As we continue on examining God's plan to rescue all the people on earth from their corruption by using the people of Israel to enact his plan, we've discovered that the Israelites are every bit as unabashedly human as all the other humans. We've also noticed a theme of exile and rescue throughout their history as a nation. However, there are a few more important themes we need to consider in order to fully understand God's plan to rescue the world through his covenant with Abraham.

The first theme we find is the king. It seems as though, of all the kings of Israel, none of them is truly able to rise to the challenge. 1 Samuel 8 shows us the warnings of the ways of earthly kings, and David lives, um, down to the description. So does Solomon. And those kings that followed Solomon were even worse! Even the good ones, like Hezekiah and Josiah (the kings that tried to point Israel back to God), were unable to prevent exile. Psalm 89 really presents the problem very well. On the one hand, God has made incredible promises to David. But, on the other hand, it doesn't seem to have amounted to anything. The psalm puts the question before God, as though to ask what he intends to do about it.

But Israel has the hope of a true king. We catch a glimpse of this king in Psalm 72:1-4:

Give the king your justice, O God,

and your righteousness to the royal son!

May he judge your people with righteousness,

and your poor with justice!

Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people,

and the hills, in righteousness!

May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,

give deliverance to the children of the needy,

and crush the oppressor!

God is sending a new king. One who will, once and for all, set things right, restore true justice, and come to their final rescue!

The second theme we see is the temple. If you remember, the temple is the place where God's sphere and our sphere overlap and interact. Not only that, but David set a standard: It is the kings job to build and restore the temple. Unfortunately, the job just isn't being done. So, one of the identifying traits of this new king God was sending is that he would build or restore the temple.

As a matter of fact, Judas Maccabeus, in 164 B.C., and, later, Herod the Great both used their restoration of the temple as a claim to the throne, even though neither of them descended from David.

Now, where does that put us? A true king will arise, and part of what he does will be to bring about true justice and restore the temple. Now, on to the third theme...

The Torah. There are a lot of little taboos and customs that are built into the Torah. These things set Israel apart from all of the nations around them. These customs gave them a national identity. But, they went further than that. The Torah was about how people, under God, live together in harmony. It's about how they respond to him for his rescue operation. It's not something that earns his favor. It's about being the people of God.

The fourth, and last, theme that we find is the concept of new birth, new life, new creation. Consider Isaiah 2:2-4:

It shall come to pass in the latter days

that the mountain of the house of the LORD

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and shall be lifted up above the hills;

and all the nations shall flow to it,

and many peoples shall come, and say:

"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,

to the house of the God of Jacob,

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths."

For out of Zion shall go the law,

and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between the nations,

and shall decide disputes for many peoples;

and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war anymore.

This theme of a beautiful new creation is repeated throughout the book of Isaiah. Take a look at Isaiah 11:1-19; 55:1, 3-5, 12-13; 65:17-18, 25. These are just a few of the scriptures that look forward to God's final restoration of his corrupted creation.

All four of these themes come together in a seemingly shocking twist in Isaiah (42, 49, 50, and 52-53). Out of the chaos, God will send an anointed one (the Hebrew word "Messiah" and the Greek word "Christ" translate as "anointed one"). The servant will bring a message that God is king. Jerusalem can at last declare that peace has come, Israel is rescued and the entire creation is saved! (Consider Isaiah 52:7-12.) But, this servant will cast away, just as Israel has been exiled, and die in shame. Then he will come out on the other side, victorious! Other prophets that point to this anointed servant include Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Jeremiah speaks of a new covenant. Ezekiel shows Israel that God will cleanse them, renew them, and then rescue them and take them back to their land.

It's at this point that we find ourselves racing towards the convergence of many stories. God, Israel and the rest of the world are all about to converge! How is this amazing thing going to happen?

It takes the entire New Testament to truly answer that question, and that entire answer is embodied in one person: Jesus of Nazareth.

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Comments

• September 8, 2007, todd schreibt: JO,
  
  You need to be very careful with this line of reasoning. I know the books that this is coming from and I'm telling you that this is very dangerous. You are dealing with a narrative theology that leads to the denial of justification by faith in Christ alone. Narrative theology is one way to read scripture and it can be useful, but most scholars who use it without working through the historical/grammatical grid come to conclusions that are outside of evangelical protestant theology. Be careful.
  
  The themes that you speak of are there, but they are worked out in a covenantal framework that completely pointed to Christ alone. The line of reasoning you give walks a fine line of Jesus being a plan B because the people of Israel failed. This begins pointing you toward an open theology of God and turns justification into a term meaning "being a member of the people of God" instead of the imputation of righteousness because of Christ's atoning work.
  
  I know the author you are using and I've read most of his books and his books on Jesus are great, but you have to realize that is thoughts of Paul's theology are completely imbalanced and border on liberal heresy. Please use caution, I beg of you.
• September 8, 2007, joe schreibt: Todd, I don't think I'm communicating what I'm trying to say very clearly. I had intended to show, in the next post, how Jesus was God's plan all along, but the people of Israel couldn't have realized that, and frankly, still don't realize it! Maybe I should have hinted at it from the beginning, but frankly, writing just isn't my strong suit. :)
  
  What I'm trying to show, and I don't think I've done a good job of it, is simply that God intended for Jesus to be the salvation all along, but in order for the Israelites, and then the world, to see their need to be rescued, the Israelites had to go through a bunch of crap.They needed to see the injustice of earthly kings, even good ones like David. They needed to see how broken they were, and that the rescue ship that they were would never be capable of doing its job. Jesus is not a plan B, he's the original plan, finally unveiled.
  
  Having said all of this, I'm postponing the next post until at least Monday. It's easily the most important post, and is also the one most easily mis-interpreted. So, I'm going to set it aside and come back to it in a few days with fresh eyes to make certain that I'm communicating as clearly as possible.

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