Post 97 - A Familiar Pattern of Grace
Yeah,
Meet the New Boss.
Same as the Old Boss.
"We won't get fooled again." That was the message that Pete Townsend of the rock band, The Who, was trying to convey in his hit song from 1971. The song expresses the disillusionment and frustration when efforts to elicit change go unheeded.
God expresses the same emotions when his heartfelt efforts to convince his chosen people, the nation of Israel, to abide by their covenant--that is, to obey him and to love him as they ought. We sense the Lord's exasperation when he says:
What more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
--Isaiah 5:4
It's easy to think of the New Covenant as governed by a very different deity than the Old Testament God, yet when we realize that the same strategies were used in creating both covenant communities--Israel and the Church--it helps us realize that the New Boss is indeed the same as the Old Boss.
Time for a Change
Although Israel was given much--"the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises" (Rom 9:4)—God's patience with their disobedience had run out. After centuries of longsuffering, it was time for a change. Yet, as the apostle Paul clearly explains, "it is not as though the word of God has failed" (Rom 9:6). Indeed, God was faithful. God's word is faithful. It was the people of God who failed.
In a display of benevolence, God resolves Israel's failings by implementing a new/old strategy--he sends Jesus.
Upon his incarnation, Jesus, the one faithful-to-the-covenant Jew, becomes the (symbolic) embodiment of the entire nation of Israel, fulfilling the requirements of the Old Covenant by living a life of perfect obedience. After his death, burial and resurrection, Jesus is given "all authority in heaven and on earth" (Mat 28:18).
Meet the New Boss...
Yes, God was launching a new plan to establish and gather to himself a new-covenant people, but with a very familiar pattern of grace.
Indeed, when we read through the New Testament, we recognize many similarities between what God did to establish the nation of Israel--his original covenant people--and the strategies used in forming the Church as his new-covenant people.
Yes, the launching of the Church with Jesus as the cornerstone had the imprimatur of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all over it.
"... Same as the Old Boss."
Types and Shadows
Here are just a few of the "types and shadows" that reveal how the same deity was at work in the establishment of both covenant communities.
A Single Generation
Note that four of the first five books of the Bible--Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy--are focused on God's divine enablement and supernatural grace provided to a single generation of Israelites over a 40-year period.
We witness a similar burst of supernatural events at the launching of the early church. The New Testament chronicles a single generation of people who received amazing empowerment by the Holy Spirit. Beginning with the onset of Jesus' ministry and ending with the destruction of the temple in AD 70, we see a 40-year period filled with supernatural events.
Freedom from Slavery
The exodus of God's people from captivity is one of the highlights of the Torah. It is interesting to note that in the newer translations of the Bible, Jude actually credits Jesus with freeing the nation of Israel from bondage.
Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
--Jude 1:5 ESV
We can see the exodus from Egypt as a "type" of the freedom from slavery offered to the people of the New Covenant and a foreshadowing of the ultimate, glorious freedom guaranteed to those who persevere in the faith when "the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God" (Rom 8:21).
The Anointing of Leaders
After four hundred years of enslavement, God's people are divided into twelve tribes and led to freedom under the direction of God himself by the most unlikely of servants. Their destination--a new life.
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, (1Co 1:27-28)
In similar fashion, the gospels recount the anointing of twelve highly unlikely Jewish men who would lead God's people to a new life. These men would become, like Jesus, the very embodiment of the gospel--suffering and dying while bringing life to others.
And just as God himself led the twelve tribes of Israel out of bondage and into a new life, the Spirit of Christ was the guiding force for the twelve apostles. While biblical historians can't draw a direct connection between each of the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles, the continuity between the Old and the New is unmistakable.
The Tabernacle Craftsmen
To ensure that the tabernacle would be constructed to God's specifications (Ex 25-30), he gifted certain individuals with the unique skills necessary for its construction.
The listings of spiritual gifts in the New Testament reveal a similar pattern of divine enablement. Yet, since the Church was to be constructed of "living stones", the gifting was not construction oriented, but people oriented. The supernatural gifting of the Church focused on the ability to edify the new community, conduct proper worship and to witness effectively to an unbelieving world.
Final Thoughts
The many connections between the establishment of the original covenant people and the formation of the new covenant community were symbols of continuity and seem to be God's not-so-subtle way of saying, "Meet the New Boss. same as the Old Boss."
The ultimate goal has never changed. God intends to bless the world through the faithfulness of his covenant people. Today, it is our job--that is, the job of the Church--to be the reflection of the love and goodness of God, a beacon of hope that brings light to a dark and desperate world.
Next Post: TBD
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