Jesus Christ: The Sum and Subtance of Biblical Prophecy

Many Christians assume that only limited sections of the Scriptures contain any reference to "future things." This outlook, in effect, limits eschatology to those issues relating to the timing of the Rapture, to speculation about political events in the Middle East and Israel, as well as to the debate about the nature of Christ's millennial reign upon the earth after his return. This reasoning produces the ironic situation in which those who speak most frequently about eschatology actually have the least to say. By limiting eschatology and Bible prophecy to the Rapture and the millennium, and by tying Old Testament prophecies to literal future fulfillments, the proper place of Christ's role in biblical prophecy is eclipsed.

It is important to step back from the details of Bible prophecy and look carefully at the big picture. We must gaze upon the entire panorama of redemption from a distance. The story begins with creation. Next, we consider the fall of the human race into sin as the backdrop for redemptive history. Redemptive history is exactly what its name implies -- the biblical account of God delivering his people from the guilt and power of sin resulting from the fall. Then, we look ahead to see the final goal. But the end is not merely paradise regained. The final goal is paradise glorified! As William Dumbrell reminds us, "In very broad terms the biblical sweep is from creation to the new creation by way of redemption, which is, in effect, the renewing of creation." This sweeping vision is set out in the opening chapters of God's self-revelation. Genesis 1 and 2 speak of creation and paradise, while Genesis 3 speaks of the fall into sin and paradise lost. From the moment paradise is lost and the curse is pronounced upon the race, God is already promising final redemption (Gen. 3:15). We need not wait until the end of the story to learn that God's mercy and justice will triumph over human sin and its consequences for God's people. Even before the specific details in the drama of redemptive history begin to unfold, the outcome is certain. God has decreed that he will redeem his people from their sin and that one day he will renew his creation. When all is said and done, no hint or trace of the stain of sin will remain. No longer will there be any curse.

To understand Christ's role in biblical prophecy, we must understand something of the various covenants that are found throughout both testaments. Covenants between kings and their servants formed the basis of much of daily life in the ancient near-eastern world, especially in matters legal and financial. This was certainly true for ancient Israel. From a biblical perspective, covenants take on even greater importance, since Israel's king is the great king, and the nation is his chosen vassal because of his sovereign will.

When considered in the context of the Old Testament, a covenant may be defined as "a relationship under sanctions." In each of the Old Testament covenants there are two parties involved, God and his people, or their divinely chosen representative such as Abraham or Moses. In these covenantal relationships, the two parties relate to each other in terms of blessing and curse, the outcome depending upon faithfulness to the terms set forth by the covenants. Like a contract, when terms of the covenant are fulfilled, the servant receives the blessing promised by the great king. But should the obligations of the covenant not be met, the covenant curse, in the form of previously agreed-upon sanctions between God and his people, is imposed.

The major covenants in the Old Testament take two basic forms, covenants of promise and covenants of law. In covenants of promise and blessing, God himself swears the covenant oath to fulfill all the terms and conditions of the covenant. In covenants of works or law, the people of God swear the oath of ratification.

The most prominent case of a covenant of promise is God's covenant with Abraham as recorded in Genesis 15. It is God who sovereignly approaches Abram and swears on oath to him -- "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward." As Abram falls into a deep sleep, he is given a vision of a smoking firepot passing through butchered halves of various animals, a goat, a ram, a dove, and a pigeon. The implication of the vision is clear to someone like Abraham, steeped in ancient covenants and rituals of ratification. If Jehovah fails to be Abram's great reward and shield, the covenant curse, which is graphically pictured by the severed animals, is to fall upon Jehovah himself, the one who swears the oath and initiates the covenant rituals.

When the dream ends, we are told, "on that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram" (v. 18). Notice that in this particular covenant which God makes with Abram, it is God who swears the oath of ratification, making this covenant a covenant of promise. As is typical in such ancient covenants, the Lord also defines the geographic boundaries within which the terms of the covenant apply. This explains why the account of the ratification of this covenant in Genesis 15 includes the list of peoples who reside between the two great rivers, the Nile and the Euphrates. This promise of a land was gloriously fulfilled when Joshua led the people of God back into Canaan (Josh. 1:2–9). As Joshua puts it: "So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there" (Josh. 21:43; cf. also 1 Kings 4:20–21).

