•

PART III
CONTINUED

B . FROM PROPHE CY TO ApOCALYPTIC

For I [Yahweh] am about fa create new /Jcavens

aJld a new earth.

the fanner tbillgs shall110t be relllemberrd

or come to mind_
lSAL"<H 65017
 32 . PROPHECY IN A NEW IDIOM

Wt' have Sf'rll that lsrad's !ia8~ sought 10 discover the divine ~{ of creation
only 10 realize finally that it is inaccessible 10 human wisdom. Another approach
10 lhe cosmic: secret was set forth in prophecy. especially the new idio m of
prophecy known as apocalyptic (from C~k QP~rypsis , meaning "revelation·)_ln
literarure of this type, Cod reveals the divine s«rcl , especially the secret of the
coming of Gods kingdom, to a ~er or prophet who divulges it to the circle of the
faithful. The mo~'ement is ·from abovc"-from God to human bcings----not "from
below"- fTOm the human world 10 Cod.

Gods Plan Jor 11x FutZlrt

The view that God reveals the divine secret to a seer is deeply rooted in the his-
toT)' of prophecy. The classical prophets, bcginning especially with Amos, did not
wam to be regarded as clairvoyantS in the popular sense (Amos 7, 12~ 16; d. Jer.
23:15.32), like Samuel of old ( 1 Sam. 9:9). Despite such disclaimers. however, they
were seers in a sophisticated sense who discerned God's plan for the future. The
prophet Amos declared that the storm cloud taking shape on the international
horizon signified [he judgment of God on the social injustices of Israel's society.
Surrly r« Lord Con [A.1ms.1i Yabwrh} .Iou MOIb.·~g
",;lb01<1 rtlltJIi..g J:.:j llntl
la IIrs Jt1'I'a~~ Ih.. ~wpbtls
n..li"" b.:u rNrrJ,
wlw wIn 1<01 j(40
n.. LorJ GoD {AJar.m Yo2Mlt] h~l sP<'~""
Il'Iw cm: bwl PtoplJrSy1
-Amos 3:7-8

Some of Israel's prophets used the metaphor of the heavenly council to express
the conviction that they wc~ commissioned to deda~ God's plan for the fu~
(stt 1 Kgs. 22;19·2 3). In lsaiah's inaugural visio n ((sa. 6: \·7) the microcosmic
earth ly temple was transformed into the macrocosmic heavenly [emple, where
Ihe prophet stood in the: presence of the cosmic King. who was enthroned "high
and lifted up: and heard the divine decree th at would shape the ruru«:. Jeremiah
insisted that th e ([oublc with the popular prophets, who preached what the peo·
pie wanted 10 hear, was tha t they lacked the proper credentials.
Fot","" ~"'Qng Ibm w! stood iM r[.r ,oM~d! of
lb. lO.~D { Y,!b~'th]
!aiK"';"" .1r.J 10 brM h~ ~'o,J,
or !.o.b.> h..! JiJI'tr' htrJ 10 bil IOOrJ~,J lisl",,,11
-}er. H: 1S (R5V)
 290 CC~rClm of OIJ Tll~,,,,,,,r Tbd"fl)'
The great prophets of Israel, in various and diver<;e ways. an noun ced the mys -
tery or secret of the coming of God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven_ Their
message of social justice was se t withi n this eschalo[ogical context.
Apocalyptic Visio"arirs
The theme of the d ivine secret wa~ taken up in the new STyle of prophecy called
apocalyptic, which flourished in the postexi[ic period_ These interpreters sought to
under<;tand the problem of evil, which , as ",'e have seen previously, delled explana.
tion in terms of Israd's covenant failure (sin). [n their view, evil was evident in power<;
of chaos at work in human history and indeed in the whole creation. A\,'are that the
spread of evil and violence was a threat to the sovereignty of God, and conse -
quently to the meani ng of human history, a seer announced a God -given anS\'''er to
the lament, "How [ong?" A5 in the passage from Jeremiah cited above (Je r_1 3: 18),
sometimes an apocalyptic seer used the metaphor of the heavenly council. The seer
Daniel, for instance, envisioned h imself standing in the heavenly council, in the
presence of the cosmic Judge, and hearing in code d language a disclosure of the
neamess of the ti me of God's triumph over the forces of evil (Dan _7 , 13 - 18)_
Cerhard von Rad drew attention to the close relation between apocalyptic
-k nowl edge" «jIlDSi,) and the wisdom of Israel's sages. I There are, admittedl},. sig-
nificant affinities betwee n the [V,,'o_ Both share a universal perspective that reaches
beyond the particular history of Israel into the cosmic panorama of creation .
Moreover, the seer is a kind of sage. Daniel is portrayed as a sage whose knowl -
edge, based on divine revelation, was superior to that of Babylonian diviners (Oan.
1:3ff. , 2:48). But the wisdom of the apocalyptic visionary has an entirely different
basis than the wisdom we have studied _It is not th e wisdom of a sage who re llects
on daily experience; rather. it is knowledge of the mystery 0/ the future that is
revea led to a seer and communicated to an esoteric community_ Jesus stood in line
w ith this apocalyptic view whe n he said to his disciples, according ro the Gospel
of Mark,
To you has been given the secrel [C reek nr)'!lmaxJ o( Ihe kingdom o( Cod, bu t for
those outside. everything come-; in parables_
From Classical Propb~C)' 10 Apocalyptic
The movement from classical prophecy to apocalyptic can be traced within th e
book of Isaiah, from its inception in the message of the eighth-century prophet to
its final composition during [he period of the Second Temple (rebu ilt 520-
515 B_C.). In the past there has becn a general consensus that Ihe book faHs in to
1_(,(,rhard von Rad_O!J T""'",,,,I n ..dogy. Iran, D. M. G. Slalker, 2 "01,. (N"", York. Harper
" Row. 1962-65'), 2- 30 1- 7. He lal~r qualified his t:arlier "iew Ihal the Origi n of ~poca I)'plle COl1ld
be lract:<! 10 wi$dom rather than prophecy, ""e Wi,JQ," i~ ]"",1. lram_ lam es D_ Martin ( Na~hvill~,
Ahingdon, t9n), 177.
Prophecy in a New Idiom 29 1
three major parts: the message of I~a iah of Jerusalem (found within the compass of
chapte~ 1- 39), the message of so-called Second Isaiah during the exile ( chapte~
4(1.....55 ), and th e later writings found at the conclusion of the book, so-called Third
Isaiah (chapters 55-66)_ \,(·'11at is the relat ion of these three pans to the book as a
whole~
Thr Book of li.1illb Ill.:l l-tfbolr
Lately some scholars have proposed moving beyond the "three lsaiahs,~ a tripartite
N
d ivision that was supposedly an "assured gain of so-called historical criticism, to
a consideration of the book as a whole _1 To use language introduced in another
connection,' the proposed approach is synchronic rather than diachron ic. Or as
Edgar Conrad puts it: "It is possible to conceive of the book as a composite created
from dive~e materials at a particular point in time rather th an a document evolv-
ing through time_"4
There is much to be said for this holistic approach _ The book of Isaiah was
read as a whole in the Essenelike community at Q umran (founded in the second
century rI.c.) or in the early Christian comm unity_ Neverth eless, there are ,kologj-
wl advantages that accOle from studying stages in the composi tion of the book_
For instance, our appreciation of the message of so-called Second Isaiah (chapters
4(1.....55) is enhanced by understanding the concrete historical situation out of
which the poems came and to which they were addressed_ s The t ext itself
demands this; for instance, the poet hails Cyrus of Pe~ia as Yahweh's NmessiahM
(anointed o nc), chosen to liberate peoples from bondage and oppression (lsa.
44:18 ; 45: 1J. l\loreover, when t his anonymous prophecy is interpreted in its his-
torical context, (he poet-prophet appear<; as a paslOral theolOgian, who addresses
the sufferings and anxieti es of a people shattered and dislocated by war and long-
ing for a new beginning in their homela nd. 6
Viewed as a whole, the book of Isaiah bears witness to the tra nsformation of
prophecy into apoca ly ptic. 7 In his commentary on the Ilrst part of the book of
1 Sce Edgar w_Conrad R«.Jlx91,~iab (~linneal"'l i<, Fortress Pre<;" 199 I); Kathc-ryn Pfi,terer
c
Darr, /",jab; V'Slon Gcd Ih. Fa",;!y o} GcJ (LOllisvilk Weslm inSler!}ohn Knox , 19941-
3_~ tht: comparison of Ihe approaches of Eichrodt and '.. on Rad aboy~ . chapler 3_
-t_ Edgard W Com-ad. 'R~ading ISiliah and Ih" T.... elve as ProphetiC Booh: in Writi~g dM.:i
Rraai¥.g rh. Scro!lajl,,""f, $1.4its of a~ Jnr...prrtiVf T'aailioc, ed. C",ig C Broy!es and Craig A E,."n,
(Le iden, Brill . (997), 103-18 (quotation, p_ 4). See also idem, "The End of Prophecy and the
Appo::aranee ot Angel,/Messengers in the Book of Ihe T,,'d"e: ]SOT 73 {t997} 65- 79_
:5. Jamt:s MUlknburg's illumi nali ng Introd uClion 10 and Ex~ ge'iis of I!;aiah 40-66, in lB
5,3S5- 773, slin claims attention_
6_ It is nOl""'o rthy Ihal Wahe, Brueggemann, who 'br;acke" out" question, of 'historicity" as
be~'ond .he pale of Old Testament theology iThol"!1)' oJ rbr OJ~ T"w","'! IMinnc:apoli" Fon:ress
Pr.,.;" 1997]. t I 8- 19), is ne...enhele" concerned 10 unci<:"l'ltand "'Ihe laiC' Isaiah"' {and other {ex"l
in the COnieAt of the exile _'"The hislorical rootage of Ih"", {exl'S in exile is of enormous impO'-
laoee for Iht: project of Old Tt:,ramem theology' (278--79).
7. See Paul Hanson, Th D""", aj Aj>«alypli, _ Th Hi'l~ricaI and Sociologi,,,1 Roo t, o} ],wj,b
Ap.xdyp!i~ E"b,.,lo!"i/)' (rev. cd.; Philadelphia, Fome" Press, 1979)_
 292 C..1Doi1'1 of O/J Trsl,,,,,,,,r TI.voloj'y
Isaiah (Isaiah 1-39), Ronald E. Clements obseTves that "this d~elopmem from
prophecy to ilpocatyptic foom onc of the most miking features In the literary
growth of the book of Isaiah ,'" To appreciate the [~Iogical signiRcance of this
shi ft, it is appropriate to turn to the messa~ of Sc-cond I~iah . which IS a "halfw;!}"
house: as it has been called, In the rnnsition horn prophecy {Fim Isaiah) to apoc·
al yptic (Third Isaiah ).
S«o~d Isaiah's Mtssagt
~oOO Isaiah's message (Isaiah .fO-S5 ) is grounded in the seminal message of the
eighth·century prophet, lsai.lh of jeruwlem, the major prophetic Inlcrprtter of
royal coven.Jm theology. We h.lve Sttn that Isaiah's procl.lm.ltion of the dominion
of God, the c0'5mic King, anters in two symbolic institutions.: the temple of Z ion
and the D.lvidic monarchy.' The poc!t·prophet. Second Isaiah, transposes this
message into a new key in t he tIme of Israel's exile in Babylonia. Like a pastor~l
theo logian, he speaks to .l dislocated. suffering people whose lalth In God had
been strained to the breaking poim,
Wby J') y(nl Hry, 0 j(fcoIo,
IZ..J 5/'(1111. 0 11n"1.
"My way iJ InJ.k" fnm Jhf Lo«n fY...br.""t&~
",,<I ..y jMstrrr 'o if Jlsrtg~rJd fry- ..y God}-
--I~ 40:17
Agilin ,,"'e heilr the question about Cod's justice. voiced this t ime: in the eXIstential
terms of a people uprooted from Iheir homeland.
The author knO'\O'n as First is<l.iah recei\"Cd his commission in the temple, ""here
he W,JS UlSnSporred in a visio n to the heavenly council and heard Cod's decree for
dw: future (IS<1.i.lh 6). Signiocamly. Second Isaiah eC~5 rh is council metaphor in
t~ nrst of h is poems (lsa. 40: 1· 11 ). Addressi ng members of the ~.l"enly council.
Yahweh, the cosmic King, commands thit a message of com fo rt be sent from
~aven to earth.
Co..forI. 0 n.fort .y pto;.1t.
Ja)"! YfJ"r GoJ
Spt.d: tocJmy 10.Ju..s..-/n,..
......01 fTJ'to M
Ih,,! she NI sm'td},(. knI,
Ib.rr fxt pmalry il /W'.{
8. Ronald E C leme nt.$ , /"'fa~ I-JP, Ne ..' CenlUry Rible Commen!~ry (C r~rW Rapid$
Eerdmans. t98 l), 22 Sec also my ~y. "'The Aponlyptic Rendering of the Ig .ah Trad;l1o n." ;n
n. Sod..I W~r1J of F~,...,1w'r Cbn!IIiIIIIfy.ElI )...J,,,',. EI~.rs '" Tnbulr to Ho .....rJ C Kit , ed. lxob
Neu$ntr er 1.1. (Phrladelphia· Fon~ Prm. 1988}, t7_38
9. On 1"0)'11 cO'o·e .... nr lheoIogy. KC above chaplet" H .
to. NRSV O"and,lIes hoere "",hi", lho: Hc~ ..-ord .~:could beun- be. Itlosbl<:d 'JlM'Ct "
Prophecy in I New Idiom 193
lJ.allhc I»s rKtlwdfroo. I.bd.ORDj(Y"l¥do;] 1-J
doMIt jGr/ll1 M llNl
- Iw.. 40: 1· 2
The metapho r of the divrne councllrs evident in that its members are addressed in
plura l Hebrew ,,·ems ("comfort: · speak: "cry.~ ·proclaim'") imd t hey respond in
antiphonal voices (v. 1, cf. v. 6). listening in on the deliberations of the heavenly
council, the prophet feels that he is among those addressed: "Then I said, What
shall I proclaimt'" {v. 6 ).
The substance of the "good news· that is 10 be carried horn heaven 10 earth is
that the time of the coming of Cod's dom inion is near. For Israel, the people of
God, th is means t}w.t the sentence of punishment for their sins k over illf1d that .l
new day is at hand. Comfortingly the people arc told that God's covenant
promises made of old arc Still valid. H uman existence is trarn; ient, like the fio,,"'ers
of the field, but God's word of promise is PCilli.lncnt!y valid.
Th.gftlfl II-,thm, tM y.ol"tfT f...kJ ,
bu r lilt ~,orJ Qf our GoJ lOll! sI<lnJ !om'!•.
-I ~ . 40:8
Despite Israel's lament (Isa. 40 ,27), God has not forgotten t heir ~jus t ice .·
AialThi"iI /OZi')"
Consider how this poet treats the various covenant tr.lditiorn; discussed in OUI'
study. First. il is note....o rthy that Second Isaiah does not refer to dlt conditional
~1osaic covenant, and in Ihis respect agTCCS with his rm-n tor, Isaiah of JC1U§alem,
who al50 failed to do 50. 11 In terms of the Mosaic covenant, the people of l5ldel
have suffered their penalty, mort than tnough ,·twofold-) for their sins (40:.1 ).
Some other covtnant language must be used to express the uncondi tional pardon
and gJaCe that God now offen.
Although Sc-cond Igiah does not refer 10 the Sinaitic covenant, he do.",-
unlike Isaiah of lerusalem--cmploy t he imagery of Israel's S<l.crtd history.1J In glo.
rious colo~ t he poet portrays the people marching to Zion; dlC exodus or "going
out"" o f captivity, the victory at the sea where Cod conquered the power.; of cha0'5
(mythically symboliztd as Rahab, the ch.lOS monster, S 1,9 · 11 )• .lOO the march on
""le highway of God" through tilt wilderness (40:3) to the tempk of I CIUSillcm,
""here God is acclaimed King (40:9- 11). Zion, the city of God, hear.; a herald
announcing good ti dings
How lII'~I'ifKr.po..!If _~I::I:>tS
~IT Jhf fltl Qj tlx ..mn<gtT who ~IIII<III/lCt.I /'(~(f,
11. Scc rt\(, d~~ on ollsa.ahi prophecy above" eNp, H .
11. On thi ' pan'i ~ o f h'~lorical .maliCf)'. mionly ,he Uodui, KC my esny. ' Exodui
Tnoology in 5«ond ka,a}, " In ISt...r, p~ Hrn:o;r &~ IM H_,,, J,r.rs bwinoJ"'tg, ed. B. W.
AndeTson ..nd Waiter Harrdwn (No:w YoB . Huper " Row, (962), t77-95.
 •

