God’s Grace in the Old Testament (Study 2 in a series of 7) The Promise key as Blessing

Last time we asked the question, “Is there a key or central theme of the Bible that comes from the text itself?

Most methods of biblical theology have imposed structures or theologies onto the Bible that either left bits out or fragmented the text.

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.

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.

Of course, we assume inspiration of the Bible. It is the inspired Word of God (God breathed 2 Timothy 3:16). That is, that both the biblical authors and what they wrote were equally inspired.

Walter Kaiser (Toward an Old Testament Theology, Zondervan 1991) has found a key that comes out of the Bible text, which encompasses God’s premeditated plan throughout the ages.

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.

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 God’s covenant love for us that he promises to save and protect us. This is a demonstration of his grace.

We shared promises made to us as well as ones we have made to others.

Tonight we will look at ‘blessing’, one of many aspects of the central key of promise in the Old Testament.

The most common setting for blessings is in the family of people who love God. Fathers have blessed family members at weddings (Genesis 24:60)...

Families have blessed their members before they left on a journey (Genesis 28:6; 32:1)...

And those who are facing death have blessed their offspring (Gen 27; & 49).

In the Prepatriarchal Era (the period before Abraham) there were three important periods and each began and ended with blessing.

The first period was the Garden of Eden: Creation & Fall.

The blessing in the Garden of Eden was the blessing of creation. Genesis 1:27... 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?

The second period was the time of Noah: the flood.

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?

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.

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?

Unfortunately, God’s 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).

Yet despite the human failure there is a follow up blessing in each case.

After the fall, there is the promise of a blessing: a Seed (Genesis 3:15).

After the flood there is the promise of another blessing: God dwelling in Shem’s tents (Genesis 9:25-27).

After the fall of the Tower of Babel, there is yet another promise: a worldwide blessing (Genesis 12:1-3). Abraham was blessed in order to be a blessing to others. What blessings have you received?

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.

Next time we hope to look at the concept of ‘covenant’, as a symbol of grace in the Old Testament.

(c) 23 rd August 2011, K. Sarlow