Firstborn Sonship of Christ

Vol 28 - Article 37
August 2002
The New Birth

THE NEW BIRTH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

ABEL OFFERED AN EXCELLENT SACRIFICE

      "Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering," Gen 4:4.
      4 "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous (justified – credited as born again), God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead is still speaking." Heb 11:4.
    Observe these significant features of Abel's offering:

1. Abel Had Been Taught the Proper Manner of Worship.

      Abel's offerings revealed that God had taught and demonstrated this procedure of worship in the presence of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Abel learned how to worship God from his parents (for the most part, we would think), and Adam and Eve learned it from God. Unequivocally they were taught in detail in the Garden when the covenant (testament) was confirmed.
      God has concealed much of His covenant information from the wise and prudent of this world, but He wants His faithful covenant people to know fully and accurately what His last will and testament says, Deu 6:1-8; Isa 1:3-6; Lk 19:41-44. Many times through Paul, God said "I would not have you ignorant," Rom 11:25; 1Co 12:1; 2Co 1:8; 2:11; 1Th 4:13.
      Enoch was given explicit information about Jehovah, the testament Testator, returning to the earth with myriads of deified saints to judge all creation, Ju 14-15.
      Job understood that his Redeemer-Testator was alive and would stand on the earth in divine redemption victory to judge the world in the last day, Job 19:25-27.
      Abraham desired to see the day of the Lord, was given a grand view of it, and was glad, Jn 8:56. Did Abraham get only a fleeting glimpse, or was he given a broad view of the Redeemer-Testator in divine glory on the throne of His glory, as the queen of Sheba saw the glory of king Solomon? Mt 25:31.
      Jacob saw the Lord clearly in awesome glory standing at the top of a stairway into heaven, and the angels ascending and descending with great joy.
      Jacob again saw the Lord face to face, actually wrestled with the Lord, and prevailed as one who has power with God and with men, Gen 32:24-31.
      See how God revealed Himself and His covenant purpose through Moses, David, Isaiah, Daniel: God wants us to know about Him and His salvation.

2. Abel Brought "Clean" Animals for Sacrificial Worship.

      "Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering," Gen 4:4.
      The "flock" usually meant sheep or goats, which God designated as "clean" animals and acceptable for food and for sacrificial worship, Lev 11. God is very specific and strict in what is holy and what is not holy, what is acceptable worship and what is not. He accepted Abel's sacrifice, but rejected Cain's offering. We must keep in mind that, without exception, what we feel, say, and do determine our state of being in eternity and for eternity.
      Abel offered clean animals without blemish as God had taught and demonstrated in the Garden of Eden. These sacrifices represented the Testator dying according to the last will and testament for the sins of the world. Likewise, from the Garden of Eden (Ju 14-15), the covenant people have been taught to present their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, so that Christ may be seen in and through us as holy and acceptable to God. This is not merely a New Covenant requirement, but has been a standing ordinance from the beginning: "You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy," Lev 11; Rom 12:1-2; 1Pe 1:15; Ju 14-15.

3. Abel Offered of the Firstborn Lambs of His Flock.

      "Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering," Gen 4:4.
      The emphasis at this point is on the "firstborn," and the "birthright" of the firstborn. The Bible says that the man is the head of the home and the church because he was created first, 1Ti 2:12-13; 3:1-2; Eph 5:23-33; 1Co 11:1-16. Though God made exceptions with Isaac (Gen 17:15-21) and Jacob (Gen 25:23), who were not firstborn sons, the rule stands firm with the faithful covenant people of Israel and the church being predestined to receive the firstborn sonship and the birthright of the firstborn Son together with Christ, Ex 4:22-23; Rom 8:28; Gal 4:21 thru 4:5; Eph 2:10-16; 3:6; Col 3:15; Heb 12:23.
       God will have a kingdom of firstborn sons who will share the divine firstborn sonship with Christ, Rom 8:28-30. God will also have "servant" sons who will not be firstborn divine sons, but will be mere flesh sons eternally, Gal 4:19 thru 5:5; Heb 12:8. An "illegitimate" son (Heb 12:8) is a mere flesh son: a saved person cut off from the covenants, or a saved Gentile outside the covenants, Mt 15:22-28; 18:17; 1Co 3:15; 2Ti 2:20. There will be many nations of these flesh servant sons on the new earth, Rev 21:23-26; 22:2. This was God's intent when He created the nations, that they would be eternally ruled over by the faithful covenant sons, Ex 19:4-6; Deu 7:6-11; 26:16-19.

