[0:00] We're going to start. Good morning. Good morning. Let's open up in a word of prayer, shall we? Our Father in heaven, Lord, great are your works, studied by all who delight in you.
[0:17] Father, let us study your works, but ultimately we pray that your Spirit would help us to delight in you, the Lord of creation. Father, and Jesus is the firstborn Son of a new creation.
[0:30] Lord, help us to look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. And Lord, on this Reformation Day, Lord, we thank you for the Reformers who recovered the Gospel, and for saints, men and women, who have stood firm in the face of opposition to declare your Gospel, the good news of what Christ has done.
[0:51] May we be people like that, Lord, who stand on the truth of the Gospel. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. The Bible, as you might know, uses different imagery to help us to understand our relationship with God.
[1:10] Christ is the King. If we trust in Christ, we are citizens of His kingdom. Christ is the Husband, and the Church is His bride.
[1:21] Jesus came to reclaim that bride. He is the Good Shepherd. We are the sheep. And He leads His sheep into green pastures. He is the farmer. We are divine.
[1:33] He is the warrior. He goes to war to save His people. He is that kinsman redeemer. He redeems us out of slavery as His inheritance.
[1:44] He is the rock and a solid foundation to build our lives. He is our Savior. And Jesus' name literally means Yahweh saves.
[1:55] Jesus is our Savior. He is our refuge and fortress and an ever-present help in time of trouble. He is a fire. And He not only burns in wrath, but He also purifies His people.
[2:08] He is the firstborn from the dead, and that's the start of the new creation. And finally, He is a Father, and we are His children, where we can cry, Abba, Father.
[2:22] All these are profound images that God gives us to help us think about our relationship with Him. Today, we'll be talking about the new creation, which is a different way to describe the same reality we discussed last week.
[2:39] that God would establish a truly just and righteous kingdom in which He is the King. And in week one, we define the discipline of biblical theology as understanding how the diverse parts of the Bible, 66 books in total, fit together into one grand story centered on Christ.
[3:01] And when we talk about the major storyline arc of the Scripture, people often rightly say the Bible can be summarized in four words. All right? Creation, fall, redemption, and restoration.
[3:14] So that's the storyline of the Bible, and that's called a metanarrative. It's a way of describing that storyline. So the Bible is bookended by the creation in Genesis 1 and the new creation at the end of Revelation.
[3:29] So for this class, we'll have five sections. First, we'll start at the new creation in Revelation 21. Second, rewind to the original creation in Genesis 1 and 2.
[3:46] Third, the fall and the effect of sin. Fourth, redemption by looking at the Exodus and then the prophesied second Exodus and God redeeming creation.
[3:59] and then finally back to the new creation. So five parts. So part one, the new creation. The new creation.
[4:10] So turn to the end of the Bible to Revelation 21. Revelation 21, verses 1 to 5. John says this, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
[4:24] For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
[4:38] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their God.
[4:52] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away.
[5:06] And he who is seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Right? The Bible ends with the new creation.
[5:17] And our attention there is drawn to a beautiful city coming down out of heaven, the new Jerusalem, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And this isn't just a holy land located in the Middle East, but a new heaven and a new earth.
[5:34] Every tear will be wiped away and God will again dwell with his people face to face. And one of the glories of this new creation of heaven will be that we will never need to say goodbye again.
[5:48] We at Trinity know the pain of having to say goodbye. Don't we? Goodbye to saints who have gone home to be with the Lord or goodbye to close friends that have moved on elsewhere. So perhaps the Lord is whetting our appetite here at Trinity for the day when we never need to say goodbye again.
[6:06] Right? And this new creation will be glorious. God is concerned with the renewal of the entire world. Creation itself will be healed. And this is a vision John gives us to show where the Bible story ends.
[6:19] The new heavens and the new earth is a great act of new creation. So if we trust in Christ, this is our glorious future. And John, as you might have imagined at this point in our series in biblical theology, John is using imagery that is similar to another part of the Bible.
[6:34] The recreation reminds us of the original creation going back to the very beginning. So turn with me to Genesis 1. So let's look at the original creation.
[6:48] God's original creation. In Genesis 1, familiar to us, we read about God creating the world. He created the heavens and the earth.
[6:59] Right? And then God created Eden, the garden, as a place for man and God to dwell together. At the end of the sixth day, God saw all that he had made and it was very good.
[7:11] From the smallest subatomic particle to the largest galaxy in space, everything was good in God's creation. Now, if you have questions about how to understand the creation account in light of scientific evidence, Luke Batty, Lord willing, will be discussing this in the next series.
[7:30] So stay tuned if you want to learn more about the science and creation. But you know, God didn't need to create the world. He didn't need to create the world. God was perfectly happy in eternal bliss before the world was ever created.
[7:46] God wasn't lonely. No, he didn't need us. He was perfectly happy within the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Spirit. So why did he do it? Why did God create the world in the first place?
[7:58] Well, God created the world for his own glory. The heavens declared the glory of God and the skies proclaimed the work of his hands, Psalm 19 tells us. Through Isaiah, God says, bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.
[8:21] God created Israel for his own glory and God created the world for his own glory. So creation exists to show that the author of creation is absolutely glorious. That's why he did it.
[8:34] And Genesis 2 zooms in and we see the creation of man and women, the pinnacle of God's creative work. So if we were there, we would have been witnesses to the very first marriage.
[8:47] Adam and Eve, a bride adorned for her husband and the husband passionately loved his bride. Genesis 2.23 is the very first love poem.
[8:58] Adam said of Eve, this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. And so friends, it is no accident, right, that we find marriage in the beginning and end of the Bible.
[9:09] So when God instituted marriage in the account of creation, he was providing the means by which we might understand the joy of an exclusive covenant love.
[9:20] So throughout the Bible, God frequently addresses us as people in the language of a husband. Right? And Paul says marriage images the relationship between Christ and his church.
[9:32] And the marriage ceremony in Genesis is preparing us for that great marriage ceremony that will happen in Revelation 21 between Christ and his people. When Jesus came to gather to himself the people of God, he revealed himself as the bridegroom, come to claim his church as his bride.
[9:49] In Revelation 21, John sees that bride, the church, adorned for her husband as Christ marries her. So Jonathan Edwards once said, there may be many ministers in the church, but the church has only one husband.