Prophecy in a New IdIom 29 5

294 C""lQtIfS of OU Trst> .... / ~y

d>O bn~9' JooJ 1IlWS. anointed (messiah) becaU5e he will be the agent who ,•• ill accomplish Cod's pur-
who ",,~,," n(" saillaliOM, pose (45:1 -7).
who S<>Y$ 10 liM, /,,,,,. W.riS"$. • In Ihe message of Second Isaiah, the promises of grace to David are nOl
-Is.. 52] neglec ted. S trikingly. the Davidic covenanl is reaffinned by shifting the promises
of this -e\'erlasting co\'enant" from the Davidic dynasl"y 10 the peo ple. To the corn·
This heraldic announcement ech~ the exciting proclamat ion heard in p~lms
that celebrate God's enthronement; l'ahweh is kin8!~ 1l munil"yls God sayS:
The ne .... exodus, Second Isaiah announces, will be li ke the fann er exodus Jndi~r y"'" (at, II"J '''Ill! ro lie.
from Egyptian bonda ge: lis!lr1. sa:hat yCtl...-y li.,..
I .,ill .....I:r ";11. you fl'!wr<ll] "" "",.L'II"'1 C"Pt>I;lI,I,
TIN! s,,;J Ib!-l.oI1D fY~J ,"y sldf<l5l, ~r(!.,,1It [ hesed}f~ f>m.tJ.
\V'IIO.a.lt d'....J /btOll)lb Ibt $I'd _lsa.55:3
A><J d fIo>th Ibt""'9"b .i§bty ~"'Im,
\'Ib.l Jmr'l))"J rb~ IlDt); ",,4 ho.~ The poet goes on to say that Israel, the people o t Cod, wi ll be instrume ntal in
A,.J aa/lit .. igb/y bost- including other nations in the saving purp05e of Cod, as promised in the
Tbty "'y Jo"'" t.:I ri$l' "" ""'rr. AbTCIhamic cove nant {cf. Gen. 12: 1·2j.
Tbty ..... rt mjr.;w,,b,J, q<It1'!("brJ li~
11 Rrl $no. I .ade t.=. [D.!,,;JJ .. ll'ilt:t55 to tbc ~tc,lrs,
<I k.,J" ",..1 ,,,.. ...anJtrJor lb. p,*s.
- 15<1. 43 16· 17 (NJPSV)
Sri'. y.". ,ball c<llInatioK! 1"'" ) 'OU do 1:01 brOIl>,
But God is about to do a "new th ing: wh ich will be so ",'onderful that t he forme r u.J ""ti<m' lW' do 1:01 itr.wo y ou ,h,1J1 .~" 10 Y"".
thin gs pale in significance: brt"<l1Ut' of tb. l.~ fY"lnvrb j y ..... Cd. Ib! Holy CA" ..j Is'ad,
tbt fo,.,,. th"'91.
[)" lIOI ftllltlO,,"
f« "" rus g!.mjtJ >"'"
_lsa. 55: 4_5
Q1" 'O"~Jtr Ibr Ibi"95 of oU.

t gm ~oo"r 10 40"""'" Ibmg,

nOlI> ill~ri~s forth, Jo y"" "01 pur,i." it7 Tnt SuJ}ni"g S(>l1<11:1

-lsa. 43,18-1 9.1.
Here is faith th.lt dOC'S not turn to the archaic past, longing for the good o ld
days, but stands on ti ptoe, facing the new age that Cod is about to introduce. Even
now those ne ....' th ings, those acts of new creation, are eVident, if one has the eyes
o f faith to perceive them.
Tbr P'0111isn o} Gmcr to DalliJ
Turn now to the D.1.vid ic covenant, w hich ....' 015 fundamental in the prophetic mes·
sa.ge of Isaiah of Jerusalem . 14 This covenant, wi th its promises of the securil"y of
Z lon and the unbroke n continuity of the Davidic dyn as ty, had foundered on the
rocks o f tragic historical real ity, as evi dent from the poignant lament al th e con-
dU~ion of Psalm 89 (w 38-51 ). In the time of Second Isaiah there was no longe r
a kmg on the throne of Jerusalem, and the city ofZio n was in ruins. In accord ....·ith
Zio n theo logy, Second Isaiah announces a mar-'e!ous social transformation:
Je rusa lem and its temple will be rebuilt (44:26-28 ). U nlike the fanner Isa iah, how-
ever, he does not an nounce the comi ng of an anointed onc (messiah) 10 sit on the
th rone of Jerusalem. Indeed, he calls a foreign rule r, Cyrus of Per.;ia, Cod's
13. ~ the d,scussion of Ps.alms 47, 93----99 .. b.;wc , ch;tp!~ H .
14. ~ aoo..~ . ch"p<er 23 .
According 1O Second Isa iah. Israel has a special ro le in the sa ... ing purpose of C od
Ihat embraces all na lions. In Ihis spacious theological context appear.; the theme
of Ihe suffering servant, .... hich is completely absent in the prophecy of Isaiah of
Jerusalem. This is nOI the placc to enter at leng th inlO the muc h -discussed ques-
tion of the idenlil"y of the serv ant, a questro n raised, according 10 a Ne'" Tes tament
SlOT)', by an Et hiopian eu nuch (Acts 8:26-39 ).'° Suf~ce il to say that in the four
servilnt poems we are given an interpretation o f suffering that goes beyond any·
thing found in Israel's covenant traditions.
Here suffering is nOI regarded as punh;hment for Israel's covenant fai lure (sin),
rather the servant's suffering is vicariously borne for other J.l't!"oples. The nations
confess tha t "he was wou nded for our tra nsgressions, he was b ruised fo r our in iq-
uities" {lsa. 53,5; RSV). The servant's suffering is, in rome sense, substirutionary, for
~Ihe Lord [Yahweh 1 has laid on him the iniquity of us all~ (53,6). There is no sug-
15 All the Hebrew ve~ are in ,h~ plul1l1 , ~ho""ing Ihal God addresses this promise of gn(~
10 the peoplc. Sec Edgar (onrad. 'The Community as King in ~,ond Is.oiah: in Udml",dittg tM
Wed. E!l<ly> '" 11M« of IIrrr.ba,j IV A.J,fSD'I , cd .lames T. Butler Cl aL. JSQTSup 37 (Sheffield.
)SOT I)ms. 1985). 99- 112.
16. T"\'I(" fou. servant poc!"" are 1~. 42, I ·4, 49, 1·6, 50'4.9, 52: t l-53, 12. See my discussion
In U~JtrlIm:J'-~ lM OlJ T"ra",,,,! (4th «I., Engl.,."<lOd O,ff", NJ.: Prentice-Hlll. t986) 48S-S0,
(ibndgcd paperback ~d 'l Engle»'ood a.fis, NJ .• Prentice·Hall, 1997), 436--40.
296 (""IOIII'S of 0lJ Tcslamtt:1 ~y Prophecy in a New Idiom 297

