things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and

morning star. (Revelation 22 v 16).

Every night we are enclosed by this vast infinite dome of resplendent stars shouting

out to us the promise of the Divine purpose and calling us to seek out the covenant of

God to enter into it and to keep its conditions, and even when it is cloudy, we know

by simple faith that the stars are always in their place and so our response in

obedience to the covenant will also be by faith, a proving that we believe in what we

cannot always see with our eyes.

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Chapter 9

Blue skyGod did not set the stars in their positions at random (Job 38), He set them according

to the pleasure of His purpose and created rotation of the earth so that the bright

morning star was the herald of the dawn of a new day at the end of a dark night, in

order that we may be instructed about the shining example of the righteous life and

obedient death of Jesus Christ as the bright and morning star (where the light of the

word of God ruled over him with a brightness greater than any other man, II Peter 1 v

19-21) and so God teaches that He will create (and did so) a shining herald of the

'dawn' of a new day, a 'day' of 1000 years and beyond where rulership over the earth

is a reign of the light of God as bright and as penetrating as the sun.

As the inky blackness of the night sky fades when the light of the sun penetrates the

atmosphere, the starry black dome turns to blue, but by faith we know that the stars

are still in their position unseen by us due to the intensity of the sunlight. So, as by

night we are enclosed by a sky of stars that teaches us of the covenant of God that

mortal beings will be made immortal, fixed and sure for ever in the heavenly rulership

of the earth according to the choice of God, so the dome-like enclosure of the blue skyis also a daily reminder of that very covenant, according as Daniel prophesied, And

they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn

many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. (Daniel 12 v 3) where the

brightness of the firmament is the blue sky we see.

We known why the sky is blue, and we know why it is yellow at sunset when rain is

soon due and why it is red when no rain is due (Matthew 16 v 1-3) because as each

molecule of air, created by God to form the firmament, reflects the rays of light from

the sun they scatter them earthwards at distinct angles according to the colours of the

rainbow, where blue is directed at a greater angle than red (hence blue when the sun is

up and red when it is almost down) but during the day all the colours reunite to giveus the clear white combination of the whole spectrum of seven colours to lighten our


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day. After this divinely created phenomena, the pattern creation teaches us of the

purpose of God that each sanctified member (as a molecule of air) willingly bound in

the firmament of the covenant of God (through Christ Jesus) absorbs the whole

spectrum of the white-light of the word of God and by obedience to that word they

redistribute the light of the word by the example of their lives, and silently witness

that they are bound within the covenant of God in Christ for all their neighbours tosee, and teach of a time when Jesus has returned to the earth when the perfected saints

will be as the firmament of heaven in its clearness to rule over the earth for ever by

the word of the covenant of God (Matthew 5 v 14-16).

It is from the creation of the firmament and the light of the sun that we understand

that God has chosen blue as the colour that represents His covenant with the mankind,

in both the hope of the promises of that covenant and the conditions God has set for

those who respond to it. To confirm the hope of the covenant, God allowed the angels

to meet mortal men and to eat and drink together, to teach us of the future time when

mortal man would be as the angels, as it is written of the elder of Israel And they saw

the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphirestone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the

children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.

(Exodus 24 v 10-11) where the sapphire is blue and the body of heaven in his

clearness is the daytime sky.

Similarly, to confirm the conditions of that covenant, the colour of blue was endorsed

as the token of the law of God (which though we do not keep that law, the spirit of the

law is very much alive in Christ) and, as we are surrounded by the dome of blue every

day, to the north, south, east, west and overhead (cloud may obscure it, but we do not

doubt that it is only a few miles above us) so Israel were required to wear a hem of

blue on all their garments to remind them to walk within the conditions of the

covenant of God, Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make

them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that

they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue (Numbers 15 v 38). It was

this hem on the robe of Jesus that the woman touched whose life was ebbing away,

and by her faith in the conditions of the covenant typified by the blue hem, was healed

as a prefigurment of the future healing of the covenant of salvation from eternal death

(Matthew 9 v 20-22).