[10:04] A servant who seeks to gain attention to himself is flirting with Christ's bride. Right? You never flirt with another person's spouse. Right? And rather, servants of Christ must point the bride to the husband.
[10:18] As John the Baptist said of Jesus, he must increase, but I must decrease. The best man doesn't take attention away from the groom at the wedding. Right? And the church is Christ's beautiful bride.
[10:31] Proverbs 31 says, an excellent wife who can find. She is far more precious than jewels. Or Proverbs 12, an excellent wife is the crown of her husband. So if Solomon could say that about his wife, how much more does Christ love his church?
[10:48] Right? So friend, the church isn't perfect, but it will be once Christ returns. You know, perhaps when the church doesn't live up to its calling, it should make us more frustrated. It's like seeing our children misbehave.
[11:00] Like, I love you too much to see you misbehave that way. And perhaps you felt that way about the church. But let me ask you, though, do you love the church the way Christ loves his church?
[11:12] The church is Christ's beautiful bride. He died for her. He has an exclusive covenant love for his bride. Friends, do we love the church that way, the way Christ sees the church?
[11:23] And so that marriage between Adam and Eve is preparing us for the joy of that wedding celebration on that last day when Christ returns. Come, Lord Jesus. All right? And Genesis 3.8 describes God walking and talking with Adam and Eve.
[11:37] The dwelling place of God is with man. And both were to spread that glory to the ends of the earth, filling the earth with image bearers, as we discussed last week. That's paradise. Everything's good. Everything's perfect.
[11:49] It's the pinnacle of God's creative work. But of course, as we know, tragedy strikes. In the Bible, Genesis 3, tragically, Adam and Eve rebel against the God who gave them paradise and creation.
[12:03] They are exiled, exiled from the garden, from God's very presence, thrust into a deep darkness, into a violent world. So every good story has a tension in it.
[12:17] A problem must be resolved. And what's the problem in the Bible? What's the first problem that happens? It's the devastating effects of sin on creation and God's original intention in creation.
[12:31] So because of sin, all of creation was subject to death and pain. The old creation came into the world through Adam's sin.
[12:42] The old creation was subject to frustration and futility because of it. all of creation groans. Thorns, thistles, and pain are the consequences of sin.
[12:55] Corruption and death characterizes it. So in Tolkien, the Lord of the Rings, the two towers were Saruman's Isengard and Sauron's Mordor. The two towers.
[13:06] In the Bible, death and sin reign as the twin towers, as cosmic powers over the world. So in Adam, all die. And because of Adam's one sin, all people enter the world condemned spiritually dead and as sinners, as Paul says in Ephesians 2.
[13:25] Human beings are not only subject to sin, in the old creation they are slaves to Satan, who is the prince of the power of the air. As the sons and daughters of Adam, human beings are by nature children of wrath.
[13:37] The root sin, the most fundamental sin in the old creation, consists in the refusal to give praise and thanks and glory to God.
[13:51] Sin gives all glory to self, refusing to believe in God's word, trusting in our own wisdom. Faith gives all glory to God, believing that he will carry out what he promised.
[14:03] And the symptom of this sickness of sin is boasting, which is exalted ourselves over God. But that distorts reality, doesn't it? There is nothing falser than exalting ourselves over the creator God.
[14:17] But Adam, Eve did this, you and I do this. Pride or boasting is the mark of the old creation with a refusal to trust in God. So nevertheless, death is not the final word in these opening chapters.
[14:31] Right? God gave that first gospel promise in Genesis 3.15. The proto-evangelium we discussed last week. We see the promise of victory over the serpent.
[14:42] The offspring of Eve will crush the serpent. The triumph over evil is pledged at the very beginning in that gospel promise. The chosen offspring of Eve will crush the serpent one day.
[14:55] And this is the proto-evangelium. In Genesis 3, the new creation is promised. So it sets up multiple conflicts that propels the narrative forward in the Bible, the proto-evangelium.
[15:11] The first conflict in this is between Eve and the serpent. Right? And that started with the serpent's deception of Eve. The second conflict is between the woman's offspring and the serpent's offspring.
[15:27] Right? Your offspring and her offspring. So all the offspring of Adam and Eve come into the world as offspring of the serpent. But those who are the offspring of Eve are those who are recipients of God's grace.
[15:43] And the third conflict is between the specific offspring, the male descendant that will come. And the heel of the Savior will be bruised, but the Savior shall crush the serpent's head.
[15:57] So from this point on in Genesis, Genesis depicts two lines of seed at war with each other. The offspring of Satan want to murder the offspring of Eve.
[16:09] And the offspring of the serpent are enemies of the offspring of Eve. So the point isn't to say here that Satan physically conceived these children. The Bible is saying the children of Satan emulate his characteristics.
[16:22] They share the same nature as Satan, the serpent. And so this theme of hostility between the two lines will now characterize the biblical narrative going forward. So we begin to see the rapid rise of the serpent's offspring.
[16:36] Eve said of Cain, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. This son, Cain, is from the Lord. What a hopeful beginning. It seems that Eve may have even thought that her firstborn son, Cain, was that promised offspring that would crush the serpent.
[16:54] Everything began with a wonderful promise, just like Judas. But it doesn't take long before Cain's character is revealed to us. As Shakespeare once wrote, looks like the innocent flower, but there's a serpent under it.
[17:10] In a plot twist, Cain was the offspring of the serpent and murdered Abel. And 1 John exhorts us, do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother.
[17:22] And why did he murder him? Well, because his own actions were evil and his brothers were righteous. Cain belonged to the serpent, the evil one. And why did he murder his brother?
[17:35] Cain murdered his brother because Abel was righteous. Cain is marked by the old creation from the line of the serpent, someone who is proud who hates the righteous, the offspring of Eve. In Genesis 4.11, God cursed Cain just like he had done to the serpent.
[17:51] God said to Cain in Genesis 4.11, and now you are cursed from the ground like father, like son. And later in Genesis 12, anyone opposed to Abraham will be cursed. And the word curse is the same word that God uses toward Cain and the serpent.
[18:06] So the two lines are going to be at war. The line of Abraham's offspring and the serpent will be at war. We see that early on in Genesis. Jesus would tell the Pharisees that they are the offspring of the serpent in John 8.44.
