Knox and his covenanting associates maintained that it was righteous procedure on the part of the State to adopt, and to see that the subjects accepted, a religion. But the difference between the Reformed and the Romanist position was this, that the acceptor in the latter case had to accept and say nothing, in the former, the believer had the right to appeal directly to the Holy Writ as the sole authority on matters of faith. This privilege . . . it broke the keys of Rome.

J. K. Hewison, The Covenanters, Vol. 1, 36-37.

Indirect Meaning and Interpretive Effort

The goal of biblical hermeneutics is to understand the original, intended meaning of the Word of God. To assess the original, intended meaning of the various Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, the literary genre of respective works must be taken into consideration. If an interpreter does not take literary genre into consideration, then, to some degree, he will fall short understanding the intent and meaning of the text.

The chapters on Narrative, the New Testament Epistles, and Prophecy highlight the function of indirect meaning in interpretation. It takes effort to notice indirect meaning. For example, narrative is the most common literary genre of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and, as Kaiser explains in Chapter 8, “Narrative is clearly the main supporting framework for the Bible.”[1] The implications of this are significant! The meaning of the main supporting framework for the Bible is accessed and assessed indirectly. As Kaiser explains, “[N]arrative presents its principles and purposes indirectly.”[2] This implication and observation highlights the importance of understanding literary genres for interpreting the Bible. The meaning and sense of narrative, the most common literary genre, is largely indirect. However, even in more direct literary genres, like the Epistles, even in those texts Kaiser and Silva discuss that much of their meaning is also implied, e.g., meaning and understanding of the Epistles is derived from ascertaining the “specific historical needs” at back the intent of the author’s writing to original audience.[3]

Patient Effort

A reader and interpreter cannot expect the text to do all the work. A significant degree of interpretive-responsibility is intentionally and necessarily transferred to the audience. In the same way a preacher cannot do all the work for a person listening to a sermon, likewise the text cannot (does not) do all the work for the reader. “It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out” (Prov. 25:2). With respect to narrative, what responsibility does the reader have to hear, and what effort is required in order to search out the meaning of the text? Much, indeed.

Patient effort is required to access and assess the meaning of Narrative, Poetry and Wisdom, Gospels, Epistles, and Prophecy. In the parable of the sower and the seed, Jesus explained “the seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11) and “the good soil” are “the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance” (Luke 8:15). No wonder, prior to this explanation, Jesus concluded the parable with the forceful imperative: “Let anyone with ears to hear listen” (Luke 8:8). The patient effort required to discern both the direct and indirect meaning contained in the Scriptures, whether ranging from Narrative to Prophecy, only heightens the interpreter’s duty to constantly be praying, “Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18).

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[1] Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Moisés Silva, Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics: The Search for Meaning, rev. and exp. ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), 123.

[2] Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Moisés Silva, Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics, 124.

[3] Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Moisés Silva, Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics, 177.

Hermeneutics, Language, and History

Hermeneutics is not an exclusive discipline of biblical studies. As Moisés Silva explains, hermeneutics has traditionally referred to “the discipline that deals with principles of interpretation.”[1] Humans interpret a variety of things all the time, e.g., conversations, newspapers, books, food recipes, etc. However, as Silva elaborates, there is nothing simple about this “daily practice of interpretation” because it “requires a fairly complex (though usually unconscious) process that focuses on language and history.”[2]

In Chapters 1-7, Kaiser and Silva help readers to slow down, identify, notice, and observe the principles of interpretation that are the basis of the responsible discipline of biblical hermeneutics. Much like the hidden yet intricate gears that consistently and reliably tick and tock behind the faceplate of a pocket-watch, likewise the daily “tick, tock” practice of interpretation is largely a matter of an unconscious (hidden) process. Following this pocket-watch analogy, Kaiser and Silva are lifting the backplate and showing off the “language” and “history” that are the primary elements of the gearwork that provides the tick-tock of “grammatico-historical exegesis.”[3] This book is a helpful examination of the crucial and introductory concepts for interpreting the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.

Hermeneutics: Constructive and Complex

Biblical hermeneutics is a constructive endeavor which aims to demonstrate meaning and modern application of the Scriptures. How should one interpret Scripture? What can readers do to understand the original, intended meaning of Scripture? Is the canonical context important for understanding and interpreting Scripture? What should contemporary readers do to avoid making inappropriate modern applications? Hermeneutics deals with these sorts of questions. Hermeneutics must be constructive because nobody discerns, understands, explains the original meaning, and applies the Scriptures to contemporary milieu via rote repetition of the Scriptures. For example, if I ask what the meaning of the Ten Commandments is and its relevant application for modern church and society, then it is not merely a matter of reading and woodenly paraphrasing Exodus 20. That manner of “interpreting” the Bible is only a tautology. Merely saying something with different words is not the aim of biblical hermeneutics. In the chapter discussing the use and abuse of language, Silva specifically warns against the danger of exaggerating the biblical languages: “we must not confuse the divine message itself with the human means God used to proclaim it. … Under inspiration, they used their daily language in a normal way.”[4] Biblical interpretation is not merely a matter of pointing to Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek sentences, i.e., the human means God used for divine revelation.

