If you have taken part of this challenge, share your thoughts below.

Introduction to the Themes of the Bible:

For as often as I read the Pentateuch, I never realized until it was pointed out to me how imperative the themes introduced here are to understanding the rest of the biblical text.

These themes are:

• Land/Exile
• Blessing/Curse
• Grace/Works
• Relationship/Alienation
• Life/Death
• Faithfulness/Unfaithfulness
• Worship/Idolatry

Land: Eden/Palestine/Heavenly Places/New Earth

Exile: From Eden/From Palestine/Worldliness/Outer Darkness

Here’s how I think these motifs work together…

Positive Side of the Biblical Themes:

• To be in the Land is to be in Relationship with God, which is where Life is – to be Alive to God (it’s all about relationship).

• To know God (relational knowledge) is to be in the Blessings of God. So to be in the Land is to be in the Blessings of God.

• We are always brought into the Land by Grace - neither Adam nor Israel did anything to earn entrance into the Land.

• There is only one God to be Worshipped in that Land.

• An act of Worship to God is an act of Faithfulness.

Negative Side of the Biblical Themes:

• Unfaithfulness to God is an act of Idolatry - a rejection of the Worship of God in favor of the worship of another, usually one’s self.

• Since another cannot be worshipped in Gods’ Land (“there was only enough room in Eden for one God, and Adam simply didn’t measure up”), Idolatry results in Exile.

• Since to be in the Presence of God in the Land is to be in the Blessings of God, to be in Exile is to be in the Curse.

• Since to be in the Land is to be in the Relationship with God, to be in Exile is to be Alienated to God.

• Since to be in Relationship with God is to be Alive to God, to be in Alienation to God is to be Dead - Dead to God.

• Since to be in the Land of God is where the divine Rest is, to be outside the “Rest” of God is to be in “Work“, to strive in vain.

The Cross is the Great Reversal of God’s Story: Christ came to restore the positive themes found in Eden by his Life, the Cross and his Resurrection – to those who would believe.

As you continue to journey through the bible it is crucial, in my opinion, to keep these major motifs in mind, to use them as a framework while forming your doctrines and theology.

Even as you read through the prophets and poetry literature, the Gospels, the Pauline Epistles and even the Apocalypse’, remember that these themes are the key components which form the backdrop of “why” and “what” the inspired authors wrote.

And that is what I mean when I say that the scriptures beg to be read as a story, because the story found here forms the backdrop to the rest of the literary genre throughout the scriptures. Understanding the Story helps to understand everything else.

You may already have seen this logo as my Gravatar when I have added comments in the past, and recently you have probably noticed this little logo up in the address bar in your browser (Favicon).

But today I make it official.

Covenant of Love presents:

Drum roll please…

Nice eh? (Yah that’s right. I’m Canadian)

What’s That All About?

So what’s the deal? How does this logo represent Covenant of Love? Let me explain.

(Be warned, this might get a bit technical.)

The covenant which God established with Abraham was both unconditional – that is, through Abraham God will, he is driven to, set things right(!) – and it is conditional – that is, while God’s plan is to redeem creation including all mankind, through Israel, through those who are in Abraham, the question becomes, who is in Abraham (Israel)?

These two aspects of the same covenant are clearly paralleled in Gen 15 and Gen 17. In the first passage God himself passes through the blood of mutilated animals declaring to Abraham that God will stake his own life on the line! ‘If what I promise does not come to pass’, God says, ‘may what happened to these animals happen to me’; this is essentially what was communicated in that morbid event. (The irony is that, in order for God to keep his promise, what happened to those animals had to happen to him.[1])

Yet in chapter 17, when the covenant with Abraham is confirmed a conditional element enters the scene:  “you are to undergo circumcision, and it is to be the sign of the covenant between me and you”. God tells Abraham and his family that they must be circumcised as a “sign”, that is, an outward symbol of an inward event! Circumcision of the flesh was to symbolize a circumcised heart, or rather, faith![2] And anyone who does not undergo this circumcision will be “cut off” from the people of God (Genesis 17:14). So from the very beginning God has set a plan in motion to redeem creation through one man and through his family; yet those who are in that family, who partake in the covenant, are not only those who are born of the flesh, but of the heart, of faith!

