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Redemptive History And the Gospels

The Gospels are the Narration of the Climactic Fulfillment of Redemptive History

Section titled “The Gospels are the Narration of the Climactic Fulfillment of Redemptive History”

  1. Genre

    1. The genre of the Gospels is not (virtue-forming) biography

    2. But kerygma - narratives proclaiming that Jesus is the Messiah who came as the fulfillment of redemptive history

  2. The preparatory ministry of John the Baptist

    1. His ministry of “preparing the way of the Lord,” i.e., Christ (Isa 40:3 + Mal 3:1).

    2. John in prison asked (Mt 11:3): “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

    3. Matt 11:10-13: “This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you’ [Mal 3:1]. 11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. 13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John” (cp. Lk 16:16).

    4. Hagner: “John is the climax of the old order: a prophet like those of the past but more than prophet. He is the one in whom the OT expectation has … been distilled into one final, definitive arrow pointing to the presence of the Messiah” (Matthew, WBC, 305-6).

  3. Jesus himself preached that the Scriptures are being “fulfilled” in his ministry

    1. Mk 1:14-15: “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”

    2. Lk 4:17-21: “Today this Scripture [Isa 61:1] has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

    3. Mt 5:17-18: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

    4. As he prepares for his arrest, Jesus is deeply conscious that his suffering is the fulfilling Scripture

    5. At the Last Supper: Mt 26:24 / Mk 14:21 / Lk 22:22: “The Son of Man goes as it is written of him …”

    6. Just before his betrayal and arrest: Lk 22:37: “For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.”

    7. As he is being taken into custody by the Jews: Matt 26:54, 56 / Mk 14:49: “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” 55 At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. 56 But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.”

    8. After he accomplishes his sufferings and is raised. Lk 24:44-47: “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

  4. Matthew’s fulfillment quotations

    1. Mt 1:22-23: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).” (Isa 7:14)

    2. Mt 2:6 [but not introduced by a fulfillment formula]: When Herod inquired where the Christ was to be born, the Jews told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: 6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah… from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel’” (Micah 5:2; 2 Sam 5:2).

    3. Mt 2:15: “This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’” (Hosea 11:1)

    4. Mt 2:17-18: “Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah… Rachel weeping for her children’” (Jer 31:15).

    5. Mt 2:23: “…that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled: ‘He shall be called a Nazarene’” (Isa 11:1; nēṣer = “branch”).

    6. Mt 4:14-16: “…so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ‘The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali… the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light’” (Isa 9:1-2).

    7. Mt 8:17: “This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took our illnesses and bore our diseases’” (Isa 53:4).

    8. Mt 12:17-21: “This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: ‘Behold, my servant whom I have chosen…’” (Isa 42:1-4).

    9. Mt 13:35: “This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: ‘I will open my mouth in parables’” (Psalm 78:2).

    10. Mt 21:4-5: “This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, ‘Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you humble, and mounted on a donkey’” (Zech 9:9, with Isa 62:11).

    11. Mt 27:9-10: “Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ‘And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, 10 and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me’” (Zech 11:12-13; Jer 19:1-13; 32:6-15).

The Redemptive Historical narrative leading up to the Gospels

Section titled “The Redemptive Historical narrative leading up to the Gospels”

  1. Must go back to the garden: Adam → Israel → Christ

  2. The Kgdm offered at creation

    1. The kingdom-people

      1. Gen 1:26, 28: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness … Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.”

    2. The kingdom-land/realm

      1. Land like garden of Eden (Gen 13:10)

      2. Focal point: the Mountain of God (Ezek 28:13-14)

      3. Subdue the earth - making it into a holy theocratic kingdom

    3. God’s vassal king

      1. Adam as king-priest (Gen 2:15)

      2. The Covenant of Works (Gen 2:16-17)

      3. Work, then Sabbath (Gen 2:1-3)

      4. After Adam’s failure to confront the serpent, God promises to provide a second Adam, “the Offspring” of the woman who will crush the serpent’s head (Gen 3:15; Gal 3:16).

  3. The Kgdm prefigured in the promises to Abraham

    1. The kingdom-people

      1. Gen 17:4-8: “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

      2. Gen 22:17: “I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.”

      3. Gen 35:11: God said to Jacob/Israel, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.”

      4. Gal 3:29: “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”

    2. The kingdom-land (with it cultic focal point)

      1. Gen 15:18: “On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.’”

      2. Cultic focal point (house of God; Shekinah presence of God)

      3. Initially fulfilled under Joshua (land) and Solomon (temple).

      4. Conquest → rest in the land → temple.

      5. Deut 12:1-12: “These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth … 8 You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, 9 for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you. 10 But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, 11 then to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the LORD.”

