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Survey of God's Redemptive Plan in the Bible

1) In The Beginning...

2) The Abrahamic Covenant

3) The Mosaic Covenant

4) The New Covenant In Christ

a) Healing Through Jesus

b) Complete Fulfillment Of The Promise To Abraham

In The Beginning God Created The Heaven And The Earth.

(Genesis 1:1)

For those who find it hard to accept the biblical story of creation, I highly recommend The Answers Book, which was written by scientists who show that creation is scientifically verifiable, and that evolution is still nothing but an unproved theory. Also a visit of the following website might prove very interesting and helpful to you: www.AnswersInGenesis.org

In Genesis chapter 2, we learn details about how God created Adam and Eve, and how He put them in the Garden of Eden and had fellowship with them. But the most important detail is told already in chapter 1 – namely that God created man in His own image (Genesis 1:26-27), which means that God put His spirit into man; something that He hadn't done for any other of His creatures.

Adam and Eve had the whole paradise for themselves, only one thing they were not supposed to do: And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

But only a little later they allowed themselves to by enticed by Satan to disobey God's command and sin against Him. The world, which God had created, had been good. But because of sin, death entered the world. Death essentially means “separation” – that is, separation from the life of God and, as a result, degeneration both on the spiritual as well as on the physical plane.

God had created man to have fellowship with Him. But sin caused something like a deep, invisible gap between God and man. Man had cut himself off from the life of God and had begun to live independently of God.

Because the first two humans had sinned, their sinfulness (disobedience, pride, selfishness) showed also in all their descendants. At Noahs time (see chapter 6 of Genesis) mankind was busy demonstrating how much evil the human heart is capable of. Therefore, God was sorry that He had made man, and He wanted to destroy mankind together with everything else that He had created. Only Noah, who lived according to God's will, found grace before God. So the LORD told Noah to build an ark for himself, which was a big ship with enough room for Noahs family and for all kinds of animals. Then God sent a gigantic, worldwide flood and destroyed every living thing which was not in the ark. But when the land had dried up again, God promised that He would not curse the earth and destroy it again with a flood because of the wickedness of the human heart. And God set His rainbow in the clouds as sign for this covenant (see Genesis 9:12-17).

According to the creation scientists, the Grand Canyon is just one example to support the biblical Flood story: Within a very short period of time huge fossil-bearing deposits were washed into the area by the voluminous Flood waters. And at the end of the Flood, the subsiding waters caused rapid erosion of these layers and carving out of deep canyons. – Same with many other river valleys today that are far larger than what should have been produced by the comparatively tiny rivers that now exist in them (see The Answers Book).

The next important event in biblical history is the building of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). After the Flood, God had commanded man to multiply and spread over the face of the earth. But mankind rebelled and preferred to build a city with a huge tower, so they would not be scattered over the earth but make a name for themselves. Therefore, the LORD confused their language, so that from then on many languages existed and everybody dwelt with those whose language he still understood. Thus men were scattered over face of the the earth after all (and in the geographic isolation, soon the various races of mankind developed).

The Abrahamic Covenant

From then on, God did not have a special relation with these peoples anymore, but in His grace He chose a single man and led him into the land Canaan (today's Palestine). – The story of Abraham (whose name was at first still Abram) is told in Genesis, chapters 12 to 25.

When God appeared to Abram for the first time, Abram was already 75 years old and still childless because his wife was barren. But God promised Abram several times that He would give the land of Canaan, where Abram dwelt now as a stranger, to his descendants who would be a great nation. And he [Abram] believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)

In Genesis 15:8-18, Abram asked God for a sign of assurance that everything would indeed happen as promised. Therefore, God told Abram to prepare a remarkable ceremony of that time that involved the cutting in half of animals so that the pledging parties could walk between them, affirming that the same should happen to them if they broke the covenant. And Abram did as the LORD had ordered him. At sunset a deep sleep fell on Abram. Then he was told that his descendants would be strangers in a foreign land where they would be afflicted for four hundred years. But finally God would judge that foreign nation and lead Abram's descendants out with great possession, and they would return to Canaan. Then when it had become dark, a smoking oven appeared and a burning torch that passed between the animal halves. – God had put Abram to sleep so that he would not have to walk between the animal pieces, for it was a one-sided covenant to which Abram could not contribute anything. On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: To your descendants have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.

In Genesis 17:1-11, we learn that Abram was 99 years old when the LORD said to him: Behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall you name be called Abram, but you name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations ... And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.”

