THE STORY, Week #3, "God Sent Me Before You"

THE STORY, Week #3 “God Sent Me Before You”

Donny Osmond

This week in THE STORY we encountered a man named Joseph.  He is a very important character throughout the story of salvation, and thirteen chapters (38-50) in Genesis are set apart to tell hispersonal story. Many people, when they hear of Joseph, immediately think of the story of the coat of many colors that his father had given him.  Our understanding of Joseph is derived more from, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat” than from the witness of Scripture.  While I enjoy Donny Osmond’s skill and craft as much as the next person, there is more to Joseph than the coat of many colors. The story of Joseph is rooted firmly in God’s vision for his creationàand points to ultimate telos, the Lord Jesus.

To fully appreciate the importance of Joseph in salvation history, we need to go back to the story of creation found in Genesis 1 and 2.  In this account we learn that God is not a single, solitary figure, but rather a community: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—who have always existed; are eternal in their makeup; and are not the product of any other type of creation by any other “god.” 

Michelangelo's "God Creates Man"

God has a desire to create and a vision for that creation.  We read that God speaks creation into existence out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo).  This goes on for a number of days with creation growing progressively more diverse and complex within the creative will of the Creator. God saves the greatest aspect of creation for the sixth day—“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27 ESV).  These first humans, Adam and Eve, were charged to be the caretakers, stewards, and priests of creation.  But they failed in their task…

We learn early on that God is a God of love.  How do we know that?—because despite knowing that his creation would reject him, his plan, and his vision—God chose to create anyway.   Before creation was spoken into existence by God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit knew the rejection that would take place and understood that they only way to reconcile this creation back to themselves was for God to give fully of himself.  That is, God knew that he would have to sacrifice himself, in the person and Lordship of Jesus, to pay the debt, ransom the demand—to atone for the sins of our first parents.  In other words, JESUS IS NOT PLAN B ON GOD’S PART TO HEAL WHAT HAS BEEN BROKEN.  JESUS’ DEATH ON THE CROSS WAS ALWAYS PART OF GOD’S VISION FOR HIS CREATION: THE ULTIMATE ACT OF LOVE.

At the Fall, God promised Adam and Eve that through them a savior would come to make right that which had become broken (Genesis 3:15).  This promise was sustained and protected through Noah in the flood narrative as he faithfully responded to God’s calling to build the ark. 

The promise was then formally covenanted through Abraham as God made a binding, eternal covenant to bless the world through his progeny (see Genesis 15, 17, and 22).  Through Abraham, the promise was passed to Isaac, and then through Isaac’s son Jacob.  We learn, as the story progresses, that Jacob has twelve sons from four different women.  There is significant dysfunction within this family—and giving a special coat to his son Joseph, and clearly favoring him in other ways, doesn’t make the family situation any more tenable.

The older boys would have been familiar with their grandfather Isaac and his half brother Ishmael.  Like Ishmael, they have probably spent much of their lives hearing about the promise of God that would be passed through their line.  This was surely something for them to latch onto and cherish as they lived their daily lives toiling as shepherds and laborers for their father. 

Were there echoes of Ishmael and Isaac in their decision to sell their brother Joseph into slavery?  The text doesn’t explicitly say so.  It makes sense, though, for the brothers to not only take out their anger on Joseph by selling him, but it also protected their status—and their right to inheritance with their father.

Sold into slavery

The act to sell a brother into slavery is a horrible, heinous thing—yet we learn as the story progresses that God is in the midst of Joseph’s suffering, shaping and molding him into the man that God desires for him to be for the task to come. Through Joseph’s trials and travails as a slave, and then unjustly accused and thrown into prison for years, he is formed into the person that can handle the responsibility that will be thrust upon him in the coming days.

Exhortation: Suffering will come to all of us. It is an unavoidable part of life on earth.  Suffering is a symptom and condition of a broken world, yet the Lord God uses suffering to shape and mold us into the people that he desires for us to be.  We will all experience poor health, workplace issues, and broken relationships.  If not first hand suffering, we may experience it vicariously through the hardships of people whom we love and care for.  The suffering may not be exclusively for our own benefit; rather, it may be to help shape the lives of people around us. 

This flies in the face of the teaching of many televangelists and best selling books at Christian bookstores. Our teaching on suffering must be universal in scope.  What is taught in middle class North America and Western Europe must also make sense to people in Iraq, China, Indonesia, and the slums of India.  The “health and wealth gospel” don’t meet this standard.  After all, in Matthew 5 the Lord Jesus himself teaches that it will rain on the righteous and the unrighteous alike.

Back to the Joseph story…

More Donny Osmond!

God protects Joseph throughout his sufferings, and eventually he is placed in charge of all of Egypt; second only to Pharaoh himself!  This is the plan that God has had all along for Joseph—he would be the vessel of salvation for his family and for the world. Joseph had to be prepared for this important work; he needed to be molded and shaped into the person that could handle this responsibility.

There are a number of remarkable things that take place during this time (some might even call them miracles): 1) When Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, he immediately offers them forgiveness for the terrible thing that they had done to him; 2) It is apparent that his brothers have changed.  The years have shaped them—perhaps through their own regrets and shame, maybe through their father Jacob’s grief, or perhaps even through the loss of trust that they experienced with their father—into the repentant men that Joseph encountered in Egypt twenty years after he had been sold into slavery; and 3) In Genesis chapter 44 Joseph is prepared to imprison his younger, full brother Benjamin, for stealing his silver cup (Joseph was framing him) when Judah, the fourth-born of Jacob offers himself in his stead. He would be Benjamin's substitute.

The Lion of Judah

There is certainly some type-shadowing taking place at this time as King David, still some 700 years in the future, is from the tribe of Judahàand it is with King David that the Lord makes the “Royal Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7)” which promised that from his line a ruler of Israel for all perpetuity would arise.  Jesus would also come from the line of Judah (to fulfill the Davidic Covenant AND the promise to Adam and Eve)—and he, in a similar-but-different vein than his ancestor Judah, offered himself as a substitute for all humankind.

As we read through THE STORY, we need to constantly remember that God has a vision for his creation.  A plan is in place and it is unfolding.  God, in remarkable ways, is going to use very ordinary people to bring about the fulfillment of this plan.  Joseph saved the people through his obedience to the Lord.  Joseph allowed himself to be shaped by the suffering he endured throughout much of his younger years in order to bring God glory through his obedience.

Joseph allowed himself to be humbled that he may be exalted.  Jesus, also, was humbled (Philippians 2) that he might be exalted.

This blog post on Joseph could go on for pages.  It is time to bring it to a merciful close…Amen.

THE STORY Week #2, "Covenant"

THE STORY

Chapter 2—Covenant

            The focus of the week two text in THE STORY is rooted in the concept of covenant.  More specifically, in God making and living into the covenant promises he had made to Abram/Abraham.  In the Bible, the Lord makes two different kinds of promises with his people: covenants and eternal covenants.  Reformed theology, of which I am an adherent, is rooted deeply in the principals of “covenant theology.”  That is, we understand and know God through a series of covenants within which God has entered into with humanity--with the greatest covenant reality of God being the incarnation of Jesus. While this interpretive framework had been around since the earliest days of the church—the Apostle Paul certainly held to the importance of God making covenant with humanity—Augustine of Hippo was one of the first Christian theologians to truly systematize it.

            The concept of an eternal covenant between God and a person/people is found in fourteen different books—ten in the Old Testament, three in the Apocrypha, and one in the New Testament.  For the purpose of this refelction, we will only be concerning ourselves with the writings in the Old and New Testament texts.  The Old Testament texts that speak of an everlasting/eternal covenant (diaqh/khn ai˙w¿non LXX;

תָּמִ֑יד מֵ בְּרִ֥ית in the Hebrew Masoretic Text) include: Genesis 9:16, 17:7, 17:13, 17:19; Exodus 31:16, Leviticus 24:8; Numbers 18:19, 25:13; 2 Samuel 23:5; 1 Chronicles 16:17; Psalms 105:10; Isaiah 24:5, 55:3, 61:8; Jeremiah 32:40, 50:5; and Ezekiel 16:60, 37:26.  The lone New Testament text to reference eternal/everlasting covenant is Hebrews 13:20.                     

          Dr. Andrew Dearman, who I was truly blessed to study under, writes that “In theological terms

Dr. J. Andrew Dearman

 the word ‘covenant’ refers to God’s relationship with another entity that is initiated by God and established by his solemn oath.”[1]      

It is important to understand that it is God who is the initiator in the making of covenants—particularly those as supposedly permanent as an everlasting covenant.  Dearman goes on to write, "A covenant instituted by God is not a parity relationship.  In making a covenant with an entity God may or may not require a response.  In the OT God establishes a covenant with Noah and all living beings, with Abraham and his descendants; and through the prophets God promises a new and everlasting covenant in the future for his people."

