Redemption—The “Big Picture”

 Ed Stevens

 This article provides an overview of the plan of redemption revealed throughout Scripture.  Some call it the “scarlet thread” that runs through the Bible.  Others refer to it as “His Story” since all of Bible history relates to the plan, revelation, gradual development, and eventual consummation of redemption in Jesus Christ.

Someone recently shared an email in which his Futurist pastor insisted it is not legitimate to interpret the nature of fulfillment at the end time (Revelation) differently than the physically literal nature of reality at the beginning time (Genesis).  While I agree somewhat with that principle, there are some interpretative problems that can develop when we take that approach. Just like it is possible to incorrectly force the pieces of a puzzle to fit together and get the wrong picture, so it is also possible to incorrectly interpret the nature of redemptive events at the beginning. Just as there is only one correct way to fit puzzle pieces together, there is also only one correct way to interpret scripture. And if we do not know at the beginning what the finished puzzle is supposed to look like, it will be much more difficult to put it together correctly. Seeing the big picture on the outside of the box before we begin is extremely helpful. However, God did not give mankind a multimedia presentation of His redemptive plan at the very beginning.  Instead, He gave a promise in “mystery” (enigmatic) form—revealed gradually in bits and pieces in history.

We could debate why God did not just give us the big picture all at once at the beginning—so we would not have to scratch our heads trying to figure it out—but it seems that God wanted us to struggle with it in order to humble us, make us seek His face, and learn to trust and depend upon Him.  But there is another reason. 

Ten thousand years from now it will be even more tempting for humanity to dismiss Christianity as mere superstition of a pre-enlightened age.  But the Bible relates a story which was developed inside verifiable history over a span of four thousand years.  The story is too interrelated and systematic to be the product of deceivers or lunatics.  God did it this way so that His redemptive plan could not be falsified on historical grounds, no matter how many years pass. For the redemptive plan to stand the test of time for all ages to come, it needed to be revealed and consummated inside history over such a long period (and in such a historically verifiable way) that there could never be any question about its authenticity.  This is exactly what we find in the Bible. Only the “Ancient of Days” could accomplish something like that. 

God’s plan of redemption was a “mystery” which was only unveiled partially and gradually through the Old Testament.  This mystery was not only hidden from humanity in general, but it was somewhat obscure to God’s people and the angels as well:

As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.  It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.  (1 Peter 1:10-12, NASB95)

They did not get the big picture at the beginning.  God used his people to paint the picture slowly and gradually over the first four thousand years of human history.  Only at the end of the redemptive drama did the big picture come into clear view.  That is why I suggested that looking first at the nature of things at the beginning (without having the big picture at the end in view) may skew one’s interpretation of the nature of fulfillment at the end time. If you start off on the wrong path, you will end up at the wrong destination.  If you know your destination you will know which path to take.  In this case, it is the last things that we need to look at first, since the last things tell us how to fit the first things into the big picture.  And the nature of fulfillment of the last things is more significant for our understanding of the whole redemptive drama than the nature of the first things.  The New Testament tells us what the Old Testament was pointing to—Jesus Christ.  So we need to see the big picture first before we start trying to put the Old Testament pieces together.

I appreciate Brian Martin’s emphasis on this in his book Behind the Veil of Moses.  His comments on Paul’s teaching about this in 2 Corinthians 3:7-16 are excellent. Only at the end, when the veil of Moses is removed, do we see clearly enough to understand correctly God’s redemptive plan from its creation all the way to its consummation.

You may be asking, “What does the big picture look like?”  Here it is:

1. God made His plan for humanity in eternity before He created the universe.

2. Then God created the Universe and all that it contains, including the first two humans, Adam and Eve, as well as the Garden in which they would dwell.

3. God wanted man to live forever with Him in close fellowship, so He gave Adam a task to fulfill and guidelines to follow during his probation on earth in order to prepare him for his eternal life in heaven with God.

4. But Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree and broke that fellowship, bringing condemnation and separation upon themselves and their posterity.

5. This put man in a state of spiritual death before God, as well as doomed their physical bodies to suffer physical death and return to dust.

6. Because God, in His holiness, could not bring the righteous dead into heaven until His plan of redemption was completed, He allowed Satan to imprison the conscious, disembodied souls of mankind in Sheol (Greek: Hades). This was a temporary provision until a “seed of Eve” would come and “redeem” His elect from Satan and raise them out of Hades, giving them new immortal and incorruptible bodies, taking them to heaven to dwell with Him forever.

7. All the events of the Old Testament were a tutorial designed to equip His people to recognize the Redeemer when He arrived, and to enable us to understand what He was accomplishing for us.

8. Christ Jesus is that Redeemer, and the whole New Testament is the unveiling of “the rest of the story” (His Story) of God’s plan to buy back His people from eternal separation and condemnation, and to give them immortal life in His presence and fellowship forever.

In future issues we will focus on smaller pieces of the Redemptive Puzzle.  But it was important here, before attempting to fit the pieces together in future articles, to see what the big picture is supposed to look like when we are finished.