Tag Archives: cosmic

Eden as Cosmic Temple, Cosmic Rebellion, and the Reversal of the Curse

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Introduction

The opening chapters of Genesis have traditionally been interpreted primarily as a narrative describing the origin of humanity and the fall of Adam and Eve. While this reading is not incorrect, it may be incomplete. Increasingly, scholars have recognized that Genesis 1–11 presents a much broader theological framework in which the story of humanity unfolds alongside a wider cosmic conflict involving both human and spiritual agents.¹ When read within the ancient Near Eastern context and the larger biblical narrative, the Garden of Eden appears not merely as a geographical location but as the primordial temple of creation, the sacred center where heaven and earth intersect.

Within this framework, Genesis 1–11 may be understood as the opening movement of a larger biblical drama—one that narrates a series of escalating rebellions that disrupt God’s intended order for creation. These rebellions involve both humanity and spiritual beings and culminate in the need for divine restoration. The New Testament ultimately portrays the work of Christ as the decisive reversal of this cosmic disorder, restoring humanity’s original vocation and reclaiming creation from the powers that had corrupted it.

Eden as the Cosmic Temple

A growing body of scholarship recognizes that the imagery surrounding Eden closely parallels the symbolism of later biblical temples.² The garden contains precious stones and gold, features rivers flowing outward from its center, and is guarded by cherubim following humanity’s expulsion.³ Ezekiel’s depiction of Eden further situates it upon the “mountain of God,” imagery frequently associated with sacred cosmic geography.⁴ These elements strongly suggest that Eden functions as the sanctuary of creation, the place where divine presence and human vocation converge.

Within this sacred environment, Adam appears to be commissioned with a priestly role. Genesis 2:15 states that Adam was placed in the garden “to work it and to keep it.” The Hebrew verbs ʿābad (“serve”) and šāmar (“guard”) later describe the duties of Levites serving in the tabernacle.⁵ This linguistic correspondence indicates that Adam’s task is not merely agricultural but priestly: he is appointed to guard sacred space and maintain the order of God’s sanctuary.⁶

The opening structure of Genesis has often been interpreted as recursive, with Genesis 1 providing a cosmic overview of creation and Genesis 2 retelling the story with a specific focus on Adam and Eve.⁷ However, the narrative can also be read sequentially, much like any other historical narrative. In this reading, Genesis 1 describes the creation of humanity in general terms while Genesis 2 focuses on the installation of Adam within the sacred environment of Eden.

Under this interpretation, Adam may be understood as the first human placed within God’s cosmic temple, while humanity more broadly inhabits the wider earth. One might describe this broader human realm—borrowing Tolkien’s evocative language—as the “lower earth,” the ordinary sphere of human habitation outside the sanctuary of Eden. Adam is then placed within the garden as humanity’s representative priest within sacred space.

Humanity Beyond Eden and the Creation of Eve

Reading Genesis in this narrative manner offers a possible resolution to several tensions within the early chapters of Scripture. After the murder of Abel, Cain fears retaliation from others and subsequently establishes a city.⁸ Such details imply the presence of a broader human population beyond Adam’s immediate family.

Within this framework, the creation of Eve may be understood not as the creation of the second human in existence but as the creation of a suitable partner within the sacred environment of Eden. The text emphasizes that no suitable helper was found for Adam among the animals, not necessarily that no other humans existed elsewhere. Eve therefore functions as Adam’s partner within his priestly vocation inside the garden. This interpretation preserves Adam’s unique role as the first human placed within sacred space while allowing for the presence of humanity outside the garden.

Genesis 1–11 as the Narrative of Cosmic Rebellion

When read together, Genesis 1–11 may be understood as a narrative describing a series of escalating rebellions that disrupt God’s intended order for creation. The fall in Eden introduces disobedience within sacred space. Genesis 6 describes divine beings transgressing their proper boundaries and corrupting humanity. The Tower of Babel narrative portrays humanity once again challenging divine authority.

These events align closely with what many scholars have described as the Deuteronomy 32 worldview, in which the nations of the earth become associated with spiritual powers following Babel while Israel remains under the direct authority of Yahweh.⁹ Within this framework, the primeval history depicts both human and spiritual rebellion unfolding together.

