How is the Bible articulated as a whole? Biblical events took place for thousands of years and in different cultures How can we unify all this into one topic?
One of the unifying themes of the Bible is divine authority. All the books of the Bible are the word of God. Biblical events are there by the will of God and he has placed them for the instruction of his people: for all that has been written before, for our teaching has been written, that by the patience and comfort of the scriptures we may have hope (Romans 15:4).
- The Bible also declares that God has a unified plan for history; his ultimate goal.
- A plan for the fullness of time.
- Is to unite all things in Christ.
- In heaven.
- And on earth (Ephesians 1:10).
- In praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:12).
- God has had his plan from the beginning: remember old things; I am God and there is no other.
- Who declares an end from the beginning.
- From ancient times.
- My counsel will be maintained (Isaiah 46:9-10).
- But when the 30th of times came.
- God sent his Son.
- Born of a woman.
- Born under the law.
- To redeem those under the law.
- That he may receive the adoption of children (Galatians 4:4-5).
Christ’s work on earth, and in particular his crucifixion and resurrection, is the pinnacle of history; It is the great center in which God consumes the salvation to which the whole history of the Old Testament is directed, fulfilling the promises made by the Old Testament. Today he looks at the accomplished work of Christ, but also the consumption of his work. when the time comes for the new heavens and the new earth in which justice dwells (2 Peter 3:13; Apoc. 21: 1?22: 5).
God’s unified plan led him to include promises and predictions throughout the past, and to fulfill them later. Sometimes the promises are explicit, such as when promising the coming of the Messiah (Isaiah 9: 6? 7). Sometimes they are symbolic, as when he decides that animals should be sacrificed as a symbol of the forgiveness of sins (Lev 4). In itself, the sacrifice has not forgiven sins (Hebrews 10: 1:18). They showed Christ.
Because God’s plan is for His glory, focusing on Christ (Ephesians 1:10), it is natural for Old Testament promises to point to Christ, because all of God’s promises have a yes in him (2 Corinthians 1:20). When Christ appeared to the disciples after his resurrection, He made them understand that he (Christ) was in the scriptures:
And he said unto them, O fools, and tinges of heart to believe all that the prophets have said!Wasn’t it appropriate for Christ to suffer these things and enter into his glory?And, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was found of him in all the scriptures. And he said unto them, These are the words which I said unto you when I was still with you: that all that was written of me in the law of Moses, that in the prophets and in the psalms may be fulfilled. Then he opened their understanding to understand the scriptures; And he said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it was fitting for Christ to suffer, and on the third day to be resurrected from the dead, and that in his name repentance and the remission of sins in all nations should be foretold, beginning with Jerusalem (Luke 24:25-27, 44-47).
When does the Bible say it?(Luke 24:45), this does not simply mean that Christ showed them some predictions about himself as Messiah, this means that Christ is the center of the whole Old Testament, encompassing all three parts of the Old Testament as the Jews knew him: the Law of Moses, including Genesis in Deuteronomy; Prophets, including previous prophets (such as Joshua Seuthoric, judges, Samuel, kings) and later (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the Twelve). The Psalms represented for the Jews the third part of the books called The Heart of All These Writings is that they have emphasized Jesus’ suffering, his resurrection, and the consequent preaching of the gospel to all nations (Luke 24:47). The AN as a whole, through its promises, symbols of salvation, indicates the fulfillment of the Redemption that took place once and for all in Christ.
By: Vern Sheridan Poythress.