Others have suggested that the central theme of the
Bible is Christ Himself. This is true since Christ is
the Creator of the world and the Word of God incarnated
(John 1:1-3). The gospel message centers on the person
of Christ as the Savior of the world. He is prefigured
in types, and predicted in prophecy (Luke 24:25-27).
Others have suggested the covenants are the central
theme in the Bible. We cannot deny the covenants are one
of the main themes of the Bible. We are told in the
Bible of God's covenants with Adam and Christ (Romans
5:12 ff.), how Adam disobeyed God and brought the human
race, which he represented, into sin and judgment. Noah,
Abraham, Moses, and David were all given covenantal
promises that represented a renewal of the covenant with
Adam and the promise of a better covenant to come. That
better covenant, of course, is the new covenant in
Christ, our new representative, to succeed where Adam
had failed. By His death on the cross, He redeemed us
from sin and judgment. In His resurrection, we are given
life.
Like redemption, the covenants are definitely a unifying
theme of the Bible, but it also seems to be inadequate
to bring together the full range of Biblical revelation.
The theme redemption needs a foundation. In the
covenants, we find a theme that includes every major
Biblical doctrine and gives proper honor to Christ as
the Creator and Savior.
The Book of Genesis begins with the creation of the
heavens and earth, and often-overlooked fact, the
establishment of the kingdom of God on earth. Before the
reason for the establishing of the kingdom of God on
earth, Adam rebelled against God and handed the physical
realm of the kingdom of God over to Satan. The rest of
the Bible tells how God will restore the kingdom to
Himself and bring man back into the kingdom of God and
the glory that God originally designed for him. History
is the story of God's war against Satan. God defeats
Satan and reconstructs His kingdom through Christ,
bringing to pass His original purpose for the creation.
The Gospel that Christ preached was the Gospel of the
kingdom of God, “And Jesus went about all Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel
of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and
all manner of disease among the people” (Matthew 4:23).
The Apostle Paul, preached the message of the kingdom,
“And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house,
and received all that came in unto him, preaching the
kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern
the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man
forbidding him” (Acts 28:30-31). The Revelation of Jesus
Christ to His servant John reveals the everlasting
establishment of God's kingdom: “And the seventh angel
sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying,
‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of
our Lord, and of his Christ; and He shall reign for ever
and ever" (Rev. 11:15; cf. 1:9; 12:10). In Revelation
chapters 21-22 John describes the New Jerusalem, the
heavenly city, the fulfillment of God's purpose for the
creation and the final manifestation of the kingdom of
God.
Christ brings in the kingdom of God, fulfilling the
promises made to Abraham and David, accomplishing all
that God had designed for man in the original creation.
Messiah defeats Satan’s kingdom and establishes the
everlasting kingdom given to Him by the Ancient of Days.
When scholars refer to the kingdom of God as a
covenantal kingdom, they base the reference on the fact
that the covenant defines God's relationship with man.
However, it is important we understand what a covenant
is because Biblical scholars often claim a covenant is
essentially the same as a contract. This is not true. A
covenant is not a contractual type of relationship that
remains only so long as the two parties provide some
sort of mutual benefit. The Biblical essence of a
covenant is God’s love for His people, the basis for His
calling them. However, love requires a response.
Therefore, God demands that the children of Israel also
love Him. A covenant is a commitment of love. Since a
covenant creates a relationship different from the
mutual profit-seeking relationship of a contract, the
establishment and sealing of a covenant generally
requires an oath-taking ceremony. When one takes an
oath, he promises to preserve the covenantal
relationship and seals the promise with words that call
a curse upon himself if he should fail to keep his
promise. The curse of the covenant is death.
Many Christians may not realize that a curse is part of
the traditional Christian wedding vow. "Till death do us
part" means "until death," but it includes the idea that
nothing but death can end the covenant, implying the
curse of death on the one who is disloyal to the oath.
Another aspect of the traditional wedding vow
illustrates the kind of commitment demanded in a
covenant. For example, we say "in sickness and health,"
and "for better or worse," which witness to the fact
that even if the relationship turns out to be
"unprofitable" for us, we will not abandon our partner
because of economic or other hardships. Marital love is
self-sacrificial. There is no basis for dissolving the
relationship except when one of those who took the vow
betrays it and undermines the whole relationship.
Sickness, poverty, or an unpleasant personality cannot
undo the oath. In marriage, each person takes an oath to
give himself or herself sacrificially to the other,
without thought of personal profit.
The wedding illustration is especially appropriate,
because God's relationship with Israel is compared to
the relationship of husband to wife. Christ’s
relationship to the church is compared to the
relationship of husband and wife. So long as Israel is
faithful to the love of the covenant, and "faithful"
does not mean sinless perfection, God will never leave
her or forsake her.
However, it is not in God's relationship with Israel
that we see the full meaning of love, for the Bible does
not reveal the full meaning of covenantal love until the
coming of Christ. It is in the relationship between
Christ and the Father, that we first see that covenantal
love is the eternal fellowship of Father, Son, and
Spirit (John 17:24, 26).
In the relationship of Christ and the Father, we
understand that John's words "God is love" because the
Father, Son, and Spirit share an everlasting love for
one another. Each of the three Persons of the Trinity
wholly devotes Himself to bless and glorify the other.
God created the heavens and earth to manifest His glory
(Psalm 8, 19). When God appointed Adam and Eve as rulers
over the works of His creation their rule was to be
based upon love for God and one another. They were to
guard the created world and take care of it so that it
would bear fruit for God's glory. The fall of man was a
rejection of God's love and a rejection of the way of
love among men. The violence of the pre-flood world is
the climax of the rebellion of the fall and the logical
outcome of the rejection of God's love.
The purpose of God’s plan of redemption is to restore
man’s fellowship with His Creator. The created world,
too, must be restored to its original purpose of
revealing God's glory. The kingdom of righteousness and
love must come to historical realization in order that
Satan's lie and the temptation in the Garden may be
utterly defeated to the glory of God. Redemption finds
its fulfillment in the kingdom of God. God has poured
out His covenantal love upon us in Jesus Christ in order
that through faith in Him we may be brought into an
everlasting fellowship of love.
The central theme of the Bible, reveals the nature of
the Triune God as a God of love who has called man into
a fellowship of love with Himself.