And in chapter 21 we read how to Abraham (by now 100 years old) and his wife (who was only 10 years younger than he) finally the long-awaited son – Isaac – was born.

In the next chapter, Abraham's heart was tested for its love and loyalty to God when God said to him in Genesis 22,2: Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. And Abraham obeyed immediately, trusting that God knew what He was doing (see verse 8) – up to the very last moment, when the Angel of the LORD interfered and told Abraham to spare his son and sacrifice a ram instead that was caught in a thicket by its horns – a picture that points to the Lamb of God (Jesus Christ), that God Himself would provide and who would pay the price for our sins in substitutionary atonement.

In chapter 25, Abraham died at the age of 175 years. And in the following we learn that to Isaac two sons were born, Esau und Jacob (the latter would later be called Israel), and that Jacob's twelve sons were the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel. Because of the wicked deed of his brothers, one of these twelve sons, Joseph, became a slave in Egypt, but under remarkable circumstances he became the most powerful man of the land, second only to Pharao. Because of this, he was able to let his father and his brothers with their families come to Egypt and to provide for them there during a severe famine. Finally, Joseph testified to his brothers about the works of God: You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. (Genesis 50:20)

As Abraham had been foretold, the people Israel dwelt in Egypt for about 400 years (exactly 430 years) and became a mighty nation in spite of many afflictions. Although the people participated in Egyptian worship of false gods, they cried out to God when their oppression became unbearable. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. (Exodus 2:24)

The Mosaic Covenant

In Exodus, chapter 3, we read how Moses was instructed by God to bring Israel out of Egypt, which involved going to Pharao and demanding that he would permit the people to leave Egypt. But Pharao, who trusted in false gods, refused to let them go, because he was aware of the enormous economical importance of this people for his land. Therefore, God sent him ten terrible subsequent plagues as judgment against the Egyptians and their deities, until the land was ruined and Pharao finally gave in.

In chapter 12, in connection with the tenth plague, the Passover feast was instituted: God announced that during this night He would execute judgment by killing all the firstborn of man and beast in Egypt. But the Israelites He commanded that every household should kill a flawless, male lamb, not older than one year, put its blood on the door-posts and lintel of their houses and then stay inside during that night and eat the Passover lamb. And when the LORD struck the land of Egypt with this plague that night, He passed over the houses that had the blood on their door-frames (Exodus 12:13). Seeking protection behind the blood of the Passover lamb, the people Israel learnt that they were not any better than the Egyptians, but that they depended on forgiveness and redemption through the shedding of innocent blood.

Thus, the people Israel moved out of Egypt, just as God had predicted to Abraham, and started on their journey through the wilderness. And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people. (Exodus 13:21-22)

In chapters 19-24, we learn that Israel received the law out of the hand of God at Mount Sinai – the law that was to be the people's “schoolmaster.” It was to show them the perfect standard of a holy God that stood in contrast to their own “natural inclinations” – that is their sinfulness. As they could never live up to God's holy standard on their own, they were always dependent on God's grace and forgiveness. – After God had given many commandments, which were read to the people and accepted by them, He made a covenant with the people that was sealed with blood (Exodus 24:3-8).

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them!” (Exodus 24:12) And Moses stayed 40 days on the mountain and received many instructions.

But when the people saw that Moses stayed away for such a long time, they immediately forgot again everything they had experienced since their exodus from Egypt, made for themselves a golden calf and said: This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt! (Exodus 32:4)

And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation!” (Exodus 32:9-10) But Moses pleaded with God for mercy for the people, and in chapter 34 the covenant is renewed. But already now a pattern of behavior begins to emerge that is going to be repeated constantly throughout the history of Israel.

Also in the following Books of Moses (Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), many instructions are given, for example about the various offerings. Through these offerings, and using the priests as mediators, the people could approach God and worship Him. These offerings gave them awareness that their sinfulness separated them from a holy God and that they could turn away their punishment and bridge the gap between them and God only through the substitutionary sacrifice of innocent animals.

God gave Israel many commandments, which often were simply useful and sensible, but many times they were also symbolic. And they served the purpose of sanctifying God's chosen people, separating them from a sinful world and consecrating them to a holy God that is. God's people was to be different from other peoples in as much as they were not to join in the idol-worship or the barbaric and unmoral customs of the peoples surrounding them. But they were to be a blessing to other peoples by living in an exemplary way in fellowship with the one living God. And so God kept promising His people rich blessings if they would live in obedience to Him, but also punishment and destruction as long as they were rejecting Him.

For you are an holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.

(Deuteronomy 7:6)

Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God...