[18:21] Remember that verse? You are of your father the devil and your will is due to your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.
[18:33] When he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies. Jesus is telling them they, the Pharisees, are the offspring serpent.
[18:44] They are opposing him. And John the Baptist even calls them a brood of vipers. So the conflict between the serpent's offspring and Eve's offspring intensifies in the New Testament as Christ now is actively battling Satan face to face in the wilderness.
[19:01] And Judas, remember, is possessed by Satan and hands Jesus over to be murdered. So that ancient conflict is unfolding and intensifying in the Gospels. So it's not surprising then, right, when Jesus says, if the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you.
[19:17] If you are in Christ, all the offspring of the serpent will hate you. Just like in Genesis. And so, in the narrative in Genesis, it seems like the offspring of the serpent were triumphing.
[19:32] Cain goes on to build an evil empire. So that's the line of Cain right there in that Albi Seth. The seventh generation from Cain is Lamech. Right here. Right here. Who is the first recorded polygamist who even boasted about killing a man because the man merely struck him.
[19:51] So understanding the narrative between the two lines helps us to guard against us from the era of thinking that polygamy is acceptable simply because it's in the Bible as people say.
[20:02] Right, the Bible is not applauding polygamy if you understand how the story is unfolding. Lamech was a polygamist. That doesn't mean that God is approving of polygamy. So we have to understand the narrative of what's going on, what's happening.
[20:15] In Genesis 4.25 we read of the line of the promise. Eve bore a replacement for righteous Abel a son named Seth. And to Seth also a son was born and he called his name Enosh.
[20:31] At that time, verse 26, chapter 4 says, the people began to call upon the name of the Lord. So there's the promised line of the offspring of Eve.
[20:41] Seth's line are the recipients of God's grace. in Genesis 1-11, because of the offspring of the serpent were spreading so rapidly, God had to destroy them with a flood, showing that God rules and reigns even when evil seems to have the upper hand.
[21:00] So there is a new beginning of sorts when God destroyed the earth in a flood, a recreation of sorts. God hits the reset button. He gave them away a covenant showing that God is committed to his creation.
[21:13] We discussed the ins and outs of the covenants last week if you're interested in that. He will not destroy the earth again by a flood. But the human race fails even after being given a fresh start.
[21:28] The Tower of Babel is right around the corner. Humans continue to demonically reject God. The reset button did not solve the problem of the human heart.
[21:41] So even with an entirely recreated world, the human heart had not changed one bit. So to solve the problem of this demonic rejection of God, we see early on that this will not come unless humanity is given a new heart.
[21:55] That's the problem the Bible is presenting to us. When Adam fell in the garden, the human heart was profoundly, profoundly polluted by sin. So Martin Lloyd Jones once said, our nature, man's nature is fallen.
[22:12] Man is wrong at the center of his being and therefore everything is wrong. He cannot be improved for finally nothing will suffice but a radical change, a new nature. Man loves darkness and hates the light.
[22:26] Man loves darkness and hates the light. As Martin Luther said, there's a bondage to sin, a slavery to sin that we all inherit in Adam. And that's the pattern that's emerging.
[22:38] Natural humans love the darkness. The fundamental problem of the world in Genesis 11 is within the human heart. Natural humanity loves to sin.
[22:50] It's not that they just sin, that we just sin. It's that we love to sin. Our affections are disordered. And without Christ, we love the darkness. Jeremiah would say, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick.
[23:05] From Genesis 3 to 11, that's the pattern that's emerging in the narrative. And I think this will always be a pressure point for hearers of the Bible. Many reject the message of the gospel because it doesn't really scratch an itch for us.
[23:19] Why would I need a savior to die for my sin? Why do I need to be set free? I'm really not that bad. Really, come on. I'm not bad. And because we don't understand the gravity of the problem, the gospel doesn't really seem to apply to us.
[23:34] But we know pride is the deadliest and most subtle form of all sins. Pride blinds us to reality. So if we don't think we are lost without Christ, well, that's the clearest sign that we actually are lost.
[23:48] So Adam's sin in Genesis is like a virus that has spread to the entire human race. So if our view of sin is superficial, then we will undoubtedly have a superficial view of salvation.
[24:00] And that's what's happening from Genesis 11. And if we were there, if we were in Genesis 11, how in the world are we going to get to Revelation 21? Where God's going to wipe away every tear. Where there is no longer any sin.
[24:12] How is God going to recreate what was lost by the fall? So, at this point, there's a seed of the new creation.
[24:23] God will redeem creation through a man, Abraham. At this point, this one man, in fact himself, an idolater in an evil world, God called this man out of darkness and promised him blessing.
[24:37] He was called out of darkness into light. And this man is Abraham who we discussed last week. So I just said, Abraham is in respect a new Adam. And the land of Canaan would be the new Eden.
[24:50] Abraham's descendants would be the promised offspring of Eve. The offspring that God promised to Eve will now be a descendant of Abraham. And God's new humanity would spread to the entire world.
[25:02] All the families of the earth shall be blessed through you, Abraham. So right there in Genesis 12, God is going to recreate the world. So last week, we traced the promise of God recreating the kingdom that was lost in the garden through Abraham.
[25:16] But the citizens of this kingdom will also be the creatures of, will be the people of the new creation. Right? Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5 or 17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
[25:32] The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. So if you belong to Christ, you are a new creation, friend. And the new creation is a different way of describing the kingdom of God.
[25:42] Both are just different ways of describing the same reality. So that's biblical theology lets each part speak with its own voice, but all these different ways of describing it fit into the overall choir of Scripture of God's going to redeem all of creation.
[25:59] So how does the promise of the new creation unfold in the New Testament? Well, unexpectedly, it might surprise you, but in the Pentateuch, we see the promise of a new creation and the Exodus are related events.
[26:16] The pattern of our salvation is established in the Exodus. How is that? How are they related? Well, God redeems his people out of slavery and it leads to the new creation.
[26:31] The Lord crushed Pharaoh, that offspring of the serpent who attempted to annihilate the offspring of Abraham. And that pattern will apply in the New Testament as well. the Exodus is the moment in the Old Testament which led to the new creation of the people of Israel.
[26:49] So the Exodus is the moment where God saves his people out of Egypt and brings them to Mount Sinai and constitutes Israel as a new nation and begins to dwell with them.
