Last Sunday, we discussed three major characters in the great Scheme of Redemption. They are God, man, and Satan. These three are forever bound together in Scripture and whenever the Gospel is presented. There are many significant events in the Scheme of Redemption. I will be presenting here only some of the major benchmarks along that redemption history. Every Christian should be aware of these important events leading up to his redemption.

Bible students and scholars refer to the disobedience of Adam and Eve as "the Fall" of man. (Genesis 3.) Though the words, the Fall, are not used by Bible writers or speakers, the meaning certainly is found in Scripture. Here are some examples.

"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered the world and death by sin. So death passed upon all men for all have sinned." (Rom. 5:12.)

"This only have I found. God made man upright, but he sought out many inventions." (Eccl. 7:29.)

"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." (2 Cor. 11:3.)

On the occasion of the fall of man, we find these words to the serpent: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. He will crush thy head, but thou shalt bruise his heel." (Gen. 3:15.)

This passage, Genesis 3:15, is the beginning statement of God’s intent to solve the problem caused by the old serpent, the Devil. It is confirmed by subsequent history and by Revelation 12:10. John wrote, "Now is come salvation, strength, and the Kingdom of God and the power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death."

Whatever words are used to describe what happened in the Garden when man sinned, we know that something significant occurred. It is one of those one of a kind events that can never be repeated and once it occurs life for man will be forever changed.

Here are some things that I would say about this event: 1) One man brought sin into the world, 2) Only one man can remedy this problem, 3) Our sins do not have the same universal effect as did Adam’s; that is, our sins are not equal to what he did, 4) This was a big Fall, not a little fall. This was like falling off Niagara Falls, not sliding down a water slide at a water park!

The call of Abraham is another significant event in the great Scheme of Redemption. According to the words of the Chronicler of Israel, there are ten generations from Adam to Noah. They are named in 1 Chronicles 1:1. There are another ten generations from Shem to Abram. (1 Chronicles 1:24-27.) Thus, there are twenty generations named from Adam to Abraham. Those twenty generations of time are covered in the first eleven chapters of Genesis. Genesis twelve continues in a significant way the story of redemption.

"Now the Lord had unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great. And thou shalt be a blessing and I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee. And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." (Gen. 12:1-3.)

Two thousand years later, Peter preached on Pentecost, "You are the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." (Acts 3:25-26.)

There are three parts to the promise of God to Abraham. God promised Abram a nation (fulfilled in his great grandchildren---Israel), a land, and that he would bless all nations through him. This blessing was fulfilled through the lineage of David, the tribe of Judah, and finally through the virgin Mary. Three monotheistic religions claim Abraham; that is, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Islam can not lay any claim to the promises of God from Abraham. The lineage did not continue through Ishmael, as the Muslims claim. Abraham pleaded with the Lord to allow Ishmael to live before him (Genesis 17:18), but the promise continued only through the son of promise, Isaac.

"And as far as Ishmael, I have heard thee. Behold I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year." (Gen. 17:20-21.)

Abraham is such an important biblical figure in the Scheme of Redemption. New Testament writers continuously point back to him. There is a straight line from Abraham to Christ as far as salvation is concerned. Matthew wrote that there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian captivity, and fourteen from Babylonian captivity to Christ. (Matt. 1:17.) There were, then, forty-two generations from Abraham to Christ. Then he reported how Jesus was born of the virgin Mary. We have accurate means of dating history back to Abraham, who lived about 2000 BC. Therefore, we are four thousand years removed from the call and promises to Abraham.

It should be noted that Abraham preceded the Law by over 400 years. Paul wrote, "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many, but as of one, And to thy seed which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the Law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul that it should make the promise of none effect." (Gal. 3:16-17.)

The Law of Moses, if regarded properly, should be seen as something added to the promise to Abraham. It was added because of transgressions till the promised seed should come. (Gal. 3:19.) The Law of Moses would be a temporary covenant, but the covenant with Abraham would stand till the end of time. The Law applied to only one nation, Israel. The Promise applied to all nations. No one today can be under the first covenant or the Law of Moses.

Paul described the way man is related to the Law and the Gospel by using the marriage analogy. If a woman is married to a man, Paul wrote, she is under the law to her husband as long as he lives. If he dies, she is at liberty to marry another and not be called an adulteress. So Paul added that Christians are dead to the Law so that we might be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead. (Rom. 7:1-4.)

Here is a list of some important things concerning the Law and its role in God’s plan of redemption.

"Now we know that what things soever the Law saith, it saith to them who are under the Law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the Law is the knowledge of sin." (Rom. 3:19-20.)

"For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth." (Rom. 10:4.) "End" is not the opposite of beginning, but it means the goal or purpose of the Law.

"Wherefore the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy, just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin." (Rom. 7:12-14.)

The Law served a temporary purpose to bring men to Christ. "Wherefore the Law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster." (Gal. 3:24-25.)

The central event in man’s redemption occurred on Mount Calvary with the sacrificial offering of Jesus Christ. This event is the center of biblical history and the history of mankind is even dated from this time. Without Jesus, there could be no salvation for mankind. The justice of a holy God demanded a sacrifice for sin; nothing else could atone but the blood of Jesus Christ.

"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." (Heb. 2:9.)

"But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world." (Gal. 6:14.)

"Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." (1 Peter 1:18-19.)

"And almost all things are by the Law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission." (Heb. 9:22.) "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." (Heb. 10:4.)

"For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." (1 Cor. 2:2.)

"For you know the grace of Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich." (2 Cor. 8:9.)

"And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death." (Rev. 12:11.)