All the Promises of God V

The Seed

Integral to the Abrahamic covenant was the promise of a great seed. Abraham’s offspring would be blessed by God; they would be numerous and they would constitute a thriving nation.

Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (Gen. 12:1-3)

But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!” And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” (Gen. 15:2-5)

Along with the seed promise, God also promised Abraham that through his seed, all the nations of the world would be blessed (Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18). Many Protestants who read of the promise of Abraham’s seed think that it is an unconditional promise and that it applies simply and directly to racial Jews. But there are problems with this view.

The promise was guaranteed and infallible to be sure, but not in the way that is usually assumed. In fact, there was a real sense in which it was conditional. For example, with respect to any individual Old Testament Jew, the promise was never an unconditional statement. Individual Jews could be and were cut off from the covenant. Many examples from the Old Testament could be given. But right from the beginning, we learn that “the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant” (Gen. 17:14). Later, we learn that one could be cut off from the covenant because of a “high-handed” sin (Num. 15:30, 31). And Old Testament history is replete with examples of this. It should be no surprise then to see that many racial Jews in the O.T. were not ultimately saved.

For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (Heb. 3:16-19)

Though they partook of the covenant blessings for a time (cf. I Cor. 10:1-10), their genealogy did not make their covenant membership permanent and it did not guarantee their salvation. Early in the Gospel of Luke, the prophet John’s words to a multitude of Jews is recorded. “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones…. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Luke 3:8, 9) Circumcision brought them into the covenant, but it did not guarantee their faithfulness or perseverance. Through rebellion, Jews could and did turn their circumcision into uncircumcision (Rom. 2:17-29). And when they did this, they failed to inherit the fulfillment of the promises or to enter into God’s rest.

Moreover, the promised seed was not nearly as “racial” as many imagine. Though Israel as a nation was marked out by God to be His holy and priestly people, gentiles who desired this relationship and responsibility could enter into this covenant as well. From the very beginning, most of the “original Jews” were not actually descendents of Abraham. “So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as God had said to him.” (Gen. 17:23) Here we have a reference to Abraham’s slaves as well as those under his command (Gen. 14:14). These were not his relatives or offspring. Later, we see that any gentile could be grafted into the covenant (Ex. 12:48).

But if it was common for Jews to be cut off from the covenant and gentiles to be grafted in, how can we speak of a guaranteed and infallible covenant promise? How can it be a promise? The New Testament gives an answer that may be as surprising to us today as it was to the 1st century Jews who first heard it.

The big-picture context for Paul’s letter to the Galatians was the perversion of the gospel (Gal. 1:6-9). The gospel is the proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah-King who came to fulfill the old covenants by restoring His people to a new covenant and incorporating the gentiles into that covenant. He embodied the old covenants in order to transform them into something more glorious: the new covenant in Him. The primary issue addressed by Paul in Galatians involved the covenant status of gentiles. Had the gentiles been brought into the new covenant as gentiles or did they first need to be circumcised and keep the Mosaic ceremonial laws (thus becoming Jews) before they could be real Christians? Was the Abrahamic covenant still operative in the Old Testament sense; was it still in operation as it had been before the Messiah came?

The event that brought the issue to a head was Peter’s separation from the gentiles during table fellowship. Paul first rebuked Peter publicly for this behavior.

Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel gentiles to live as Jews? (Gal. 2:11-14).

Biblically, table fellowship is koinonia – the communion of the saints. By separating from the gentiles at table fellowship, Peter was actively denying that God had created one new man from the two old men in Jesus. His behavior presupposed that the Jew-gentile distinction was still in place. Quite apart from whether or not he meant to do this, he was saying that the gentiles had not really been grafted into the covenant. Thus, he was “not straightforward about the truth of the gospel” (Gal. 2:14). This is the issue in Paul’s epistle to the Galatians. Who are the people of God? Or perhaps more specifically, how can one be part of the God’s covenant family? Just behind this, of course, is the nature of the covenant after the Messiah had come. There is a very short path from Peter’s behavior to the belief that Jesus had not fulfilled and transformed the covenants in the way that the apostles were teaching. Instead, the idea was that the old covenants were still in place and operated just as they always had. In fact, this was the belief of those Jews who came from Jerusalem and caused Peter to waver.

Thus, after discussing his rebuke of Peter, Paul turned to the views of the Jewish false teachers (the “Judaizers” as they are known today) and their disastrous effects on the Galatian gentiles. He launched into a series of arguments designed to show that the gentiles who were in Christ were, because of that relationship, heirs to the Abrahamic promises. The gentiles did not need to be circumcised into the Abrahamic covenant in order to inherit the promises; they already had the promises in Christ. These promises were, in fact, the very gospel itself.

Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? – just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” (Gal. 3:5-8 quoting Gen. 12:3; 15:6; 18:18; 22:18)

The conclusion to this was obvious. “So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham” (Gal. 3:9).

The reason this is true is because the Mosaic covenant (i.e., “the law”) was not the same as the covenant promises. “Yet the law is not of faith, but ‘the man who does them shall live by them.’” (Gal. 3:12 quoting Lev. 18:5) The law was not of faith because it was a present reality that the people already had. They did not have to hope and trust that they would get it some day; they already had it. But the promises related to future actions on God’s part. The people were to live within the covenant according to God’s command in Leviticus while trusting by faith that God would fulfill His promises. He did this by sending Jesus to take the curse of the law upon Himself so that the gentiles would receive the blessing of Abraham and the promise of the Spirit (Gal. 3:13, 14). Jesus is the connecting link between Abraham and the gentiles, for He is the true Seed of Abraham in whom the promises are infallibly fulfilled.

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your seed,” who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. (Gal. 3:16-18).

God gave His promise to Abraham before the law and independent of it, so the law could not have been the true fulfillment of the promise. It was a foreshadow to be sure, but it was not the final goal of the promise. That final goal was Jesus, the true Seed in whom the promises are fulfilled.

What then was the point of the law? “But before faith came [i.e., before the fulfillment came], we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” (Gal. 3:23-25) Paul made the same point just a few sentences later. “Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.” (Gal. 4:1, 2) The law was a good thing. It was a guard and a “tutor” (paidagogos) – the one in the household responsible for training up the children. Before the Messiah came, the Mosaic covenant played the role of a “steward” (oikonomos) – one who rules and manages a house. The law guarded, trained, and managed God’s people until “the time appointed by the father” when the true Heir would come and claim His house (cf. Heb. 3:1-6). The Mosaic covenant was to bring God’s people to Christ. Thus, once the true Heir had arrived, the steward’s job was done.

Therefore the children of Abraham are all those (whether Jew or gentile) who have been baptized into covenant with the true Seed because of their faith in Him and what He had done.

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal. 3:26, 29)

All those who have been baptized into Christ – both Jew and Greek – are Abraham’s seed and heirs to the promises specifically because they have been united to Jesus, the true Seed and Heir to the promises. The prophets had foretold of a time when the gentiles would be brought into the covenant (Is. 42:5-7; 49:1-9; 56:1-8; Acts 13:46-48; Rom. 9:22-29; 15:8-12), and that time had come. God’s promise to bless the nations through Abraham’s seed had been realized because God had given Jesus to the nations. Thus, both the seed promise and the promise to the nations have been and continue to be realized in Christ. In Him, Christians of every tribe, tongue, and nation are Abraham’s seed. They are the ones who receive the Abrahamic blessings and promises. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Gal. 3:13, 14)

Paul made much the same point in his epistle to the Romans. After showing Jews that their covenant membership did not automatically ensure their salvation (Rom. 2; 3), Paul turned his attention to Abraham. The patriarch, Paul argued, proves an example of justification apart from circumcision. Thus, he is the father of all uncircumcised believers (gentiles) along with the faithful Jews (Rom. 4:9-12). “Therefore [the promise] is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law [i.e., Jews], but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham [i.e., the uncircumcised], who is the father of us all (as it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations’)...” (Rom. 4:16, 17). This is why Paul could make a statement to the Corinthian Christians in passing that would otherwise have made no sense. “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses…” (I Cor. 10:1, 2). Paul could tell the gentiles at Corinth that the Jews whom God brought out of Egypt were their fathers because they were in fact in the same family. God’s family is defined by His gracious covenantal relationship, not race, and the connecting link between Christians today and Jews under Moses is Jesus, the true Seed. Those who are in Him and partake of Him (I Cor. 10:3, 4) are part of the seed.

