The Abrahamic Covenant and the Missions Mandate in the Old and New Testaments - Essay Example

The Abrahamic Covenant and the Missions Man in the Old and New Testaments The keen readers of Scripture understand that there is a clear assertion that the New Testament emphasizes more on the mission. But very few consider the Old Testament containing a mission mandate. Later investigation reveals that the Old Testament also contains this mission. A great amount of literature of the 20th century considers the Old Testament as an indispensable foundation for the churchs missionary work. For instance the classic great mission passage in Matt 28:19-20 in the book of facts1. From the start of the Canon there is a strong emphasis on the notion that the nations of the world would come to believe in the coming of Man of Promise. The specifics of this man have been given as the person coming from the seed passed down through the family of Shem and then passing through the lineage; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David. What is the importance of missions? Usually the response to this question is an emotional speech from a missionary speaker confining the whole mission into a beautiful sentence where the needs of thousands and millions of suffering is repeated over and over again. But the problem with such responses is that they are full of emotions and their aggressive impact disappears with the same intensity as it enters the mind. The mission has its roots in the nature of God that saves and send2. At the time when Adam and Eve made a mistake and gave into Satan’s treacherous temptations in the Garden of Eden. The Lord called them “where are you?” (Gen 3:9). This is the nature of God that is open to all nations and cultures across time and space. It also means that God is the one seeking conciliation between his fallen creatures out of his own kindness. The message in the Old Testament is universal in its entirety, which is why it works for all nations. The Genesis clearly states its universal audiences. The mission started when God gave Abraham his name. This gift of name was designed for blessing others. In fact Abrahams blessings and his huge nation was a blessing for all humans. This is the essence of the mission mandate. The evidence of this mission can be observed in the representation Gentiles mentioned in the Old Testament. For instance Jethro, the Egyptians that were expelled with the Israelites, Balaam, Rahab etc. who followed prophets like Jonah. In other words the God stated himself in the Old Testament as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and reveals his name Yahweh to Moses; undoubtedly this is the God of the whole world.3 This patriarchy of experience and later Israels one nation under God encompasses the entire world. Genesis 10 lists the nations which makes it important to understand universal mission mandate in the Old Testament. According to some scholars this concludes the history and mystery of creation. God created every nation that stands under his watchful eye, his patients and his justice. Such a scenario creates the false perception that perhaps the nations are mere decorations into Gods kingdom. As if they are incidental to the drama between man and his creator. Instead, the whole of mankind is the drama itself. Gods focus in his work are directed towards humanity on the whole and not on particular nations. This can be established from Genesis 1-11, which explains the history of creation. The same narrative can also be found in the book of Johns Revelation. The God revealed himself to the nation of Israel, appeared as Jesus Christ and called himself as the omnipotent, the Alpha and Omega, the master of all universes, the creator of the beginning and the end. This God does not back away from his work until “every multitude without number” and “every tongue and nation” gather around his throne (Rev 5:9-10 and 7:9-17). When the observer changes their perspective only been they are able to understand the entirety of the mission mandate. The God makes a path through plodding and wearing actions of men. The mission mandate is evident in almost every indication in the Bible that is directed towards men. In the Bible when the account of Gods judgment of nations mentioned in the Genesis passage and the Tower of Babel ends, chapter 12 moves towards Gods call to Abraham. He asks Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldees. In one glance it might seem that the God of all universes would own only the family history of one tribe but the reality is quite the contrary. The nation of Israel is Gods favorite but Gods focus is not only in this nation. It is Gods will to embrace his goals through this nation. The goals include all of mankind. The nation of Israel was the chosen one to serve the majority. God chose Abraham and Israel for the whole world. The nation of Israel is just an example. The God maintains his personal claims on the whole of mankind by focusing precisely on Israel. God chose Israel so he could call the whole of mankind towards his throne. And whenever the nation of Israel turned introverted feeling proud of them being Gods favorite, the prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Amos spoke against Israel’s ethnocentric ideas. These prophets also charged them with subverting Gods true plan. The sixth and seventh century BC events opened Israel’s eyes to Gods universal mission mandate. When his nation went through the turmoil at the hands of Babylonians and then later pushed into exile, there was no doubt left in establishing the truth of unshakable relationship between Israel with the rest of the nations. The mission mandate manifested itself in Israel’s eager hope for a new covenant and a new exodus. They wanted another son of David. Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel would not bear witness that the whole of mankind and all nations fell in the spotlight of Gods mission mandate. Daniel’s apocalyptic vision suggests and welcomes the Son of Man and that he will establish the kingdom to demolished the brutish kingdoms whose domain includes all people (Dan 7:1-29). The holistic mission takes place within the framework of universal promise of creating order. Such a mandate gives security and hope to all aspects of the mission. The language God chose to address humans when the flood ended, echoes in Genesis 1. In other words it symbolizes the re-creation or a fresh start for all creations. Noah with his family is blessed in the sense that they have been assigned the mission to rehabilitate Earth4. The mandate of creation is renewed here. There are many texts demonstrating that God entered into a specific covenant with the Israeli nation however, he loves to be sovereign for all mankind. It also means that God has the right of judging and blessing all nations. Psalm 47:8 states “God reigns ordinations, God is seated on his holy throne.” 5 God sits judging over all nations in the context is the whole of human history. After establishing the essence of mission it would be only appropriate to establish the proper place of mission in systematic theology. The people of faith in todays world bear the responsibility of the great commission. The mission mandate does not copy or does not need to strive for validation from the Old Testament.6 It is simply foolish to find evidence for every mission mandate of the New Testament extracted from the Old Testament. Scholars consider it eisegesis when missions are read back into the Old Testament Scripture. It is considered a disservice to the study of Bible. There is hardly any need for supporting the New Testament mandate by searching for evidence through contrived Old Testament Scriptures. Instead of reinventing the wheel every time when the mission mandate is discussed the believers and scholars should look ahead. Also, there is no need for establishing Genesis 3:15 from the Abrahamic covenant or the incident of Jonah; it would be stating the truth over and over again that God is a missionary God. On the contrary the best definition of God is that he is merciful and just is quite accurate. The mission of the New Testament is not a deviation from any of the divine traits. The only thing different is the message New Testament in its character. The progressive revelation, history and theology of the new program draws on all the Scriptures that teach about God. The appropriate place of missions in the realm of systematic theology is absolute dependence on the Scriptures that teach about the God. Secondly, the biblical theology of missions drawn from and talk about theology, pneumatology, Christology, soteriology, eschatology and biblical anthropology has its stable place in the class of which the New Testament can be described as ecclesiology (Penney, 2001, p. 55). The first promises given to Abraham was in Ur of the Chaldees that included a promise to the world7. This promise is completed in its entirety as it encompasses the other promises too. For instance to receive the blessing is great but dispensing blessings is even greater. Abraham gets the assurance from divine that “in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen 12:3). These promises are also repeated in other parts of Genesis. Despite having two different interpretations of this discussion above the difference between interpretations can be based on methodology but never on principle. The essence of this discussion is that God chose Abraham not based on favoritism; the choosing of Abraham is designed in Gods glory and to help of the whole human race. In other words God did not call Abraham for Abrahams sake. The same narrative can also be established through the example of rescuing and liberating the nation of Israel. God did not only save Israel, he also saved and rescued the nations which indicates God’s universal mission. Yahweh established his love by keeping his word to Israel and freeing her from slavery. This event is crucial to understanding the first commandment. When the first commandment states that the God who saves and frees is the only God. This rescue mission turns Israel from being just one nation into a part of the community. And its existence is the courtesy of Gods deliverance. The prayers of thanksgiving are an example of thanking God for this rescue. The prophets of Israel nation became aware that it was not only Israel that was chosen for redemption by God. God revealed his intention that he wanted to restore his Lordship over entire world. After this rescue the prophets of Israel developed the theme of Gods universal mission centripetally. It means that after the rescue other nations made a pilgrimage back to the Zion or the mountain of the Lord. The