The first man and woman are separated from their Creator God because of sin. For these two people, they are facing two absolute deaths and one potential death. The first one is when their spirits died after they ate. The second death will be their physical bodies, and the third would have been an eternal spiritual death, which is separation from God forever in a place of torment, called Hell. So what is God’s Response to all this mayhem?
You can read about the consequences of Adam and Eve's sin in Genesis 3:14-19, but for here, our focus will only be on Satan’s judgement, since it is the most significant in God’s plan to redeem us back to Himself.
Simply put, this statement from the LORD God tells us Satan will bruise the Seed, but the Seed will destroy the works of Satan, along with the position that was given to him by Adam, and eventually lock him up in the place created just for him, which is hell.
The above verse is probably one of the most important in all scripture because it provides the hidden mystery of what the LORD God did and has done for us who are now dead in sin and lost in the I's of pride and self-consciousness rather than God consciousness. We'll discuss the meaning behind this verse later, but for now, keep it in the back of your mind.
Remember Adam’s confession? "I heard Your voice.., ...I was afraid, ..I was naked; ...I hid myself."" The prophet Zacharias, as recorded in the above scripture, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, among other announcements, foretold that his son, the prophet John, would soon proclaim the long-awaited Messiah’s arrival. With Him, we would soon be able to serve the Lord God without fear. I love it! From the moment punishment was pronounced to Satan; to Adam and Eve, and to the earth, God has revealed hidden gems of His plan of redemption through various signs, shadows, priests, kings, and prophets, until His final revelation comes through the Word of God, our Savior, Christ. In Isaiah 32:17, the prophet prophesied of "The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever."
Most versions of the bible do not use the phrase, 'determinate counsel' as written in the King James Version (KJV) of the bible. I, and perhaps many others missed it's profound meaning. Once again listening to “Through the Bible w/ Les Feldick,” he commented on the phrase and simply ask his students, what does 'counsel' mean? It speaks of the foreknowledge of the Triune God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who counseled together some time in eternity past, before the foundation of the world, and determined how they would deliver us from the slave market of sin, death, hell, and the grave; and take back the authority Adam gave to Satan over the earth. Scripture refers to Satan as; "... god of this age" - 2 Corinthians 4:4. "...the ruler of the kingdom of the air." - Ephesians 2:2. As far as taken back the authority Adam gave Satan; Luke 4:6 says,"And the devil said to Him, 'All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.'” Adam gave to Satan through his disobedience, authority over the earth, and handed down to all mankind a death sentence which now reigns as king. But don't forget, there is always a "But God....!" Lucifer is also a creation of God Almighty, and too, given a will, and he willed to become Satan, the devil. Immediately after the 5 "I will's of Lucifer," Jesus said He saw Satan fall like lightning."
And so the Triune God counseled together a plan to destroy Satan through the woman's Seed and take back all authority in heaven and earth and under the earth. And as the virgin Mary asked in Luke's gospel account, "...how will this be?"
The LORD God will call one man Abram, out of paganism and idolatry and will give him a covenant promise, and this man Abram believed God, "..and it was accounted to him as righteousness." - Genesis 15:6. In other words, what God said, Abram believed. This is important because every person born of Adam (and that's all of us), will be called upon to have the same faith Abraham had in order to be BORN AGAIN and receive the GIFT of righteousness and eternal LIFE. Galatians 3:7 - "Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham."
God changed Abram's name to Abraham to signify he would become the "father of many nations." Did Abram do anything of his own effort to receive the gift of righteousness? Some would say he did, but I beg to differ. The covenant was given to Abram;" "...then Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him." (Genesis 12:4) The covenant was given before Abram took one step. Romans 4:2 - "For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God."
Abraham begot Isaac, and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob had 12 sons who are the 12 tribes of Israel; the Jewish nation. This great nation of people were to be God's special people destined to live a life of holiness, separated from the rest of the world for His purpose. Their mission was to reveal to the world (Gentiles) the one and true God and prepare the world for the Seed's arrival.