The word “covenant” in the New Testament is transliterated something like this: diatheke, and its majority of occurrences are either quotations from or allusions to the Old Testament.[3] In Hebrew the verb form of covenant means “to cut”, to shed blood. So when a covenant (which is a relationship) between God and man is made it is, and was quite literally, “cut” – “without the shedding of blood there’s no forgiveness of sins”[4].

The word “Love” in the Greek is transliterated something like this: agapao, and is used by the New Testament writers to describe the relationship between a husband and his wife[5] and, most importantly, of God’s undeserved love for mankind.[6] Love (agapao) in the scripture is not simply an aspect of Gods character, like God’s sovereignty or holiness or righteousness. The scriptures begin a definition of love not with what God has, but with whom God is; God himself is Love itself. God is love says 1 John 4:8.

The logo for Covenant of Love utilizes the first letter in the Greek word for “covenant” – the delta, and the first letter in the Greek word for “love” – the alpha. Together the delta and the alpha form an abbrevation for “Covenant of Love”!

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. – 1 John 4:10

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. – 1 John 2:2

[2] Cf. Deuteronomy 10:16

[3] Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, p.143

[4] Hebrews 9:22

[5] Cf. Ephesians 5:25

[6] John 3:16; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:9-10

You often charge: Faith is a work. I agree. You say: Salvation is of God, but conditioned by our response. I say “amen”. Then I scratch my head in bewilderment: what are we debating?

Yes the so-called neo-reformed are out in full bloom. Sure their doctrines of sola fide and sola scriptura have no teeth. But I need to remind you that…

NOT ALL REFORMERS ARE THE SAME!

The Reformation stood on principles. PRINCIPLES! We are not crafted in cookie cutter fashion. We do not all agree on doctrines, we agree on principles.

• Principle 1: Sola Scriptura – Scripture is our highest authority (without rejecting the testimony of Tradition)

• Principle 2: Semper Reformanda (Always Reforming) – The Reformers recognized that there was much work to be done, and so we are challenged to keep in an attitude of reform, always returning to Principle 1!

• Principle 3: Sola Gratia – Salvation is by God’s good grace alone. Had God not sent his Son into the world to die for the world of undeserving people, no one would be saved.

• Principle 4: Sola Fide – Salvation, in order for it to take effect, calls for a response of faith from man. No one is saved by work of moral effort, nor can anyone will power themselves into the Kingdom.

You and I, we have very many differences. But when we discuss our differences, please keep in mind that I may not fit the mold of others you have debated in the Reformed Tradition.

“IF YOU DO NOT STAND FIRM IN YOUR FAITH, YOU WILL NOT STAND AT ALL!” Isaiah 7:9

When I first read this verse I was overcome with a sense of fear. Not the fear of man, the fear brought about by the evil one. But by the fear of God [Prov 1:7], the fear which all saints must embrace – for that is what it means to be a saint of God – to stand in awe.

We read: “If you do not stand firm“. It does not say simply “stand”, nor does it say “stand tall” or even “stand strong”. It says “stand firm” – resolute, purpose-in-belief, determined…

“In your faith” – Be resolute in your faith! No buckling knees here, no fear that God might fail. Such a thought is preposterous, abserd, rediculous to the nth degree! For our God is a faithful God; He is a ‘Righteous God’ [Rom 1:17] meaning that what He says He will do, He will in fact do. But it must be Him who does it, not you and not me. Our job is not to do, but to believe [Eph 2:8-9], to stand resolute in Him. It is when we fail to stand firm in him and in His promises, that is when our work begins and it is at this point that we discovers that we…

“Will not stand at all.” And this is the crux of the whole doctrine of perseverance. The perseverance of the saints is in fact, a perseverance of faith. It is to stand resolute in ones commitment to a God who is Faithful to His promises. At no point are Gods covenant people set on autopilot. While God’s Faithfulness is always guaranteed – He must by definition be true to Himself [Rom 3:3-6] – faith on our part is required in order that we not fail to “stand”.

The doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints is well said by the author of Hebrews:

Let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. [Heb 4:14]

And again:

Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. [Heb 12:1]

But the term “ability” suggests that man is “able” in his own right to choose good over evil. To this the scriptures are emphatically opposed [Rom 3:12]. Because of this many have run far away from any hint or suggestion that man – while being dead in his trespasses and sins – is yet called and expected to come to God and to “do what is right”.

Yet the scriptures are also opposed to this idea, for Cain was instructed by God to “master” the sin that desired him and to “do what is right” [Gen 4:7] even while being “dead” in his trespasses and sins. There is no intimation here that Cain was regenerated, yet – taking the scriptures at face value – it seems God fully expected Cain to “do what is right”.

Furthermore, the very fact that God judges the heathen nations in Ezekiel 25-32 shows that God expected them to do what is right; it is because they did not that they were judged. To this Paul writes in Romans that they suppressed the truth by their wickedness and that is why they will be without excuse [Rom 1:18-20].

So how can God expect men who are Totally Depraved, dead in their trespasses and sins, to do what is right? Because while mankind may be “unable” within themselves to do what is right, they have been ENABLED by God. It is the constant rejection of this enablement that amounts to man’s constant rejection of God’s offer of saving grace.

Conclusion

• Total Depravity:

… Is that doctrine by which all men are born with the inclination to sin. [Jer 17:9; Gen 6:5; Rom 3:10-12; Eph 2:1]

• Prevenient Grace:

… Is that doctrine by which all men have been enabled by God to accept by faith his offer of saving Grace. [John 16:8; Luke 19:9-10; John 6:44; Rom 2:4;  1 John 4:19; and especially Titus 2:11, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men"]

The Balance, Always the Balance…

To accept the one without the other will result in an imbalance in theology. I have a friend who has captured nicely the balance between Total Depravity and Prevenient Grace; “if all Fell in Adam, then don’t all receive God’s Call in Adam as well?” [Gen 3:9-10, "But the Lord God called to the man, 'Where are you?' He answered, 'I heard you in the garden'."]

As we saw in the last post (How To Rest In God), God created man on the last day of his work while man was still dead, then He placed man in Eden (the Rest of God). But Adam’s disobedience resulted in his being removed from the rest of God and into the curse of work. The only way then to get out of the curse of “work” [Genesis 3:23] and back into God’s “rest” is to accept Jesus’ invitation:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. [Matthew 11:28-29]

My epiphany then is this: Faith is that act by which we believe that God did all of the work so that we can enter his rest! Faith is never conceived in the scriptures as a “merit of earning salvation”, faith by definition is accepting the fact that God did all of the work necessary to make salvation possible.

The invitation to “come” and to “take” are not merits of salvation, but acts of faith, the act of recognizing that God performed all the merits or works required for salvation. I’ll say it again:

• FAITH IS ACCEPTING GOD’S INITATIVE!
• FAITH IS RECOGNIZING THAT GOD DID ALL OF THE WORK REQUIRED FOR SALVATION!
• WE ARE CALLED TO HAVE FAITH!
• WE ARE CALLED TO ACCEPT GOD’S INITATIVE!

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourself, it (grace for salvation) is the gift of God – not by works (but by the faith of accepting Gods gift of grace), so that  no one can boast. [Ephesians 2:8-9]

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. [Genesis 2:2]

THE REST OF GOD

There is no “eighth” day with God. The seventh day simply lingers. Placing Adam and Eve in the Garden of God, Adam is instructed to “care for it”. But this task of Adam’s is not conceived to be a “work” because Adam, if you recall, is in Eden lingering with God on the seventh day. Adam – in other words – is wallowing in God’s Rest.

Now consider this: if the word “tabernacle” simply means “dwelling place” then Eden, properly understood, is the “Tabernacle of God”. It is the place where Adam and Eve are God’s first priest (and priestess), and where the instruction to “care for” Eden is conceived of in a similar fashion as when the ancient Hebrew priest’s “cared for” the Temple. This is why the Psalmist can exclaim “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere” [Psalm 84:10].