prophets pictured other people returning to Jerusalem. Where God of Israel would appear as the Lord of all nations. The evidence for this claim is present in several psalms chants. Psalm 87 claims Jerusalem as ecumenical city. One day, this place will have inhabitants of many nations even those people who once opposed Israels God. And they will rejoice and celebrate Gods Fellowship with the mankind. Gods methodology for achieving liberation for Israel is interesting. Even the Bible describes the means God used for bringing salvation to the nation of Israel as well as others. The servant songs of Isaiah 40-55 focus specifically on these means of liberations. The servant songs cannot be mistaken as they are very clear about spreading salvation among the whole world. Gods plan is to make the whole of mankind come to him. For instance “the servant shall carry to the ends of the earth” (Isa 49:6), also “human not stop until righteousness prevailed throughout the earth. The coastlines are awaiting his instruction” (Isa 42:4). The fourth song in 53rd chapter reveals the secret of how the servant of the Lord showed how to complete his mission. This passage is emotional and moving. It depicts that the servant becomes a victim of the most savage butchery a man can inflict on another human. The passage suggests that whatever torture human mind can comprehend will be done to the servant. On the other hand the servant would be acting under Gods judgment which is due not only upon the nation of Israel but to all peoples and tribes. This passage also describes Gods gift for the servant for his obedience to suffer death. Through this great sacrifice the servant achieve the status of cleaning salvation and healing to all nations. The prophets sent to the nation of Israel keep reminding them that their election is not a privilege that they might see for themselves. Election is in fact a call to serve. This service demands witnessing among other nations. It also means that Israel should be a sign of their nations that God is the liberator and the creator. Abraham and the Hebrews were assigned a missionary task to get their lives in the light of what God communicated to them. God placed them in a strategic location enabling them to build a temple for all nations. What was desired from this nation was obedience and faithful witness. Gods mission was to bless all families of the earth through Abraham as well as his descendants. They were chosen as favorites so that God would fulfill his mission. About 2000 BC God talks to Abraham and the “…all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen 12:3). God changed Abram’s name to Abraham which means father of many nations. The Abrahamic Covenant became the main promise for reaching the world through the blessings that the prophet Abraham directly received through Gods promise. Gospel’s message in the New Testament exactly states the message of faith, which Abraham also experienced in Romans 4:1-3. Any doubt about the mission can be removed by analyzing the blessings. Was the blessing only for the circumcised (the Jews) or also for the uncircumcised (the Gentiles)? The answer is in the affirmative. The Gods righteousness is granted to sinful men by faith. It has always been the same message to mankind that God desired Israel to understand the mission and spread throughout the world. God forgives and rescues. Nineveh is also the government of Jerusalem however unlike Job he does not have any “Gentile complex” (Verkuyl, 2001, p. 33). He doesnt focus on any nation individual or a try however he didnt delete asks everyone to put their hearts and souls into his mission. The Lord is still looking to transform depressed, obstinate and peevish Jonahs into monuments of happiness that bring freedom. The book of Jonah concludes on a question that has not been answered. God fulfilled his goal with Nineveh but Jonah’s state is still unconfirmed. The question about Israel, the church and most importantly the obedience still arent answered. This is why every generation of Christians need to answer these questions for themselves. The book of Jonah offers no conclusion and the last question in the book is an answer. But the person who realizes the merciful nature of God and who actually wins the salvation of the world is an exception. The followers of the New Testament need to pay close attention to the message in the Jonahs book. Jesus Christ’s crucifixion which is often regarded as godforsaken as well as the resurrection of by signs of Jonah. They point to the profound meaning of the whole life clearly validating that God loves whole world. Not just the nation, tribe or a person, God wants every individual to be loved by his merciful nature. When a person draws lifeblood from the one who is greater than Jonah but refuses to spread the good news among other people if sabotaging God’s goals. The covenant of Abraham is clear in its message about the mission mandate. If anyone has doubts and the life and the events that Jonah experience is sufficient to validate the same mission mandate. Jonah his father to all Christians who wish for the blessings of being the chosen one but refuse the responsibility that comes with this election. BIBLIOGRAPHY Russell Penney. Overcoming The World Missions Crisis: Thinking Strategically To Reach The World. Kregel Academic. 2001 Read More