As we therefore look at the blue of the sky, which as an awesome dome surrounds our

daily life we also can remember the promises of the covenant of God with the samefaith of that woman, we can recall the conditions of the covenant of God, thou shalt

love the Lord thy God, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, if ye love me keep

my commandments, greater love hath no man than he lay down his life for his

friends and we can recall that under the law of the tabernacle the High Priest (as a

figure of Christ) was to be arrayed in a robe of blue to teach that the greater high

priest (Jesus Christ) would be the one through whom the fullness of the covenant

would shine. Similarly, the tent of the tabernacle (which teaches of the House of God

that He will dwell in with His family for ever) was covered with a final covering of

blue (sealskin, but rendered badger skins in the English translation Exodus 26 v 14).

We are therefore without excuse if we neglect to remember the promises and thecommandments of the covenant of God, because the creation in which we live is full


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of the teaching of the purpose of God. As Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph

had no Bible to read and read again but retained the knowledge of the wisdom of God

passed from their fathers, so we are able with our limited knowledge of the wisdom of

the Bible to believe and reaffirm our faith by the constant witness of the natural

creation - formed for the pleasure of God - for our instruction and learning.

We do not need volumes of detailed knowledge to take hold of and remain in the

covenant of God, because the covenant of God is for the uncomplicated simple

minds of babes and sucklings Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou

ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the

avenger. (Psalm 8 v 2), and of little children And said, Verily I say unto you, Except

ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of

heaven. (Matthew 18 v 3). The truth of the covenant of God is not for the self-

educated, self-styled religious leaders, it is not for the university educated 'divines', it

is not for the 'rulers-over-the-laity' who decide for themselves what is right and what

is wrong, it is for mature men and women who are innocent in the simple faith.

The cloudsWhen God created the earth within the heavens, He did it according to His purpose

and in His kindness and mercy (to have never left that purpose without witness) He

made it so that our view from the earth is that we are surrounded with blue sky by day

and by starry blackness by night to remind us of His everlasting covenant with

mankind, but when the clouds obscure our direct vision of this witness of the sky we

can have no excuse if we forget the glorious promises of that covenant or if we

neglect to keep the conditions of that covenant all of which God has recorded in His

word, because the clouds are used by God to teach us of how He distributes,

disseminates and spreads the good news of His covenant, that it is either by refreshing

rain of blessing Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the

words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the

dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass

(Deuteronomy 32 v 1-2), or by the darkness and gloominess of His word of

judgement on the unrepentant (Zephaniah 1 v 14-18). Until that time of judgement the

mercy of the appeal of God is always present, Let the wicked forsake his way, and

the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will

have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon...... For my

thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For

as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and

my thoughts than your thoughts....... For as the rain cometh down, and the snow fromheaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth

and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:...... So shall my

word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall

accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

(Isaiah 55 v 7-11).

As the rain of the clouds spread water across the ground to enable growth and fruit so

the word of God in faithful messengers spread the word of God to hearts that seek to

enter into and keep the covenant of God, Wherefore seeing we also are compassed

about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin

which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set beforeus (Hebrews 12 v 1).


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*********************

Chapter 10

The creation used by God to teach of His covenantCreation, in all its detail, witnesses to the truth of the hope of the covenant of God and

God uses them to illustrate the power of His purpose so that uncomplicated humblepeople can understand His will, as well as the more educated and experienced

provided they also have the humility of mind needed for inclusion into the covenant

of God.

Plants such as barley and wheat (Matthew 13 v 1-26), mustard and hyssop (Luke 13 v

19) & (Luke 17 v 6); (Psalm 51 v 7); (John 19 v 28-30), grass and thorns (I Peter 1 v

24); (James 1 v 10-11); (Matthew 13 v 1-26), minerals such as sand and rock (Genesis

22 v 17); (Psalm 18 v 2); (Matthew 16 v 18), dust and ashes (Genesis 2 v 7); (Job 42 v

6), water and snow (John 4 v 14); (Isaiah 1 v 18); (Isaiah 55 v 7-11), light and

darkness (Matthew 6 v 22-23), clean and unclean creatures (Leviticus 11), fruit and

trees (James 5 v 7); (John 15 v 1-15); (Isaiah 61 v 1-3) and many more. These areused by God to show diverse details of His love that all shine like facets on a diamond

by reflecting the glory of His wisdom and purpose with mankind, and show what he

requires of us as individuals to be embraced in the hope of His covenant, so that we

are without excuse if we fail to recall to mind the covenant of God when we joy at the

beauty of creation, as Micah wrote, He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and

what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk

humbly with thy God? (Micah 6 v 8). Just one of these infinitely beautiful creations

will now be observed in the light of the wisdom of God as to why He made them as

He did. There is no chance or adaptability other than that imposed by mans'

mismanagement of the earth.