A responsible interpreter of the Scriptures must start with and focus on the text(s) of Scripture, but the principles of interpretation extend beyond that initial step. One of the most essential yet primitive steps is to “infer from the context what an author meant,” which will then prompt other necessary decisions, e.g., determining “whether the words are to be understood literally or figuratively.”[5] It is important for readers to notice Kaiser and Silva’s repeated emphasis on the complex and constructive undertakings in biblical hermeneutics, e.g., the fivefold-summary “guidelines” in Chapter 3,[6] the anecdotal step by step “process of principlization” (showing how “to summarize the heart of the text in ways that legitimately extend into our contemporary culture the truths and principles found in the text”),[7] and the relation of faith and history.[8]

Summary

The following quote is a helpful takeaway for interpreting the Bible in accordance with the initial directions and principles of grammatico-historical exegesis presented in this book: “The word “grammatical” referred not to the grammar and syntax of the passage but to the natural, normal, or literal meaning of the text. The word “historical” referred to the incidents attached to its story or message, namely, the events of the past, its persons, and its setting.”[9] In the search for biblical meaning, Kaiser and Silva remind their readers that an interpreter must plumb the mutual fathoms of both the language and history of the Scriptures.[10]

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[1] Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Moisés Silva, Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics: The Search for Meaning, rev. and exp. ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), 17.

[2] Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Moisés Silva, Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics, 19.

[3] Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Moisés Silva, Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics, 21.

[4] Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Moisés Silva, Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics, 55.

[5] Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Moisés Silva, Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics, 39.

[6] Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Moisés Silva, Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics, 64-65.

[7] Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Moisés Silva, Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics, 92.

[8] Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Moisés Silva, Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics, 111-112.

[9] Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Moisés Silva, Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics, 119.

[10] “The term exegesis (used often by biblical scholars but seldom by specialists in other fields) is a fancy way of referring to interpretation. It implies that the explanation of the text has involved careful, detailed analysis. The description grammatico-historical indicates, of course, that this analysis must pay attention both to the language in which the original text was written and to the specific cultural context that gave rise to the text” (Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Moisés Silva, Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics, 21).

Diversity and Unity

The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are vast. As Vaughan Roberts explains, “The Bible is a diverse collection of different writings. It contains sixty-six books written by about forty human authors over nearly 2,000 years.”[1] These diverse Scriptures, however, enjoy mutual unity with one another. The Apostle Peter explained and clarified to his original audience the unifying nature of the Word of God: “First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:20-21). [2] Similarly, the Apostle Paul wrote: “All scripture is inspired by God” (2 Timothy 3:16). Like a complex internet homepage with multiple pages and subpages but hosted by the same server, likewise, Divine authorship is the backend figurative server that hosts and unifies the figurative webpages of the diverse Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. This unity may seem unintuitive, especially if interpreters focus on and overemphasize obscure passages. A valuable way to navigate the diversity of the Bible, and to begin to understand how all the writings fit together, even the obscure passages, is to trace and map the development of interconnected Scriptural themes. In what follows, I will investigate the following three Scriptural themes: The Kingdom of God, the Divine covenants, and the Temple-concept.

Investigating Scriptural Themes: Kingdom of God, Divine Covenants, and Divine Presence

From Genesis to Revelation, the “Kingdom of God” is a unifying theme that “arise[s] out of Scripture itself.”[3] What is the Kingdom of God? As Vaughan Roberts summarizes, the Kingdom of God is “God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule and blessing.”[4] At each respective era of redemptive history, the Scriptures trace the development of the Kingdom of God from its original “pattern” to its final “perfected” state.[5] For example, Eden initially relates the theme of the Kingdom in Adam and Eve (God’s people) in the Garden (God’s place) and they are given commission to be fruitful and multiply and the prohibition to not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (under God’s rule and blessing). This theme can also be detected throughout the Old Testament in the respective stories of Early Patriarchs, National Israel, etc.

The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments refer to the Kingdom of God in a twofold sense. On the one hand, God rules everything and always has throughout all creation: “O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens” (Psalm 8:1); “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established” (Psalm 8:3); “The LORD established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all” (Psalm 103:19). On the other hand, God displays his kingship and dominion in heaven and on earth through a variety of characters and covenants, culminating in Jesus Christ: “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you” (Luke 11:20); “You are those who have stood by me in my trials; and I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:28-30).[6] The former and the latter sense are related. The former is sovereignly displayed and actualized in history in accordance with God’s plan of redemption, that is, it is an “unfolding kingdom.” As one source elaborates, “An unfolding kingdom refers to a particular way that God reveals, displays, or demonstrates his sovereignty throughout history.”[7] For example, God revealed, displayed, and demonstrated his sovereignty in the call of Abram (Genesis 12) and commensurate Divine covenant (Genesis 15, 17), in the preservation of Israel through Joseph’s rule (Genesis 37-50), in delivering and covenanting with National Israel (Exodus 1-20), etc.