gestion, however, that the servant suHeTS in order to satisfy divine wrath. From the !<) ![.,.i!.y r:>Q,J Irf t;""t gilt! <rot J""" ",y _Ib,
~rst the poems of xmnd Isaiah assert that God's comfort ing word for Israel is it sJ;.,1i 1001 ,,!unt 10 "'" I:B;'ty.
based on divine grace and forgiveness . b.tl ir $hali <IC,o"'l'li,b Ib~ 1 rinrb I fNtJIOlt.
Alone point, [he servant is compared 10 "a lamb led 10 the slaughter: which ol..J slICmJ i" 11,. rbir~ fer ,.-bieb I JtHl it
-lsa. 55,10·1 1
echoes language that the prophet }ert:miah used in one of his confessions (Isa_
53 :71 cf. }er. 11: 19j. Yet there is a profound difference. The servant suffers pas- Second, reference 10 the Noachic co"enant is appropriate because it is a covenant
sively in silence: '" he opened not his mOlllh~ (Isa. 53: 7; RSV), wh ilderemiah-like of crea tion, embracing hu mans, animals, and .he eanh itself. Second Isaiah brings
Joi>---<'xpostul ated with God . The servant's suffering, however, is nOI JUSt a histor. out dearly the creOl ti on theology implici t in the royal covenan t theology of Isaiah
ical fate that falls brutally on an innocent one, fo r it occurs in the .... ilI of God ("It
of Jerusalem _
was lhe Will 01 the LORD [Yahweh l to bruise him; v_ 10) and within [he mystery In these poems, creation ap~ars in several senses. For one thing, Yahweh is
of Cod's redempt ive purpose. Accordingly, the suffe ring and humtliation of the praised as the crea tor of the people, the one who formed them in the ....omb Usa.
servanl are embraced ....·ithin CoOs ultimate vindica tion and exaltation, the notes "", 1·2, 2,,). Also, creation may refer to the ne-v.' historical events tha t God brings
on wh ich the poem begim (51:13- ]5) and ends (53: 10-12 ). about, the -new thing" that God does (4 3: 18·19). However. the poet's emphasis
falls especially on cosmic crcation.
Th~ EII~rlnstiJ1g (OVt'll/lIl! with NoaJ, LifT MP ywr ryrs 011 h;g}, ad !",
Since Ihe jI.·10saic and Davidic covenants are th~ologically inadequate, ~cond Wbo m ,mJ !ht.v
Isaia h turns 10 th e "e,'erlasting covenant" with Noah after the flood to express the
Ht li>ho It,;,,;! owl Ibri, bo~1 ,,,,d "",.. !>r/$ rhPoo.
,,,,Il,xg IIrf", "j] hy M"",
unconditional grace of God a nd the new begin ning (or new creation) that is al
bt'~w!t 1111$ g't~' i" Hr,.,glh,
hand . l ~
1I.ghry IX pou'rr.
This iJ 1.1ot r1.r J..), of N()Qb IQ IIr, "or O><l iJ ""fUJ!;l.
JIlS! <l'll 1""'1< tb~llht "'~Im of NOiIb - Isa. 40:26
""",IJ n<P!T O;~IJ< iI'J ONT tbr tilr'.b,
In t he message of Second Isaiah, Ihe doctrine of cfea tion undergi rds every--
so 1""111' """"., fb"t 1 IQ,II xci Irf ~ry IPiIb yQII.
th ing that is proclaimed. Because Yah ....eh, the Holy One, tS the crealOr of Pthe
" .....1 ~.,;!/ r.cI rtboil:t ym.
Fo' rb( "",.."Io>;II5..,y .kfJ"'rt ends of the earth r and of thc starry expa nse, Yahweh is powerful to save Israel and
"d I.... biil! '" (m(l{OfJ, rt:deem the world. No othcr deity can demonstrate the PD",'er to crt:ate [he heaven
b~r '"y l1,,,Jf~st low [J:!esedJ!w!l ~o, j'f>;1r! f",,. y""'. an d the e<lrth and even to bring about a new crea tion.
and "'y CO"",,,,,, 1 of /lMU ,h"i] t\iI! ht ",,"o,,(J.
n~J SlI)'S Ibt LorJ [y',,,",",,hJ.
"')'l ,I" LORD[YaI,~'tbJ u,bo ,,",'s (O",~~l5io" 0" )'QII.
,br Crro!ot of 10. ["''''''''5.
- IS<!. 54:9- 10
[". ~"'" IS God.
The e"erlasting covena.nt wi th Noah is theolog ically appropriate because-, lim, ~ mal, tilt wrib o»>J J"slnor.d it
it was a coveOant of grace, granted in spite of the fact that lhe inclination of thc "od by hi"'JdJj:rd I!ft...ly,
human heart continued to be cvil {Gen. 8:2 I). Likewise, a.ccording to Second v>bo ,rrald I! I>O! as" fc".bs ""Ilit
i>w! as .. ~. ~ br I",d ;,.:
Isaiah, Yahwehs forgiveness is free and unconditioned by the behavior 01 the- peo .
I ". Ibr LcrJ 1Yal:c-tb ]. ",,J Ibm ;s .",.,. othtr.
plc. Cod's wo rd of prom ise does not go forth in vain bur accomplishcs God's sav·
- I..... 45: 1B (RES )
io!! purpose- .

Ft!< M lb. r,,," ,1r.J lb.t S"Il"' '(mIr J"rmc fmrn "'~vn:.
,,10.1' Jo 1101 ,,1~'1II"'rt ~nrij airy r,~t't lI'Iallr.J Ih. Mrtb,
"",~;" g ir j"'"9 fCr1" ",,,J IPIt'III.
givi"!/l.d 10 lilt SCII't' ~"J I",,,,J 10 u,., ",Irr;
17. On ,he f',:o.tchic co~en~nt stt alxwe . (hlpCcr 11_
SlJift in TlJroiogicll1 EmpJmsis
So far.standing in the "halfway house~ 01 Second Isaiah, we have looked back to
the seminal message of Isaiah of Jerusalem in th e atlempt 10 understand what
theological shifts took place in the- movement of prophecy toward apocal}'ptic.
Now, from the same van lage poim, let os look forward 10 the last chapters of the

book and to the !lnal apocalyptic reread ing of the Isaiah tT<lditio n in the canonical
book of Isaiah.
Th~ next section of the book of Isaiah, so-called Th ird Isaiah (Isaiah 56-Q6),
is not apocalyptic in the full -blown senseJ it is sometimes deSignated as prow -
apocalyptic , that is, prophecy that is beginning to turn into apocalyptic. He re we
stand at the ~dawn of apocalyptic," to cite the title of Paul Hanson's study of Third
Isaia h. l ~ In the Anal edition of the book of Isaiah, materials of more defin itive
apocalyptic characte r were added. These include "the little apocalypse of Isaiah
H
14- 27 and the t\" in chapters 34 and 35, which no\,' serve as a transition to Second
Isaiah.
It lie<; beyond our present purpose to trace the h iStory of the composition of
the book of Isaiah; rather, we an~ concerned with (he theological shifts in empha-
sis as prophecy changed into apocalyptic or. one might say. as Second Isaia h led
on to Third Isaiah.
ANew Cm,tion
First, in this transition there was a shift in em phasis from the history of the people
Israd to the cosmic dime nsion, wh ich includes heaven and earth a nd the whole
course of human history from cro:ation to consummation. O n the one hand.
Mosaic prophets like Hosea and Jeremiah concentrate primarily on the polities
and economics of the mundane realm; and they perceive that world in the light of
the sacred story that centers in exodus and Sinai. On the other hand. Isaiah of
Jerusalem ushers us into the symbolic world of Zion, th~ city of Cod, which will
endure eternally, despite all historical vicissitudes, because i[ is Cod's earthly
dwdling place (\ee Psalms 46 and 48 (
In apocaly ptic im ag ination lhe concrete realities of history are transfigured
with a transcend~ nt meaning_ Nations like Assyria or Babylonia are no longer
agents of Cod fo r chastening the people Israel blll arc symbols of sinister powers
at work in history, threatening the city of Cod and the divine pla n for Israel and
the nations. Cod's victory over these forc~ will be not on Iv a \'indication of Z ion
and therefo re of all the poor and helpless o f the earth. bu~ also a new creat ion i~
which there will be no more suffering and violence. This apocalyptic no te sounds
Oll! in a beautiful poem ;n Third Isaiah,
For 1 ~'" ~kl le Crt,,/, /Il"!1' "'~!""'5
an.!" "I~' Mrth,
lb. ja"",r Ilri~g; sb~1I "o! be ""'''''~'rd
or mm, ID "'in1.
Bu' b. gbJ ""J rqoic< }~rtrJ"lr
i~ u,bat 1 "'" nmri..g,
}Q/ I a," "hou! le cr("lr j,,,,s"{',,, ~s " JO)'.
anJ ill pN~!r<!j a Jd'!lh
Prophecy in a N~ Idiom 299
I u,o'II rcj~i<t it> }(m",["".
and Jrli!ihl i~ "'Y (>ro p!.,
~o m~'( ,ball rbr 5",,~J o} o:.,y!ping lot hwd ;~ it.
~r tbrcry q Jijl,..",.
Comfort for tht AfJktrl
In the tra nsition from prophecy to apocalyptic another shift in emphasis took
place; from a call 10 repentance 10 a message of consolation. It is noteworthy Ihat
the poetry of Second Isaiah, which stands at the turning point of the book of
Isaiah, begins with a word 0/ corn /on announced in the heave nly council by the
cosmic King, noCom/on, 0 corn/on m}' people: sa~'s your Cod" Usa. 40:1 l_
In one of his srudies of apocalyptic, Paul Hanson suggests tha t the diFfe ~nce
between prophecy and apocalyptic may be expressed in terms of the metaphor of
the heavenly council. PProphelic eschatology is transformed inlO apocalyptic at
the point where the task of transla tin g the cosmic vision into the Categories of
mundane reality is abdica ted ."r9 In his temple vision, as we have seen . Isaiah of
Jerusalem was called to carry a heavenly message to the people of Israel. He was
commissioned to nans la te a vision of cosmic righteousness a nd order into human
society. thal is, to preach fo r social change so that the mundane rea lm might con-
form to the will of the cosmic King, \"h05e heave nly throne is "founded on right-
eousness and justice" (Ps. 89: 14 ).
Apocalrptic visionaries. ho""e~'er, did not consider "translation o f the cosmic
visionff to be their primal)' task, They received from the heavenly throne a message
of comfon that had to do with the coming of Cod's kingdom on earth and the
beginning of a new age. In answer to the lament, '" How 10ngJff they heard the
answer, "not long." To be sure, they could sound the call 10 repentance in their own
way. According to the CO\pe1 of 1\-lark, Jesus' preach ing began with the call
"repent, for the kingdom uf Cod is at hand" ( 1,15 1. But apocalyptic visionaries
placed the primary emphasis on offering a message of comfon to the afAicted in
limes of trial.
The re ason for this "abdication" of the prophetic task of translating the heav-
",nly vision into the realities of social life is to be fou nd in a dee per and more rad-
ical perception of the problem of evil. As we ha ve seen. in classical prophecy the
sufferings of the times were explained by the people's fai lure or sin. The great
prophets d id not say that the people were viclimized by demonic powers external
10 Israel's life. Rather, the problem- in their perception-lay within the people:
their false way of life, their service of alie n gods, [heir refusal to bring \ociety into
conformity with the righteousness of Cod's cosmic order. Apocalyptic writers,
however, found this explanation of evil to be inadequate_ It was not enough to call
for re~ntance and to blame the people for their failure of responsibility. They per-
ceived that Israel. and all peoples, were caught in the grip of monstrous historical
19. Pal1! HJ",on, "Old Te" .mc nt Apocalypfic Rccxamined," l~! 1S (t971) 454--79.
300 Co"t~~" of Old Tt5ramtl't Thwk.jy Prophecy iJl a NI!\'>' Idiom 301

