"Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live (with divine life); and I will make an everlasting covenant with you – the sure mercies of David." Isa 55:3.
      The sure mercies or kindnesses of David speak first 1) of the faith, righteousness, and God-fearing disposition and rule of David from his youth to his death, 2) of God's merciful and bountiful response to David's thirsting and hungering after God, but most of all 3) of God's everlasting covenant with the Son of David, who is Jehovah in a human body, Isa 7:14; 9:6-7; Jer 23:5-6; 33:15-16; Mic 5:2; Zec 12:10.
      Through most of Ps 89, the inspired psalmist speaks assuringly of king David and God's covenant with David. But verse 27 (Ps 89:27) reveals that it is the Son of David, the eternal Jehovah, as God's "Firstborn from the dead," (Col 1:18; Rev 1:5; Act 13:29-33), who will champion the divine-human banner through the ages and eternity to come.
      This "covenant" of "the sure mercies of David" (Jehovah David) is the covenant between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit before creation, Eph 1:4-5,11; 2Ti 1:9; Ti 1:2; 1Pe 1:18-20. All the sure mercies of David, which are promised in this eternal covenant, are being offered to each of us within the covenants, from Adam through the end of the Millennium:
      3 "Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live..." Isa 55:3.
      The 969 years of Methuselah were finished nearly 5,000 years ago, and what shall we say of the less than 100 years we live. We have such an offer of qualifying for and sharing God's unspeakable divine essence eternally; but the offer is extended for a short time only. Our whole eternity is being determined in this life. The Bible offers no second "lifetime" to correct our selfish ways before God. We must correct them now in this brief lifetime, and the more earnestly and persistently we pursue God's will, the richer our eternity will be. Conversely, our lukewarmness is more likely to result in the loss of all that is promised. God is giving each of us only a few fleeting years to diligently and urgently build that eternal house – the deified body, 2Co 5:1-21. A single choice does not secure this covenant offer: the choice must be made daily till death shall end God's covenant offer forever.

      "...And I will make an everlasting covenant with you - The sure mercies of David," Isa 55:3.
      The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit made this everlasting covenant between Themselves within the Godhead before time began Jn 3:15; Act 2:23; Eph 1:44-5; Phi 2:6-11; 2Ti 1:9; Ti 1:2; 1Pe 1:18-20. Then Jehovah, the Son, as the covenant or testament Testator, made each covenant or testament with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Israel, David, and the church, Heb 916-17.
      "No one has seen the Father at any time. But the Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him," Jn 1:18.
      This appears to say that it was Jehovah, the Son, who appeared in person to Adam and Eve, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, Daniel, Stephen, Paul, etc., and spoke in dreams and in other ways to the prophets. We will now address the sure mercies of David in the person of the Son of David as the covenant or testament Testator. These functions, here addressed (Isa 55:3) as the mercies of David (the Son of David), will be presented again in sequence for greater clarity and emphasis though they have been covered well in previous articles. This will also seek to further instill in our minds the whole series of events of the Testator (Kinsman Redeemer, Messiah), of which all of Israel could have been well aware centuries before the virgin birth of Jehovah in a human body.

      Divine life was offered to Adam in the tree of life. This offer simply required faith obedience: Adam had only to eat of the tree of life. However, there was a testing embodied in the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God permitted Satan to tempt Adam through his wife, and they both fell into transgression. They knew better and God's grace (help) was in all respect sufficient to overcome the temptation. God was righteous in permitting this, and already had a last will and testament redemption plan provided in the covenant within the Godhead before creation, Act 2:23; Eph 1:4-5; 2Ti 1:9; Ti 1:2; 1Pe 1:18-20.

      "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.
      Adam sinned as the head of the human race, and the whole of mankind sinned in him. Thus death, condemnation, and the multiplied woes of sin passed upon all men inherently.

      "And 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.
      These words were spoken to Satan, but the words guarantee a Redeemer for Adam and his descendants – for the entire human race. This was God's purpose and plan from the beginning, and we can be sure that He did not leave Adam and Eve in the dark as to what to expect both near and far.