(Deuteronomy 11:26-28)

Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God drives you, and you return to the LORD your God and obey His voice ... then the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you.

(Deuteronomy 30:1-3)

At the end of the Book of Deuteronomy, also Israel's wanderings through the wilderness came to an end, and under the leadership of Moses' successor, Josua, they began to conquer the promised land. In the following Books of the Old Testament we are told how the people Israel experienced prosperity and success at first, but then because of their constant disobedience, God gave them repeatedly into the hand of foreign peoples and they had to undergo many terrible experiences.

Already the Old Testament makes it clear that men, who rebel against God, deserve their punishment. But God also offers a way of forgiveness through faith, through substitutionary atonement. From the beginning He keeps pointing to the Redeemer who is to be born at some point and who will give Himself as the one perfect offering for our sins. And since the Bible is a book of progressing revelation, in the New Testament we can see the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament, for example:

Therefore it is said at the beginning of the New Testament in one of the four Gospels:

For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

(John 1:17)

The New Covenant In Christ

More than 300 prophecies and promises in the Old Testament refer to the coming so-called Messiah. From the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and the Epistles of the New Testament we learn that all of these were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and they established a solid confirmation of His credentials as the Messiah (the Anointed One – a term that is describing a king, prophet or priest).

God sent His own Son on earth, who (although He was still wholly God) was also wholly man – with only one, but fundamental difference: He was without sin.

He had come on earth to overcome sin (that had entered the world through the sin of Adam and Eve) by taking the penalty for our sin on Himself, so that all, who would accept this gift in faith, could live again in fellowship with God.

But when the fulness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

(Galatians 4:4-5)

When Jesus died at the cross, He did not die for His own sin because He had none, but He was the flawless Passover Lamb that would make all further animal sacrifices unnecessary for all those who would believe in Him. When Jesus cried out a short time before He died: My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? (Matthew 27:46; see also Psalm 22, which was written about 1.000 years before the crucifixion of Christ), He, who normally lived in constant fellowship with the Father, was experiencing the unbearable feeling of separation from God – the penalty of sin. God poured out His wrath over Him as sin-bearer so that in this substitutionary atonement justice could be done for our sins. For God is not only love and mercy, but He is also justice and holiness, and therefore sin must be atoned for.

As a proof that the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ was sufficient to give us eternal life, God raised Him from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is the good news of Easter which enables everyone, who believes it and who entrusts his life to Christ, to lay down his sins at the Cross and instead put Christ's mantle of righteousness around his shoulders, with which he will be able to stand before God on the day of judgment.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.

(Ephesians 2:8)

The Bible also tells us that after His resurrection, Jesus returned to the Father, where He now sits in glory at His right hand, and that one day He will come back in order to judge the living and the dead. And everybody who rejects the gift of salvation (and prefers to depend on his own good works, or who denies God's existence altogether), chooses to pay the penalty of his sins himself, which means spending eternity in separation from God, but in the company of Satan in the lake of fire.

Most assuredly, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself; so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in the which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

(John 5:25-29)

Healing Through Jesus

Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” And he arose and departed to his house.

(Matthew 9:2-7)

During the three years of His public ministry, Jesus worked many wonders, among them many spectacular events of healing, even the resurrection of the dead, such as of Lazarus. But all those who had experienced physical healing for the moment, or even those who were returned to life, had to die at some point after all. Thus, physical healing cannot be the final solution.

Remember: Since God created man for a deep, intimate relationship with Himself, man was connected to God like a child is connected to the umbilical cord of his mother. But because of sin, this connection was damaged, and death entered the scene.

Therefore, healing through Jesus is not foremost necessary on the physical level, but most of all on the spiritual plane! Because through forgiveness of our individual sin, our lost relationship with God is restored. (Physical healing without spiritual wholeness leaves man in the hands of death under the pretense of life!)

For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father ... The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

(1 Corinthians 15:21-26)

Complete Fulfillment Of The Promise To Abraham

Jesus Christ, in whom the Old Testament prophecies of the promised Messiah were fulfilled, was rejected by most of His fellow Jews. Therefore, the salvation which came first to the Jews, became “available” for all other peoples, for God is now gathering a people from all the peoples – the Body of Christ, the Church.

Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham...

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is every one who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annules or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many; but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator...

Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed...

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

(Galatians 3:6-29)

If you would like to accept God's gift of salvation, but are not sure how, or if you have more questions about this, then visiting one of these sites might be helpful to you:

Reference:

Die Geschichte der Bibel

The Answers Book

The Bible (New King James Version)