What It Means to Be Saved By Grace -

“He remembers His covenant forever, the word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, The covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant…” - Psalm 105:8-10 (NKJ)

The Scripture opening this essay, taken from Psalm 105, speaks of Yahweh’s Covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as an everlasting Covenant - one that Yahweh will remember forever. As an everlasting Covenant, it cannot be any of the conditional Covenants that Yahweh made with mankind. Therefore, this cannot be the Abrahamic Covenant that was dependent upon circumcision. Because it required mankind’s obedience in the act of circumcision, this Covenant was conditional. It also cannot be the Covenant cut with Israel through Moses, since this Covenant was also conditional, and required people to do good works in keeping with the Mosaic Law. Instead, this everlasting Covenant has to do with the New Covenant that Yahweh promised to make with mankind at another time:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD (Yahweh), when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah -- not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers… to lead them out of… Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD (Yahweh). But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days… I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” - Jeremiah 31:31-33 (NKJ)

This Scripture alludes to the New Covenant of Grace that came “after those days,” referring to the days when the Mosaic Law held sway over the descendents of Jacob living in the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. This Scripture therefore was prophesying about the New Covenant that Yahshua cut with humanity on Calvary. It was also prophesying that the Covenant of circumcision, and the Mosaic Covenant were to be fulfilled and superseded, but not replaced by the New Covenant of Grace. Unlike these older, conditional Covenants, the New Covenant does not require any physical work, or ritual act to be honored. Rituals attached to the New Covenant like baptism and Communion are not essential for believers to participate in to be saved. Only belief in Christ (as He is defined in the Bible), and in the all-sufficiency of His work of salvation is required. This makes the New Covenant truly unconditional, and everlasting.

Psalm 105 indicates that an unconditional and everlasting Covenant was made with Abraham before the New Covenant. We will therefore examine the Covenants in the Books of Genesis and Exodus to determine why some Covenants with mankind were everlasting - while others were not, and how they were tied to the everlasting New Covenant of Grace. Let’s begin our exploration with the Covenants cut in the Garden of Eden, at the dawn of time.

Yah’s Covenants with Adam and Noah

Despite their great ability to teach us about Yah, the Old Testament Law, and the biblical feasts were not God’s original method of instructing us about sin, and the Gospel, or Path to Salvation. For example, though considered righteous by their great faith in Yah, Enoch and Abraham did not know about, or keep the laws, or feast days that Yah instructed Moses to teach the Israelites. Though the first five books of the Bible are considered to be the Mosaic Law, the Law of Moses is not introduced until the second book of the Bible known as Exodus. Instead of Passover, the Mosaic Covenants, and the Mosaic Law, the Book of Genesis introduces us to three separate sets of Covenants that came before Moses, and the Law. These are as follows:

1. The two Blood Covenants that Yahweh cut with Adam in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:16-18, 3:21).

2. The Blood Covenant cut with Noah and all humanity immediately after the Great Flood (Genesis 9:9-12).

3. The two Blood Covenants cut with Abraham while he was still an uncircumcised Semite called Abram (Gen. 15:4-18), and afterward.

In the book from which this essay was derived, these three sets of Covenants are identified by the terms: Adamic Covenant, Noahide Covenant, and Abrahamic Covenant, and they define the relationship between God and mankind before the Mosaic Law came into being. Now, though we are not explicitly told about it, there was a conditional Covenant of trust between Yahweh and Adam before he sinned. Yah gave the terms of this Covenant to Adam before Eve was created:

“And the LORD God (Yahweh Elohim) commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 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. 2:16-17 (NKJ)

Shortly after issuing the terms of this conditional Adamic Covenant, Yahweh cut Adam open while he was sleeping so he would not feel the pain. Since the Hebrew word for Covenant is “berith,” which means, “to select, or choose, as by cutting,” this is when Yahweh officially “cut” the Covenant with Adam. At that time, Yahweh took Adam’s rib to create Eve. Then Yahweh gave Eve to Adam, performing the first marriage. Adam therefore appears to have served as a living sacrifice by shedding a part of his flesh to seal his agreement with God! Meanwhile, Eve offered herself as the proffered sacrifice in the first Marriage Covenant. At that time, Eve promised to love, honor, and obey Adam, and Adam promised to love and honor Eve, and to act as “one flesh” with her. Consequently, just as the cutting of Adam’s flesh sealed the first Adamic Covenant, and made Adam subject to Yahweh, Eve was subject to Adam through the Marriage Covenant.

