Read The Bible in Time, section 17.  

Think of a series of Acts that unfold sequentially in a drama. In order, they run from the stories in the Old Testament (OT), to the stories in the New Testament, to the stories of the church in each generation in multiple countries and cultures, including our own stories, to the future that God has in store for the world. 

 

Unfortunately, we often misread the OT. Rather than seeing how the micro-stories of Abraham and Joshua and Samuel and Hosea, for example, propel forward the larger macro-story, we usually isolate them from their context, leaving them to dangle in the wind, detached from their narrative context. But the OT is not only treated as just a collection of isolated, disconnected micro-stories. It also serves commonly as a "book of encouraging quotations." In this regard, the Bible is domesticated into a treasure chest of precious verses that can encourage us along. It is true that the OT contains wonderful micro-stories and precious verses--but that is far from its only aims. It's grander purpose is to tell a story, the story of God and his world, and to summon us to participate. For more on the Bible as Story see here.  

 

Reading the OT in a piecemeal fashion is akin to watching a baseball game through a hole in the fence that only views a small portion of left field. You may get a little sense of what's happening on the field, but you miss so much of the game. Illustration from a poster of a popular movie in which only little "knot-hole views" are provided.

Starting with Genesis

Where does this micro-story sit within the OT history as a whole? We reviewed here the location of the story in the Pentateuch and the subsequent Deuteronomistic History. When on the world's timeline does this occur? Around 1270 BCE. What's the storyline to this point?

• Paradigm of Eden, characterized by harmonious relationships in all directions (spiritual, social, and ecological), a state of wholeness the OT calls "Shalom," the recovery of which becomes the GOAL of the Bible's ensuing narrative
• Problem of Adam, characterized by disruption of relationships, which we have explained elsewhere (see The Relational Dynamic of Scripture from our Overview, part 2)
• Promise to Abraham, which God instituted as a means to restore Shalom to humanity and planet earth. This "Operation Rescue" is wrought by God's grace and mediated by human faith/faithfulness. The promise consisted in three parts:
• A people--God would develop from Abraham and Sarah a large family
• A place--God would plant them in a fertile land
• A purpose--God would bless them in order that they in turn would be a blessing to all the nations of the world

The Direction of the Book of Exodus (see Professor Fretheim's highlights of Exodus)

• God's people flourish in Egypt as the book of Exodus opens. However, the gift of land has not yet been given.
• Then they find themselves enslaved under an abusive monarch. (Note the dangers of monarchy--this theme will come up again in the book of Samuel when Israel requests a king like the other nations.)
• God provides a sacrifice in the form of a passover lamb.
• The people are liberated from their oppresive captivity.
• They are led to Mt. Sinai, where they meet God. There they receive two gifts that speak of God's abiding presence:
• They receive instruction on how to live together as his people (what we call the law or torah)
• They receive the tabernacle, a portable "house" in which God will "live" as he travels with his people

An Integrated Trilogy of Events

This OT narrative pattern describes the work of God that draws us to himself, to incorporate us into his people and his purpose. We wants to integrate us into his commissioned community. How does he do it? What does it take to accomplish this huge transformation?

• God sets his affection on those who are enslaved and helpless to change their plight. Three provisions follow to transform the captives into free servants of God:
• Sacrifice--this is expressed in the NT as the Death of Jesus that provides for our cleansing and forgiveness
• Liberation--this is expressed in the NT as the Resurrection of Jesus that provides us with deliverance and new life
• Presence--this is expressed in the NT as the Spirit of Jesus that empowers our path to the Promised Land
• Though the work of God on our behalf is often reduced to the first of these, the whole trilogy is needed. The benefits of the passover lamb were indispensible, but insufficient. Likewise with the death of Jesus on our behalf--indispensible, but insufficient. (If Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you still in your sins [1 Cor 15:17]). We need a whole variety of resources to cleanse us, set us free, and empower us for new lives of community, faithfulness, and service as we journey from captivity to our promised inheritance. Paul makes this clear. See Romans 4:25-8:39 for but one illustrative passage. Below are some examples from this section of Romans of the interconnectedness of these three elements (death, resurrection, and Spirit) in God's work of transforming us. Those who are joined to Christ participate in the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ. We need all three. Just like our forefathers in captivity needed the lamb, the deliverance, and the presence of God. In both cases, it's a package deal. Varied expressions of the three elements are underlined below.
• He was handed over to die for our sins and he was raised to life for our justification [or liberation] (4:25)...and has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love (5:5).
• Since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son (5:10).

• When we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death. For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives (6:3-4)

• So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death…He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit (8:1-4).

• But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you (8:9-11).

• Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us (8:34).  

• As you read through these middle chapters of Romans with your eyes open and attentive to OT motifs, you will notice again and again prominent allusions to the story of the Exodus. Paul speaks of our captivity, our being set free, our being led by the Spirit toward our promised inheritance. Sound familiar? The interpretive metaphor is drawn from the Pentateuch. This shows how the OT story is seminal in shaping the NT story--and in shaping our story, too.  

