The History of Redemption by Nathan E. Lewis
The main story of the Bible is God redeeming his people. The following paragraphs outline the whole of the Bible showing how every bit of scripture points to Jesus Christ.
The Age of Adam: Adam is the one man who failed God, so the one man, Jesus Christ, came to represent all of us in his perfect obedience to God All of us who are united to Adam by natural birth, must be united to Jesus Christ for redemption and spiritual birth.
The Age of Noah: Noah preached the good news to a wicked generation. He and all his family were saved from destruction. All of us are to see Jesus Christ in the life and salvation of Noah, so that we might hear the good news and be saved from destruction.
The Age of Abraham: Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. All of us become spiritual children of Abraham, as we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the true Isaac, who has come to win the promise for us.
The Age of Moses: Moses, the great prophet and mediator of God’s holy law, led God’s children to faith and repentance in the face of God’s demand for perfection. All of us are driven to trust in Jesus Christ as we face the demands of God’s holy laws, taking comfort in Jesus, our one and only Mediator between us and our heavenly Father.
The Age of Prophets: The prophets delivered God’s judgment upon his chosen Israel, who had broken his covenant. The prophets announced the coming of the one, true Israel, the Christ, who would keep the covenant for all peoples of the world. All of us must heed the prophets’ warning and find refuge in Christ Jesus, who has kept the covenant for us.
The Coming of Christ: Christ Jesus came as the Son of Man, the divine second person of the Trinity, to seek and to save the lost children of God. Jesus Christ came as the Son of God, the second Adam, as our human representative, to perfectly keep the covenant and thus win the Father’s favor for all of us.
The Age of the Apostles: The Apostles were eye-witnesses of Jesus Christ, who were given the mission to preach the good news to the ends of the earth, to all generations in these last days. All of us must come under the authority of the Apostles, receive by faith their Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ, and join the mission until Jesus Christ returns to judge the living and the dead.
Biblical history places the person and work of Jesus Christ at its center. The Old Testament anticipates his coming, calling all those who lived before Christ Jesus to do so looking to Jesus by faith. The New Testament remembers his coming, calling all those who have lived after Christ Jesus to do so looking up to him by faith.
May 17th, 2009 at 3:13 am
Otherwise this is great, but where is the Atonement? While I agree that it is because of the righteousness of Christ that God accepts him as our mediator, his righteousness also makes his sacrificial death acceptable as the atonement for our sins. It is Christ’s duty to be righteous, but it is his humiliation, suffering and death which is the atonement.
May 17th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
thanks, Mike. These paragraphs are designed to teach children the continuity of redemptive history rather than to present a systematic theology, which is also important for us all. Were I to unpack my choice of words in the “Christ paragraph,” then I would explain the central doctrine of atonement latent in the word, “save,” and in the final clause, “to perfectly keep the covenant and thus win the Father’s favor for all of us.” Indeed the meaning of atonement is imbedded in the covenant work of Jesus Christ satisfying the Father’s just wrath for sin. The atonement looms large in my gospel preaching and I assure you that in no way am I attempting to skirt the issue of propitiation, atonement, or satisfaction. -funny how we can take a fine, biblical word like “atonement” and make it a buzz word or a “shiboleth” to falsely assure that we are all orthodox.
November 4th, 2011 at 7:35 am
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