ln Psalms 2: 7, we read, “I will declare the decree: The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” The word “this day” or, as some translations put, “today” has no connection to eternity. It speaks of time. In the Old Testament it was already a promise of what was to happen in the future. Now we look back and see the same fulfilled. The whole plan of salvation was laid down in the prophetic Word in the Old Testament; but the fulfilment of every promise takes place in the New. In Psalms 2: 8, we read about the Son, “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” In verses 7 and 8, we hear about the Son and that all nations would be given to Him as an inheritance. It must be clear to all that nobody can be saved by simply believing in the existence of God, because the devil also believes in Him and trembles (James 2:19). The redeeming, the saving faith is to believe that the one true God has reconciled us unto Himself through the Son. If somebody does not believe in the direct manifestation of God in Christ, he simply is lost. The Scripture still is valid, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” (Acts 16: 31). The Son became our Saviour; therefore, we must believe in Him, in order to get saved.

In Psalms 2: 12, more light is being shed upon the subject. We find the statement, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they who put their trust in Him.” We cannot bypass this Word lightly. Many speak about God, about the loving heavenly Father, but don’t recognize that the Father became our Saviour through the Son. Thus, the true belief in the Father begins with believing in the Son, because in the Son our redemption happened. The only valid faith in God is the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. For only in Him, God met personally with humanity, and in Him, we can meet God and see God and be saved. We have to believe in Him in the way He was revealed for our sake.

Because of us, He had to establish a Father–Son relationship. We were to become sons and daughters of God. In II Samuel 7: 14, we find the prophetic announcement, “I will be his father, and he shall be my son.” But it doesn’t stop there. God includes all His sons and daughters into His big programme. In Hosea 1: 10b, we read, “Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.” This became possible through Jesus Christ. Paul states in II Cor. 6: 18, “… and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” All true sons and daughters of God will be obedient and prove themselves to be faithful.

In Eph. 1: 5, the apostle Paul emphasizes God’s plan with us, expressing it as follows, “… having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will …” We are speaking about God and His plan with humanity. There are people on earth who realize what it means to be part of God’s plan. They were chosen in Christ, they are in Him. Therefore, no charge is being put against them. They have received total justification through redemption. They are pleasing God, having been placed as sons and daughters.

In reference to the relationship of Father and Son, we read in Psalms 89, verse 26-27, “He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also I will make Him my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth.” It was prophecy in the Old Testament, but we see the fulfilment thereof through Jesus Christ, our Lord. In the body of flesh, He suffered and died as the only begotten Son, taking the place of all the sons and daughters of God. Through His resurrection, His body was changed from mortality into immortality. In this fact, our resurrection and the changing of our bodies is guaranteed.

We don’t deal with a teaching only, about which people may like to discuss. We are referring to the realization of God’s plan of salvation, who takes the children of man and makes them children of God. Not only our sin had to be taken from us, but we also had to be redeemed from death and delivered from hell. In Psalms 68: 19-20, we read, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. He who is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God, the Lord, belong the issues from death.”

Not one who was born into this world had power over death. On the contrary; everybody was taken by death except Enoch and Elijah. We have many cemetries around us. It is a coming and going. But the Lord said, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy plagues; o grave, I will be thy destruction; repentance shall be hidden from mine eyes.” (Hosea 13: 14).

This was a promise in the Old Testament — it’s a reality now. We know the One who conquered death, Satan and hell for our sake. In Zechariah 9: 11, we read, “As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit in which is no water.” We know of Lazarus and the rich man, who was crying for water.

The atonement was also for those who had waited for the Messiah to come. They went into paradise, but when Christ rose, those of the Old Testament period, which should have part in the first resurrection, came forth with Him from the grave (Matthew 27, from verse 51). In Eph. 4: 8, we read, “Wherefore, he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.”

The new covenant was already promised in the Old Testament. We are dealing with divinely confirmed reality. The prophet Jeremiah wrote in chapter 31: 31-34, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant … not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers … 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. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

The Lord God also gave the following promise and made it possible, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep mine ordinances, and do them.” (Ezek. 36: 26-27).

We now look back to the great day of atonement, knowing He forgave our iniquities and remembers our sin no more. When our Saviour died, the new covenant was established. He Himself testified about it, before it actually happened, in Matthew 26: 28, “… For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” The Gospels contain the record of what has taken place when our Saviour died. There were also the witnesses who saw Him after His resurrection. It is not a story, it is Truth. He came forth as the mighty Conqueror.

The apostle Peter writes about this great event, “… For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit” (I Peter 3: 18). We are bought with a precious price. We are redeemed, we are delivered. Death and hell have lost their claims on us. We simply believe what God says in His Word, “Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Hebrews 2: 14-15). He finished the work of redemption, as He rose on the third day. Then He stayed with His disciples for forty days, speaking to them about the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. Later He was taken up to heaven before the eyes of His disciples (Luke 24: 50-51). The respective Scriptures are known to all of us.

The overwhelming part is that all things were predicted and foretold in the Old Testament and then witnessed and experienced in the New. In Psalms 68: 18, it says, “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive.” A similar prediction is found in Psalms 47: 5, “God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.” We all know that Jesus Christ went up, but we also realize that He was God, manifested in the flesh. Therefore it is true, that God ascended with shouting. God’s plan with humanity became a reality. In Eph. 4: 10, we read, “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.”

