Imperishable Inheritance

In my essay on the rela­tion of the covenants I talk about the “Old” Mosaic covenant being ful­filled in the new, but I didn’t extrap­o­late on the ful­fill­ment of the pre-Mosaic covenants as I should have. If, as my the­sis pro­claims, that the pre-Mosaic covenants have a bind­ing nature on mem­bers of the old/new covenants then there must be an escha­to­log­i­cal ful­fill­ment. Let’s look at each three.

The Adamic Covenant

With the fall, God revealed His plan of redemp­tion through the seed of the woman (Gen 3:15). I believe this found ful­fill­ment in the active/passive obe­di­ence of Christ, but the ele­ment of a holy peo­ple (Adam, Eve) in a holy land (the Gar­den) is to be ful­filled. Remem­ber that the tree of life was the source of sus­te­nance (Gen 2:9), but it was some­thing to look for­ward to post-fall. In the last chap­ter of the Bible the tree of life comes back, and in the intro­duc­tor chap­ters to Rev­e­la­tion Jesus promises eter­nal rest sym­bol­ized by the tree for those who persevere.

Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crys­tal, com­ing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the mid­dle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bear­ing twelve kinds of fruit, yield­ing its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the heal­ing of the nations.
Rev­e­la­tion 22:1–2

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who over­comes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Par­adise of God.“
Rev­e­la­tion 2:7

The Noahic Covenant

When God promises Noah that He would never again judge the earth with a flood (Gen 9:11). God was, in effect, promis­ing a field that the game of redemp­tion would take place. God would not in the mid­dle of the game uproot the field again, and He set the rain­bow as the sign of the covenant (Gen 9:13). In the fourth and tenth chap­ters of Rev­e­la­tion we see the same sym­bol around the throne of the Lamb. The point is made that God’s promise to pre­serve the land was ful­filled uncon­di­tion­ally.

And He who was sit­ting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appear­ance; and there was a rain­bow around the throne, like an emer­ald in appear­ance.
Rev­e­la­tion 4:3

I saw another strong angel com­ing down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud; and the rain­bow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pil­lars of fire; and he had in his hand a lit­tle book which was open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land; and he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars; and when he had cried out, the seven peals of thun­der uttered their voices.
Rev­e­la­tion 10:1–3

The Abra­hamic Covenant

God promises Abra­ham land, bless­ing, and a nation through his seed (Gen 12:1–3, 15:18, 17:6, 22:17). The author to the Hebrews tells us that Abra­ham wasn’t look­ing for­ward to Canaan, although it was promised, but he was look­ing for­ward to the heav­enly rest (Heb 11:16). Canaan served as a shadow of the heav­enly rest, the true promised land, that is promised to all of Abraham’s spir­i­tual seed (Gal 3:8–9, 29). This is ful­filled in the New Jerusalem where God’s glory is revealed through the heav­enly tabernacle.

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, com­ing down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her hus­band. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, say­ing, “Behold, the taber­na­cle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His peo­ple, and God Him­self will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourn­ing, or cry­ing, or pain; the first things have passed away.“
Rev­e­la­tion 21:2–4

God’s promise of a great nation, that all nations (eth­nic groups), would be blessed is ful­filled in Rev­e­la­tion as well. This is the ulti­mate bless­ing! May we con­tinue to strive to gather the elect from every tribe, tongue, and nation (Mat 24:14, 28:19–20).

And they sang a new song, say­ing, “Wor­thy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and pur­chased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and peo­ple and nation.
Rev­e­la­tion 5:9 (cf. 7:9)

Praise our God who is faith­ful to His covenants!