You're listening to Episode 195 of MidAmerica Reformed Seminary's Roundtable Podcast. In this broadcast, the faculty of MidAmerica discuss theology and cultural issues from a Reformed perspective. I'm Jared Luchibor, Director of Marketing. Thank you for tuning in. In this episode, Dr. J. Mark Beach looks at the Historia Salutis, the overarching narrative of salvation history that unfolds throughout the Bible. By examining the major movements and themes of scripture, Dr. Beach helps us see how the separate books of the Bible fit together into one grand narrative of God's purposeful action in human history to save a people for himself. He highlights connections between Old Testament prophecy and New Testament fulfillment, demonstrating the unity of Scripture amidst its diversity. It's important for us to understand that the Bible is not just a collection of stories and ethical principles, but is the unfolding drama of redemption that finds its climax and fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Here's Dr. Beach to further explain. When we consider the question of the Historia Salutis, I certainly don't feel as well within my element as a New Testament or Old Testament biblical theologian would be. But it's something that any preacher of the gospel needs to know about, care about, and pay attention to, because it's hard to be a good exegete of Scripture and apply or God's Word to his people today without a basic understanding of it. In God's gracious kindness to sinners fallen, he immediately entered into a kind of covenant, because right after the fall in Genesis 3.15, we have that proto-evangelium, or that mother promise, And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel." And back of that, then, is God's great plan of salvation. And on one level, you could say the rest of the story of the Bible is the story of the two seeds, the seed of the woman which is finally going to be God's covenant seed, out of which Christ will come and the fullness of redemption to all nations, and then the seed of the serpent, the seed of unbelief, the seed that stands opposed to God's ways, God's will, and the history of the world. So immediately after the fall, we're given a precursor to God's mercy and grace in this wonderful promise of the seed of the woman to come. Though it's a war and it's a battle and his heel is bruised, finally it's the seed of the woman and the devil himself whose head is crushed. So God's kingdom come. Historius Salutis is concerned to trace out in the lines of biblical history how God's redemptive plan works itself out, and one way theologians have thought about this is in terms of promise and fulfillment, because already in Genesis 3.15 we have a promise. How it comes to fulfillment is the history of salvation, the historia salutis, the working out of God's plan of salvation. And of course, Christ then is—the whole theme, the sweep of redemptive history is leading to him, and he's the high point, the achievement of this divine promise, the fulfillment. And, of course, it's in the covenant with Abraham where we find particular focus in this way that God would take a nobody from nowheresville and make him into a great nation and through his seed to bless all the nations of the earth. Well, certainly out of that seed finally came Israel, an Israel that had been in bondage and an Israel that had known great oppression and a stiff-necked Israel. But nonetheless, God works the mighty and stupendous, miraculous Exodus, and from there builds eventually the Davidic kingdom. And finally, even after exile, a restored Israel that issues in Christ to come the seed of the woman. Now I skipped over all kinds of materials there, but just to see the big sweep, Historia Salutis traces out and marks the major themes and work of God through history. Of course, you want to talk about the Noahic Covenant, because they're God covenants with the creation to keep the whole creation project going. He makes a covenant with the creation, which gives us the arena for the work of redemption to be accomplished. And then through Abraham, the promise that through him, his seed, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Finally, the nations of the earth were not blessed through a physical Israel, but through that seed singular, as Paul talks about in Galatians. Jesus Christ is that seed, and now that blessing reaches to the nations of the earth. Along that path, however, there was also the Mosaic economy and period where God delivered in bondage people, and graciously, kindly, having accomplished love and mercy to them first, deliverance first, God's initiative first, God's kindness first, issues his law to them, reveals his will to them, which is also a gracious thing. It came with lightning, thunderings, smoke, and fear, intimidation. Well, God's holy, they're unholy. But the law itself isn't sinister or unholy, it's holy, righteous, and good. It's sinister or intimidating, makes us filled with fear because our lives are crooked, and God's law is a straight line and measured against it. we are exposed in our sin. But then the law of Moses is an expression of God's will, and one of our highest blessings will be the fulfillment of a new covenant wherein we will God's will. We have a heart that loves God, loves our neighbor, The law is written on our heart. It's imprinted on us. We will what God wills, want what God wants. That is where we're going. That's where we're heading. Of course, in that period, there was also introduced the priesthood, the sacrifices, which also are weighty testimonies of the gospel of Christ Jesus. and pointing ahead to him shadows, again, a promise to fulfillment in Christ being the definitive Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is, again, a rough, very rough, light over easy sketch of redemptive history. The point is just to see something of the broad lines which Historia Salutis' concern to show us. And it's very rich and enriching to take note of promise and fulfillment, to see the layers in which what was