From this perspective, the fall of Adam and Eve may coincide with the corruption of a divine challenger figure—often identified with ha-śāṭān—who oversteps his role within the divine council. The Eden narrative therefore may represent a dual fall: the failure of humanity’s priestly representatives and the simultaneous corruption of a cosmic adversary.

This possibility also opens the door for reconsidering the chronological placement of the Book of Job within the primeval narrative (several scholars have noted Job and Song of Solomon to be ordered within Genesis 1-2). If the adversarial figure in Job is understood as functioning in a legitimate challenger role within the divine council, the events of Job could plausibly occur prior to the events of Eden, portraying the challenger in a pre-fall state and perhaps within the sphere of ordinary human life—what might be described as the “lower earth,” the broader realm of humanity outside the sacred garden. Such a framework naturally raises an important theological question concerning the place of sin in the unfolding story. Was sin first introduced through the failure of Adam and Eve within Eden, or could forms of moral disorder have already existed within the wider human world beyond the garden? The language of Romans 5:12 need not require that Adam be the first being to sin in any conceivable realm of creation; rather, Paul’s argument could center on Adam as the representative head through whom sin and death enter the human order in a covenantally decisive way. Within this temple framework, Adam’s failure within sacred space marks the moment when sin becomes universally determinative for humanity, even if rebellion may have already existed elsewhere in creation.

A further interpretive consideration concerns the meaning of the term Adam itself. In the Hebrew Scriptures, ʾādām often functions not strictly as a proper name but as a collective term referring to humanity or humankind more broadly. When Paul draws upon Adam in Romans 5:12, his argument is framed in corporate and representative terms, contrasting the fate of humanity “in Adam” with the new life offered “in Christ.” Within this framework, Adam may be understood not merely as an isolated individual but as the representative embodiment of humanity itself. Such a reading emphasizes Paul’s theological point: that sin and death enter the human order through humanity’s representative head, just as righteousness and life are restored through the representative work of Christ.

The Problem of Spiritual Powers in the Old Testament

One of the central tensions of the Old Testament emerges from this cosmic conflict. Humanity was created to function as God’s royal priesthood, mediating divine presence and extending God’s rule throughout creation.¹⁰ Yet throughout Israel’s history, humanity repeatedly abandons this vocation.

The biblical narrative frequently attributes this corruption not only to human disobedience but also to the influence of hostile spiritual powers. These powers appear repeatedly throughout the Old Testament narrative, drawing humanity away from its intended role and contributing to the persistent cycle of rebellion that characterizes the biblical story.

Christ and the Reversal of the Curse

The New Testament presents the work of Jesus as the decisive resolution to this cosmic conflict. The ministry, death, and resurrection of Christ are portrayed not only as the redemption of humanity but also as the defeat of the rebellious spiritual powers that had corrupted creation.

Some scholars have described this victory as a Christus Victor event, in which Christ triumphs over the hostile powers and reclaims authority over creation.¹¹ In this sense, the work of Christ may be understood as the moment in which God begins reversing the curse introduced in the primeval rebellions.

This theme is symbolically reinforced in the geographical setting of several events in Jesus’ ministry. The region of Bashan, historically associated with the domain of rebellious spiritual beings and the traditions surrounding Mount Hermon, becomes the setting for Jesus’ declaration that “the gates of Hades will not prevail.”¹² Within this framework, the cross and resurrection represent the decisive reversal of the cosmic disorder that began in the earliest chapters of Genesis.

Through Christ’s victory, the powers are subdued, the authority of the adversary is broken, and humanity’s original vocation is restored. The temple of God is no longer confined to a geographic sanctuary but is reconstituted in the people of God themselves, who once again become a royal priesthood called to mediate God’s presence in the world.

Conclusion

When Genesis 1–11 is read within the broader biblical narrative, the early chapters of Scripture appear to describe far more than the origin of human sin. They depict the opening stage of a cosmic conflict involving both humanity and spiritual powers. Within this framework, Eden functions as the sacred center of creation, where humanity is installed as priestly representatives of God’s rule.

