Redemption—The “Big
Picture”
Ed
Stevens
This article provides an overview of the plan of redemption revealed
throughout Scripture. Some call it the “scarlet thread” that runs
through the Bible. Others refer to it as “His Story” since all of Bible
history relates to the plan, revelation, gradual development, and
eventual consummation of redemption in Jesus Christ.
Someone recently shared an email in which his Futurist pastor insisted
it is not legitimate to interpret the nature of fulfillment at the
end time (Revelation)
differently than the physically literal nature of reality at the
beginning time (Genesis). While
I agree somewhat with that principle, there are some interpretative
problems that can develop when we take that approach. Just like it is
possible to incorrectly force the pieces of a puzzle to fit together and
get the wrong picture, so it is also possible to incorrectly interpret
the nature of redemptive events at the beginning. Just as there is only
one correct way to fit puzzle
pieces together, there is also only one
correct way to interpret scripture. And if we do not know at the
beginning what the finished puzzle is supposed to look like, it will be
much more difficult to put it together correctly. Seeing the
big picture on the outside of
the box before we begin is extremely helpful. However, God did not give
mankind a multimedia presentation of His redemptive plan at the very
beginning. Instead, He gave a promise in “mystery” (enigmatic)
form—revealed gradually in bits and pieces in history.
We
could debate why God did not just give us the big picture all at once at
the beginning—so we would not have to scratch our heads trying to figure
it out—but it seems that God wanted us to struggle with it in order to
humble us, make us seek His face, and learn to trust and depend upon
Him. But there is another reason.
Ten
thousand years from now it will be even more tempting for humanity to
dismiss Christianity as mere superstition of a pre-enlightened age. But
the Bible relates a story which was developed inside verifiable history
over a span of four thousand years. The story is too interrelated and
systematic to be the product of deceivers or lunatics. God did it this
way so that His redemptive plan could not be falsified on historical
grounds, no matter how many years pass. For the redemptive plan to stand
the test of time for all ages to come, it needed to be revealed and
consummated inside history over such a long period (and in such a
historically verifiable way) that there could never be any question
about its authenticity. This is exactly what we find in the Bible. Only
the “Ancient of Days” could accomplish something like that.
God’s plan of redemption was a “mystery” which was only unveiled
partially and gradually through the Old Testament. This mystery was not
only hidden from humanity in general, but it was somewhat obscure to
God’s people and the angels as well:
As to this salvation, the prophets who
prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and
inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ
within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and
the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not
serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been
announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the
Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.
(1 Peter 1:10-12, NASB95)
They
did not get the big picture at
the beginning. God used his people to paint the picture slowly and
gradually over the first four thousand years of human history. Only at
the end of the redemptive drama
did the big picture come into
clear view. That is why I suggested that looking first at the nature of
things at the beginning (without having the
big picture at the end in view)
may skew one’s interpretation of the nature of fulfillment at the
end time. If you start off on
the wrong path, you will end up at the wrong destination. If you know
your destination you will know which path to take. In this case, it is
the last things that we need to
look at first, since the last things
tell us how to fit the first things
into the big picture. And the
nature of fulfillment of the last
things is more significant for our understanding of the whole
redemptive drama than the nature of the
first things. The New Testament tells us what the Old Testament
was pointing to—Jesus Christ. So we need to see the big picture first
before we start trying to put the Old Testament pieces together.
I
appreciate Brian Martin’s emphasis on this in his book
Behind the Veil of Moses. His
comments on Paul’s teaching about this in 2 Corinthians 3:7-16 are
excellent. Only at the end, when
the veil of Moses is removed, do we see clearly enough to understand
correctly God’s redemptive plan from its
creation all the way to its
consummation.
You
may be asking, “What does the big
picture look like?” Here it is:
1. God made His plan for
humanity in eternity before He created the universe.
2. Then God created the
Universe and all that it contains, including the first two humans, Adam
and Eve, as well as the Garden in which they would dwell.
3. God wanted man to live
forever with Him in close fellowship, so He gave Adam a task to fulfill
and guidelines to follow during his probation on earth in order to
prepare him for his eternal life in heaven with God.
4. But Adam and Eve ate from
the forbidden tree and broke that fellowship, bringing condemnation and
separation upon themselves and their posterity.
5. This put man in a state of
spiritual death before God, as well as doomed their physical bodies to
suffer physical death and return to dust.
6. Because God, in His
holiness, could not bring the righteous dead into heaven until His plan
of redemption was completed, He allowed Satan to imprison the conscious,
disembodied souls of mankind in Sheol (Greek: Hades). This was a
temporary provision until a “seed of Eve” would come and “redeem” His
elect from Satan and raise them out of Hades, giving them new immortal
and incorruptible bodies, taking them to heaven to dwell with Him
forever.
7. All the events of the Old
Testament were a tutorial designed to equip His people to recognize the
Redeemer when He arrived, and to enable us to understand what He was
accomplishing for us.
8. Christ Jesus is that
Redeemer, and the whole New Testament is the unveiling of “the rest of
the story” (His Story) of God’s plan to buy back His people from eternal
separation and condemnation, and to give them immortal life in His
presence and fellowship forever.
In
future issues we will focus on smaller pieces of the Redemptive Puzzle.
But it was important here, before attempting to fit the pieces together
in future articles, to see what the big
picture is supposed to look like when we are finished.
