I. The Redemptive Approach to Reading Scripture

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1 THE PROGRESS OF REDEMPTION Lesson 2 - Principles of Reading the Progress of Redemption The Progress of Redemption - Dave Sturkey STUDENT ANSWERS VERSION Review: #1 The Bible is ONE book and contains only ONE story. ((The Bible is not a book of many disjointed stories, but one great story, of God and his deeds upon the earth)) #2 The Bible is EITHER God DOING something in history or SPEAKING something in history. (if you separate the Bible books into historical or didactic categories, the historical books are interconnected. The didactic books speak about what God is doing historically). #3 God's ultimate goal is to bring himself GLORY. The Bible is about God PROGRESSING towards his Great Goal. We said that God's great goal can be summarized by Habakkuk 2:14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. 1. Earth, NOT heaven, will be the target for the accomplishment of God's plans. 2. The goal involves the INHABITANTS of the earth. 3. The realization of this goal will be accomplished when there is a people FILLING the earth that love and glorify God. I. The Redemptive Approach to Reading Scripture A. The Fact that All Scripture Relates to the Redemptive Story of Christ ((Much of the lesson is from Dr. Chapell's, Christ Centered Preaching)) 1. The Emmaus Principle (Dave Sturkey Original) Luke 24: It's Definition: The Emmaus Principle is that ALL Scripture in some special way POINTS to Jesus and his work of Redemption. Most people think that ONLY certain PARTS of the Bible speak about Jesus. Like OT prophecies about Jesus. Isaiah 7:14 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Isaiah 53:5, It's Biblical Scope: The Bible doesn't say, And beginning with Moses, he began to show the disciples the places in Scripture that pointed to him, but rather, :27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in ALL the Scriptures concerning himself.

2 4. It's Theological Explanation Geerhardus Vos, in his seminal work, Biblical Theology, says it this way The unity of redemptive history implies the Christocentric nature of every historical text. Redemptive history is the history of Christ. He stands at its center, but no less at its beginning and end Scripture discloses the theme, the scopus of its historiography right at the beginning. 'Gen. 3:15,' Van't Veer says, 'places all subsequent events in the light of the tremendous battle between Christ coming into the world and Satan the ruler of this world, and it places all events in the light of the complete victory which the Seed of the woman shall attain. In view of this, it is imperative that not one single person (in Scripture) be isolated from this history and set apart from this great battle. The place of both opponents and 'co-workers' can only be determined Christologically. Only in so far as they received their place and task in the development of this history do they appear in the historiography of Scripture. From this point of view the facts are selected and recorded. 1 Dr. Bryan Chapell says it this way, to his preaching students No text (of Scripture) exists in isolation from other texts or from the overarching biblical message. Just as historico-grammatical exegesis requires the preacher to consider a text's terms in context, correct theological interpretation requires the expositor to discern how any text's ideas function within the wider biblical message. Some meanings we discern by taking out our exegetical magnifying glasses and studying a text's particulars in close detail. Other meanings we discern by examining it with a theological fish-eye lens to see how it relates to the texts, messages, history, and developments around it. Accurate expositors use both lenses, knowing that a magnifying glass can unravel mysteries in a raindrop but fail to expose a storm gathering on the horizon. 2 (emphasis added) Chapell goes on to say The redemptive dimension of a particular Scripture may not seem to dominate the text's landscape because the redemptive features of a passage sometimes appear only in seed form, just as revelation does. Still, to expose the revelation properly we must see its redemptive content and context. We must relate even seed-form aspects of the text to the mature message they signal, or for which they prepare us, in order fully and rightly to interpret what the passage means. You do not explain what an acorn is, even if you say many true things about it (e.g. it is brown, has a cap, is found on the ground, is gathered by squirrels) if you do not in some way relate it to an oak tree. In a similar sense, preachers cannot properly explain biblical revelation, even if they say many true things about it, until they have related it to the redeeming work of God that all Scripture ultimately purposes to disclose. 3 (emphasis added) Thomas Jones put it this way The cross is the central doctrine of the holy scriptures. All other revealed truths either find their fulfillment in the cross or are necessarily founded upon it. Therefore, no doctrine of Scripture may faithfully be set before men unless it is displayed in its relationship to the cross. 4

