Lesson 1: Holiness
A review of pre-Christian holiness; The promise made to Adam; What exactly is a covenant? The covenant with Noah; The covenant with Abraham; The reason for Divine Election; Shattered on The Rock: The Effect of Divine Encounter upon the Common Man; The Time and Place was Right for Christianity.
Pre-Christian Holiness
The Bliss of Paradise by Victor Vasnetsov. 1885-96. Fresco. Cathedral of St. Vladimir, Kiev, Ukraine. Photo courtesy of Olga's Gallery; used with permission of copyright owner.
From the beginning of human kind, there have been people who enjoyed a special relationship with God. Adam walked with God in the cool of the evening (Gen. 3:8), that time just before sunset when an eerie light suffuses the world and things are seen most clearly. Abel offered a sincere and honest sacrifice, and it was pleasing to God (Gen. 4:4-5; Heb. 11:4). “Henoch walked with God, and he was seen no more because God took him.” (Gen. 5:24; Heb. 11:5-6) Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord [See Endnote 1] and by his faith and obedience was able to save a remnant of mankind. Abram left his home at the command of a god he hardly knew and became Abraham, the father of all who walk by faith. (Gen. 12:1, Rom 4:11, Heb. 11:8) There followed patriarchs, leaders, priests, judges and prophets who worked out God’s plan of salvation, his covenant with his people, and looked forward to the coming of the Promised One, a Messiah who would be “God with us.” (translation of Emanuel)
The promise of a Messiah was first given to Adam, after he and Eve had sinned. As St. Bernard of Clairvaux would later exclaim, “Oh happy fault, that won for us so great a Redeemer!” Immediately after their sin, which tainted the whole human race and lost us the grace of God’s friendship, Adam and Eve became aware of their shame and tried to hide it with clothing. When questioned, each replied in a self-justifying manner, which is the first fruit of sin, a denial of responsibility.
And [God] said to [Adam], “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree whose fruit I forbade you to eat.” And Adam replied, “The woman whom you gave me as a companion, she gave me the fruit and I ate it.” To the woman, God said, “Why have you done this?” She answered, “The serpent deceived me and I ate.” To the serpent, God said, “Because you have done this, you are cursed among all the beasts of the earth. You shall crawl on your belly and eat earth all the days of your life. I will put enmities between you and the Woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall crush your head and you will lie in wait for His heel.” (Gen. 3:11-15)The Woman. “‘They have no wine,’ . . . ‘Woman, what is that to me and to thee?’” (John 2:3-4) “‘Woman, behold thy son. Son, behold thy Mother.’” (John 19:26-27) At each address, some ancient evil raised its head, and remembered. For the serpent, it was a curse; for the man, it was a promise, one shining hope left in the Pandora’s box of evil which he and his wife had just loosed on their children and their world. Someday, Death too would die. Someday.
Endnotes
1. Gen. 6:8; Heb. 11:7 paraphrased in an old Spiritual.
