Class 4 BT- Kingdom through Covenant

Introduction

Good morning, well today we finally get to put our tools to the test. We are going to practice Bible theology together. My aim is to show you how seeing the Bible as one story, written by one divine author, all about one main subject (Jesus) helps enhance our understanding and experience of the Bible.

The goal of this course is simply this: We aim to enhance your understanding and experience of the Bible. The big idea is that we can understand and experience the Bible to its fullest when we see that it is about Jesus.

I want to demonstrate this by looking at the book of Matthew and using four storyline tools: Looking Forward and Looking Back, Pointing out where promises are made and where promises are fulfilled, and asking where is continuity and where is there discontinuity. And I want to show the various Types of Christ that use Typology. The process will look like building a cabinet where you use your tools as needed and interchangeably. You don’t first just use your screwdriver, then your hammer, then the tape measure.. You use the tool as needed as you assemble the cabinet. Setting one down to pick up another then perhaps even going back and reusing a tool here or there.

I want to begin by asking a question about the book of Matthew. What is the “kingdom” that Jesus so often refers to? The phrase the kingdom of heaven is introduced Matthew 3:2 by John the Baptist, it is picked up by Jesus in chapter 4 and then this idea of kingdom is carried throughout the book. In the parables the kingdom is like a mustard seed, a pearl, a treasure in a field, it is at hand or here now in Matthew 4, then Jesus ask for the kingdom to come in the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6. So, what is the kingdom? Why does Matthew choose to use this language? Don’t answer just yet, let’s dig in to the Bible let it tell us.

We can begin by using our grammatical historical tools and in reading just about any study Bible you are going to find out that Matthew is a book that has a lot of Old Testament quotations. So, many believe this is a Gospel written to a Jewish audience. The OT quotations though help to think about storyline tool 1, Looking Back and Looking Forward. Where does the book of Matthew fall into the Bible’s overarching storyline? You can answer this one.

One thing that can be helpful is looking forward and looking back to understand the Bible’s storyline in four big movements- Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation

If we use those four movements, where does it fall? Redemption. Gives us a foothold, it gives us hint as to why the kingdom can be here… but still yet coming…

So we are asking the question, where is all this kingdom language coming from? Now starting with Genesis we will look back and then move forward and look for the theme of kingdom. Another thing that is going to help us, is the idea of covenant. A covenant is a _solemn_ promise in which two parties agree to terms, with_blessings/curses _for obedience or disobedience, often with a _sign_. (Wanna guess what tool covenants will have us use)

So, in order to trace the theme kingdom we will look back and then look forward by looking at the Bible’s covenants. You learn about these covenants by taking classes like this one. Knowing these covenants helps us get the Bible’s storyline under our fingertips. So first, we begin with Adam.

Adamic Covenant

Go to Genesis 1:26-28.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

So God creates man in his own image and what does he let man have? Dominion aka rule. This is what we call the creation mandate. Man is supposed to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and exercise dominion over the earth. In a sense Adam is a viceroy, a ruler, who stands in for God the creator.

Now turn the page and go to Genesis 2:15-17

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil lyou shall not eat, for in the day that you eat5 of it you mshall surely die.”

So here we have God giving Adam a role as his viceroy to exercise dominion over creation, he is then placed in a garden and does this by working and keeping the garden, he is told don’t eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and if you do, you will die. While it does not say it is a covenant, this is a solemn promise made between God and man with specific terms outlines should Adam fail to keep it.

Graham Goldworthy wrote a book called Gospel and Kingdom in which he works through all of the Bible using this storyline of Kingdom through Covenant. He uses this very simple frame of God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule. This will help us as we keep moving. You have Adam and Eve (God’s people), in the Eden (God’s Place) under God’s rule (Not to eat of the tree and to exercise dominion and fill the earth)

What happens next? Movement was Creation next we have…

When Adam and Eve sin what does God do as it relates to his place… they are kicked out and the promise of death is fulfilled in Cain’s murder of Able, not living according to God’s rule 4 and now go to Genesis 5:1-4.

This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, ohe made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man1 when they were created. 3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and pnamed him Seth. 4 qThe days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. 5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, rand he died.

Adam dies. But God isn’t totally done with humanity. His likeness continues in Seth. Though they reject God’s rule in Genesis 3 and Cain kills Able in Genesis 5 and death reigns in Genesis 5. God is still working. Creation, Fall… Redemption.

Noahic Covenant

In Genesis 6-9 things keep getting worse and God chooses to destroy the earth. However, he also chooses to save only family. The family of Noah by having Noah build an ark and having the animals go on to the ark. God sends the flood and he judges the world through it. After the flood we read Genesis 9:1-13 God makes a covenant with Noah. For time’s sake will just highlight a few verses. This is after all the world has been destroyed.

Verse 1-3 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, q“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth [2] The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. [3] Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. (sound familiar, Adamic Covenant re-established Dominion over animals, be fruitful and multiply, and now not just fruit, but don’t kill)

Verse 5-12 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: vfrom every beast I will require it and wfrom man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.

6 x“Whoever sheds the blood of man,

by man shall his blood be shed,

yfor God made man in his own image.

7 And you,1 be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “Behold, zI establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11 aI establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, b“This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:

More Adamic language but also the adding of a covenant sign. Remember what we said in the first class about God’s word having an organic nature. That themes fill out and God’s will is progressively revealed. Like a plant grows and buds then flowers in various branches.