One of the reiterated and central elements that can be identified in the various particular ways that God reveals and demonstrates his sovereignty throughout history is in the respective Divine covenant with which “God has bound himself to humans and them to himself.”[8] What is a covenant? As O. Palmer Robertson defines it: “A covenant may be defined as a bond in blood sovereignly administered.”[9] The point Robertson is making is that covenants are matters of life and death, e.g., Adam did not walk in the way of the covenant of works and the outcome was death: “sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned” (Romans 5:12); Jesus was obedient in the covenant of grace and the outcome was life: “so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all” (Romans 5:18b). The stories of the covenants transpires from the universal covenants with Adam and Noah, to the Early Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to National Israel during the Mosaic era, to National Israel, particularly under the rule and kingship of David. In each of these Old Testament covenants, “God issued both blessings and curses.”[10] This aspect of covenants demonstrates the interconnectedness with the theme of the Kingdom of God. Covenants were historical means by which God administered and expanded the Kingdom of God. As one source explains, “Each Old Testament covenant had a different covenant representatives and policies but there was organic unity despite these changes.”[11] The covenants made with different representatives at different stages of the Kingdom of God reveal God’s redemptive purposes. This revelation is a type of commentary and explanation of God’s plan of salvation, e.g., God’s covenant with Abraham revealed that his descendants were the chosen people through whom would come the promised “seed of the woman” (Genesis 3:15), and the covenant with David revealed that this promised “seed” would be an eternal King with an everlasting Kingdom (cf. 2 Samuel 7). The themes of Kingdom and Covenants are interconnected, which is why “All the promises of the kingdom of God are fulfilled in Christ: he is God’s people, God’s place and God’s rule.”[12] When Jesus comes, he inaugurates the Kingdom of God and introduces a new covenant. During his earthly ministry, Jesus said, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you” (Luke 11:20), and, at the Last Supper, Jesus told his disciples, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20).

There is a third theme interconnected with Kingdom and Covenant: The Temple-concept. Beginning in Genesis 1-2, we learn about God’s desire to manifest his special presence in a dwelling place with his imagers. God creates Adam and Eve. God then puts them in a Garden that is tantamount to a sanctuary. As two contemporary authors explain, “Eden is presented as a sanctuary and place where God dwells, as seen in Genesis 1-2 and the wider witness of the Old Testament. Even the seemingly casual mention of God “walking” in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:8) is rich with connotations that suggest God’s presence in the temple.”[13] These authors support their claim, that Eden can be seen as the first temple, with the following lines of evidence: in the Tabernacle and Temple, the ark of the covenant resided in the Holy of Holies and contained the source of wisdom, the Law, and this corresponds to Eden which contained the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which was a source that led to wisdom; death was the shared result of touching the ark or partaking of the prohibited fruit; the entrance to the temple was from the east, likewise the entrance to Eden (cp., Ezekiel 40:6; Genesis 3:24); the holy presence of God is associated with Eden and the temple.[14] In conclusion, the authors explain, “Parallels between Eden and the tabernacle/temple further demonstrate that our desire for life and purpose are properly satisfied in God’s presence.”[15]

Mapping the Interconnectedness of Scriptural Themes

One of the ways one can begin to understand how the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments fit together is to trace and map the interconnectedness of Scriptural themes. This essay is an examination of three Scriptural themes: (1) the Kingdom of God, (2) the Divine covenants, and (3) the Temple-concept. In what follows, I will examine the theme of the Temple-concept and how it is intertwined and co-developed with the theme of the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God and the Temple-concept are intimately related and commensurately developed throughout the Scriptures. As one author explains, “We see in the garden of Eden [the first temple] a pattern of the kingdom of God. God’s people, Adam and Eve, live in God’s place, the garden of Eden, under God’s rule; as a result, they enjoy God’s blessing.”[16] The intertwining of the themes Kingdom of God and the Temple-concept are developed and culminate in the teachings of New Testament. All of the various iterations of earthly sanctuaries, e.g., Eden (Genesis 1-2), the small sanctuaries associated with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Genesis 12:1-37:1), the Tabernacle (Exodus), and the Temple(s) in Jerusalem (1 Kings; Ezra and Nehemiah), we are told in Hebrews that temporal sanctuary was “figurative,” that is, “a ‘copy and shadow’; Heb 8:5.”[17] Commenting on the illumination of the Temple-concept taught in Hebrews, two contemporary authors explain that “the heavenly sanctuary is the ‘literal’ sanctuary, ‘the greater and more perfect tent [tabernacle]’ (Heb 9:11) and the ‘true tent [tabernacle]’ (Heb 8:2; 9:24) . . . All of these physical temples were only intended to be small architectural models and copies of the coming true, eternal temple (see again Heb 8:5).”[18]