[26:59] So before the cross there was the Exodus. So whereas John Stott wrote the cross of Christ in the Old Testament the Jews would be writing books titled The Exodus of Yahweh or C.J.
[27:15] Mahaney's The Cross-Centered Life they'd write The Exodus-Centered Life something like that. So today if we talk to a person and we want to say look God is a redeemer a deliverer a savior we would point that person to the cross.
[27:31] But in the Old Testament when the psalmist wanted to praise God and tell of God's majestic acts as a savior to Israel the psalmist tells of the Exodus. So Psalm 105 recounts the verses within the Exodus the the the facts of the Exodus.
[27:50] The psalmist says this He sent Moses his servant and Aaron whom he had chosen they performed his signs among them and miracles in the land of Ham. He sent darkness and made the land dark.
[28:02] They did not rebel against his words. He turned their waters into blood and caused their fish to die. Their land swarmed with frogs.
[28:14] Even in the chambers of their kings he spoke and there came swarms of flies and gnats throughout their country. He gave them hail for rain and fire and lightning bolts through their lands and skipping ahead He struck down all the firstborn in their land the firstfruits of all their strength so He brought His people out with joy His chosen ones with singing and He gave them the land of the nations and they took possession of the fruit of the people's toil that they might keep His statutes and observe His laws.
[28:44] Praise the Lord. God saved His people through the Exodus and in the Exodus God demonstrated His power above all the other false gods in Egypt. So taking on all the other false gods of the Egyptians God proved His majesty and supremacy in every realm of creation.
[29:02] He shows His power and there is no one above Yahweh. The immenseity of His power is on display in the ten plagues. But if you read carefully there is an echo of God's work in creation itself throughout God's saving act in the Exodus.
[29:17] The escape from slavery in Egypt is a new creation story. Not the creation of the universe but the creation of a new nation Israel of God's new humanity. So in the ten plagues in Egypt God is reversing the order of creation as God brings chaos and judgment in Egypt where He rescues the Hebrew people.
[29:35] Water is being turned to blood. Instead of giving life to animals animals are dying. Rather than light appearing God is bringing darkness in Egypt. And the touchstone that God instituted was the Passover meal to remind them how God delivered them the people out of slavery.
[29:53] And if the blood of the lamb was on the door God's judgment would not enter but would pass over the house. The lamb stood in place of the firstborn son.
[30:05] What a powerful image of God's saving power. And Lord willing Nick presently will be walking us through the theme of sacrifice. That lamb the Passover lamb is picturing the lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world.
[30:18] And then at the Red Sea as chaos and darkness threatened to engulf the people the dramatic crossing of the Red Sea echoes the ancient creation account itself.
[30:30] In this chaos the God who made light shine into darkness who formed the land and sea will do so once again. So at the sea the waters are divided so that dry land appears.
[30:42] And the word wind the wind blows over the sea and that word wind is the same word used for the spirit hovering over the waters in Genesis 1. So the crossing of the Red Sea is a new creative act of God.
[30:54] An act that creates the new people of Israel. So the Red Sea marks the moment that Israelites escaped slavery and became the people of God. So as Baptists this imagery should really resonate with us.
[31:08] So this same pattern applies to us doesn't it? In Christ God's new covenant people are free from slavery to sin and judgment in the Red Sea and we come out as God's new creations.
[31:20] And the waters of baptism picture that. We go down with Christ in judgment and we are raised to new life. So the crossing of the Red Sea as we discussed is typology for baptism.
[31:32] It's typology. Remember we said in the first week we need to understand this idea of typology to understand how the New Testament apostles interpreted the Old Testament. here is such an example.
[31:44] Listen to what Paul says to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 10 and how he interprets the crossing of the Red Sea. So this slide is the most exciting thing that's going to happen in this class today with the emojis.
[32:00] For I do not want you to be unaware brothers that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink.
[32:16] Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness. So it seems the church at Corinth thought the act of baptism and partaking the Lord's Supper would save them even if their lives were filled with idolatry like some magic antidote to poison.
[32:35] So as long as they show up on Sundays and take the elements God's pleased with me right? No, that's not how this works Paul says. Paul warns them by explaining the Israelites had their own form of baptism and the Lord's Supper right?
[32:51] And nevertheless they did not please God they were still overthrown. So typologically when crossing the Red Sea the Israelites were baptized and Paul is saying Israel's version of baptism and the Lord's Supper did not protect them from judgment and so likewise the Corinthians taking the elements of taking the Lord's Supper and getting baptized will not save them from judgment if they are not repenting of sin right?
[33:15] And that warning still applies to us. So as we learn to interpret the Old Testament the way the Apostles did you see how important typology is. Now some see this typology and say just like Israel was saved by passing through the waters of the Red Sea the waters of baptism actually save us.
[33:35] So that view is called baptismal regeneration. So Roman Catholics and Lutherans would point to the Red Sea and say see the waters of baptism save us. Lutherans they have different slightly different ways of explaining that but in the end they think the act of the waters and baptism will save the people.
[33:55] So they are using a typology based argument and it's a big one. And before we move on I don't think we should view the waters of baptism as a thing that saves us. So water alone has no power to save.
[34:08] God through his spirit saves. So water imagery is used elsewhere to refer to the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit to regenerate our hearts and make us into new creations.
[34:19] So Titus 3.5 says he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.
[34:31] So scripture connects the work of the spirit with water. So I think we must ultimately see the water of baptism as pointing to the reality of spiritual renewal by the spirit. And a second point for anyone inclined for the view of baptismal regeneration I think the Bible clearly saves clearly says faith saves us.
[34:52] Ephesians 2.8 By faith you have been saved. So if baptism regeneration were true what saves us? Is it faith or is it the waters of baptism? And of course one can have faith before being baptized.
[35:06] So I think baptism should best be understood as an outward event that depicts an internal reality where we are already united with Christ in his burial and in his resurrection. So you see how typology based arguments become important and in fact you can go off the rails with typology.
[35:24] The Catholic Church will use a lot of typological arguments to argue for the supremacy of the Pope for baptismal regeneration so it's important that we understand how they're kind of constructing these arguments and you know it can get off the tracks if we're not careful.