We can also see the results of breaking these conditional Covenants in the curses that Yah spoke against Adam, Eve, and the satanic serpent in Genesis 3:14-19. Like these first Covenants, each subsequent Covenant was formed between Yah, a righteous male leader that had found favor with Yah, and the people that leader governed, and held authority over. In addition, each Covenant had certain divine promises and curses associated with it, and each offered some form of divine protection to the people involved in them. All of these divinely initiated Covenants therefore established one clear message to mankind: that Yahweh loves mankind, and wants people to have (or be reconciled back into) a full, and loving relationship with Him.

After the conditional Covenant between Yah and mankind was broken, Yah made an unconditional promise to provide Adam and Eve’s descendents with a Savior who would destroy Satan, sin, and death forever. To seal this unconditional Adamic Covenant promise, Yah covered Adam and Eve with the skins of animals that Yah Himself sacrificed as Adam and Eve likely watched in horror. These animal skins signified the sacrifice of the innocent flesh and blood of the Messiah that would one day be shed in death to atone for their sins. Afterward, Yah solemnly warned Satan (and promised Adam and Eve) that the conflict between good and evil would be waged between the “seed,” or offspring, of Satan and Eve, and that the woman’s seed would be victorious:

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." - Gen. 3:15 (NKJ)

This is the first and most important prophecy in the Bible, and it is nothing less than a divine promise that Yah would provide a Savior from “her seed,” which is the “seed of the woman,” but not of the man. This could only be true if the child was conceived in a virgin by miraculous means. As the New Testament clearly attests, this happened for the first, and only time when Yahshua was born humbly to the virgin Miriam (i.e. Mary) in Bethlehem. Yahshua, the divinely promised Seed of the Woman, would forever bruise the head of Satan, and all his followers - even while Satan wounded Yahshua’s heel on Calvary. But, though this evil heel wound was fatal like Achilles’, Yahshua rose from the dead, and delivered a blow to Satan’s “head” that would one day be forever fatal! Christ’s Resurrection is a Covenant promise indicating that Satan will one day be defeated forever - allowing all believers to enter into everlasting life without sin!

The next occurrence of a Covenant formed between Yah and man occurred when Noah offered sacrifices of clean animals and birds as burnt offerings. These were offered to thank Yahweh for delivering Noah and his family through the Great Flood (Gen. 8:20). At the time of this Noahide Covenant, Yah promised to bless Noah and his sons, and to ensure the fruitfulness of the Earth. In addition, Yah unconditionally promised that He would never destroy the whole Earth by flood again (Genesis 8:21-22, 9:1-12).

As a perpetual sign of this unconditional Covenant with Noah and his descendents, Yah formed a rainbow in the skies over Earth for the first time. The rainbow has deep spiritual significance, for it is allegorically meant to symbolize the giant bow of Yahweh that is always poised to shoot an imaginary arrow into heaven. Thus, it symbolized that Yah would pierce His own allegorical heart with an arrow before He would allow the Earth to suffer from a total worldwide flood again. Yahweh later did, in fact, pierce His own heart with a type of arrow. It happened when Yahshua, who was already dead on the Cross, was pierced through to the heart by the spear of a Roman soldier. Isn’t Yah an amazing God?

Yah’s Covenant with Abraham

Hundreds of years later, Yah cut two more Blood Covenants with another righteous man named Abram. Since he was descended from Shem and Eber, Abram was both a Semite, and a Hebrew. He was not, however, an Israelite, but an uncircumcised Gentile born before the Covenant that would ultimately lead to the formation of Israel as a nation, and as a multitude of people who would found many nations.

