Sons of God and the Law: The Two Covenants

Understanding Sonship Today’s Focus: The Sons of God and the Law: The Two Covenants Scripture: Romans 8:15,16; Hebrews 6:18,19; Genesis 26:4; Genesis 15:13,14; Exodus 19:5,6; Deuteronomy 5:1-5; Greetings Kingdom Citizens One thing we all will learn at some point in our lives, is that when we decided to go outside of the will of God and do what we think is best for ourselves, we prolong the arrival of the blessing. We in turn hurt ourselves. And in the next few messages we will see why it took over 4000 years for the Sons of God to be restored. But let’s start off with our scripture that confirms us as Sons of God and backtrack from there. Romans 8:15,16 clearly tells us how we are the Sons of God, by the Spirit of God living in us and testifying with our spirit. Now let’s backtrack. We know that this was not the case from Genesis 3 to the resurrection of Jesus. So, what separated us from God? Sin! Now, God made an oath with Himself (Hebrews 6:18,19) that He would have sons, so after making a covenant with Himself, He made Abraham and His descendents beneficiaries of this covenant. God promises Abraham that in his seed shall all the nations of the Earth be blessed (Genesis 26:4). Of course the seed of Abraham that will bring that will restore this covenant will be Jesus Christ. Now the covenant that Abraham was promised was a Covenant of Sonship. This is the covenant that will produce Sons of God. But as we know God also informed Abraham that the children of Israel would be in bondage and servants to the Egyptians for 400 years (Genesis 15:13-14). Now of course we should know the story that in the fullness of time (400 years) God sent Moses and God freed the children of Israel from the bondage and slavery in Egypt. Now here is a problem. When you have been a slave for 400 years, it is hard to think as a free person. Now that they are free, they now have the opportunity to fulfill the covenant of sonship that God had made with Abraham. Now remember you become a son when the Spirit of God lives within you or you come into the very presence of God because His very presence and glory will change you. But not to get ahead, God now offers the children of Israel the covenant in Exodus 19:5,6. He promised them that they would be a Kingdom of Priests. Did this happen? No! Why? The answer is in Deuteronomy 5:1-5. Remember it would be in the presence of the Lord in the mount that they would have been changed but because of fear, they did not go up into the mountain and this lead to them rejecting the first covenant and receiving another. And in Exodus 20 they received the other covenant, The Law! Now you may say well what’s the difference. This covenant was between God and the Jews. Now you should already know that God was going to keep his part of the covenant. Do you think that the Jews could keep their end? Of course not, because if so then Jesus would not be necessary. In addition this covenant was largely different and more over nowhere near the first covenant with Abraham. Let’s see how! God promised Abraham that they would be a “Kingdom of Priests”. In other words all of them would be priests. But in the covenant of the law, only the Levites of the 12 tribes were the priests. In addition, God’s covenant with Abraham produces sons of God. The Law produced slaves. How? Let’s examine it logically! God made a covenant with Israel to keep not just his 10 commandments but all of the other 630 laws. Now if you could not keep the promise then you are in-debted to the person you made the promise to, and that would be God. And because there was nothing you could really give God, you became in-debted to the law and the only thing left to give of you is yourself. So, if you give of yourself then you become a asset and property and that makes you a slave. This is very important to remember when we look later at the difference between sons and slaves and how the Law has be misused to entrap free sons, back into slavery. And finally the biggest difference was that God made Israel a nation and not a kingdom. He gave it protection, laws, and economy and health standards. All the things a basic nation would need. This is not what God wanted for His children but because they reject the original offer they were given the second option until the fullness of time and the coming of Christ. Sad for many in the nation of Israel today, they still do not believe Jesus has come and they still to this day keep the Mosaic law. I have had the privilege to meet Jewish Kingdom Citizens that have seen the light and are witnesses to being Kingdom citizens. In the next message we will take a small look back at the relationship between Melchizedec and Abraham and show how Israel became slaves to the law. At Our Father’s Service, Elder Calvin Calhoun, Jr.