[35:43] So what are we meant to see getting back to Exodus what are we meant to see by the intertwining of the theme of the Exodus and creation? So in the Exodus we're meant to see that through God's salvation in the Exodus God means to make the new creation.
[36:00] The pattern is established. Salvation in the Exodus will lead to the new creation. So after the people are saved the Lord commanded the people to construct a tabernacle showing that God is now beginning to dwell with his people again.
[36:13] Not face to face but in a tent. So the people are entering into a new Eden. A new Eden. The land of Canaan would be a new Eden. So the song of the sea that Israel sings after being rescued shows this.
[36:27] The song of the sea is like a national anthem written at the birth of a nation. This was Israel's national anthem they would sing. And the Israelites sing about how Yahweh rescued them from slavery will lead them through the desert and into the land of Canaan.
[36:42] And God will plant Israel on his own mountain. The place O Lord which you have made for your abode. So Ezekiel 28 will pick up on this language to describe the Garden of Eden.
[36:58] In the Exodus Yahweh would lead Israel into a new Eden. And the prophets Isaiah will pick up on Exodus 15 as well to show the promise of Exodus 15 was not fully realized once they were exiled.
[37:14] The prophets used the language this language now to describe a second Exodus that would need to happen. So we'll get into that. That's just a preview of what's going to happen.
[37:25] But the Exodus is the meaning in the new creation would be the end, God's goal. In the new creation God with his people would be there would be an entirely new humanity in the garden in the land of Canaan.
[37:39] God leads the Israelites to Mount Sinai where God gives the people a set of laws to live by in the land of Canaan. The law was like a family code as God's new creation.
[37:51] So if you flip the Deuteronomy it's amazing. Right before Moses gives the Ten Commandments he recounts the Exodus. I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery therefore live this way.
[38:06] I have saved you and I'll be a people who obey my commandments. So in the Bible salvation always comes before obedience or the indicatives come before the imperatives.
[38:17] So it's amazing to see how the Exodus frames how Israel would live in the land of Canaan. They would be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation because the God who saved them was holy.
[38:29] And in this new creation there would be a new people meant to live under God and his word. God is remaking what was lost in the garden. So even as the Jews looked back at God's salvation in the Exodus it pointed forward to an implied promise of a new creation a new humanity God would create where the people are dwelling with God once again.
[38:53] But as we talked about last week there's a defect in the laws at Mount Sinai or the Mosaic Covenant. God gave the people a set of moral rules as God's covenant people but not the power to obey those rules.
[39:04] So most Israelites left Egypt unsaved physically delivered from slavery but not spiritually. Spiritually they were still enslaved to sin. And God would need to do a supernatural work in the people's hearts to bring this about.
[39:22] To truly be a new humanity God would need to give us new spiritual life. Deuteronomy chapter 30 The Lord your God must circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul so that you may live.
[39:38] To truly be a new creation the people would need to experience conversion a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit or as Jesus would say in John 3 to see the kingdom you must be born again from above.
[39:54] So we see the pattern is established Exodus new creation and the rest of Israel's history is marked by repeated disobedience and a refusal to do the will of the Lord.
[40:06] Israel desperately needed sin to be forgiven for God to give him a new heart and without conversion the promise the promise to Abraham to be a blessing to the nations would never be theirs.
[40:20] So now we're going to look at the second Exodus. The second Exodus. Because of the continued rebellion God exiled the people from the promised land.
[40:31] The old saying history doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes. Like Adam was exiled from the garden because of his disobedience the Israelites were again exiled from the land because of their disobedience.
[40:44] The glory of God left the temple. Their people now were in darkness. They were in darkness. But in the darkness of the exile the prophets began to prophesy about a second Exodus that would need to happen that would happen.
[40:59] In the future God was going to do something to redeem his people. A second Exodus where God would lead his people into an extraordinary new Jerusalem.
[41:10] A new heavens and a new earth. So during the exile the people we would say wrote with an eschatological hope. That just means God was going to do something in the future to redeem his people.
[41:23] And the prophets told God's people that there would be a Messiah like Moses who would lead another Exodus. Listen to Isaiah 11 verses 10 to 12.
[41:39] In that day the root of Jesse who shall stand as a signal for the peoples of him shall the nations inquire and his resting place shall be glorious.
[41:50] In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant the remains of his people from Assyria from Egypt from Pathros from Cush from Elam from Shinar from Hamath and from the coastlands of the sea.
[42:06] He will raise a signal for the nations and he will assemble the banished of Israel and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. So the prophets were telling people there would be a Messiah like Moses who would lead another Exodus.
[42:22] Something will shoot out of the stump of Jesse. And so the image the prophets use is of a tree that is devastated but only a stump remains. David's line will decline to the brink of extermination but out of that stump will come a king who will lead to second Exodus where he saves his people not just from Egypt but from the four corners of the earth.
[42:47] So now at one level called the first order fulfillment the second Exodus was fulfilled when the people returned from exile and rebuilt the temple in Ezra and Nehemiah.
[42:59] But in another horizon the prophets foresaw another Exodus that would eclipse even the Exodus from Egypt. So listen to what Isaiah says immediately before the passage in this one in Isaiah chapter 11.
[43:16] There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
[43:34] The wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together and a little child shall lead them the cow and the bear shall graze their young shall lie down together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox the nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
[44:11] So we see the Messiah from David's line will not only save his people in the second exodus that eclipses the first one but will bring about the new creation even the animals would be healed in the new creation.
[44:27] Isaiah chapter 35 talks about in that day God will open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the deaf. Isaiah is using different images and themes to describe the same reality.
[44:40] Through the Messiah God will save his people in another exodus and he will bring about the new creation. So this is prophecy. Right?
[44:51] And we'll see in the New Testament Jesus too saves his people through an exodus. Jesus is the promised Messiah who would deliver his people from a slave master worse than the Egyptians.
[45:04] As the story unfolds Christ will accomplish that second exodus and rescue his people from sin and judgment and bring the church into the promised land of rest.
[45:14] So that promise is fulfilled in and through the church. But we should notice something here. And how can we say the new creation arrives when Christ arrives if these promises of restored creation haven't been fully realized?
[45:29] So reading Isaiah is often puzzling because Isaiah is often prophesying about heaven, the new heavens, the new earth, and the arrival of the Messiah at the same time in the same sentence. So you could spend 30 years in Isaiah and you're going to have more questions about it.