forces that ch ~ ll e nged the sovereignty o f Cod. Evil. in thei r view. is loca ted not
JUSt "in here; in the heart. but out then:'. in colossal empires. oppressi~'c stl1.lcturcs
of power, evil that sweeps like an a"alanche over innocent people.
Overcoming ffJe Powm oJ Cfmos
Accordingly. apocalyp tic writers revived the a ncient myth of the battle of the
Divine \'(farrior against th e powers of chaos and the decisive vinor), tha t demon -
snated Cod's power as King. This ancient myth influenced th e pattern ollhe Song
of the Sea (&od. 15, 1- 18 ), { I ) Yahweh's battle againSl adversaries, {2 ) Yahweh's
triumph at the sea, and (3} Yahweh's ent hron ement as triumphant King in the
sannuary.lCl At o ne point Second 15ai~h invok<:~d the myth to porrray Yahweh's
power to create a people and give the m a future. In this poetic view, the Divine
\'\?arrior's victory at the Reed Se a was not just a victory over flesh and blood (the
anny of Pharaoh) but a victory over the uncanny powers of eVil, symbolized by
the monste r of chaos, Rahab. The poet addresses the Marm" of t he Divine \'farrio r
to achieve a similar viclOry in the future:
AlI'akf. a~'Qkt. ~UI ~~ ,!r"'9tb.
o a"'" o} IJx Low [Y~bU'tb]!
Awakf, a, '" J"y; of elJ.
thr §I"lW"ti;n" 410"01 "9<>!
W~S ir IWr yw [ fin: """""1 w)'" (u! R"b,,!>;~ ~i"'''.
~,bop,m;d I'" Jr"g~n?
W~, il /rof ywwho JrilJ tJ~ Ih! I(d ,
tJx w~rm of fht 9'(1:1 dft/>.
wbo "",d,' tJx J.-prm of Ibt I(,~" "'.,y
JOT Ibr rdtmttd!o cross <>t'tO
- lsa. 51 ,9·10
cm age, who feel helpless in the face of massive social forces or colossal eVil, have
come to a new appreciatioJl 01the apocalyp tic myth.
The UhilMft (om/rmt of Evil
In the Isaiah Apocal}'pse flsaiah 24---27) a passage portra}'~ the Ilnal trium ph of the
Divine \'(fartior over the monster of ~vil. known as Tiamat in Babylonian tradition
and Rahabll otan (Levialhan) in Canaanite mythology T he language is redol~ nt of
the Canaanite myth of Baars conquest of h is adversary. Loran Ihe Mflceing serpent":
0,. tb.11 ,wy tIK LO~D [¥"j,lC'tb J ...,,/h hi, ",,,I ,,,,,,rJ.
bi! mighty ,,,,J I~o~""rful <w<prJ. !I',1f p ~r.ilb
hlJJ'l!b~1I Ikll!m5lir~ 5lQ mpnrr,
tb"t wri/hi"!i srrprl:l Ln,i"tha,, ; •
!or w,1I ,I"y Ibr m~~,t,r<Pf 'ix ,1"1>
- ISJ.. 17,1 ( RE S)
Cod will ultimately ~exorc ise~ history, vanqu ishing the powers of chaos tha t have
lingered eve r since creation.] 1
A line can easily be drawn from rhis apocalyptic passage to the ponrayal of the
consummation found in th e Apocalypse of John ( Revelation ). Acco rding to [hat
Christia n visionary, at rhe t ime of rhe fi nal triumph of the D iv me \'I!farrior, the
powers of eVil-symbolized mythically by "the greal d ragon , . ... tha t ancient ser-
pent, who is called the Devil and Satan" (Rev_ 1:2 ,9}--will he overcome . t\-tor~ov~r,
"the sea"-the locus of {he powers o f chaos- will be no more (Rev, 21:1 ).

This imaginative poelry should not be consHued to mean that Cod actually
sleeps through times of suffering a nd tragedy and ha~ to be "awakened" to actio n_
Here the poet is dra"'ing a correspondence bct,,"'een the event at the 5ea in the
past and the new event of the "passing over" of libera(ed peo ple into (he promised
land of Ih e fu ture.
In apocalypt ic imagination the D iv;ne \\;tarrior's victory is no t res tricred to
Israel's hislOry but he longs 10 a universal drama, in which the kingdom of Cod
opposes the powers o! evil that afAi ct and cl1.lsh people. These visionaries portray
a New Jerusalem, a new age, indeed, a new creation. In this perspective, t he com-
ing of God's kingdom on eanh wi ll he the time of God's triumph-not onl}' over
human sin and failure but also over all th e powe rs of evil that ha~'e £yrannize d peo-
ple and conupted human h istory from time immemorial. Many people of the mod·

2 t . See further my ~s""Y, "The Conque<;t of the Flee ing, T"'i<t;ng SefP"nt, Isaiah 27, 1 in
n
Cont exl." in U.coorn''''.I Ana",! 5!ar-<lo E""Y' ir. Alimo')' ~f "'d Rich.:!rJIOK, ~-d. L"wi, M. Hopfe
}O Sec abMe, chapter 18. (\\;'inona L..h . Ind., Ei""nbrauns, 1 99~ 1. 3----1' .

