The only way one could become an heir to eternal life under the first covenant was to never sin. However, there was a fault in the first testament in that all mankind sinned! Therefore, no one could gain eternal life under the first testament. Since the first covenant contained faults, God created a second or New Testament:

Is it not inconceivable that omnipotent God produced a covenant that contained faults? However, was the fault with God or man? Was it God's fault that no man ever had the character to live a sinless life? Was it true that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God?" Could any human ever live a sinless life and become an heir to eternal life under the Old Testament? Why would God make the requirements so strict that no one could qualify? Look at what God desired to accomplish. He is creating replacement caretakers for the angels who sinned and failed their original assignment on earth:

Jesus, or the Word, created everything that was ever created:

He would not directly create immortal spiritual angels again. He would create man a little lower than the angels and have them earn immortality through their obedience. After all, the angels on earth did not work out because they sinned against God. Therefore, in His plan to create replacement caretakers, He would rule out the character flaw which caused the original caretakers to fail. That flaw was sin! Any humans who sinned would not be allowed to eat from the tree of life and live forever. If they sinned they would die the second death and that would be the end of them forever. This was the design philosophy of the Old Testament covenant.

Man and woman were created separately in the Garden of Eden and both could make their own independent choices. Both chose to eat from the tree which God commanded them not to eat from. Thus they sinned, just as the rebellious angels they were created to eventually replace. God separated them from the tree of life so they could not eat its fruit and live forever. He then created laws which mankind must individually obey in order to gain eternal life. If any man or woman could live a sinless mortal life by obeying God's laws, that person would inherit eternal life. This would rule out sinners from becoming immortal spirits. However, no human ever became an heir under this covenant because every human ever created had sinned.

Once the Trinity of God makes an agreement and sets the steps in place to create that agreement, God never violates His part of the agreement. God remains constant:

If the wages of sin is death and all have sinned, then all must die! That's how the original testament was set up. Thus, no replacements would be created under this covenant! What to do?

Suppose some human could live a sinless life. He would not be under the death sentence. He could then give his life freely as a sacrifice for the others to free them from the death sentence imposed by the first covenant. Man would then no longer be liable under that first covenant. Our liability would be eliminated when the penalty was paid. Therefore, we could enter into another covenant with God in which the flaw in the original could be corrected. This is exactly what occurred when Jesus Christ came to earth as a human. He lived a sinless life, then sacrificed His life as punishment for our sins. Since His sacrifice made eternal life possible for us, the new requirement to attain eternal life under the New Testament became a belief in Jesus Christ and recognition of His sacrifice.

Under the New Testament man came under grace and not the law. Good works earned one salvation under the Old Testament. That is, if a person never violated any of God's laws, he gained eternal life. After Jesus died for us, we fell under the grace of Jesus Christ for our salvation, not our works to fulfill the law. So sin does not control our salvation:

We must now believe in Jesus Christ to inherit eternal life. Upon creating a New Testament, the first covenant became the Old Testament:

When did the Old Testament vanish away and the New Testament become valid?

A testator is a person who makes a will. "A testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth." Therefore, the New Testament became effective and the Old Testament vanished away as a will when Jesus Christ died on the cross. Once the New Testament became the active will, no one could gain eternal life by remaining sinless as required under the Old Testament. This includes infants! The only path to salvation presently is through a belief in Jesus Christ under terms of the New Testament covenant. Infants do not believe in Jesus Christ:

The path by which infants inherit the Kingdom of God is covered in Chapter 8 entitled The Resurrections - What Really Happens. Only those who qualify under terms of the New Testament covenant gain everlasting life. Those terms are:

If we believe in Jesus we become heirs to the Kingdom of God under terms of the New Testament which became effective when Jesus died on the cross. We enter the Kingdom of God when born again as a spiritual being at or after our resurrection. It is a real experience, not simply some emotional sensation one gets when he or she accepts Christ. The two requirements to enter the Kingdom of God are clearly stated in the following verses:

The two requirements are to be born as a human being of water, then to be born again as a spirit.

In reading the Bible from start to finish, one will notice a sharp contrast between the two testaments. The Old Testament is considerably more ruthless and bloody as compared with the New Testament. One explanation for this is the different requirements under which one could become an heir under the two testaments. Under the Old Testament one had to never sin. Therefore, any potential obstacle which might cause one to sin needed to be ruthlessly eliminated. God apparently agreed as He commanded the children of Israel to erase all life from the cities in the lands He gave to them as an inheritance. If any life remained it would be a stumbling block and temptation to sin:

Not only did God command the children of Israel to kill every living thing, He even listed the peoples to be destroyed so there would be absolutely no misunderstanding. The children of Israel violated this command to kill every living thing and later intermarried and worshiped the gods of these people:

Their failure to obey this bloody command of God may explain the constant warring in the Middle East to this day. That is, surviving relatives and offspring from the original inhabitants have been competing with Israel over possession of the Promised Land to this day. Contrast the Old Testament approach to the New Testament philosophy. The New Testament taught a totally opposite approach of turning the other cheek and forgiveness:

The general Old Testament theme is fighting evil with evil, an eye for an eye. Although this "eye for an eye" policy may originally sound harsh, it can also be viewed as setting an upper limit on punishments. That is, if a person puts your eye out, the most you can retaliate is to put out his eye, and no more. By contrast, the New Testament theme is forgiveness and overcoming evil with good:

Why this reversal of philosophies? Once again it is due to the requirements of the testaments. Under the New Testament sin can be forgiven since a scapegoat took the punishment for mankind's sin. Under the Old Testament one had to obey all commandments without exception and must accept the punishment of death for disobeying any commandment. Consequently, any source which might cause people to sin needed to be ruthlessly destroyed!

There were some God fearing people who lived during Old Testament times, but they all sinned. Since Jesus had not as yet died for their sins, what happened to Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, Solomon, David, and others? They are presently dead and buried: