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Jesus Christ: The Sum and Subtance of Biblical Prophecy
Modern Reformation Magazine ^ | September/October 2001 edition | Kim Riddlebarger

Posted on 10/10/2001 5:20:52 AM PDT by sola gracia

Jesus Christ:
The Sum and Substance of Biblical Prophecy

By Kim Riddlebarger

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.


Dr. Kim Riddlebarger is a graduate of California State University in Fullerton (B.A.), Westminster Theological Seminary in California (M.A.R.), and Fuller Theological Seminary (Ph.D.). Kim has contributed chapters to books such as Power Religion: The Selling Out of the Evangelical Church, Roman Catholicism: Evangelical Protestants Analyze What Unites & Divides Us, and Christ The Lord: The Reformation & Lordship Salvation, and is currently the pastor of Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim, California.



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To: sola gracia
But the end is not merely paradise regained. The final goal is paradise glorified!

Indeed, sacrifice for liberty is far more important than phyiscal well being in heaven. People who hate the language of the Bible sending people to hell for bad deeds forget that hell is only hell for those obsessed with their well being, and not for those glorifying heaven as it stands.

Contrast this with Islamic Jihad promising 70 virgins. Or Islam's secular submission to the will of Allah. What else is submission to the will - or to violent means - other than a purely secular concept painted with the word Allah? It could be the will of slick Willie if you asked me.

81 posted on 10/12/2001 8:32:07 AM PDT by lavaroise
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To: Middle of the Road; Jerry_M; RnMomof7
Claiming to be the victim now! You must think we are idiots to believe for a single moment all the lies which are now freely flowing from your lips.

I have freely shared the Gospel with you as I am commanded. I have done so in a God honoring way by recognizing that it is God, and God alone, who changes peoples hearts. If I believe that you "claimed" to be a Christian and have fallen away, then you have quite a problem on your hands:

Hebrews 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing that they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to open shame.
Go get your wife's Bible and look it up. I, of course, don't believe for a moment that you have even a casual knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, despite what you "claim". You have demonstrated yourself a liar and I don't for one moment have to believe any of this "confession". The sooner that you get off of this "Zionist" website, the better. Nevertheless, God may yet yank you away from Satan and claim you as His. If your wife truly is Saved, then she has my prayer:
1 Peter 3 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the Word, they also may be won without the word by the conduct of their wives while they behold your chaste manner of living coupled with fear.
Infidel, be gone!
82 posted on 10/12/2001 8:37:46 AM PDT by CCWoody
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To: Middle of the Road
I would ask you to consider two things.

1. How then shall we be saved? How does a sinner reunite with a Just God and survive? Is a Just God really just if he does not punish all sin? Is there any other way for us to live in God's presence, then for someone else to pay the price for our sin? I still don't see the way of salvation that Islam provides.

2. I would also ask you to consider Jesus. He cannot be a part of Islam. If Islam is true, than Jesus is a liar and a blasphemer.

(John 14:6-11) Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."
Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."
Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, "Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves."

This is just one of many examples where Jesus claims to be, not only, the only true way to God (calling all other "ways" false), but He claims to be God Himself. In John 10:30, Jesus claims, "I and My Father are one." Given Jesus' claims, why doesn't Islam reject Him as a false prophet?

83 posted on 10/12/2001 9:14:30 AM PDT by Right_Wing_Mole_In_Seattle
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To: RnMomof7
Well said. well said
84 posted on 10/12/2001 9:24:09 AM PDT by artios
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To: RnMomof7
Absolutely right on the money! Couldn't have said so better myself, and I doubt anyone else could have improved on it!
85 posted on 10/12/2001 10:40:10 AM PDT by nobdysfool
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To: Middle of the Road
This is a world topic about terrorism not Islam

Actually, you stumbled upon a Intra-Christian discussion regarding the hermanutical approach to biblical prophecy.(i.e. covenantial v. dispensational theology) However, that does not preclude you from the discussion. I would suggest that your responses would bear on the article above and frame your arguments based on any scholarly independent sources. Perhaps you know of some Islamic apologetics that refute the cogent agruements presented in the article?

Here's your challenge.

Present some evidence that the Bible is not consistently pointing to Jesus Christ as the Redeemer for the sin of man. Present any evidence that Jesus Christ is only a prophet and not the Saviour.