4. Abel's Sacrifice Was by Grace through Faith.

      "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead is still speaking," Heb 11:4.
      16 "Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the Law (Covenant), but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all," Rom 4:16.
      God's works, the Holy Spirit's works, grace works, and faith works are all "good works" and are all the same, 1Co 15:10; Phi 2:12-13; Mt 10:19-20; Heb 4:16; 11:1-40; 12:28; Ja 2:17-26; 1Pe 4:10. All the works of faith are the works of grace (which are "good works," Rom 4:15; Heb 11), and we are commanded to do "good works," Mt 5:16; Eph 2:10; Ti 3:8.
      These good works are the opposite of Law works, flesh works, and our works, which are all "dead works" before God, Rom 11:6; 3:20; 4:4-6; Eph 2:8-10; Ti 3:6; Heb 9:14. We must understand the difference between good works and flesh works. Not all works are good works and not all works are bad works. If the works are by grace through faith, they are good works; and we are created in Christ Jesus (metaphorically in the body of Christ) to do good works, Eph 3:10; Ti 3:8; Mt 5:16.

5. Abel Obtained the Birthright by His Faith Obedience.

      "Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering," Gen 4:4.
      Abel did this by grace through faith. It was a righteous act on his part (Heb 11:4), and reveals that Abel was of the first of the Old Testament saints who walked daily by grace through faith. As with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob later, Abel chose the strait and narrow way (Mt 7:13-14), while Cain chose the broad way of selfish, flesh interests, Rom 8:13.
      The strait and narrow way is the holy covenant way that leads to divine life, while the broad way is the anti-covenant way of sinful flesh satisfaction that leads to eternal destruction and punishment away from the covenants and away from the covenant promises of divine life in the divine state of being.

6. Abel Obtained the Covenant Promises Which are Contained in the Birthright.

      "Therefore may God give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine.
      29 "Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brethren, And let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, And blessed be those who bless you!,"
Gen 27:28-29.
      This is a very brief statement of the blessing and benefits of the birthright, and is precisely what is often repeated and expanded in the covenant promises, Ps 8:3-6; 1Co 3:21-23; Gal 4:21-31. The covenant people have not yet obtained to the full image of God (the divine state of being), projected by God in the creation of man, Gen 1:26-27; 2:24; Eph 1:22-23; 3:19; 4:24; 5:31; Col 1:19; 2:9-10; 3:10; Jn 17:21-23.
      Adam and Eve were created only partially in the image of God, with a mind and conscience to believe and obey in view of obtaining the full divine image of God in the resurrection, as seen in the passages just referenced. Christ was not only a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, but indeed "before" the foundation of the world, Eph 1:4-5; 2Ti 1:9; Ti 1:2; 1Pe 1:18-20. The tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil were placed in the Garden of Eden, not by accident, but to signal and initiate God's covenant discipline for mankind. This discipline is designed to prepare the overcomer for the firstborn sonship in the fullness of the divine image of God.
      The birthright of the firstborn son is precisely what is promised to the overcomer in covenant discipline. The rulership promised in the birthright is to jointly rule over all the works of God's creation, Ps 8:3-6; Heb 2:5-14. Abraham desired to see the day of the Lord: he saw it, and what he saw was the human-now-divine Seed of the woman ruling over all the creation of God, and sharing that rulership with myriads of saints who qualify as overcomers to share the firstborn sonship through covenant disciplinary training.
      Abel qualified for the birthright simply by faith obedience, but it cost him his life in the prime of life. We, too, must take up the cross and die daily to qualify for this inexpressible divine state of being.