Therefore, it is Christians, whether Jew or Greek, who have inherited the Abrahamic promises through faith in Christ. Christians constitute the real “twelve tribes” (Jas. 1:1) and the “pilgrims of the disporia” (I Pet. 1:1). The racial Jews who rejected Christ’s fulfillment of the Abrahamic promises had in fact become the “synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 2:9) and sons of the devil (John 8:37-47). Through unbelief and rebellion, they had lost their status as Abraham’s children. It must have seemed strange and ironic to both gentiles and Jews that many gentiles would become the sons of Abraham while many Jews would lose their status as sons. But as we have mentioned, covenant status is based on grace and faithfulness, not race. And this role reversal is just what had been foretold by Isaiah when he prophesied about the Messiah’s advent and restorative work.

Arise, shine;
for your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
and deep darkness the people;
but the Lord will arise over you,
and His glory will be seen upon you.
The gentiles shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your rising….

The wealth of the gentiles shall come to you….
and they shall proclaim the praises of the Lord….

Also the sons of those who afflicted you
shall come bowing to you,
and all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet;
and they shall call you the city of the Lord,
Zion of the Holy One of Israel. (Is. 60:1-3, 5, 6, 14)

The unbelieving Jews during Jesus’ advent had become the synagogue of Satan because they had rejected the Messiah and His restoration of Zion. As the book of Acts records, many chose to afflict the Church instead. They therefore received what Isaiah said would come upon them. “I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie — indeed I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.... He who overcomes... I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Rev. 3:9, 12, 13) The “you” spoken of by Isaiah was the restored Zion. The Redeemer would come to her (Is. 59:20), and foreigners would rebuild her walls (Is. 60:10). Her oppressors would bow down before her and declare her to be Zion, the city of God. And as Jesus told the Christians at Philadelphia, this was their heritage. The unbelieving Jews would bow down before them, for they were in Christ which means that they were part of restored Zion, the New Jerusalem.

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All the Promises of God IV

The New Heavens and Earth

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Christians know this, but this truth – or should I say this theme – is far more important than we usually think. Sometimes we go beyond the obvious when we acknowledge important systematic presuppositions and consequences of this truth. It assumes for example what is stated numerous times and in numerous ways throughout the Bible – God is absolutely sovereign over creation. The book of Isaiah alone is full of statements such as the following.

Remember the former things of old,
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
declaring the end from the beginning,
and from ancient times things that are not yet done,
saying, “My counsel shall stand,
and I will do all My pleasure,”
calling a bird of prey from the east,
the man who executes My counsel, from a far country.
Indeed I have spoken it;
I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it;
I will also do it. (Is. 46:9-11)

And as one might expect, the Psalms also echo the truth of God sovereignty.

But our God is in heaven;
He does whatever He pleases. (Ps. 115:3)

We also sometimes recognize the doctrine of providence as a consequence of creation. Because God is who He is, He did not create the universe in order to let it run by itself. Every moment of every day, the Creator sustains and provides for His creation.

It is good that we recognize such aspects of creation, but because many modern Western Christians tend to think “topically” or systematically, it is no surprise that we would see such connections. However we tend to have difficulty viewing creation as an historical theme and an historical precedent. We also tend to have problems seeing the intimate connections between creation and redemption despite our knowledge of Second Corinthians 5:17. Our paradigms do not often bring the pieces together so that we see the big picture. But we can begin to rectify this by simply noting a few things about God’s original creation.

To begin with, it was all good. After each day, God saw His work and pronounced it good. But good did not mean “fully mature” or “finished,” so the next day would see more activity from the Creator. The created order was organized into three “zones”: the firmament or sky, the earth, and the water under the earth (cf. Ex. 20:3). In these zones God put all kinds of plant and animal life. He also created a garden in Eden and placed man in it. The garden contained rivers; trees that were good for food and pleasant to look at; and beautiful stones, jewels, and metals (e.g., Gen. 2:8-14). We should not miss the picture; this place was “paradise.”

But sin entered the world, and death entered through sin. Man rebelled, and because he was the covenant head over all of creation, the whole created order fell with him. When Adam fell, he lost the garden-sanctuary and was ejected from it (Gen. 3:22-24). Sin and corruption then spread to the family as brother killed brother (Gen. 4:1-12). This evil then metastasized further until the whole earth was corrupt (Gen. 6:1-6). As a result, God destroyed the earth and the old order with a great flood. What had been a process of creation became a process of “de-creation.”

The world was originally “without form and void.” It probably wasn’t much to look at. The created order was then built up, organized, and beautified so that it was a “good” creation. But man’s unchecked sin had turned this good creation into a moral cesspool. God therefore judged the world by subjecting it to the opposite of the creation process. The growth and glorification of creation was a blessing from God, so the curse – the consequence of widespread rebellion – would be the opposite of creation growth: a de-creation judgment in which the world was reduced to its pre-organized state. The heavens came apart as the water that had originally resided above the firmament (Gen. 6:7) was poured out on the earth. Water also came spewing forth from the subterranean realm (Gen. 7:11). Man was put in the middle “zone,” the earth, so the de-creation saw the depths erupt onto the earth and the heavens fall to the earth. Creation imploded on itself until everything on earth was disorganized, dead, and destroyed (Gen. 7:20-23). Or to be more accurate, everything was destroyed except for the life contained in one boat. From this destruction, God brought forth a remnant and He placed that remnant in a new creation. This was a new created order. It was a new heaven and earth with Noah and his family as the new humanity (Gen. 8).

This pattern would be repeated several times throughout history. As a prelude to the exodus of Israel from Egypt, God judged the existing order and the Egyptians with the plagues. These plagues not only served to humiliate the Egyptian gods who were supposed to be sovereign over the various instruments of the plagues, they also showed that creation itself was coming unhinged. They involved animals from the land (Ex. 9:1-7), the water (Ex. 8:1-15), and the sky (Ex. 8:20-32); uncontrollable weather (Ex. 9:13-35); infection (Ex. 9:8-12); the loss of the sun’s light (Ex. 10:21-29); and widespread human death (Ex. 11:1-10). The whole creation, both heaven and earth, imploded. But from this death of creation and man, a resurrection took place. God brought forth new life and a new creation. Israel was God’s “firstborn” (Ex. 4:22) – the new humanity. Just after the Egyptians had been drowned in a new flood which finished off the old order (Ex. 14:26-28), Moses taught the people a song. At the end of the song, the people would sing of themselves as a new crop:

You will bring them in and plant them
in the mountain of Your inheritance,
in the place, O Lord, which You have made
for Your own dwelling,
the sanctuary , O Lord, which Your hands have established. (Ex. 15:17)

As the prophet Isaiah would later say, this creation of Zion and planting of the people was actually the creation of a new heavens and earth.

But I am the Lord your God,
who divided the sea whose waves roared –
the Lord of hosts is His name.
And I have put My words in your mouth;
I have covered you with the shadow of My hand,
that I may plant the heavens,
lay the foundations of the earth,
and say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ (Is. 51:15, 16)

We shouldn’t miss the point here. At first, one would think that the reference to the creation of heavens and earth would be a reference to the original creation in Genesis 1. However, the context clearly points in another direction. For we are here referred back to the Exodus by being told that this Lord “divided the sea whose wavers roared.” But more specifically, this Lord covered Israel (who obviously did not exist in Genesis 1) with the shadow of His hand so that He may form heavens and earth and call Israel His people. They were the remnant – the new humanity whom the Lord brought out of the destruction of the old created order and into a new creation.

Many centuries later, the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah were falling away from the covenant. One of the prophets sent by God to warn His people of the consequences of their rebellion was Micah. Israel was in especially bad shape and the prophet led off with the coming judgment on it.

The word of the Lord that came to Micah… which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem….
For behold, the Lord is coming out of His place;
He will come down
and tread on the high places of the earth.
The mountains will melt under Him,
and the valleys will split
like wax before the fire,
like waters poured down a steep place.
All this is for the transgression of Jacob
and for the sins of the house of Israel….
“Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the field,
places for planting a vineyards;
I will pour down her stones into the valley,
and I will uncover her foundations.
All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,
and all her play as a harlot shall be burned with the fire… (Mic. 1:3-5, 6, 7)

The Lord would come down to judge His people for their widespread unfaithfulness by stomping on their “high places” – the places where the people worshiped and sacrificed to the false gods of the pagans around them. This would result in total destruction of the nation and the created order. Mountains would melt, valleys would split, and foundations would be uprooted. Creation would be torn apart as the Northern Kingdom reaped the fruits of its labor. This became a reality in 722 BC when God sent the Assyrian army to destroy and plunder the North (II Kin. 17; Is. 10:5, 6).