      The Redeemer is to be the Seed of the woman, Gen 3:15. This added to Adam's understanding that Eve would be "the mother of all living," and therefore named her Eve which means "life." Of course, Eve would be the mother of mankind, but having lost the life of the tree of life, and now having the promise of that life regained, it appears that Adam is thinking of the divine life of the tree of life. This also harmonizes with Adam's earlier statement that husband and wife will be "one," Gen 2:24. Remember this statement was made on the sixth day of creation, not after the seventh day, since Eve was created also on the sixth day, Gen 1:26-27.

      "Seed of the woman," refers to the virgin birth: the Redeemer must be "without blemish." He must be a Kinsman Redeemer, and he must be without sin, therefore without the sin nature: a virgin birth. More than this: "For your Maker is your husband, The LORD of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth," Isa 54:5.
      This was clearly in Adam's mind when he said:
      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.
      Jehovah, the God of all the earth will be the husband, and the faithful firstborn covenant people will be the bride of their Maker. Why did God create Adam first and have him to name all the animals, fowls, etc., with both male and female before He created Eve out of Adam? God will be the husband and will give His bride His divine nature out of Himself. These multiple parallels are too harmonious to be coincidental.

      "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," Heb 9:16-12.
      The covenant between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit was a last will and testament, and is unfolded by means of the covenants (testaments) of the Old Testament into the New Testament, called the New Covenant. It is seen in the scroll in the Father's hand in Rev 5. The scroll is the sealed copy of the redemption testament, sealed before the foundation of the physical world, Act 2:23; Eph 1:4-5; 2Ti 1:9; Ti 1:2; 1Pe 1:18-20.
      As God revealed the contents of this first testament to Adam and Eve, He came to the death of the Testator (the death of Jehovah Messiah), He demonstrated this part of the testament by the death of specific animals. He shed their blood, which took their lives from them; and thereby demonstrated how His human life (as the sinless Seed of the woman) would be taken from Him.

      "Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them," Gen 3:21.
      21 "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him," 2Co 5:21.
      7 "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.
      8 "And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints," Rev 19:7-8.
      The righteousness of the saints is the divine righteousness of God, credited to the bride people in justification with each act of faith obedience. These garments of salvation, this robe or crown of divine righteousness (the divine nature) will be given to the faithful bride people in the resurrection, Isa 54:5,17; 61:10 thru 62:3; Mt 25:31-36; Phi 3:9 (7-14,21); 2Ti 4:6-8; Rev 19:7-8.
      This is the new birth. Justification is with a view to the return of Christ when the bride people will be born into divine (heavenly, spirit) bodies, 1Co 15:44-58. As Christ's human body became the Firstborn from the dead in His resurrection (Col 2:18; Rev 1:5; Act 13:29-33; et al), the faithful covenant people will likewise be born of God in the resurrection when Christ returns. And the faithful who are alive at that time will be changed (divinely born) into the same divine (heavenly, spirit) body, 1Co 15:44-58.

      "And 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.

      "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," Gen 1:1.
      Angels were created to be ministers of those who are the heirs of covenant salvation, Heb 1:14. Isaiah uses the expressions, "garments of salvation," and "robe of righteousness," Isa 61:10. Such expressions project the receiving of the divine nature by the faithful bride people, 2Pe 1:4; Eph 1:22-23; 3:19; Col 1:19; 2:9-10; Jn 17:21-23.
      Nothing is written in Genesis about the creation of angels and the fall of many of them. However, in Job 38:4-7 we are told they were already created, observed God's creation of the earth, and shouted for joy as God prepared this unique little planet and placed it in orbit around the sun. And we are told there are millions of much larger stars in this galaxy, with millions of other similar galaxies light years apart from each other. The "sons of God" in this passage cannot be human because Adam was created after God had finished creating the earth, Gen 1 & 2. These "Sons of God" must be the angels as seen in Job 1:6 and 2:1.
      It becomes clear then that what God did in creation and also what God taught Adam and Eve is far more than what is recorded in Gen 1 thru 3. The intent here is to emphasize that God revealed much more to Adam 1) about Adam being created in the image of God – Adam's initial creation was in view of man qualifying through covenant grace to be filled with the fullness of God (Eph 3:19; Col 2:9-10), 2) about Adam's authority over all the earth – what that meant, 3) about His first covenant of faith obedience, 4) about the tree of life, 5) about the tree of knowledge of good and evil, 6) about death, and 7) about giving Adam a wife – what that union signified and what the bearing of children signified.
      Genesis chapter two is an amplification, specifically of the creation of Adam and Eve and His covenant with them. Genesis 2:4-25 must be included in God's creative work on the sixth day before He rested the seventh day. Gen 1:26-27 says God created both male and female (both Adam and Eve) on the sixth day. Chapter two does not concern an eighth or ninth day.