33. THE DOMINION OF GOD VERSUS
THE DOMINION OF EVIL
~Ve have fOlllld that the justice of Cod is a burning issue in the Old Testament,
especially in the literature refkcling the homd~sn~s and s t ruggl~ experienced in
the aftermat h of the faH of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. Some ha~'e even suggested tha(
Job ~s}'mbolized exiled an d resto red Israel ,~ 1 though Ihis is probably an overin!er-
pretatio n. In any case, the question o f thcodi<:y did not arise Olll of a reAective
monotheism that attempled 10 uphold th e sole SO\'ereignty of Cod; it arose ou[ of
th(" experie nce of !>Uffering in a ....·orld where. in the pC"f"ipect ive of faith, God is
present and active.
Other religions and philosophies are not necessarily tantaliz("d by th is prob.
lem. In mainlin e Buddhism the problem does not arise since this religion d oes not
alArm belief in God o r God's creation. Buddhism shows a way, attractive to many
people, to transcend suffering and turmoil, bur it d0C'5 not deal wi lh theodicy.
Another major world religion, Islam, emphasizes surrend("r 10 the 'iQ\'e reign will of
Cod as sct forth in the Koran and promises tha t the injustices of this life Ivill be
l"ClipSed in a glorious postmortem existence, a prospect that allegedly mak~ eve n
suicide bombing, in the service of Allah, justiAable. One could go on . Fo r th e
Judeo -Chrislian faith, however, theodicy is a poignant and inescapable issue
because of the conviction that God, the Creator, is pr~ent and active in the world .
This faith is summed up pregnantly in one prophetic word: Immanuel, Gacl with
us. Christianity recei\'ed and int ensi fied Israel's witness. exp ressed in various
cov("nantal tracliti ons, to the real presence of Cod in the world .
FrOll1 Prophttic Word to Apocalyptic Vision
In our previous slucly we haY(" seen that classical prophecy, in the fa ce of the
colossal violence and monstrous e\'il manifes t in human history, moved into a ne .....
type of prop hecy known as apocalyptic The boo k of I~iah in its final form dis -
plays an apocaly ptic rendering of the I~iah traditio n 2
In the transition from prophecy to apocal yptic several things happened. First,
the prophetic m~sage mo\·ed from the plane: of o rdina ry mundane affairs into a
suprahistorical realm, where God's dominion cl ashes with the powers of e\'jl. A
see r announces the ' sccret" or "mystery" of Cods kingdom, which is hidden from
peop le invol\'ed in o rd inary political o r economic reality. Second, in dea li ng wi th
t. K3lh leen O'Con nor suggests Ihis pOssib ility In ''W',~dom li tera rure and Ex perience o f ,he
Divine ." in Bib!i<"~r ThtoIC;;y. p,.o&r., ~"J P~b·rn. cd. StC'o·en) . Kr..ftch ick {N ..sll\~Ik: Abingdon,
1995), 185.
2. As <ho>.·n in my essay -n", Apocilyptic Rendmng of the l5ltiah Tradihon: In Th Soc;"I
Wor!J aJ FQ_u,,,, Gri, t",~,1)' "' ....i ).J..:,,,, &!~)"! ;~ Trihlr k> ~a"j C. K... ed J;teob Neusncr el aL
(Philadelp hi a: Fortr~.s PTe$S, 1988}. 17-38.
The Dominion 01 God "el"'lUs the Domi nion of Ev il 303
the execution of Gods plan th e see r resortS to highly !»,mbolic languago:: that has
to be decoded. .M ythicallanguage, such as the Di vine: W arrior's vk:lOry over th e
monster of chaos, is used to ex press the meaning of the historical drama. Finally,
the perspec tive bc:COf1le'i un;,'ersal, inclucling not just the history of Israel but abo
the whole sweep of the t imes from creation to co nsummation. To be !>Ure, Z ion-
the city ..... here Cod is sacramenrally presen t (Ps. 46A.5)_ Kmains ce ntral in the
new scenario. Z JOn is to ~jOKC , for God .....ill vi ndicate her and bring back her sons
and daughters to their homeland. But Zion is the center of the world, the meeting
place of heaven and eanh, and hence all peoples ancl nati ons w ill make a pilgrim-
age to Zion, the holy city. to And ultimate peac e and security by listening to God's
wrah or teaching (lsa. 2:2-4). Poets e rwisi on a Kew Jerusalem, in which there will
be: no mo~ vio lence o r suffering (Isa. 65: 1i.25 ). The vision of "the new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from Cod: is a\!iO found in the Apocalypse
(Revela tion ) of John, the last book of the Kew Testament (Re\'elat ion 2--4).
Gene ral iza tions an: risky, but o ne ..... ay to explain the diffe rence bet ..... een the
ty,'o styl~ of pro phecy is to say that in classical prophecy the role of t he prophet
is to proclaim the lI-'1lrd of God so that people may repen t; in apocalyp tic, the role
of the seer is to pOrtray a V;S;Ol' of Cod's future so that people may And co mfort
and hope. True, classical prophets speak about vi5ions, usually for the purpose of
selling forth thei r c redentials to speak. t he wo rd 0/ God (Amos 7:7-9; 8: 1-3, Jer.
1, 1-12, 13 · 19). In apocalyp tiC, however, there is a shift to dreams and visions
that, when expla ined by an interpre ter, disclose God's plan lor the future. 3 The
ANit part of the book of Zechariah , for instance, contains eigh t mysterious visions;
the book of Da niel also contains cryptic visions whose meaning IS tantalizingly
elusive.
Th OilY of J~dgtllrnt
At the e ncl of the Old T~lament, according to the arrangement of the Christian
Bible, are fou nd thineen small ProPhetic w ri t ings tha t. in general, treat the th("me
of the coming of God's day of judgment. T his arrangement, which includes the
book of Daniel, marks one of the im portan t differences bel"'een the Christian
Bible (O ld Tcs tamem) and t he H eb~w Bible, as noted earlkr.~ On t he one hand,
in the Heb~w Bible the Book of the T",'elve is placed before the Writings
(Kethubim ), ..... hich includ~ the book of Daniel . On the other hand, in the
Chris tian Bible, whi ch is inRuencecl by the Creek transla tion (Septuagint), these
small p rop hetic books, along with the book of Daniel, are placecl at the end of the
Old Tcstamem, JUSt before th e Ne." .. Testa mem . Appropriately, the lib retto of
Hanclel's Mtssiab . after citing passages from the comfort ing m~sa8e of Second
Isaiah r Comfon Ye," lsa. 40: 1·3, -Every Valley Shall Be Exalted," 40:4; "And the
Gloty of the Lord," 405), di ps into this prophetic collection:
3, Se.: Susan Niditch, n,.. S)"III!>olIC V,,_ '" BJ,J",,! T,,.},::,,,. HS:'1 30 (Adan.a: Scholars Press,
1983 ), ...·ho no'~ a ~hifl in the pattern of ,he ,",sion '" the t,..""moon from prophecy to apoca-
lyptiC
4.5« abo,'." <:haplcr I.
-

)"t ""Cl a lit!!, u,bil., 4nJ f lI'illlb~l::t
,lot htawr:s a>:J tbt u>1fh
- H ag. 2:6 ·7
&t who ""'Y "b,d. Ib. Dr.y cf hIS «"'''''91
- Mal. U
A,.J})(!ha1l ~n'.fy tbt SOft; 0/ u..;_
- M.d. 3:3 ( KJV)
\X' h;Jt binds th~s~ proph~tic books together theologically is that they all d~a l ~ith
the coming Dils 'r<lt, ~the da)' of wrath: when God ~.il1 judge the sins of the peo-
ple of Cod and Ihe evil that tyrannizes the ....orld.
At first glance, the prophetic legend of }ona.h seems to be an exception. But
thiS short Story also deals with the message of divine judgment that lonah was
commissioned to preach to Nine~'eh, th~ capital of the hated Assyrian Empire that
had oppre<ised the IsraelIte people. (Set- the biner enm ity toward Assyria expressed
in the book of Nahum .) What disturbed }onah was the possibility that if the
N inevit<:s r<:pen ted in response to his preaching, God would relent in his judg.
ment. for ~there's a wideness in God's mercy," to Quote the words of a hymn by
Frederick W. Fabc:r ( 1854). Citing the ancient tradition about the proclamation of
Yahweh's "name" (Exod. 34:5-7). }onah explains his anger and depression in a
prayer:
o LORD [Yah...·ch). ls not this ...·hat [said ",·hile I w~sstill in my O"'n coumry, That
i§ .... hy 1 flt'd to Ta~hish at tht' bt"sinning; for I Imew that you ~re a sracious Cod
and merciful. slo.... to anser. and abounding in steadfast love [bot-JJ. .nd ready 10
relenl from punishin8. And I1(IW 0 loRD [Y~h"'eh], pl= !;Ike my [ife- from me.
for it is bener for me 10 die Ih.n 10 live.
-Jonah 4:2 ·3
To pray for God's m~rcy on Nineveh was as unthinkable as jt was for many
Americans during the Gulf \'(/ar to express Cod's concern for Iraq. the modem
occupant of Assyrian tenitof)'.
APOC.l/yflti( VitwS o} God, Futurt AClio):
TheSt' prophetic writings, then, are eschatological in th,u they point 10 God's
future action to ,'indicatc Zion and. wilh her, all the poor and help less of the earth.
Some of this literature, ho ....'e\'er, moves beyond the prophetic c<;chatology, found
for ins tance in Amos and Hosea, into dt'Rnitely apocalyptic eschatology. This is
true of the fi~t of Ihe group, the book of Daniel, which portrays in high ly sym·
bolic terms the coming of God's kingdom , In the arrangemem of the Christian
Bible, Daniel appropriatcl), follows the book of Ezekiel, which specializes in cryp·
tic symbolism. as e" idem especially in the apocalyptic desc ription of the mysteri·
ous foe from the nonh : Cog from the la nd of l\·lagog (Ezek_ 38:1-39:29). Ezekid
aptly has been called "the father of apocalyptic."
The Domimon of God ,'ersus the l:>.:Jminioo of Evil 305
Other books in this group of prop he tic writings are alw apocalyptic in tone.
For instance, the book of lod portrays th~ coming of God's day of judgment in the
strange symbolism of an army of locusts that ravished t he land. The book of
Zechariah also belongs in the cal~gory of apocalyptic eschatology. Most scholars
divide the book into [Wo parts, ProlO·Zt'Chariah '(chapte~ 1-8) and Deutero-
Zechariah (chapters 9---14}. Despite disconlinuiti~s between the two pans, ho ....-
e\'~r. there are alw important continuities, such as the centrality of Zion. the divine
puriRcation of the community, and the universal scope of Cod's rule on earth.s
The second part of the book of Zechariah i Deutero·Zechariah l, which is
closely related to the ensuing prophecy of Malachi. ends with a ponrayal of the
final battle o f hislOry and the advent of God's kingdom. In imaginative language the
visionary portrays the coming of the Divine Wanior to fight for Zion ( f4: f-5 ),
ca{ady~mic upheavals of nature (w. 6-7). Zion as the source of vitality (V\I. 8- 9),
and the elevation of Zion as the rest of the earth is depressed 10 the level of the
Arabah, the area south of the Dead Sea (w. 10-11 ). Here we stand on the ground
of rnll·blown apocalyptic.
These examples of O ld Testament apocalyptic are only the tip of the iceberg,
as it were _ In t he period fmm approximately 200 B.C . to A.D. 200 a \' J st ~pocalyp.
lic literature appeared. such as 2 Esdras in the Apocrypha or the writings of the
Qumran communiry on the shores of the Dead Sea. In this period of greal histor·
ical insecurity and cultural change. Christianiry eru pted OUt of the h~art of Judaism
and was strongly influenced by apocalyptiC p rophecy, as ",'e shall see.
Tht%gical Tbtmts of Apccalyptic
While apocalyptic literature is vaSt and diverse, and therelort' not easily summa·
rized. several theological themes art' characteristic of the apcxalyptic way o f
Ihinking. 6
\fia/mu ill th.. hlrlb
Apocalyptic seers perceive that people-and the eanh itself-are victims of vio·
lence. In the previous chapter ~.~ noticed that apcxalyp tic in terpreters wreslle
with [he problem of e~'il al a different level-perhaps we should say at a more pm·
foun d level- than prophets who bclie\'~d that social chanSe would come through
repentance. The notion that evil is ....·rongdoing for which the people are respon·
sible was ....eighed in the b alance of suffering and found wanting. P~ople are often
not only the perpctralOrs of cvil but also Ihe victims of it. Evil manifests itself as
an insidious, perhaps we should say "demonic: power in history, prompting
5 Sc~ Rcx A. Mason, "Th: Rclnion of z"...::h 9_1 410 PrOlo·Zechuiah." ZAW SS ( 1976)
227_19
6 Sec further Kl"", Koch, n. R,J,""o>--ny of Ai'oc~l)'~ic l.~ns. Margarel Kohl (london, SC,'-'I.
19n\ whn discu,~ eight mOlif. generali}' found m apoCJlyplic 1i{t''''ruT"('.
306 C~n IOurs of Q1J TDlm"",1 TbrolP41
The Dominion of God versus the Dominion of Evil 307
"people oi th e lie" 10 masquerade as good and twining good into ~\'iL7lt mani f~sts p~op[e live. In the apocalyptic view libera tion ""ill come not by education. social
itself ty pically as a colossal military po\,·er- an Assyria or a Haby lon ia-that planning, or revolutionary activit)-', but by an impending ciltastrophe in which the
sweeps inexo rably over small peoples. It lurks in stn.IClures of power that crush th~ earth will be reduced to a '''ilsteland.
poor and hel pless in society. In shoTt . evil manilests itself as "violcnce··- the theme This view is expressed powerfully in a poem found in the link Apocalypse o f
of H ahakkuh lame nt (Hab. 1:2) and the motive fo r the great /lood (Gen. 6; 11 ). Isaiah:
As we have seen. the question with which apocal y ptic interpreters deal is not
&I,;,IJ,
how th e human heart can be changed {the question of repe ntance] but rather ho,,,
Tb. LORD [Yah""['J ~":l1 ,lril> 1/;, ,,;rib bn.
essemi,dly evil structures can be changed so that soci~ty may be healthy. In their
Al<J L,y ir """11",
estimation , history needs to be ewrcised 01 the evil that holds t~ rribl e sway and
AnJr",;,1 JI> ;,uj"';'c
even threatens the sovereignty of Cod. s For instance. in ilpocalyptic symbolism
A1<d Kalllr it; ,"IMbit.ml5
Babylon is not juSt the e~·il empire know n to historia ns (see Isa ia h 13) but is a cod~
word for the sin ister and oppressive power of evill hat \'ictimizes people, as in the The poe t goes on to say that the catamophe will1cvel all social differences:
ilpocalypse of Daniel (chapter 4) or the apocalypse of John (Revelation 18). uy,""n m,J pfi/~I ; h.,~ fart "iiN.
SlaPf ad ",,"Ir>:
DIIi1!;;m of tk rIM Agf) H~.,j",a id ~n./ .. iSI1t!~
Apocalyptic interpreters are dualistic in their view of history. Th~y p~rce ive twO /lilY'" ,mJ' ,,!b.
dominions (kingdom s) struggling for ascendancy; the dominion of Cod and th~ &"J,r IInd ""'1l>I<',r.
dominion of evil. This is not a metaphysi cal dualism, rooted in ultimate reality or C",J':~r ,,,,J d,atar.