About a century later, the Southern Kingdom of Judah was ripe for judgment as well. Despite the reforms implemented by King Josiah, the Lord was still furious with Judah. The people had violated the covenant repeatedly and filled up the measure of their wickedness. The prophet Jeremiah described this violation and foretold of the exile-judgment to come. Israel had been judged and Judah would soon fall as well. The current order was coming to an end which is to say that the created order would be deconstructed.

“For My people are foolish,
they have not known Me.
They are foolish children,
and they have no understanding.
They are wise to do evil,
but to do good they have no knowledge.”

I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void;
and the heavens, they had no light.
I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled,
and all the hills moved back and forth.
I beheld, and indeed there was no man,
and all the birds of the heavens had fled.
I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness,
and all its cities were broken down
at the presence of the Lord,
by His fierce anger.

For thus says the Lord:

“The whole land shall be desolate;
yet I will not make a full end.
For this shall the earth mourn,
and the heavens above be black,
because I have spoken.” (Jer. 4:22-28)

God was about to judge His people for their sins and this meant that creation itself was falling apart. The land would be trashed, the mountains would quake, the heavens would fail to give their light, and in what may be the starkest de-creation reference in the entire Bible, the earth would be “without form, and void.” This is the same phrase used to describe the very beginning of creation before God had brought order and beauty out of the new matter (Gen. 1:2). This is de-creation; the rebellion of God’s people had led to a regression of the created order all the way back to the very primordial state of the original creation. But as bad as this was, it would one day be remedied by a new creation. Both Israel (Ezek. 23:5-10) and Judah (Ezek. 23:22-27) were put to death for their adulteries. But the chosen nation would also be “born again” from the dead (Ezek. 37:1-14). The restored people would be God’s “firstborn” of the new creation (Jer. 31:7-9). The original historical fulfillment of this came with the restoration of Israel after the 70 year exile in Babylon. But this restoration would not be the end of the story. The ultimate new heavens and new earth (Is. 65:17; 66:22) would make the restoration era pale in comparison. But for this new creation to come, the restoration world would have to be judged.

Jesus’ first advent brought with it the end of this world and the first days of a new order. Israel had become so corrupt that it was now a new Egypt. Just as the first Egypt had been judged and its world destroyed, the same thing happened to the new Egypt. This is why “last days” language is so prevalent in the New Testament documents (which were all written between the 30s and 60s AD). God was instructing His people that the old order was corrupt and was about to be destroyed.

[Jesus] was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you… (I Pet. 1:20)

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son… (Heb. 1:1, 2)

… but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (Heb. 9:26)

But [the Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit] is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh…” (Acts 2:16, 17)

Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. (I Cor. 10:11)

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. (I John 2:18)

But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. (I Pet. 4:7)

For if the first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah”… In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. (Heb. 8:7, 8, 13)

But this I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none… For the form of this world is passing away. (I Cor. 7:29, 31)

Notice that in all of these passages, the original, first century audiences were told that they were living in the last days of a covenant and world that would soon pass away. The period of time between 30 AD and 70 AD was the last days of the old world. The old covenant had become obsolete because the new man Jesus had come to fulfill and transform it. All of the old covenant types, shadows, pictures, and promises pointed to Him, and when the reality came, the pictures were no longer appropriate or adequate. Moreover, God’s people had corrupted the old order. Thus, Israel was given 40 years to repent before judgment would come. Those who did repent saw that Jesus was the Messiah and they went with Him in the new exodus. Those who did not repent were left behind in the old and apostate Israel that was judged in 70 AD. God used the Roman armies to destroy that world. (God also judged that beast and put an end to it by the Church.)

With the passing of the old heavens and earth, a new world was formed. Indeed, the new world grew out of the death of the old one with Jesus at the center of the transition. For His resurrection was literally a loosening of “the birth pangs of death” (hodinas tou thánatou, Acts 2:24 – many translations erroneously leave out the reference to birth and translate it as “pain of death” but the word hodín clearly refers to birth pangs). Death itself gave birth to the new man. And this death and rebirth would be recapitulated in the death of the old world and the birth of the new world. Jesus told his disciples that the “end of the age” (Matt. 24:3) would be accompanied by warfare, famine, disease, and earthquakes (Matt. 24:6, 7). Along with Jesus’ cosmic disaster language (Matt. 24:29), these events (which actually did take place in the time leading up to 70 AD) signaled that the created order was being torn apart. But this was not simply death; it actually led to a new birth. For as Jesus said, “All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matt. 24:8; “sorrows” should be translated “birth pangs” – the sentence reads pánta dè tauta archè hodínon). “All these are the beginning of birth pangs.” Jesus died and was born again through His death and resurrection. Consequently, this led to a death and resurrection of the created order. Thus, the time after 70 AD when the exalted new man would sit on the throne was referred to as “the regeneration” (Matt. 19:28). This time, when the Mosaic ceremonial laws would pass away, was called “the time of reformation” (Heb. 9:10). It would in fact be the restoration of all things (Matt. 17:9-13). And just as we saw that Jesus will reign until all enemies – the last being death itself – are placed under His feet (I Cor. 15:22-27), so too the restoration will be an ongoing process that will not be finished until the Second Coming (Acts 3:19-21).

Thus, the death of the second Adam was followed by His rebirth via the resurrection. This resulted in the death of the old order out of which was born a new creation. Moreover, we can see that the new man brought a new humanity with Him into the new creation. Paul’s letter to the Galatians was written to refute the idea that the old covenants had not been fundamentally altered by Jesus’ first advent. Men from Jerusalem were teaching churches in Galatia that gentiles who converted to Christianity also needed to be circumcised (Abrahamic covenant) and keep all of the details of the Mosaic law (Mosaic covenant). Paul refuted this teaching (now known as the Judaizing heresy) by showing that Jesus fulfilled the Abrahamic promise and the Mosaic law by living under the law and taking its curse upon Himself. He was the true and faithful Jew who fulfilled these covenants and brought salvation to the gentiles apart from the law. “The law” (i.e., the Mosaic covenant) was a “tutor” (paidagogόs) designed to bring the Jews to Christ (Gal. 3:23-25), and with His coming, they were not to look back to the “weak and beggarly elements” of the law (Gal. 4:1-11). Moreover, Jesus’ fulfillment of the Abrahamic promises (He is the true Seed of Abraham, Gal. 3:16) means that all those who are baptized into Him are part of Abraham’s seed (Gal. 3:26-29). The distinction between Jew and gentile had been removed because Jesus had ushered in a new creation. “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.” (Gal. 6:14, 15) The resurrection of the new man brought with it a new creation and a new humanity.

Therefore remember that you, once gentiles in the flesh – who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands – that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off [i.e., the gentiles] have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off [gentiles] and to those who were near [Jews]. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. (Eph. 2:11-18)

The enmity was actually the law itself as it constituted a “wall of separation” which divided Jew from gentile. But now, Jew and gentile had become one. The old covenant distinction no longer existed, because Jesus had fulfilled the old covenant by embodying its promises and taking its curses upon Himself. This produced a new humanity – the Church. As the body of Christ (the new man), it is the new humanity composed of Jew and gentile alike. One new man was created from the two.

Jesus produces a new humanity in another way as well.

But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. (Col. 3:8-11 cf. Eph. 4:20-24)

Because Jews and gentiles who are in Him have been recreated into one new man, they should reflect this new image/humanity in their conduct. Once again, as with the existence of the new creation in general, the existence of the new humanity is not an all or nothing proposition. The new creation has come, but it will not be perfected until death, the last enemy, is placed under Christ’s feet. Similarly, an individual Christian is part of the new humanity now, but he will not be perfected until the “old man” has been fully put off at death.