    

            Of the four uses of eternal covenant in Genesis three of them revolve around Abraham—who is the primary focus of chapter 2 of THE STORY.  The first mention in the Bible of an eternal covenant is found in Genesis 9:16 (chapter 1 of THE STORY) and is made by God with Noah after the flood waters had subsided and his family and animals had come out of the ark.  Gerhard Von Rad writes,

A covenant of God with Noah is not mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament (outside of the flood narrative). This covenant with Noah differs from that with Abraham, the covenant on Sinai and all other covenants in that in the latter instances the individual or the nation was called quite personally into a relation of fellowship with God and thereby faced with the question of affirming this ordinance.  Here the sign of the covenant with Noah, absolutely without any confessing appropriation by the earthly partner, is high above man, between heaven and earth, as pledge of a true gratia praeveniens (grace coming before the will)!  God’s gracious will is made visible to give mankind terrified by the chaotic elements, renewed assurance that God will support this aeon and to guarantee the duration of his ordinances.[2]

            This eternal/everlasting covenant with Noah is a promise to never again destroy the earth by flooding.  But is more than that.  It is a glimpse into the deep love and faithfulness that God has for his creation.  This covenant, as Von Rad notes, is all about God making promises—it is not about God expecting any type of response from humanity.

            The remaining Genesis texts pertaining to an eternal covenant (17:7, 17:13, 17:19) all revolve

Abraham's descendants will be as numerous as the stars.

around God’s relationship with Abraham.  This relationship, initiated by God in Genesis 12 matures as time goes by.  Abraham (Abram) becomes very successful due to his blessing by God, so much so that he and his nephew Lot decide to separate their families and flocks (Genesis 13).  After an exciting story in Genesis 14 of Abram rescuing Lot from enemies, he receives a special blessing by the mysterious king/priest Melchizedek.  It is chapter 15 that God makes his official ‘covenant’ with Abram, promising to bless him with descendants as great as the stars (15:5) and to give him the land in which he was living (15:7).

            Abram, in an attempt to take things in his own hands, and perhaps force God’s actions after waiting ten years, took Hagar, his wife’s handmaid, and married her.  She bore him a son whom he named Ishmael (chapter 16).  Yet God told Abram that Ishmael was not the one who would inherit the promises that God had made with Abram (17:15-22).  It is in this setting in chapter 17 that God reaffirms his covenant with Abram he had made in chapter 15.  This time, on three separate occasions, God stresses that this promise is an eternal one.  It is within this context that Victor Hamilton writes,

This covenant with Abraham is something that God initiates, something he maintains, and something he brings to fulfillment.  No less than three times in this chapter (v 7, 13, 19) we are told that God’s covenant with Abraham is an eternal one, and one time (v. 8) that Canaan was to be the permanent possession of Abraham’s descendants…it may no accident that the word eternal is present in ch. 17 but absent from ch. 15.  Is it not interesting that in the chapter where at least four covenant stipulations are placed before Abraham—walk before me; be blameless; keep my covenant; circumcise yourselves—the covenant should be thrice described as an eternal one?  This repetition of eternal emphasizes that God’s covenant with Abraham has not suddenly shifted away from the unilateral emphasis on ch. 15 to a bilateral pact her in ch. 17.  To be sure, God has expectations concerning Abraham’s behavior, but these do not become grounds for establishment and authentication of God’s covenant with Abraham.  Rather, the covenant remains a personal commitment by God in which he binds himself to this open-ended promise to Abraham.[3]

"The Sacrifice of Isaac" by Rembrandt

           

            The culmination of the Abrahamic story is known as, “The binding of Isaac.” After responding faithfully to God’s testing to sacrifice his son Isaac, God swears a solemn oath to Abraham, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, ans as the sand of the seashore.  And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all nations of the earth by blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” (ESV)  Scott Hahn writes,

The oath that God swears to Abraham in Genesis 22 represents the sum and substance of the covenant grant, particularly as it relates to the worldwide blessing and future triumph of Abraham’s “seed.” The Aqedah (the binding of Isaac) is inseperably linked to the divine oath, which assumes foundational importance for the life of and history of Israel and for the nations as well.  The divine oath in Genesis 22 represents the ultimate purpose of God’s calling, promises, and covenants to Abraham: the mediation of divine blessings to all nations through Abraham’s seed.[4]

            The rest of the story of salvation, and so, our study this year in THE STORY, will be rooted in this eternal covenant that God made with Father Abraham, and ratified by a solemn oath after the binding of Isaac.  We will return to this story multiple times in the coming days, weeks, and months, as we learn how our story is rooted completely in God’s story.

---

[1] Dearman, J. Andrew NICOT: The Book of Hosea (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010) 51.

[2] Von Rad, Gerhard Genesis (Louisville: Westminster, 1972) 133-134.

[3] Hamilton, Victor P. NICOT: The Book of Genesis Chapters 1-17 (Grand Rapids: Eerdman, 1990) 465-466.

