God

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Gods Grace in the Old Testament (Study 2 in a
series of 7) The Promise key as Blessing
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Last time we asked the question, Is there a key
or central theme of the Bible that comes from the
text itself?
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Most methods of biblical theology have imposed
structures or theologies onto the Bible that
either left bits out or fragmented the text.
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There are lots of different methods that have
been put forward to understand the Bible. The
best way for evangelical Christians is to look
for and value finding the centre, or key, or
inner unity of the Bible, from the Bible itself.
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If there is no key or inner unity of the Bible,
biblical theology is in crisis. But if there is a
key or inner unity, then the biblical authors
must have been aware of it as they wrote.
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Of course, we assume inspiration of the Bible. It
is the inspired Word of God (God breathed 2
Timothy 316). That is, that both the biblical
authors and what they wrote were equally inspired.
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Walter Kaiser (Toward an Old Testament Theology,
Zondervan 1991) has found a key that comes out of
the Bible text, which encompasses Gods
premeditated plan throughout the ages.
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He argues that the concept of promise can be
found in every book of the Bible, in every age,
and it encompasses every doctrine. Furthermore,
the concept of promise is not too big as to
become meaningless.
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The key to unlocking the grace of God in the Old
Testament comes when we understand the biblical
concept of promise. It is because of Gods
covenant love for us that he promises to save and
protect us. This is a demonstration of his grace.
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We shared promises made to us as well as ones we
have made to others.
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Tonight we will look at blessing, one of many
aspects of the central key of promise in the Old
Testament.
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The most common setting for blessings is in the
family of people who love God. Fathers have
blessed family members at weddings (Genesis
2460)...
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Families have blessed their members before they
left on a journey (Genesis 286 321) ...
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And those who are facing death have blessed their
offspring (Gen 27 49).
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In the Prepatriarchal Era (the period before
Abraham) there were three important periods and
each began and ended with blessing.
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The first period was the Garden of Eden Creation
Fall.
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The blessing in the Garden of Eden was the
blessing of creation. Genesis 127 ... male and
female he created them. 28 God blessed them and
said to them, Be fruitful and increase in
number fill the earth and subdue it.
Is gardening a blessing for you?
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The second period was the time of Noah the flood.
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The blessing in the time of the flood was the
rainbow. Never again will the world be destroyed
by a flood. Have you ever experienced a
flood? Did anything good come out of it?
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The third period was the Tower of Babel (Genesis
11). People built a high tower to draw near to
God on their own terms. But God frustrated the
plans of the people by giving them different
languages. The people were scattered to
different places.
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The blessing in the period of the Tower of Babel
was the blessing to all the nations. In what
ways is Australia a blessed country?
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Unfortunately, Gods promised blessing is met
with human rebellion. The human condition is
found in each of these three catastrophes. The
consequences are a divine promised word (of
judgment).
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Yet despite the human failure there is a follow
up blessing in each case.
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After the fall, there is the promise of a
blessing a Seed (Genesis 315).
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After the flood there is the promise of another
blessing God dwelling in Shems tents (Genesis
925-27).
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After the fall of the Tower of Babel, there is
yet another promise a worldwide
blessing (Genesis 121-3). Abraham was blessed
in order to be a blessing to others. What
blessings have you received?
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Being blessed by God is a sign of his covenant
love. But the opposite is not the case. That is,
trouble, heartache and sorrow are not because God
has removed his blessing from us. The difficult
times are there to enable us to trust that God is
still with us, just like he promised.
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Next time we hope to look at the concept of
covenant, as a symbol of grace in the Old
Testament.
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(c) 23rd August 2011, K. Sarlow