Thus, Jesus is the new Adam whose resurrection marked the firstfruits of a new humanity. After the transition period, the old age ended and a new creation was born. The old heavens and earth passed away, and a new heavens and earth were formed (Rev. 21:1-5). At first, this reference to Revelation 21 seems unsettling. After all, Christians have generally been taught that this part of Scripture refers to the final state of man after the consummation of time. But there are good reasons to see the last two chapters of Revelation as a description of the new covenant in Christ.

First, this view fits in well with the new creation theme that has been presented thus far. The identification of the new heavens and earth is not just an isolated idea; it is the culmination of a whole biblical motif that runs from Adam/creation to the new Adam / new creation. The New Testament tells us in a number of places that during the first century, the old order came to an end and a new creation was born. Thus, the identification of the “new heaven and earth” with this new era/creation is hardly a stretch. Second, we can note that the new bride of Christ (Rev. 19:6-9; 21:2, 9) associated with this new heavens and earth is none other than the Church. Unfaithful and unbelieving Israel was an adulterous wife who was divorced in favor of the faithful bride. This bride, who is composed of faithful Jews and gentiles alike, is Jesus’ body – the Church (Eph. 5:22-32; II Cor. 11:2).

Third, the New Jerusalem that comes down from heaven (Rev. 21:2) is also the Church. Here we can focus on a contrast presented by the writer of Hebrews. After warning his readers not to return to the old covenant ceremonies because they had been transformed and fulfilled by Jesus, he said that his readers had not come “to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire” (Heb. 12:18). They had not come to the Mosaic covenant represented by Mount Sinai because “you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem... to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven… to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” (Heb. 12:22, 24) The New Jerusalem from heaven is the Church of “the firstborn,” Jesus (cf. Heb. 1:6). Forth, this new creation would see Jesus giving “the fountain of the water of life” to those who thirst (Rev. 21:6). This is conversion language that the apostle John had used before (John 4:10-14; 7:37-39). There will be people in this new creation who thirst and who will come to Jesus to receive the fountain of water by which they will cease to thirst. This, of course, happens today but it will not occur after death has been put under Christ’s feet and history consummated.

Fifth, the leaves of the tree of life are for “the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:2). We know that there will be no need for healing either in heaven or on a post-consummation earth where everyone has resurrected, immortal bodies. But such healing is needed in the new covenant era, and Jesus provides such healing through the Church. Sixth, this time period will see much evangelism as new people are brought into the New Jerusalem. “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city…. And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” (Rev. 22:14, 17) The Church offers life to those outside her as she beckons them to enter her gates. This is clearly not referring to an immortal, post-resurrection state. Seventh, the Old Testament promises of the new heavens and earth show that this era cannot refer exclusively to the post-consummation eternity.

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind….

“No more shall an infant from there live but a few days,
nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days;
for the child shall die one hundred years old,
but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit….
They shall not labor in vain,
nor bring forth children for trouble;
for they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lord,
and their offspring with them.” (Is. 65:17, 20, 21, 23)

The new heavens and earth will contain birth, death, and sin. Children will be there, and there will be old men who will eventually fulfill their days. Moreover, the new heavens and earth would be the era in which the gentiles would see the glory of the Lord and would be brought to God’s holy mountain Jerusalem (Is. 66:18-23). Once again, this refers not to eternity but to the new covenant era and the New Jerusalem.

Finally, the recreation motif provides a fitting parallel to the rest of the material in this chapter. “Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’” (Rev. 21:5) The new creation was just that; all things – heaven and earth – were new. But this is not the first time that an apostle had taught this theme to the Church. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (II Cor. 5:17) The New King James Version puts “he is” in italics because these words do not appear in the original. They are an interpretation. A less interpretive translation of the passage would be: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, a new creation.” This would mean that Christ’s coming and gathering of people to Himself show that the new creation had arrived. This fits well with the rest of the verse. But even if we take “he is” to be a proper translation, the punch line of the verse is still obvious. The new creation had come because “all things have become new.” This is the state of those living in the new covenant, pre-consummation era today, and it is precisely the state of the new heavens and earth.

What then are we to make of some of the other “features” of the new heavens and earth? There will be no more pain and sorrow. There will even be no more death (Rev. 21:4). How does this square with what has just been said (especially what was said about the reference to death in Isaiah)? Once again, we should see this age as a progressive one. Everything does not come at once. The kingdom of God progressively grows from small beginnings (e.g., Matt. 13:31, 32). As we have previously noted, those who are in Christ are righteous in God’s sight even though they still sin. They were robed in righteousness (cf. Is. 61:10) when they put on Christ (Gal. 3:27), but they will continue to “work out their salvation” (Phil. 2:12) over the course of a lifetime “from glory to glory” (II Cor. 3:18). Just so, the new creation is a “work in progress.” And this progress will be parallel to the process whereby all enemies are put under the feet of the new Adam. The new humanity in Christ will take dominion over the new creation, but this will be an ongoing process that will end when the last enemy – death – is subdued. Then there really will be no more death. But this represents the goal and consummation of the process, not the entire period. Dominion takes time, growth, and maturity – from glory to glory.

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All the Promises of God III

The Son of God

If the title “son of man” emphasizes the humanity of the one so named, then it seems natural to suppose that the title “son of God” would emphasize the title bearer’s divinity. A son of God would himself be divine. And so Christians generally see the title “son of God” as a statement about Jesus’ divinity. However, this phrase is not typically used this way in the Old Testament. To be sure, Jesus is the divine Son of God in the sense that He is the second person of the triune Godhead. He was “begotten of His Father before all worlds” as the Nicene Creed puts it. He is the “only begotten” of the Father (John 1:18), the eternal Word (John 1:1).

On the other hand, the title “son of God” is often used to refer to God’s image bearer and representative. When Adam had Seth, we are told that Seth was born in Adam’s own likeness and after his image (Gen. 5:3). Seth was the “son of Adam” because he was Adam’s image bearer. Similarly, God created Adam and Eve “in His own image” (Gen. 1:26, 27). Adam was therefore the “son of God” (Luke 3:38). He was God’s first image bearer. Of course, a true son of God is one who should accurately and faithfully reflects God’s image – the thing that Adam (and man) was originally created to do. Adam’s failure would point toward the need for a truly faithful image bearer.

When God called the Israelites out of Egypt, He did not just rescue a group of people. He “gave birth” to His son. “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.”’” (Ex. 4:22, 23 cf. Hos. 11:1) Israel was God’s firstborn son. He resurrected the people from the grave of Egypt so that they may bear His image. “You are the children of the Lord your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” (Deut. 14:1, 2) This was Israel’s calling: to be God’s holy children. But it did not take long for sin and rebellion to interfere with this calling. Numerous books of the Old Testament describe this process in detail. By the time of the prophet Isaiah, the image-bearing sons had become a “brood of evildoers” (Is. 1:2-4). And by the time the prophet John began to deliver his message, the sons had become a brood of vipers.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matt. 3:7-10)

Israel was in bad shape and God’s judgment was about to come. Here we see a theme that we will discuss in more detail later – the “de-creation” process that is produced by sin. Man was created to be God’s son, and redeemed Israel was chosen to fulfill this image-bearing role. But instead of maturing through faithfulness to become the lords of creation that man was supposed to be, their rebellion caused them to regress to the point of being brute beasts. To be more accurate, they had become like the beast – the serpent-beast. They were now his sons.

Jesus answered them… “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.”

They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.”

Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.”

Then they said to Him, “We are not born of fornication; we have one Father – God.”

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God… You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do…. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do no hear, because you are not of God.” (John 8:34, 37-42, 44, 45-47)

Thus was the song of Moses fulfilled:

They have corrupted themselves;
they are not His children,
because of their blemish:
a perverse and crooked generation. (Deut. 32:5)

The son of God is the position of a faithful image bearer. Through rebellion, Israel had lost his claim to be the son of God. Instead, he had become the son of the devil and the “synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 3:9). The ax was laid at the root of the trees.

However all was not lost. For the prophet Jeremiah had foretold of a time when Israel would be restored (Jer. 31:1-8). This would be a rebirth; God’s chosen people would again be His firstborn (Jer. 31:9). In the final genealogy given by God through revelation, Jesus is identified as the true Son of God (Luke 3:23-38). Just like Israel, this Son was called out of Egypt. There was, however, an ironic difference.

