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.
[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.