[4] Hahn, Scott W. Kinship by Covenant: A Canonical Approach to the Fulfillment of God’s Saving Promises (New Haven: Yale, 2009), 134.

THE STORY Week #1, "Created with Intention"

THE STORY

Chapter 1—Created with Intention

How does a person begin an epic tale of love, intrigue, murder, brokenness, and redemption?  Some writers begin at the end of the story and then take the reader back to the beginning.  Others, start in the middle of the story, and then give background material to catch the reader up before moving forward. In God’s story of salvation, the tale starts at the beginning.

In the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament), the opening words in the Bible are ∆En aÓrch (en arkae)vØ, which means, “in the beginning.” The Hebrew Old Testament begins with, ty™IvaérV;b (bear a

sheith), which means, “in the beginning.”  Those three simple words have remarkable power because they assert that God was already present before there ever was a beginning.  This God, who has always existed, didn’t create the heavens and the earth because he had to, or because he was compelled to.  Rather, he created because he WANTED to.  God had a vision for what he was going to create, and the Bible is God’s story of how that vision would come to be—despite his creations best efforts to derail God’s vision.

In Genesis chapter 1 we are given a day-by-day account of the creation process.  God speaks, and the universe is drawn into existence out of nothing.  The church has always taught that God creatio ex

nihilo; that is, God created out of nothing. Or, perhaps another way of stating this is that God made that to be, which never had been.  The greater church has been in a protracted argument for many years regarding the creation process.  Was creation formed in six literal twenty-four days, or, was creation formed in six distinct time periods that took place over millions of years?  While I do have a pretty strong belief on this matter, I think both of these interpretations are faithful.  The point isn’t whether creation is millions of years old, or whether it is aproximately 5,000 years old—the main point of Genesis chapter 1 is that God created everything out of nothing.  We can surely agree on that, can’t we?

The magnum opus of God’s creative hand is found at the end of chapter one and is flushed out in more detail in chapter 2.  The greatest event in the creative cycle of God is forming humanity out of the dust of the earth into the very image of God.  The more I ponder the creation of humanity in the image of God, the more I stand in awe of the Creator.  Out of the 100 billion or so galaxies in the universe; out of the 400 billion plus stars in the universe; and out of the 240 x 10²⁴ planets in the universe—God chose earth to be the place where humanity, formed-and-shaped-and-breathed-the-breath-of-God, would dwell.

While I love Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, Star Trek, and science fiction in general, I think it is pretty safe to assert that because humanity is formed in God’s image, and because we were placed on   earth, that is the place where humanity dwells.  That is, while biological life may exist on other planets or moons out in the vastness of the universe, humans exist only on earth—because we were formed in God’s image and placed in the Garden of Eden for a particular task. Genesis 2:15 (ESV) reads, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”  That is, Adam - and then Eve with him -  were charged to be the divine stewards of the Royal Garden of the Lord (my term).  What were the implications regarding this stewardship? And how were those purposes affected during the fall of humanity, and so , all of creation, into sin (Genesis chapter 3)?

James Torrance, in his wonderful little book Worship,Community, and the Triune God of Grace writes,

God has made all creatures for his glory.  Without knowing it, the lilies of the field in their

Dr. James Torrance, 1923-2003

beauty glorify God with a glory greater than that of Solomon, the sparrow on the housetop glorifies God, and the universe in its vastness and remoteness is the theater of God’s glory.  But God made men and women in his image to be the priests of creation and to express on behalf of all creatures the praises of God, so that through human lips the heavens might declare the glory of God.  When we, who know we are God’s creatures, worship God together, we gather up the worship of all creation.  Our chief end is to glorify God, and creation realizes its own creaturely glory in glorifying God through human lips.

But nature fails in its realization because of our human failure.  Instead of singing songs of joy, the whole creation groans in universal trevail, waiting for the fulfillment of God’s purposes in human lives.  Does God then abandon his purposes for humanity and for all his creatures?  Does God leave all nature to be subject to vanity and futility—to be ruthlessly exploited and abused—and forget he has made us in his image for a life of communion and shared stewardship. (pages 13-14)

God communicates and binds himself to his creation through the use of covenant.  Next week THE STORY will take us to God’s binding of himself to Abraham.  We cannot begin to understand the saga of the story of salvation without first taking a serious look at covenant, just as we cannot begin to understand the understanding of God’s story without first having a basic grasp of “in the beginning…”  Despite the epic failing of our first earthly parents Adam and Eve, God is not through with us.  His vision for his creation WILL come to fruition; and God will go to great lengths to ensure that it happens, and that humanity-his magnum opus-is along for that wonderful act!