The Tree - a creation of the 3rd dayThe tree is just one a particular example that stands as a silent testimony to the all-

powerful hand of God in every land of the earth. Trees provides food for man, oxygen

for the air, carbon dioxide from the air, shade from the sun, protection from the wind,

material for building, food for man, bird and beast, fuel for heat and pleasure to the

eyes. They are just one example of the marvellous wonder of the power of the

creation of God which He has chosen to teach us of the wisdom of His covenant. God

made the trees from water, air, light and green pigment, and it is by water (with

minerals from the earth through the roots), by carbon dioxide from the firmament of

the air, by light radiating from the sun and by chlorophyll (the pigment that makes theleaf green) that God causes to combine and make sugar (glucose) which in turn is

converted to cellulose and resin (wood). This phenomena of simplicity illustrates the

unsearchable complexity of the mystery of the wisdom of God, as the Psalmist was

moved to say O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out (Romans 11 v

33).

Sugar is the energy of the tree, cellulose makes the stiff fibres (that we know from

splinters we get in our fingers) and resin is the glue that holds these long fibres

together. The fibrils (microscopic fibres - less than a millimetre, 0.025 inch) are made

of long chains of carbon and oxygen molecules (cellulose) and form long tubularmacroscopic fibres (3mm, 0.125 inch) and are analogous to the stiff skeleton bones of


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our body that give us rigidity - where the resin is like the muscle and fat of our body

which give us strength and resistance to disease.

The complex process of conversion begins with water and minerals from the earth

traveling upwards from the roots as sap, along the surface of the trunk inside the bark,

out to the tips of the shoots, and after conversion to sugar, returns a parallel way downthe tree inside the sap layer to be stored in storage cells distributed throughout the

inner timber, where it is later converted into both cellulose and resin. The sap wood

where all this happens grows every year into a ring of new wood under the bark

completing a cycle that continues as the tree grows larger and the trunk gets thicker,

until eventually it dies to be replaced by others from its seeds shed over the years in

exactly the same way. It is the same process of conversion in all tress from the lowly

vine to the majestic firs and oaks.

Sap is the life blood of the tree, glucose the energy of the tree, cellulose makes the

stiff skeletal bones of the trunk, branches and twigs and resins are the fat and muscle.

When the bark is severed the trees bleeds sap from its bloodstream and resin fromits storage reserves, but when the whole bark is removed the flow of life and

strength is stopped and the tree dies, but when a tree is cut down, the stump has the

power to shoot again to a renewed growth. All these illustrate the qualities that God is

looking for in His saints as the Psalmist noted, The trees of the LORD are full of sap;

the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted (Psalm 104 v 16), and as Job said,

For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the

tender branch thereof will not cease (Job 14 v 7) and the Psalmist rejoiced, The

righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon

(Psalm 92 v 12)

God made all the trees to grow in the same manner from the lowly vine to the mighty

fir and oak and God has used these to show us the diversity and unity of His promise

to mankind. He made the vine of humble stature, but despite its uncomely stature He

made it to be the most choice of trees through the quality of its fruit, as Isaiah

lamented of Israel and foretold of Jesus, of Israel And he fenced it, and gathered out

the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst

of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth

grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes (Isaiah 5 v 2), but in contrast he wrote of

Jesus, For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry

ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no

beauty that we should desire him (Isaiah 53 v 2). In fulfilment of these propheticfigures Jesus referred to himself, I am the true vine, and my Father is the

husbandman (John 15 v 1).

God has used the tree as a token of His covenant from the beginning, He used the tree

to symbolise the difference between obedience and disobedience - the gulf between

continued life and eternal death - in both the tree of knowledge of good and evil (the

test of obedience) and the tree of life (the token for life everlasting). He continued

the same pattern of illustrating the hope of the promises of His covenant in the olive

tree, the apple tree, the fig tree, the palm, the cedar, the acacia, the cypress, and the

forest. God has chosen the characters of trees to represent his saints.