the depths of the Divine, for God's original creation was good, indeed P very good" 7k with ,;'1111 b, ba". h"",
(Cen. 1:31 ). Rather, this is a postcreation dualism rooted in crearure1y rebellion It ,ball b. ~l,,"dud, p,l"ndcuJ,.
For ir 15 rl!t Lo.~D [Yai:wrhJ u,ito ,pDkt Ibi, U'DrJ
ag ainst God-re bellion that is evidem nOI only in human sin but also in cosmic
-Isa. 24:1-3 (NJ PSV )
revolt by cel~stial beings. The conflict between the God forces and the evil forces
WilS evenrually expressed in tenm of the myth of Satan, a heaven ly being who In the follOWing verses, the poet declares , hat this catastrophe will be the
revolted agilinst God and se t up a rival kingdom into which hum an beings are result of the people's lifestyle: they have broken the "everlasting covenant"- the
seduc~d . Noachic covenant (Cenesis 6-9), which rests on God's la",' of reverence for life.
These two dominions-the kingdom of Cod and the kingdom of ev il animal life and especially hu man lif~ , which is made in the image of Cod ( s~e Gen.
(Satan )-may also be described as tWO "ages'· or "worlds," that is, times of history. 9:1 - 17).
The prese nt "age.« in the apocalyptic view, is under the dom inion of evi l (or. as in 11>1{",;iI il "'JlbrrrJ. ~'.1C.
the Lord's Pra}'er, o f "the evil one··). and it will be succeeded by the "·new age ," Tb, u'orlJ 6n;Jui,h". J! i, ,,,,r,
when evil is overcome and all th ings are made new. Apocalyptic imerpreters speak Bcll> 'iy ,,~.! ,,,,r/;9 )., o;;u:~b
of "t his age" (ba 0/<1110 h<lzub ) and "the age to come" Omobrn iI<lbh<l 1. F~r Ib, ...rtb "'''' ,j,f.l,J
,I,
UnJ" ir.h •.,hil<mt"
GuJ i 1"[C"fUOII;OI' £«:.>1'" lhoy tr""'9't';,rJ I", ,,hi,,g~,
To people vict im ized by the powers of evil, apocill~'ptic visionaries announced Ihat Vi,,/a:rJ IIIQ,!"
God is about to shake the evil empire to its foundations and liberate its VICtims. Brakt rh ~n"irnr [r.>rrl~,ti~g ] """'ffl<"'I.
Th~1 i, ~)by" om, ,~~,""'(! rh! (;! r!h.
That is the only way that a new age of ~ ace and justice can come: God must
AnJ its mbuhi~nrl ~"Y 1[.( ~,~""lty,
destroy the w hole evil system. As said preViously, sociill change will come not by
Thai i; ",by ,,,rrb:S Jw,iI.,., bm'< JWmdi(J,
changing the human hean but by changing rh ~ oppressive snucrures under w hi ch
A,,j b!f'~" I'"'' ",.. lrft.
- Isa. 2·J.o.l.·6 (I'JPSVj

7. s"e M. Scan Peck. Propi, 0.1 ~.'. Li,. Tb. n,i" Jo, HdJ"9 HIIIM" Evii ( K~", York: Simon " \\;lle ther this v ision will be realized in an "ecological backlash" because of the vio-
Schusln. Touchswne Book, 1983;. lent lifestyle and atmospheric pollution of human beings remains to be seen.
s. S~e fun:h~ r my essay. "'The Slar ing oi {h~ Fle~ ing . T"'isring S erp~n!: Isa iah 17:t In

Come,,!; in Fr~'" (""I,,,,, la ,\' ....:> C",,,ru,x, OBT {~linneapol is, Fortr~ss Press. t 99~) . 9. Alt~ma{e reading.
308 Co"t01'~ aJ OLl T~t.;'"et:t T"htolcgy
How /(11191 Nollc"g!
Again, apocalyptic visionaries announce that the time is near when God will come
with power, shaking the foundat ions of the ean h and making a new beginning, a
new creation. [n answer to the cry of lament, "0 Lord. how long1" the answer is
give n; Not long' (Reca[ 1 Martin LlIIher King, Jr.·s powerful preaching!) Oppressed
people do not have to wait indefinitely. past the limit of endurance. for the king-
dom of God is coming with powe r. it is "at hand" (cf, )I.'lark 1; 15).
The "mystery" or "secre( that apocalyptic visionaries announce to th e fa ithful
is the immine nce of God's triumph,- indeed some of them boldly announce God's
timetable. This is the theme of the well·known story of Nebuchadnezzar's dream
(Daniel2 j. According to the story. Nebuc hadnezzar, king of Eabylonia, had a ter-
rib[e dream that shook h im up_ He called his magiC ians. enchanters. and sorcen:rs
an d demanded an explanation. though making their task impossible by saying
that they not only had to interpret the dream but tel l him the dream too , other-
wise "off with thei r heads· Da niel , however, had superior Wisdom, for he prayed
to the God of heaven and Nthe mysteryr. (Aramaic mz) I~'as revea led to him in a
night vision (Dan. 2: 17-23).
The imerpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, announced by D aniel to the
king, communicated the divine secret in symbolic language (Oan , 2,31 -35 ), T he
king saw an image composed of materials in descending order 01 value (gold, sil -
ver, bronze, iron , day mixed with iron ), symboliz ing four oppressive empires,
each qualitativel y inferior to the previous one, A stone, supernaturally quarried
W
("not by human hands struck the composite image , symboliZing the catas trophic
} ,
power of God that des troys the old regimes_ The sto ne became a gre at mountain
that filled the who le eart h, symbolizing the spread o f the dominion of God from
its base in Z ion to include the I,'hole world .
Th~ t,,(Vi/ability DJ Gods Ifi(lory
Finally, in the apoca lyptic perspective God's decisive triumph over all th e powers
of evil is cenain . Sometimes this is expressed in te rms o f a sequence of kingdoms
characterized by decreaSing quality (Daniel 2) or by increasing evil (Da niel 7}. So
viewed, there is no ~progress,~ to use a wo rd in currency since the Enlightenment
of the eightee nth century, rather, things will get worse and worse unt il the e nd
time comes and God's dominion supervenes. The periodization of histo ry as a suc -
cession of kingdoms demonstrates the inexorable moveme nt of hist ory toward the
dominion of God, which will introduce a radical new hcginning.
In ,he apocalyptic view, there is an inevitability about the triumph of GOlfs
kingdom. as though the outcome of the ,,,hole drama were known and determined
in advance , This deterministic language should not be construed 10 mean that peo-
ple need only fold the ir arms and \vai t, because everything is "CuI and dried" in
advance. Apoca lyptic does not suppon a failu re of nerve, or a pessimistic view o f
history, although this is hard to und ers tand for those who suppose that h istory is
under the control of human plan ning, science, or wisdom. On the contrary, the
apocalyptic message urges people to stand firmly in faith . even when the odds are
The Dominion of God V"J'SUS the Dominion oi Evi l 309
overv,:helmingly aga inst them and wh en they are called on to endure perseculion
an d martyrdom. Apocalyptic literature calls people to "an ethic of fidelity." tO It
summons the fai t hful to strive actively toward the kingdom of Cod in the confi -
de nce that God is in control and will soon triumph o\'er powers of evil, darkness,
and death.
Tht Apocalypse o} Danid
This spirit 0/ confidence is reRected in the apocalypse of Daniel, which was writ -
ten at the time of the M accabean revolution k a_ 168 II.C ) as a tract for revolu-
tionari es_ The conviction that history moves inevitably. and by prearranged plan,
toward the coming of God's kingdom on eart h fi re d the zea l o f a small band of the
fait hful, enabling them to act in hope when, humanly speaking, e verything was
against them. 'The people who are loyal to the ir God shall stand firm and take
action~ (Dan. 11 :32). If God was for them , who could be against them (cf. Rom.
831·39).
A \,'isioll ill thr Nigbt
The \'ision in Da ni el 7 dese rves special attention. This chapter has been a happy
hunti ng ground for modem interpreters who attempt 10 calculate the end of the
world by reRecting on the identity of the fourth beast. Despi te modern fantasies,
the account of Da niel's vision is indeed very important . if for no other reason th an
that its apocalyptic imagery had a great influence on the New Testament vision of
the coming o f the Son of Man (e.g_. Mark 13 :24-27; 14-06 1-62).
The chapter opens with a night vision. The fou r winds (not e the un iversallan-
guage} wefe stirring up the great sea. the abyss of chaos, in a manll er remini scen t
of the ponrayal in the ~nesis creation story (Cen. 1;2 ), where the Spirit or "wind"
of God churned up t he waters of chaos. Out of the sea arose fou r beasts, symbol-
izi ng the four world empires (probabl y Babylonia, /\-'ledia. Persia. G reece). Each
beast was more terrible than its predecessor. showing the de terioration of history,
and the last beast was horrible beyond imagi ni ng: "tcrriiying a nd dreadful and
exceedingly strong" lOan_ 7:7}. T his beast was differe nt from its predecessors. It
had »ten horns" and one of them had SOmething like human eyes and "a mouth
speaki ng arrogamh'" (7:7-8). iA \'eiled allusion to a line of Syrian ru le rs following
Alexander the Greal [332 R.e ] and culminating in Antiochus IV, who arrogantly
boasted divin ity. )
Then the >cene shifts from eanh to heaven. The heaven ly council is in session,
the cosmic King is presiding. The NRSV arranges t he descrip tio n in poetic fonn :
As r u'a~rbd.
l&ro~rs WHt l,t j~ p!~{l',
anJ~" ,\x,;ml Ont ll I.'ok billhr-ont.
to. Sibley Town"r, D,,~,d , Inlerpn:,alion (Rich mond, John K no~, 1984).
11 . Aramaic. "Anci"m of Day,"
;