MADE TO ENTER IN

It is no mistake that God created Adam and Eve on the sixth day, they being the final and crowning moment of Gods six days of work. Man was not made in God’s Rest, but in his work. It’s always by God’s work, it’s always by grace. Then the scriptures read:

“Now the Lord God planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. [Genesis 2:8]

Since man was made on the end of the sixth day, his first day alive is the day he enters God’s Rest – i.e. the seventh day. Adam enters God’s Rest when he enters Eden. In other words, to be fully alive is to be in the Rest of God, which is in Eden.

THE WORK OF MAN

After the Fall God pronounces a curse over creation on account of Adam:

Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground. [Genesis 3:17-19]

Then the scriptures add, “So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground” [Genesis 3:23].

The comparison that needs to be observed is the God’s REST is linked to EDEN so that to be in God’s Rest is to be in Eden, and to be Exiled from Eden is to be Exiled from God’s Rest. It is only when Adam and Eve are Exiled from Eden that the curse of “work” takes effect.

When it is thought through in this way, the Sabbath Day which the Israelites were commanded to adhere to [Exodus 20:8], God was actually commanding his covenant people to Taste a little bit of Eden, a little bit of God’s Rest, even while in Exile from the Eden and in the curse of work. In other words, the Sabbath Day was supposed to be a little bit of Heaven on Earth.

THE LAND OF REST

The Lord tells Moses that he is going to bring the Israelites – his first born son [Malachi 11:1] – out of Egypt and into “a spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey” [Exodus 3:8]. But we know the story, how the Israelites rebelled against God, how their rebellion was evidence of their unbelief and that as a result most of them died in the desert without ever entering the promised land [1 Corinthians 10:5].

But the connection most of us fail to make is the one between Eden and the Land God gives the Israelites. The author of Hebrews retells the story of the first generations rebellion and failure to enter that land but he uses the term “rest” to describe the land:

“To whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.” [Hebrews 3:18-19]

The Land promised to the Israelites is conceived of as the Rest of God, the new Eden. And so Exile from that land is – quite literally – a reenactment of the Exile Adam experienced from Eden.

BLESSINGS OF THE REST, CURSE OF EXILE

It is interesting that in Eden is where the Blessings are. God blessed the seventh day (the Rest) and God blessed Adam and Eve several times [eg. Genesis 1:28]. But outside the Rest, outside of Eden that is, is where the curse is found [c.f. Genesis 3:17-19, Genesis 3:23].

This same story again is Adam’s Exile from Eden reenacted with Israel regarding the Promised Land (i.e. New Eden). Deuteronomy 28:1-14 describes all of the blessings the Israelites will continue to experience so long as they remain obedient to God (which is the fruit of their faith – c.f. Hebrews 3:19), but the rest of the chapter, Deuteronomy 28:15 ff., is a pronouncement of curses that they will experience if they are disobedient (which, again, is evidence of their unbelief – c.f. Hebrews 3:19). These curses will climax in their Exile from the land [Deuteronomy 38:21].

THE PROMISED REST STILL STANDS

But Israel’s Exile is not the end of the story. The author of Hebrews writes: “since the promise of entering his rest still stands” [Hebrews 4:1]. What rest, Palestine? No. For there is a Rest to which the “rest” promised to Israel pointed to… that “rest” pointed to the Gospel and those who entered that Rest (be it ancient Israel, or modern Christians), must enter it by faith. The author of Hebrews continues:

We also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Now we who have believed enter that rest. [Hebrews 4:2-3]

And again he writes:

“It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. [Hebrews 4:6]

He concludes,

“There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his” [Hebrews 4:9-10].

I WILL GIVE YOU REST

And how do we enter that Rest but by faith? And it is precisely at this point that the author appeals to the “Word of God” [Hebrews 4:12].

Jesus – the Word [John 1:1] – invites, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” [Matthew 11:28]. Jesus is the Rest. He worked, i.e. performed the task and declared “it is finished” [John 19:30] while we were yet dead [Romans 5:8]. Then he breathed into us the Living Spirit of God [cf. Gen 2:7; John 20:22; Acts 2:4] and seated us in Heavenly places [Ephesians 2:6].

