On our journey from Darkness to Light, we use the Bible as a lamp to find the path. It is not the Light, but a reflection of Him. It's reflection is far brighter when we learn how to make best use of it. That use starts with a good solid framework, an outline to memorize by which we understand everything else.
The spiritual mind does not look so much for books, chapters and verses, but major turning points in the one thing which matters most to us all: the way God reveals Himself. In terms of human years, things move altogether very slowly. In terms of text covered in Scripture, the early portions are tightly compacted, with expansion coming as we draw nearer to the ultimate revelation, Jesus Christ. These break points are the various covenants God offered.
The beginning is obvious, with the first few chapters of Genesis. The highlights are Creation, the Garden Covenant, and its breaking. That brings us the Fall. It is no longer possible to return to the innocence before the Fall, so in that sense the Garden Covenant is out of reach. However, that covenant did set forth the first requirement for all Creation to acknowledge God as Creator. This is reflected in the second generation of mankind starting to worship:
And Adam had relations with his wife again. And she gave birth to a son, and called his name Seth, for she said, "God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel, because Cain killed him." And there was also a son born to Seth, and he called his name Enos. Then men began to call upon the name of the LORD. (Genesis 4:25-26)
The purity of knowing God from an innocent spirit was gone, and the spirit in humanity died. It required redemption to bring it back to life. Whether that spirit is alive or not, there remains to all Creation a requirement to acknowledge God, to call on His name as Creator. That portion of the Garden Covenant is still active.
The next step on the way comes after mankind not only rejected that requirement as a whole, but sought out every other path to return to the Garden privileges. So deeply had sin driven into the souls of men, they fled from the face of God in every direction possible. This would require a new covenant, but first the sin must be removed. Thus, the Flood destroyed all mankind, except for Noah and his household. While sin was not washed away, there was a chance to rebuild human society with some controls. Thus, God set forth the Covenant of Noah (Genesis 8:20-9:17). While the full implications are not spelled out, we see the Lord state the most obvious meaning:
"Whoever sheds human blood, his blood shall be shed by humans; for I made man in the image of God." (Genesis 9:6)
In other words, there must be a high value placed on human life. He also referred to population growing, and we quickly get the image of people living in cities. The only way folks can exist in urban density is to adopt a set of rules, customs and expectations for each other which serve to preserve life. This means civilized behavior, for civilization is defined as the rules by which humans can live together in a city without killing each other. This, then, could also be called the Covenant of Civil Order. There has to be a civil government, which bears the sword and keeps sinners in check. That the sword is carried by other sinners goes without saying. This has nothing to do with spiritual things, but civil order among fallen men. To prevent another destruction of life like the Flood, we are obliged to maintain good government, as good as sinners can make government work. The punishment for failure to keep civil order is the loss of natural order, as God mentions seasons and predictability of natural events.
We are not aware of any further pivotal revelations from God until the life of Abraham. Here we have a different kind of thing altogether. God calls Abraham into a personal covenant, represented by the command to leave behind everything he ever knew, change to another lifestyle, and never again consider other deities. There were benefits for Abraham, but the point remains this is the first known example of personal spiritual redemption laid out in a recognizable framework. To become spiritually born, Abraham had to die to his old life and operate from a wholly different perspective. While elements of this new life were common enough in those days, God adds a whole new dimension. This calls Abraham back to the Garden Covenant, but the Covenant of Noah is assumed covered by Abraham's faithful response to God's every whim. This is where we first gain the image of God as a desert nomad sheik, for this is essentially what Abraham became, leaving behind the civilized urban life under Noah.
A significant point here is to begin seeing the symbolism not obvious to a casual reader. Abraham is no longer tied to Noah, but is tied to a promise he must accept sight unseen. He must operate on the basis of a commitment to a Divine Lord he cannot see, whose requirements seem from a human standpoint to shift like sand dunes in the wind. He is to operate as if the promises were true, even as he knows he will never see them come true with his own eyes. This is the Covenant of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3). While other men were surely held to such a standard, we are told of Abraham because he is critical to the central story of God's revelation.
We are allowed to see very early there are two levels of operation, the flesh and the spirit. Each has its own particular demands, but clearly those who embrace the spiritual plane are held to a higher standard, even while they are no longer bound under the lower.
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By Ed Hurst
10 March 2009
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