But again it re-establishes God’s rule, God’s people, God’s place (all the earth) but.. Shortlived. Noah gets drunk and naked and by Genesis 11 the people want to stay in one place and cast of God’s rule and build a tower…

Remember we are asking the question what is the Kingdom of God? The Goldsworthy categories help us, but they come from the text. Genesis is giving us a glimpse into this kingdom language. And not just in systematic language, but a full story.

Abrahamic Covenant

Genesis 12:1-3

Now mthe Lord said1 to Abram, “Go from your country2 and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 nAnd I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 oI will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and pin you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

God makes this Covenant Abraham. He chooses a people (Abraham’s family) promises the land (God’s place) and they are to worship God. This is called a covenant officially in Genesis 15:8 and then in Genesis 17:4-10

And God said to him, 4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be qthe father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram,2 but ryour name shall be Abraham,3 sfor I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make tyou into nations, and ukings shall come from you. 7 And I will vestablish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, wto be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And xI 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 yI will be their God.”

9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised

Adam is given dominion, Noah is a new Adam (dominion over animals) and Abraham will be the father of multitude of nations. Kings will come from him. In the promised land. God’s people, in God’s place, God’s rule. And a promise is made and a sign of the covenant given, circumcision.

Do you see how the story of God’s kingdom through covenant is progressing? They are “new” covenants but they are also the same covenant.

Two more then to Matthew 1-4

Mosaic Covenant

After Abraham we fast forward to Exodus where God’s people are no longer in God’s place, but in Egypt. They are slaves and God raises up a man named Moses to deliver the people. Once the people escape Pharoah through the Red Sea God leads them out into the wilderness and to Mt. Sinai where he makes a covenant with them.

In Exodus 19:15-16

5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be wmy treasured possession among all peoples, for xall the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a ykingdom of priests and za holy nation.’

In Exodus 20-22 the people are given the ten commandments and many other laws that instruct them how to live in the promised land. The promise is growing… Adam, Noah, Abraham families… Now the promise is to a nation. A people.

In Exodus 23:20-33 God promises to drive out the idol worshipers who live in the promised and give the land to Israel and promises to help Israel flourish.

In Exodus 24:6-8

6 And bMoses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, x“All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8 cAnd Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

The covenant is solemnized and given this sign of the blood of covenant. God’s people (Nation), God’s place (promised land) God’s rule (10 commandments)

Davidic Covenant

This growth in the kingdom of God prepares the way for the kingdom to become just that, a kingdom. And so eventually after 40 years in the wilderness the people take the land and establish the kingdom of David. David becomes king and he is a man after God’s own heart.

2 Samuel 7:12-14a

12 mWhen your days are fulfilled and nyou lie down with your fathers, oI will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body,3 and I will establish his kingdom. 13 pHe shall build a house for my name, and qI will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 rI will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.

There is a promise of a future king who will rule forever. This king will come from David’s body, lineage.

We know Israel fails to uphold the covenant and they are exiled and in exile Jeremiah the prophet foretells of a new covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34

31 o“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make pa new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when qI took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, rthough I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 sFor this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: sI will put my law within them, and I will write it ton their hearts. uAnd I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ vfor they shall all know me, wfrom the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For xI will forgive their iniquity, and yI will remember their sin no more.”

This is the setting for the book of Matthew. A broken people who expect to live in a world in which God rules, in God’s place, over His people. They are awaiting a new covenenant, which means that are waiting for a new kingdom. This provides the context for Jesus’ use of the word kingdom. Matthew is trying to communicate that Jesus is the promised king from 2 Samuel 7 and will establish the new covenant from Jeremiah 31. And he does this in the first 4 chapters of Matthew by showing us that Jesus is a new Adam, Abraham, Moses, and David. How?

Matthew 1-4

Matthew 1:1

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Matthew begins his book with a what? And where did we first see a genealogy? Genesis 5. In the LXX it is literally the same exacts being used in Genesis 5. Matthew knows this, he is very Jewish and he is doing this on purpose. This genealogy is saying Jesus is a new Adam, and new Abraham, and new David.

The magi come and they asked Herod “Where is he who is born king of the jews?” Matthew 2:2.

Herod wants to kill Jesus, so his family flees to Egypt and when the return from Egypt Matthew says in Matthew 2:15- “This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” This is from the prophet Hosea who is not predicting the future like Jeremiah was. Hosea 11:1 says, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”

So what is Matthew doing? He is using typology. He is looking at the people of Israel and saying Jesus is the new Israel and new Moses. Skip to Matthew 4 and after the baptism of Jesus where does the Spirit send Jesus? The wilderness. For how long? Who does he speak with there? Who has gone to the wilderness? For how long? Who has spoken with the devil?

Jesus is the king who is better than the old kings- Adam, Abraham, Moses, and David. He represent the people like Adam and Israel who failed when tempted by Satan and failed in wilderness. Matthew is saying that through Jesus the kingdom of heaven will come to earth. God will rule, his people, in his place. And this happens through another covenant.

New Covenant

Matthew 26:26-29-

26 vNow as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and wafter blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; xthis is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he yhad given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for xthis is my zblood of the3 covenant, which is poured out for amany bfor the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you cin my Father’s kingdom.”

Where have we seen the blood of the covenant?

Continuity- What remains the same? From the covenant of Moses and Jesus’ covenant?

Discontinuity- What is different?

God’s Rule- Moral law same, Ceremonial law different, Theocracy or church (Matt. 16 & 18)

God’s Place-All the earth and new heaven. Promise is fulfilled (Matthew 28:18-20)

God’s People- little child, mustard see etc.

What is the kingdom of God?