This is a reenactment of the creation account: God created man through His “work” on the sixth day [Gen 1:27]. Then God breathed life into his creation [Gen 2:7], then God placed his creation in Eden [Gen 2:15] where he was made to enjoy eternity with God in Gods Rest [Gen 3:22].

The major difference is that here in Genesis God created, now in Christ God re-created: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” [2 Corinthians 5:17] When we enter Christ, we enter – in a sense – the Rest of God. And in this the writer of Hebrews can say that we have been “enlightened”, have “tasted of the heavenly gift”, have “shared in the Holy Spirit”, have “tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the coming age.” [Hebrews 6:4-5]

“Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know”… they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army. [Ezekiel 37:3, Ezekiel 37:10]

In this well known vision the prophet Ezekiel is placed in a valley filled with dry bones and questioned by the Lord, “Can these bones live?” His answer is both tentative and certain; tentative (“only you know”), because the reality is that these bones are old and dry, scattered and in pieces. These bones, in other words, are the remains of a people long dead, and everybody knows that people who are dead do not live again. Yet certain also (“O Sovereign Lord”), because the Lord is Sovereign and what that means is that the Lord can do whatsoever he wants.

This fascinating episode is followed by an interpretation; there is little room for speculation: the people are the “whole house of Israel” who is “dead” in exile (“we are cut off”). But the Lord (who is Sovereign), will “open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel… I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live.” [Ezekiel 37:11-12]

What’s interesting is that in this vision regeneration, to go from death to life or exile to restoration, is an act of the “Sovereign Lord” quite apart from any act of repentance or faith on the part of those regenerated.

But that is not all that Ezekiel has to say on the subject of regeneration:

“What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: ‘The father eats sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel… if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live, he will not die… But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live?.. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die.” [Ezekiel 18:1-3; Ezekiel 18:21-24]

There seemed to be a common saying among the Judeans in captivity which conveyed the idea that they were in exile because of the sins of their forefathers; they are the children whose teeth was on edge (in exile) as a result of their fathers eating of sour grapes (constant rebellion).

The Lord says through Ezekiel that this is simply not the case. They are in exile not because of the sins of their forefathers alone, but because of their own sins as well. The point of this chapter is that God does not judge one person guilty on the basis of his father’s sins (“The son will not share the guilt of the father”). But then the Lord goes further to say that if the wicked person repents (“turns away from his sins”) and obeys the Lord, that he will live (be regenerated); while the righteous person who acts wickedly will not live (will he live? He will die), he will – evidently – lose his regenerated status when he loses faith (“unfaithfulness”), which is evidenced by his sins.

The observation I want to make here is that unlike the episode of the valley of dry bones where regeneration is all of God apart from any act of repentance (i.e. “faith”); here regeneration is completely dependent upon repentance. The wicked that repent “will live”, while the righteous who acts unfaithfully (“unfaithfulness”), he will die. And while the Lord is just as sovereign here as he is in chapter 37 (“declares the Sovereign Lord” – Ezekiel 18:3), he does not cause or will the deaths of those who repent or do not repent: “For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!” [Ezekiel 18:32]

So which is it? Does regeneration come without repentance (Ezekiel 37), or as a result of repentance (Ezekiel 18)? The answer (as it usually is) is not either/or, but both/and. Chapter 37 deals with a people (“the whole house of Israel”) while chapter 18 deals with individual Israelites, (“if a wicked man” “if a righteous man”).

God will accomplish what he has set out to do through the people Israel (corporately) sovereignly, but those who are “in Israel” (individually speaking) – those who are in God’s covenant in other words – well that is dependent upon repentance and obedience which are the fruits of faith.

To word it another way: God will sovereignly accomplish what he plans through a people (Israel), but those who belong to the people of God are those who “Repent and live!”

It seems regeneration in Ezekiel’s thinking follows faith and a life that bares its fruit. And so Ezekiel captures nicely – in my opinion – the biblical motif of the sovereign working of God on the one hand, and of man’s faithful responsibility on the other.