whose story is it anyway? part 3

Part 4 from Promise and Deliverance:

"As a result of sin, there is no revelation of grace other than in the Mediator. This is made clear throughout the Scriptures-not only in the New Testament but also in the Old. Scripture is a unity. The Old Testament is the book of the Christ who is to come, while the New Testament tells us of the Christ who has come.

We do the content of the Old Testament an injustice when we repeatedly draw lines from its history to the Christ. We say, for example, that God saved Israel or sent Joseph to Egypt to save His people in order that the Christ might be born of that people. This is certainly a real aspect of revelation. It is a line we must follow because it is suggested by Scripture itself. But it is not enough.

The entire Scripture is God's revelation of Himself as the Redeemer. The redemption in the Mediator is revealed to us in every story. But this is not to say that the whole sweep of redemption is visible in every story. We believe in the progress of revelation. This progress is a development in which nothing new is added. In principle, the whole of redemption is revealed in the mother-promise (Gen. 3:15). Therefore, the seed of redemption is present in every story in the Old Testament. Our job is to use the light of the New Testament to uncover it. There is no veil covering our eyes when we read the Old Testament (see II Cor. 3:14-16), for the testimony of Jesus is also the Spirit of Old Testament prophecy (Rev. 19:10).

The Mediator was operative throughout the Old Testament era. His work did not begin at the start of the New Testament. He already penetrated Old Testament history, moving among the people and shadows in order to reveal Himself. Everything is full of Him, and history has become one great miracle through His Spirit.

We will always have a great deal of trouble explaining the history in Scripture-particularly the Old Testament-if we do not proceed from the Mediator's eager efforts to reveal Himself. Even from a psychological point of view, the Old Testament stories would remain a mystery to us if we were to reject the proper starting point. But how wondrously the Scriptures open themselves to us when we focus on the Mediator! The acts and motives of Old Testament people, which are often so puzzling in themselves, then become clear to us."