The rebellion that unfolds within these chapters involves both human disobedience and the corruption of spiritual beings who seek to undermine God’s order. Yet the biblical story does not end with this cosmic disorder. The New Testament presents the work of Christ as the decisive turning point in which the curse is reversed, the powers are subdued, and humanity’s original vocation is restored.

Thus the story that begins in Eden ultimately finds its resolution in Christ, who reclaims creation, restores God’s temple among his people, and establishes once again the royal priesthood that humanity was always intended to be.

Footnotes

Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm, 287–293.

Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm (Bellingham: Lexham, 2015), 23–28.

John H. Walton, The Lost World of Genesis One (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2009), 72–74.

G. K. Beale, The Temple and the Church’s Mission (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2004), 66–80.

Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 1–15 (WBC 1; Dallas: Word, 1987), 61–63.

Beale, Temple and the Church’s Mission, 67–70.

John H. Walton, The Lost World of Adam and Eve (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2015), 92–95.

Kenneth A. Mathews, Genesis 1–11:26 (NAC; Nashville: B&H, 1996), 188–190.

Victor P. Hamilton, Genesis 1–17 (NICOT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), 238–240.

Patrick D. Miller, Deuteronomy (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1990), 255–258.

G. K. Beale, Temple and the Church’s Mission, 81–90.

Gustaf Aulén, Christus Victor (London: SPCK, 1931), 20–22.

Red Moons, Red Heifers, and the Temptation to Weaponize Jesus

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Apocalyptic Anxiety, Prophetic Imagination, and Faithful Christian Eschatology

Introduction: Living Faithfully in an Age of Apocalyptic Noise

In every generation, the people of God have wrestled with headlines, celestial events, wars, and rumors of wars. In our moment, images of blood-red moons, renewed interest in the red heifer ritual, Purim framed through geopolitical conflict, and even portrayals of a militarized Jesus circulate rapidly across Christian media. These phenomena are frequently interpreted as decisive indicators that “we are in the last days.”

As followers of Christ committed to careful biblical theology, we must ask: What is faithful eschatological attentiveness, and what drifts toward speculation? How do we distinguish biblical prophecy from patterns that more closely resemble divination? And how do we guard against subtly weaponizing Jesus in the service of national or ideological agendas?

This essay proposes that much contemporary apocalyptic rhetoric conflates symbolic prophetic language with predictive sign-reading, misapplies temple typology, and risks distorting the cruciform nature of Christ’s kingship. I ask you to consider a better theology, one that is deeply rooted, Christ-centered eschatology that cultivates hope without hysteria.

Cosmic Imagery and the Language of Blood Moons

The phrase “the moon will be turned to blood” appears in Joel 2:31 and is echoed in Acts 2:20 and Revelation 6:12.¹ Yet within prophetic and apocalyptic literature, such imagery functions symbolically to describe covenantal upheaval and divine intervention, not necessarily astronomical forecasting.²

When Peter cites Joel at Pentecost (Acts 2:16–21), he interprets the prophecy as fulfilled in the outpouring of the Spirit.³ The early church did not await literal lunar phenomena; they recognized that the decisive turning point in redemptive history had already occurred in Christ’s death, resurrection, and exaltation.⁴

Scholars such as John Walton remind us that in the Ancient Near East, celestial events were commonly interpreted as omens.⁵ Israel’s Torah, however, explicitly forbids divinatory practices tied to signs and portents (Deut 18:10–14).⁶ When modern Christians assign predictive significance to eclipses in ways that mirror ancient omen-reading, the hermeneutical posture begins to resemble the very practices Scripture warns against.⁷

Apocalyptic imagery unveils theological realities—it does not invite astrological decoding.

Red Heifers, Temple Expectation, and the Finality of Christ

The red heifer ritual of Numbers 19 concerns purification under the Mosaic covenant.⁸ Contemporary movements anticipating a Third Temple sometimes treat the reintroduction of this ritual as a necessary eschatological trigger.⁹

Yet the New Testament consistently reinterprets temple theology christologically. Jesus declares himself the true temple (John 2:19–21).¹⁰ Paul extends temple identity to the gathered people of God (1 Cor 3:16).¹¹ The epistle to the Hebrews insists that Christ’s priestly work is once-for-all and surpasses the sacrificial system (Heb 9–10).¹²

To frame renewed animal sacrifice as a prophetic necessity risks implying insufficiency in Christ’s atoning work.¹³ As Steve Gregg has argued in his engagement with Revelation’s various interpretive frameworks, much apocalyptic expectation misunderstands the covenantal transition already accomplished in the first century.¹⁴

Looking for a rebuilding of the Temple is a slap in the face to Jesus; it is essentially saying you don’t believe He was enough.