Over a period of approximately 500-700 years, God’s people, the Hebrews, would become enslaved to the Egyptians, enduring a period of about 430 years. During this time, the servant of God, Moses, emerged as the nation’s deliverer and mediator between the people and God. As part of the Jewish exodus from Egyptian slavery, God instituted a blood sacrifice to protect His people from what would be God’s final punishment to Pharaoh for his refusal to let the Jewish people go. Each Jewish household was required to sacrifice an unblemished lamb and pour its blood over the doorpost. When the death angel passed by to kill the firstborn child and animal in each household, the sight of the blood would cause it to “passover” that household, sparing their lives. This event serves as a clear depiction of the Passover Lamb, the Seed of Abraham, whose blood was sacrificed to deliver all who would come to believe in His atoning sacrifice. Through this sacrifice, we are liberated from the slavery of sin and the death sentence handed down to us by Adam. He passes over our sins.
I conducted a search in the American Standard Version (ASV) of the Bible for the word ‘promise.’ (I used this version only because it's the only one on my phone that does a word search throughout the entire bible.) The search yielded fourty nine results. I wonder if my search results missed one as the number fifty would have held great significance and actually does in our future. The Year of Jubilee, which occurred every fifty years, marked the erasure of all debts. Additionally, the number fifty held significance for the day of Pentecost. Pentecost is the day when the Holy Spirit descended upon 120 disciples fifty days after Christ’s ascension, which removed the sin debt and brought new life to those present. Among the forty nine of the word promise I found, Acts has nine occurrences, Romans has six, Galatians has eight, Ephesians has four, and Hebrews has eight. Let me share some of these occurences.
The main point in beginning this section with an emphasizes on God’s promise, is the promise is made by the unchanging, immutable Triune God, who remains the same throughout history—yesterday, today, and forever. He transcends the boundaries of time, yet simultaneously perceives the entirety of it - the past, the present, and the future. None of us can comprehend that fully, but as believers we believe. With God, it is impossible to lie, nor would there ever be a need for Him to change His mind about His promise, as He already knows all of our future. Romans 5:8-9 - "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."
Shortly after the Exodus from Egyptian slavery, God instructed his servant Moses to establish God’s standard of living for the Jews. This standard included the moral law, dietary law, and civic law. Additionally, there were ceremonial laws that served as a means of atonement for the people’s sins committed in ignorance. There was no atonement for intentional and deliberate sins which were deserving of stoning to death.
During the Old Covenant, the priesthood could only originate from the tribe of Levi, specifically from the family of Aaron. Daily and annually, animal sacrifices were offered to atone for sins, conducted within a man-made tabernacle by priests who were also required to atone for their own sins and those of the people. However, these sacrifices could only cover sins, not eliminate them. The priest was limited by his own sins and the inevitability of death, and because those sacrifices could not remove sin(s), those sacrifices never ceased.
From Abraham until the true Lamb of God who's sacrifice and shed blood takes away the sins of the world, scripture primarily focuses on God's dealing with the Jewish nation, including the gospels, until God's next prophetic event occurs, the new covenant which includes His dispensation of grace; the birth of the church and His promise of the Holy Spirit.
God who is love and because of His unconditional love for all mankind bestowed the greatest gift upon all the earth — His Son. When a word is repeated multiple times within a short section of the Bible, it serves as a powerful tool to emphasize a particular point. In the book of Acts, the word gift is found four times, and in each instance, it is referencing receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. In the book of Ephesians, it is found three times, referencing the gift of grace for salvation from God. But in the book of Romans chapter five, the word "gift" or "free gift" appears SIX times within four short verses; (v15-18); and once in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In the four verses of Romans 5:15-18; the word is used to drive home the contrast between what Adam gave the world as a result of his transgression - death; judgement; and condemnation; verses what the Son gave from His ONE time obedience - grace; justification; and life. While we generally accept gifts from friends and family without hesitation, the greatest gift given by our Creator God, is often rejected and overlooked. Few receive it. Only eight of perhaps millions got in the Ark. I'm SMH!
