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THE PROGRESSIVE NATURE OF REVELATORY BLESSING
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장부영
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2008-03-04 21:58:39, 조회 : 2,605 |
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THE PROGRESSIVE NATURE OF
REVELATORY BLESSING
The revelatory blessing has its starting point and terminal because it must have been accompanied by Redemptive revelation. It was granted at first only to individuals, then progressively to a family, a tribe, a nation, a race, until when the fullness of time was come, it was come, it was made the possession of the whole world in time and space. In contents, it has progressed from visual concept to spiritual one.
In other words, there are three well-marked modes of the revelation, which we may perhaps designate respectively, not with perfect discrimination, it is true, but not misleadingly, (1) external manifestation, (2) internal suggestion, (3) conclusive operation.
In the light of Biblical theology, the method of revelation in Old Testament has been accomplished in the New Testament. The subject of revelation is Christ, the Messiah, and the objectives have been family(Abraham), nation(Israel), and the whole world. And content and the goal is the Kingdom of God.
By the way it may be difficult to obtain from Scripture a clear account of why God chose thus to give this revelation of His blessing only progressively; or to be more explicit, through the process of a historical development. Such is, however, the ordinary mode of the Divine working.
After fall human being lost both spiritual and physical blessing of God. Human being, therefore, must be saved spiritually and physically. In a sense the salvation means the blessing of God. According to redemptive revelation the revelatory blessing must develop.
Because they must be given through faith(of course as a gift of God), and the faith has grown up step by step from primitive state into Christ (Eph.3:15).
God predestined His chosen people in Christ before the foundation of the world that He should give them every spiritual blessing in the heavenly place (Eph.l:3). He prophesied that the blessing would be realized through His Son Jesus Christ who would come to the world(Gen.3:15).
In Patriarchal age, this promise had been given to Abraham such as, "I will make you a great nation, and will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing"(Gen.12:2). This has included the meaning of His redemptive plan.
And this promise of redemptive blessing was first fulfilled on a national level as Moses delivered Israel out of Egypt and attempted to conquer Canaan. God gave Israel the law in the wilderness and the temple in Canaan so that they could be living evidences of God's blessing to the nation.
But Israel failed to understand the essential function of the law and temple as preparatory sign of the divine blessing that would be given to them through the coming Messiah. Jesus had already preached His Sermon on the Mountain in relation to the blessing given to Abraham(Matt.5:5).
Of course one is spiritual and the other visual. But it is important for us to understand core of the blessing. It is "God with us"(Is.14:7, Matt.1:23). In an age of Old Testament Tabernacle was the sign of Temple itself, and had been characterized "with God".
There was Holy of Holies in the Temple covered with smoke symbolizing Glory of God. Therefore Jews tried to preserve the Temple set up by Solomon, the king of Israel, but it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.
Returning from Babylonia in which they had lived for 70 years, they had built Temple again, it also had been damaged by Antiochus.Epiphanes B.C.167. It had been reconstructed by Herot. The Temple was the center of Jewish religious life.
But they did not understand true meaning of the Temple. Without proper understanding of Christ as the perfection of the Temple, they crucified Jesus. Jesus had explained to them that "He spoke of the temple of His body"(John 2:20). They stone Stephen to death because they thought "this man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law"(Acts 6:13).
Paul further developed this concept of the Temple and taught that the body of every Christian in which God's Spirit dwells is the Temple(ICor.3:6, 6:16).
During the New Testament era, God comes to the heart of every Christian, dwells in him(John 14:23), and transforms him into a temple, thus fulfilling all the promises given in the Old Testament. Thus Christian individual became the temple of God, the Holy Spirit(ICor.3:16).
At the time of Ascension, Jesus reminds His disciples of the Great commission and then gives the believer's greatest blessing: "I am with you always, to the close of the age "(Matt.28:20). When God is with His chosen people, the kingdom of God becomes established within their heart.
It is because Jesus came to the world to establish this kingdom of God that John the Baptist could use the expression, "The Kingdom of God is at hand" as he introduced Jesus to the world(Mark 1:15).
Jesus answered to Pharisees "the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you "(Luke 17:20).
John ends the last book of the Bible, which concludes the entire history of redemption, with the prayer. Amen. Come Lord Jesus!"(Rev. 22:30). Because of no understanding this progressive nature of redemptive history, the Jews failed to accept Jesus as Messiah, their conception of the Kingdom of God still remained on a secular, political, and national level, penned in by the boundary of Canaan.
Their distorted idea of redemptive blessing drove them to crucify Jesus and to stone Stephen to death. As recorded in the Acts, all the sermons of Peter, Stephen, and Paul contain rather lengthy recitation of Israel's historical background, which served to underline the progressive nature of redemption. During the days of Old Testament, innumerable lambs were slaughtered and sacrificed as symbols of the true lamb, Jesus that was to come.
Manna was given to them in the wilderness as a symbol of the bread of life. Circumcision was required of all the Jews as a symbolic way of maintaining the antithesis between the believers and the unbelievers. Their bloody battle at Canaan was also a symbol of the righteous battle that all the Christians have to fight during the New Testament era.
They kept God in the Holy of Holies whereas Christians have the Spirit Himself dwelling in their heart (ICor.3:16, IT Cor.6:16).
Therefore As the light of the stars overcomes and prevails against darkness, the light of the moon more over, and the' light of sun most likewise after a gradual process of dawning. God's revelation of redemptive plan has gradually progressed through an ongoing dispensational adaptation.
And God selected Abraham and his descendants, the people of Israel. He called all of His chosen people back to Him from every part of the world by sending them Jesus Christ as a branch of the ancestry of Judah. Thus through this gradual process of perfecting His Kingdom, God adapted the strategy of revelation according to the level of man's ability and readiness to receive is revelation.
The blessings in Deut. 28:l-6 are expression of God's presence that pertain to the Old Testament era, a preliminary version of the blessing which Christians receive during the New Testament today. Here the focus of God's blessing is neither on Israel's dominance over other nations nor on their material prosperity but on God's promise of His presence within the people of Israel.
God employed audio-visual methods to teach Israel divine blessing: God's blessing to the Israelites for their obedience to his words was manifested by their conquest of Canaan as a nation, and by their success and prosperity as individuals. All these must be understood through the doctrine of Covenant.
In conclusion, the focus of blessing in the Old Testament is Temple in which God lives, that of New Testament Jesus Christ for our redemption, and that of the age of Church our body in which Holy Spirit lives for ever.
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선교운동소개
신학 