Eternal Perspectives

We are doing a survey of the Bible in my Thursday night Bible study, hoping to engage the text at a level deeper than Sunday School and to approach the depths achieved in some seminary courses.

Time prevents me from given an in-depth summary of each evening’s exploration of the Bible. What I hope to do instead is provide a running commentary on our studies for the benefit of anyone wanting a review or, for those who have missed some or all of the meetings, an idea of what we’ve been doing and what we will be doing. Of course, anyone can read the summaries and (I hope) profit thereby.

We have spent eight sessions so far and have covered the first six books of the Old Testament. Here is a synopsis of what we’ve done to this point. It must be noted that most of the material for this study comes from Bruce Waltke’s excellent text Old Testament Theology.

February 11, 2010: Creation as Salvation

The opening study looked at the overall picture of the Bible. The purpose of history, I suggested, was twofold: to bring glory to God and to restore the Kingdom of God to the earth.

In looking at the Book of Genesis, we noted that the book falls into two major sections. The first, covering chapters 1-11, looks at what might be called primeval history in the Bible; the second, chapters 12-50, begins the story of God’s work through Abraham and the people that will come from him.

My own understanding of the creation account in chapters 1-2 is not the one usually heard in church. I maintain that, while God did create the earth and all that is from nothing, the account in Genesis describes an already-existing world that is described in 1.2 as being under judgment. God’s rule and dominion were usurped, perhaps by Satan, and the resulting judgment left the earth “formless and void.” Given this perspective, what follows are God’s repeated acts of redemption as He begins to reclaim what was always His.

The story of the Bible, then, is God’s work to redeem His creation and to bring salvation to it. This is the common thread from Gen 1.3 to the end of the Bible, where it is finally achieved.

I did write a more detailed summary of our first session (it was the only one I did) and it can be read here: “In the Beginning . . .”

February 18, 2010: The Formation of a Nation

Our second study was entitled “Exodus,” but it referred back to Genesis frequently to explain what was transpiring in the second book and why God took the measures He did.

A recurring “mantra” for our study of the Pentateuch (”five books”: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) emerged as we looked at God’s creation of the nation He had promised to Abraham. We said a nation needs three things: a people, a constitution, and a land. The first two of these necessities are found in the Book of Exodus.

It was important to understand why Jacob and his sons left the Promised Land and wound up being slaves in Egypt. On the surface, it seems that they had to go to Egypt because of a famine. Upon reflection, however, the question arises: “Why did God allow the famine?”

Looking at some of the developments in Genesis, and contrasting Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with Jacob’s 12 sons, it was clear that the fourth generation of God’s people were beginning to lose their identity. Living amongst the Canaanites, they began to intermarry with the Canaanites and separate from one another.

In order to preserve His people, God moved them to Egypt. In contrast to the Canaanites, the Egyptians were racists: they would not eat or associate with the Israelites. Over a period of 430 years, God created a people for Himself. From 70 individuals who entered, more than 2,000,000 would emerge in the exodus.

Israel’s salvation was granted through the Passover feast. While the believing people of God stayed safe within their homes, God’s Angel of Death passed over the nation of Egypt, killing the first born in every home. The ritual associated with Passover is a picture of our salvation in Christ Jesus (cf 1 Cor 5.7-8).

February 25: A National Constitution

Having birthed His people from the womb of Egypt, Yahweh next gave a constitution that would shape the nation under the Mosaic Covenant and identify them as the people of God. The constitution is found in Exodus 19—Numbers 12.

A preamble to the constitution is followed by the three parts of the constitution itself. The preamble (Ex 19.5-6) informs the people that they will bee God’s special possession, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. The three sections that follow include the Ten Commandments or Decalogue (Ex 20), case law (Ex 21-24), and religious regulations (Ex 25—Num 12).

The Decalogue is divided into two parts, first addressing Israel’s relationship with God and then man’s relationship to his fellow man. Fundamental rights are granted: the right to life, the right to home, the right to property, and the right to reputation. God’s kingdom is based on bestowing rights to others, not insisting on one’s own rights.

