In the entire Bible God made eight covenants with man: seven in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament. In this lesson we will begin with the first covenant that God made with man (Gen. 2:8-9, 15-17), that is, the covenant that God made with the created man.
The One who made this covenant was Jehovah God. The name Jehovah stresses God’s relationship with man. Therefore, speaking concerning God’s relationship with man, in Genesis 2 the Bible begins to use the name Jehovah. This name means “He who was, who is, and who will be,” or “He who existed, who exists, and who will exist.” This means that He always is and never changes, He always exists and never passes away, and He is self-existing and ever-existing (Exo. 3:14-15; Rev. 1:8). He is the “I Am,” the One who always is; He is always everything to man. Whatever man needs, He is. He is well able to meet all of man’s needs. Such a One who always is, who is without beginning and without end, and who always exists and never passes away, came to make a covenant with the created man.
The One who made this covenant was God. The Hebrew word for God is Elohim, which means the mighty One who is faithful. This shows that God is a mighty One, even a mighty One who is faithful to keep His word. His faithfulness is the guarantee of the covenant that He made with man; His might enables Him to fulfill His covenant with man. It is such a mighty and faithful One who came to make a covenant with man. Furthermore, the word God here in Genesis 2 is plural, indicating that although He is the only God, He has the aspect of three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (Matt. 28:19). Such a Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, came to make a covenant with the man whom He created, that He might dispense Himself into the created man to be his life and life supply for the accomplishment of His eternal purpose.
The one with whom the covenant was made, the created man, was created by God in His image and after His likeness to express God and represent God.
When man was created, although he had the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26), he did not have God’s life in him. God did not put His uncreated life into man; therefore, what man had was but the created life. Hence, the created man still needed to receive the uncreated divine life from God that God’s eternal purpose might be accomplished in man.
Although man did not have God’s life, neither did he have sin—he was upright (Eccl. 7:29). When man first came out of God’s creating hand, he was not crooked, evil, or defiled, but upright, good, and clean. At that time he was without sin, without corruption, and without defect; hence, God considered man very good (Gen. 1:31).