Rather like preparing to bake a cake the old-fashioned way — from scratch — we’ve been adding ingredients to our narrative hermeneutic.
We started with Scot McKnight’s A-B-A’ formulation. We added some elements from John Walton’s Covenant argument.
Next, we need to consider N.T. Wright’s understanding presented in Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense
Wright explains Christianity in terms that make so much sense you wonder why you never thought of it yourself. The idea is that the story of the Bible can be stated in terms of the closeness of heaven and earth. It outlines like this.
In the beginning, heaven and earth touched in the Garden of Eden. They were so close that God walked with Adam and Eve.
But when Adam and Eve sinned, heaven and earth were pulled apart. In fact, the Curse is simply the separation that occurred due to sin. There is no death in heaven, but when the separation occurred, death came. Relationships are perfect in heaven, like the Trinity, but when sin brought separation, relationships were perverted.
Later, at times God or his angel would visit with Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, and the distance between heaven and earth was closed just a little. When God spoke to Moses in the burning bush, the gap closed just a little.
When the Law was given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, God’s glory shown forth so brightly that Moses’ face glowed. You see, God’s presence is known as his “glory” or the Shekinah. And this presence is marked by intensely bright light.
When the tabernacle was built and dedicated, God’s Glory descended into the Holy of Holies so God could dwell among his people. He had a special presence there, and in that spot, heaven and earth were brought closer.
When Solomon’s temple was dedicated, the same thing happened, and heaven and earth were brought closer in Jerusalem.
But Israel sinned with idols and eventually God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the temple and the city and take the Israelites captive. The Glory left Jerusalem. Ezekiel describes its departure as leaving toward the east, by way of the Mt of Olives.
When the exiles returned, Nehemiah rebuilt the temple, but the Glory did not return. And the Spirit of inspiration and prophecy dwelt in the Land only briefly, leaving shortly after the completion of the temple.
When Jesus came, however, heaven and earth were truly brought close.
(Luke 2:9-11) An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
(Luke 9:29-32) As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, 31 appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.
At the Transfiguration, the Glory appeared, but this time it was the glory of Jesus — who brought God’s glory to earth.
When Jesus was crucified, the curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the people was torn, and people were given direct access to God, and God left the temple to live among his people through the Spirit. And heaven so touched earth that many men and women who had been dead were resurrected. There is no death in heaven.
(2 Cor 3:18) And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Of course, Jesus himself was soon resurrected with a spiritual body, appearing as we’ll see him at the End.
When Stephen was martyred, heaven and earth drew closer.
(Acts 7:55-56) But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
The End, however, will be the complete merger of heaven and earth — and will bring God’s glory here in its fullness.
(1 Pet 4:13-14) But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
(Rev 21:10-11) And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
(Rev 21:23-25) The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.
Once again, we’ll walk with God in the Garden, with restored relationships, in a land without death or sorrow.
Therefore, when we were saved — heaven really did come down and glory really did fill our souls. But it was for a purpose. You see, our mission — our Kingdom work — is to be the body of Christ, his hands and feet, to help him pull heaven closer to earth, so close that one day God himself will live here among us.
How do we do that? Well, by bringing more and more of God’s glory here — which happens everytime we save a soul and see an earthly body filled with God’s Spirit. And by working to unravel the Curse — by mending relationships, ending suffering, and helping God defeat death.
(2 Cor 5:17) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
(1 Cor 15:58) Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
(Gal 6:9) Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
So where is heaven? Wright suggests that heaven is like Narnia — next to us but invisible to our eyes. And I think that makes as much sense as anything. It’s close, but the wall between here and there is sometimes thinner than other times. Sometimes, God’s light literally shines through. Occasionally, God rips a hole in the wall. And at the End, God will remove the wall altogether.
you know Jay I don’t read every one, kind of like John Mark read him for years.
just really smart, That cognitive ability understanding that God is love, and if you knock you will find. then they find out that they’ve got this spirit, and it’s God’s Spirit,a spirit of light and love, and the more they read the more they find out and the more they find out the more they read.
and what flows out is the simplicity of the gospel of God’s love for His creation.
and when I read these people it’s like eating the best comfort food I could ever eat it’s so easy to eat it’s so easy to digest its so much energy it gives you so much to think about all day long. god bless them all.
Yes NT Wright is a blessed man whose passion for God is revealed in his writing.
Jay,
1) “When the exiles returned, Nehemiah rebuilt the temple, but the Glory did not return.”
