What Does God Want of us Anyway - 2 - (in English)

The Message of the Whole Bible

4. the Promise of Hope

In this chapter, Dever demonstrates the loving character of God (Exodus 34: 6) through some passages which show the commandment of God to love foreigners and enemies (Deuteronomy 10: 6-9; Proverbs. 24: 17; Proverbs 25.21). The author helps us looking at the history of the people of Israel as a proof of God´s love, grace, care and patience. Instead of inviting us to look at the history in our perspective, Dever helps us to understand the nature of God in the relationship with his people.

God puts the hope of this people not in Judges judges, not Kings, not in the system of sacrifices, but in a Messiah and this hope, rooted in the minds of inhabitants of the first century, is evident throughout the books of the Old Testament. (Deuteronomy 18: 15-19; Isaiah. 9: 6, 11: 1-5, 53; Daniel 7.13)

5. The Promised Redeemer: Christ

Dever invites us, in this chapter, to think about where we have placed our hope. Remember the situation of the people of Israel, they were returning from exile with a shaky relationship with God, an image from it´s past. But God fulfills its promises and the New Testament is proof of this, the promises made in the Old Testament are fulfilled in the New Testament.

Christ is proof that the Messiah or Christ came on God's time.

The New Testament is composed of twenty-seven books, the first four, the Gospels, give us four accounts of Jesus life, the son of God. Acts shows how Jesus, after his death and resurrection, through his Holy Spirit, acts in the midst of His church. The old promises are presented as fulfilled in New Testament´s first five books.

Dever ends this chapter showing that Jesus is the heart, the Centre of the Bible. "The old testament makes promises about Christ, and the New Testament keeps promises in Christ".

6. The Promised Relationship: The New Covenant People

After having shown how Christ is the center of the New Testament, through His work and person, Dever takes some time thinking about the people of God, the Church.

In the New Testament, Christ is the new temple (John2: 19), the author explains that Jesus fulfilled the hopes of a prophet and a King, but he came, as well, to be our high priest, the mediator between God and his people. (Luke 24: 27, 45-47)

To die on the cross, Christ gave himself as our substitute. Apocalypse 5 reveals this truth through a wonderful image, John sees the lion of Judah, but the lion is also the lamb. A lamb given in sacrifice for us.

Dever continues and shows that the New Testament invites us to salvation from sin and holiness. The New Testament marks the difference between the world and the Kingdom of God, between the people of God and other people.

The chapter ends with a brief consideration about the Kingdom of God, the new heavens and a new Earth.