Epoch 2--Israel and the Law
So what is fallen man to do? He is now severed from His Creator God and truly is without hope and without God in the world. (Ephesians 2:12) Instead of seeking out this Glorious God, fallen humanity "did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened--and they changed the Glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man" (Romans 1:21) and on and on.
Enter God's second epoch in His Glorious dealings with creation. He chose a man out of this mass of fallenness, named Abraham, and through him, promised to make him a great nation. (Genesis 15:1-6) As the Divine Design unfolded, Abraham's seed increased, the nation flourished, ended up in captivity to Egypt. In Exodus 19:5, we read "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' sings AND BROUGHT YOU TO MYSELF. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My Covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is mine." God made this seed of Abraham His own special people. Then follows His giving them His Law and the most perfect religion known to man. Nearly every detail of life was patterned and governed for them. All they had to do was keep their promise! Exodus 19:8 "Then all the people answered together and said, 'all that the LORD has spoken we will do'." What follows is a history of willful disobedience and a pursuing false gods and the dainties of heathen lands. Read in detail Moses' sordid abbreviated history in Deuteronomy 32. We hear God's lament in Deuteronomy 5:29 "Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever." And in Jeremiah3:20, "Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel." says the LORD.
So much more could be told of this chosen people who had the perfect religion, but no heart to walk in it, but who made that religion an idol instead. What would God have us learn from this long history of opportunity and failure? I submit it is this. God can take fallen man and put him in the perfect religion, surround him with all kinds of religious boundaries, with constant "hints" of better things to come, and that man cannot maintain a relationship with the Holy God of Heaven in doing His Will. His "worship" is mere lip service! (Isaiah 29:13) Apart from inseparable union with the Most High God, no man can enter into and maintain the Worship, Praise, and Adoration of the Perfect God as His Nature requires!
Before we leave this consideration, it must be pointed out that the hint of the Seed that should come to crush the serpent becomes a glorious portrait in this covenant relationship of God with Israel. There are pictures of the Coming Seed on every page, but Israel did not see them. From the tabernacle they woke up to each morning to the tinkling bells on the high priests garments, the Seed was being declared to them, "But their minds were hardened. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament--even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart." (II Corinthians 3:14-15) Praise God for the next epoch!! Be prepared for the Glorious Revelation!
So what is fallen man to do? He is now severed from His Creator God and truly is without hope and without God in the world. (Ephesians 2:12) Instead of seeking out this Glorious God, fallen humanity "did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened--and they changed the Glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man" (Romans 1:21) and on and on.
Enter God's second epoch in His Glorious dealings with creation. He chose a man out of this mass of fallenness, named Abraham, and through him, promised to make him a great nation. (Genesis 15:1-6) As the Divine Design unfolded, Abraham's seed increased, the nation flourished, ended up in captivity to Egypt. In Exodus 19:5, we read "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' sings AND BROUGHT YOU TO MYSELF. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My Covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is mine." God made this seed of Abraham His own special people. Then follows His giving them His Law and the most perfect religion known to man. Nearly every detail of life was patterned and governed for them. All they had to do was keep their promise! Exodus 19:8 "Then all the people answered together and said, 'all that the LORD has spoken we will do'." What follows is a history of willful disobedience and a pursuing false gods and the dainties of heathen lands. Read in detail Moses' sordid abbreviated history in Deuteronomy 32. We hear God's lament in Deuteronomy 5:29 "Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever." And in Jeremiah3:20, "Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel." says the LORD.
So much more could be told of this chosen people who had the perfect religion, but no heart to walk in it, but who made that religion an idol instead. What would God have us learn from this long history of opportunity and failure? I submit it is this. God can take fallen man and put him in the perfect religion, surround him with all kinds of religious boundaries, with constant "hints" of better things to come, and that man cannot maintain a relationship with the Holy God of Heaven in doing His Will. His "worship" is mere lip service! (Isaiah 29:13) Apart from inseparable union with the Most High God, no man can enter into and maintain the Worship, Praise, and Adoration of the Perfect God as His Nature requires!
Before we leave this consideration, it must be pointed out that the hint of the Seed that should come to crush the serpent becomes a glorious portrait in this covenant relationship of God with Israel. There are pictures of the Coming Seed on every page, but Israel did not see them. From the tabernacle they woke up to each morning to the tinkling bells on the high priests garments, the Seed was being declared to them, "But their minds were hardened. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament--even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart." (II Corinthians 3:14-15) Praise God for the next epoch!! Be prepared for the Glorious Revelation!