12.3 The False Covenant
© 2015 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
Let’s establish an absolute truth.
Sin did NOT destroy the universe by death because the serpent accused God of lying and then lied himself. Sin did NOT destroy the universe by death because Eve believed the serpent was sent by God and thus ate the fruit.
Sin entered the universe shattering both heaven and earth by death, by splitting asunder, by ripping apart through the actions of one man. ADAM.
Through one man sin entered the world (the cosmos – heaven/earth), and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men – by the one man’s offense death reigned – by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners (Romans 5).
Our Task
Garden Story Event 9: She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate (Genesis 3:6b).
Do you see the comma just before “and he ate”? The story line presents the moment between Eve giving Adam the fruit and Adam’s teeth piercing its skin as momentary and incidental, signified only by a comma “, and.” In order for us to defeat the accuser, to refuse the lie, to overturn the curse, to set creation free, however, we must know exactly what happened in that moment. We must know it, because our task is to break the agreement Adam made, to turn our backs on Eve, and seize hold of the fruit of the tree of life for the entire human race.
A Contract with the Devil
I refer you back to Lesson 19: Nor Were Thankful, and suggest that you read/listen to it again. Right here is where it fits. “Nor Were Thankful” explains Adam’s motivation.
BUT – we know from the consequences of Adam’s action for the lives of billions in both heaven and earth that far more happened in that moment than Adam feeling sorry for himself or even Adam disobeying God. Attempting to live by the law, by word on the outside of himself, by hearing what God says and being sure to do it, was disobedience, yes, disobedience that brought death. But something else happened as well. Adam made a contract with the devil, binding upon all of his children.
The Clues
Two clues to this contract can be found, one each, in Isaiah 14 and in Ezekiel 28. Two clues can also be found in the words of the serpent, redefining God and man. But the largest clue can be found in the definition of envy.
Isaiah suggested that the serpent wanted the title of being called the image of God. The serpent wanted everyone to think that he was the one who looked like God, so that when they thought of God, they would picture a high and glorious heavenly being emanating lights and perfections. Ezekiel stated that the corruption of the cherub in Eden was that he “traded.” Traded what? And with whom?
Re-Defining God and Man
The trade, the deal, the contract, being offered by the serpent to Adam (Eve was only a means to an end) is found clearly in the smoke of the lie. “You will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The twisted meaning packed into these nine words is huge.
Definition of God: God is an angelic being who exists by knowing what is good and knowing what is evil and by choosing to do the good and by refusing to do the evil. This is indeed the covenant God enters into with angels, but is a description of the angel, not of God.
Definition of Man: You are NOT the image of God, you puny worm. But you could be if you trade places with me.
Head to Head
We must position these two, head against head. Angels are ministering spirits sent forth to serve those who will inherit salvation – man (Hebrews 1:14).
Adam: the image and likeness of God, created by God to contain all the fullness of God and to release God Himself as rivers of living water into the knowledge and experience of all creation, looking just like God Himself, meek and lowly of heart, a God of Life known only through weakness. Adam: given the authority to subdue all, the master over all of heaven and over all of earth.
The serpent: the biggest, smartest, grandest, most glorious created being designed by God to serve and obey Adam.
Adam Was Jealous
The serpent had only one brief moment to seal the deal with Adam and to make the trade. Urgency. But not so much. Paul’s claims are horrendous.
Adam KNEW God. Adam was NOT deceived.
Adam hated the way God had made him, weak and wimpish, foolish and small. Adam rejected climbing the tree of life and thus allowing another Person to take up full residence inside of him, Person inside of person. Adam saw the outward appearance of the serpent and was jealous.
Envy versus Jealousy
Adam was jealous. That means he wanted the outward appearance of the serpent. Adam wanted to look awesome. But the serpent was envious. Envy is very different from jealousy. Jealousy wants what someone else has and then works to obtain that thing for itself. Envy knows it cannot ever have what the other one enjoys and thus seeks to destroy it so that no one has it.
The serpent knew that his outward appearance could never be “like God.” But he hated the title going to this worm. Let’s make the worm call us “God’s appearance,” while at the same time, mock and hate himself as God’s image.
The Trade
How do we do this? How do we accomplish this trade? Adam wanted what the serpent had, outward perfection, beautiful order, all heavenly glory. The serpent wanted what Adam had, the form of being like God.
The serpent said in his heart, “I shall be like the most High.”
Adam said in his heart, “I shall put on a show.”
The trade in the garden was a trade between equals. Adam and the serpent signed a contract together, trading one, “insignificant” thing, the day of their birthright, for all the place and appearance each one coveted from the other.
Trading Their Birthrights
Adam agreed, by covenant, to call the serpent the image and likeness of God. Inside that contract was a clause by which Adam agreed to kill any of his children who dared to call him or herself the image and likeness of God. The serpent agreed, by covenant, to grant his glory and show to Adam, that Adam might prate himself before his own image of what others thought about him as “the man of the moment.” But the act of both, in trading their birthrights, was to lose the very thing God had created them to be. Thus, when each one sought to take possession of the other's birthright, they both found, in that very act, that the birthright had already died the moment the contract was signed.
Something Far Worse
Thus Adam, in order to impress his own image of Eve's face, discovered that the glory, beauty, and perfection of the serpent and of the law had turned into something far worse than the Lamb upon the cross. Thus the only way to impress “Eve” was with fig leaves, anointed by an angel still pretending to be something awesome.
And the serpent, reaching for the title of calling his own heavenly form the image and likeness of God, thinking to bask in all the acclaim of the universe, found that in the very moment Adam signed away his title, it had vanished from him. And thus the serpent became as Paul described him: an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Romans 1:23
To Pretend
By selling their birthrights to each other, they both lost the very thing each had hoped to gain. Now they were bound by covenant, as well as by the outward desperate need each one had to maintain the charade, to keep the game going, to flatter and cajole, one in the heavens and the other in the earth.
And thus the commitment to labor together that men and angels have agreed is to pretend in all that pretending means. Demons pretend to hide from God behind the shield of man's skin of a beast. They know it's not real, but at least pretending makes them feel better. Humans pretend to feel like something special, like someone “in control.” They know, deep down, it ain't so, but pretending makes them feel better.
What Do We Overcome?
Let’s bring all this back, now, into the fourth most important verse in the Bible.
Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
The how of overcome we will explore a bit more in Session 13: Overcome and Subdue. Here we want to clarify the what. What is it that we overcome? How do we break the false covenant?
The Seed
Jesus broke that agreement as the Seed. But it is evident that the dance of faces, of demons and men playing the charade together has continued on right on. And thus God planted Jesus into the earth on the Day of Pentecost to become the plant, His church, and by His church, to bring forth many seeds, you and me, who will also break that agreement just like Jesus. Oh, this is so cool. We break that agreement by first accepting with all of our hearts, that our flesh, our dying body as it is right now, is NOT of the earth at all, but rather, the very flesh of God.
We ARE the image of God; we ARE what God looks like!
One Day in Gethsemane
The three mighty verses flowing out of the great trunk of God’s purpose to conform us, many sons, with the image of His Son, each passes through a HOW verse, the Means of God, by which that mighty reality of God in us is to become known to us.
Overcome the accuser is matched immediately with God’s HOW: The Cross. When we get to the fifth most important verse in the Bible, Session 14: The Doorway In, we will see exactly HOW we break this false covenant.
But the real answer, the REAL answer is not found until Session 15: One Day in Gethsemane. In Gethsemane we will know wonders.