3 10 (,mlaur> of Old T"ra",rt'! Tbrol"!!J The Dominiun of God versus Ih~ Dominion of Evil 311

~if d"rbir.g W~; ",hil. as 5"""', the human -like tlgure comes with the clouds of h~av~n_ Finally, to this figure is
~n.:i ri", !uti, of bi, ht"j 1,'" ~~rr :1,,,,,,1, gi\'~ n an ~~r1 ast ing dominion, in contrast to the earthly empir~ that rose and fell.
~r'i! throu "'''' fi"Y jI",,,,,. The interpretive angel explains that those who arc faithful to the end (th~ s.aints
~nj il5 ",Ix,I, .om wrnitJ9 firr-
of the Most High ) will rece iv~ a kingdom Ihat ca nnot be destroyed, precisely
A srr'f"" 4 fir, i,!~,J because they are bearers of the dominion of God _
~d flowd ~~r fro", bi! Pr'I'ltl:C'.
A roo"sani rn"u\.1d, "".yJ bim.
ad rrn 11>o1l"",J li,." If>! tbo..~mJ srood .,rt!7din;l hi,.,
The Domi"ion BcIOl1gs 10 God
TI" CO:lrl sui jc _i~J!1",(p:I. All o f th is means, in apocalyptic terms , that if th ~r~ is hope for th~ future, it must
~nJ rb, .Mok, "= ~I~",d_ be grounded in th e mystery or secret of God's kingdom. Liberation must come
- Dan.7:9·10 from beyond thi~ world, from above, not from below_ In other words, the victory
ov~r tyrannical ~il cannot com ~ from any sourc~ within the historical proc~s, for

(me Likr "SO" Cl[ Man the world has been corrupted by vio lence. The \'ictory will not come by repen·
In th e 5eer's vision, God pronounces judgment on the evil empi res, especially Ihe tanc~ (change of lifestyle), by d~votion to th~ Torah, or, we may add, by ~duca­
13sl , Then the seer beholds anoth~r figure, "one like a human being,"' l who tion. technology, social planning, or social revolution, The kingdom belongs to
approaches the heavenly throne to hear the King's decree. To him is given ~n ever· God., the cosmic King_
lasting kingdom, in contrast to the earthly kingdoms that rule for a time and pass Here we can see a major difference bel\..cen prophecy and apocalyptic. A
away. prophet like Jeremiah, who announced th~ immin~nt judgm~nt of God, perc~ived
As I watchtJ in Ibt nighl n'-s;"",. some continuity between the present an d the future , Eve n when the Babylonian
I So:lW om Ijb: ~ hu"''''' "'iroil armies were pounding at the gates of Jerusalem. and all was lost, he bought a field,
w""i"'l wilh lix cloud, o} b,:"t't1L ~lieving that there would ~ some continuity into the future Ueremiah 32). But
Ad'" ca..,.!o !br Ar.mr.t Clnt, in apocalyptic thinking, the present age is rotten to the core, the whole structure
~r.J lOas ~m"'lrJ btlol'1 hi"'_ of 50ci~ty is inf~cted with cancerous ~viL H ence th e whol e "system" must be
To bi", """ 9;"'" Jom,n,,,,, destroyed. There will be rad ical diKo ntinuity between '"this evil age" and "the age
"r.J glory ""J b"gl["P'
to come,~ !>ymboliz~d by a stone, not quarri ed by human hand, that struck the
I/",! ,,/I pro,~lt"$, ~"",!i""s. ""J km9""9'"'
human kingdoms destructively and enlarged into Ihe worldwide dominion of God
IMUrJ lrrvt bi",.
Hi, domiNioN i, iln ""rl"'1i~9 Ja,";N'o~ (Dan_ 2,31 -35}_ In a later chaple r we shall se~ how Ihis apocal ypt ic view influ-
lhot ,ball r.ol p,,~s "u'ay, enced, and was transformed by. Christia niry,u
aHJ bil ki",/!hi/>;\ "'"
lhot ,ba!! r.nlt"r ~ JrslroytJ
- Dan_7013-14

In the vision , Daniel was puzzled about all of Ihis. and turned to a court aH~ndalll
standing nearby, asking for th~ m~aning _ The illl~ fllre( ive angel (7: 16 ) explained
that the tyranny repres~nted by the succession of ferocious ~asts will come to an
end and that Nthe holy ones of th~ h·lost High~ will be given an everlasting
dominion.
Seve ral things should ~ no tic~d _ First, in this vision the figurc- "one like a
human being~--does not come from the abyss below, the locu~ of the pow~rs of
chaos, but comes from above, Iranscend~ n dy. with the clouds of heaven. Also, this
figure does not have a ~asdy visage (symbolizing fi~rce violence) bul a fri~ ndly
face. None like a hum an h~ing_" Probably the meaning is no t "the human onc" (as
in th ~ lnd"sivr LlI<glUlge Lt"I:,hon"ryi but "the angelic one" or "h~avenly ~ing.~ since

12 . Aram~ic "" ",,,,,b, lil ~ral1}' ·son of a man." Here "son" rc-fen; to ~ member of a group, in tni.
case, human beingl'i comp'''' "',ons of rn. proph~Ts,' m~mber5 of Iht· prophctic orCCL 13. Sce fig_8 describing {h~ apocalyptIC worldv",w, chapter 35_