Yah made His first set of elaborate promises to Abram during a Blood Covenant ceremony. At that time, Yah unconditionally promised Abram that his descendents would be as innumerable as the stars (Genesis 15:5). In addition, Yah promised that Abram’s descendents would inherit all the lands between the Nile and the Euphrates Rivers, which included the Sinai, Canaan, and Phoenicia (Genesis 15:18). This first Abrahamic Covenant was unconditional, so Abram was not responsible to see to its fulfillment. Since Yah alone symbolically passed through the sacrificed animals arranged on the ground to seal this Covenant, Yah signified that He would honor it whether, or not Abram’s descendents loved Yah the way Abram did. In fact, Abram’s descendents did not even have to remember this Covenant for Yah to keep it!

Significantly, this Covenant promise was made to all of Abraham’s Gentile descendents, not just to those who were born to Jacob/Israel! Remember that Abraham had Ishmael through Sarah’s handmaiden Hagar, and he also had another wife named Keturah after Sarah died. In addition, Isaac had Esau as well as Jacob. The Land of Israel was therefore promised to Abraham’s Gentile descendents, as well as to Judah and Israel. The first Abrahamic Covenant is further discussed in Chapter Nine of “The Language of God in Humanity.” Also see Books Three and Four to find out how this unconditional Covenant has been partly fulfilled in modern times.

Later, Yah entered a second, conditional Covenant with Abram that called for circumcision. At this time, Yahweh also gave Abram a new name: Abraham - a name that melded the “ha” sound in Yah, with “Abram” to form Abram’s Covenant name. Interestingly, “ha” is a sound that almost everyone associates with laughter, and Abraham and Sarah named their son Isaac, which mean “laughter” in Hebrew! This shows that the Abrahamic Covenant was always meant to be associated with joyful laughter. After all, under his new name, Abraham would become the forefather of both literal, and spiritual Israel, and open the way to the New Covenant.

Unlike the first Covenant that Yahweh made with Abram, the second Abrahamic Covenant was conditional. This is because it required circumcision, and also depended on people’s ability to fulfill it by worshipping and loving Yahweh, and each other. At the time this Covenant was sealed, Yahweh promised to be Abraham’s God, while Abraham, and his descendents promised to be Yah’s special Covenant people. Yah cut this Covenant, and the previous one with Abraham because of his great faith in, and love for Yahweh.

Because of Abraham’s great faith, Yah’s second, conditional Covenant promise to Abraham was even grander. This time, instead of simply promising that Abraham’s descendents would inherit the land of Canaan one day, Yah promised that Abraham’s barren wife Sarah would bear him a son, and that - through this son - Abraham would be the father of many nations (Gen. 17:4-5, 15-16). Likewise, the New Blood Covenant that Yahshua cut with humanity is sealed by our faith - a faith in Yahshua that has given birth to a countless army of witnesses.

Long after Abram changed his name to Abraham, and received circumcision to seal his second Covenant with Yah, Yah renewed His original, unconditional Abrahamic Covenant by promising that Abraham’s descendents would become great blessings to all the nations of the Earth:

“In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” - Gen 22:18 (NKJ)

This blessing was given to Abraham shortly after Yah had spared Isaac’s life by providing Abraham with a ram to sacrifice. This spiritual blessing upon all nations was therefore to be literally realized through Isaac, and his Israelite descendents. Nonetheless, because Isaac wasn’t sinless and perfect, Isaac and his ordinary descendents could never serve to fully eradicate sin. Only Yahshua the Messiah could do that.

Yah asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac to allegorically teach Abraham the Path to Salvation that would require the coming Messiah’s future, perfect sacrifice for sin. Yah showed this by providing Abraham with a ram trapped by its horns to sacrifice instead of Isaac:

“Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.” - Gen 22:13 (NKJ)

This ram was a metaphorical symbol for the perfect sacrifice that God alone would provide, and that was later accomplished by Christ on the Cross. This was in fulfillment of the prophetic words spoken by Abraham to Isaac that: “God will provide for Himself a lamb for the burnt offering” (Genesis 22:8). When Abraham said this, could it have been an allusion to the fact that Abraham was able to foresee the coming of the Lamb of God through his knowledge of the Gospel in the Stars, and the meaning of the constellation of Aries? Based on my findings in Book One on the allegorical symbolism of the Star Gospel, it is possible that Abraham saw the analogy being drawn between the need for the prophesied Messiah’s death, and the near-slaughter of his son Isaac.

