27 January 2009

The Fulfillment and the Fulfiller

I'm finding Greg Beale's edited volume of essays on the OT in the New very exciting and opening up a panoramic view of the Bible and redemptive history that I had begun to see in seminary but remained fuzzy to me even upon graduation. A representatively helpful essay is that by Francis Foulkes. At one point, toward the end of his contribution, he writes:

The Old Testament is an incomplete book; it is revelation developing towards a climax. There is the constant prediction of a 'day of the Lord,' a consummation, a unique revelation of the power and glory of God. . . . This hope is expressed in terms of the past, yet exceeds anything experienced in the past. There is to be a new David, but a greater than David; a new Moses but a greater than Moses; a new Elijah or Melchizedek, but one greater than those who stand out from the pages of the old records. There is to be a greater and more wonderful tabernacling of God, as his presence comes to dwell in a new temple. There is to be a new creation, a new Israel, redeemed, revived, a people made up of those to whom a new heart and a new spirit are given that they may love and obey their Lord.

Old Testament prophecy . . . needed only the coming of the One in whom all the prophecies of the Old Testament would be fulfilled, in whom all those themes of hope in the Old Testament would be gathered up and realized, the Fulfillment and the Fulfiller. . . .

In a word, Jesus.

Could the story of the Bible be put any better, in such short compass?

--Francis Foulkes, "The Acts of God," in Right Doctrine from the Wrong Texts? edited by Beale, 364-65

1 comment:

Drew Hunter said...

Dane - I'm reading that book as well and just read Foulkes essay last night. There is a giant AMEN! in the margin next to the quote that is your second paragraph above. God has made history exciting to be a part of.