Who Was the Lawgiver--Testator of the Covenant? Father and/or Son

 

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Dear Reader,

The purpose of this study is to prove that since God Almighty and His Son (both) were the Testator of the ten-commandment law as given on Sinai, the Son had to be equal with the Father in order to Atone for any breach in the Everlasting Covenant and/or the Law of God. Ellen White said that both the Father and the Son were on Mt. Sinai giving the law:

"In union with the Father, Christ proclaimed the law amid the thunders of Sinai..." E.G. White, The Signs of the Times, 11-12-94, pr. 07.

"The Angel of the Covenant. The ark is called "the ark of the covenant," Num. 10:33; Heb. 9:4, because in it was placed the covenant, the "tables of stone" that God gave to Moses. Ex. 25:16; 31:18. Christ is called "the Messenger of the covenant," Mal. 3:1, or "the Angel of the covenant" PP 252, because when He gave the law at Sinai, He was God's messenger, doing the will of the Father." Sarah E. Peck, The Path to the Throne of God, p. 171.

His Father's Law

"Amid the awful glory of Sinai, Christ declared in the hearing of all the people the ten precepts of HIS FATHER'S LAW." E.G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, P. 366.

In order that the Son die as the Testator of the Law, it was absolutely necessary that He be equal to the Father, because the Father was also Testator of that Law--It was His law. Because they both were Testator to that Covenant--that law--that Testament, then it was necessary that the one who died for transgressions of that law to be equal to God the Father. Why? Because the Covenant demanded death of the Testator. Who was the Testator? God the Father and His Son. Both were Testators of that Covenant.

If Jesus Christ was not the Testator of that Covenant, and equal to the Father who was also the Testator of that Covenant, then He [Jesus] was not qualified to pay the penalty for any violation--transgression of that Covenant, because only the Testator could so do. The wages of breaking that Covenant is eternal death for us--for man. The Testator must pay that ransom in some form of eternal death in order to ransom or redeem us from violation of that Covenant.

"The enemies of the present truth have been trying to open the door of the holy place, that Jesus has shut, and to close the door of the most holy place, which He opened in 1844, where the ark is, containing the two tables of stone on which are written the ten Commandments by the finger of Jehovah." E.G. White, Early Writings, p. 43.

Note: Bruce Bivens concludes that Christ was Jehovah as well. The closest I can come to explaining this mystery is that Scripture says that God is a Spirit and that there is ONE ETERNAL SPIRIT. Christ and the Father shared the same eternal Spirit. John 14 says: We will come to you in the context of the Holy Spirit coming to us. Christ emptied Himself of His Holy Spirit Divine Nature and proferred tht gift to us for regeneration back into the image of God. How He could do that and still be fully Divine is a mystery I cannot explain, but the thing that makes them ONE GOD is the ONE SPIRIT they share, to wit:

Jhn 4:24 God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth. 

Hbr 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 

  • A Spirit means ONE SPIRIT.
  • THE ETERNAL SPIRIT means ONE SPIRIT.
  • That is what constitutes God as being ONE GOD. 

The Law was written by the Finger of Jehovah, Christ, but it was given by both on Mt. Sinai, says Ellen White. Also, we must consider that the Law says to worship only God--"Thou shalt have no other god's before me." Thus, the Father and the Son are ONE, else we would err in considering the Father as being God Almighty and by worshipping Christ and not the Father also. So both were Testators of the Everlasting Covenant. The Father's part in the Testator agreement was the "giving" of His only beloved Son, in Atonement for confessed and forgiven sin.

Note: Read Bruce Bivens book Are we Missing Something Here--The Godhead, the Holy Spirit,a nd the "Infinite Cost" of Our Salvation, to see how he proves that Christ is Jehovah in the Old Testament. Here is the link to Bruce’s book:

https://omega77.tripod.com/bivensholyspirit.htm

Ellen White says that divinity did not die on the cross. The parties to the Testator Covenant were both DIVINE. Divinity must die in some form to fulfill the specifications of the Testator Covenant. There is no way that a FULLY HUMAN MAN could die for our sins, because no fully human man was the Testator of that Covenant. There is no way that Three days in a tomb would ever satisfy the Testator Covenant, even if the FULLY DIVINE divinity of Christ died on the cross. Does Ellen White deal with this problem? She certainly does in the following statement:

"The darkness rolled away from the Saviour and from the Cross. Christ bowed His head and died. In His Incarnation He had reached the prescribed limit as a sacrifice, but not as a redeemer." E.G. White Manuscript Releases Volume Twelve, p. 409.

What is the prescribed limit of the Testator Covenant? That the Testator die. What death did the Testator die? Our death. What was our death penalty for transgression of the law? Eternal death. Did Christ make any sacrifice that satisfied this eternal death payment for us? Yes He did. In His Incarnation, He laid aside His Holy Spirit life and soul--His PURE DIVINITY state of Being FOREVER, and another body was prepared for Him. In that other body, He was still FULLY DIVINE, but He was now combined with humanity FOREVER. This was the Son of Man IN A NEW SENSE, says Ellen White, a new person, a third person to the Godhead.

