God created mankind after his own image, and made man to have a personal relationship with himself. The Lord determined to manifest his presence to man, and to open the possibility of holding fellowship and communion with him. We see this from the very beginning, in the Garden of Eden before the fall. But the Lord was not obligated to do this. He voluntarily condescended to do it, for the purpose of his own glory. So one question is, how did he do it? In other words, in what way did God determine to relate to man? The Bible teaches that God chose to relate to man by way of covenant.