Starting in Genesis, the Temple-concept is developed until it culminates in Jesus, but parallel and intertwined with that theme is also the theme of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God was inaugurated in the birth, life, and ministry of Jesus Christ. Jesus himself said, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you” (Luke 11:20). Jesus himself also prophesied before his crucifixion that he was going to raise (inaugurate) a new temple in his death and resurrection three days later (cf., John 2:19; Matthew 26:61, 27:40; Mark 14:58; cp. Ephesians 2:19-22). What does that mean? It means: “This new temple is both spiritual and physical. Jesus himself inaugurates this new temple in his (physical) resurrection. Believers are first ‘spiritually’ part of the temple through spiritual resurrection, and they later become an actual physical part of the temple at the time of the final resurrection (e.g., Rev 3:12; 21:1-22:5).”[19] This mashup and convergence of the themes Kingdom of God and the Temple-concept in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus provides a framework and “interpretive key” for understanding countless passages throughout the Scriptures.[20]

This is also interconnected with the Divine covenants. God has revealed his desire to relate to mankind by way of covenant, and what we see in the Scriptures is that the progressive administration of and actualization of the Kingdom of God is accomplished via covenants, e.g., God promises to send a Victor (Genesis 3:15) and then reveals to Abram that God will accomplish this through Abram and his descendants (cf. Genesis 12:1-8; 15, 17, 22). God’s special presence is associated with his self-revelation to and commissioning of all the early patriarchs, i.e., Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As O. Palmer Robertson explains, “the heartbeat of every divine covenant in the Bible” is “I will be your God and you will be my people.” Clearly the Divine covenants are interconnected with the theme Kingdom of God, i.e., “God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule and blessing.”[21] Throughout the narratives of the Old Testament we see again and again God making divine covenants and commissioning of his people in settings and circumstances with element and aspects that are Scripturally-symbolically associated with sanctuaries, i.e., the Temple-concept.[22] The three themes I have been examining all pointed forward to Jesus Christ. God the Son Incarnate is God’s appointed king. The Kingdom of God has come in King Jesus’ first advent. And Jesus himself told his disciples, “You are those who have stood by me in my trials; and I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:28-30). At the Last Supper, Jesus himself prophesied, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20). In the same way God administered and expanded his plan of redemption via Divine covenants, likewise he consummately fulfilled every promise and prophesy in the covenant of grace made with Jesus Christ.

Reflection

What can be learned from tracing and examining the interconnected nature of the three Scriptural themes discussed above? How might these themes contribute to and help believers better understand, interpret, and apply the Holy Scriptures to their lives? For starters, the implications of Jesus Christ’s inaugurating a new temple in his physical resurrection is paramount. As G. K. Beale and Mitchell Kim have explained, “Jesus is certainly the builder of the new temple” and “He builds his church on the foundation of the apostles’ teaching (as Paul later asserts in Eph 2:19-22), which, of course, is about himself.”[23] The inauguration of the new temple is the basis of the Pentecostal church comprised of both Jew and Gentiles from all the nations, which spreads out to the uttermost ends of the earth (Acts 1:8; Acts 2). Also, the heavenly and true temple of God’s special presence is later portrayed in Revelation 21:1-22:5 as filling the “entire new cosmos,” that is, it is a “a temple that fills the heavens and earth.”[24] Believers live and serve in the context of this heavenly temple.

This knowledge should inform our understanding and interpretation of our present circumstances. Both the Kingdom of God and the heavenly and true Temple have been inaugurated and are present realities. Jesus’ rule and dominion on earth is continuing and expanding, albeit, it is not yet fully consummated. The present reality of the Kingdom and Temple confronts Christians today and forces us to wrestle with our post-Enlightenment and naturalistic understanding of the cosmos, i.e., when we start asking informed questions about the cosmos in light of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection, we realize that our understanding of the cosmos is frequently not fully Scriptural. As Beale and Kim explain, “The worldview of the Old Testament, especially Genesis 1-2, viewed the cosmos as a temple.”[25] It would seem the majority of modern, evangelical Protestants do not know that and/or have lost sight of it. In Jesus Christ, Christians are behooved to view the cosmos as a temple, and, accordingly, our calling to serve as a member within the priesthood of believers; believers are both individually and corporately called to offer up spiritual worship in the context of the temple that is filling the earth (cf., Romans 12:1).

In addition, studying these three themes can help believers better notice the distinctions of the various epochs of redemptive history, particularly how these distinctions stand out in each respective epoch against the shared backdrop and scenery composed of the interconnected themes of Kingdom of God, Divine covenants, and the Temple-principle. Sustained reflection upon each epoch, e.g., Eden (Genesis 1-2), the Noahic era (Genesis 6-10), the Early Patriarchal times (Genesis 12-50), the Mosaic administration (Exodus-Deuteronomy), and the times of Israelite’s Monarchy (1 Samuel – 2 Kings), delivers dividends in more fully understanding how each of these epochs is “related to and built on one another.”[26] Although in this essay I have only rapidly and briefly traced these interconnected themes, their development through the various epochs clearly demonstrates that — from Genesis 1-2 to Revelation 21-22 — God’s creational purposes are oriented and rooted in his redemptive purposes, i.e., for Adam’s commission to be handed down to his descendants and for the children of God to be fruitful, to multiply, and to spread out to the uttermost ends of the earth, and as God’s imagers to take God’s rule and representation and make it coextensive with the entire cosmos, and that the “progress of this mission can be traced throughout the entire Bible.”[27] Specifically, this mission is perfectly fulfilled in Jesus Christ, God the Son Incarnate, who is the second Adam (cf., Romans 5). Once a believer notices and knows this important aspect of the counsel of God, then they can communicate and share it with others, so others might also more fully understand how all the Scriptures fit together and point to the person and work of Jesus Christ. All of the Scriptures, the sixty-six Scriptures that comprise both the Old and New Testaments, individually as well as collectively point to the person and work of Jesus Christ. Most Christians familiar with Luke 24 will confess the former, but I hope this essay by tracing interconnected Scriptural themes has briefly demonstrated how the Scriptures together collectively are related, how they together collectively build upon one another, and how, with one voice, they speak about Jesus Christ, the King of the Kingdom of God, the Christ of the covenants, and true and heavenly Temple.  