Perhaps the clearest illustration of the latter type of covenant -- a covenant of law -- is found in Exodus 24, in which the people of God, not Jehovah, swear the covenant oath of ratification. According to the amazing account we find in Exodus 24, Jehovah called Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, along with seventy elders, up to Mount Sinai where the group was to worship him at a distance. But Moses -- the covenant mediator anticipating the true covenant mediator, Jesus Christ -- was to approach God alone. "When Moses went and told the people all of the Lord's words and laws, they responded with one voice. 'Everything the Lord has said, we will do.' Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said (v. 7)." Unlike the covenant of promise that God made with Abram, in covenants of works/law, such as the covenant ratified at Sinai, God does not swear the oath of ratification. Rather, it is the people who do so. The covenant God made with Israel is ratified by his people, who by swearing their obedience on oath, will receive the promised blessings of the Mosaic covenant if they obey, or the covenant curses if they disobey. The particular blessings and curses associated with this covenant are spelled out in Deuteronomy 27–30.

With the distinction between these two kinds of covenants -- promise and law -- in mind, we can turn to the two overarching covenants -- the covenant of works/creation and the covenant of grace/redemption -- under which these individual covenants of law and promise are to be subsumed. This, too, is a very important point to keep in mind, because the covenant of works and the covenant of grace progressively unfold throughout the Old Testament. The way in which they do says a great deal about how we are to understand the eschatology of the Bible and why we must keep Christ at the center.

These two over-arching covenants enable us to see the continuity that exists between the individual covenants we find throughout the Old Testament. The covenant God makes with Abraham, and then subsequently with his descendants Isaac and Jacob, and then with Israel, are not isolated covenants with no organic connection with what goes before or after. Rather, the particular covenants that God makes with his people are individual and repeated ratifications of the one covenant of grace, which is first promised in Eden, and then later ratified with Abraham, the father of all those who believe.

Seeing the essential continuity between these covenants is important at a number of levels. It prevents us from mistakenly seeing the Old Testament as essentially Law and the New Testament as essentially Gospel. Rather, there is Law and Gospel in both testaments. This covenantal structure also enables us to safeguard the clear teaching of the New Testament, that there is but one Gospel (Gal. 3:8), one plan of salvation (Eph. 1:4–6), one covenant mediator (1 Tim. 2:5), and one common faith (Eph. 4:4–6). This also enables us to understand how the individual covenants in the Old Testament are often framed in terms of promise, while in the New, they are framed in terms of fulfillment. The individual covenants with Abraham, Moses, and David, as part of a larger covenantal structure, foreshadow that New Covenant ratified by the blood of Christ (Heb. 10:11–18). The redemptive events found throughout the Old Testament are unintelligible apart from this covenantal structure and emphasis upon God's promise of a coming redeemer, who is also the covenant mediator.

Therefore, as redemptive history begins to unfold, it is the first Adam -- the biological and federal representative of all humanity -- who fails to do as God has commanded under the terms of the covenant of works. It was the Lord God who said to Adam, "You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die" (Gen. 2:17). This covenant of works -- or as some Reformed writers speak of it, the "covenant of creation" -- lies at the very heart of redemptive history. Under the terms of this covenant, God demands perfect obedience from Adam, who will either obey the terms of the covenant and receive God's blessing, eternal life in a glorified Eden, or else fail to keep the covenant and bring the covenant sanction down upon himself, and all those whom he represents, namely, all of humanity. Adam's act of rebellion brings the curse of death upon the entire human race. This covenant of works is never subsequently abrogated in the Scriptures, a point empirically verified whenever death strikes. This covenant also undergirds the teaching of Scripture, which states that for any of Adam's fallen children to be saved, someone must fulfill all the terms of the covenant of works without so much as a single infraction, in thought, in word, or in deed (Matt. 5:48; 1 Pet. 1:16).

Although some argue that there is no such covenant between God and Adam because the phrase "covenant of works" or "covenant of creation" does not explicitly appear in the biblical text, not only are all the elements of a covenant present in God's dealings with Adam but the later biblical writers refer back to the account of Eden in precisely these terms. The prophet Hosea tells us that Israel will come under God's judgment, because "like Adam, they have broken my covenant." In Romans 5:18–21, the perfect obedience required by this covenant is spelled out, in part, when Paul writes that sinners are declared righteous on the condition of Christ's obedience on their behalf. Here, the critical question is simply this: "Obedient to what?" Paul's answer is that Jesus Christ is perfectly obedient to that same covenant which the first Adam disobeyed. The resurrection is proof that Christ fulfilled the terms of this covenant, because after laying down his life for our sins, God raised him up, Lord of life (Rom. 4:25).