7. Abel Was Credited with God's Righteousness – He Was Justified, Credited as Being Born Again.

      "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead is still speaking," Heb 11:4.
      Abel was a sinner like all of us: simply put, he was justified by grace through faith works, like all faithful covenant people are, Heb 11. Justification is not a once-for-all experience, but a progressive and cumulative experience accompanying every proper act of faith. Abraham was a believing saved person long before Gen 15:6 (Act 7:1-4; Heb 11:8; Gen 12), and was being cumulatively justified, as Abel was, by every act of faith by grace, Rom 4:1-25. With every proper act of faith, God credits more of His righteousness, His divine nature, to the covenant believer.
      Justification in this life is an accounting (or reckoning) action on God's part, by which God credits His divine righteousness to the covenant people by grace through faith each time they believe and obey. We are to be hungering for, thirsting after, and seeking God's divine righteousness, which is generic for God's divine kingdom (Kingdom of divine beings), Mt 5:6; 6:33; 25:31-46; Gal 5:5; 2Co 9:10; 1Ti 6:11; 2Ti 2:22; 4:8.
      In close harmony, the unfaithful covenant people are warned explicitly that they will lose the divine righteousness credited to them, and it will not be remembered to their credit in the judgment or ever thereafter, Eze 3:20-21; 18:24; 33:12-13. We do not possess that divine righteousness yet: it is recorded to our credit in God's record books, and if we are not faithful by grace through faith, we will lose what we have wrought, 2Jn 8; Rev 3:11; Mt 13:12; 25:25-30; Lk:19:11-24.
      In justification, God credits His divine nature to the faithful covenant believer. However, the covenant people were under condemnation and counted as servants until the human body of Christ was born of God in His resurrection, Gal 4:1-7; Col 1:18; Rev 1:5; Act 13:29-33; et al. Then the covenant people, as the body of Christ, were counted as deified members of the deified body of Christ, 2Co 5:16-17; 1Co 6:15-17; Eph 4:11-16,22-24; Col 2:9-10; 3:10.
      The covenant people of the Old Testament ate the Passover lamb, the unleavened bread, the manna, and through the priests they ate of the sacrifices and the twelve loaves of showbread, which portrayed the people as eating Christ, as we do in the Lord's Supper. This represented them becoming "one" with Christ as His divine bride people, which we will continue to see many times over in the Old Testament.

ENOCH AND THE NEW BIRTH

      "Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints,
      15 "‘To execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him,'"
Ju 14-15.

1. Enoch Was Contemporary with Adam for 314 Years before Adam Died.

      Enoch was 314 years old when Adam died, which gave Enoch many years to ask questions and learn directly from Adam all that God had taught about His divine Person, about creation, about angels, about Satan and fallen angels, about sin and death, about the covenant or last will and testament, about the testament Testator, about the Seed of the woman, about the testament promises (inheritance), about righteous living, about the Lord (the Testator) returning with myriads of the saints, and about future judgment, punishment, etc.
      These are the things God wants us most to know and to be diligently seeking for the full understanding of them, Deu 6:4-9; Jos 1:5-9; Isa 1:3-6; Lk 19:41-44; 2Pe 1:4-10; Rev 3:16-17; et al. Enoch was not remiss in his pursuit of the knowledge God prepared from the beginning for us to have. Obviously, Enoch was constantly giving all diligence to learn and preach the way of God's righteousness and the judgment of those who live ungodly and reject God's offer, Gen 5:22-24; Heb 11:5; Ju 14-15.

2. Enoch Walked with God and Boldly Preached the Gospel through the Last 249 Years of Adam' life.

      "And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him," Gen 5:24.
      5 "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God," Heb 11:5.
      The impression is given that God visibly walked with Enoch (Gen 5:22-24) and Noah (Gen 6;9) on some occasions (See also Gen 17, 19, 32;30), though we use the expressions "walk with God," "walk with Christ," "walk with the Lord," signifying faith-obedience to the working of the Holy Spirit in us.
      Enoch walked with God for at least 300 years, 249 years of which were during the last years of Adam's life. It is beyond question that Enoch made good use of this time in learning everything he could from Adam. God has hidden His Word from the proud and careless through the ages, and has revealed its true understanding only to the meek and lowly in heart, Mt 11:25-26; 13:9-17; Act 4:13; Ja 2:5. Let us be assured, indeed, that God has always been very desirous for His covenant people to thoroughly know His last will and testaments: the Bible is primarily written about the Person and work of the Testator who reveals the Father, Mt 11:17-30.