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[1] Vaughan Roberts, God’s Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2012), 14.

[2] All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New Revised Standard Version.

[3] Roberts, God’s Big Picture, 21.

[4] Roberts, God’s Big Picture, 22.

[5] See alliterative chapter headings (Roberts, God’s Big Picture, 7-8).

[6] Note: “Confer/conferred” could also be translated “covenant/covenanted.”

[7] Third Millennium Ministries, “Kingdom and Covenant in the New Testament: The Kingdom of God,” https://thirdmill.org/seminary/lesson.asp/vid/179/version/.

[8] O. Palmer Robertson, Covenants: God’s Way With His People (Suwanee: Great Commission Publications, Inc., 1987), 11.

[9] Robertson, Covenants, 11.

[10] Third Millennium Ministries, “Kingdom and Covenant in the New Testament: The New Covenant,” https://thirdmill.org/seminary/lesson.asp/vid/180/version/.

[11] Third Millennium Ministries, “Kingdom and Covenant in the New Testament: The New Covenant.”

[12] Roberts, God’s Big Picture, 115.

[13] G. K. Beale and Mitchell Kim, God Dwells Among Us: Expanding Eden to the Ends of the Earth (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2014), 18).

[14] Beale and Kim, God Dwells Among Us, 18.

[15] Beale and Kim, God Dwells Among Us, 19.

[16] Roberts, God’s Big Picture, 33.

[17] Beale and Kim, God Dwells Among Us, 153.

[18] Beale and Kim, God Dwells Among Us, 153.

[19] Beale and Kim, God Dwells Among Us, 154.

[20] Beale and Kim, God Dwells Among Us, 155.

[21] Roberts, God’s Big Picture, 22.

[22] Beale and Kim provide overwhelming evidence for this throughout God Dwells Among Us.

[23] Beale and Kim, God Dwells Among Us, 88.

[24] Beale and Kim, God Dwells Among Us, 139.

[25] Beale and Kim, God Dwells Among Us, 148.

[26] Beale and Kim, God Dwells Among Us, 8.

[27] Beale and Kim, God Dwells Among Us, 16.

Summary

In the “Introduction” to this coherent and concise book, O. Palmer Robertson asks a sincere and timely question: “Do you want something to keep you close to God? Something that will give you confidence that you are never without him?”[1] For those seeking to cultivate confident-familiarity with God, Robertson explains, “Then you’re searching for God’s covenant, his underlying promise.”[2] What promise? Robertson says it is the “formula of hope” which can be traced from Genesis to Revelation — “I will be your God and you will be my people.”[3] Robertson explains that knowledge of God’s covenants, i.e., that “God has committed himself so that he can be forever your God and you can be his people,” will “stabilize your personal life” and “sensitize your soul to a new awareness of God’s agenda in the world.”[4] Robertson confidently contends that “God’s covenants provide the foundation and structure for life.”[5]

In the following 13 chapters, Robertson traces each of the divine covenants in the Bible. For each of the covenants – Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, and New Covenant – Robertson highlights respective emphases but also explains how each of the divine covenants “illuminates the cross.”[6]

Chapters 1-3 defines what a covenant is, discusses the covenantal beginnings, and the “cosmic implications” of the covenant made with Adam.[7] Chapter 4 is appropriately titled “Preservation for Salvation” and discusses the covenant during the time of Noah. [8] The promise of the Noahic covenant embraces “the whole of creation,” resulting in that “every living creature benefits from its blessing (Gen. 9:10).”[9] The Noahic covenant ensures the preservation and stability of creation in accordance with God’s salvific purposes. Why have a creation-wide covenant? Because “Redemption is as broad as creation.” [10] Creation is preserved so God’s decree and redemptive will might be actualized in time, i.e., there must be a figurative theater stage for the actors in the story of redemption. This covenant is not redemptive in the same sense the latter covenants are. In the following sense, however, it is indirectly redemptive: “Because of the regularity of day and night as established in the covenant with Noah all men and women receive testimony of the grace of God.”[11]

