Marginal Christianity

            In the beginning there was the Garden of Eden. God, the great King, father to his creatures, was present to and in fellowship with them on his good creation. We could call this the kingdom of God. He is creation’s sovereign and his rule is undisputed. We could call this God’s covenant with his human creatures, his family with whom he wanted to have fellowship. Or, we could call it what the creation stories themselves call it, the Holy of Holies of God’s garden temple where God, the Holy One, was present to and with his creation.           God placed Adam and Eve in the garden to be his priests, royal priests, in that they were children of the Great King. The four rivers out of Eden watering the as yet uninhabited lands outside Eden suggest God’s intent that these lands be inhabited and developed. And the boundaries of Eden and the garden of God’s presence would extend and gr...

  C hurch is a bad word in our society today. Or at least a word you don’t use in polite society anymore. Yet that’s what I’m going to talk about. I won’t always use the word but that’s my subject here. I hope at the end that it won’t seem like such a bad word to you. T he Bible tells this story as a drama in six acts: creation, catastrophe, covenant with Israel, Christ, covenant with Church, consummation. Act 1: Creation H ere’s the deal. God, another bad word in many circles today, created the world and everything and all of us in it. God created it to be a home he could share with his human creatures forever. And the place where God dwells or intends to dwell is a temple. T he creation stories in Genesis picture the creation of the world as the construction of a temple. -The Garden in Eden reflects the innermost sanctum of Solomon’s temple, the Holy of Holies. This is where God lives....

          There’s a great war going on. Jesus has won the decisive and climactic battle at the cross and resurrection. The outcome is no longer in doubt. Jesus is victor and Ruler of the world.           That’s the gospel, Jesus’ gospel. But there are still lesser battles and skirmishes to be fought and won, pockets of continuing resistance to Jesus to be rooted out. The fruit of his victory needs to be implemented and extended throughout the world till he returns. And that’s what he calls to us today, to join him in the “mop up” campaigns just mentioned. But there’s even more to it than that. God intended humanity to be his royal priests in the temple he intended creation to be. He made us -royal (as his children) representatives to represent and reflect his character and will throughout the world, thus extending the boundaries of God’s creation temple from its beginning in the ...

Covenant, Temple, and Kingdom Chief among the “tools” God uses in the Old Testament to form a people through whom he may reveal himself to the world are Covenant, Temple, and Kingdom. Here’s the chart I presented in the first chapter tracing the fortunes of our three benchmarks of the biblical story. Covenant Kingdom Temple Abraham - ad hoc altar Moses Israel becomes a nation Tabernacle David United Kingdom under King David, Davidic successor promised, low point in exile Temple built by Solomon, destroyed by Babylonians New Covenant New kind of kingdom promised Temple rebuilt but not claimed by the glory of God               These benchmarks, as the chart shows are interrelated and mutually effect other through the course of Israel’s history while each retain its own impo...