Salvation and the Bible 4:History & Mystery

Yesterday we looked at Genesis' creation account. In summary, we see that the Biblical text tells us that from the beginning humans had to work, to labor and to struggle to conquer and subdue creation. There was also a need to guard the garden. Such concepts led me to suggest that earth was always intended to be a place of struggle, but that the Fall of Man with the first sin added curses to the situation. Since then it has gone from bad to worse. With a need for a savior made crystal clear, the next phase is the unfolding story found in the rest of Genesis. In my talk I added this: "Sometimes I wish I could remove the words 'God can do anything' from the Christian vocabulary. Too often it leads us to ignore the reality of creation and the rules God plays by. He might have been able to do whatever He wanted, but since He made this real creation He is also under the limits which He self imposed."

The Biblical story continues with Noah and the ark, and ten generations later Abraham.  As we will see, salvation almost always has human mediation. In Genesis 6, Noah builds the ark, as God directs, but Noah is the one who puts in endless hours of labor. He is responsible for a boat load of animals and his extended family! God does not snap His fingers and make it happen!

Likewise, Abraham is a vessel of salvation. Genesis 12 is the remarkable narrative of this event. Ironically, like Adam and Eve, he must go into exile. “Leave” God says. "Leave your country, your father’s house and your land." SALVATION comes at a cost. To receive the promise Abraham must give up everything.

And I think one sees here a preview of the demand of Jesus

[Mk 3:35// Mt16:25// Lk 9:24] “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospel will save it”.  This is not arbitrary, it is at the heart of how the world works.

Here is the paradox of salvation and grace. Salvation is a grace; it is free, but it costs everything. And God’s promise to the world is funneled through the travels and travails of Abraham and Sarah (and her aged womb).

Abraham got his orders. "Leave it all, your home and identity. Leave everything. And Go." So salvation requires faith. God promises, we trust and act. He gives Abraham no indication of the destination; just a demand that he leave everything and go. TRUST is all he has. The cost of Abraham’s salvation and the cost to Abraham to become a link in our salvation is EVERYTHING. And it his faith, an acted-out-flesh-and-blood- wandering-homeless-to-only-God-knows-where-faith which makes it happen.

What is the promise of salvation? The words echo in Genesis12:2-3. God says, "I will make you a nation. I will make you a blessing. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Through you, Abraham.

When I read Jewish commentaries, I am struck by their struggles to explain exactly what this means. Perhaps, they say, it is the amazing contributions the Jews have made to humanity, after all a disproportionate number of Jews have been hugely important in a variety of fields. Maybe it is law or Jewish understanding of Justice. They just aren’t clear.

But you and I know. We have little trouble explaining this message of blessing.

The answer is the very first line of the very first book of the New Testament, Mt 1:1, “The beginning of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham.”

Yes in deed. Abraham is the first father from whom has come our Salvation. Jesus is how Abraham has blessed all the peoples on earth!

The story of Abraham’s descendents (Israel) twists and turns through endless family squabbles and conflicts. They are not always faithful. They are portrayed, warts and all, for us to see. And eventually the seed of Abraham, grows so large that the Egyptians forget about Joseph and see them as a threat. And in the book of Exodus we encounter the paradigm of salvation which undergirds the entire Bible.

You know the story. The Jews are sorely oppressed and placed in forced labor. Their sons are marked for death at birth. There is great suffering. A baby, mysteriously spared when he is placed in an ark (the only other use of this Hebrew word is in Noah's story) amongst reeds and adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter, grows up. His name is Moses. When he comes of age the plight of his people moves him. He intervenes and kills a cruel Egyptian task master, but soon after he flees for his life when he learns his deed is known. Moses then “saves” a young woman who is being mistreated by bullying shepherds at the watering hole. Like any action hero in the movies, he single handedly makes short work of them and helps the damsel in distress. Moses ends up marrying the girl and takes on a new life.

Meanwhile, the book of Exodus tells us, the people of Israel groan and cry out. God hears, we are told. God remembers His covenant. God looks on them and He cares.

In Ex 3 we read about the Burning Bush. God reveals Himself to the amazed Moses. And God shares with Him His heart. I have seen the misery. I have heard the cry. I care. So I have come down to save them…. And then lastly I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people out of Egypt.

Always, again and again God acts through human agency and mediation. God acts, but it is in and through a person, a free person, a person who can decide.

The rest of the OT is the story of EXODUS. It is the first story of SALVATION. It is the basis for understanding the NT story and Jesus.

Salvation is a rescue from a bad situation. It is a situation, in part, or our own making. It is also a situation, in large part, over which we have no control. It is a situation created by humans, sometimes our friends, frequently our enemies. It is a situation created by fallen nature. And, Jesus declares, it is a situation under the influence of The Ruler of This World, the demonic Prince, Satan.

Salvation includes many dimensions, but it is always connected to COVENANT. God promises His people and God delivers on His promise. And the covenant is CORPORATE. God saves His people. "I" am saved because He saves "us". The Lord did not take single individuals out of Egypt, one at a time like the run away slaves of America’s Underground Railroad. Instead, He takes the whole group. Being saved is infinitely personal and God saves each one. But it is not in isolation and it is not independently of others. It is a group excursion. And the group’s behaviors impact the personal experience of each and every one.

Eventually, Israel becomes a kingdom, then after civil war, two kingdoms. Sin is punished. First Israel is destroyed, the tribes lost forever. Later Judah suffers the same fate and is exiled in Babylon. But through Cyrus of Persia, we read that God saves His people. The story of the “second exodus” is found in Nehemiah and Ezra, which are filled with transparent references to the story of Exodus.

Exodus is the Jewish Good News, it is their Gospel. It is a story which spells out in concrete form that our God is a God who saves. And because He has saved, over and over again, we can trust Him To Save in days ahead. He is faithful to His covenant promises and we look ahead to the ultimate fulfillment of His promise to make His Kingdom among us.

And the connection between OT and NT is clear. The night before He died, Jesus gathered with His friends in the upper room. He took bread, He took a cup and He celebrated the Passover.

This is my Body broken for you.

This is my Blood shed for you.

Looking ahead to the next day, Good Friday, and His crucifixion and death, Jesus ties His sacrifice to the blood of the lamb on Passover. He is priest and victim, He is the sacred, once and for all sacrifice, which procures our salvation. Like the OT Joshua, the NT Joshua (Jesus is Greek) leads us into the Promised Land, first washing us clean in our own Red Sea experience, the waters of Baptism, the “red” sea of His saving blood.