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”

When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” (Matt. 2:13, 14)

The prophet Hosea described Israel’s exodus as God’s calling of His son. “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.” (Hos. 11:1) But from the Matthew passage above and the verses that precede it, we see that Herod had become a new Pharaoh who tried to slaughter the infants. And if Herod was a new Pharaoh, then it would seem that Israel would be a new Egypt. And sure enough, God delivered His true Son from this new Egypt. Jesus left Israel to go to Egypt, and ironically, this exodus out of unfaithful Israel fulfilled Hosea’s words regarding the Son’s exodus from Egypt. Thus, the passage from Hosea both looked back to an historical type and looked forward to the promised antitype. And as Matthew stated, Jesus is that antitype – the true Son. This was the Son in whom He was well pleased (Matt. 17:5). All other sons had in fact been imperfect types who foreshadowed the true Son. He is the only fully faithful one, the “express image” (charaktér) of God (Heb. 1:3).

For to which of the angels did He ever say:

“You are My Son,
today I have begotten You”?

And again:

“I will be to Him a Father,
and He shall be to Me a Son”?...

But to the Son He says:

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom….”

But to which of the angels has He ever said:

“Sit at My right hand,
till I make Your enemies Your footstool”? (Heb. 1:5, 8, 13)

This passage from Hebrews shows an dimension to the “son of God” title, a dimension that goes back to the first man. “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’” (Gen. 1:26) Integral to man’s creation in God’s image is the responsibility of bearing that image, and as we saw earlier, and important aspect of this is the task of taking dominion over the earth. The writer of Hebrews shows that the true and faithful man Jesus fulfils this task because He has been exalted to the throne at God’s right hand where He has received His kingdom.

The first quote within the Hebrews passage above is from Psalm 2. The “begetting” it describes is not Jesus’ eternal generation from the Father. Rather, as the psalm itself makes clear, the reference is to the Messiah’s enthronement as King. The Messiah would be the son of God whose inheritance would be to rule the nations. The second quote refers to the prophetic message that Nathan was to give to King David. “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son.” (II Sam. 7:12-14) Solomon was the type to which this immediately applied, but Jesus is the antitype – the ultimate recipient to which the type pointed. The writer of Hebrews has made it plain for us: Jesus is the son of David and thus, the Son of God. He is therefore the promised King and His kingdom will last forever. The third quote comes from Psalm 45 and its kingly message is straightforward. The fourth quote is from the Old Testament passage that is quoted most often in the New Testament: Psalm 110. This psalm is the announcement of the Messiah’s kingly reign. The connection between it and Paul’s words in I Corinthians 15 mentioned in a previous post should be clear.

With this series of quotations, the writer of Hebrews has brought us full circle. Jesus is the true Son of God and this means that He fulfills the dominion mandate and reigns as King. The “birth pangs” of the resurrection (Acts 2:24) led to His begetting as the Son of God. He was “declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” (Rom. 1:4) The Son was begotten as King at the resurrection.

But He is not the only son. With the end of the old order, many sons (but not all of course) were cast out of the covenant to receive what their rebellion had earned. But many others – gentiles – came from the east and the west to inherit the promises (Matt. 8:5-13 cf. Rev. 21:7). Now that the true Son has come, those who are in Him, the Christians, are the sons of God (Matt. 6:9; John 11:49-52; I John 3:1, 2). Their status as sons is determined by their faith-filled baptism into the true Son. It is not determined by race.

He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:11-13)

For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free – and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. (I Cor. 12:12, 13)

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal. 3:26-29)

Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God, without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation… (Phil. 2:14, 15)

They are the true sons just because they have been adopted into God’s family through faith in Jesus (Gal. 4:4-7; Eph. 1:5). Moreover, this adoption as sons means that Christians are joint heirs with Christ of all things (Rom. 8:14-17 cf. Heb. 1:1, 2). They are in Him and thus, they share in His calling as the Davidic Son-King.

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?...

Therefore

“Come out from among them
and be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
and I will receive you.”
“I will be a Father to you,
and you shall be My sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (II Cor. 6:14, 17, 18; 7:1 quoting Is. 52:11 and II Sam. 7:14)

We saw above that according to the writer of Hebrews, Jesus is the true Davidic Son-King. Solomon’s sonship was a prophetic type that was fulfilled in the true Son Jesus. And now, the same promise of Fatherhood and title of son (and daughter) are given to Christians because they are in Christ. Christians are the sons of God and thus, they are the kings/kingdom of God (Rev. 1:6) and joint heirs of all things. The dominion mandate will be fulfilled in them because Jesus is the new Adam, Son of Man, and Son of God by whom the mandate will be fulfilled. He has all authority on heaven and earth now (Matt. 28:18), and all things will eventually be placed under His feet (I Cor. 15:22-26). They are in Him. Thus, His status is their status, His authority is their authority, and His mission is their mission.

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All the Promises of God II

The Son of Man and the Dominion Mandate

Adam, whose name is the generic term for man or mankind, was made in God’s image. While there has been much discussion among Christians regarding what the image of God encompasses, a significant part of the answer is given along with the original statement itself.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen. 1:26-28)

Integral with the statement that God made man in His image is the so called “dominion mandate” – the command for man to take dominion over creation. Man was God’s vicegerent or prime minister on earth. Because he was made in God’s image, he was supposed to work with and govern creation for God.

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
what is man that You are mindful of him,
and the son of man that You give attention to him?
For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
and You have crowned him with glory and honor.

You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
All sheep and oxen –
even the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea
that pass through the paths of the seas. (Ps. 8:3-8)

Adam/man was truly king of the world. All things were put under his feet – things from the sea, land, and air. He was put on the earth by God to rule creation, but this was not to be done in just any fashion that he could conceive of. Man’s kingship was never ultimate or autonomous; his authority was derivative of God’s ultimate authority. He was God’s representative to the rest of creation and the supreme reflection of His glory. He was therefore tasked to work with creation according to God’s instruction in order to bring even more glory to God. Adam was the first to be tasked with this role, and his progeny would inherit this role as well. As Psalm 8 indicates using the poetic devise of parallelism, the phrase “son of man” is equivalent to “man.” This same usage can be seen elsewhere.

God is not a man, that He should lie,
nor a son of man, that He should repent. (Num. 23:19 cf. Job 25:6; Ps. 80:17; Is. 51:12; Jer. 49:33)

The son of man is man himself – the creature that was allowed to share in the rule of the Creator. A big part of this task was man’s responsibility to care for and guard the garden – the sanctuary where God would walk with man (Gen. 2:15, the Hebrew verb translated “keep” in the NKJV and “take care of” in the NIV is better described as guard duty). This was the holy house and mountain of God (Ezek. 28:13, 14), so God’s vicegerent had a special duty to cultivate and protect it. Adam was also supposed to protect those under his charge, and this originally meant Eve. All of this can be described as Adam’s covenant headship. The creation or Adamic covenant consisted in the fact that God created Adam/man in His image to rule and govern His creation. Adam was creation’s covenant head – its representative before God. He was given the tree of life, a sacramental meal to sustain him while he served God by working with creation. The only thing he could not do was eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

This tree (Gen. 2:16, 17), from which Adam was not to eat, represented the kingly ability of mature judicial discernment. This is clear from the Bible’s other uses of the phraseology of discerning between good and evil. For when Solomon first became king, even though he was a grown man, he did not think that he was ready in and of himself for such a responsibility. He considered himself “a little child” who did not know “how to go out or come in” (I Kin. 3:7). He therefore prayed that God would give him “an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” (I Kin. 3:9) He was already an adult, but he prayed that God would give him the ability to discern between good and evil. This is the difficult task of a king, and it is a high honor for a king to be good at such a task (II Sam. 14:17). This ability is not something that is found in the immature, but those who would be leaders should mature and grow into it.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Heb. 5:12-14)

This is why children do not initially have “the knowledge of good and evil” (Deut. 1:39). But notice as well that adults can lack this skill. For the author of Hebrews, at least some of his readers had been Christians for a while but had failed to develop their understanding of the “word of righteousness.” Thus, they needed to mature in the word before their consciences and theological/moral reasoning skills were such that they could discern between good and evil – before they could be teachers with responsibility over others. Therefore, this ability to discern has nothing to do with a supposed “age of accountability.” Biblically, the age of accountability is conception since all people are morally responsible and (outside of Jesus) guilty before God regardless of age (I Kin. 8:46; Ps. 51:5; 58:3; Rom. 5:12-14; Eph. 2:1-3). But the kingly task of discerning between good and evil is a high art requiring much wisdom. All children and many adults lack this ability. Such a skill must be learned through many years of studying God’s word and applying it to the day to day situations of life.