      6. 2 Sam 7:10-13: “And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name.”

      7. Rev 21:1-5: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God … 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’”

    3. God’s vassal king

      1. Gen 3:15: “the Offspring” of the woman

      2. Royal promises in the patriarchal age

      3. Gen 17:6, 16: Kings will come from you (Abr and Sarah)

      4. Gen 35:11: ditto (to Jacob)

      5. Gen 49:10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah”

      6. The Davidic Covenant: 2 Sam 7:12-16: “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”

  4. The two-stage fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant

    1. First level fulfillment

    2. Second level fulfillment

    3. The Two Levels of the Abrahamic Covenant

      1. Gen 12:7: “To your offspring I will give this land.”

    4. Two-stage fulfillment

      1. Exodus-Malachi: the first level fulfillment – Israel

      2. The Gospels: the second level fulfillment – Christ

    5. Each fulfillment begins with a reference back to the Abrahamic covenant, specifically to the idea of God’s “remembering” that covenant:

      1. Exodus 2:24: “God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.”

      2. Luke 1:54-55, 72-73

    6. Relationship between the two

      1. First level fulfillment is the type; second level fulfillment is the antitype.

      2. The one is provisional, the other is perfective.

      3. The one is temporary, the other is eternal.

      4. The one is the type, the other is the antitype.

    7. Climactic fulfillment

      1. The reality succeeds and takes the place of the shadow.

      2. Dispensationalists think God was basically promising Israel a big chunk of real estate, to be fulfilled in 1000-year reign of Christ from a literal throne in Jerusalem.

      3. But this ignores the plain teaching of the NT that that first level fulfillment was not the ultimate fulfillment but only a type and shadow of the fulfillment to come.

    8. When God said to Abraham, “To your seed I will give this land,” he was talking about a Seed and a Land that far transcended Israel according to the flesh in the land of Canaan.

      1. Paul tells us the Offspring was Christ (Gal 3:16)!

      2. The land had ultimate reference to “the inheritance” of heaven itself.

      3. Acts 20:32: “And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”

      4. Rom 4:13: “For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.”

      5. Eph 1:14: The Holy Spirit “is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.”

  5. The Exile

    1. This is a critical point in the narrative

    2. Northern Kingdom (Israel) - 722 BC

    3. Southern Kingdom (Judah)

      1. First deportation - 605 BC

      2. Second deportation - 597 BC

      3. Destruction of temple - 586 BC

  6. The Prophets

    1. The great preaching prophets are standing at the intersection, looking back on the ruins of the Old Covenant and forward to the glory of the coming New Covenant in Christ.

    2. The New Covenant restoration of Israel after the exile is the second-level fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant.

    3. This covenantal triangle is the engine that drives the narrative arc of redemptive history.

    4. Typological or prophetic idiom – they described the future glory of the Messiah’s kingdom as if it were a literal return to the first-level fulfillment.

    5. Jer 32:36-44: “Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: 37 Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. 38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. 40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul. 42 For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. 43 Fields shall be bought in this land of which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ 44 Fields shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed, in the land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for I will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord.”

    6. There are many other passages (in Isaiah, Ezekiel, etc.) giving this prophetic vision of the restoration of Israel under a new covenant.

      1. Kingdom-people - new heart

      2. Kingdom-realm - return to the land

      3. God’s vassal-king - the Suffering Servant, the Messiah

    7. Daniel 9 is a key text

      1. Vv 1-2: Daniel had been reading the book of Jeremiah the prophet, and he learned that the desolations of Jerusalem would last 70 years.

      2. Vv 3-19: Daniel confesses his sin and the sin of his people. He acknowledged that Jerusalem was desolate because they had broken the covenant.

      3. Vv 20-22: While he was praying, the angel Gabriel came to him in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.

      4. V 24: “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place/one” (the temple or the Messiah).

The Gospels Proclaim the Time of Fulfillment Has Arrived

Section titled “The Gospels Proclaim the Time of Fulfillment Has Arrived”

“The time is fulfilled; the Kgdm of God is at hand” (Mk 1:15).