2) “When Jesus was crucified, the curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the people was torn, and people were given direct access to God, and God left the temple to live among his people through the Spirit.”
Because the Glory did not return, do you think the tear was largely symbolic to show that the former resting place was eternally severed?
This topic would make for a great study of types & antitypes:
Garden / Restored eikons
Promised land / Heaven
Holy of Holies / Christ
Temple / Christians
Chosen people in OT / Chosen people in NT
Physical identity markers / spiritual identity markers
OT Jubilee / Jubilee of Christ
Feasts / Lord’s Supper
It’s all related & interconnected.
Has anyone heard of or read much from Christian Smith? He’s a blogger(redeeming God) and author. He’s got a book called: The Bible Made Impossible where he argues against the evangelical model for interpreting scripture where he basically says that if it was so easily understood as a blueprint then why is it, folks all come to different interpretations. I found this review on Amazon and it struck a cord with me:
” For some time now, I have been aware of the interpretive quagmire that exists in the Protestant world, but I have been unable to construct a model that fully explains it. Christian Smith’s book has done that for me. I limit my remarks to the Protestant world, because it is that world that proclaims the principle of sola scriptura yet cannot find common agreement. (The Catholics and Orthodox have their own set of problems to deal with.)
I was once satisfied with the Evangelical mantra so often used to excuse the diversity of Biblical interpretation – “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things charity,” but then, that was when I thought as a child. Smith has clearly debunked that common rationalization by carefully analyzing the axioms of Biblicism and finding them to be wanting as illustrated by the widespread interpretive diversity we find among Evangelicals even in the essentials.
It is his view that Evangelicals have to come to terms with the Biblicist model of the scriptures because that model can’t deliver what it is supposed to be able to deliver. However, the fact that it can’t deliver unity of understanding is not actually Smith’s primary objection. His real objection is to the tenets of Biblicism that suggest that the Bible is so plain, uncomplicated, cohesive, and internally consistent that it SHOULD produce a consensus of meaning. He presents the challenge in this way: “If the Bible is given by a truthful and omnipotent God as an internally consistent and perspicuous text precisely for the purpose of revealing to humans correct beliefs, practices, and morals, then why is it that the presumably sincere Christians to whom it has been given cannot read it and come to common agreement about what it teaches.”
Well evidently I got Christian Smith and Jeremy Myers(Redeeming God BlogSpot) mixed up. Sorry about that!
Monty, I would suggest that the early saints had less of self to interject into what they were told. They simply did things they were told, as in Acts 2:38 and didn’t try to overthink or dissect or questioning or see things that weren’t there or read less than what was.
But there were those coming that did exactly that. And as they did this and others saw the error, then others sought the opposite, which was equally wrong. And then people piled on filling in the gaps and creating more gaps. It isn’t the scriptures fault that we mess pretty much everything we come into contact with. We carry on the traditions of our fathers in this regards.
Monty, it will not be until the passion of Evangelicalism sees human beings for what they are, rather than for what they are not, that the Bible will become a living wonder without the need and fight for a “united understanding”. After all, it is the Bible that, in story after story, we are surprised by whom God embraces…that is, if we read again and again for the first time.
Douglas Campbell’s
the deliverance of God.
pretty sure Jay did a review.
Also Richard Beck, I think he calls his blog experimental theology.
also Douglas Campbell showed up and posted a couple of remarks at richard Becks blog
pretty neat for 1300 page book
Find a person that is not into a written bible test to get to heaven but who believed a good loving heart and past performance mattered most, even if you got somethings wrong.
Listen and try to be like that person.
How I regret I didn’t do that but condemned those to hell that were like I want to be now. Many of us in the COC tried to follow Pauls LAWS instead of grace and love of God to my detriment I’m sure.
Sometimes I, when I get to heaven would like to slap Paul upside the head for writing so much that could be interpreted as LAW that caused us to sin by condemning and separating from others. Looks like he could and would of looked ahead to today in the USA and seen where it was headed wrong.
The Paul, who gave us some things did so through the Holy Spirit and was against Laws for Law sake and was all for liberty in Christ and grace and mercy of which Paul was a great recipeint of and reminded those around him constantly. Jesus also gave laws…do not covet, do not comitt adultery, do not kill or think about killing, etc. These laws in question are not burdonsome like the OT law was and are only weighty to those who make them so. Notice Paul didn’t go around condemning those around him and even though he corrected many, he still considered them brothers and sisters in Christ.