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The olive tree is the source of the finest of oil, and God has chosen the oil as a symbol

for the Holy Spirit in the anointings and cleansing of Israel under His law and for the

hope of change to everlasting life, (Psalm 45); (Psalm 133); (Luke 4 v 18); (Exodus

30 v 22 - 33). God has chosen this tree to be a symbol for the perfection of the stature

and character of His Son Jesus Christ and the inflammable olive oil to be the symbol

for the light of His Holy Spirit (Exodus 27 v 20) which filled the mortal body of JesusChrist (Matthew 3 v 16 - 17) who like a perfect tree was mortal, as the Psalmist

mused upon his saviour, And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,

that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and

whatsoever he doeth shall prosper (Psalm 1 v 3), and again, But I am like a green

olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever (Psalm

52 v 8).

Solomon took the apple (or citron) tree to describe the sweet fragrance of the love

between Jesus and his companion bride, As the apple tree among the trees of the

wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great

delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste (Song of Solomon 2 v 3).

God chose the fig tree as the tree whose fruit is full of incredibly sweet seed as to be

the symbol of the word of God, which healing word filled Jesus and was fulfilled in

him as illustrated by a miracle of God in king Hezekiah who experienced the healing

of the rising boil of his flesh, For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and

lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover (Isaiah 38 v 21). Jesus who

came looking for the fruit of the word of God in the Jews of his day, And seeing a fig

tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and

when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet

(Mark 11 v 13).

The palm has been chosen by God to represent those who uphold the word of God as

true and upright, able to withstand the onslaughts of the fierce winds and intense heat

of the trials of faith brought on by the adversary of God (the enmity). The seventy

elders of Israel stood upright as custodians of the promises of God in a hot and arid

desert as the children of Israel were led to the Promised land' in what appeared to be

an impossible situation, And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water,

and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters (Exodus

15 v 27), (Numbers 33 v 9). The Psalmist wrote of the palm and the cedar, The

righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon

(Psalm 92 v 12). Solomon depicted them in the ornamentation of the doors of theTemple (1 Kings 6 v 31 - 35). Ezekiel was also inspired to write of the use of palms in

the construction of the forthcoming temple to be established in Jerusalem when Jesus

returns to establish the kingdom of God on earth (Ezekiel 40 v 16), (Ezekiel 41 v 18).

Israel were taught that those permitted to live in the Kingdom of God in the fullness

of His promises would live under the upright and true protection of the Son of God as

universal king as administer of law of God he perfectly fulfilled, they were to live for

7 days every year in booths made of branches of palm and other trees during the feast

of Tabernacles following the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23 v 33 - 44). Some of the

Jews in Jesus' day understood this teaching, for as Jesus travelled toward Jerusalem

knowing it was for his crucifixion, they took palm branches, and


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went forth to meet him, and cried, 'Hosanna, Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh

in the name of the Lord'. (John 12 v 12 - 19).

The thorny acacia (Black acacia, Mimosa Nilotica) of which it is said that hardy

desert cattle are afraid to approach so fierce are their thorns stands as a symbol ofhuman beings - created originally peaceful and friendly in the image of God - but

cursed with the enmity and manifest in a fearsome and piercing reputation of the

aggression, but out of which tree the almost imperishable heartwood can be used

when all the thorns are removed. This is the shittim wood that was used in the

Tabernacle to symbolise the nature of which Jesus Christ was born as a mortal man

(son of man, Adam), but who removed all the effects of the thorns of the enmity to

become the son of God. In the figure that God used (the black acacia in the wilderness

of mankind), Jesus lived as a mortal man shaped and fashioned by God but cut down

by man. Thus in the figure he acacia was cut down, the thorns and bark removed, the

shaped by the inspiration of God in the hand of Bezaleel, conditioned, sanded,

polished and built up into artefacts of usefulness in the house of God after beingoverlaid with pure gold. God taught His purpose through the shittim wood of the Ark

of the Covenant, the altar of incense, the table of shewbread and the boards of the

Tabernacle walls. (Exodus 25). The altar of burnt sacrifice was also made of shittim

wood, but overlaid with brass (Exodus 27 v 1-7). God chose brass to represent the fire

of the Holy Spirit (Revelation 1 v 15), reflecting and blending in with the yellow of

the flames and heat of the fire on the altar, which heat (fuelled by the fat of the

offerings, Leviticus 3 v 16 - 17) must have been intense, why then did the shittim

wood under the brass not burn away? In the beginning when God created everything

(i.e. all what we now call 'science') He created the natural phenomena now known as

pyrography, if air is sealed away from wood as it is heated it does not burn but

changes into a hard and durable resinous substance that we know as bakelite. Thus the

altar encased in brass was entirely durable for the length of its useable life as a place

of the burning of animal flesh and fat, in the figure teaching us Christians that

consumption of the flesh (the enmity) by the Holy Spirit is necessary during every day

of ones' life, after the perfect example of Jesus Christ - who alone was the burnt

offering and its sweet smelling savour. It is worth remembering that the specification

of the whole Tabernacle (from boundary curtain to the Most Holy place) is still used

by God to teach us Christians the way unto salvation is possible by one man Jesus

Christ.