Read Exodus 19:1-8. Read also Stephen Travis' helpful insights on pages 42-44.

Grace at Work

Whose initiative and industry is at work here? This whole thing is God's design and God's enterprise. And this is not the first time we've seen grace at work in the pages of the OT. Think back to Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and his brothers. The biblical story is marked by grace from start to finish. God's relationships with humanity always involve grace--given our predilection to waywardness, there's no other way to relate to us except by grace. Knowing this, we can dispense with a few common misconceptions:

• The Old Testament is about Law, not Grace. The New Testament is about Grace, not Law. 
• The Old Testament is about Works to earn God's favor. The New Testament is about Faith in God's provision.

These are simply untrue dichotomies that misrepresent the nature of the relationship of God with humanity from Genesis to Revelation. In both testaments God graciously reaches out and pursues our welfare. Part of our response entails following the instructions, the law, he graciously provides. Note how the gift of law (Exodus 20) is given to those who are already a beloved, adopted, redeemed people (Exodus 1-19). Abiding by God's instructions doesn't earn his favor, rather it is a response to his favor.

Likewise, nowhere in the OT does anyone work to earn God's grace, love, and favor. These flow from God's inherent disposition, antecedent to and independent of our feeble, incomplete and tainted response. It's all about grace. It's love that begets love. God's love for us engenders our love for him. That's how it works from the Garden of Eden to the New Heavens and New Earth. That's one constant, unchanging feature of the biblical story. We see this expressed in the OT time and time again.

In Deuteronomy, Moses speaks to the children of Abraham who are on the verge of entering the Promised Land. He rehearses the story of grace and summons them to respond appropriately. Let's read a section that highlights the undeserved favor that falls on those God calls his own.

The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the Lord rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands. But he does not hesitate to punish and destroy those who reject him. Therefore, you must obey all these commands, decrees, and regulations I am giving you today.

If you listen to these regulations and faithfully obey them, the Lord your God will keep his covenant of unfailing love with you, as he promised with an oath to your ancestors. He will love you and bless you, and he will give you many children. He will give fertility to your land and your animals. When you arrive in the land he swore to give your ancestors, you will have large harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil, and great herds of cattle, sheep, and goats. You will be blessed above all the nations of the earth. Deut 7:7-14.

Unconditional and Conditional Elements of God's Relationship with Humankind

There is both an unconditional element and a conditional element. God has promised Abraham that through his descendents God will make a people for himself and locate them in a land of milk and honey. God will be present among them and see to their protection and their provision. His people will be blessed and will function as a blessing to all the nations of the world. This is the unconditional element. God will see that it happens. He will be faithful to his commitment, to his covenant promises.

But the blessings cannot fall for long on rebellious children. For the relationship to work, for it to be blessed, the liberated children need to respond appropriately. They should "honor God and give thanks" (Romans 1:21). God's goodness, wisdom, and might should elicit trust and inspire loyalty. It's only right that a faithful loving Father should have himself faithful loving children, who reflect his character and commitments, who reflect his image. So, as in any genuine relationship, there is a voluntary element. We must choose to give a fitting response to God's gracious initiative and generous provision. Love cannot be coerced and still be genuine. This is the conditional part of the arrangement.

God will have himself a people who will love him with all their hearts and will gladly collaborate with him. Grace, provision and promise--this part is unconditional--it is certain. But how this works itself out in time and history is dependent in part of the contingencies of human response. God will see to his end of the bargain. But will you be a part of it? Will you count yourself among the faithful community? Our own loving response--this part is conditional--each person's glad participation is not certain. Read again the passage from Deuteronomy 7 above with an eye to these two complementary elements.  

Now, with this in mind, return to Exodus 19. Read verses 4-6. Observe the interplay between prior grace (vs 4) and expectant response (vs 5-6). This is what I call 'the relational dynamic' of Scripture (reviewed in our OT Overview).

Also observe that God delivers us from captivity in order to draw us to himself--not to a rulebook, not just to a religion--but to himself. This is language of a parent drawing a child to herself. This is language of a husband drawing his bride to himself. This is intimate language. God delights in us and wants to draw us in. Wonderful! We'll see more of this in the prophets.

The Global Agenda

God does not view himself as a tribal deity, for his interests extend well beyond his adopted children, the people of Abraham. At the outset of Israel's history, as far back as Genesis chapter 12 (see vv. 1-3), God made his international intentions known. Relationships around the world are in disarray. God will go about reconciling people to himself and to one another by means of a reconciled community--the people of ancient Israel. The agenda includes all peoples of the earth as well as the earth itself. In the end, all things will be made new.