3. Enoch's Passion for the Presence of God and for the Word of God.

      "And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years...
      24 "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him,"
Gen 5:22,24.
      5 "By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him;' for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God," Heb 11:5.
       Enoch must have pleased God to a very great extent. Elijah is the only other prophet God has taken to heaven without seeing death. Of Moses it is written: "But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face," Deu 34:10. Yet Moses died: perhaps to prevent him from being worshiped. Whatever the case, God treasured these men because they dearly loved His presence and passionately believed and obeyed His Word.

WHAT GOD WANTED ENOCH TO KNOW

      We will here review what God urgently wanted Adam, Abel, Enoch, Noah, and all of us to know. These things are what God has revealed plainly to some, but has hidden from others in the Scriptures through symbols, figures, types, parables, metaphors, etc., Mt 11:25-30; 13:9-17. They are referred to as "the mysteries of the kingdom" (Mt 13:11), expressed singly as, "the mystery of godliness," 1Ti 3:16.

1. DIVINE POWER AND GODHEAD

      "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse," Rom 1:20.
      18 "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him," Jn 1:18.
      The Holy Spirit uses the creation to sufficiently reveal God's eternal power and Godhead. However, the Spirit through Jehovah, the Son, reveals the Father to the Faithful covenant people. The Lord knew Enoch face to face, and revealed His glory to him, Ju 14-15.

2. DIVINE PURPOSE FOR AGES OF AGES

      "Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah:
      22 "And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years..."
Gen 5:21-22.
      Enoch named his firstborn son Methuselah, which appears to indicate that God revealed to Enoch He would send a great and destructive flood when Methuselah died – perhaps die in the flood. Whatever the case, this birth (or revelation) appears to have helped to strengthen Enoch's faith so that he walked with God in a way exceptionally pleasing to God for the next 300 years. The most outstanding thing about Enoch is that he so pleased God for at least 300 years that God took him on to heaven without death. Perhaps the next most outstanding thing about Enoch is His striking prophecy about the Lord's coming with myriads of His saints to execute judgment upon the ungodly, Jud 14-15. When we associate this passage in Jude with related passages as here indicated (Zec 14:1-5; Dan 7:13-14; 12:2-3; Ps 16:7-11; 17:15; 45:6-7; 68:17-18; 102:23-28; 110:1-4; etc.), we recognize that Enoch understood that the "Lord" would be "Jehovah" as the testament Testator and Seed of the woman in deified human flesh.
      Enoch walked with God 300 years. That is a lot of days, 109,500. That is a lot of Sabbaths, 15,643. That is a lot of sacrifices, ??? Was God and Enoch mute all this time? Or did they communicate? Of course, Enoch asked myriads of questions, and God taught him in detail about both the past and the future.
      God wants us to know all His last will and testaments thoroughly. How many times did Jesus speak such words as: "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken?" Lk 24:25. Consider again what the Scriptures say after this manner, Deu 6:1-9; Isa 1:3–6,18; Lk 19:41-44; Phi 3:7-11; 2Pe 1:3-11.

3. CREATION AND FALL OF ANGELS.

      Satan and many angels had already fallen, and God's eternal purpose provided for Satan to quickly tempt and deceive Eve and put a stumbling block before Adam, Gen 3. Satan could not do any of this without God's permission (Job 1 & 2), yet God provided sufficient grace (help) for Adam to resist the temptation, 1Co 10:13. God permitted this to happen that He may demonstrate his divine attributes, Rom 9:22-23. God is careful that we should know and be aware of Satan's devices, and be prepared by His Spirit and have grace to withstand and overcome all these things in His prescribed covenant training, 1Co 10:1-13; 2Co 10:1-6; Eph 6:10-18. We must overcome in this severe training in order to share in the oneness of God's Person.
      Keep in mind that Enoch lived contemporary with Adam for the last 249 years of Adam's life. During this period Enoch obviously learned in detail and first hand from Adam and Eve of Satan's temptation. Man's sins had filled the earth and Enoch prophesied and preached of the Testator, the Seed of the woman, and the coming judgment against man's sinful conduct.