The ceremonial law were implemented in order to allow Yahweh, a holy God and King, to live in the midst of His sinful people. This was to be a true theocracy, and there were three signs of God’s theocracy: the ark of the covenant, the priesthood, and the sacrifices.

March 4: Yahweh Elects, Delivers, and Fights

This week’s subject was God as elector, deliverer, and warrior. His elective work is seen vividly in the election of Moses, God’s first act after 400 years of silence. His grace is seen toward the nation of Israel while enslaved in Egypt and toward Moses when he was still in Midian.

By electing Abraham’s seen, God obligated Himself to relate this people group differently from all others. At its core, it is a relationship not about fulfilling duties or keeping rules, but of love and intimacy between God and people.

God also delivers his people, most notably in the plagues that ravage Egypt as a means to liberating Israel from his captors. He then delivers them in the wilderness, protecting them from Rameses to Succoth, redeeming their firstborn, and guiding them with fire and a cloud.

Yahweh is also revealed as a warrior in the Book of Exodus. He confronts Pharaoh and defeats the armies of Egypt; God initially fights for Israel, but He will soon fight through the nation. This transition is displayed in the defeat of Amalek, where Joshua’s army succeeds as long as Moses’ arms are lifted up to God. It is only through obedience and seeking Him, God says, that the nation will enjoy His blessings.

March 11: A Holy God and Unholy People

The primary reason for Israel’s ceremonial law is to allow God to dwell among and be present with His chosen people. To that end, He gave them the tabernacle, priesthood, offerings, and liturgy.

The tabernacle – the dwelling place of God during much of the Old Testament – is divided into three sections: the courtyard, holy place, and most holy place. Only the high priest enters the most holy place and then only once a year on the Day of Atonement. The liturgy surrounded the tabernacle is designed to allow God and His people to enjoy communion with one another: that is the point of liturgy, and any liturgy that fails to do that is no liturgy at all.

The five prescribed offerings are the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. The emphasis is that God’s people are to bring their best to Him, according to His guidelines, with the sacrifices serving as a representative for the worshiper. Blood was always required: even the meal offering, which celebrated communion, was never offered in isolation but was accompanied by the bloody burnt offering.

“Blood lies at the heart of the Christian faith, both in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and in the symbolism of the Lord’s Supper. The fact is simple: the shedding of blood means the death of the victim. The symbolic meaning lies in identifying the one making the sacrifice with the victim, for it symbolizes the death of the sinner. The penalty for sin is death, but the sacrificed dies in the place of the sinner.”

March 18 (Spring Break)

Due to the absence of many, the study took a slight detour for a week. As a group we worked our way through Hebrews 6.13 — 10.18, noting the superiority of Christ as a Sacrifice, Priest, and One who inaugurated a better covenant.

March 25: The Sword of Joshua

“The Sword of Yahweh: The Conquest of the Promised Land” was the focus of the next study. Israel’s foreign policy, found in Deuteronomy 20, was the lens through which the conquest was viewed, making sense of the apparent unevenness of Joshua’s treatment of his enemies.

After examining the depraved nature of the Canaanite culture, we followed Moses’ conquest of Trans-Jordan through victories at Heshbon and Edrei. Following Yahweh’s defeat of the pagan god Baal at the Jordan River, Joshua stops to dedicate the people before engaging in the conquest of central Palestine.

Next to fall were the city-states in the south, quickly followed by the conquering of the northern cities, especially Hazor. Though God primarily fights through Israel, at times He intervenes directly to defeat Israel’s enemies (e.g., the hailstones that killed most of the armies of the five kings in the south).

The first half of the book is dedicated to the conquest of the Promised Land; the second focuses on the allocation of the Land. Not all the enemies were removed, however: God left them to serve as a test for future generations who would have to choose whether to follow Yahweh or endure the Canaanites.

Six truths emerged from the account of the conquests: God’s justice in reclaiming the land, His judgment in dealing decisively with the wicked, the inevitability of the wicked giving way to the righteous (i.e., obedient Israel), the unity of the tribes in the campaigns. Yahweh as the Lord of history, and that God keeps His promises regardless of how much time it takes or how unlikely it may seem.