Exd 31:18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

Psa 68:8 The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: [even] Sinai itself [was moved] at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

Hbr 9:16 For where a testament [is], there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.

Hbr 9:16 For [1063] where [3699] a testament [1242] [is], there must also of necessity [318] be [5342] (5745) the death [2288] of the testator [1303] (5642).

Lexicon Results for diatheke (Strong's 1242) [TESTAMENT]
Greek for 1242
Pronunciation Guide
diatheke {dee-ath-ay'-kay}
TDNT Reference Root Word
TDNT - 2:106,157 from 1303
Part of Speech
n f
Outline of Biblical Usage
1) a disposition, arrangement, of any sort, which one wishes to be valid, the last disposition which one makes of his earthly possessions after his death, a testament or will

2) a compact, a covenant, a testament

a) God's covenant with Noah, etc.

Lexicon Results for diatithemai (Strong's 1303) [TESTATOR] Greek for 1303

Pronunciation Guide
diatithemai {dee-at-ith'-em-ahee}
TDNT Reference Root Word
TDNT - 2:104,157 middle voice from 1223 and 5087
Part of Speech
v
Outline of Biblical Usage
1) to arrange, dispose of, one's own affairs

a) of something that belongs to one

b) to dispose of by will, make a testament

2) to make a covenant, enter into a covenant, with one

Hbr 9:17 For a testament [is] of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

The Law of God

Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

Rom 7:22 For [1063] I delight [4913] (5736) in the law [3551] of God [2316] after [2596] the inward [2080] man [444]:

Greek for 2316 [GOD] Pronunciation Guide
theos {theh'-os}
TDNT Reference Root Word
TDNT - 3:65,322 of uncertain affinity; a deity, especially (with 3588) the supreme Divinity
Part of Speech
n m
Outline of Biblical Usage
1) a god or goddess, a general name of deities or divinities

2) the Godhead, trinity

a) God the Father, the first person in the trinity

b) Christ, the second person of the trinity

c) Holy Spirit, the third person in the trinity

3) spoken of the only and true God

a) refers to the things of God

b) his counsels, interests, things due to him

4) whatever can in any respect be likened unto God, or resemble him in any way

a) God's representative or viceregent

1) of magistrates and judges

Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he [is] God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; Deut. 7:9.

Clearly, God Almighty is author of the Testator Covenant. Jesus is also God Almighty, because He had to be in order to die for that Covenant, because only the Testator could atone for any breach in that Covenant.

I and my Father are one. John 10:30.

What Does God (Jehovah) Declare Himself to be?

Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I [am] the first, and I [am] the last; and beside me [there is] no God. Isa. 44:6.

In what scripture does Christ adopt the same expression?

And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward [is] with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Rev. 22:12, 13.

Questions:

  • How many first and lasts are there?
  • Who is coming quickly--the Father or His Son?

It is true that the Son of God voluntarily took a subserviant role as a servant while on this earth. Some make the mistake of applying that status to Him forever, and try to make the Father greater than the Son. That is a mistake. Some would inquire: Is not the very description of Father demonstrative that the Father is first in eminence? No. Not in the case of God. The Father and son relationship is presented that way to show the closeness of the relationship--the love relationship, such as Abraham's love for His only son Isaac.

Jer 31:33 But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Now from the New Testament:

Hbr 8:10 For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

Hbr 10:16 This [is] the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

The moral of this study, friend of mine, is that if God the Father had any part in the Everlasting Covenant as Testator of that Covenant, and He did--He delivered that Law with His Son on Mt. Sinai, and He gave His only begotten Son for the breach in that law--then any person who should die for any violation of that Covenant had to be equal with the Father, because He was a co-Testator and the Testator had to die. That is the double-edged sword of this study.

Ron Beaulieu

 Addendum:     The law of love is the foundation of God's government, and the service of love the only service acceptable to Heaven. God has granted freedom of will to all, endowed men with capacity to appreciate His character, and therefore with ability to love Him and to choose His service. So long as created beings worshiped God they were in harmony throughout the universe. While love to God was supreme, love to others abounded. As there was no transgression of the law, which is the transcript of God's character, no note of discord jarred the celestial harmonies. {TMK 366.2}

 

     But known unto God are all His works, and from eternal ages the covenant of grace (unmerited favor) existed in the mind of God. It is called the everlasting covenant, for the plan of salvation was not conceived after the fall of man, but it was that which was "kept in  silence through times eternal, but now is manifested, and . . . made known unto all the nations . . ." (Rom. 16:25, 26, R.V.). . . . {TMK 366.3}

 

 

Ron