The Adamic Covenant

Covenant: “A sacred kinship bond between two parties ratified by swearing an oath.”

Covenants can be conditional, unconditional, or general in nature

I. The Adamic falls into the general category

II. The Adamic covenant can be broken into two divisions.

Pre-fall (The Edenic covenant)

Genesis 1:26-30 “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.”

Genesis 2:15-17 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.””

The blessings consist of relationship, offspring, provision, and dominion

The warning label says “Death will result if disobeyed”

2. Post-fall

Genesis 3:14-19 “The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for…”

The new reality contains fear, pain, broken relationships, hard work, and death

Romans 5:12-14 “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.”

Romans 8:22-23 “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”

The promise of a restored relationship

1 John 3:8 “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”

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 pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”

Alone with God

Rufus Jones was one of the most remarkable men of our generation. This brilliant Quaker was a man of unbelievable capacities, endurance, and faith. Imagine a busy man publishing fifty books and six-hundred articles! However, the friendly Quaker did not suddenly appear as God’s “Superman.” There was a wonderful family behind him.

The story goes that one day Rufus was given the responsibility of weeding the turnip patch. He had scarcely begun his work when a friend came along and persuaded him to go fishing, promising to help him with the weeding later. No fisherman pays much attention to time, and when young Rufus returned home, it was dark. His mother was waiting for him. Silently she led him to his room. He expected the worst, but received the best. His mother put him in a chair, knelt down, put her hands on him, and prayed, “O God, take this boy of mine and make him the boy and man he is divinely designed to be.” Then she kissed him and left him alone with God.