      "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.
      Here in the very beginning of the Bible we are given this marvelous "mystery of godliness," that permeates all the Scriptures, though God mysteriously hides the true and full understanding from the wise and prudent in this life, Mt 11:25; 13:9-17. This mystery of godliness has two major parts: 1) Jehovah being born into a mere human body, and 2) the human body (both body and spirit) of the faithful covenant people being born into a divine state of being, and thereby becoming "one" in divine nature with God, Jn 16:30-36; 14:8-11; 17:21-23; Eph 1:22-23; 3:19; 5:31; Col 1:19; 2:9-10.
      Man was not created in the full image of God, but in the perspective of fully sharing the divine image – see above scriptures. If man had been divine he could never have sinned: it was God's initial purpose that man prove himself through covenant testing and training, by which he would prove himself by grace through faith obedience, Act 2:23; Rom 9:22-23; Eph 1:4-5; 2Ti 1:9; Ti 1:2; 1Pe 18-20; et al. This was all in the covenant between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit "before time began" – before the ages began, or before creation.
      The new birth into the divine image can be understood most clearly from the New Testament, but the Old Testament is filled with explicit scriptures, types, feasts, ceremonies, etc., which more than sufficiently reveal the understanding of these same prophetic projections. Many articles to come will further testify to the inspired truth of this mystery of godliness. The mystery is not limited to the person of Christ, but incorporates a vast host of faithful covenant people into the firstborn sonship of Christ. In God's covenant purpose this firstborn sonship requires a new birth into God's unique and divine state of being, Jn 10:30-36; 14:8-11; 17:21-23; Rom 8:23-30; 2Co 3:18; 5:16-21; Eph 1:22-23; 3:19; 4:22-24; 5:31; Phi 3:7-14,21; Col 1:18-19; 2:9-10; et al.

      "...Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth..." Gen 1:26-31.
      This passage projects man as the ruler over all the earth in view of the new birth into the divine image. Further study and review, as we have demonstrated in past articles, will reveal that only those possessing the divine nature will be made joint heirs together with the Christ.
      6 "You have made Him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under His feet," Ps 8:3-6. Heb 2:5-11.
      Here the Son of Man is revealed to be the ruler over all the works of God's hands. We will quickly see that the faithful covenant people, in God's initial last will and testament purpose, will be brought into the full divine image. Much more was revealed to Adam and Eve than is recorded in the first three chapters of Genesis. This becomes obvious in chapters two and three, and as we go further through the Scriptures.

      "And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
      3 "Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made," Gen 2:2-3.
      God addressed the seventh day and its significance as a day of rest AFTER he created both Adam and Eve. All of Gen 2:4-25 must be understood to have transpired before the seventh day of Gen 2:1-3. Gen 3:1 starts obviously after the seventh day of creation.
      It becomes conclusive from Heb 3 and 4, especially Heb 4:3-4 with context and related passages, that the Millennium is a day of rest (deification, Heb 3:15) for the faithful covenant people. It will also be a millennial day of rest from the curse (Rom 8:19-22), a millennial day of rest from the rule of Satan and demons (Eph 2:2; 6:12), and a millennial rest from the tyrannical rule of man over idolatrous, immoral societies, Isa 2:1-4; 11:1-10; Rev 20. The seventh day of rest projects the new birth of the faithful covenant people into divine life, fully conformed to the image of God, as God purposed when He created Adam and Eve.