4. MAN IN THE IMAGE OF GOD.

      "Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness...
      27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them,'"
Gen 1:26-27.
      24 "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh," Gen 2:24.
      God did not create man fully in His own image in the beginning, but rather initiated a course of covenant disciplinary training. The covenant people who overcome this training by grace through faith will qualify to be conformed to the full and divine image of God when Christ returns. Man does not now possess the divine nature of God (2Pe 1:3-4), and must be daily transformed into the image of Christ by the constant renewing of the mind in the Scriptures, Rom 12:1-2; 2Co 3:18; 4:6-12,17-28; 5:1-11,14-21; Eph 4:11-24; etc.
      God created man, male and female, for marriage and children relationships, Gen 2:21-23. This creates a oneness between husband and wife, and between parents and children. The oneness of husband and wife represents a projected divine oneness between God and the faithful covenant people: 1) Jehovah (Jesus) and Israel in the Old Testament (Isa 54:5), 2) Jehovah (Jesus) under the New Covenant, (Eph 5:31-32; Gal 4:21 thru 5:5), and 3) The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the faithful covenant people, Eph 1:22-23; 3:19; 4:24; 5:31-32; Col 1:19; 2:9-10; Jn 10:30-36; 14:8-11; 17:21-23.
      Parents and children represent a oneness where God and man (the faithful covenant people) become one in kind in the human-now-deified body of Christ. See the same scriptures indicated above.

5. THE TREE OF LIFE

      "And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," Gen 2:9.
      22 "Then the LORD God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever..." Gen 3:22,24.
      Adam was warned not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil lest he die. This was the only thing Adam was forbidden to do. The warning projected "death" as we know it and all that is included in hell and the lake of fire. This tree was a tree of "death," in opposition to the tree of "life:" a striking contrast that surely must have caught Adam's pristine and intelligent mind.
      The angels have life and station higher than that of man in man's current state. God has divine life above the angels; there is no life in between, and there is no life above the life of God. The life offered in the tree of life is divine life, which includes all the fullness of God, specificly promised to the faithful covenant people, Jn 10:30-36; 14:8-11; 17:21-23; Eph 1:22-23; 3:19; 5:31-32; Col 2:9-10; et al. This promise of life or oneness with Christ and with God is portrayed in eating the manna, eating the sacrifices, eating the unleavened bread, and in many other symbolic ordinances of the Old Testament.

6. SIN AND DEATH

      "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," Gen 2:17.
      12 "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned," Rom 5:12.
      Enoch walked with God 300 years, and God took him that he should not see death because he so thoroughly pleased God, Gen 5:21-24; Heb 11:5. Without question, Enoch was a highly conscientious person with a mind that thoroughly examined, believed, and obeyed all the words and works of God.
      We will not doubt that Enoch offered sacrifices as Abel did, and understood what clean animals and sacrificing the firstborn meant. He understood that the Seed of the woman would be Jehovah in a human body, must live a perfect life as the human Seed of the woman, die for the sins of the human race, be born again from the dead into a divine human body, and ascend back to the Father as later prophesied, Ps 66:17-18; 110:1. He looked forward to the return of Jehovah with myriads of saints in divine bodies, Jud 14-16. We could read thousands of books and graduate from hundreds of seminaries in 300 years.

7. LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT

      "And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
      16 "For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
      17 "For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives.
      18 "Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood,"
Heb 9:15-18.
      These verses and context are very specific that all the covenants were and are last will and testaments, from the Garden of Eden on. The emphasis on the shedding of blood, representing covenant cleansing, sanctification, and justification, began in the Garden of Eden when Jehovah (Messiah) shed the blood of animals and clothed Adam and Eve with their skins, Gen 3:21.
      The shedding of the blood of clean animals represented the death of the sinless Messiah for the sins of all mankind, Heb 9:11-28. Also, clothing of Adam and Eve with the skins of the animals represented clothing of the faithful covenant people in God's holiness and righteousness (the fullness of God's divine nature), Heb 12:8-11; 2Pe 1:4; Eph 1:22-23; 3:19; 5:31-32; Col 2:9-10; Jn 10:30-36; 14:8-11; 17:21-23.
      It is only reasonable to accept that Enoch understood the shedding of the blood, the death of the animals, and burning their bodies with fire to symbolize the death of Jehovah as the testament Seed of the woman Testator, and God's wrath upon Him because of our sins. Enoch prophesied that this same Jehovah Testator would come with myriads of deified saints to execute righteous judgment upon all, Ju 14-15.

