The Adamic Covenant

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It is my fervent hope that you will not stop with my blog but that you will take full advantage of the wealth of wisdom offered through the faithfulness of Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, who is a teacher to the best of Biblical teachers! Please go to ariel.org for the complete and full teaching on the 8 Covenants of God.

THE UNCONDITIONAL COVENANTS

Here we move to the Unconditional Covenants. An unconditional covenant is a unilateral covenant and is a sovereign act of God. God, without condition, obligates Himself to faithfully bring blessings and conditions for His covenanted people. A unilateral covenant is characterized by the formula: “I will” which declares God's determination to do as He promises He will do. Blessings are secured by the grace of God. There may be conditions within the covenant in which God asks us to fulfill, but they are not themselves the basis of God's fulfilling His promises.

Four things should be noted concerning the nature of the unconditional covenants made with Israel. First: they are literal covenants and their contents must be interpreted literally as well. Second: the covenants that God has made with Israel are eternal and are not in any way restricted or altered by time. Third: it is necessary to re-emphasize that these are unconditional covenants that were not revoked because of Israel's disobedience. 

Because the covenants are unconditional and totally dependent upon God for fulfillment, their ultimate fulfillment can be expected. Fourth: these covenants were made with a specific people: Israel. This point is brought out by Paul in Romans 9:4:  For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, 5 whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

This passage clearly points out that these covenants were made with the covenanted people and are Israel's possession. This is brought out again in Ephesians 2:11-12 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands 12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Six of the eight covenants are unconditional: The Adamic Covenant, the Noahic Covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant, the Land Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and the New Covenant. It is important to remember that a covenant can be signed, sealed, and made a specific point of history, but this does not mean that all the provisions go immediately into effect. In fact, three different things happen once a covenant is sealed: first, some go into effect right away; second, some provisions go into effect in the near future, which may be twenty-five years away or five hundred years away; and third, some provisions go into effect only in the distant prophetic future, not having been fulfilled to this day.

Let’s begin our study with the covenant God made in the Garden of Eden with Adam.

THE ADAMIC COVENANT

Scripture Reference:

Genesis 1:28-30:

God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.

Genesis 2:15-17:

Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not [eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Hosea 6:7:

But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant; there they have dealt treacherously against Me. 

WHO WERE THE PARTICIPANTS? 

The Edenic Covenant was made between God and Adam. Adam the human race. Because of that, the actions of Adam are affected all of humanity.

WHAT WERE THE PROVISIONS OF THE COVENANT? 

God individually addressed the serpent, Satan, Eve, and Adam. 

The Serpent:  Genesis 3:14 

There are three provisions concerning the serpent. First: he is cursed above all other creatures of the animal kingdom. All creatures now fall under a curse, but there is a special curse upon this one member of the animal kingdom. An animal is not generally held morally responsible for its actions. Animals were created for the benefit of man, but when this principle is violated, it is subject to the judgment of God. (Gen. 9:5).

Second: the serpent is to crawl on its belly, which tells us that it originally moved in an erect position. Believers argue over whether or not the serpent had legs, but it is irrelevant to the issue. The point is that the serpent now crawls on its belly. Third: dust shall be the serpent's food. Bible critics have had a field day with this pointing it out as an error of the Bible since reptiles do not eat dust. However, this was simply a Hebrew idiom meaning to be especially cursed (Mic. 7: I7). The curse will continue to be there even in the Messianic Kingdom (Is. 65:25). 

Satan:  Genesis 3:15 

Four provisions are given in relationship to Satan. First: there would be perpetual hatred between Satan and the woman. Second: this hatred was to culminate between Satan's seed, the Antichrist, and the woman's Seed, Yeshua. Third: the serpent would bruise the heel of the woman's Seed; this happened at the Crucifixion. Fourth: this first prophecy of the Lord's victory over Satan goes on to say that the woman's Seed will crush Satan's head; this occurred initially with the Resurrection (Heb. 2: 14-15). But the final crushing of Satan is future when Satan is cast into the Lake of fire (Rev. 20: 10). 

The primary point of this prophecy is that the Messiah would be of the Seed of woman. This is contrary to the biblical norm that genealogy is traced through the male line, not through the female line. The reason for this exception would not be known until Isaiah 7: 14 revealed that the Messiah will be conceived and born of a virgin. The prophecy of Genesis 3: 15 led to the events of Genesis 6: 1- 4 when Satan tried to corrupt the seed of the woman and would facilitate the future supernatural conception of the Antichrist. 

The Woman:  Genesis 3:16 

Eve and all women were made subject to three provisions. First: there would be multiplication of menstrual pain and conception.  The nature of conception before the Fall was quite different than what it was after the Fall. 

Since the Fall, a woman is generally   able to conceive once a month and her menstrual periods are accompanied by discomfort   and pain.   Second:  the woman was to give birth in pain. Before the Fall, she would have been able to conceive and give birth with no pain, but natural child birth today is painful! However, once birth takes place, there is joy (John  16:21). Third: the wife was to be in subjection to the husband.  This was true before the Fall, but now she would desire to rebel against that subjection and to try to control her husband. 

The Man:  Genesis 3:17-19Adam and all men and the entire human race were subjected to five provisions in Genesis 3: 17-19.

1. Since Adam stands as the representative head of the human race, the judgment on Adam is the judgment on the whole human race. It is Adam, not Eve, who is held responsible for the human condition.
2. The earth was cursed. Working was not something new with the Adamic Covenant, it had already been provided for in the Edenic Covenant. The difference came in earth’s response. Under the Edenic Covenant, the earth was to respond readily to man's working and tilling. But now man would battle thorns, thistles, and weeds.
3. The human diet was vegetarian. Animals were used for dairy products, wool for clothing, and sacrifices, but not for eating. 
4. Work was to be characterized by hard labor. Working conditions under the Edenic Covenant were easy, simple, and enjoyable. Now, sweat would characterize the work of man and labor was to be hard and toilsome. 
5. Physical death was introduced. Under the Edenic Covenant man died spiritually. Under the Adamic Covenant man would die physically (Rom. 5:12-21). The only two exceptions to this rule: Enoch and Elijah. There will be others in the future at the time of the Rapture.

The Status of the Covenant:

The Adamic Covenant became the basis for the Dispensation of Conscience. As an unconditional covenant, it is very much in effect today.