course, “Progress of Redemption,” a course well known to a vast number of the graduates of CIU. I have tried to recapture the course and enhance it with some of my own insights. Ultimately, the material is a reproduction of his teaching, straight from the copious notes I took covering the first portion of his “Progress of Redemption” course. Therefore, credit goes to Mr. Hatch, the man who kept us both attentive and alert by constantly stopping his lectures with long pauses, while matter-of-factly saying, “Look up here!” And we did!
Many thanks are due to my professional graphics artist for creating some very nice pictures that enhance this work. Kirby McCreight is a very gifted graphics man who provided both T-shirt graphics and logos while involved in my RUF ministry at the University of Florida in the 1980’s. He was gracious enough to provide his generous assistance and expertise for this book. I am very grateful to Christ for Kirby and his willingness to serve in this project.
I also must thank my teaching assistant at Reformed Theological Seminary, Ms. Anna Unkefer, who provided the gift of perfection and tenacity necessary to publish a book such as this one. I am deeply grateful for her work on my behalf. Finally, I appreciate those readers who assisted me in editing the work and bringing clarity to my thoughts on paper: Mrs. Wendy Howell Thomas and Mrs. Tari Williamson.
Introduction
As a young boy I grew up next door to a celebrity of sorts. My uncle, John Bolt Culbertson, was a well-known lawyer and aspiring politician who often made the news due to his flamboyant, verbose, and colorful personality, along with a platform that revolved around the need to take care of the poor, disenfranchised, and defenseless citizens of South Carolina. It has been said that, in my home state, he made both Democrats and Republicans furious. He was a famous individual in his era (particularly the 1960s and 1970s) and also carried a reputation as a life-loving man who could throw a big party for his legal and political friends, eating and enjoying their company in first-class fashion (I know; I attended some of those parties!)
But what I might remember most was that he lived in an extremely unique rock mansion, much of which I watched (and played in) while it was being built. As a seven or eight-year-old, I recall that various materials were deposited constantly in my uncle’s long, narrow front yard. In a matter of a few months, there were stacks of wooden I-beams, piles of rocks, and mounds of dirt sitting next door in his front yard (I still have photos). As kids, my brother and I, and our friends would have fun around these piles, sometimes playing “king of the hill” on the dirt mounds. We knew that Uncle John was going to use these materials to add to his already unusual mansion but to us, these lumps of material were mostly an eyesore and an occasional playground. We wondered, “What will become of all of this junk?”
As children, what we did not have, at least not explicitly, was the vision for what these piles of debris could become. My Uncle John knew what he wanted and could see the big picture of a huge house, much larger than what he already had. Eventually (and it took many years), the piles of dirt, stone, and lumber would become an incredible addition to his already remarkable mansion. Uncle John added a large bathroom containing a sunken bathtub, a huge kitchen suitable for cooking large meals for the groups he and his wife frequently hosted, and a bedroom with an elevated area for the bed. Upstairs he created a guest room for the friends of his younger children (supplied with around ten single beds—all decorated the same: with red, white, and blue bedspreads), and a chapel containing a small pulpit and wooden pews for sitting. Then there was the spellbinding two-tiered white and powder puff blue lady’s wardrobe room filled with doors on every wall on both tiers. The wardrobe room contained mirrors on every door, as well as a spiral staircase to reach the closets on the second tier of the room. Those were the most distinguished additions, but there was also a large screened-in porch, a huge two car carport, a laundry room, and an area that could function as a greenhouse. Little did we realize what would be created out of those piles of rubble and wood; in time, a huge mansion would be built!
And so it is with God’s kingdom. God is at work in his world and he has a plan, as well as a blueprint for the undertaking of that plan. His plan is huge, thoughtful, and precise! But often, when we read about his plan in the Bible, we are confused and uncertain about what he is actually doing. We read the books in the Bible, attempt to piece together the different names and events, and often do so without clarity of understanding or having any concept of the chronology of biblical times or its people. Just like my friends and I gazing at my uncle’s messy front yard, we look at all of the oblique parts of the Bible and have no sense of the big picture or the grand storyline that is ultimately going to unfold. How can we put together this complicated puzzle?
Why This Book?
The purpose of this book is to help the reader to both understand and discover the wonderful plan of God as it unfolds through the narrative of Scripture. This book is both a look at the history of God’s plan of redemption and a work that attempts to clarify how God has worked out his redemptive plan here on earth. Anything that God does is amazing! And I believe you will be amazed to read about and observe the plan of God as he calls a people to himself. Many people understand that the cross of Christ is central to the plan of God. But the cross did not come out of nowhere. The effects of the cross are intended to shake the earth! And we will watch that happen just as God intended it to.
You may be pleased to hear that this book will not contain explicit and intricate explanations of theology. There will be an occasional doctrinal explanation, but the text will not dwell on concepts like “the ramifications of supralapsarianism” or “the dispensational scheme of eschatology!” Whew—I know you are now breathing a deep sigh of relief! Read on and you will see that ultimately this book will encompass the Bible’s history. We will cover the entire Old Testament and take a glimpse into the New, but primarily, we will be using concepts to do so. There are 1189 chapters in the Bible. Those chapter divisions (which are a product of a man made system for organizing biblical information) are broken up into 31,173 verses. Depending upon one’s translation, the Bible contains over 770,000 words, as well as over three and one-half million letters. From the individual letters of the text (written in Greek, Hebrew, and a little Aramaic) to each of the individual sixty-six books, the Bible is the book of books, having been inspired in the whole by the Holy Spirit. Yet, we will not focus on every letter, word, paragraph, or chapter, but only on the concepts that help us understand how God’s redemptive plan is unfolding, so do not be overwhelmed by the massive composition that is known as the Bible.
I once read about a minister who spent his total preaching career with only one church while preaching through the entire Bible verse-by-verse and chapter-by-chapter. His ministry preaching through the entire Bible lasted fifty-two years! We’re not going to do that! And I want to be clear—this is not a verse-by-verse or chapter-by-chapter study. Furthermore, this book is not a study of various topics or subjects, such as looking at what the Scriptures say about “faith,” “salvation,” “love,” or “grace.” As fun as that might be, we will not take the time to peruse the various texts that speak to a given topic. Nor will this be an overview of each and every book of the Bible, although we will overview a few; many other well written books provide that service. Even though one goal of every Christian should be to understand the purpose or key point of each of the sixty-six books of the Bible, we will not fulfill that laudable goal in this endeavor.
The goal of this book is to provide a survey of God’s grand plan of redemption. This survey will not be comprehensive, nor will it answer every question. As we watch the story of the Bible unfold, we will learn more through concepts than through detailed explanations. We will study the relationships between the materials but will not look closely at those relationships through microanalysis (scholars call that detailed study “exegesis”). We will see the big picture storyline but will not dwell upon the many individual stories unless they are crucial to conveying the concepts involved. The focus of this book will be upon the unity of the Bible, a unity that is based upon the actions of God. The Bible is a history book, tracing God’s actions upon the earth. That history culminates in the revelation of God’s