We therefore see that while Adam had the status of lord, this had not been worked out in practice. This was in fact the task that was given to him. Adam would have eventually received the knowledge of good and evil, but it would come through a maturation process. He was tasked to “work out his creation,” so to speak (cf. Phil. 2:12). This was the process by which he was to grow from glory to glory. Man was certainly created in glory, but by gradually and progressively taking dominion over creation, he would have brought even more glory to God and he would have fully matured into the kingly task of discerning between good and evil.

But as we know, Adam failed to be faithful to his covenant responsibilities. He abdicated his role as covenant head of creation and of his family, and he let a serpent-beast into the garden to attack his bride (Gen. 3:1-6). Adam was in the garden with his wife the whole time, but he provided no protection for the garden or the bride. Adam, we may say, was the world’s first true empirical scientist. God had given him a simple command accompanied by a threat. If Adam ate from this one tree, he would die. But then Satan came along and presented a counter claim. Not only would Adam not die, he would become like God. The course that Adam should have taken isn’t hard to understand. Covenantal faithfulness requires that all thoughts, even thoughts about the thinking and knowledge gathering process, should be subjected to God (cf. II Cor. 10:3-5). God’s word is true because it is His ultimately authoritative word. It is the final standard by which all other words and claims are to be measured. But Adam did not operate according to this standard. Instead, he tried to approach the situation as a “neutral,” objective scientist. God presented a claim and Satan presented a counter-claim. According to the assumptions of “neutral” empiricism, the way to determine the truth was to eat the fruit and observe the consequences. Perhaps Adam wasn’t brave enough for that, for it was his wife who became the guinea pig. Who was telling the truth? Who knows? The best bet is to assume that God’s word and Satan’s word are competing hypotheses that needed to be empirically tested. Eve “saw” that the fruit was good, and this “evidence” weighted more heavily than the word of God that she would have received from her husband. So she ate and Adam watched.

In failing to trust God’s word, Adam therefore became unfaithful to his covenant position and responsibilities. He did not simply fail to obey a seemingly trivial command, he failed to represent God. He failed to act like the covenantal head of creation, and as a result, the whole world and all of humanity fell with him. Adam was thrust out of the beautiful garden (which was subsequently destroyed by the flood) and into a cursed word full of hard labor, thorns, pain, and death (Gen. 3:16-19). The whole world and all of Adam’s heirs had in fact been cursed because of Adam. He was creation’s covenantal lord and representative, and his curse was its curse. “Cursed is the ground for your sake” (Gen. 3:17). He was the covenantal representative for all of humanity, and as an early American schoolbook put it, “In Adam’s fall, we sinned all.” (cf. Rom. 5:12-14) God’s representatives would still be responsible for taking dominion over creation to the glory of God (Gen. 9:1-3), but sin would continue to render the full and consistent implementation of this task impossible.

One biblical picture of the consequences of sin is the role reversal that is sometimes seen with respect to the relationship between man and beast. Man is supposed to exercise godly dominion over “the beasts of the field,” but man’s abdication of his responsibilities often shows up here. A common biblical picture of God’s judgment involves the dominion of beast over man. Moses had power over the insects and beasts and used them to bring judgment on Egypt (Ex. 8; 9; 10). Before the Israelites entered the holy land, God told them that their faithfulness would be met with help from the beasts. God would send the hornets to drive out the inhabitants of the land (Ex. 24:27, 28 cf. Josh. 24:11, 12). Elijah was fed by the ravens while he was hiding from Ahab (I Kin. 17:1-6). When God’s people were faithful, the beasts worked for them.

Rebellion, however, met with a different response. If and when Israel was unfaithful to her Lord, one of the curses of the covenant was that God would cause the people to be defeated by their enemies. Their carcasses would then be “food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away.” (Deut. 28:26) This threatened curse became a reality when God used Babylon to judge the Southern Kingdom (Ps. 79:1, 2; Jer. 7:32-34). Unfaithful Israel became food for the beasts, and except for a relatively brief period of time, she continued to be under the dominion of a beast-Empire. Daniel’s vision of the four beasts showed what Israel’s lot would be like for many years to come (Dan. 7:1-8). The first beast – the lion – was Babylon. This beast was subsequently conquered by the Medo-Persian Empire – the bear. The leopard represented the Greek Empire which took dominion when Alexander the Great swept through the Near East and conquered it. The forth beast was the Roman Empire. All of the beasts had dominion over God’s people and it was the Roman beast that ruled over God’s people at the time of Jesus’ incarnation. Finally, just as the great meal of blessing at the end of Revelation is the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9), so also God’s judgment takes the form of a great feast of the birds (Rev. 19:17-21). In short, the beasts tended to be a blessing to the faithful. The hierarchy of creation was preserved so that man had godly dominion over the animals. But rebellion is often punished with a reversal of roles. The beasts rise up and are used by God to rule, trample, and devour the wicked.

There is another aspect of Adam’s fall that should be pointed out here. It is here that we see the self-contradiction and irony of Adam’s rebellion. Adam abdicated his responsibility as lord and protector of creation. He failed to keep the serpent-beast out of the garden, and following that, he just sat around and watched as the beast attacked his wife. In so doing, he stumbled blindly into the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:22). And ever since then, men have greedily grasped at this kingly office when it did not belong to them or when they were not mature enough to properly administer it. Adam’s abdication of authority led to fallen man’s desire to grab for authority and use it in a self-serving and oppressive manner (cf. Jesus’ description of pagan rulers, Matt. 20:25-28).

Because of Adam's failure to be a true man who would faithfully bear God’s image, a new man – a new “adam” – was needed. When God determined to destroy the world via the flood, God brought Noah forward as this new Adam. For after the waters of the flood receded, Noah was to take up where Adam left off. “So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.” (Gen. 9:1, 2) Here we see that Adam’s responsibility as ruler of the world is re-issued to Noah and his sons. God destroyed the old world with the flood. He then created a new world and gave it a new Adam charged with its governance. But as we know, this was not the end of the story. Noah was a new Adam, but he hardly accomplished all that Adam was to accomplish.

This new man would need to accurately represent God by fulfilling the role of servant-lord. He would also need to take upon himself the effects of Adam's disobedience so that humanity would once again image God in the proper way. And in God's providence, He promised just such a new man to humanity after Adam rebelled. This new man would be the seed of the woman – a true “son of man” – and he would crush the head of the serpent-beast (Gen. 3:15).

Many years later, the prophet Daniel had a vision in which the new man would fulfill the role that had been originally given to Adam. Daniel’s vision included the four beast-empires which had dominion over the earth (Dan. 7:1-8). This, as we have seen, was a major perversion of the creation order. Man was supposed to take dominion over the earth, but because of sin, he had abdicated this role and become ineffectual in it. As a result, beasts were taking dominion. But Daniel also recorded that something dramatic would occur. “I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn [of the fourth beast] was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away…” (Dan. 7:12).

These beasts were usurpers. Like the serpent-beast in the garden, they tried to wrest authority over the creation away from man. It is true that the rule of the beasts was God-ordained. Babylon, for example, was the beast that God had sent to punish Judah. At the time of Jesus’ first advent, Israel was under Rome’s dominion due to her unfaithfulness. And in general, rule by beasts was the fitting punishment for man’s failure to worship the true God and obey His word. Nevertheless, this was an “unnatural state.” Apart from sin’s distorting effects, man should have been in charge of the beasts. So these beasts held an “unnatural” position born from a perversion of the creation order. Because of the sin of God’s people, this rebellion worked for a time. The beasts ruled as long as the people failed to live up to their assigned role (which is first of all to be worshippers of the true God and second to be His prime ministers for creation). But the new man would come and accomplish what the first man and subsequent men did not and could not accomplish.

I was watching in the night visions,
and behold, one like the son of man,
coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
and they brought Him near before Him.
Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and His kingdom the one
which shall not be destroyed. (Dan. 7:13, 14)

Psalm 8 describes man’s original role as one of dominion over creation, but sin would keep him from properly fulfilling this description. The beasts of the field took over for a time, but “one like the son of man” would set things right. As previously mentioned, the phrase “son of man” is used as a synonym for and emphasis of the humanness of man. According to Daniel’s vision, the true “son of man” would bring humanity back to its proper role.