The highly resinous cypress tree - from which Noah made the ark and pitched itwithin and without to make it watertight - is used to teach of the hope of salvation

from the ultimate judgment of God, i.e. death without resurrection due to all mankind

(Genesis 6, where gopher is cypress). God has accepted the life blood of Jesus Christ

as a covering for sin in order that a man and his family would be saved from His curse

of a everlasting grave. Cypress wood is almost indestructible in water and was used

extensively in boat building, and the 'pitch' used to make it watertight was the natural

resin of the cypress that is harvested by cutting the bark and collecting the 'teardrops'

of resin which ooze from those wounds inflicted in its trunk and then converted into a

bitumen-like sealant. This 'pitching' is the same Hebrew word as to 'anoint' - as in the

anointing used by God to separate the Levitical priests to His service in the

tabernacle, a symbolic figure of the 'sealing' of His saints unto eternal life by the'covering' of their sins in the blood of Christ (Exodus 40 v 9 - 15), (Psalm 132). God


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taught Noah that a multitude of members (the planks) would be sealed as one by the

tear-drop like resin of the life blood of Jesus to form a vessel (the ark) of salvation in

which a man (Jesus) and his family (the saints) will be saved from the judgment of

God to come on all the earth of an eternal grave, to begin a new life cleansed from all

wickedness. It is by the shed life of Jesus Christ - a life full of the Holy Spirit - that

the saints, the 'forest' of all manner of trees of righteousness will be 'built up' of themany sinners redeemed by the blood of Christ to fulfil the prophecy, that they might

be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified

(Isaiah 61 v 1-3). Peter links the experience of Noah preparing the ark to pass through

the flood of the 'waters of death' as the figure of baptism as the preparation for the

ultimate sealing by the Holy Spirit by the shed blood of Christ (1 Peter 3 v 18 - 22).

The cedar and fir was used in the temple of God designed by king David as a symbol

of all the saints who will be built into and stand in the house of God for ever, Surely

goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the

house of the LORD for ever (Psalms 23). Solomon sang of the unbreakable love

between Jesus and his saints and that they will all dwell in the beauty of the house ofthe Lord for ever (Song of Solomon 1 v 17).

Thus trees are creations used by God as tokens of mortal men and women, who like

wood are shaped and finished for the house of God, will have their natures changed

from mortality to immortality and live as trees of righteousness in the garden of the

Lord for ever, as the blind man saw when Jesus healed his infirmity, And he took the

blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes,

and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up, and

said, I see men as trees, walking After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and

made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly (Mark 8 v 23-

25) where clearly means to the end or, for ever. Thus teaching that the process of

preparation is slow, the end is indistinct at first but slowly the hope becomes clearer

as faith is strengthened till finally the end is a reality.

These 'trees' of men and women will be planted in the garden of the Lord on earth for

ever according to the promise of the covenant of the Lord, the oath that God has

declared and recorded in the Holy Bible, For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will

comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her

desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein,

thanksgiving, and the voice of melody (Isaiah 51 v 3), And the LORD shall guide

thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thoushalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not

(Isaiah 58 v 11), For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth

the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause

righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations (Isaiah 61 v 11)

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Chapter 11

The covenant of God is in the word of God - the Holy Bible

God created the firmament on the 2nd day of creation (Genesis 1 v 6-8). The

firmament is what we now know as the atmosphere, a mantle of air that gaveprotection to the earth and life-giving elements (oxygen and nitrogen) to all living

things that were to be created. At lower altitudes this atmosphere is holds water,

evaporated from the seas into clouds (a mist), in order that when the dry land was

formed it could be distilled as rain to allow plants to grow and all creatures to

continue living. God has used the clouds and rain to illustrate the dissemination of the

word of His covenant to teach mankind of His purpose, "Give ear O ye heavens, and I

will speak; O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my

speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the

showers upon the grass: Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye

greatness unto our God." (Deuteronomy 32 v 1-3).

