“Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” (2 Peter1:3-4).

Look closely at the last part of the passage above: “the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” Do you ever wonder why people in the world must endure such devastating hardship: wars and disease; in fact from genocide to weeds in the garden and everything in between?

Last week, we started a series on God’s Promises. As stated last week, there are basically two types of promises, or covenants: Conditional and Unconditional. Another way of stating these two types is Works-Based and Grace-Based. A conditional, or works-based covenant, requires both parties (God and Man) to perform. An unconditional, or grace-based covenant, requires only one party (God) to perform).

Today’s devotional will focus on a works-based covenant between God and Man. In the beginning, God created the world, planted the Garden of Eden, and placed man in it. (Genesis 1:26-31). Then, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.’” (Genesis1:15-17). In other words, God created man and put him in the Garden of Eden and told him he could have anything he wanted, except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If he ate of that tree, then he would die. This covenant was works-based because it required Adam’s obedience for his eternal life. And we know what happened. Eve, then Adam, ate fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and as a result, God banished them from the Garden of Eden and invoked several curses:

• (v.14) So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life….
• (v.16) To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
• (vv.17-19) To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:14,16-19).

So how is this also a covenant with us today? The thing is, Adam was the representative of all mankind. So, when he sinned by disobeying God and breaking his part of the covenant, sin entered the world and corrupted all subsequent generations as well as the earth itself. Left to ourselves, our only end is death. That is why we say we are born with a sin nature. We suffer all kinds of problems with disease, weather, disasters, wars, crime, etc., and it all happened because Adam, in his disobedience, broke this conditional, works-based covenant. Adam did not keep his part of the covenant, but God kept his part.

And now for the good part. Remember from last week that God made an ultimate redemptive covenant. It is expressed in Genesis 3:15 (the missing verse from the Genesis passage above) – “I (God) am declaring war between you (Serpent/Satan) and the Woman (Eve), between your offspring and hers (Jesus). He (Jesus) will wound your head, you (Satan)will wound his heel (Jesus).” This is the first prophecy we read about in the Bible of a Savior, of God’s ultimate redemptive plan. And we know that Jesus fulfilled the terms of this works-based covenant, on our behalf, with when he consented to come to earth in human form, live a perfect sinless life, give his life as a sacrifice for our sin. As the last Adam, Jesus renders the perfect obedience God demanded of the first Adam (and each of us), and He atones for the sin of His people (you and me), removing God’s wrath. Even though Satan will get his darts in (“wound his heel”), ultimately, Jesus, because of His obedience to God’s will, defeated Satan (“wound your head”) and brought about God’s perfect plan.

That’s right—past tense. Jesus’ work is done, and we (you and me) are now living in the fulfilled promise. As the opening passage begins: “Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature.” We will see that all of God’s promises and covenants, conditional and unconditional, works-based and grace-based, have been fulfilled in Jesus’ work on the cross. Praise Jesus!!!

This is one in a series on the Promises of God which started on January 4, 2023. In subsequent Chaplain’s Corners, we will continue to look at these promises and with them, the nature of our awesome God.

“Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:18-19).

In Christ,

Judy