      "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' –
      23 "Therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.
      24 "So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life," Gen 3:22-24.
      What significance does the "tree of life" have for us today? Simply that it offered the same life or the very life that will bring the faithful covenant people into the full divine image of God – the fullness of God, Eph 1:22-23; 3:19; 5:31; Col 1:19; 2:9-10; Jn 10:30-36; 17:21-23. The tree of life spoke and speaks of God's divine nature (2Pe 1:4), which places the faithful covenant people above the angels as judges of the world to come,Heb 1:14: 2:5-13; 1Co 6:2-3. Who will ascend up to heaven to bring Christ down for the virgin birth? And who will descend into Sheol to bring Christ up from the dead (Deu 30:11-15; Rom 10:6-10) for the new birth into the divine life of the tree of life? Col 1:18; Rev 1:5; Act 13:29-33; 1Co 15:1-4,44-50; Heb 1:5-6; 5:5. This life is the divine nature (2Pe 1:4), the divine life of the tree of life, which the Scriptures promise from Genesis to Revelation. It will transform the faithful covenant people into the image of God – into a "oneness" marriage with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Gen 2:24; Isa 54:5; 1Co 6:15-17; Eph 5:31; Jn 17:21-23.

      "And Adam said: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.
      24 "‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh," Gen 2:23-24.
      God had clearly instructed Adam of His covenant purpose in the marriage relationship; that is, the human marriage represents the divine oneness of the Godhead, into which "oneness" the faithful covenant people will be transformed when Christ returns and at the end of the Millennium, Isa 54:5; 1Co 6:15-17; Eph 5:31; Rev 19:7-8. The covenant discipline of this life is to qualify a faithful covenant people to be born into the image of God as the bride of Jehovah, Isa 54:1-5; Gal 4:21-31; Eph 5:31; Jn 17:21-23.
      God has made it clear that the faithful covenant people of the Old Testament and the faithful covenant people of the New Testament (Israel and the church) are two flocks that will be made one (Jn 10:16), and their Creator is their Husband, Isa 54:6. The same divine relationship is represented by the firstborn sonship of Christ, for which the covenant people are being disciplined. Whether bridal relationship or firstborn sonship, the divine relationship will be the same. Again, this same relationship is represented in the metaphor of the covenant people being the members of the deified body of Christ. We likewise have the metaphor of spiritual stones built up into a spiritual, living, and divine temple or house of God, 1Pe 2:4-5; Eph 2:20-22.

      "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.
      21 "So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness into eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord," Rom 5:21.
      22 "What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
      23 "And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory," Rom 9:22-23.
Man's fall into sin was not merely the result of blindness on       Adam's part or lack of grace (help) on God's part. Adam was extremely intelligent and well informed, and God's grace was sufficient all the way. Grace means God's unmerited help.
      The everlasting covenant between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit was confirmed before creation, Act 2:23; Eph 1:4-5; 2Ti 1:9; Ti 1:2; 1Pe 1:18-20. God was willing to reveal His love, compassion, forbearance, justice, and mercy toward those who would believe and obey by grace through faith, and His forbearance, justice, and wrath on those who would refuse to believe and obey by grace through faith. God had already elected, through the new birth into the firstborn sonship of Christ, those who would believe and faithfully persevere to the end of their lives, all by grace through faith. Hos 6:1-3; Heb 3:6-14; 1Co 15:1-2.

      "And 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.
      Here is the promise of redemption through the Seed of the woman, which requires the virgin birth for the following reasons; 1) the Redeemer must be a man because man sinned, 2) the Redeemer must be a man without sin because a sinner cannot die for sinners (all Adam's normal descendants sinned in Adam and are blemished and in a state of death (Rom 5:12), 3) the Redeemer must be the Seed of the woman in a miracle birth without sin (evidently the sin nature is passed through the man), 4) the Redeemer must be greater than man because sinful man is now the servant of Satan (Rom 6:16), 5) the Redeemer must be greater than Satan because He will crush Satan's head (Gen 3:15), 6) the Redeemer must be God in the beginning, be born in the human family by a virgin, then His human body be born into the divine nature in order to bring His obedient followers into the divine image and fullness of God, 7) the Redeemer must die as the Testator of the last will and testament, which testament was confirmed or ratified by the death of the animals and by Adam and Eve being clothed in their skins, which represented the divine clothing of the divine Redeemer, Gen 3:21; 2Co 5:21; Phi 3:7-17,21; Rev 19:7-8.

