Step-by-Step

Building your own Systematic Theology. This heading sounds quite technical and something for the theologian and not for the disciple. But essentially it is not technical, or need not be… it is a practical step we all need to take as Christians. For “Systematic Theology” substitute the words “Big Picture”, and we are getting to the heart of what I mean. Naturally whatever theology we develop has to be in agreement with the revealed Word, and perhaps the newer Christian will need a little help here.. but what we are discussing need not be rocket science. Let me give a couple of illustrations which I think will help us to see it more clearly. Story of Christ Picture The final suggestion as to a workable systematic theology that will serve us well in integrating the whole story of the Bible is to see the whole Bible as portraying the story of the Christ. This is our big picture. It is all about the Christ. Start to finish! The Old Testament is all about Jesus. In fact we could say that the whole Bible is all about Jesus start to finish. Someone has put it this way very succinctly: Old Testament: Jesus is coming! Gospels: Jesus has come! Epistles: Jesus is coming again! When we look at the one page appendix and Alastair’s list of highlights of Old Testament history we see how the big picture of the Christ is carried all the way through the Old Testament either visible on the surface or just below the surface and there to be seen if we look deeper. The highlights begin with the story of Abraham. One of the undisputed highlights of this story is the story of his offering of Isaac upon the altar which is contained in chapter 22. 9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place The LORD will provide; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” The approach to gods in the days of Abraham meant that they viewed gods as those to be appeased by the offering of sacrifices, then the god of the rains would surely provide rain, or the god of the sun would provide the sunshine for the crops to ripen and so on. The story of chapter 22 turns this on its head for we see that God, the God of Abraham is the One who provides the sacrifice! How revolutionary is this that God Himself should provide His own sacrifice. And Abraham is seen as the friend of God because he was prepared to do what God Himself ultimately did….Abraham perfectly illustrates the commitment of God, Isaac prefigures the offering of the Christ. For God provided a ram caught in a thicket. God provided His own unique Son, that the sacrifice for the sins of men might be effected. The Christ is right there in the story, even in Genesis, Christ is right there in the midst of the story. See the end of the chapter on Genesis for more examples of the presence of Christ in the Genesis story. The book of Leviticus is the story of instructions for the priests and all the priestly sacrifices. Reading through Leviticus is where most Christians lose the will to continue their reading of the Old Testament. However, the book of Leviticus is full of prefigurings (we call these “types” of which the “antitype” is Christ) of the sacrifice of the Christ. One good example of this is the instructions given for the Day of Atonement which would be regarded as the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. The King James version of this passage is interesting. 8And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. 10But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. Lev 16:8-10. We notice straight away the usage of the term “scapegoat” which has entered into our vocabulary. And it is not too much of a stretch to see that Jesus has become our Scapegoat. He has taken away our sins into the wilderness never to return. He was taken outside the camp, outside the city walls of Jerusalem, to take away our sins. These few comments are offered only to illustrate how the underlying theme of the Christ runs like a golden thread through the whole of the Old Testament and this will be picked up at the end of each chapter covering the Old Testament book covered by each chapter in turn. The book is written in the hope that you will read the text of every book of the Old Testament and with the help of the Appendix One and the Big Picture Context section begin to build up your own big picture of the Old Testament. If you will stay the course, your understanding of the Old Testament will grow exponentially as you read and study and the end result will be a much deeper understanding of the contents of these page and hence a much deeper appreciation for all of the arrangements that God made for your redemption and all the love that the Christ has for the salvation of your soul.