The Cross in Redemptive History

For the last several days, I've been thinking about how Christ and His cross are the fulfillment of so many Old Testament promises.  In my mind, I've always divided redemptive history into two categories: now (creation to the end of this physical world) and eternity.  However, although I still see two categories, the two categories now are the time of God giving promises and the time of God fulfilling promises.

From creation (Genesis 3:15) until the end of the Old Testament, God is continually giving promises.  Some of these promises were given to a nation whom God corporately elected and with whom he had a covenant relationship that was not necessarily salvific.  Others of these promises were given to His redeemed people whom He bound Himself to by covenant.  With the birth of the Messiah, the Branch, the King, the Shepherd, the Anointed One, Jesus Christ, these promises began to be fulfilled.  Jesus Christ's coming inaugurated the fulfillment of all of the promises of the Old Testament.  We may not see their fulfillment or the results of their fulfillment immediately, but their fulfillment was begun.  The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians in II Corinthians 1:18-20:

But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No.  For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us...was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes.  For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

The fulfillment of God's promises continues from the coming of Christ through eternity, for in the Eternal State we will still be experiencing and rejoicing in the fulfilled promises of our faithful, covenant-keeping God.

Thinking about redemptive history in these two categories has highlighted the centrality of Christ and the cross in my mind.  It is Christ and His cross to which God's promises point, and it is Christ and His cross which fulfill these promises.  Words like Christological and Christo-centric are making sense in a different dimension because I am seeing that Christ and the cross really are the focus-point of all redemptive history.  This is not to minimize themes such as the glory of God, for there is more in God's plan than just redemption, but the section of history that we as humans can best understand is the redemptive part, and Christ and the cross are turning point of redemption.  Whether it is the redemption of individual people or the redemption of the heavens and earth, redemption and fulfilled promises are only possible because of Christ and His cross.

The Valley of Vision nicely summed up centrality of the cross in daily life in the prayer "The Grace of the Cross":

I thank Thee from the depths of my being for Thy wonderous grace and love in bearing my sin in Thine own body on the tree.  

May Thy cross be to me as the tree that sweetens my bitter Marahs, as the rod that blossoms with life and beauty, as the brazen serpent that calls forth the look of faith.

By Thy cross crucify my every sin; use it to increase my intimacy with Thyself;

Make it the ground of all my comfort, the liveliness of all my duties, the sum of all thy gospel promises, the comfort of all my afflictions, the vigour of my love, thankfulness, graces, and the very essence of my religion;

And by it give me that rest without rest, the rest of ceaseless praise.

Want Something to Read?

Ever summer I set goals of books I want to read...and every summer I fail (!).  Not that I don't read anything during the summer, but my reading seems to be lighter; the brain is a bit fried after nine months of classes.  Last summer, the goal was Mortification of Sin, and then the entire summer was spent pulling weeds for the City of Hutchinson.  This summer's project is Life Together by Bonhoeffer, and the entire summer will probably be spent memorizing vocabulary lists.  (Actually, this summer's project was supposed to be Ladd's New Testament Theology, but that was a bit ambitions for a student attempting to learn Hebrew in ten weeks:)  


Since none of these lovely books are likely get read this summer, I am concentrating on finishing one of my favorite devotionals, The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prays and Devotions.  Returning to it this summer has been a great joy!  The authors seem to be able to express my own desires better than I can, and their honest, God-centered view of life is both refreshing and challenging.  If you are interested in something to add to your devotions this summer, you can find it at at http://www.amazon.com or http://www.monergismbooks.com/.


Here is several selections from a prayer that was a blessing to me recently.

Quicken me to call upon Thy name, for my mind is ignorant, my thoughts vagrant, my affections earthly, my heart unbelieving, and only Thy Spirit can help my infirmities.

I approach Thee as Father and Friend, my portion forever, my exceeding joy, my strength of heart.

I believe in Thee as the God of nature, the ordainer of providence, the sender of Jesus my Savior....

