Series: Biblical Theology & Redemptive History (LDBC)

Redemptive History Summaries

Kirk E. Miller

1 | Creation (Genesis 1-2)
God’s creational-kingdom intent is established.

2 | The fall (Genesis 3-6:8)
God’s creational-kingdom is lost; and humanity enters into a state of perpetual disbelieving disobedience.

3 | The flood | Noahic covenant (Genesis 6:9-11:26)
God confirms his commitment to his creational-kingdom intent despite humanity’s depravity.

4 | Abrahamic covenant | the patriarchs (Genesis 11:27-50:26)
God initiatives his new-creational kingdom plan in the form of covenant-bound promises to Abraham.

5 | The exodus (Exodus 1-18)
God begins to execute his covenant-bound, new-creational kingdom purposes by means of a deliverance.

6 | The Mosaic covenant (Exodus 19-Deuteronomy 34)
God gives his people—Israel—a conditional covenant (i.e., blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience) whereby his people could experience the blessings of the new-creational kingdom.

7 | The wilderness wanderings (Numbers)
God’s people fail to enter God’s new-creational kingdom due to disbelieving disobedience. God postpones yet remains committed to his covenant-bound purpose of bringing about his new-creational kingdom.

8 | Entrance and life in the promised land (Joshua, Judges, Ruth)
Although God is faithful to his covenant-bound purposes to bring about his new-creational kingdom, God’s people only experience a partial realization of it due to disbelieving disobedience.

9 | Monarchy | Davidic covenant (1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles)
Through covenant-bound promises to David, God specifies how he will exercise his new-creational kingdom intent of reigning over as well as through his people: he will reign especially through kings from David’s line.
However, due to disbelieving disobedience, as exemplified in the splitting of the kingdom, God’s people continue to fail to experience the full extent of God’s new creational kingdom.

10 | Wisdom and songs (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon)
God supplies wisdom and songs for his covenant-bound, new-creational kingdom people.

11 | Exile | new covenant (The Prophets [Isaiah-Malachi]; Esther)
Due to disbelieving disobedience, God’s people—Israel—experience the covenant-bound curses. They experience the opposite of the covenant-bound, new-creational kingdom blessings.
However, God promises a New Covenant in which he will deal with these covenant-bound curses, eradicate his people’s disbelieving disobedience, and thereby finally and actually bring about his new-creational kingdom.

12 | Return from exile (Ezra, Nehemiah)
God brings many of his people back from exile. However, this is clearly not the ultimate realization of the new-creational kingdom of which the New Covenant spoke.

13 | The Gospel—the mission of Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)
God becomes a human being—Jesus—and initially but decisively brings about God’s new-creational kingdom. He does this centrally through his death and resurrection.

14 | Pentecost | the Church (Acts; the NT epistles)
God’s people is transformed into a community of Jews and Gentiles who experience the beginning realities of this new-creational kingdom by faith. God increases his new-creational kingdom through this people—the Church—as they proclaim the Gospel and live out its entailment or implications.

15 | The return of Christ | consummation (Revelation 21-22)
God fully brings about his new-creational kingdom upon Jesus’ return.

See this series of posts for further elaboration and explanation of these summaries.

Redemptive-Historical Survey: 14 | Pentecost & the Church (LDBC Recap 5/8/16)

Kirk E. Miller

Explanation

logo-lake-drive-baptist-churchOn Sunday, January 24th, 2016, I began a Core Seminar on Redemptive History & Biblical Theology at my church, Lake Drive Baptist Church. During the course of this series I’ll be sending out emails recapping lessons and directing recipients to resources for further study.

Rather than just share these recaps with my church family, I’ve decided to share them here on the blog for anyone else who might be interested. I will be posting them occasionally over the next couple of months on a weekly basis or so.

See previous posts:

Recap/review

In this week’s recap we will cover three sections: (a) Pentecost and the church; (b) the return of Christ and the consummation of the new-creational kingdom; and (c) some final conclusions to our study.

We begin by reviewing the role of Pentecost and the church in redemptive history.

Overview of Biblical material

Acts; the NT epistles

  • God’s new people, the Church, is begun.
  • The Gospel spreads throughout the world.
  • The Church wrestles over emerging theological issues (e.g., the inclusion of Gentiles and the question of circumcision).
  • The apostles instruct these young emerging churches (cf. epistles).

Role within redemptive history

Summary: God’s people is transformed into a community of Jews and Gentiles who experience the beginning realities of this new-creational kingdom by faith. God increases his new-creational kingdom through this people—the Church—as they proclaim the Gospel and live out its entailment or implications.