We could continue to give many more Scriptures relevant to the subject. We conclude this chapter with the following statement, ‘“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures; and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present time, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then, of all the apostles. And last of all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.” (I Cor. 15: 3-8).

ln Psalms 2: 7, we read, “I will declare the decree: The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” The word “this day” or, as some translations put, “today” has no connection to eternity. It speaks of time. In the Old Testament it was already a promise of what was to happen in the future. Now we look back and see the same fulfilled. The whole plan of salvation was laid down in the prophetic Word in the Old Testament; but the fulfilment of every promise takes place in the New. In Psalms 2: 8, we read about the Son, “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” In verses 7 and 8, we hear about the Son and that all nations would be given to Him as an inheritance. It must be clear to all that nobody can be saved by simply believing in the existence of God, because the devil also believes in Him and trembles (James 2:19). The redeeming, the saving faith is to believe that the one true God has reconciled us unto Himself through the Son. If somebody does not believe in the direct manifestation of God in Christ, he simply is lost. The Scripture still is valid, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” (Acts 16: 31). The Son became our Saviour; therefore, we must believe in Him, in order to get saved.

In Psalms 2: 12, more light is being shed upon the subject. We find the statement, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they who put their trust in Him.” We cannot bypass this Word lightly. Many speak about God, about the loving heavenly Father, but don’t recognize that the Father became our Saviour through the Son. Thus, the true belief in the Father begins with believing in the Son, because in the Son our redemption happened. The only valid faith in God is the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. For only in Him, God met personally with humanity, and in Him, we can meet God and see God and be saved. We have to believe in Him in the way He was revealed for our sake.

Because of us, He had to establish a Father–Son relationship. We were to become sons and daughters of God. In II Samuel 7: 14, we find the prophetic announcement, “I will be his father, and he shall be my son.” But it doesn’t stop there. God includes all His sons and daughters into His big programme. In Hosea 1: 10b, we read, “Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.” This became possible through Jesus Christ. Paul states in II Cor. 6: 18, “… and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” All true sons and daughters of God will be obedient and prove themselves to be faithful.

In Eph. 1: 5, the apostle Paul emphasizes God’s plan with us, expressing it as follows, “… having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will …” We are speaking about God and His plan with humanity. There are people on earth who realize what it means to be part of God’s plan. They were chosen in Christ, they are in Him. Therefore, no charge is being put against them. They have received total justification through redemption. They are pleasing God, having been placed as sons and daughters.

In reference to the relationship of Father and Son, we read in Psalms 89, verse 26-27, “He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also I will make Him my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth.” It was prophecy in the Old Testament, but we see the fulfilment thereof through Jesus Christ, our Lord. In the body of flesh, He suffered and died as the only begotten Son, taking the place of all the sons and daughters of God. Through His resurrection, His body was changed from mortality into immortality. In this fact, our resurrection and the changing of our bodies is guaranteed.

We don’t deal with a teaching only, about which people may like to discuss. We are referring to the realization of God’s plan of salvation, who takes the children of man and makes them children of God. Not only our sin had to be taken from us, but we also had to be redeemed from death and delivered from hell. In Psalms 68: 19-20, we read, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. He who is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God, the Lord, belong the issues from death.”

Not one who was born into this world had power over death. On the contrary; everybody was taken by death except Enoch and Elijah. We have many cemetries around us. It is a coming and going. But the Lord said, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy plagues; o grave, I will be thy destruction; repentance shall be hidden from mine eyes.” (Hosea 13: 14).

This was a promise in the Old Testament — it’s a reality now. We know the One who conquered death, Satan and hell for our sake. In Zechariah 9: 11, we read, “As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit in which is no water.” We know of Lazarus and the rich man, who was crying for water.

The atonement was also for those who had waited for the Messiah to come. They went into paradise, but when Christ rose, those of the Old Testament period, which should have part in the first resurrection, came forth with Him from the grave (Matthew 27, from verse 51). In Eph. 4: 8, we read, “Wherefore, he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.”

The new covenant was already promised in the Old Testament. We are dealing with divinely confirmed reality. The prophet Jeremiah wrote in chapter 31: 31-34, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant … not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers … 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. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

The Lord God also gave the following promise and made it possible, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep mine ordinances, and do them.” (Ezek. 36: 26-27).

We now look back to the great day of atonement, knowing He forgave our iniquities and remembers our sin no more. When our Saviour died, the new covenant was established. He Himself testified about it, before it actually happened, in Matthew 26: 28, “… For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” The Gospels contain the record of what has taken place when our Saviour died. There were also the witnesses who saw Him after His resurrection. It is not a story, it is Truth. He came forth as the mighty Conqueror.

The apostle Peter writes about this great event, “… For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit” (I Peter 3: 18). We are bought with a precious price. We are redeemed, we are delivered. Death and hell have lost their claims on us. We simply believe what God says in His Word, “Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Hebrews 2: 14-15). He finished the work of redemption, as He rose on the third day. Then He stayed with His disciples for forty days, speaking to them about the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. Later He was taken up to heaven before the eyes of His disciples (Luke 24: 50-51). The respective Scriptures are known to all of us.

The overwhelming part is that all things were predicted and foretold in the Old Testament and then witnessed and experienced in the New. In Psalms 68: 18, it says, “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive.” A similar prediction is found in Psalms 47: 5, “God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.” We all know that Jesus Christ went up, but we also realize that He was God, manifested in the flesh. Therefore it is true, that God ascended with shouting. God’s plan with humanity became a reality. In Eph. 4: 10, we read, “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.”

We could continue to give many more Scriptures relevant to the subject. We conclude this chapter with the following statement, ‘“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures; and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present time, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then, of all the apostles. And last of all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.” (I Cor. 15: 3-8).