true in one era of redemptive history meets a fulfillment in a later period of redemptive history, of course culminating in the New Testament and the gift of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of Pentecost, now equipping the church with word and spirit to go forth to the nations to fulfill that blessing to all the nations of the earth. Even as the day of the Lord is made manifest, a day that reaches a definitive form at the cross of Christ, where he undergoes the worst and best, in a manner of speaking, of the day of the Lord for our sakes, and finally a second coming of Christ and a final judgment to come. So this promise fulfillment theme is important for talking about the history of redemption. And a thread that marks its way and becomes more pronounced as you march through the Old Testament in that history is the messianic hope. and that comes to fulfillment, of course, in Jesus Christ. But in back of all of that is this covenant of grace that marks the history of redemption, and that covenant of grace has its foundation in God's words, I will be your God and you will be my people. Those aren't Passover words, that is, to take lightly, to skip, to, oh yeah, whatever. No, I will be your God. I will enter in relationship with you. I will be your caretaker. I will redeem you, forgive you, and walk in fellowship with you. I'm yours, and you are mine." It's quite important that we see something of the redemptive, salvific, saving significance of that, because that promise is the very focus of what's to be celebrated, our only comfort in life and in death, is that our God is this God to us in Christ Jesus. it will always be that he's ours and that we're his, and we can depend upon that. And that's the good news, as we call people to life in the church, to come under the umbrella of that inclusion and that blessing. And again, what was in shadow was what was in anticipation of a fulfillment, finds fulfillment, in Christ Jesus. So when we think about the history of redemption, it's important that we recognize all of biblical history in the narrative of Scripture as divine revelation, number one, and that we see a fundamental unity amidst the diversity If you don't see the unity, you basically need to put the Old Testament on a shelf, or treat it as reference, or as so past tense as to have irrelevance for us today. But if you see the unity within the diversity, the Christ thread within all of it, then the Old Testament becomes something rich, that because there's fulfillment in the new, it's an ever-relevant Word of God for the church today. Also within this essential unity that we find in the history of salvation is a call to faith. the faith of the God who calls us His and bids us to be His. So it's not the case that in the Old Testament, work your way to God. It's also, no, it's the same as in the New, believe in God's promises, believe in the Christ to come, and find salvation through His mercy in Him. The way of salvation is the same. It's the same saving project of God, Christ himself being the substance of that covenant. So if you ask yourself, what's the substance, the thing that makes it what it is, why that promise is good news and assuring, it's because Jesus Christ himself is the substance in the Old Testament and the New Testament and the Mosaic economy and beyond to the fulfillment of that. Third, if I may put it that way, you know, another aspect of this history of redemption is that we are people that ever need the forgiveness and grace of God, and so we're always called to faith and repentance, whether it's in the days of Abraham or the days of Moses or the days of David or the pre-exilic, post-exilic period, the call to faith, the call to repentance, the call upon God's mercy remains the same. It's not different. If you don't recognize that again, if you don't see the unity that permeates the diversity, you end up with a scripture that's very difficult to preach or utilize. It's important we note, then, typologies that emerge in the Old Testament to its fulfillment in the New Testament. It's also important not to create false typologies, so that everything's a type of Christ when it's nothing of the sort. But you do want your ear out, that certain events and happenings anticipate our prefigurations of Christ and his struggle, the redemption he accomplishes. In one way, you can even look at Israel herself as undergoing a trial, a period, a failure in her testing, and then Christ emerges and is likewise tested, tempted, not 40 years in a desert, but 40 days in where Israel fell, Jesus brings a fulfillment. He's the true Israel. He's the faithful son. And given all of that kind of thing, it's important that We read biblical materials paying attention to where we're at in the history of salvation. And rather than launching to Jesus at any given point, you get to Jesus by traveling the path of redemptive history. You don't ignore that history to get to Jesus. You understand where you are at, whether the time of Moses, or somewhere in the Davidic period, or the failing of the kings of Israel. It's important that this story of redemption be understood within that historical timeline. And then, of course, the end of redemptive history, it comes not only with the work of the church and its expansion, the seed of the woman encompassing the nations of the earth, but Christ coming again to judge the living and the dead, and God is all in all. So Historia Salutis helps us be preachers of the Word and helps us understand, yes, in back of that stands a covenant of grace and God is our covenant God. Next time, Dr. Beach concludes with the Ordo Salutis, the logical order of the steps in the process of salvation. If you enjoyed this episode and this series, consider subscribing and sharing it with friends or family. Your support helps us bring more engaging content to your ears and helps us foster not just a community of lifelong learners, but thoughtful practitioners. I'm Jared Luchaboard. Thank you for listening. We'll see you in the next episode.