Since Adam is the federal head of all those countless men and women who will spring from his loins, once he disobeys the covenant of works, he plunges the entire human race into the guilt and consequences of sin. Although the curse subjects all of humanity, as well as all of creation, to the bondage of the guilt and power of sin, God has decreed to redeem both his people and his world. From the very outset, then, the unfolding drama of redemption will be one in which God seeks to rescue men and women from the guilt of Adam's sin, as well as undo the consequences of Adam's act of rebellion upon all of creation.

The very fact that God demands perfect obedience from his creatures, even from the beginning of the drama of redemption, necessitates the coming of a second Adam who will be obedient unto death (Phil. 2:8), and who will become "sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor. 5:21). The Fall necessitates the coming of a redeemer, a redeemer who must fulfill the terms of the original covenant of works which Adam had failed to keep. In addition, the redeemer himself must establish a covenant of grace in which God will deliver Adam's fallen children. Yet he must do so without sacrificing his justice to manifest his love for lost and fallen sinners. This is why the promised redeemer will die upon a cross, something beyond the realm of imagination for an Old Testament believer looking for a deliverer to come. This truth becomes all the more remarkable when we consider that when Jesus Christ dies upon the cross, he bears in his own body those very same covenant curses, which God showed Abram in Genesis 15 (Gal. 3:13).

When God placed Adam under the covenant of works, Adam failed to obey. Adam and his family were cast from Eden and never allowed to return. This recurring theme of God making a covenant, the subsequent disobedience of his people, the consequences of the covenant curse resulting in his people being cast from the land of promise, resurfaces throughout in the drama of redemption. At Mount Sinai, God placed Israel under the Law, epitomized by the Ten Commandments, in which were codified all of the requirements of the covenant of works. The commandments were written upon the heart because all of Adam's children bear God's divine image. But Israel, too, failed to keep God's commandments, which brought a curse upon the people in the form of the curse sanction of being removed from the land.

In his forbearance, God sent his prophets to call his disobedient people to repentance. But Israel repeatedly showed contempt for God by increasing her sins and killing God's messengers. Like Adam, the nation came under God's covenant judgment and was cast from the land. This time, God's people were not cast from Eden. They were cast from Canaan, that very land that God had promised to Abraham. Adam had failed. Now Israel had failed. A redeemer was still needed, who would fulfill the covenant of works. "For what the Law was powerless to do ... God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful man" (Rom. 8:3).

All of this is important to keep in mind because it means that the history of redemption is the progressive unfolding of a covenant of works and a covenant of grace throughout the whole of Scripture. These two covenants -- the essence of what is known as covenant theology -- will continue to resurface throughout the eschatology of both testaments. It is in the progressive development of these two covenants that the person of Jesus Christ -- the only mediator between God and man and that redeemer promised throughout the whole Old Testament -- is revealed.

This understanding explains why the coming redeemer is revealed as a second Adam. He is not only the covenant mediator, but the one who as the new representative of God's people is also Lord over all creation. It is the second Adam who ushers in a new creation when he rises again from the dead that first Easter morning. Therefore, it is in the person and work of Jesus Christ, that the seemingly diverse themes of covenant and new creation, join perfectly together. When the second Adam justifies the many through his own perfect obedience, he does so in terms of the new and better covenant, a covenant in which God will declare sinners as righteous because of the merits of Jesus Christ and in which God fulfills all of the promises that he made to Abraham. As the Apostle Paul puts it in his second letter to the Corinthians, to participate in Christ's reconciling work is likewise to participate in the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). This new creation, which is nothing less than a paradise glorified, is also that New Jerusalem, which John depicts as follows: "No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and the lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face" (Rev. 22:3–4). Once again, God and humanity will dwell together just as they did in Eden, only this time "for ever and ever."

The connection between the new creation and the covenant of grace is important to keep in mind. The one who makes all things new, Jesus Christ, is also the mediator of the covenant of grace. Therefore, the new creation and the covenant of grace are forever joined together in the person and work of Jesus Christ who has died for our sins and was raised for our justification. This reminds us that the basic panorama of redemptive history is creation, fall, and redemption. And creation, fall, and redemption play themselves out in redemptive history in terms of God's dealing with his creatures in terms of the covenants of both testaments. This means that Jesus Christ is the sum and substance of all biblical prophecy.

So what you are saying is Christians automatically go to heaven because they have accepted Jesus(pbuh) into their hearts,but everyone else has to be judged?