Several centuries later, this second Adam arrived during the dominion of Rome, Daniel’s forth beast. Like the first Adam, this second Adam had an encounter with the serpent-beast (Matt. 4:1-11). But unlike the first Adam, the second was completely faithful both to God and to man's true role. Jesus did not abuse his authority and neither did He abdicate His responsibility. Instead, He fought off the attack of the serpent-beast in the wilderness. Since Adam got man kicked out of the garden, the new Adam had to start where man was – in a wilderness. Unlike Adam the empiricist, the new Adam began with full trust in God’s word. Because of this, He took dominion over the serpent-beast (e.g., binding the “strong man” – Matt. 12:22-29) and his underling-beasts (e.g., casting out demons) during His ministry and especially at the cross (cf. Col. 2:13-15). And instead of failing to protect His bride, He did the opposite. He died for His bride, the Church (Eph. 5:22-32), thus providing the perfect example of the kind of servant-leadership that Adam should have displayed for his bride. As a result,

[God] raised [Jesus] from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Eph. 1:20-23)

Jesus humbly served God and man, and He thereby took dominion over creation (Phil. 2:5-11). As the true man, He also took upon Himself the consequences of Adam’s sin.

For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. But one testified in a certain place, saying:

“What is man that You are mindful of him,
or the son of man that You take care of him?
You have made him a little lower than the angels;
You have crowned him with glory and honor,
and set him over the works of Your hands.
You have put all things in subjection under his feet.”

For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. 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, might taste death for everyone. (Heb. 2:5-9 quoting Ps. 8:4-6)

The true son of man not only remained faithful where Adam had not, He also suffered death in order to rectify the mess made by Adam.

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly... For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life…. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned… And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. (Rom. 5:6, 10, 12, 16-19)

Because of this sacrifice, Jesus was able to bring others with Him into the new creation. Through the resurrection, He became the firstfruits of a new humanity.

But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have died. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For “He has put all things under His feet.” (I Cor. 15:20-27)

There are three important Old Testament references in this passage. The first reference is to Genesis 3 and the failure of the first Adam. Death came because of the disobedience of the first man. The second reference is a quotation from Psalm 8 (“You have put all things under his feet”) describing the role that Adam should have fulfilled. The third reference is to Psalm 110 where the Messiah was to

Sit at My right hand [i.e., reign],
till I make Your enemies Your footstool. (Ps. 110:1)

The second Adam is therefore in the process of cleaning up the mess made by the first Adam. He received the status that His predecessor squandered and He will carry out the process by which all of creation will be subjected to His rule. He has a royal title to all things now, and the actual subjugation of the created order will progress through history until all parts and aspects of creation have been explicitly placed under His rule.

While it is certainly true that Jesus as God already had dominion and lordship over His creation, there is clearly a new aspect to His rule that is highlighted by the concept of Jesus as the firstfruits. The newness of the situation is precisely this. Jesus became man, and through faithfulness to God and true servant-leadership, a man has now accomplished what man was originally supposed to do. Thus, a faithful man has now received the status of lord that Adam lost, and He has begun the kingly process of taking dominion that fallen man always grasps for but always fails to obtain. And by this, He opened the way for a new humanity to join Him.

And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. (I Cor. 15:45-49)

Jesus is the new Adam, and those in Him also constitute a new man and a new creation. He is the new man, and because He fulfills the role that man was always meant to fill, those who are in Him share in His role. Just as He began to set the created order aright by taking dominion over Daniel’s beasts and crushing the head of the serpent-beast (Gen. 3:15), so also His representatives were given authority over the beasts (Luke 10:17-19). In fact, Paul told the Roman Christians that “the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom. 16:20). Jesus’ authority and mission become their authority and mission. “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matt. 28:18, 19). This is the Church’s dominion mandate: spread the gospel of the kingdom of God to all the nations. Jesus has all authority, and His people therefore have a “legal title” as it were to all things (Rom. 8:32; I Cor. 3:21, 22). Jesus is “heir of all things” (Heb. 1:2), and the sons of God are therefore “joint heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:16, 17). They will, in fact, judge both the world and angels (I Cor. 6:1-3).

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All the Promises of God I

Introduction

Two thousand years ago, an angel named Gabriel visited a Jewish priest named Zacharias. He told the priest that his barren wife would soon conceive and bear a son. This would be no ordinary child, for “he will be great in the sight of the Lord” (Luke 1:15). “And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:16, 17) These were rather astonishing claims, but the priest had heard them before. Four and a half centuries previous to this, God had foretold through the prophet Malachi that

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
And he will turn
the hearts of the fathers to the children,
and the hearts of the children to their fathers,
lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. (Mal. 4:5, 6)

Perhaps these words would have been all the more memorable to Zacharias because they were the last words of the Old Testament. They were the last recorded words that God had spoken to Israel through a prophet. Through Malachi, He told His people that He would send Elijah to them as a forerunner to judgment – to rekindle their faithfulness (Mal. 4:1-6). And now, Zacharias had just been told that his son would be that forerunner.

Six months later, Gabriel visited Mary, a lowly virgin who lived in an insignificant Jewish town. He told her that she had found favor with God. “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:31-33) An angel also visited Mary’s fiancée Joseph in a dream and told him,

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus [lit. “Yahweh saves”], for He will save His people from their sins.” So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Matt. 1:20-23)

There was a family connection as it turned out, because Mary was related to Zacharias’ wife Elizabeth. After the angel had visited her, Mary went to see her pregnant relative. Both of them knew what was going on, and after some conversation, Mary said of the situation that

He [God] has helped His servant Israel,
in remembrance of His mercy,
as He spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his seed forever. (Luke 1:54, 55)

Three months later, after the birth of his son John, Zacharias prophesied of the coming events.

Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,
for He has visited and redeemed His people,
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of His servant David,
as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets,
who have been since the world began,
that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us,
to perform the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember His holy covenant,
the oath which He swore to our father Abraham...
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;
for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to His people
by the remission of their sins,
through the tender mercy of our God... (Luke 1:68-73, 76-78)

John was the forerunner, and Jesus was the Lord who had come to reign as King and bring salvation to His people. He had come to fulfill the promises made to the fathers and the oath made to Abraham. God had remembered His covenant, and Jesus was the proof of this. But the promises were not made for the sake of Israel alone. After the Northern Kingdom of Israel had fallen to Assyria, Isaiah prophesied of a redeemer and a new covenant wherein God would restore His people and expand His covenant to include the gentiles.

“Behold! My servant whom I uphold,
My elect one in whom My soul delights!
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the gentiles….

“I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness,
and will hold Your hand;
I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people,
as a light to the gentiles,
to open blind eyes,
to bring out prisoners from the prison,
those who sit in darkness from the prison house.” (Is. 42:1, 6, 7)

“And now the Lord says,
who formed Me from the womb to be His servant,
to bring Jacob back to Him,
so that Israel is gathered to Him
(for I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord,
and My God shall be My strength),
indeed He says,
‘It is too small a thing that You should be My servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also give You as a light to the gentiles,
that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’”…

Thus says the Lord:

“In an acceptable time I have heard You,
and in the day of salvation I have helped You;
I will preserve You and give You
as a covenant to the people,
to restore the earth,
to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages;
that You may say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’
to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’” (Is. 49:5, 6, 8, 9)

Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him
that there was no justice.
He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no intercessor;
therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him;
and His own righteousness, it sustained Him….

“The redeemer will come to Zion,
and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,”
says the Lord.

“As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forever more.”

Arise, shine;
for your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
and deep darkness the people;
but the Lord will arise over you,
and His glory will be seen upon you.
The gentiles shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your rising. (Is. 59:15, 16, 20, 21; 60:1-3)

After Jesus was born, his parents brought Him to the temple so that sacrifices could be made for Him. While there were there, a man named Simeon also came to the temple “by the Spirit” (Luke 2:27). The Spirit had revealed to this man that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah (Luke 2:26), and when he saw Jesus, he took the child in his arms and proclaimed the fulfillment of the Isaianic promises saying:

Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace,
according to Your word;
for my eyes have seen Your salvation
which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,
a light to bring revelation to the gentiles,
and the glory of Your people Israel. (Luke 2:29-32)

He then told Mary that “this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:34, 35)

During His earthly ministry, Jesus often rebuked His people for failing to see that He was indeed the fulfillment of the various OT promises that God had made to them. He once told a group of Jews that if they really believed the writings of Moses, they would believe Him, because Moses wrote about Him (John 5:44-46). After His resurrection when His disciples failed to recognize Him, He rebuked them for being slow to believe all that the prophets had spoken (Luke 24:25, 26). “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). A little later, He said to the disciples, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me” (Luke 24:44 cf. Acts 10:43; 28:23).