  1. Jesus is God’s obedient vassal-King

    1. The Genealogies of Jesus: Mt 1:1-17 and Lk 3:23-38

    2. Mt 2:1-2: “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?’”

      1. Political context

      2. Herod is a puppet of Rome, not the rightful king

      3. Afraid when he hears the magi ask, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?”

      4. Herod tries to have baby Jesus killed

    3. Mt 3:13-17: The baptism of Jesus, identifying with Israel in exile and sin

    4. Jesus is the obedient Israelite, passing the test in the wilderness:

      1. Deut 8:3: “Man shall not live by bread alone …”

      2. Deut 6:16: “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”

    5. Jesus is “the Son of David”

      1. 16x in the Synoptics

      2. The blind men of Jericho: “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” (Mt 20:29-34 / Mk 10:46-52 / Lk 18:35-43).

      3. Triumphal entry: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” (Mt 21:9).

    6. Jesus is the promised King of Israel

      1. Mt 21:5: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you.’”

      2. Lk 19:38: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.”

      3. Mt 27:11 / Mk 15:2 / Lk 23:3 / Jn 18:33, 37: Pilate to Jesus: “Are you the King of the Jews?”

      4. Mk 15:9, 12 / Jn 18:39: Pilate to the crowd: “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?”

      5. Mt 27:29 / Mk 15:18 / Jn 19:3: The soldiers to Jesus: “Hail, King of the Jews!”

      6. Jn 19:14: Pilate to the Jews: “Behold your King!”

      7. Mt 27:37 / Mk 15:26 / Lk 23:38 / Jn 19:19: The title over his cross: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

      8. Mt 27:42 / Mk 15:32 / Lk 23:35: The Jews: “He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.”

  2. Jesus is gathering the Kgdm people, the new Israel

    1. Calling 12 disciples (the 12 tribes of the new Israel)

    2. Gathering many others as a remnant of believers out of apostate Israel

    3. Healing the uncleanness of the people (Leviticus)

      1. Leprosy

      2. Woman with flow of blood

      3. Unclean spirits

    4. Feeding the crowds - manna for the new Israel in wilderness

    5. The parables for the remnant who have been granted spiritual insight; the rest are blind

      1. Mt 13:10-17 / Mk 4:10-12 / Lk 8:9-10

      2. Disciples ask Jesus, “Why do you speak in parables?”

      3. Jesus answered by saying, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.”

      4. He adds, “Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says,” and then he quotes Isaiah 6:9-10: “Go, and say to this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

      5. The immediately following verses are about the people being sent into exile: Isa 6:11-13: Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, 12 and the LORD removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 13 And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.

    6. The parable of Kgdm transfer (Mt 21:33-46 / Mk 12:1-12 / Lk 20:9-19)

      1. Isa 5:7: “The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting.”

      2. Psalm 80:8: “You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.”

      3. The tenants are the Jewish leadership

      4. The messengers are the prophets

      5. The heir/son is Christ

      6. Psalm 118:22-23: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” The rejected stone is the cornerstone of the new Temple (1 Peter 2:4-10).

      7. Mt 21:43: “Therefore I tell you, the Kgdm of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.”

    7. The last supper as Passover (celebration of the new exodus of the new Israel)

      1. Lk 22:15: “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”

      2. Mt 24: 28 / Mk 14:24: “This is my blood of the covenant” (echoing Exod 24:8: “Behold the blood of the covenant”).

      3. Mt 20:28: “even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

      4. Mt 26:28: “for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (“many” - Isa 53:11-12).

  3. Jesus is bestowing the holy Kgdm realm on his people

    1. Realm includes the cultic focal point: the temple.

    2. Mt 12:6: “I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.”

    3. Triumphal entry into the holy city of Jerusalem: Mk 11:10: “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

    4. Mt 21:15-16: But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” (true worship).

    5. Jesus restores worship and cleanses the temple, like the good kings of Judah before the exile:

      1. Asa (1 Kings 15:9-15 / 2 Chron 14-15)

      2. Joash under Jehoiada the priest (2 Kings 12:1-16 / 2 Chron 23-24)

      3. Hezekiah (2 Kings 18 / 2 Chron 29-31)

      4. Josiah (2 Kings 22-23 / 2 Chron 34-35)

    6. Jesus is the suffering-yet-vindicated “Son of Man” who receives the Kgdm on behalf of his people

      1. Mk 13:26-27 / Mt 24:30-31 / Lk 21:27: “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.”

      2. Daniel 7:13-14, 18: “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom …. 18 The saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever.”