The second person of the Trinity, Christ (the Seed), would take on flesh and blood as our kinsman redeemer, born of a virgin; fully man; (the last Adam), and fully God, in order to become the suffering servant and Savior of the world, who would die for the sin of all humanity, "...for the wages of sin is death." - Romans 6:23. Because He is the eternal God, His death, burial, and resurrection would pay the price for Adam and everyone born of Adam. That's the whole world, even Mary, His mother. Can you see the love, grace, and mercy of our Great & Mighty Creator God?
The Triune God transcends the realm of time. Scripture says in 1 Peter 1:20; "He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you..." and Revelation 13:8 says, "...of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. What does this imply? Are you suggesting that Christ became the Lamb of God and was sacrificed on the cross before the world’s creation? Absolutely! This occurred before Adam was created, allowing Him to justly and rightly temporarily cover Adam and Eve's sin with the " tunics of skin;" and to cover the sins of the people of God, the Jews with the blood of animals until the fullness of time when the Christ descended from deity to humanity in the realm of time to complete the work here on earth, which had already been accomplished in eternity past. His death pays the penalty for everyone going forward to those who believe. If He can't save us from future sins, none of us can be saved. I was not born two thousand years ago, nor before the foundation of the world, so all my sins were in the future and what about yours?
From Abraham’s calling to the time two thousand years later, a young virgin, descended from Abraham’s lineage, would give birth to the only One who could pay the full price for humanity’s sinful nature and sins. It has been scientifically proven the fetus never comes into contact with the blood of the woman's womb. Blood is solely transmitted through the father, and who is the Father of the incarnated Son of God? The Ancient of Days, God the Father. Jesus did not inherit Adam’s sinful nature; otherwise, He could not be the firstborn, unblemished, spotless, and sinless Lamb of God. He would be disqualified from paying the price for sin. By the way, I believe that’s why Jesus waited two days before resurrecting Lazarus. "But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2 Peter 3:8). It was two thousand years from Abraham to the appearance of the Resurrection and the Life. "So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was." (John 11:6).
In John's gospel, 12:31-32 the word 'peoples' is an italicized word that was added to indicate those words were not present in the original Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek text, but were added by the translators to make the English sentence flow naturally and be grammatically correct. I believe it is an incorrect translation of scripture for one factual reason already discussed. Christ's death, burial, and resurrection; which is called the gospel, will not draw all people to salvation. Most will take the path to destruction. If it was not in the original text, read it without it and see what logically fits. If you read the verse before it, it tells us what the word should be, 'judgement', and it makes sense.
I'm not sure how yet, but I believe John 12:31-32 is directly tied to John 18:8-11 that says, "And when He has come, (referring to the Holy Spirit); He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged."
Perhaps, Jesus is conveying, "I have to return to the Father and since you don't believe in Me, I will send the Holy Spirit who will convict you of sin; righteousness will be available to all who believe; [Romans 4:25 - "Christ...who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.;" once we're justified, we become the righteousness of God]; and by Jesus Christ taking on God's full judgement for sin - now the author of sin, death, hell, and the grave, Satan has been judged; found guilty and defeated. Just thinking.....! "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many." (Hebrews 9:27-28.)
This covenant promise to Abraham includes blessings available to the whole earth, which includes the promise of the Holy Spirit! Why? In Matthew 3:11 - John the Baptist announcing the long-awaited Messiah says, "... He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." John 6:63 - "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing." The Holy Spirit is our earnest guarantee of eternal salvation. Ephesians 1:13-14 - "...having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession..."
Remember, God promised to give us a new regenerated spirit; a new fleshly heart to love Him and He would put His Spirit inside us to cause us to keep His commandments. The blessing of Abraham to the Gentiles and the promised Holy Spirit hold immense significance to who we become as born-again Christians. Scripture says we are identified as belonging to God by the Holy Spirit. In the concluding section of this site, we will delve deeper into all that has been bestowed upon us by the Spirit of promise, so that we may know we have eternal life which can only be obtained as a gift from God, and since it is a gift we didn't earn, there's nothing we can do to lose it. "For gifts and calling of God are irrevocable." (Romans 11:29).
