A PARABLE FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING GOD'S COVENANTS AND REDEMPTIVE AGENDA

Once upon a time, Joe Christian got into his car and turned it on. "First gear ... Abrahamic Covenant," he said, shifted into first, then began moving forward from his driveway to the open road ahead of him. Out on the road, and gaining speed, he said, "Second gear ... Mosaic Covenant," ... voice slightly higher. And he shifted into second. At the proper time, Joe said, "Third gear ... Davidic Covenant," ... voice high and excited ... cracking a bit. And he shifted into third. Wiping a hint of sweat off of his forehead, car speeding along the road at a fast clip, Joe then said in a voice of excited anticipation, "And ... now ... NEW COVENANT!!! ..."

Then he threw his car into reverse. A totally different direction ...

Poor Joe. There was a terrible clanging sound followed by a shudder throughout the car. The vehicle slid slightly sideways and then skidded into a ditch by the side of the road, his transmission strewn in pieces for about 50 meters down the street, from the point where he shifted from third gear into reverse until the point where his car landed in the ditch.

Pushing the airbag down, and wiping white powder off that had clung to his sweaty forehead, Joe exclaimed in dismay,"I don't understand! This is how God did things in redemptive history, isn't it? ... What's wrong with God's system? What's wrong with mine? ..."

All the while, Joe never stopped to consider that the manual in his glove compartment did not reveal a "third to reverse" shift pattern. Neither had God ever done things this way.

The New Covenant continues in the same direction that all the previous covenants were headed. Northern and Southern kingdoms united, land promises to the Jewish people intact, literal Jerusalem the world's capital, global redemption and restoration of all creation, Gentiles streaming to Jerusalem to learn God's Law, universal blessings via the united Jewish and Northern Kingdom people, Jew and Gentile [as Jews and as Gentiles] united in our worship of the one true God, through God's king, Israel's Messiah, etc ...

The often assumed huge DISconnect between the trajectory of the Mosaic Covenant and the New Covenant is just that -- assumed. It cannot be sustained through a careful reading of the whole Bible.

-Michael Miller