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This past weekend, as I was lecturing on Old Testament Theology at the Fyfe Study Centre, I was struck again by the richness of the Old Testament revelation. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that explodes upon the scene in the New Testament is not something that was made up by people looking to introduce innovation into Judaism, nor does it represent the failure of the Jews to accept the earthly kingdom that God wanted to give them. Rather, it is the fulfillment of all that God had been revealing from the very beginning of time, from the time that Adam and Eve fell into sin and corrupted the entire human race. Theological schemes, no matter how deeply entrenched and publicly promoted, that do not see that the church is the new Israel, the Israel of God, and that this has always been God's intention are just not reading the Bible carefully enough, nor are they paying attention to the typological promise-fulfillment structure that is stamped on the Bible all the way through.
It is my prayer that God will bring a greater unity of understanding to Christians everywhere in these days so that with one voice we may proclaim the glorious riches of God in Christ Jesus. While none of us as arrived, and in some ways we all still see through a glass darkly, much progress has been made in understanding how the Old and New Testaments fit together. And to a growing number of us it is quite clear that while there are both covenants and at least two dispensations in the Bible, neither covenants or dispensations hold the key to understanding the Bible. The key, or better, the person, who holds everything together is Jesus. He is the one in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). He is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17).
If we do not see that his coming and kingdom ultimately determine the direction of biblical prophecy and theology, we have missed what is truly important and our eschatological and theological systems will go wrong in one way or other. And as if this were not bad enough, errors with regard to the basic structure of the Bible will skew our doctrine of the church and can lead to confusion when it comes to pastoral ministry. So in all things, let us keep our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12:2). If we do, and if God is pleased to bless our feeble efforts, great days may be just ahead of us.
-Kirk Wellum, Redeeming the Time
-Kirk Wellum, Redeeming the Time
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