After His resurrection, Jesus commissioned His apostles to make disciples of all nations. They did this by proclaiming that Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s promises. Paul told a group of Israelites that after God had removed Saul as king of Israel,

He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.” From this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior – Jesus – after John had preached, before His coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel….

For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning Him. And though they found no cause for death in Him, they asked Pilate that He should be put to death. Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead. He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses to the people. And we declare to you glad tidings – that promise which was made to the fathers. God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm: “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.” (Acts 13:22-24, 27-33)

Years later, Paul told King Agrippa, “And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers. To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead?” (Acts 26:6-8) The Jews were looking for the promised hope, but they would not believe Paul when he proclaimed the fulfillment of that hope in Jesus.

As the Scriptures had foretold, Jesus was the gospel of God, having been declared the Davidic Messiah-King through the resurrection (Rom. 1:1-4). He had become “a minister to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and that the gentiles might glorify God for His mercy” (Rom. 15:8, 9). This occurred because “Isaiah says:

‘There shall be a root of Jesse;
and He who shall rise to reign over the gentiles,
in Him the gentiles shall hope.’” (Rom. 15:12 referring to Is. 11:1, 10)

God had long ago chosen the Jews to be His priestly people. They were to mediate His goodness, presence, and glory to the world. But the time had come for the nations to see the salvation of God. Though they were once without God and without hope, the gentiles would now be joined with the faithful Jews. Both would have access to the Father because of the Son (Eph. 2:11-18).

Six centuries before the Annunciation, the prophet Jeremiah proclaimed a message of judgment and captivity for the Southern Kingdom of Judah (the Northern Kingdom of Israel had already fallen and the people sent into exile years earlier). The people had been unfaithful to the covenant. As a result, the covenantal curses would come upon them. A foreign nation would invade their nation, devastate all that they had, and carry them off into exile (cf. Deut. 28). But along with the proclamation of this judgment, Jeremiah also described a day when God would gather His people together again and reform them via a new covenant. The prophet stated that the days were coming when God would “bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah... And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.” (Jer. 30:3) In that day, God’s people would be freed from their yoke to serve the Lord their God and David their king (Jer. 30:8, 9). The Lord would be God to all the families of Israel (Jer. 31:1) and He would rebuild Israel (Jer. 31:4). He would gather His people to Himself again, because “I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn.” (Jer. 31:9) This would be nothing less than the redemption of the people from their sins (Jer. 30:12-15; 31:11, 18-20). This would be the replanting of Israel and Judah (Jer. 31:27, 28).

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah — not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. (Jer. 31:31-34)

This would be a joyous time in which the city of God would be rebuilt (Jer. 31:38) such that it would never be thrown down again (Jer. 31:40).

After the fall of the Southern Kingdom at the hands of the Babylonians, Ezekiel also foretold of the new covenant that God would make with His people.

Thus says the Lord God: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. (Ezek. 36:22-28)

There is a real sense in which this promise came to fruition when, after the 70 year exile, God brought His people back to the land. Jerusalem was rebuilt and a new temple was also built. We are told of this restoration in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. This was a real restoration of the people to the land but it was clearly not the end of the matter. For Ezekiel had foreseen a new city and temple that the restored versions simply could not match (e.g., Ezekiel’s amazing temple had a river of living water that flowed from it “toward the east” to give life wherever it went. Additionally, there were trees along the river that would bear fruit every month, and their leaves would be for healing: Ezek. 47:1-12. Jewish proselytizing among the nations certainly increased and was significant during this restoration covenant era, but from our perspective today, we can see that it was but a small foreshadow compared to the life giving flood that flowed and is still flowing from Jesus and His Church.)

Moreover, the second temple was in a real sense incomplete. It was, after all, supposed to be the place where God dwelt with His people. When the tabernacle was finished, the Shekhinah – the glory cloud manifestation of God’s special presence – covered the tabernacle so that “the glory of the Lord” was there (Ex. 40-34-38). After the first temple was built, God’s Shekhinah again settled on His house (I Kin. 8:10-13). This glory cloud of God’s presence departed the first temple just before He sacked Jerusalem and sent the people into exile (Ezek. 10; 11:22, 23). But after the restoration, God did not return to His people in this special way. The Shekhinah never entered the second temple. Part of the promise of the restoration involved God’s return to His people. They would be His people, and He would again dwell with them. But even after the restoration from exile, this was not a fulfilled reality.

Finally, we can point out that many Jews had not returned to the land. This situation became permanent and there were entire communities of Greek-speaking Jews who lived outside of Palestine. And those who did return to the land were still under foreign rule. Thus, we can say that the ultimate fulfillment of the promised new covenant had not yet arrived. The restoration from the Babylonian exile was a foreshadowing of the new covenant but the full glory of that covenant remained a promise.

But the true new covenant and the full realization of the promises would eventually come. During what was supposed to be the Mosaic covenant meal of the Passover, Jesus took a cup of wine and told His disciples, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” (Luke 22:20) Years later, Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth that he and his fellow workers were “ministers of the new covenant” (II Cor. 3:6). The writer of Hebrews made the connection most obvious. After discussing the instruction given to Moses regarding the tabernacle, he told his readers that Jesus had obtained a more excellent ministry because He was the mediator of a better covenant. “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them [i.e., the people], He says...” (Heb. 8:7, 8) What follows is a quotation of Jeremiah 31:31-34.

This was meant to explain that Jesus was the high priest (Heb. 8:1) and mediator of a better covenant (Heb. 8:6). The old covenant ordinances were weak, temporary, and symbolic (Heb. 7:11-19; 9:1-14). They were “tutors” that would lead Israel to Jesus (Gal. 3:22-24). They were guardians and stewards given to teach and raise children up to become mature in Him (Gal. 4:1-5). “And for this reason, He is the mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” (Heb. 9:15) Therefore, the writer told his audience that because the new covenant in Jesus had arrived, the old was about to expire. “In that He says, ‘A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” (Heb. 8:13) And thus, Christians had not come to the old covenant of Mount Sinai and Moses (Heb. 12:18-21) but to Mount Zion (Heb. 12:22) and to “Jesus the mediator of the new covenant” (Heb. 12:24). Jesus had returned to His people as King to announce the end of the old order and the dawn of a new one. This was, in fact, the promised gospel.

In sum, Jesus is the answer to the old covenant symbols, prophesies, and promises. With His First Advent, He confirmed the promises made to the fathers by ministering to the Jews and by bringing the reign of His kingdom to the gentiles. God promised this in the old covenant, and He stayed true to His word through Christ. “But as God is faithful, our word to you was not yes and no. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us... was not yes and no, but in Him was yes. For all the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him amen, to the glory of God through us.” (II Cor. 1:18-20) All of God’s promises are brought to fruition in Christ.

This is the good news. This is the big deal and the central focus of the New Testament documents. God has been faithful to the promises that He made to His people and to the world. He returned to His people as King, brought them back from exile, and brought the covenant relationship of salvation to the gentiles as well. All of this was accomplished by Jesus. The Father sent the Son in the Spirit to fulfill these promises – promises which amount to “the restoration of all things” (cf. Acts 3:19-21). This restoration was definitively begun by Jesus during His First Advent, and His Church in the Spirit will work out the effects of His First Advent until He returns again to consummate history and deliver the kingdom to the Father. This gospel is the core promise of the Old Testament but there are many aspects to it and it has many implications for the nature and shape of God’s covenant with His people. The following posts will describe the fulfillment of this promise from a number of angles in order to illuminate some of these aspects and implications. Focus will be placed on how Jesus transformed the old covenant into the new covenant by fulfilling the old covenant promises, types, and ordinances. These angles often overlap, and when taken together, they paint an amazing, intricate, and comprehensive portrait of God’s mercy and faithfulness.

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