The trajectory of Scripture moves from shadow to substance—not from substance back to shadow.

Purim, Empire, and the Danger of Weaponizing Jesus

The book of Esther recounts Jewish survival within imperial Persia and culminates in the celebration of Purim (Esth 9).¹⁵ It is a narrative of providence and covenant preservation—not a blueprint for Christian militarization.

Revelation 19 portrays Christ as a rider on a white horse, yet the sword proceeds from his mouth—symbolizing the power of his word.¹⁶ Earlier, Revelation presents the conquering Messiah as the slain Lamb (Rev 5:6).¹⁷ The Lamb’s victory comes through self-giving sacrifice.

Shane J. Wood argues that Revelation functions as an unveiling of how empire masquerades as ultimate power while the Lamb redefines kingship through suffering love.¹⁸ The book calls believers to faithful witness, not violent triumphalism.¹⁹

When Jesus is draped in national symbolism or framed primarily as a military figure aligned with geopolitical agendas, the church risks conflating the kingdom of God with earthly power structures—precisely the confusion Revelation critiques.²⁰

The Lamb conquers not by coercion, but by cruciform allegiance.

Prophecy and Divination: A Crucial Distinction

Biblical prophecy is covenant proclamation rooted in God’s revealed purposes.²¹ Divination, by contrast, seeks hidden knowledge through decoding signs, omens, or speculative patterns.²²

Jeremiah warns against prophets who speak “visions of their own minds” (Jer 23:16).²³ Ezekiel rebukes those who practice “lying divination” (Ezek 13:6–9).²⁴ Jesus himself cautions his disciples against alarmism: “See that you are not alarmed” (Matt 24:6).²⁵

The apostolic exhortation is vigilance without panic (1 Thess 5:1–8).²⁶ When Christian rhetoric becomes dominated by chronological speculation tied to celestial events or ritual developments, it begins to mirror the divinatory impulse Scripture explicitly forbids.²⁷

True prophecy deepens faithfulness. Divination fuels anxiety.

Eschatology as Unveiling: Living in the Already and Not Yet

Christian eschatology has long been described as “already and not yet.”²⁸ Christ has decisively inaugurated the kingdom, yet its fullness awaits consummation.

Wood’s “thin veil” metaphor captures apocalyptic literature’s purpose: heaven’s perspective breaks into earthly history, revealing who truly reigns.²⁹ Revelation is not primarily a timetable but a theological unveiling of allegiance, empire, and worship.³⁰

Thus, blood moons need not provoke fear. Red heifers need not signal regression. Wars and rumors of wars do not require sacralized nationalism. The church’s vocation remains steadfast: faithful witness shaped by the Lamb.³¹

Peter reminds believers that they are a holy nation—not defined by geopolitical boundaries, but by covenant identity in Christ (1 Pet 2:9–12).³²

Our eschatological posture is hopeful watchfulness grounded in the finished work of Jesus.

Conclusion: Hope Without Hysteria

The final word of Revelation is not dread but invitation: “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come’” (Rev 22:17).³³

Apocalyptic texts unveil hope, not panic. They expose empire, not empower it. They center the Lamb, not lunar cycles.

To remain faithful in an age of apocalyptic noise is not to disengage from current events, but to interpret them through the crucified and risen Christ. We do not decode eclipses; we embody the kingdom. We do not weaponize Jesus; we witness to him.

In a world prone to sensationalism, the church’s steadiness becomes its testimony.

