Category Archives: Covenant

The Bible’s Big Picture

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Israel has often been described as a type of the Church. So the 12 patriarchal tribal heads of Israel prefigure the 12 Apostles (pillars of the Church); the Passover and the Exodus prefigure the death of Jesus and the Redemption of the Church; the giving of the Law at Sinai prefigures the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost; the wandering of Israel in the desert prefigures the time of testing for the Church militant on earth; Israel’s entry into the Promised Land prefigures the entry of God’s people into the New Creation; the glory of David and Solomon on their throne in the earthly Jerusalem prefigures the glory of Christ on his in the heavenly Jerusalem. In other words, in terms of biblical books, Exodus to Kings/Chronicles.

If so, then what do we do with Genesis? And the Patriarchs in Genesis 12-50? And going further back, Genesis 1-11? Of course there are many spiritual lessons to draw from the patriarchal narrative, but how does the narrative as a whole, how do the Patriarchs taken together reflect life in the New Testament? Did Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac give him a small glimpse into how the eternal pact between the Father and Son would work out in history? Or Jacob’s vision of heaven at Bethel with the staircase on which angels ascended and descended? Do all the patriarchs taken together point us somehow to the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus? In other words does the whole narrative of the Old Testament prefigure the narrative of the New Testament?

And so are we meant to discern some large ‘covenant-cycles’ through Scripture? We can discern various ‘kings’ and ‘bringers of rest’ bringing these covenant-cycles to an end: Noah (whose name means ‘comfort/rest’ and who was given authority to wield the sword of justice with the death penalty); Joseph (who became the ruler of Egypt before whom his brothers did finally bow the knee); David (who established rest for Israel from their enemies in the land); and Jesus who brings true rest for the weary in the New Creation?

 

 

From altar-ministry to gospel-ministry

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It would appear that the specific priestly duty of manipulating blood at the altar (under the Mosaic Covenant) has been fulfilled and replaced by gospel ministry (under the New Covenant). This seems to be clear from 1 Corinthians 9:13-14, where the apostle Paul is defending his right to receive financial remuneration from preaching the gospel;

Don’t you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. (1 Corinthians 9:13-14).

There are two parallels here. One is to do with stipend, i.e. the parallel between ‘eating food from the temple’ and ‘receiving a living from gospel ministry’. The other is to do with the nature of these respective ministries (altar-service and gospel-proclamation). Both are God-given mechanisms to effect forgiveness of sins. Under the Mosaic Covenant, blood sacrifice was the means of effecting the forgiveness of sins (anticipating Christ’s final sacrifice). But now that Christ’s perfect sacrifice has put away sin once and for all, there is no longer any need for blood sacrifice of any kind. Instead, sins are forgiven through the gospel. As the message of Christ’s atoning work is proclaimed, and as people hear it and believe it, sins are forgiven. Thus we see that “the work in the temple” finds typological fulfilment in “the preaching of the gospel”.

 

The Bronze Sea and baptism

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The “Bronze Sea” or “laver” in Solomon’s temple was a large bronze basin in which the priests who entered the temple had to wash to make themselves ceremonially clean (cf 2 Chronicles 4:6). This “Sea” seems to have represented either (or both) the Red Sea – across which the Israelites passed in their flight from Egypt and the Jordan – across which they passed to enter the Promised Land. The priests entering the tabernacle or temple thus appear to be ceremonially re-enacting (on behalf of the people) the redemption of Israel when they washed in the “Bronze Sea”. Crossing from unholy to holy places seems to require ceremonial washing.

We could say, therefore, that in order for a person to approach God in worship and enter the Holy Place, one must “cross the Sea”. For Christians, water baptism is the moment when a person “crosses the sea” and (outwardly and ceremonially) enters God’s true Dwelling-Place to become a member of Christ and the Church. Understanding our baptism in this way increases our awareness of the high calling and responsibilities which baptism implies.