8. CRUSH THE SERPENT'S HEAD

      "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall crush your head, and you shall bruise His heel," Gen 3:15.
      Enoch prophesied that the "Lord" (Jehovah, Zec 14:1-5) would come with myriads of His saints to execute judgment upon all. This must include Satan, as Gen 3:15 states. Enoch made the prophesy, and Adam was still alive to verify, Gen 3:15. The "Lord" had to be Jehovah and He had to be the Seed of the woman. Surely Jehovah revealed to Enoch that He was the Seed of the woman, and therefore He would be the human Seed of the woman and also the Testator of the testament who must die as the Lamb of God for the sins of the world, Jn 1:29,36; Rev 5:5-6; 17:14. Jehovah wants us to know Him and the power of His resurrection, Eph 1:17-23; Phi 2:10. Enoch walked with God 300 years. That is a long time to learn a great lot: a Bible full of knowledge not yet written, but revealed to those who thus walk with the Lord.

9. A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME

      "Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me," Heb 10:5-10; Ps 40:6-8.
      Jehovah in a human body and what Jehovah did in and with that body projects a major theme from Genesis to Revelation. The bodies of all the animal sacrifices throughout the Old Testament portrayed the human body Jehovah received from Mary, as the Seed of the woman. The Passover lamb, the unleavened bread, the meal offering, the manna in the wilderness, the twelve loaves of showbread, etc., were constant, daily testimonies of the human-now-deified body of Christ. This divine human body is the door or gateway into the covenant sheepfold where we qualify for divine oneness with God.
      God gave man a lowly earthy body that He may demonstrate His glory, knowledge, power, authority, love, mercy, longsuffering, wrath, and justice, Rom 9:22-23; 11:33-36. God has done this by means of a last will and testament where God in the Person of the Son becomes a human through a virgin birth and serves as man's substitute to redeem man from sin, death, and Satan. The grand goal of redemption in God's purpose is to elevate the faithful testament people into a "divine oneness" with the Godhead, Eph 1:22-23; 3:19; 5:31-32; Col 2:9-10; Jn 17:21-23.
      To walk with God for 300 years and please God so profoundly, Enoch obviously became well aware of the full symbolic and prophetic significance of animal sacrifices. If Enoch had offered one sacrifice each week of those 300 years, he would have offered 15,600 sacrifices.
      Children are often called question boxes because they ask so many questions: when we stop asking questions we stop learning; and when we stop learning we stop pleasing God, with an end result of eternal disaster. Enoch was no doubt constantly asking God questions, listening with the keenest interest to God's explanations, while believing, obeying, and preaching what he learned to everyone he could.

10. SEED OF THE WOMAN, SINLESS VIRGIN BIRTH

      "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall crush your head, and you shall bruise His heel." Gen 3:15.
      14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel," Isa 7:14.
      Enoch knew the Seed of the woman would be Jehovah because, though God hides these things from those who are worldly wise, proud, and careless, He reveals the mysteries of the kingdom to those who hunger and thirst after God and His kingdom, Mt 5:3-12; 6:33; 11:25-26. The Seed of the woman would execute judgment upon Satan and all who follow his ways. This is immediately obvious in Enoch's prophesy (Ju 14-15), and in Jehovah's initial statement of the coming judgment, Gen 3:15.
      The Seed of the woman must be human and He must be without blemish, yet He must die for man's sins and conquer death by resurrection from the dead as the testament Testator. Also, the Seed of the woman must be greater than Satan in order to crush Satan's head: Satan's "head" signifies Satan's power and authority. God's purpose from the beginning was that man (the Son of man) rule over all of God's creation, Ps 8:3-6; Heb 2:5-13. This is evident in Enoch's prophecy. We should expect Enoch to know these things because he walked with this same Jehovah for 300 years. (This series continues through 25 major parts.)

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