416 – The Preservation of the Seed

SEMESTER 1

416 – The Preservation of the Seed

BIBLE INSTITUTE OF CORRESPONDENCE

COURSE:  BIBLE SURVEY I LESSON # 16
THE PRESERVATION OF THE SEED

INTRODUCTION:

1. Let it be said that the theme of this lesson is one of the most vital truths to the theme and unity of the Bible.
2. The reason for the ark and its contents was to preserve seed of man and his domain.
3. Ask yourself, `What if this righteous judgment, through the withhol­ding of grace, had extended to Noah?'

i. You would not have been born.
ii. Christ would not have been born.
iii. The promise of Gen. 3:15 would not have been fulfilled.
iv. There would have been no salvation for any pre-flood character.

I. THE EVERLASTING COVENANT

1. This Bible term has its first appearance in Genesis 6:18.
2. It runs all the rest of the way through Scripture. (Gen. 9:9,11,12,13,16; Gen. 15:18, Gen. 17:2,4,7,10,13,19,21; Ex. 2:24, Ex. 24:7,8; Rom. 11:27, Gal. 3:15,17; Heb. 8:6, Heb. 13:20)
3. There are some important questions we should ask ourselves concerning this covenant.

i. How could a covenant made with men or animals be everlas­ting? (Gen. 9:16)
ii. Was this covenant a “deal between God and man” or a sovereign promise from God?
iii. Why was the ark called the “ark of the covenant?”
iv. Was this covenant ever fulfilled, and if so how?

II. THE COVENANT WAS THROUGH NOAH NOT WITH NOAH

1. Our nature always hears God saying, “If you will, I will.”

i. This was not the nature of God’s revelation to Noah, Abram, Isaac, Jacob, etc.
ii. The revelation from God is rather, do thus and so because I will.
iii. If this covenant depended upon man’s fidelity, not one phase would have been fulfilled.

2. God was rather saying, `Noah, I am by grace saving you and your family for seed’s

III. THE PROGRESSIVE LINEAGE OF THE SAVED SEED

1. In Gen. 4:25, Eve identified Seth as the “other seed” who overcame death, the wages of sin.
2. His lineage is traced to Noah. (Gen. 5)
3. Then in Gen. 11:10-32, we find the lineage of Noah through his second son Shem to Abraham.
4. We have the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who went with his sons into Egypt.
5. God, with respect to this covenant, kept them and brought them out with a lineage still preserved.
6. He kept them through the time of Moses, Joshua, the judges and the Hebrew kings in perfect lineage.
7. He went with them into Babylonian captivity, brought them out and kept the seed of “undefiled descent.” (Isa. 6:11-13)
8. Through the times of Ezra and Nehemiah, He kept the lineage undefiled by Gentiles.
9. In Mal. 3:16, He explains the reason for their continuity.

IV. CONSUMMATION AND PURPOSE OF COVENANT

1. The New Testament starts by retracing this covenant lineage.
2. Paul explains the nature of it in Gal. 3:14-17 as compared to Heb. 13:20.
3. The law was the “old,” and grace the new covenant, only in the sense that the law served as a schoolmaster until the eternal seed of the everlasting covenant came in the flesh.
4. As to the eternal plan of God, it was always Christ. (Gal. 3:16-19)
5. Seth, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc., etc., were only men through whom God brought it about.