Much later in history, John the Baptist also clearly foresaw Christ’s role as a sacrificial atonement offering for sin:

“The next day John saw Jesus (Yahshua) coming toward him, and said, ’Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” - John 1:29 (NKJ)

When John the Baptist referred to Yahshua as the Lamb of God, he was inferring that Yahshua would serve as a type of Passover Lamb, and atonement sacrifice for anyone who believes in Him. Since Christ served as the only perfect sacrificial lamb, anyone who is covered by Yahshua’s blood through faith is entitled to receive everlasting life. Like a lamb silently led to the slaughter, Yahshua offered Himself up, and willingly paid the death penalty for all sin.

Through Yahshua’s sacrifice, we who believe in Him, and ask Him to cover our sins with His blood will find everlasting life. Our salvation from sin is therefore only possible through our faith that Yahshua, as the Son of God, was the only one who could pay the blood price for all sin. Since our salvation is dependent on our belief in Yahshua’s death and resurrection, and in His role as an atonement sacrifice, the Book of Revelation refers to Yahshua as “The Lamb” twenty-three times! Here are two of those occurrences:

“Then… I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders… saying with a loud voice: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and… honor and glory and blessing!’ And every creature… I heard saying: ‘Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!’” - Rev. 5:11-13 (NKJ)

Yahshua is “the Lamb who was slain” in the Book of Revelation. He was slain, and shed His own blood to atone for our sins, thereby paying the death penalty on our behalf. In exchange for Yahshua’s righteousness - which only becomes available to us throough His sacrifice - we must forsake our sinful selves, and symbolically nail them to the Cross. By doing so, we symbolically die on the Cross with Christ, so that we can one day be resurrected as new, and perfect spiritual beings through His Spirit. Baptism is a symbol that we are awaiting birth through the waters of the Holy Spirit’s allegorical womb. We therefore symbolically die in baptism as we await everlasting life, when we will be made pure through the First Resurrection, and will literally be clothed with light. The deep allegorical significance found in baptism is explored in depth in “The Language of God in Humanity,” from which most of Chapter Two formed the body this essay.

A New Covenant to Fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant

The Covenants mentioned in the Pentateuch, or Torah were forerunners to a far more perfect Covenant that Yahweh would cut with mankind through His Son Yahshua. This New Covenant is an everlasting, unconditional Covenant. Furthermore, it was founded on superior promises to any previous Covenant. Though this New Covenant did not abolish the previous Covenants, all of them were, and will be, fulfilled through it. The writer of Hebrews quoted from the prophet Jeremiah regarding this superior Covenant:

“For if that first (covenant) had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: ‘Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah -- not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt…” - Hebrews 8:7-9 (NKJ)

Note that, though the word “covenant” does not appear in verse 7 of the original Scripture as quoted above, verses 8 and 9 are a direct quote of Jeremiah 31:31-33, which tells us that a new Covenant is being pointed to as a replacement for the first, conditional Covenant made with Israel through Moses. This verse therefore does not refer merely to the old priesthood being replaced with a better one, as some Messianic Jews claim.

When we partake in the body and blood of Christ through Communion, we enter this unconditional New Blood Covenant agreement with our Heavenly Father, and His Son. Yahshua called the Covenant that He cut with all humanity the “New Covenant” because it was based on better promises than the conditional Adoption Covenant cut with the Israelites in the form of a betrothal. The conditional, inferior Covenant cut specifically with the offspring of Israel/Jacob was made in several stages, which began on the first Passover.

Passover symbolically served as the beginning of the official betrothal between Yahweh and Israel. After the subsequent Exodus, the first Pentecost (a.k.a. the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot) marked the final sealing of the marriage contract cut with Israel on Passover.

Shavuot marked the day that Yahweh signed the marriage contract with Israel, and became Israel’s allegorical Husband, even while Israel became God’s symbolic Wife. Their Marriage Covenant, or Contract consisted of the Mosaic Law, which Yahweh began to give to Moses on Pentecost, though it took many days after that for Moses to receive, and write down all that Yahweh was going to show him. Incidentally, this written Law had to be given because the Israelites refused to ascend the mountain with Moses and receive God’s Law directly (Exodus 20:19). This refusal of the Israelites to meet face to face with Yahweh demanded that Moses serve as a mediator between them and God. Sadly, this set the precedent for Israel’s marriage relationship with Yahweh until the time of Christ. In fact, it was not until the Church was betrothed to Yahshua on Pentecost that ordinary people finally began to receive the gift of hearing directly from Yahweh through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and began to freely receive divine revelations through that same Spirit without the need of a prophet, or priest as an intermediary.