[45:46] Someone described it. It's like trying to explain to someone who's never seen a snow leopard what a snow leopard looks like. Isaiah is going all over the place but it's a profound book.
[45:58] And you could spend 30 years in Isaiah but we don't have that amount of time right now. So someone wants to explain it this way to me. The prophets looked at the future the way we might look at a mountain range.
[46:13] There are distant mountains and nearer mountains but they all look like one mountain range. Isaiah saw only one mountain range describing the events of the coming of the Messiah but as the story unfolds we know that part of the prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus' first coming and the rest is fulfilled in Jesus' second coming when he consummates the kingdom and renews the entire earth.
[46:37] The Messiah would set us free and creation free from its bondage of decay and corruption. So as the Old Testament closes it does so with the minor prophets and a note of anticipation about the Messiah in the second Exodus that would renew creation itself and that would bring the people to dwell with God once again.
[46:59] So in the New Testament the true redemption to which the Exodus pointed toward comes. So the New Testament opens up on a note of fulfillment. When Jesus arrives it doesn't take long for the New Testament writers to start picking up on these themes of an Exodus.
[47:16] So in Matthew 2 verses 13 to 15 Jesus is transported down to Egypt by his mother and Joseph escaping the wrath of Herod and eventually he returns from Egypt.
[47:28] After this we are told fulfills the words out of Egypt I call my son. Referring to Hosea verse 11 chapter 11 verse 1. So the first reference in Hosea there is clearly to Israel looking backward.
[47:43] Exodus 4 22 God says during the Exodus Israel is my firstborn son and I say to you let my son go that he may serve me. Centuries later Hosea records God's words out of Egypt I called my son looking back on the event.
[47:59] So at this point it's confusing right? Many might feel the New Testament writers are misquoting the Old Testament. Hosea clearly is referring back to the Exodus not looking forward to Mary's and Joseph's flight from Egypt.
[48:13] So where is Matthew getting this from? So this we would say is a biblical theological reading of the scripture. Matthew is doing biblical theology when he quotes and he's a profound thinker and the more we study the New Testament and see the way the authors understood the Old Testament and it really shows that they were inspired by the Spirit to record this for us.
[48:36] Matthew is picking up on a stream of biblical theology about the theme of the Exodus and the implied promise that God would establish his people into the new garden as his new creation.
[48:49] The Exodus had not been successful in establishing the new creation and because the people left spiritually unchanged a greater Exodus needed to come to truly free the people out of slavery the slavery within the heart.
[49:03] So Jesus in the Gospels in Matthew is the true Israel because he's the true son of God. What Israel was meant to be Jesus is.
[49:15] Israel is the shadow the type Jesus is the fulfillment the anti-type. So right away in Matthew Jesus begins to retrace Israel's footsteps footsteps which is strange isn't it?
[49:29] But it's telling us it's the second Exodus that's starting during his ministry. So remember our principles for typology are historical correspondence and the intensifying of the pattern.
[49:40] In Matthew 4 Jesus is led into the desert by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan. He's retracing the footsteps. This is a far more intense temptation than Israel ever faced.
[49:56] Jesus quotes Deuteronomy he says man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Israel heard these words but valued bread over the words of God and the rulers.
[50:09] But Jesus the true Israel refuses bread from Satan and instead worships God alone. That must have been the hardest thing for Jesus to have said no.
[50:20] Satan said here's a crown but no cross. Just worship me. Bow down and worship me Jesus. I'll give you a crown but you don't have to go to the cross. Why is Jesus doing this?
[50:33] Why is he going into the desert to be tempted? Because he's beginning the second exodus. Or in Luke 9 at the scene of the transfiguration Luke uses the word exodus when describing Jesus departing to Jerusalem.
[50:50] Luke is telling us that Christ has come to bring the second exodus by going to Jerusalem. Something's going to happen in Jerusalem. Jesus is heading there. The second exodus the great event of salvation will happen in Jerusalem.
[51:04] So as D.A. Carson said everything that is said and done all the parables all the miracles everything that is said and done is under the impending anticipated exodus. His travel to Jerusalem means he's heading for the cross the resurrection and the ascension.
[51:21] His exodus as the true Israel taking his people as it were in triumphant array into the new heaven and the new earth. So on the way toward Jerusalem we see a glimmer it's a glimmer of that new creation that God promised through the second exodus through Jesus healing ministry.
[51:40] The beginning signs of the new creation dimension in the second exodus were shown when Jesus healed the people. Jesus went through all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.
[51:55] And we see the same connection to the ministry of the twelve disciples. Jesus instructs them proclaim as you go saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse leopards, cast out demons.
[52:07] So the new creation is starting in Jesus coming. But it is not our own efforts that bring us into the new creation. But it is those that Jesus says are those who are raised from death who enjoy life.
[52:22] Must be raised from the dead. And how does Jesus, how does the new creation come? What's the means by which Jesus brings about the new creation?
[52:34] Well, it's his word, isn't it? That scene in Ezekiel where God tells Ezekiel, prophesy out of these dry, dead bones. And as he prophesies, as he preaches, new life starts coming to these dead bones.
[52:49] And Jesus, he says, Lazarus, come out of that tomb. Why did Jesus have to use his words to raise Lazarus from death to life? Well, it's the pattern of God brings about the new creation through the proclamation of his word.
[53:06] So Matthew describes the kingdom of God that we talked about last week, but John is describing the new creation that Christ brings. So there's different ways of talking about this new thing God is doing.
[53:20] So Jesus would say in John 14, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one will come to the Father except through me. My sheep hear my voice and I know them.
[53:30] And they follow me and I give on to them eternal life and they shall never perish. So now every great story has an amazing unexpected plot twist that no one expected.
[53:44] So one would expect Jesus to sit again on the throne of David, take his place as king, and begin to rule his subjects wisely and be that king everyone hoped for. So if I were the author of the story, that's how I'd write it.
[53:58] But that doesn't happen, does it? Instead, the author of history, Jesus, triumphantly enters Jerusalem on a donkey, but instead of being crowned as a king, he is crucified on a Roman cross.
[54:13] But Jesus said he lays his life down for his sheep. The first Adam in the garden threw his bride under the bus the first chance he got, saying, it was a woman you gave me, God.