Chapters 5-7 discuss the covenant made with Abraham, the sign of the covenant, and explains how the “signs and seals of the old and new covenants are also the same in essence.”[12] The patterns of the Abrahamic covenant reveal that “God is concerned to redeem families, not merely individuals,” and the new covenant prophecies of Jeremiah “also speaks of God’s continuing commitment to redeem households.”[13] Robertson transitions in Chapters 8 and 9 to an insightful discussion on the Law and Mosaic covenant. Robertson emphasizes the Mosaic Law and covenant “must not be confused with the original covenant of works made with Adam,” e.g., in contrast to the covenant of works the Mosaic “law code” contained the “provision of sacrifice in the event of sin.”[14] Next, in Chapter 10, Robertson discusses the Davidic covenant, i.e., the promise that “David’s house, kingdom and throne are established forever (2 Sam. 7:16).”[15] Robertson elaborates and explains that “God tells David that his descendant who rules after him will be designated as God’s own son: ‘I will be his father, and he will be my son.’”[16] The consistent testimony of the New Testament it is Jesus Christ “the Messiah of David” who is God’s own Son who “sits on God’s throne, which is David’s throne.”[17]

Robertson concludes his book with three significant chapters. In Chapter 11, he discusses the New Covenant and how Christ is the fulfillment of all the promises of the former divine covenants. The New Covenant is “the last covenant” because “that which God has intended all along in redemption” will be accomplished in the New Covenant.[18] In Chapter 12, Robertson gives helpful suggestions for tracing continuity from the former covenants into the New Covenant. Robertson explains, “Balance must be found between continuity and newness in the relation of the old covenant to the new.”[19] There are both contrasting as well as continuous aspects of the old and new covenant, but the contrast is “drastic” which means “the new covenant must not be seen merely as a renewal of the old covenant.”[20] The New Covenant is definitively and meaningfully different than the old. Robertson tells his readers that “the newness of the new covenant must be appreciated more fully.” [21] This newness is most appreciated when we study the scriptures of the Old and New Testament and understand and appreciate how the “new covenant completes the redemption promised under the old.”[22] In the final chapter, Robertson surveys each of the divine covenants and explains how each “covenant highlights the majesty and might of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”[23] As mentioned earlier, it is Robertson’s contention that “the covenant magnifies the cross.”[24] Robertson throughout this short book demonstrates precisely how the divine covenants magnify the cross.

Personal Application

Personal application for myself is largely drawn from Robertson’s clarifying and powerful final chapter on how “all roads lead to the cross.”[25] This is chiefly why knowledge of the covenants can stabilize your life, i.e., there is nothing more foundational or comforting than the cross of Christ. Experientially speaking, I can personally attest that knowledge of God’s covenants has and continues to be a stabilizing force for my personal life. The old covenants promise, and the New Covenant affirms, that God through Christ has committed himself to be our God and we his people forever. Robertson succinctly demonstrated that Christ and the Cross can be found in the Garden, at the Flood, in the life of Abraham, with Israel in the wilderness, and in King David.[26] All of these former divine covenants are “old-covenant shadows” and they “come to consummate realization in the cross of the new covenant.”[27] Robertson’s main takeaway for me is this, and I think it should be life changing for every believer: “Since the cross serves as the center of history there can be no other focus for your life.”[28] It is always a good reminder to be focused and centered on the cross of Christ, especially these days! When a believer understands that they “are bound in covenant relation with God just as firmly as was Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and David,” it is truly illuminating – because God’s “ancient bond with particular peoples is the only way to unravel the complex issues of [twenty-first]-century politics.”[29] The present American political-scene is deeply underwhelming. The present world-wide Covid-induced economic and political fallout is depressing. Local, national, and international political and social trends are seemingly bad, but when I remember God’s ancient bond and the ancient formula of hope (Gen. 17:7-8), all those complex issues are quickly unraveled by God’s Good News that “into the arena of human history one single saving hero [has entered].”[30] Indeed, the time between Adam and Christ is the unfolding of the “the long history of the two seeds” per Genesis 3:15, but it is still unfolding as we anticipate the consummation of the Kingdom.[31] That is not a bad thing. The divine covenants and promises were not enacted in an instant, which reminds us that we also need to be patient like our holy forefathers.[32] For now, this book was a good reminder to patiently rest and repose in the Christ of the cross. “Because covenant and cross are bound together, [I] can live every day with absolute confidence that whatever comes into [my] life originates from the loving hand of [my] Father. He has bound himself [to me] in love through the bond of the covenant in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”[33] Thank the Lord!

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[1] O. Palmer Robertson, Covenants: God’s Way With His People (Suwanee: Great Commission Publications, Inc., 1987), 5.

[2] Robertson, Covenants, 5.

[3] Robertson, Covenants, 5.

[4] Robertson, Covenants, 5.

[5] Robertson, Covenants, 6.

[6] Robertson, Covenants, 121.

[7] Robertson, Covenants, 18.

[8] Robertson, Covenants, 29.

[9] Robertson, Covenants, 36.

[10] Robertson, Covenants, 31.

[11] Robertson, Covenants, 37.

[12] Robertson, Covenants, 61.

[13] Robertson, Covenants, 67-68.

[14] Robertson, Covenants, 75.