Continue reading →

Redemptive-Historical Survey: 13 | The Gospel–the Mission of Jesus (LDBC Recap 4/24/16)

Kirk E. Miller

Explanation

logo-lake-drive-baptist-churchOn Sunday, January 24th, 2016, I began a Core Seminar on Redemptive History & Biblical Theology at my church, Lake Drive Baptist Church. During the course of this series I’ll be sending out emails recapping lessons and directing recipients to resources for further study.

Rather than just share these recaps with my church family, I’ve decided to share them here on the blog for anyone else who might be interested. I will be posting them occasionally over the next couple of months on a weekly basis or so.

See previous posts:

Recap/review

This week was surveyed the role of the Gospel–or, the mission of Jesus–in redemptive history.

Overview of Biblical material

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John – The life and saving work of Jesus.

  • God becomes a human—Jesus of Nazareth.
  • He works great miracles.
  • He teaches great things.
  • He is eventually killed by the Jews and Romans.
  • But three days later he rises from the dead.

Role within redemptive history

We can summary the central role of the Gospel in redemptive history as follows: God becomes a human being—Jesus—and initially but decisively brings about God’s new-creational kingdom. He does this centrally through his death and resurrection.

As always, we will break this down into in various parts for closer examination.

  • God becomes a human: the incarnation’s relationship to the Gospel

First, we want to consider the incarnation’s (lit. “infleshing,” i.e., the event God becoming a human) relationship to the Gospel and its fulfillment of this new-creational kingdom.

Continue reading →

Redemptive-Historical Survey: 12 | Return from Exile (LDBC Recap 4/17/16 Pt. 2)

Kirk E. Miller 1 Comment

Explanation

logo-lake-drive-baptist-churchOn Sunday, January 24th, 2016, I began a Core Seminar on Redemptive History & Biblical Theology at my church, Lake Drive Baptist Church. During the course of this series I’ll be sending out emails recapping lessons and directing recipients to resources for further study.

Rather than just share these recaps with my church family, I’ve decided to share them here on the blog for anyone else who might be interested. I will be posting them occasionally over the next couple of months on a weekly basis or so.

See previous posts:

Recap/review

We complete this week’s recap by surveying the role of the return from exile in redemptive history.

Overview of Biblical material

Ezra, Nehemiah

  • Judah returns from exile in three waves:
    • 70 years after Judah’s exile, the Persian (recall that Persia overtook Babylon) King Cyrus sent some exiles, led by Zerubbabel, back to Jerusalem. (538 BC)
    • With Ezra in 458 BC.
    • With Nehemiah in 445 BC.

See Isa 44:28 and Jer 29:10-14.

  • Despite opposition from the non-Jewish inhabitants of Judea, the wall and temple were rebuilt under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah.

Cf. Esther (the events in Esther occur during this time, but relate to life in exile) as well as the post-exilic prophets—Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

Role within redemptive history

We summarized the role of the return from exile in redemptive history as follows: God brings many of his people back from exile. However, this is clearly not the ultimate realization of the new-creational kingdom of which the New Covenant spoke.

Continue reading →

Redemptive-Historical Survey: 11 | Exile & New Covenant (LDBC Recap 4/17/16 Pt. 1)

Kirk E. Miller

Explanation

logo-lake-drive-baptist-churchOn Sunday, January 24th, 2016, I began a Core Seminar on Redemptive History & Biblical Theology at my church, Lake Drive Baptist Church. During the course of this series I’ll be sending out emails recapping lessons and directing recipients to resources for further study.

Rather than just share these recaps with my church family, I’ve decided to share them here on the blog for anyone else who might be interested. I will be posting them occasionally over the next couple of months on a weekly basis or so.

See previous posts:

Recap/review

This week we finished our survey of (a) the exile and New Covenant as well as (b) the return from exile. As in previous times when we covered two redemptive-historical stages, we will break them up into two recap posts.

First, we will recap the exile and New Covenant.

Overview of Biblical material

The prophets (Isaiah–Malachi); Esther

  • God speaks through the prophets delivering a message of judgment, namely exile, as a consequence of Israel’s perpetual sin and rebellion (e.g., see 2 Chron 36:15-16).
  • Israel (northern tribes) are taken into captivity (exile) by Assyria. See 2 Kings 7:6-23.
  • Judah (southern tribes) are taken into captivity (exile) by Babylon (eventually taken over by Persia). See 2 Chron 36:15-21.
  • But, nonetheless, God is faithful to his people (e.g., he preserves them from annihilation [Esther]).
  • And through the prophets, not only does he foretell judgment, but he also gives hope of eventual restoration. 

Role within redemptive history

We summarized the role of this stage in redemptive history as follows:

Due to disbelieving disobedience, God’s people—Israel —experience the covenant-bound curses. They experience the opposite of the covenant-bound, new-creational kingdom blessings.

However, God promises a New Covenant in which he will deal with these covenant-bound curses, eradicate his people’s disbelieving disobedience, and thereby finally and actually bring about his new-creational kingdom.

Continue reading →