Present some evidence that the Koran, as an extra revelational book, is confirmed in the Bible.

Present some evidence against the Trinity. When presenting evidence do not use the Koran as your proof unless you can prove that the Koran is a God-inspired extra revelational book.

One other point. I affirm absolutely the right of any person to practice the faith of their choice as long as they obey the laws of this country. However, the tone of your arguement (and it seems the arguement of most Muslems) seems to suggest that we should accept your faith intellectually because of your belief in the Bible. This is a faulty premise. Most Christians do not accept the faith of Mormons as true faith for the exact reason we do not accept Islam, that is, extra-revelational books.

86 posted on 10/12/2001 11:24:40 AM PDT by lockeliberty
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Comment #87 Removed by Moderator

To: Cernunnos
For some reason, I decided that it would be better in my replies to "Middle of the road" to refer to Jesus(pcfH, or "Peace comes from Him") as Jesus, the Christ, or Jesus, the promised Jewish Messiah, in order to distinguish Him from some other Jesus who may be only a prophet to the proponents of Islam.

Since Christ is His title, and not part of His name (His companions would have identified Him as "Jesus of Nazareth"), I have done no violence to His honor, but have, instead, set Him apart from all other false pretenders.

88 posted on 10/12/2001 1:41:03 PM PDT by Jerry_M
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To: lockeliberty
Good points.
89 posted on 10/12/2001 1:41:40 PM PDT by Jerry_M
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To: troublesome creek
bump for later
90 posted on 10/12/2001 1:43:08 PM PDT by troublesome creek
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Comment #91 Removed by Moderator

To: RnMomof7
bump
92 posted on 10/12/2001 8:19:01 PM PDT by RnMomof7
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To: RnMomof7
..
93 posted on 10/12/2001 9:00:54 PM PDT by RnMomof7
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To: dbbeebs
God bless America!
94 posted on 10/12/2001 9:36:12 PM PDT by RickyJ
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To: RickyJ
Why? "What-If" ghod was blessing the other guys?
95 posted on 10/12/2001 9:41:15 PM PDT by dbbeebs
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To: Middle of the Road
What makes you think there is not one true religion? Have you figured that out in your infinite mind?

And let's not forget, what religion is worth anything that doesn't claim a corner on the 'truth'?? If I have two choices A or B in order to get to C (heaven). Well if B says it is the only way to C and A says well you can go to C straight from A or you can also get to C from B. Well I know which choice I'm gonna make! Why risk going to A since it is in agreement that B is a valid choice.

I've only got one life to live, I want to choose the way that leads eternal life.... who doesn't? And believe it or not, I want that for you (and everyone else too... in fact that's why we share our religious beliefs with others... not out of dogma, but out of love and wishing the best for others).

Anyhow, any religion that claims to be just one of many is a lie. It isn't worth the risk (as I mentioned above).

And if we think that since we have a bunch of mutually exclusive choices [i.e. A, B, and others all claim to get me to pont C (heaven)], we'll if I throw up my hands and say that none of them must be true. That too is a falsehood. It just means that I cannot prove that any one of them is true... and I don't want to pick. Mutual exclusion does not indicate falsehood my friend.

I've heard it said before... whatever you serve, now that shows who your god is! So, who's it gonna be?

Jesus proclaimed he was the way and the truth and the life. So he was either a liar (knew it was wrong), a lunatic (thought he was divine and wasn't) or he was/is Lord (son of the almighty). As someone said before, Jesus didn't leave us the option that he was just another good guy (as Islam would like you to believe... as I think they state he was another prophet).

96 posted on 10/12/2001 10:15:26 PM PDT by blue jeans
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To: Cernunnos
Regarding your first challenge:

The Gospel of Matthew Chapter 4:

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple,

6 and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will give his angels charge of you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'"

7 Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"

97 posted on 10/13/2001 12:46:54 AM PDT by lockeliberty
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To: Cernunnos
Regarding your 2nd challenge. Because it does not fit the topic posted here I Posted a new Thread that can be found here.
98 posted on 10/13/2001 2:05:46 AM PDT by lockeliberty
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To: lockeliberty
Bump
99 posted on 10/13/2001 7:55:20 AM PDT by RnMomof7
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To: RnMomof7
..
100 posted on 10/13/2001 10:00:41 AM PDT by RnMomof7
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