[54:26] But Christ, the second Adam, he climbs the cross to die for the bride, his bride, the church. No one is expecting this to happen. No one is expecting the king to be crucified.
[54:39] And the murderer Barabbas was set free, and the righteous king was condemned as a murderer. The Holy One of Israel, the thrice Holy One, is condemned as a murderer. The serpent has won that ancient conflict.
[54:54] He's finally and forever destroyed that promised male descendant of the offspring of Eve. But thank God that's not where the story ends. So remember the opening chapters of Genesis. The Lord, not Satan, will have the final victory.
[55:06] Where does the victory come? How does Christ crush the serpent finally? Well, that victory is the resurrection from the dead, isn't it? It's interesting that God used the serpent to reverse the devastation the serpent helped cause in the first place.
[55:20] It's the great reversal in the story. In the second Exodus, the great act of salvation was accomplished at Calvary. And now the new creation has arrived when Jesus is resurrected from the dead.
[55:32] The Lamb of God was slain, but praise God the Lamb of God was raised again. The Exodus is God's great act of salvation that leads to the new creation. And the cross is what the Exodus narrative points to.
[55:47] So 1 Corinthians 15 says this, For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive, be each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits. Then it is coming those who belong to Christ.
[56:00] Christ is the firstfruits, the beginning of the harvest season where many come to life. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, she is a new creation. So there's an already but not yet period to the dimension of this new creation.
[56:14] Jesus' resurrection demonstrates that even though the age to come has not fully arrived, the new creation is here right now. Christians in the church are that new creation.
[56:28] And that new creation, the promised circumcision of the heart becomes a reality. God has created a new humanity creation. The church is meant to be an outpost of the new creation people of God in the midst of the old creation.
[56:41] Sunday is the first day of the week because it's the first day of a new creation. We gather on Sundays as a church and we have a dress rehearsal of what we'll be doing forever in eternity, giving thanks and praise to God.
[56:54] And as we live our lives the rest of the week as new creation in the midst of the old creation. So we come here the first day of the week reminded about God's new creation and then we go out and live as new creations in the old.
[57:07] Now we can both overestimate and underestimate the new creation in us. So we need to read Romans 7 and 8 to balance our understanding about the new creation in us right now.
[57:21] But Christ has promised us eternal life in the new creation. The new creation will be perfected. God has broke the power of sin and one day he will wipe away the very presence of sin.
[57:35] And that's where Revelation 21 ends. So my favorite book besides the Bible. So in John Bunyan's classic Pilgrim's Progress, Christian and his companion Hopeful approached the celestial city.
[57:50] Both had looked to the Son of Man lifted up on a cross and saw him by faith like Israel gazing to Moses' serpent lifted up in the wilderness. The burdens on their backs came sliding off and fell away forever as they gained the right into the celestial city.
[58:06] So at the end of his journey, as Christian drew near to that city, the angels came and told him, you are going now to the paradise of God wherein you shall see the tree of life and eat of the never fading fruits thereof.
[58:22] You shall have white robes given you and your walk and talk shall be every day with the king, even all the days of eternity. The men then asked, what must we do in this holy place?
[58:35] To whom it was answered, you must there receive the comforts of all your toil and have joy for all your sorrow. You must reap what you have sown, even the fruit of all your prayers and tears and sufferings for the king by the way.
[58:50] In that place, you must wear crowns of gold and enjoy the perpetual sight and vision of the Holy One. For there you shall see him as he is. There also you shall serve him continually with praise, with shouting and thanksgiving, whom you desire to serve in the world, though with much difficulty because of the infirmity of your flesh.
[59:11] There your eyes shall be delighted with seeing, and your ears with hearing the pleasant voice of the Mighty One. There you shall enjoy your friends again that are gone there before you.
[59:23] And so Bunyan describes them going into this heavenly city through the gates. And lo, as they entered, they were transfigured, and they had clothing put on that shone like gold.
[59:34] All the bells in the city rang again for joy, and it was said unto them, enter into the joy of your Lord. I love that. There, as John Owen said, as a man sees his neighbor face to face, so shall we see the Lord Christ in his glory.
[59:55] Isn't that glorious? The second creation is better than the first. It's restored. But in the second creation, we will see the glory of Christ there. And the land will be all the glory in that new creation.
[60:11] Amen. So God is remaking a perfect creation, making it even better in the new creation. So to close, I want us to sing a song that we all know and love, And Can It Be.
[60:27] So this is a song recognizing, recognizes how God brought us from death to new life. So once again, I'll start, and join me in singing, please.
[60:39] And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood?
[60:56] Died he for me, who caused his pain? For me, who in to death pursue?
[61:13] Amazing love, how can it be? That thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
[61:30] Amazing love, how can it be? That thou, my God, should die for me?
[61:50] He left his Father's throne above, so free, so infinite his grace.
[62:07] Empty himself of all but love, And bled for Adam's helpless race.
[62:26] Tis mercy all immense and free, For all my God, he found out me.
[62:43] Tis amazing love, how can it be? That thou, my God, should die for me?
[63:02] Long my imprisoned spirit lay, Fast bound in sin and nature's night.
[63:21] Thine I diffused a quickening ray, I woke the dungeon flamed with light.
[63:39] My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
[63:57] My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
[64:16] Verse 5. No condemnation now I dread, Jesus and all in him is mine.
[64:35] Alive in him, my living hand, And clothed in righteousness divine.
[64:54] Bold I approached the eternal throne, And claimed the crown through Christ my own.
[65:12] Amen.
[65:34] Amen. Let me pray. Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you for the great work of salvation accomplished for us once for all at Calvary. And that Jesus died for sins and now he sat down at your right hands.
[65:51] And his work has been perfected to those of us who trust in him forever. And a sufficient sacrifice. Thank you for that truth, Lord.
[66:02] Help us to live into that today and the rest of this week. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. All right. So we have about five, maybe ten minutes of questions.
[66:14] So this today, we did principles of biblical theology, Kingdom through the Covenants, creation, new creation, and the Lord willing, we'll have Nick Pesanti talk, walk us through God's people in the church, and then the theme of sacrifice.
[66:31] So, that's the plan. Any questions? Matt. As we have things like Cain and, evil being born, and then that doesn't work out well.
