God the Peacemaker 4
Chapter Four: Foundations and foreshadowings
Having established important context – the character of God and the multifaceted problem posed by sin – Graham Cole, in chapter four of God the Peacemaker, focuses in on God’s project: to bring shalom to His creation. And in so doing, our author examines the foundations and foreshadowings of God’s loving provision in Christ.
This chapter is good solid biblical theology. Prior to embarking on a journey through Scripture, Graham highlights the triune God’s loving motivation in providing atonement, summed up in John 3:16 – a statement expressing the universal character of God’s love, its sacrificial nature and its eternal purpose.
We are then taken on a journey from Gen 3:15 (the so-called protoevangelium) where God promises that the serpent will lose conclusively, crushed by the seed of the woman.
We get greater specificity as to who the male offspring will be in the call and promises made to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3) – a son of Abraham will be a blessing for the sons of Adam. In Graham’s brief interaction with the Abrahamic framework, he quotes from The Drama of Scripture by Craig Bartholomew and Michael Goheen. This is a first-class book that we have used widely at Deep Creek, both in one-on-one discipleship and also in a six part seminar series. Highly recommended.
Chapter Four is rounded out with an excellent overview of God’s dealings with Israel. The sacrificial system is put in its correct perspective – ‘allowing’ a righteous, holy and loving God to dwell in the midst of an all too flawed nation. Read this chpater to get an insightful coverage of the significance of the Passover and the Day of Atonement.
If, like me, you love the section of Isaiah from chpaters 40 – 53, then you’ll benefit from our author’s tight summary of the four servant songs and the connection between the Suffering Servant of Isq 52:13-53:12 and the messianic child of Isa 9:5 who will be a ‘Prince of Peace.’ The faithful in OT Israel looked forward to a time of shalom - and in our next post on Chapter Five, Graham focuses in on ‘The Faithful Son.’
This book seems great. I would be very interested in reading how he tackles putting the sacrificial system into its correct perspective. I always like reading about the Passover and the day of Atonement being fulfilled in Jesus’ death. Looks good Rod!