May the truth that is in Him illuminate in me all that is dark, establish in me all that is wavering, comfort me in all that is wretched, accomplish in me all that is of Thy goodness, and glorify in me the name of Jesus....

Teach me that Christ cannot be the way if I am the end, that He cannot be Redeemer if I am my own savior, that there can be no true union with Him while the creature has my heart, that faith accepts Him as Redeemer and Lord or not at all.

Philly Hall Adventures!

This summer, I'm sticking around here at school and working in the admissions department and starting seminary classes.  Since students can't stay in the dorm during the summer, I am experiencing independent life in an apartment on campus.  Here are some of the adventures that have filled this last week.

1. Getting all my stuff out of my dorm room, down the hall, down three stories, into the car, across campus, into Philadelphia Hall, up a flight of stairs, into the apartment, and (this part is still in process) into proper places.  Much more difficult than expected…J  Moving Figaro (my fish) was probably the most difficult part.  His was in his little plastic container inside his empty fish bowl, and his ride was rather jostling.  Twice he had a very bad scare, but he seems to have recovered and is devouring all of the fish food I drop into his bowl.

2. Learning to use the gas stove.  After some last minute “the-cafeteria-is-closing-tomorrow!” grocery shopping, I came home with enough vegetables and dairy products to sustain life until I could do proper grocery shopping.  The first evening, after shredding potatoes and carrots, adding ranch, adding an assortment of spices, and dumping the whole concoction into a skillet to cook until tender, I discovered I had never worked a gas stove before.  Fortunately, a helpful neighbor had shared her mad skills…

3. Making the queen size bed here is much more difficult than the twin I’ve slept in all my life.  You have to get up on the bed to smooth the sheets in the corner by the wall and that rumples the sheets on other parts of the mattress, and the process is, well, complicated.

4. Watching the family of Canada geese.  The parental geese keep a close watch over their four waggling, waddling goslings.

5. Supper time is very quiet.  So quiet, in fact, that I can hear myself chewing (that’s probably more detail than you wantedJ).  It doesn’t take long to eat or clean up the meal.  It takes a bit longer to prepare the food.  My window faces the road, so I entertain myself by watching the cars while eating.

6. Listening to R. C. Sproul while cleaning is a happy habit to make.  This past week, he was speaking on about important men in church history.

“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:” – Ecclesiastes 3:1

(Not) Understanding Theology

Do you remember times when you studied a Biblical passage and didn’t understand it?  Struggling to know what a passage means until you have a headache (usually above the right eye…).  Flipping through your Bible (or clicking through a computer program) to find cross-references that might clarify the passage.  And then, suddenly, it clicks.  Eureka!  Aha!  (Or whatever exclamation you use to designate a moment of discovery.)  Don’t you love those moments?

Over Easter this year, I noticed a verse from John that described an Aha! moment the disciples had:

“His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him” (John 12:16).

Jesus was riding into Jerusalem on a donkey in the Triumphal Entry.  The crowds were waving palm branches and calling out, “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ The King of Israel!”  Jesus was fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 that said, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey’s colt.”  The disciples were seeing these things, and John notes that they didn’t understand what was happening until after Christ was glorified. 

Can you imagine what their Aha! moment must have been like?  Can you imagine witnessing Christ’s teaching and works, not understanding why Christ died (wasn’t He going to set up a physical kingdom and bring in a Jewish golden age?), and then have Christ’s work click in your mind?  Suddenly, Christ’s mission on earth makes sense!

Of course, I don’t understand everything Christ did in His earthly ministry.  His fulfillment of prophecy, His future role, and how all these things fit together theologically doesn’t make sense in my finite mind.  Trying to explain the infinite God and His plan into a finite theology to be understood by me is a hopeless task.  God is not obligated to explain Himself or His plan to me.  So, ultimately, my responsibility is to study very hard to understand what He has revealed about His plan, obey what I am commanded, and trust that in God’s mind His plan is consistent.

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29).