The Special Assignment: Mediating Priests

What is the role of this treasured people? We are to serve as God’s “kingdom of priests” to the world. Remember that priests stood in the middle between God and the rest of the people. Within the nation of Israel the priests were to teach God’s law to the rest of the people and they were to bring the people’s sacrifices to God. The priests then had a two-directional representational or mediatorial role between God and others. Just as the priests within Israel mediated between God and the rest of the nation, so too the whole nation was to have a similar role within the wider world. Ancient Israel was rescued in order to mediate like a priest between God and the other nations. “As the people of YHWH they would have the historical task of bringing the knowledge of God to the nations, and bringing the nations to the means of atonement with God.” Christopher Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 331. [Atonement speaks of reconciling estranged parties so that they are “at-one” again, that is, “at-one-ment.”]

If they respond aright to God, this special treasure of a people will function as a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. Professor Travis' comments here are especially apt. "The whole nation is to serve as bridge-builders between God and the people of the world...Israel is set apart from other nations, specially dedicated to God. But their goal is not simply to be separate, but [to be] distinctive to serve God's purposes for the world" (p. 44). This is a different kind of holiness.

The Special Assignment: A Different Kind of Holiness

Holiness, when used of God, speaks of his being separate from, yet strangely committed to, those he loves. In the archives of Isaiah, the characteristic self-description of God is “the Holy One of Israel.” Catch that? If “holy” only means “separate from,” then God would be “the Holy One from Israel,” not “the Holy One of Israel.” Listen to the words of OT scholar John Goldingay (who is one of my favorite guides through the OT world and text). In his helpful commentary on this wonderful book called Isaiah, Goldingay insightfully explains:

The fundamental description of Yahweh is as “the Holy One of Israel.” Describing Yahweh as the Holy One is as close as the Bible can get to a literal statement about God, for the phrase describes God in God’s otherness. To add “of Israel” is to say something that risks undoing the expression “Holy One”; the title as a whole threatens to deconstruct. It puts the Holy One into a relationship with a non-holy entity, a relationship from which apparently Yahweh has no exit. It radically compromises [by radically revising] the notion of holiness. The separate one becomes the attached one. Isaiah, New International Biblical Commentary (Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson, 2001), 14-15.

God’s people are called to resume Adam and Eve’s role as image-bearers of the divine. If God is holy, in this kind of way, in an engaged, compassionate way, then we should be holy like this as well. In the Bible, when people are described as holy it means they are separated from other people for God’s special use. But to what use does God put his “treasured possession”? Why, he wants to use us to be his mediating priests! This call to a God-reflecting, tender-hearted, risk-taking, reputation-threatening, people-serving holiness is a recurrent refrain in both portions of the Bible. God summons his beloved nation: “I am God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Be holy because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44). Peter repeats the injunction: “Don't lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, ‘I am holy; you be holy’” (1 Peter 1:14-15). Catch the expectation of family resemblance? The Father is holy, which here means “distinct from us and committed to our welfare.” His children are expected to manifest the same kind of holiness: “distinct from the world and committed to its welfare,” separate yet attached. Like Father, like daughter. We are to “pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life.” Well put, Peter! (And thanks to Eugene Peterson for this rich translation we call The Message.)

Just as our election is in the service of mission for others, so too is our God-like holiness. Unfortunately, our false selves, our former selves, our fallen selves, beholden to “those old grooves of evil,” as Peter describes, would prefer that election was all self-serving privilege and no others-minded responsibility, and that holiness was all “separation” and no “attachment.” It’s this corruption of the biblical (re)definition of holiness that derailed the mission of ancient Israel. Instead of looking out for others, they turned inward. Instead of disseminating blessing, they hoarded it. Let's be careful not to repeat their tragic mistake.

In Christ We Share in This Special Assignment

The commission given to Abraham in Genesis 12 is reformulated for his liberated children in Exodus 19. The calling to bless the nations is repeated again and again to the people of God in the OT using different language and varied metaphors. Jesus, ancient Israel's liberating King (that is, Messiah) takes up his people's calling to serve as the world's holy priest, mediating grace and blessing. And so we, his followers, united to him, are joined with him in this task. We have become part of this specially commissioned trans-generational people of God from Abraham onwards. How do we know this? The identity and vocation of OT Israel are transferred to the NT people of God who gather around Israel's liberating King. Jesus took on Israel's role and we, in him, participate as well. To make this clear, Peter quotes this very passage from Exodus 19 and applies it in this age to the multi-national people of God, the church at large.

“You,” said Peter, writing to scattered groups of Christian believers, almost certainly mixed communities of Jew and Gentiles, “are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God” (1 Pet 2:9). At one stroke Peter connects his Christian readers with the whole heritage of Old Testament Israel. Indeed, he identifies them as the same people, continuous with those who heard the words he quotes at the foot of Mount Sinai (Ex 19:4-6), heirs of the same purpose of God through the Messiah Jesus. In doing so, Peter is consistent with the rest of the New Testament witness and claim: Those who are in Christ are in Abraham, called for the same purpose, redeemed by the same God, committed to the same response of ethical obedience.

Christopher Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 387.

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