Footnotes

  1. Joel 2:31; Acts 2:20; Rev 6:12.
  2. G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation.
  3. Acts 2:16–21.
  4. Richard Bauckham, The Theology of the Book of Revelation.
  5. John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament.
  6. Deut 18:10–14.
  7. Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm.
  8. Num 19.
  9. Randall Price, The Temple and Bible Prophecy.
  10. John 2:19–21.
  11. 1 Cor 3:16.
  12. Heb 9–10.
  13. David Peterson, Hebrews and Perfection.
  14. Steve Gregg, Revelation: Four Views.
  15. Esth 9.
  16. Rev 19:15.
  17. Rev 5:6.
  18. Shane J. Wood, Thinning the Veil.
  19. Rev 12:11.
  20. Rev 13; Bauckham.
  21. Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination.
  22. Deut 18:10–14.
  23. Jer 23:16.
  24. Ezek 13:6–9.
  25. Matt 24:6.
  26. 1 Thess 5:1–8.
  27. Heiser, The Unseen Realm.
  28. George Eldon Ladd, The Presence of the Future.
  29. Wood, Thinning the Veil.
  30. Eugene H. Peterson, Reversed Thunder.
  31. Rev 12:11.
  32. 1 Pet 2:9–12.
  33. Rev 22:17.

Bibliography

Bauckham, Richard. The Theology of the Book of Revelation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Beale, G. K. The Book of Revelation. New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Brueggemann, Walter. The Prophetic Imagination. 2nd ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Gregg, Steve. Revelation: Four Views. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Heiser, Michael S. The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Ladd, George Eldon. The Presence of the Future. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Peterson, David. Hebrews and Perfection. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Peterson, Eugene H. Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination. San Francisco: HarperCollins.

Price, Randall. The Temple and Bible Prophecy. Eugene, OR: Harvest House.

Walton, John H. Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Wood, Shane J. Thinning the Veil: Revelation and the Kingdom of Heaven. Cincinnati: Standard Publishing.

NATURAL ORDER

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I want to talk about what is meant by God’s order, but before I do that, I want to guide you through a brief exegetical teaching through the text. When you hear the word order in relation to a biblical sense we have been conditioned to think about creation, law, hierarchy in the church and marriage, and perhaps even church discipline. Although it encompasses those things, I find it unfortunate that we start there, and therefore I feel we might need some deconstruction to get to good.

In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; in the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch. Psalm 5:3 NASB

As I begin to read this in Hebrew the first thing that I notice in contrast to most English translations is the phrase “My prayer” is not found in the text. It isn’t a bad translation as I get the context leans that way but in Hebrew the verse better reads, “I will order toward you” which emphasizes a slightly different posture. Interesting the word prayer isn’t really there, perhaps a NT implication or even insertion. Prayer in the OT was a bit different than the way we understand it today. It was communal and far less personal (unless God appeared to you in a bush and orally spoke directly to you), after Jesus ascends to the throne and sends the Spirit to dwell in us and intercede, the biblical concept of prayer takes on a different form than what it had been considered over the last 2000 years or more. The way people thought of “prayer” in the OT may or may not be accurate. Are we just reading what they thought prayer was supposed to be perhaps based on what they knew of their former deities? Is this something that they got a bit off track with and Jesus sought to adjust or shed new light on? Perhaps, but perhaps not. Maybe our prayer should take a cue from the OT notions. When we read this verse in Hebrew form, we see that David isn’t talking about ritualistic prayer, or is he? He isn’t necessarily folding his hands and closing his eyes – but he is sort of. He is making a statement that if his life is in alignment with what is of God – TOV (creation order language), then he expects God to acknowledge and “DO THINGS” on his behalf. This may tie into the never-ending OT grappling over whether God was retributive or not, but it certainly had the trajectory of demonstrating the idea of devotion in connection to intimacy with the Lord. This connection over the years will then be attributed to the conjecture of relationship with the father in prayer. Some prayer is communal and some is personal.

Different people interact with God differently and perhaps in different seasons. Some say they don’t hear God and others act like God never stops screaming in their ear. How can the voice of God differ from person to person? Is it based on the posture of the heart, covenant faithfulness, gifting, seasons, understanding, choice, some sort of prejudice, or something completely different that is higher than our understanding? I believe that God is just that dynamic. I don’t know why He communicates differently to people and what it might be based on; I don’t always have the eyes of God. I believe Him to be Sovereign and know significantly more than we do in a much more complex grid. I am convinced that there are many things that influence this covenant relationship at a cosmic level. It is far bigger than simply me, and to think of my relationship with God (the creator of the universe) as doating on my every thought seems like a selfish notion. Does that view minimize a personal relationship or exemplify it?