Wearing our priestly garments with pride

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Another way of understanding baptism as our ordination service is to see that being clothed with Christ is a typological fulfilment of Aaron’s priestly garments (cf Exod. 28:2). Paul says this;

“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:26)

Baptism, as believers, is baptism “into Christ”. And this passage in Galatians suggests that we are united with Christ as priests. For we have been clothed with Christ. If Jesus was the priest par excellence, and if we ‘wear’ Jesus Christ, or “put on the new self” then we wear the garment that qualifies us as NT priests.

Where do we go to worship?

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One of the possible objections being raised by the second generation Jews (which the author of Hebrews seeks to answer) was this: “Where do we go to worship if there is no temple?”

The author answers this question by saying that the sphere of worship under the new covenant is no longer inside a holy place (or temple) but outside in the ungodly places.

 11The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. (Hebrews 13:11-14).

Those who would mediate God’s blessings to the world (as New Testament believer-priests) will suffer as Christ suffered. We go into the world to bear Christ’s disgrace. But we go to Christ for refuge. True Christian worship is shaped by Jesus’ moment of self-sacrifice which happened outside the camp and outside the city gate.

Ordination to Believers’ Priesthood

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In his book The Priesthood of the Plebs, Peter Leithart argues that Christian baptism fulfils and replaces Levitical ordination. I find this a most wonderful truth that will transform the way we think of ourselves as Christians. Let me quote a paragraph from his book that summarises why he makes such an important link:

“Like Christian baptism, the washing at the beginning of the ordination rite was an administered initiation, and in these respects the ordination bath was unique in the Levitical system. While most Old Testament ablutions were self-washings, Moses washed Aaron and his sons (Exod. 29:4; Lev. 8:6; cf. Lev. 14:8; 15:16-18, 27); while most cleansing rites were repeated as often as one became unclean, the ordination washing was once-for-all. Though priests washed their hands and feet before approaching the altar or approaching the tent (Exod.30:20), this self-washing was not a repetition of the ordination bath since it was partial and not administered. Similarly, when the Levites were set apart to help the priests in tabernacle service, Moses sprinkled them with water, then they shaved themselves and washed their clothes before being installed through a sacrificial rite and the laying on of hands (Num. 8:5-15). The ordination bath and the closely related sprinkling of the Levites were the only administered initiatory water “baptisms” in the Levitical system. [Italics his].” (The Priesthood of the Plebs, (Eugene, Wipf and Stock, 2003), p95)

Thus in baptism, Christians are ordained as priests into the New Testament Priesthood and our whole life is dedicated to the service and guardianship of Christ, the Gospel and the Temple (ie the Church).

Greg Beale’s The Temple and the Church’s Mission

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Greg Beale’s The Temple and the Church’s Mission is an exciting book and crucially important for understanding what the purpose of the temple was in God’s grand plan. Beale takes us carefully through the cosmic symbolism of temples in the Ancient Near East, which lays the foundations for the heart of his book. From there he argues that Eden was a cosmic temple and that from the time of Adam, the temple in all its various forms (the garden-sanctuary in Eden, the tabernacle, the temple) was designed to expand to fill the whole earth. This is fulfilled in Christ and reminds the Church today (the temple of the Holy Spirit) that one of its primary functions is to fill the earth. One day, in the New Creation there will be a “garden-like city”, the new Jerusalem, sharing many of the features and hallmarks of the earlier temples.

How do Genesis 1 & 2 relate?

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One thing we must get straight is the question of how Genesis 1 & 2 relate. I know this deserves a huge amount of space, but for starters, there is a really important distinction that is too often overlooked.
In ch1 Adam has a predominantly royal function, in ch2 he has a priestly one.

Adam’s role in ch1 is to rule the earth in the image of God, as vice-gerents under God’s Kingship “to rule over the birds of the air” etc, and “to bear fruit and multiply”. The first account of creation ends with the seventh day (2:1-3), a day of rest on which God stops his work of creation. This is the goal of creation God desires for mankind to enter and be part of and that still remains for us to enter (Heb 4). God’s name in ch1 is Elohim (the generic name for God as Creator).

