Now
may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead,
that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the
everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do
His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through
Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews
13:20-21, NKJV).
Signed
in the blood of Christ, the everlasting covenant is the fulfillment
of God's promise to Adam in the Garden of Eden after The Fall.
Even
at that point in the ancient annals of mankind, the promise that the
seed of the woman would crush the serpent's head
in order to restore man's broken relationship with his Creator was
made known; a promise that would entail the serpent bruising
the seed's heel (symbolic of the
shedding of Christ's blood on the Cross and His dying temporarily).
And
unlike the Mosaic Covenant, which was conditional based on man's
performance, the everlasting covenant of the gospel is based solely
on sincere faith in the Son of God's virgin birth, sinless life, and
resurrection from the dead. A faith which cannot help
but transform the believer into Christ's image.
Not
only are we guaranteed eternal life in Christ, but we are assured
that He will complete that good work in us that began at the
moment of our conversion. We will become true sons and daughters
of God, true reflections of His image, meaning, incredibly, that we
will become like God.
What
does this mean?
Certainly,
it does not mean that we will be gods, or have all the divine
attributes of God, for even if that were so these characteristics
would be granted to us by God, and thus by virtue of that fact
alone, the grantee would always be less than the grantor.
The
Apostle John writes:
Beloved,
now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we
shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like
Him, for we shall see Him as He is. (1 John 3:2, NKJV).
Part
of being like Him, then, obviously involves seeing Him as He is,
in all His glory, nobility and beauty. I believe that the very sight
of Him will somehow advance our ultimate transformation. Seeing Him
as He is will necessitate doing away with the last remnants of our
sinful selves to be replaced by the fullness of God.
Being
like Him must also entail loving like He does, selflessly, perfectly,
completely – a love so powerful that its object is transformed into
being worthy of it.
Being
like Him as part of this everlasting covenant will also mean becoming
entirely righteous, without sin in all of its nefarious and
destructive forms. While easy enough to write, this concept is
impossible to imagine beyond only the smallest glimpse. Since we are
sinners, born in sin, and subject to sin even after salvation, we can
only guess at what it means to experience perfect righteousness.
Again,
it is certainly not what has been foisted upon us by stereotypical
images and characterizations of the “uptight religious fanatic”.
In fact, it must be the diametric opposite. More akin to the
popular myth of “the innocent savage” than to anything else.
Imagine
an existence utterly unclouded by self-serving motives, deceit,
hypocrisy, covetousness, avarice, gluttony, unbridled lust and
violence. Perhaps the best way to think of it is to consider God's
synopsis of what we are in ourselves without Him, and contemplate
each attributes diametric opposite.
And
even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave
them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not
fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality,
wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters,
haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things,
disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving,
unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God,
that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only
do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans
1:28-32, NKJV).
Consequently,
the everlasting covenant ensures that we will retain full knowledge
of God, with renewed and restored minds desiring even more and deeper
knowledge of Him.
Instead
of the horrifying adjectives applied in Romans 1, we will bring forth
the profoundly beautiful fruit of the Spirit:
But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there
is no law. (Galatians 5:22, 23, NKJV).
Imagine!
Life,
eternal life, amidst and within an environment filled with only those
things that each redeemed soul longs for with a longing given by God
– a longing which He promises to satisfy.
Like
I said, beyond imagining.
Nor
will this covenant life be in any way less than immeasurably joyous
and fulfilling.
But
as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have
entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for
those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9, NKJV).