      "‘So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper (a like companion) suitable to him,
      21 "And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place," Gen 2:20-21.
      Gen 1:26-27 appears to teach that God created Adam and Eve at the same time, but 2:20-24 reveals that a bit of time passed on the sixth day of creation before God created Eve out of Adam. By inspiration, Paul wrote that the man being created first signaled that he was to be the head of the home, 1Ti 2:11-12. The later emphasis on the firstborn son follows this pattern, and gives the firstborn son a divine nature in the full image of God, whereas the other sons will remain merely human servant sons, Gal 4:19-31; 5:1-4; Heb 12:8-11-17-29.
      In the new birth there will be neither male or female, Lk 20:34-36; Gal 3:28. There is no other companionship within the human family that will compare with the proper marriage of man and woman. And the highest honor of this relationship is that it is designed to portray the divine (new birth) oneness God has prepared between Himself and the faithful covenant people. Only the faithful covenant people will share this divine oneness with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Eph 22-23; 3:19; 5:31; Col 1:19; 2:9-10; Jn 10:30-36; 14:9-11; 17:21-23.

      "Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it: ‘Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.
      18 "‘Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field.
      19 "‘In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return,'" Gen 3:17-19.
      This is a part of the punishment on all Adam's descendants, but primarily it points to the covenant discipline God appointed for the training of the covenant people. All the covenants (last will and testaments) require the covenant people to endure all hardships and stand fast in faithful service and worship of God, Heb 3:14; 5:8-9; 11; 12.

      "Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them," Gen 3:21.
      At this point God also instructed Adam and Eve concerning this last will and testament, and demonstrated before their eyes how to worship Him and what all this meant. This becomes more obvious when we read of Abel offering precisely the right kind of sacrifices in worship of God, Gen 4:4. Abel's clean, firstborn, blood sacrifices were accepted, while Cain offered the fruit of his own works and was rejected. We will pick this up again shortly.
      God could easily have made clothes for Adam and Eve without taking the life of animals. Therefore the shedding of blood and taking of life bears witness that Jehovah (the Son, who reveals the Father) was confirming a last will and testament. Jehovah, the Son, as the Testator, was visibly demonstrating the method of worship by animal sacrifice. And while doing so, He was instructing Adam and Eve concerning the various features of the testamentary covenant.
      Though God concealed these things from most of the Pharisees and other wise and prudent ones in Israel and the world, He had ways of revealing the truth of the same Old Testament to Job, Isaiah, Daniel, Simeon and many lowly ones. God, as Testator, did instruct Adam and Eve and personally demonstrate the meaning of animal sacrifices in worship. We see this in Abel's offering, Gen 4:4. We would be remiss to think God did not do this in the Garden of Eden when He confirmed (ratified) with blood and death the testamentary covenant with Adam and his descendants.

      "Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them," Gen 3:21.
      Again we say, God could easily have made clothes for Adam and Eve with other materials than the skins of animals. But here also, the symbolism is vitally important: 1) the animals that provided the skins were obviously "clean" animals, which symbolically represented Christ in His sinless life (Jn 1:29,36; 1Pe 1:18-20); 2) the animals in their death represented the death of Christ for the salvation of sinful mankind (Jn 1:29,36);3) the skins of clean animals, used for clothing, represented the faithful covenant people being clothed in the righteousness of Christ, which is the righteousness of God (2Co 5:21; Phi 3:9; Rev 19:7-8); 4) being symbolically in the righteousness of Christ (of God) signifies that they were counted as justified – God's righteousness was credited to them, (Gen 15:6; Rom 3 & 4); 5) as previous articles have shown, justification addresses the new birth into the image of God.
      The righteousness of justification is the righteousness of God: all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags and are unacceptable, Isa 64:6. We are being credited with God's righteous-ness with every act of faith obedience, Rom 4:6,12-25; 2Co 9:10; Ja 2:21.

      "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, 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:

      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, and Adam and Eve learned it from God. Unequivocally they were taught in detain in the Garden when the covenant (testament) was confirmed. God 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, 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, and saw 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? 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 transcending joy. Yet their joy is somewhat overshadowed with grief because they minister on our behalf, as the wayward objects of God's love and mercy, Gen 28. 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.