In ch2 God’s name is his covenantal name Yahweh. It suggests that Adam (and later humanity) can relate to God both in a non-covenantal way as Elohim (Creator) [Ch1] and in covenant relationship as Yahweh [Ch2]. That’s how later Israelites reading this would surely have understood it. Thus as they were getting ready to enter the Promised Land they were encouraged to know that their Covenant God was not a different God from the God who made them (and the people they were about to dispossess).

Ch 2 is geographically specific and describes a garden in which God places Adam to work it and take care of it. From the many similarities with the later tabernacle/temple it possesses the features of a divine sanctuary (where God dwells and walks with mankind); precious stones, rivers, trees in abundance, and (after the fall) cherubim to guard the entrance (later embroidered on the tabernacle curtain to symbolically guard the holy place). So in the same way that the kings of the ANE used to take the image of their god and place it in the temple, so too God takes the image of God and places it in his temple (this garden-sanctuary).

Adam’s job in the garden-sanctuary is to work it (or ‘cultivate’ it) and take care of it, lit. to ‘serve’ it (abad) and ‘guard’ it (shamar). These two Hebrew words are Levitical concepts only ever used in the OT together when describing the work of Levites in the tabernacle. So Adam is meant to serve/cultivate the sanctuary and guard it from anything unclean entering it (like snakes and lies and ceremonially unclean people).

It helps us to define what biblical priesthood is: Adam was set apart by God to maintain and guard (and mediate to others) the conditions necessary for enjoying permanent fellowship with God and divine blessings. And he does that by keeping (or ‘guarding’) God’s word.

Eventually, of course, blood-sacrifice will become a key part of maintaining those conditions. But I want to suggest that it is only by doing the work of the sanctuary (Gen 2) that the work of filling the earth and subduing it in God’s image (Gen 1) will happen properly. God’s plan is that the divine sanctuary extends to cover the whole world (which is why the new heaven and earth in Rev 21 is a garden-like city with many of the features of Eden). For a good discussion of this, see Greg Beale’s excellent book The Temple and God’s Mission (IVP Apollos). And although it seems that the command in ch1 to fill the earth and subdue it can be fulfilled by anyone it can only be done in a partial and fallen way. Thus what we really need now is a new Adam.

 

The role of priest starts with Adam

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John Owen insists in The Priesthood of Christ, p40, that a priest is a sacrificer no more, no less. Thus, for him, priesthood is always sacerdotal. Where there is no blood sacrifice there is no priest – “a priest, properly so called, is a sacrificer” (my italics). He admits that even in man’s uncorrupted state in Eden there was need for instruction (but he does not use the word priestly to describe it).

However, without wishing to depart too far from his overall understanding, I believe Scripture leads us to define priesthood more widely. Adam (as representative head of mankind) functioned as a priest in the garden sanctuary of Eden. Sometimes, in Scripture, priestly authority is exercised formally, institutionally and legally; at other times (as with Adam and the heads of the families pre-Sinai) it is exercised informally.

Thus a distinction must be made between the general priestly duty to guard and maintain the conditions necessary for enjoying permanent fellowship with God and his blessings from external corrupting influence, and the specific priestly duty to guard and maintain these conditions from internal corrupting influence (ie sin). This latter duty requires specific sacrificial or sacerdotal duties. So, Adam in his incorrupt state was to guard the Word of God, and guard the sanctuary from the external corrupting influence of sin and the devil.

Of course, after his own act of disobedience when he became corrupt himself, an additional priestly duty was required, namely, the need to carry out blood sacrifices for sin along with the requirement to safeguard that too. Thus my somewhat broader definition of biblical priesthood…

Biblical priesthood is a people called and set apart by God to maintain, guard and mediate to others the conditions necessary for enjoying permanent fellowship with God and divine blessings.

 

A Reformed Biblical Theology of Priesthood

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The Doctrine of the Priesthood of All Believers

I delivered this paper in March 2011 at the Chester Association: a first stab at trying to give biblical theological content to the doctrine of the Priesthood of all Believers. Click on the title below to read…

“Chester Association A Biblical Theology of the Priesthood March 2011”

 

 

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