BOOK SUMMARY: WHAT IS BIBLICAL THEOLOGY? A GUIDE TO THE BIBLE'S STORY, SYMBOLISM, AND PATTERNS - PART 1 - THE BIBLE'S BIG STORY: THE PLOT - CONFLICT, EPISODES AND THEME

 

CONFLICT

Satan and his seed are at war with God in an attempt to unseat Him as Lord (Ephesians 6:12, 1 John 3:9-15).

God often picks weak and insignificant people as His own through whom He'll accomplish His plans (1 Corinthians 1:29). Abraham and David are examples. When the world needs salvation, God sends his Son to take on flesh as a baby boy. God always gives Satan, what seems to be, a head start and God always comes out on top. This scenario is replayed over and over in Scripture. 

PLOT EPISODES

The author draws attention to 5 episodes in the Bible's plot.

1.    Exile From Eden - Adam and Eve sinned and incurred God's judgment. A promise of hope was given to them.

2.    Exodus From Egypt - The firstborn of Egyptian households die in the 10th plague, while Israel, God's firstborn, was spared due to the Lamb's blood on the doorpost.  The crossing of the Red Sea takes place as they flee Pharaoh. This becomes a paradigm of God's salvation. Later God sustains Israel with manna and water from a rock which points to Christ (1 Corinthians 10:3-4). At Mt. Sinai they enter into a covenant with God that contains instructions for the temple (symbol for the universe). God's glory fills this microcosm which shows us that God's glory fills the temple of creation.

3.    Exile From The Land - Israel was like a new Adam in a new Eden--the promised land. Like Adam, they utterly failed as Moses prophesied (Deuteronomy 4:26-31). Like Adam they were driven out. Exile is like a de-creation. The temple, symbol of the world, was torn down. Sun dark. Moon blood. Mountains melted. Yet God's promise of hope to come was always reiterated (Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 11:11-16, Hosea 3:5, Jeremiah 31:31, Joel 2:28-32). A restoration to an Edenic state is coming (Ezekiel 36:35).  Israel's prophets use the paradigm of Israel's past to predict Israel's future. 

4.    The Cross - The events of Israel's history function like templates to help us understand who Jesus is and what He accomplished.  Jesus recapitulates the history of Israel.  He was threatened in infancy, called out of Egypt, tempted in the wilderness, cursed to exile in His death, raised to bring restoration. The NT authors described Christians as those who are liberated from bondage, made alive, moving toward the Land of Promise, exiles returning to their true home.  

5.    The Promised Return - Daniel 7:13 speaks of the Son of Man coming on the clouds to receive everlasting dominion. Genesis 1:28 speaks of the dominion that God's image bearers were to have. Adam failed. Jesus came in likeness of mankind, as the 2nd Adam to rule and have the dominion that Adam failed at. Jesus is the slain Lamb who is the conquering Lion (Revelation 5:5-6).

THEME

The central theme of Scripture is God demonstrating His glory by saving His people through judgment. This was the case in the Garden of Eden, in the Exodus, in the account of Noah, in Judges and so on. They illustrate and foreshadow the work of Christ who saved us through His substitutionary judgment. God will fill the earth with the knowledge of His glory. And God will fill the earth with image bearers that show of His glory. This is accomplished through Christ who restores our former glory by demonstrating His glory through His salvific work. God's glory is supreme and the end all (Numbers 14:21, Isaiah 6:3, Psalm 72:18-19, Isaiah 11:9, Habakkuk 2:14).