God did not turn his back on creation after the Fall.  He did not completely destroy it, which would of been completely just, but instead he chose to redeem it. And he chose to do so within history and through persons and events that go from Noah to Abraham to the second coming of Jesus Christ.  There are many stories between Abraham and the second coming of Jesus and each one contributes to the whole. Each story has a fundamental unity and that is the great saving act of God.  The Old Testament and the New Testament are unified. The Old Testament is not “Salvation Plan A†and the New Testament “Salvation Plan B,†with plan A failing and plan B succeeding.
Let begin in the Old Testament. By Genesis 11 the human race has two huge problems.  Every human heart is sinful and because of this there is brokenness in all of humanity and people are divided and being scattered.  God’s plan of redemption addresses both. It starts in Genesis 12, God calls Abraham and sets into motion a historical force that would not only deal with the problem of human sin but also heal the brokenness of the nations. God elected Abraham for the purpose of blessing all nations on earth.  This is the first great commission in the story of God.  Genesis 12:1-3, “Go…be a blessing…and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.† Sounds familiar to Great Commission at the end of Matthew doesn’t it?  Let’s move on to the exodus.
The exodus shows us God acting as a Redeemer. This is a picture of what redemption looks like when God is in control of it.  It shows us many characteristics of God. His faithfulness, His justice and His love.  And the people who know themselves to be the redeemed people of God, now revealed as YHWH, they are called upon to model before the nations what it means to be redeemed and to live redemptively in their society. Then on Mt. Sinai, God enters into covenant with Israel, but He does so with the rest of the nations in view.  He calls Israel to be His representatives and to be distinctive.  He gave grace in the form of the law, not so that they could earn salvation, they were already redeemed, but to shape them as his model people, to be a light to the nations.
As the history of Israel moves forward to the time of settlement in the promised land, the judges, and the kingdom, it becomes clear that Israel can not and will not live by the standards of God’s law as a response to His saving grace.  Israel proves that it is no different from the other nations.  The law exposes the fact that Israel is in as much need of God’s salvation as are the rest of the nations.  There is no difference, all have sinned.  But even Israel’s failure carries forward the redemptive plan of God.  The Old Testament continues through the prophets who are pointing forward and who keep insisting that God will keep His promise and He will bless the nations and bring salvation to the whole world. He would do so through the failed servant of Israel, indeed He would give them the suffering servant.  The failure of historical Israel was known by God before He entered into covenant with them, indeed before time began, so their failure doesn’t represent a failure in God’s plan.  There is some mystery here as to God’s sovereign purpose, but what we do know is that their failure leads to salvation going to the ends of earth. We can speculate that their failure shows us just how much God loves creation and how He alone is in control of it, but what we know is that their failure leads to salvation that will keep going, just as God has always intended and their failure will make God’s name that much more glorious and known.
We will continue to look at the narrative of redemption and its implications for mission in upcoming posts.