Because of God's love and grace and through the finished work of the Seed of Abraham - which is encapsulated in His death, burial and resurrection, whosoever believes the good news of the gospel that Christ paid the full price for sin can now, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” - (Matthew 11:28-30). Now reconciliation and peace with our Creator God and Father is available to all the nations of the earth.
About those 'tunics of skin' God made for Adam and Eve. You can rest assured the skin came from an innocent, unblemished, spotless, firstborn animal(s). God killed an animal(s) in place of killing Adam and Eve. It was a forshadowing of what would ultimately culminate at the foot of the cross. Christ was concealed with the tunics of skin. He was hidden in the Ark of salvation for Noah and his family. He was obscure when God asked Abraham to take his son, his only son Isaac, whom he loved and offer him up as a sacrifice. He was on full display when God instructed Moses to build the tabernacle. He was the manna that came down from heaven that fed the Jews in the wilderness.
He was the serpent Moses lifted up to spare death to whoever looked upon it. He was Boaz the Kinsman Redeemer to save Naomi and Ruth because redemption could only come from a kin of the family. In His humanity, He was the second Adam, our kinsman. He's the Passover Lamb in the Exodus from Egyptian slavery to protect the Jewish nation from the final plague, which was the death of every firstborn man or animal; and on the road to Emmaus, the risen Lord meets up with two mourning disciples to expound on scripture reference's to Himself and His sufferings that would follow. It's been said before by many, the Old Testament (Covenant) is Jesus concealed; the New Testament (Covenant) is Jesus revealed. (Luke 24:13-24)
Jesus in His humanity had all power within Himself, Colossians 2:9 - "...the fullness of the deity dwelt in Him bodily," yet He emptied Himself of it all and relied solely on the Father above and the Holy Spirit within to empower Him. What an example to live by. Galatians 5:16 - "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." This walk in the Spirit is to be born of the Spirit. Those who are led by the Spirit become children of God.
The prophet Isaiah tells us some of what Christ suffered for our sake in Isaiah 53:4-5 - "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed."
The very spoken Word that created everything became flesh and dwelt among us to die for us. Take a moment to watch the inspiring testimony of former NFL Quarterback Tim Tebow. His remarkable story of John 3:16 illustrates how God used this verse to convey His profound love to over 180 million people. If you visit his YouTube channel, be sure to pay attention to two crucial aspects of his testimony. In God’s economy, the number three holds significant meaning, representing unity, completion, wholeness, and perfection. The number five, on the other hand, signifies grace. Grace is God’s unmerited, unearned, unsought, and undeserved favor bestowed upon us. - Tim Tebow - John 3:16
Adam and Eve plummeted the entire world to a death sentence to hell, but GOD'S RESPONSE was to provide the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world by offering Himself up on the cross ONCE, as the perfect sacrificial substitute for ALL! The tunics of skin, and ceremonial law of animal sacrifices served as a temporary covering for the people's sins until the Lamb born in a manger would appear. Now reconciliation and restoration are available by His grace, through faith and faith alone, Ephesians 2:8-9 - "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." The Gospel - Is this not GOOD NEWS?
Deuteronomy 21:22-23 - "If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, ....for he who is hanged is accursed of God." "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us...," - (2 Corinthians 5:21).
This was a ONCE offering for All people, for All sin, and for All time. A ONE-time act of God; a ONE-time transfer from God, and a ONE-time eternal substitutionary death of God. The Innocent for the guilty. 1 Peter 3:18 - "For Christ also suffered ONCE for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit..."Romans 6:10 - "For the death that He died, He died to sin ONCE for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God."
In the book of Hebrews there are at least 11 times where the writer uses the word ONCE or ONE time to emphasize Christ one time death to pay the price for all. We will expound on this important word, ONCE later in this site and it will become extremely significant for you when you are told untruths from man's doctrine, not God's.