Unlike temporary betrothals between ordinary men and women, the New Covenant is an everlasting betrothal contract that will end in marriage. Like Passover, it promises redemption, and salvation from death, but in an everlasting rather than temporary way. Also, since Passover was instituted before the Law was given to Israel, the New Covenant is a continuation of the Abrahamic Covenant that offered Salvation by Faith, and blood atonement. The salvation given to us when we have a firm belief in, trust in, and love for the one true God Yahweh, and His Son Yahshua is better than the kind offered to Abraham, however. Because of the New Covenant that Yahshua cut with mankind, there is no need for us to offer countless animal sacrifices to obtain atonement. Therefore, Yahshua’s death and resurrection fulfilled the older, unconditional Adoption Covenant promises that Yah made to Adam, and Abraham. Yahshua serves as the Passover Lamb for all believers, and forever came to fulfill the promise of escape from death that the Passover lamb, and other atonement sacrifices offered temporarily.

The sacrifice that sealed this New Covenant of Faith was Christ's own perfect body and blood, rather than the tainted flesh and blood of a ram, lamb, or bull. Yahshua pledged His desire to marry His Church on Calvary, signing the betrothal contract with His own precious blood. Consequently, Yahshua intends to marry His Bride, the glorified Church, in Heaven. After this, Yahshua will return to Earth again with His Bride to rule as King of kings and Great High Priest. It that time, Yahshua will also allow His Bride, the True Church, to rule with Him as Queen, and fellow priest! This is fully explained in Chapter Six of “The Language of God in Humanity,” which explores the deep spiritual ramifications of the Marriage Covenant.

The Passover and Mosaic Covenants made with Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai could never offer everlasting life because they convicted mankind of their sin. The Mosaic Law offered conditional salvation, temporary atonement, and - ultimately - condemnation through failure to keep the Law perfectly. The Passover and Mosaic Covenants were conditional, and judgmental - offering rewards and punishments based on one’s moral performance. This is why Yahweh's unconditional Covenants made with Adam, Abraham, and their offspring are far more pivotal Covenants, and formed the basis for the Judeo-Christian concept of salvation. This is why the God of the Bible is not called the God of Moses, but "Yahweh Elohim, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob" (Exodus 3:16, NKJ). This is also why salvation through Christ is open to everyone, not just Israelites or Jews. Remember that Adam, Noah, and Abraham were not Israelites!

The New Testament is filled with allusions to Abraham as a great man of faith. Since Abraham was technically an uncircumcised Gentile when Yah honored his faith with Covenant promises, the salvation based on the faith of Abraham was always open to both Jews and Gentiles. The Apostle Paul understood this well. That is why Paul's first recorded sermon at Antioch opens with the statement: "Men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God…" (Acts 13:26, NKJ). Paul's understanding of the Abrahamic Covenant is that it gave Gentiles the hope of inclusion in the promises made to Abraham and the Israelites because of their faith in God alone. This is also why Abraham did not have to keep the Law of Moses. Abraham was counted as righteous because of his faith, not his works! Despite this fact, no Jew believes that Abraham will not be among the righteous in Paradise. This is why Paul made the following statement:

“What then shall we say that Abraham… discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about -- but not before God. What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” - Rom. 4:1-3 (NIV)

When the Apostle Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans, it was directed to the Jews in Rome. That is why most of it is directed toward teaching these Jews that their loyalty to the Law of Moses was never the basis for their hope in everlasting life. Instead, Paul makes it clear that the Mosaic Law was instated to expose the innate sinfulness of all people, regardless of sex, race, class, or fortune. This is why Paul called the Mosaic Law a curse! It was not meant to save anyone from sin, but to convict them of their sinfulness, and need for atonement:

“For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.” - Rom. 4:14-15 (NIV)

“All who rely on observing