If God had not created the phenomena of buoyancy and gravity when He created the

firmament then there would be no clouds or rain, but the wisdom of God is far greater

than that of man and He caused clouds to float and gravity to hold them above the

earth. So greater is the wisdom of God to that of mankind, men and women have been

trying ever since to catch up with their understanding of what God did in the

beginning and still do not fully comprehend the infinite balance between all elements

of nature, but Isaiah was inspired by God to teach us through His creation, "For my

thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For

as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and

my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from

heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it to bring forth

and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word

be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall

accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

(Isaiah 55 v 8-11).

Every cloud is made up of tiny droplets of water that cling together by another

phenomena of creation (electro-magnetic attraction) to form clouds. these droplets are

in continuous motion and if the is a lot of agitation an electrical explosion results

(lightning and thunder). Each droplet is a miracle in itself in that is has the

characteristic of a lense that took mankind some 5.5 thousand years to discover, i.e.the ability to divide white light from the sun into the 7 primary colours of the

spectrum. God has used this phenomena to teach of His covenant to mankind that

people (as individual droplets of water) will display the beauty of the righteous white-

light of the word of God in their lives in response to which God will embrace them in

the full beauty of eternal life as a composite body. To confirm this God set the

rainbow in the sky to teach of the covenant He has given to mankind as a reminder to

all of us that His covenant is true and alive to this day (Genesis 9 v 12-16).

Only one man, Jesus Christ, displayed the full beauty of the word of God in his life

and death and God has made him to be as the white-light of the sun in its strength


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(Malachi 4 v 1-2) (Psalm 19). By showing all the characteristics of God in his life

(love, mercy, grace, long-suffering, goodness and truth - Exodus 34 v 5-8) Jesus

became the Light of the word of God (John 8 v 12), the full manifestation of the

character, mind and intent of God - a) His Word (John 1 v 1), (1 John 1 v 1-3), the

Light from God (John 1 v 6-14) and c) the fulfilment of Emmanuel (Isaiah 7 v 14-15),

(1 Timothy 3 v 16). Thus Jesus Christ manifest the Word of God, the Light of Godand the Character of God as one entity in order for him to become the focal point (the

sun) of the covenant of God shown in the rainbow so he, John, could realise his hopes

of resurrection from an eternal grave. Johns' faith was that God would create a new

'heaven and earth' of righteousness (Isaiah 65 v 17-25) in which Jesus would be the

focal point of the light of government, the King (Psalm 2) around whom his

companion (the saints) will reflect the full spectrum of his characteristics in 1st, their

mortal bodies and 2nd in glorified bodies of eternal life in the mercy of God

(Revelation 10 v 1).

Throughout the bible God has used the clouds to demonstrate the word of His

covenant, power and purpose with mankind (Exodus 13 v 21-22), (Exodus 16 v 10),(Numbers 9), (Mark 9 v 7), (Mark 14 v 62), (Luke 21 v 27), (Acts 1 v 9).

It can now be understood from the rain clouds of the creation of God that a cloud of

righteous witnesses (Hebrews 12 v 1) were inspired by Him to record the events of

the revealing of the covenant of God by their words and records of their actions. Each

one distilled their inspired knowledge (2 Peter 1 v 21) as glistening gems of droplets

of pure distilled water of the word of God, which are recorded in the Holy Bible for us

to search out one by one and put together so that they become a well of living water

within our minds and hearts, according as it is written It is the glory of God to

conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter (Proverbs 25 v 2),

and But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but

the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into

everlasting life (John 4 v 14).

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Chapter 12

The curse on the serpent

And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art

cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thougo, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee

and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou

shalt bruise his heel (Genesis 3 v 14-15).

The curse on the serpent was a sombre curse and should never be interpreted as

anything else as it is the root from where all rebellion against the rule of the word of

God within our hearts comes from, but contained within that devastating curse of

spiritual uncleanness (which was passed to all progeny of Adam) is a ray of the hope

of the covenant of God which has now been confirmed. Jesus Christ was the singular

seed of the woman who bruised the enmity in the head which signified his victory

over temptation and sin in life and death, at which time the enmity (in God's enemies)slew his body, a simultaneous fulfilment culminated as a climax on the cross. The


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details of this curse on the serpent - revealing the enmity as the poison of the serpent

as human nature and being set against the covenant of God - is described in The

lifetime vow of baptism.