God’s order is described in everything naturally defined by Yahweh and described generally as what is good (TOV). This is creation, the waters, the counting of the ark, the building of the temple, the pieces of firewood set in order for a sacrificial fire, showbread set out in two rows of six cakes on the gold table (Lev 24:8); seven altars set up by the pagan mantic Balaam (Num 23:4); stalks of flax arranged by Rahab for hiding the spies (Josh 2:6); a table prepared for dining (Ps 23:5; Isa 21:5); words produced for speaking (Job 32:14); a legal case developed for presentation (Job 13:18); etc. In II Sam 23:5 David exults in the covenant granted him by Yahweh, “for he has made with me an everlasting covenant, / ordered (ʿărûkâ) in all things and secure.[1] We see God’s order in many ways, but the common thread that binds seems to be that it is given as a framework for our devotion to Him. This intimate devotion that is often described as reading or memorizing scripture, devotional repetition, standards of practice and living, and so much more are all described as what it means to be defined as SET APART. That we are defined and claimed as part of God’s order not the chaos of the world.

What defines this? Covenant. Covenant is the secure, accessible, and recognizable attribute of everything good that God offers to us. It is the basis of all of our interaction with the LORD. Without covenant we are detached or separated from the creator and his ways. When David chooses every morning to be in order, he is making a statement about the balance of life and the posture of the heart. The Hebrew term בְּרִית bĕriyth for “covenant” is from a root with the sense of “cutting”, because pacts or covenants were made by passing between cut pieces of flesh of an animal sacrifice.[2] It meant something deep.

The New Covenant is a biblical interpretation originally derived from a phrase in the Book of Jeremiah and often thought of as an eschatological world to come related to the biblical concept of the Kingdom of God. Generally, Christians believe that the New Covenant was instituted at the Last Supper as part of the Eucharist, which in the Gospel of John includes the New Commandment.[3] A connection between the Blood of Christ and the New Covenant is portrayed with the saying: “this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood”. Jesus is therefore the mediator of this New Covenant, and that his blood, shed is the required blood of the covenant. This is true looking back in both testaments and can be seen in all of the biblical covenants of the bible.

In the Christian context, this New Covenant is associated with the word ‘testament‘ in the sense of a ‘will left after the death of a person (Latin testamentum),[4] the original Greek word used in Scripture being diatheke (διαθήκη) which in the Greek context meant ‘will (left after death)’ but is also a word play having a dual meaning of ‘covenant, alliance’.[5] This notion implies a reinterpreted view of the Old Testament covenant as possessing characteristics of a ‘will left after death’ placing the old covenant, brit (בְּרִית) into a new application of understanding as revealed by the death, resurrection, ascension, and throning of CHRIST THE KING, JESUS. All things will forever connect at the covenants and be defined by the atoning accomplishments that transform into a covenant of eternity.

Order today might be better understood as a continually evolving algorithm based on the posture of your covenant faithfulness which, as I have described, is defined by many facets of devotion. Some may hear the audible voice of God more clearly while others simply see Him in every image. The revelation of God to us isn’t in a form of hierarchy. One form of transcendence doesn’t trump another. Who are we to judge anyway. But I do know that most of Christianity seems to be off course here. Rather than coming to the LORD as the cosmic wish granting genie in a bottle, let’s get back to biblical roots and think more covenantal and devotional based on the order that God modeled for us.

[1] Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., Jr., & Waltke, B. K. (Eds.). (1999). Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 696). Chicago: Moody Press.

[2] Strong’s Concordance (1890).

[3] “Comparison of the two covenants mediated by Moses and the two covenants mediated by Jesus”. 25 September 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-09-28. Retrieved 2023-01-29.

[4]“testamentum: Latin Word Study Tool”. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-12.

[5] G1242 – diathēkē – Strong’s Greek Lexicon (KJV)”. Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved 2020-08-12.