[66:56] The, you know, things go from bad to worse, and so God starts again with the flood. That doesn't end up, you know, producing the results on it.
[67:09] And so, you have a repeating pattern, a new start. From the viewpoint of biblical theology, you know, is there an idea of, well, yeah, we haven't reached the, you know, the new heaven and the new earth yet, but there's progress being made.
[67:31] Hmm. So, as the storyline unfolds, is there more image bearers that are reflecting, following God as the king?
[67:43] Do we see progress in that manner? Is that your question? Are we seeing progress in that image bearers are now following God more and more, versus what we saw in Genesis 1 through to 11?
[67:58] In that sense? As individuals, you know, we see that happening, or as a group. Okay. Like, in what ways is the church superior to the church?
[68:09] Oh, I see. But both. Yeah. Yeah, I see. Or, kind of like the judges. Hmm. You know, the cycle continues, and there just seems to be no progress.
[68:22] So, it's the same old, same old. I think we have the spirit now in dwelling believers. In the Old Testament, I, people differ on this. I think the spirit dwelled in the temple, and people wanted to go to the temple.
[68:37] But now, we are many temples, we have the spirit indwelling us. So, in that respect, we are able to follow the Shema, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
[68:50] Not perfectly, but we now have the spirit who is able to, we can keep the law of Christ, which is the law of love for him and neighbor.
[69:01] So, I think the church now is different than the old Israel. However, I do think there is a pattern where, you know, God has to revive his people again.
[69:12] There has to be, I mean, it happened in the Reformation. I think the gospel is going forth in power. And maybe it's because we don't see, the history books don't record for us, the faithful people who proclaim the gospel.
[69:28] But God does have to do a sort of reviving work again in his church. I think that that's the same way as in Israel. But I do think we now have, it is better than it was before.
[69:41] There are not only eight people in the entire world that are following God. Amen. Yeah. So, God... Yeah. I think a really, another through line in biblical theology that can be traced is remnant theology, where God always preserves his people.
[70:02] No matter how bad things seem to be. Mm-hmm. Talking about the shoots from the stone. Every time God promises to keep the line going.
[70:14] And so that once we get to Paul, he's commissioning those who have the gospel after him, not because he thinks the gospel is going to die out. He's certain that he will.
[70:26] But that, again, the indignities come before the indignities. He's like, I want you to do these things. Just know that this is how God's life.
[70:37] Yeah. I agree. I agree. And it's amazing in Hebrews 11 that the second half, we get all the, the hall of faith of Moses and Enoch and Abraham.
[70:49] But then it says, those were sawn in half. Like, we don't get their names. They're just Christians that have lived faithfully and died for the Lord. As we see, they were persecuted by the world, but also by faithless Israel.
[71:07] So there was that remnant in Israel, God's faithful. And then they were persecuted by even the people, the elders of Israel who were meant to lead Israel.
[71:18] They were the ones who were persecuted, the persecutors of God. And we see that thread line. The Pharisees now are killing the Creator. Yeah. So God preserves a remnant for his people.
[71:32] Matt. Yeah. Matt. And it just occurred to me as we were talking that you do have this narrowing down to Abraham.
[71:44] And then the promise that, you know, the victory would expand out to all nations. And that's the way in which the church is declaring the glory of God in a way that Israel did not.
[72:00] And then there's this narrowing down from, like, all of humanity. Okay, Noah. Okay, Abraham.
[72:13] Okay, Judah, the Davidic line. Jesus. Yeah. And now everyone in Jesus. And then just sort of explodes out there. Now the narrowing, when we talk about the narrowing, are we going back to the original story where, like, you know, the, you have evil and, you know, that comes out in the, you know, the, you know, in Genesis story.
[72:41] Mm-hmm. Are the changes, a progression of the good line versus the evil line or is it more of an over time that more than evil converts to, you know, hopefully, you know, the good line?
[72:58] I, it's, so, it kind of goes back to what we talked about last week. So the promise that God made to Genesis 3.15 of a, provide an offspring of a savior is fulfilled, will be a descendant of Abraham.
[73:09] And now, and then we learn that, that descendant will be of the line of the house of David. And so God is, God is getting, he's promising a people and he's building a kingdom that will be truly a righteous nation.
[73:28] And once we get to David, once we get to Jesus, now that those promises of being an international blessing are now being fulfilled. So I would say there's, there was a remnant, like we're saying, between Genesis 3 to Jesus, that God has, God has saved the people in the midst of an unregenerate Israel.
[73:49] And now he's, he's fulfilled that through Christ. So I think there, I don't know how many, I can't quantify how many believers were in Israel at this time and that time.
[73:59] I think the Lord knows. But my question is, is the conversion from, just a, you're changing everybody, good and evil, or is it more of a more good people or good mind liberating?
[74:14] And then, do you answer what I'm saying? Yeah, I... So the narrowing isn't about morality. It's, who is, who is God's people?
[74:26] I think, Nick, when you cover, like, the people of God in the church, I think that will kind of help play our lives. Yeah. Yeah. By Abraham, we're saved by faith.
[74:38] Right. In Genesis 15, he believed the Lord and he accounted to him as righteousness. And every believer, from beginning to end, have been saved by faith. So it's faith in Yahweh.
[74:49] So I don't think the Lord, saved by morality here, and now we're saved by faith over here. So I think there's a continual way in which God relates to his people.
[75:01] And we'll see that. But in terms of how many, I think now the church is universal. The universal church comprises of every tongue, tribe, and nation. In the Old Testament, the church, well, Israel was exclusively ethnic Israel with some Gentiles sprinkled in.
[75:18] But now that worldwide blessing has now come to pass through Christ. So we do live in that progressive revelation. The light's brighter now. We can see that God is saving every nation.
[75:28] And he wants the Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So we get to live in the privilege. I mean, 1 Peter says, like concerning the salvation, the angels long to see what we see now.
[75:42] It really is a privilege to be able to see Christ and what he's doing in the world. So they long to see what we see. Like we have the privilege of a fuller revelation. But once we get to heaven, you know, well, boom.
[75:55] Like we're going to see. We see dimly now, but we'll see clearly then. All right.
[76:07] Well, thank you all. I can just stop there. If you have any more questions, I'm happy to answer it. So I don't... Just... But...