The Progress of Redemption
1.
God Worked Progressively in History.
God's eternal plan was worked out over many years in history. The Bible begins "In the beginning" and ends in eternity future. In-between, God is at work. He has worked progressively by stages, each building on the previous stages, like building a house on a foundation. It had to be like this. Christ did not come before Adam, nor immediately after Adam and Eve sinned. He came as Savior, which meant that sin had to happen first. And the way had to be made ready for the coming of Christ. He came "in the fullness of time", in the center of history. This progression is sometimes called Holy History. It is like the growth of a child to maturity or the rising of a sun to full strength.
2.
God Sent Prophets to Prepare for Christ.
Heb. 1:1-2 says that God spoke through many ways, and finally in Christ. History is the stage for a progression of revelation of God. One way in which God spoke progressively was through a series of prophets. Like John the Baptist, the last of the OT prophets, they prepared the way for the coming of Christ. They all spoke to people in their own day, but also pointed to the future when God's goal would be reached. Some spoke of the first coming, others of the second, still others of both. But they all spoke about Christ (Acts 10:43, Luke 24:25-27, 44). Some spoke of His person, some of His work, some of both. History is Christocentric.
3.
People Were Saved by Believing in the Coming Messiah.
The Gospel was revealed in various ways in the periods of time before Christ. The many symbols of the Temple all pre-figured Christ, especially the sacrifices. But it was especially the prophecies that gave the Gospel, starting with the very first one in Gen. 3:15. Abraham, Moses and many others were saved by believing in the coming Messiah who would defeat Satan, provide the perfect sacrifice and reconcile them to God. The Gospel was not nearly as clear then as now. But they were not saved merely by believing that God would give them land, children, etc.
4.
Salvation Has Always Been By Grace Through Faith.
A common mistake is to think that people in the OT were saved by keeping the Law. Or that they were to obey as much as they could, and offer a sacrifice for sin to make up the rest. Romans 4 kills this heresy. Abraham was justified by faith, not works. So was David. It has always been by God's sheer grace. And the condition has always been the same: faith. It has never been by works. Nor has it been by nationality. Though the Jews had special privileges, there were saved by grace, not by race. The same is true today regarding Christians and their children. God has always had only one way of salvation: His way. And it centers in Christ.
5.
Grace and Law Are in Both Testaments.
Another common error is to suppose that the OT was all Law and no grace, and the NT is all grace and no Law. Actually, both are in both. There is simply more emphasis on one than the other in each. One cannot read the OT without finding the great Hebrew word HESED, covenantal love, free mercy, grace. Similarly, we find Law in the NT as well. Otherwise, one would have to conclude OT people were saved by Law and that there is no Law in the NT - both very dangerous errors. John 1:17 says that Moses gave the Law and that Christ gave grace. But this does not mean that Christ did not give grace before He came. He gave it to those who believed He would come. And the Law has gone from Moses' hand to Christ's
6.
God Used Israel in a Special Way.
Just as God flooded the whole
world and started over with Noah and his family, so God started something new
with Abraham and his family. They were to be a special nation dedicated to God.
Not superior to Gentiles, Israel was to be a light to the nations and bring
God's blessings to them. God made Israel a special theocracy, something He has
not done for any other nation. They were even given a specific land grant. But
there were conditions to all this, which Israel did not keep. Some of the
promises to the seed of Abraham were fulfilled in national Israel in the OT;
others have been fulfilled in the Church; but they are mainly centered in
Christ (Gal.3). God's program for Israel was good, but failed because of the
deficiencies of human nature. Israel was at the heart of most of the OT. All
that time, God let the Gentiles at large go their own way (Acts 14:1.6).
Eventually Israel ended up as bad as them.
7.
Israel and the Church Are Related But Not Identical.
Israel and the Church are not two completely separate entities, as taught by Dispensationalism. Nor are they entirely the same, nor does the Church entirely take Israel's place, as taught by Covenant Theology. The truth is in the middle. Some OT promises to Israel are fulfilled in national Israel, some in the Church. The two groups overlap. In one sense, Israel was the Church in an embryonic form. Acts 7:38 even calls it the Church in the wilderness. On the other hand, the Church is the true or mature Israel, called "the Israel of God" in Gal. 6:16. Still, there was a sense in which the Church didn't begin properly until Acts 2. Similarly, there is a sense in which Israel as Israel continues. (How these two will merge will be discussed later). Romans 11 talks about God's one tree, not two separate trees. There is one Body, not two. The existence of Christian Jews show the error of separating Israel and the Church too much.
8.
God Made a Series of Covenants.
All of God's dealings with Man are covenantal. A covenant is a contract, an agreement between two or more parties, with promises and conditions. The first covenant was the Covenant of Works with Adam as representative for all men. Adam broke it, and sinners are still under its curse. God made another covenant with Noah and his family, which also failed. Then there was the covenant with Abraham, with a later subsection added through Moses. Israel failed to keep this covenant, too. There were also several individual covenants, such as with David. Each of these marked a new stage in God's dealings with Man. Each ended in failure. But each also laid the foundation for a fulfillment of them all through the last and greatest of all the covenants.
9.
Jesus Christ Made the New Covenant.
Just as all God's dealings with men are covenantal and are through Christ, the perfect revelation of God, so it was fitting that Christ would make the greatest covenant of all. It was predicted here and there in the OT, especially Jer. 31:31-34, and was sealed in Christ's blood. Unlike the others, this one is perfect and unbreakable. It is the Covenant of Covenants. God keeps His part and guarantees that we keep ours, for in one sense Christ has kept all the conditions on our side for us. This fulfills and supersedes all the previous ones.
10.
Christ Inaugurated the Kingdom of God.
Another key
feature to God's progressive plan is the Kingdom of God. In once sense, God
rules over all things. In another, Israel was meant to be the Kingdom. In
another, believers have always been in it. Christ the King brought it in and is
now expanding it through the Church. One day, the plan of history will be
fulfilled when the Messiah King returns and consummates the Kingdom of
God.