No, this is not what I am saying at all. All those who have been (past tense) born of God will believe (1 John 5:1). It has nothing to do with what I wanted, accepted, or willed because I have sinned and come short of His glory (Romans 3:23). This is the legacy of my own free will:

Romans 3:10-18 As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one;
there is none that understandeth; there is none that seeketh after God.
They have all gone from the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."
"Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit." "The poison of asps is under their lips,"
"whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness."
"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
destruction and misery are in their ways,
and the way of peace have they not known."
"There is no fear of God before their eyes."

The one and only reason that I can believe upon Christ with my heart is because of the work God did prior to my confessing Him with my lips:

Jeremiah 24:7 And I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto Me with their whole heart.
Deuteronomy 30:6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
Ezekiel 11:19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep Mine ordinances, and do them. And they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments and do them.

It is God who changes a man's heart and if you ask Him for mercy, he may change your heart as well. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God who showeth mercy. (Romans 9:16)

I most certainly will give an account of myself before God (Romans 14:12), but I have been saved from my works (Romans 4:4-5). Christ hung from a tree as a propitiation (Romans 3:25, 1 John 2:1, 1 John 4:10) and an atonement (Romans 5:8-11) for my sins. My crimes have been judged and my debt has been paid. It has nothing to do with the works of man, but it has everything to do with the Mighty works of God.

And if you will repent and believe in your heart that Jesus is exactly who He claims to be, then you can have this:

Jeremiah 32:41 Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with My whole heart and with My whole soul.

So now You are going a step further and saying that the Bible is the only word of God

Revelation 22:18For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
22:19And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written in this book.
22:20He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
22:21The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with you all. Amen.

Woody didnt have to say it God said it..The Koran is the words of a mad man,not God

WOW it is no fun to have your religion touched in anyway is it? All I have been reading on this Zionist web-site is pure ignorance and no understanding or tolerance of Islam My Man Jack said it best "You can't Handle the Truth"

The (pbuh_ means peace be upon him it is out of respect. See I respect your religion while you and your Crusaders can't stomach Islam, because you have no understanding of it.

I can take verses or parts of verses from the Bible and make it look just as violent as you all have.

Jerry help me help you. I will neverstand before Jesus(pbuh) I will stand before God and be judged by God not Man as you will be!!!Peace be unto you. (and we are the violent ones)

The (pbuh_ means peace be upon him it is out of respect. See I respect your religion while you and your Crusaders can't stomach Islam, because you have no understanding of it. I can take verses or parts of verses from the Bible and make it look just as violent as you all have.

Gosh, who ever told you that God was only a God of peace sold you a pretty big whopper. It don't get much bloodier than Isaiah 63, which I have already quoted. What you don't seem to understand is that God is not after respect for religion, but the glory of His name. If you will confess that you are His created dirt and that as such He has the right to do whatsoever He wishes with you, then you may call upon the one and only Name Jesus to save you. Then you shall glorify Him. Otherwise, he will utterly destroy you and you will glorify Him in your destruction:

Psalm 52: Why boastest thou in thine own mischief, O mighty man? The goodness of God endureth continually.
Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
Thou lovest evil more than good, and lying rather than speaking righteousness. Selah
Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.
God shall likewise destroy thee for ever; He shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah
The righteous also shall see this and fear, and shall laugh at him:
"Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his own wickedness."
But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.
I will praise Thee for ever, because Thou hast done it, and I will wait on Thy name, for it is good before Thy saints.

Jerry help me help you. I will never stand before Jesus(pbuh) I will stand before God and be judged by God not Man as you will be!!!Peace be unto you. (and we are the violent ones)

A prophecy perhaps?

I'll rest in the High Ground of my salvation; my Bright and Glorious Morning Star:

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid; for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He also has become my salvation

You will stand before Jesus the Christ, you will bow your knee to Him, you will confess that He is LORD to the glory of God the Father. He (Jesus) is your Creator and God.

Now, it will be far better for you to bow your knee before Him now, and enjoy the blessings of His grace than it will be to bow your knee before Him after death, and face His wrath.

You can say "Peace, peace" all you want, we know the true "Prince of Peace".

Your memory of history is somewhat deficient. Your Islamic ancestors have given us places like Afganistan. My Calvinist Christian ancestors gave us this republic, and there is no nation on the face of the earth that even comes close to it. You are free to be a vocal, practicing Muslim in the USA. Would I be free to be a vocal, practicing Christian in Afganistan? (I didn't think so!)

Peace be unto you. (and we are the violent ones)

The only weapon being used here is the word of God.You are free in this Nation to worship as you please..