[15] Robertson, Covenants, 96

[16] Robertson, Covenants, 94.

[17] Robertson, Covenants, 97.

[18] Robertson, Covenants, 108.

[19] Robertson, Covenants, 111.

[20] Robertson, Covenants, 112.

[21] Robertson, Covenants, 113.

[22] Robertson, Covenants, 113.

[23] Robertson, Covenants, 121.

[24] Robertson, Covenants, 121.

[25] Robertson, Covenants, 121.

[26] See Chapter 13 (Robertson, Covenants, 121-129).

[27] Robertson, Covenants, 128.

[28] Robertson, Covenants, 129.

[29] Robertson, Covenants, 129, 6.

[30] Robertson, Covenants, 26.

[31] Robertson, Covenants, 26.

[32] Regarding patient faith, see Hebrews 11.

[33] Robertson, 128.

Fitting Scripture Together

The author begins the book with a personal anecdote of meeting a young man who took him on a ten minute “whistle-stop tour of the whole Bible that left my head reeling.”[1] In those ten minutes, the young man took him on a journey from the original creation (Genesis 1-2) to the new creation (Revelation 21), making all the necessary stops along the way. The young man led him on a journey through the “tabernacle in the wilderness; the temple in Jerusalem; the new-temple prophecies of Ezekiel; the Lord Jesus Christ who ‘tabernacled’ among us (John 1:14, literally); and the church (‘a holy temple in the Lord’, Ephesians 2:21).”[2] Roberts recounted that even though he had completed a theology degree prior to this whistle-stop tour, he had never before been shown how all of the diverse writings of the Bible fit together. He asked his new friend how he was able to navigate the Bible with such ease, and his friend introduced him to Graeme Goldsworthy’s book Gospel and Kingdom.[3] In the Preface, Roberts admits the influence of Goldsworthy’s book upon God’s Big Picture. Roberts explains, “I adopt largely the same approach, but hope to do so in a slightly less technical way.”[4] I have not read Gospel and Kingdom, but I can personally attest that God’s Big Picture is a clear, coherent, and concise presentation of the storyline of the Bible. By my estimation, what Roberts hoped to accomplish he has with the “apparent ease” that characterized the friend he mentioned in the Preface.

Kingdom of God

After some background and introductory matters, Roberts summarizes the storyline of the Bible in eight sections of the redemptive history. Each section corresponds to one of the eight chapters of the book in which Roberts uses the “kingdom of God” as unifying theme.

The various aspects of the storyline of the Bible are presented with alliterative chapter headings: “The pattern of the kingdom” (Genesis 1:1-2:25); “The perished kingdom” (Genesis 3); “The promised kingdom” (Genesis 17:1-8; Galatians 3:6-14); “The partial kingdom” (Genesis 12-Exodus 18; 19:1-13; 20:1-17; 2 Samuel 7:1-17); “The prophesied kingdom” (Hosea 1-3); “The present kingdom” (Luke 1:39-80; 2:25-32); “The proclaimed kingdom” (2 Corinthians 4); “The perfected kingdom” (Revelation 21:1-8; 21:22-22:5).[5] This alliterative unifying theme is pedagogical, but Roberts explains it is not arbitrary—this theme (kingdom of God) does “arise out of Scripture itself.”[6]

In his Introduction, Roberts defines the kingdom of God as “God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule and blessing.”[7] Roberts traces the storyline of the Bible through each of the chapters, and he concludes each with a table showing how the kingdom, the principle of God’s people-place-rule, was manifested during each of the respective eras of redemptive history.[8] In every chapter, Roberts demonstrates how each successive age testified about Jesus (cf. John 5:39), e.g., in Chapter 4, “The partial kingdom,” Roberts’ aim is to show “how God’s promise of the kingdom is partially fulfilled in the history of Israel.”[9] Roberts does this by focusing on Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and the Israelites. He concisely explains how many of God’s kingdom promises were partially fulfilled in the respective historical events of the Patriarchs and the Nation of Israel, but that this “partial kingdom” was “just a shadow of the perfect kingdom God will establish through Jesus Christ.”[10] Roberts likens “The partial kingdom” to a model, a model which God will never rebuild again because “he will establish the real thing in and through Jesus.”[11] Finally, in Chapter 8, Roberts examines the “real thing,” i.e., “The perfected kingdom” revealed and highlighted in the Book of Revelation, where he shows the principle of God’s place-people-rule is manifested in the “Multi-national family of God” = God’s people, the “New creation, new Jersualem, new temple” = God’s place, and the “Throne of God and the Lamb; perfect blessing” = God’s rule.[12]

With eight chapters Roberts briefly summarizes and traces the storyline of the Bible with his presentation of the respective manifestations of the unifying theme of the “kingdom of God.” Roberts concludes this helpful book with a particularly pastoral Epilogue. Having taken his readers through all the Scriptures, his epilogue “prayer” is that his readers know, teach, and love “Christ through all the Scriptures.”[13]

Conclusion

In the Preface of this beautiful book, Roberts says, “I want to put into the reader’s hands the map that I have found so helpful.”[14] I can personally attest that Roberts has done so. This little book really is a non-technical “map” to aid fellow believers. With this “map” it is possible to find one’s bearings and meaningfully make one’s way around the Bible. In the past I have recommended several books that present a high-level overview or survey of the Bible, but going forward this will be my first recommendation.