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Chapter 13

Clothes of skin

Until their sin, Adam and Eve had no shame of their naked bodies, but when God took

the power of evil reasoning from the serpent and placed it in their minds to perpetuate

their voluntary spiritual uncleanness by disobedience to His word (as was revealed in

the curse upon the serpent) there began in Adam and Eve an acute awareness of their

uncleanness by self consciousness of their bodies in the form of a feeling and emotion

that they had never experienced before, they became ashamed of their bodies - a

consequence of the shame of their sin.

To confirm that the curse of God on the serpent has been passed to us in the form of

the enmity, we are likewise ashamed in our own eyes (and our neighbours) of our

bodily parts as a witness to us that we are of sinful nature which is unclean in the eyes

of God and directs us to seek out the covenant of God wherein is a covering for our

moral and spiritual uncleanness. This was confirmed by God who showed His

everlasting covenant to Adam and Eve by killing an animal to provide a covering for

their shame, Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins,

and clothed them (Genesis 3 v 21). This was to teach them (and us) that God would

provide a sacrifice - where blood was shed - to give a covering for the shame of sin,

and thus make a way possible for the salvation of a people who would be born under

the curse of a finite lifespan and who face an eternal grave.

As they put on the skins of the slain animal to cover their shame, so we by baptism

put on Christ, For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on

Christ (Galatians 3 v 27), and And that ye put on the new man, which after God is

created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4 v 24).

The shame of exposing our own bodies and the shame of seeing our neighbours body

are a pointed reminder to us that because by nature we are spiritually unclean and

naked in the eyes of God, He has cursed us with a physical shame of our physicalbody parts, but given us a hope that there He has provided a covering for our spiritual

nakedness and shame in Christ Jesus.

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Chapter 14

Cherubim and the tree of life

It was the will of God that His son would live for ever ruling the earth God had

created. Adam (the first son - Luke 3 v 38) and Eve were given dominion over all theearth (Genesis 1 v 28-31) and were neither mortal nor immortal but in a state of


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perpetual life depending on obedience to a law which God gave them. There was a

'tree of life' in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2 v 9). They were told that if they broke

that law they would become mortal (Genesis 2 v 9, 16-17) and return to the dust of

which they were made (Genesis 3 v 17-19). Both of them sinned by breaking the

commandment and were subsequently cursed to live a limited lifespan beset by

temptation and then to die. Despite this, the will of God remained unchanged but thebond that was between God and man (describes as 'very good' Genesis 1 v 31) was

now broken. A breach was created so large that mankind could no longer have access

to the 'tree of life', a gulf was opened so wide and deep between God and man that

Adam and Eve could no longer live in the peaceful conditions of the Garden of Eden.

Thus God drove out Adam and Eve; So he drove out the man; and he placed at the

east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way,

to keep the way of the tree of life (Genesis 3 v 24).

Despite the breaking up of the path to the 'tree of life', the covenant of God that in due

time God would bless men and women with life without limit stood firm, but now

God set stringent conditions for its realisation. Individually the time-limit set by Godfor mankind is birth to death, because all have to die - there is no other way, but

additionally God set an overall time-limit to His purpose in order that there should be

a collective population under the rulership of His son who He would raise from the

grave to eternal life to inherit the earth created for them. That overall time limit was

pre-figured in the record of the 6 time-period creation as being approximately 6000

years with the 7th mellenium as the Kingdom of God on earth, after which there

would be no need for time as everything will be immortal (1 Corinthians 15 v 22-28)

The Cherubim (angels) with the flaming sword taught mankind that the conditions to

realise the promise of His covenant in order to gain access to the tree of life (which

symbolised the fulfilment of the promise of the covenant of God - eternal life) it was

necessary to pass through the flaming sword of the Cherubim, for there is no other

way. The 'flaming sword' is the figure of the word of God (Hebrews 4 v 12-13)

inspired and made alive by the Holy Spirit both in its writing, understanding and

practicing (2 Timothy 3 v 16-17) (1 Corinthians 2 v 9-16). In simple terms this means

that the temptations of the enmity are to be overcome during ones' life (overcoming

disob

covenant of god

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