The men here offer to you the word of God,to convict you of the error of Islam.

They are not threat to your life...they bring to you an offer of eternal life,not based on who you are or what you have done.But based on Who the truly Holy one,Jesus is and what He has done .They offer to you the gospel of Jesus Christ,they offer you LIFE

"My peace I give you"

#28: "What I meant was if the Bible, the Torah, and the Quran and any other revealed book(book from GOD)say the same thing then I think that is the absolute truth."

It's good you used the word "if".

The "Holy" (God-breathed) Bible (which includes the Torah (in the Old Testament), is the only inspired, books.

By the way, I see your screen name is "Middle of the Road", does that mean you view yourself as a "moderate" whatever? Here's a question for you:

Was Mohammed, the founder of Islam, himself, a "peaceful moderate", so-called "middle of the roader"? Read on:

Chapters from the Koran. Excerpted Introductory Note:

"THE ANCIENT religion of the Arabs was the worship of the stars. ... The chief seat of this .... worship was the city of Mecca...".

1 Mohammed was born in 571 A. D. His father died before he was born, and his mother when he was only six. In his youth he tended sheep and goats, and at twenty-four he was employed to drive caravans of camels by a rich widow, ‘Hadïgah, whom he married.

2 When he was forty, while wandering alone on a desolate mountain near Mecca, he had a vision. An angel appeared to him and told him to read, and recited certain verses.

From youth he had suffered from a kind of hysteria, and this vision seems to have increased his tendency to hallucinations and ecstasy.

There was an intermission of two or three years before the vision reappeared, after which revelations came rapidly.

He became convinced of his prophetic mission, and began to make converts, the first being the **women** of his own family.

3 For years, however, the new religion made little progress, and the prophet underwent great hardships, finally having to flee from Mecca to Medinah. From this “Flight,” which took place in 622 A. D., the Mohammedan era dates.

Two years later began the Holy War, and from this time on Mohammedanism was extended largely by the sword.

When its founder died in 632, it was firmly established as a great political power as well as a religion; and it is now said to be the belief of about a hundred and seventy millions of people.~

The Harvard Classics.1909–14: Chapters from the Koran

#57: "you ignorant bastard ... I am definately no liberal ... you are exactly like them hypocrits .... Islam is the fastest growing religion. WHY? ... because it is pure, peaceful and unites ... I am wasting my time here it seems you can't talk ... Once again Peace be unto you."

You do sound quite peaceful. :)

I see that in your emotional, knee-jerk *reaction* you have totally ignored the *issues* I set forth, and didn't address, or attempt to refute, any of the points I copied in #56 from the Harvard Classics web site about the Johnny-come-lately "founder" of Islam.

Nor did you provide proof refuting what I said about the "God" you deny that you will be judged by. Has anyone ever told you that you have already lost your "argument" when you call people names and make personal attacks on them?

Emotionally immature people are quite unreasonable, unstable and volatile. There is hope for some of them, though. They may grow up ... given time.

You guys scream about politians you are exactly like them hypocrits. Its not Mohemmedanism yourreligion is after a man not mine. Like I said earlier anyone can take the Bible and do the same exact thing as you have done with the Quran.

So, why didn't you? I love my Saviour enough to proclaim His, and only His Salvation BTW, to you. (1 Peter 3:15)

Oh, and I do not have religion, but Relationship. I have the Living God who lives within me. (Romans 8:16) What do you have that can possibly compare to that?

Islam is the fastest growing religion. WHY? Because it's violent and radical! No because it is pure, peaceful and unites all races colors and creeds. Of course it is hard for you KKK Zionist CNN watching people to accept any other people or religion.

I count myself blessed to have been cursed because of the Name of Jesus.

I am wasting my time here it seems you can't talk and find some common ground here because it is agree with you lunatics or off with your head. I will try to seperate this web-sites opinion from the rest of the country and just consider this a radical organization. Once again Peace be unto you.

I'm not interested in common ground unless it is the High Ground of the Rock of Salvation; Jesus Christ who is He who lives, and was dead, and is alive forevermore. My glorious God holds the keys of Hades and Death. (Revelation 1:18) If you wish to stand with me on this unCommon ground, then I will welcome the fellowship and count you my brother.

BTW, the difference between us is that vengence is not mine, but it belongs to Christ. (Romans 12:19) The Bible teaches me also to feed my enemies and give him drink. (Romans 12:20) So, tell me, considering that we are even now dropping medicine and food to hungry Afgans, who has a better faith?

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