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[1] Vaughan Roberts, God’s Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2012), 9.

[2] Roberts, God’s Big Picture, 9-10.

[3] Graeme Goldsworthy, Gospel and Kingdom (Exeter: Paternoster, 1981).

[4] Roberts, God’s Big Picture, 10.

[5] See chapters and respective headings under “Contents” (Roberts, God’s Big Picture, 7-8).

[6] Roberts, God’s Big Picture, 21.

[7] Roberts, God’s Big Picture, 22.

[8] See Figures 7, 8, 13, 21, 27, 31, 38, 42 (Roberts, God’s Big Picture, 34, 44, 56, 85, 108, 122, 141, 158).  

[9] Roberts, God’s Big Picture, 59-60.

[10] Roberts, God’s Big Picture, 89.

[11] Roberts, God’s Big Picture, 90.

[12] See Figure 42 (Roberts, God’s Big Picture, 158).

[13] Roberts, God’s Big Picture, 163.

[14] Roberts, God’s Big Picture, 10.

The doctrine of reprobation “illustrates and recommends” to the elect the necessity of humble thanksgiving and complete self-abnegation before God. In Pauline fashion, it teaches us to beware of all self-exaltation, either before God or in contrast to the reprobate. Consequently, Cornelis Trimp rejects the idea of calling reprobation “the dark shadow of election,” for its positive thrust “shows us very clearly that our salvation is only a matter of grace,” and “by this doctrine we learn to fear God, to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling,” and “we thus know Him as the eternal enemy of sin.” Most detailed, however, is [Loraine] Boettner’s list of reprobation’s benefits to the elect:

“In beholding the rejection and final state of the wicked, (1) they learn what they too would have suffered had not grace stepped in to their relief, and they appreciate more deeply the riches of divine love which raised them from sin and brought them into eternal life while others no more guilty or unworthy than they were left to eternal destruction. (2) It furnishes a most powerful motive for thankfulness that they have received such high blessings. (3) They are led to a deeper trust of their heavenly Father who supplies all their needs in this life and the next. (4) The sense of what they have received furnishes the strongest possible motive for them to love their heavenly Father, and to live as pure lives as possible. (5) It leads them to a greater abhorrence of sin. (6) It leads them to a closer walk with God and with each other as specially chosen heirs of the kingdom of heaven.”

Joel R. Beeke, Debated Issues in Sovereign Predestination: Early Lutheran Predestination, Calvinian Reprobation, and Variations in Genevan Lapsarianism, 68-69.

Thus, though the circumstances of God’s covenant with Abraham (circumcision) is abolished, yet the substance (to be our God, and the God of our seed) remains. This might further be shown in many hundreds of instances, for the substance of all the Jewish sacrifices and sacraments, both ordinary and extraordinary, of their Sabbaths, their fasts, their feasts, and similar things, remain, though the circumstances, as shadows, have vanished away. Hence it is that many promises made to them are applied by the apostles to Christians, like, “I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb. 13:5), and in general it is said, “The promise is to you and to your children, and to all that are afar off” (Acts 2:39).

Hereby we may learn what use to make of the Old Testament, even of those promises and privileges which in some particular respects were appropriated to the Jews, by observing the substance and distinguishing it from the circumstance. Thus shall we find that to be true which the apostle spoke of all the things which were written earlier, namely, that “they were written for our learning” (Rom. 15:4). In this respect the same apostle says of the things recorded of Abraham, “it was not written for his sake alone” (Rom. 4:23), and again of the things recorded of the Israelites, “they are written for our admonition” (1 Cor. 10:11). By this we may learn how to apply the preface to the Ten Commandments, which mentions the deliverance of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt.

Pray therefore for the spirit of illumination to discern between substance and circumstance, in reading the Old Testament especially.

William Gouge, Building a Godly Home: A Holy Vision for Family Life, 182-183.

Disobedience to parents is a sin that is seldom isolated, for an undutiful child is commonly a very wicked person in many other ways. Considering the proneness of our nature to all sin, it cannot be avoided but that they who in the beginning shake off the yoke of government, should run headlong into all kinds of partying, wild living, and contempt for law and order. Sin being added to sin, it must bring trouble upon trouble, till at length life is cut off.

William Gouge, Building a Godly Home: A Holy Vision for Family Life, 177.

The direction in each of those epistles which were sent to the seven churches in Asia, in these words, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (Rev. 2:7), teaches every member in any of those churches to apply to himself that which was delivered to the whole church. . . .

. . . if we do not bring the Word home to our own souls, it will be as a word spoken into the air (1 Cor. 14:9), vanishing away without any profit to us. Nothing makes the Word less profitable than putting it off from ourselves to others, thinking that it concerns others more than ourselves.

William Gouge, Building a Godly Home: A Holy Vision for Family Life, 156-157.