3 That's why Paul can say in 1 Cor. 2:1-2 I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Bryan Chapell goes on to say, In Paul's mind every subject, every address, and every epistle had a focus. Everything he did centered on making the cross and its implications evident. Although the apostle addressed many topics and drew on many sources, the panorama only displayed the Redeemer's work in richer detail. 5 So, how do the differing types of Scriptures reveal Jesus? Here are the ways II. The Way that All Scripture Relates to the Redemptive Story of Christ5 A. The Forced Method of Finding Christ in a Text of Scripture Spurgeon said it this way to his students Don't you know, young man, that from eery town and every village and every hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London? So from every text in Scripture there is a road towards the great metropolis, Christ. And my dear brother, your business is, when you get to a text, to say, now what is the road to Christ? I have never found a text that had not got a road to Christ in it, and if ever I do find one I will go over hedge and ditch but I would get to my Master, for the sermon cannot do any good unless there is a savor of Christ in it. 6

4 Now, let me also say that there is a GOOD AND RIGHT way to find the road to Christ in every passage, and there is a WRONG AND FORCED way. So, what is the proper way to do this, as we attempt to truly understand Scripture? B. The Biblical Method of Finding Christ in a Text of Scripture All Scripture texts fall into one of four major Christocentric Categories as we attempt to properly find Christ. 1. A Text can be PREPARATORY of Jesus' Redemptive Work a) By pointing out Man's PROBLEM that Requires Jesus' Redemptive Work b) By pointing out God's character that REQUIRES Jesus' Redemptive Work c) By pointing out God's character that PROVIDES Jesus' Redemptive Work 2. A Text can be PREDICTIVE of Jesus' Redemptive Work (prophecy) a) Predictive of Jesus' Person (Isa. 7:14, virgin will be with child, call him Immanuel ) b) Predictive of Jesus' Experiences (Isa. 53:7 he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. ) c) Predictive of Jesus' Redemptive Work (Isa. 53:10, 11 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering and my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. d) Predictive of Jesus' Impact (Hab. 2:14 The whole earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Glory of God, as the waters cover the sea. and Psalm 102:15-18 The nations will fear the name of the LORD, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory. 16 For the LORD will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory. 17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea. 18 Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD )

5 3. A Text can be REFLECTIVE of Jesus' Redemptive Work a) Reflective by Redemptive TYPE (typology) Definition of a Type A type is a biblical character, event, story, or institution that God intends as a picture of Jesus Christ and his work of Redemption. Examples of Types (as identified by the Bible) Adam, Jacob's Ladder (John 1:51), David, Melchizedek, Moses, the Passover, the Temple, the Sacrificial System, Manna/Bread of Life, Jonah, Good Shepherd, etc. Examples of Types Not Identified by Scripture as a Type: Noah's Ark, Isaac as the Sacrificed Son, Joseph, Boaz the Kinsmen-Redeemer in Ruth, etc. 4. Reflective by Redemptive THEME Prophet, Priest, and King Themes (positive and negative). Prodigal Son and His Father (man's rebellion, God's love/forgiveness), David sparing his enemy (Saul). Finding redemptive themes in Scripture is endless 4. A Text can be RESULTANT of Jesus' Redemptive Work Noah was a righteous man Job was a righteous man God's blessings assurance of salvation, confidence in God's love, presence of the HS are only some examples. The Pudding Illustration

6 Homework : Now, take the main characters and events that you put on paper, and go back, and try to find Christ in these ways that I've shared with you. Where is Christ found in Creation? Where is Christ found in the Adam/Eve story? Where is Christ found in the story of Cain/Abel? Where is Christ found in the story of Noah's ark? Where is Christ found in the story of the Tower of Babel? 1Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology (1948; reprint, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975), p Chapell, B. (1994). Christ Centered Preaching (Rev. ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, p Ibid, p Thomas F. Jones, Preaching the Cross of Christ, unpublished essay presented in homiletics lectures at Covenant Theological Seminary. 5 Much of the lesson is from Dr. Chapell's, Christ Centered Preaching 6Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Christ Precious to Believers, in The New Park Street Pulpit, vol. 5 (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1860), 140.