34. LIFE , DEATH ,
AND RESURRECTION
Wt' have S(rll that in the apocalyp tic vision human history moves IQ""'lIrd the
inn-itable triumph of the dominion of Cod over all the forces o f evil . Discussion
of the grand fi nale would be incomplete without consideri ng onc of the majoreon-
mOOtions of apocalyptic litcTilture 10 biblical thrology: the hope for the r~~c·
tion of the dead. This theme. of course, dominates the whole New Testament,
Indeed, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is proclaimed to ~ t he sign of God's apoc-
alYPltc triumph over the powers of sin. darkness, and death. as we shall see later.
Apocalyptic interpreters announced that in t he justice of God a place will be
prepared for the martyrs who die before Cods final triumph. They ha\'c not died
in \'3io , for at the consummation Cod will T<lise them up in transformed bodily
fann to lake part in a new community.
Making OlllS Gmvf in Sheol
This apocalyptic hope was a deviation ITom the tradi t ional vie\,· in ancient Israel
that the re is no real lile after death. except in the minimal sen!>C o f a shadow}' exis-
tence in Sheol. the land of the dead. According to the anciem pictorial view of the
universe. Sheo( is located beneath the earth in the subte rranean waters 01 chaos.'
In Sheol there is no sense of community, no memory. no activity. and hence 00
prai!>C of God (Ps. 115: 17)--al1 that investS life with meani ng. In a lament. where
fait h sinKS inlo despair, a suppliant asks God :
\140 S"""'iJ tilt Jt~'; "ltbr,,'"
Y01I' lIIiradn1 ~ WJ0'IVS1 nIt
I<l p.aiJI YIlII}
Do!lmr;" lilt G.~,,, Id! o}
Your lci...bt.sJ1 !J Yo .. 1D<Jt jmxlailfld
i~ RwilI}
An yll1lr UXIIIdm ';.da ..1;" Dam.!";)}
11 y.,... jw1rict """"""II,d;,, tilt L",J
ofForgm
-Ps. 8~UO- 12 (t"IIlS. StC'o,.,n Bishop )
A psalm found in the book 01 Jo nah (chap. 1 ) pictures the experience 01
approach ing de ath as a pt::rson sinking imo the deep wate rs o f Sheol (w. 3-6).
I. Sce the ske,ch of ,he indent pictorial vie ... of the univef'ie by Joan Anderwn in my
UY.ilrn!tfr.Jixg tilt 0/;/ Tts"',."" (~bndiJed p~perN.ck cd., Engl~'ood. Clilis. N.J" I'rcntkc-H~I! .
1997), 408, and the a<Up{ation of that sktlch here. ng. 6 in chapter 23.
2. NR5V. N}PSV. and othel"$ translates "sh~~." A sh~de ii ~ disembodied 'Piri! or r,:hO'lI_
.hado.... of ones former ~If.
life, Death, and Iksun«tion 3 13
when '"life was ebbing away"; and other psalms describe deliverance from death as
being rescued from the -mighty waters" {Ps. 18: 16) and being restored to "I~ land
of the living" (ps. 27, 13, 116:9 ). Psalm 18 ( ",2 Samuel }2), a royal tha nksgiving,
portrays delivera nce from the threat of dealh in this powerful, m)' th o~tic la n-
gua~ { \lV. 4--18 ).
Among Israer~ neighbors was a cult of the dead, including the practice of
IlCctumancy---communication wi th t~ spiritS of th e dead (0=1. 18, 11). In the
land o f Israel necromancy was officially scorned , and was emphatically negated in
the book uf Ecdesiastes (9 ;)·6 ). There were, h ~·ever. exceptions at the lc-.·d o f
popular religion, as ill ustrated by the Story of SauJ"s consulting th e medium of
Endor, \"ho brought up the shade (ghost) o f Samuel to forec ast the Outcome of the
battle of Gilboa ( I Samuel 28). The descri ption of Saul's visit as clandestine, by
night. implks that such occult practices were banned ( I Sam. 28,3 ). Faith in
Yahwe h, the Lord of life, ",'as characterized by a health}" this- worldliness. Death,
espt"cially at a ripe old age, \,'as regatded as an aspecl o f the goodness of God's
c reation.
The DYHamic Vi(\l} DJ Lift ad D(.1I1,
Some 01 Israel",; psalms indicate that dea th is something mo rc than a biological
evem that occurs when the heart sto ps beating and consciousness is ext inguished.
life is constamly a struggle with t~ power of death. which threatens an individ-
ual and reduces the vi tality of the IIrpbtsh ("selr-not ~soul" in the Greek ~nse )
almost to the vanish ing point. Most people today think 01 death as an event th at
occurs at the end of life; but in the view oi Israel's psalmists, death's power is at
work in us now. dU ri ng our historical existence. Death's power is felt in the midst
o f life to the degree that one experiences any weakening of personal "italily
through illness, bodi ly handicap. imprisonment, attack from enemies, or adva nc-
ing old age. Any threat to a person's welfare (Hebrew wakHII). that is, one's freedom
to be and to participate in the co\'enanl community. is understood as an inva!iio n
o f Death, regarded as a mYThical Power, into ~t he land 01 the living.w
In some 01the psalms lespeciall)' individual psalms of thanksgiving). onc can Stt
how the experience of salvation from the power of dea th movcs IOward the experi-
ence 01 8~rrection ." that is, being restored from ocath to life. ~In rescuing people
from affl ictio n. healing !>Crious SicKOCSS, or saving From enemies: writes Christoph
Barth. an Old Testament theologian, '"God trul y T~i~d them from the dead . }
W
One psalmist, lor instance , portrays a ~sickn ess untO de ath ."
TIx \ ~."'s of ,lw,b ttto:<1mp.lfltJ "It,
rhi P<l"9' cJ Sbrol wi.1 held <1" /)It ,
I ~~1fIrtJ diurm md 'l~gujsh
3 C hristoph Banh, Cd ..,i,b Lr, A Tho!"!iIK~II"rroJw,roo~ C~ riot OU Tn-L11M1c (Gr3nd Rapi<k
E~ rdm ~ns. 1991i, 277. On ~lm ;; of thankssi\",ns. see my Q"c of ,Ix D.pl&' (Ph ilacldphi3,
'>'hlminSler, 19iB. R\'. ~d. fonhcoming, 2(00 ). chap. 4, ... he", deliverance from death is di,-
cu5~d nlt -J7;.
---
3 I 4 COOOW"fS of O!sl Ttslllll.ent Thtology
1"kn I C41W "" rllt ...... of Iht Loiw [Yab.orb}
O IOR D{Yabwtb2 (pr4)'. ~ my /if.!"
M there" (v. 8b), but here the psalmiSt is dealing wi th the the me of the inescapabil-
--Ps. 11~3 -4
The: prayer was answered, and rhe poet exclaims:
For 'jCfI Ju,l't' o1r1iCIMJ .., _I [nephesh 1fr.:!• .kArh,
MY tytJ fro- lliJfS.
/11}' JmJro.lho.W;"g.
f ....Ik b40rr1bt L02D [y"J"M,1
if! lilt lid of tbr I~.
-Ps. 116:8-9
In siruations descri bed in psalms of thanhg;ving, "the bd ie\'er was almost dead,
and the' libcntion thus amoun ted almost to a [nurr«:tion.M4
LiJr afttr DMlh
Now and then in the Old Testament there were anempts to ri~ "bove awareness
of the limi ta tions of mortal li fe:. but they arc: kw and far between. Rec::alling a beau-
tiful solo in Hanclc l's Mt5!lIIb, some would think of a famous passage in which}ob
affirms that he knows that his Vindicator (Redeemed livc:s. According to the
Jewish translat ion, the: He brew lext, which is very problematic, n.· ads,
B~I I.\:roOlO tJ..arzry l'inJi,,,rQf iim,
/,.!ht ",J Hr ~~'ii rrstijy "" ~rtb--
TM. afla _Y l"n ",,11 &"Pf t-. pttitJ off-
B~I I ",,,,,IJ iorbo/.J GoJ wbilr stil1 ;.. lily jitsb.
IIIIptlj, 1101 allOtber, .rot<!J bd:vIJ Hu.,
W",,/.J SIT am _Y 010II tytS-,
My &un ,iIIn ..,;1&01: ....
-Job 19,15-17 (NJPSV )
Here Job expr~scs the conAcknce Ihat after his death a redeemer will rise up to
defend his cause. That would secure some justice for him, for it was Ihe duty of Ihe
1,lood redeeme ..... 10 avenge the deceased and g<lin vindication for him after h is
death. Here, however, Job is not concemc:d wilh a postmortem solution 10 his
problem, though he is confident that he will ultimatdy be vindica tt"d. H e wants to
see God now and have h is case adjudicated fairly_ This passage expresst"s the cha r.
acteristic th is· worldliness of the Old Tes tament.
Various psalms set"m t o exprt"Ss confidence that a person's life extends indcA.
nildy in tO th e fulUre, such as Psalm 23, which concludes, according \0 the famil .
iar translation: "[ shall dwell in the hOl.15t" of the LORD [Yahwt"h] forever." But a
close readi ng of the text indicates that the psalmists confldence is limited to this
lift", · for many 10nlS years~ (NJPSV) or "my whole life long" (NRSV ).
life, Duth, and Resurrection 3 15
[n the beautiful Psalm 139 the poet says, "if I make my bed in Sheol, you are
ity of God_ There is no hid ing place, above or below, o r in any extremity of the
earth o r heaven, where one can escape t he God who knows a perwn intimately
(sec vv_ 1-6)_
Infi1KJ2!iOll~ aj a Fsdun Uj!
There are. howe'i~ r, thr~e psalms, all of them .... isdo m psalms (37, 49, and 73).
that may paim bory-ond Ihe horizons of monality. Twice tht"re is mention of per.
sons' <I~ritb , wh ich m~ans their Mend"" (7 3:17, NRSV) in th t" sense: of "tha t which
com~ a fter"- variously translated ilS one's "future (37,37-38. NJPSV), · posterity"
M
(3737-38, r-..IRSV). "dest iny" (73:17, REB ), · fat~· (49:14, NJPSV)_ Confronted
with the injustict" that sometimes the wicked prosper and the righ t~ous !iUffer, the
sage counse:ls us to look beyo nd the presen t to th e future, whe n the outcome of
a person's way of lif~ will be manifest. Th is language may intimate vindication
beyond de ath ,~ though this is dou btful. As in Job, the problem of suffering is
h~JNY to bear precisely because a postmonem solut io n is not acceptable _
In Psalm 49 Ih!': horizon of life b~yond death seems to be in view. The sage
strikes one of the main themes of wisdo m lileralUre: it is foolish to boast of great
wealth or glory in worldl y success, because death comes int"vitably, and "you can-
IlOt take it with you."
SM{b;\ t« f~" Q f b 11-00 g rt Slif-c""fiJt7!/,
ttv,..J Qf tJmr plr"ltJ a>o"tb t!,ri, ~"'" IoIlk.
Sbaplil.: tbry head jo, Sbrol,
""t& o."lb ar Ibri, slH;pbtroi
-Ps, 49: I ~ · t S ( t>.'1PSV)
Notice that in this translation ~ath (pcrsonifled) is nOt JUSt a biological event bul
a power that "shephCTds· people toward th~ i r ·~nd· o r "fatt": 6 Not so, ho .....evCT, in
the case of the ~upright :
Blit GcJ ".-11 r!4mlt ...y Ii.Jc frc- lbe c1"td,," IIf Sbcol.
fQ' H. will t.>i:t lilt.
-Ps. ~9: 16 (NJPSv)
In the judgment of Gcrhard von Rad. the verb in the second line, variously trans·
latt"d as "tak~: "receive: or "snatc h away,· expresses "a life of communion with
God which will outlaSI death."?
The matt~r is even clearer in the magnificen t Psalm 73. Attempting to under-
stand the perplexing injustices of th~ world, a poet goes to a worship servic~,
5 50 Gerhard ~..,n R...d, W'-.<:i'o .. i~ 1"".1. Ir~ni. James D. ./I.·llnin ( N.shvm~ : Abingdon, 19n ).
103-4_
6. Reading Ih~ H~br<'W "'om ~""riru. dIscussed lbove, thOUllh the Hd",::w I~xl is obscure at
this pOlnt_
i . Van Rad, 1I'i<Jma;" Il,~tl. 1Q.4.
316 Gmt"",,!" 4 OU ufta",,,,t nrology
where things are seen in a new light. Th ~ po ~t's lestimony begins with
"nevenheless.w
.,"-'r:.·/f1h<-!m. 1"m co"ti"w,,!!y with y~u,
you }"'Jd "'y right b~~.1.
y~~ gmd( lilt with yo~r CO~H!t?
,mJ 4ltrw~ rJ yo" will "ni,,, "" will} hmw,
W},.,,,, M"t f,~ h<-",'f]1 "'~t YOI"
AxJ tbrrr i! ~"Ihil<g or. ",rrh IMt I Jt!irr o:hl' tb" you
AiY,Otsh ~d "'Y br"rt m"y J~il.
hi GoJ i, tb. ,t,,,,!!t), 4 my hwt~,J my P<>rrw"J~("'rr.
- Ps. 73,23 -26
Unfortunately the m~anin8 of the lasl part of v. 24 (50m~times translated, "after·
ward you will rec~ iv~ m~ to glory~) is obscur~ in the H~br~w text. But the poet's
sense of an unbrok~n fellowship with God s~~ ms £0 provide an intimation of future
life. Other psalms may contain this hint too (P55. ]6,9 · 11 ; 17; 15; 27: ] 3).
Death Swallowed Up ill Victory
What w~ have fou nd so far ar~ hint5 or intimations of life ~yond death. As no td
pr~viously, it Ivas in t h~ apocalyptic literature of t he O ld T~Slilment tha t a clear
breakthrough into a hop~ for future life occllTT~d . With the coming of God's king.
dom, no t only will th~ force<> of evil be conqu~ r~d but also the power of Dea th will
be overcome.
This is the th~me in a portrayal of "th~ ~schalOlogical banquet in a s~ction of
the Isaiah Apocalyps~ (Isa. 24;2] ·23 . 25:6-8). The con~ummation of ~the last days"
involves this sc~na rio ;
• After the cosmic catastrop he that shak~s the earth , Yahw~ h will be
enthroned in Zion- both the h~",v~nly Zion and its ~arthly counter-
part.
• The d ispersed of Israel will be gath~red to Zio n with singing and rejoic-
ing, and other nations will join them in the pilgrimag~.
• On Mount Zion Yahw~ h will spread out a banq uet, and inv it~ all peo-
ples 10 the celebration of divine triumph over evil and th~ dawn of
peace.
• Th~ peoples will join in a great hallelujah c horus to th~ King.
• The celebration "on this mountain"' (25:9) will be joyful because, Ilrst.
Yahw~h will r~mov~ th~ v~il that hides God's gloI}' so that "all flesh" '""ill
behold th ~ spl ~n dor of Yahweh. the Holy One of Is rael, second, on
/I.·Jount Zion "Yahw~h will swallow up d~ath lorevn."
What is involved in this ~s\V<lllowing up" of death, a motif tha t is echoed in I
Cor. 1554-55 ;> In H05. 13 ,14 the la nguag~ is rhe torical. Speaking of Ephraim.
God's question is: "Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol, shall I red~~m
life, D~ath, and ReslJTTection 3t7
th~ great them from death?" In oth~ r words. should God save the peopl~ from the destruc-
tion that they deserve as a cons~qu~nc~ of their sins? In lsai<lh 25, howev~r, the
apocalyptic writer i5 5peaking of something far great~r than the deliv~rance of the
Israelite people from hi storical destruction. The poet'S unusual language dearly hil'S
mythical ov~non ~s, for in Ugaritic ( Canaanit~) mythology, Baal- the lord of life
and fertil i ty-i~ opposed by Mot ( D~ a th ), th~ god of darkness and d~ath. What i5
at stake in this passag~ is God's victoI}' over Death, " th~ last ~n~my" ( I Cor. ]5:26),
and thnefore the complete transformation of th~ human condition. In the day of
God's victory celebration, th~r~ will be no more death, and- like a tende r par-
~ nt-God will wipe away all tears from human fac~s and will r~ move the
»reproach" of his people, Isra~L
71, Allmbil<9
In an ~nsuing chapt~r this th~m~ , the triumph over death , is picked up in an ~apoc ­
alyptic psalm· (lsa. 26:7 -2 1). The last lin~ of the p5alrn is crucial for interpr~t<ltion,
bur, alas .. in the Hebrew th~ passage is difficult. AJewish translation reads:
Oh. l/t }'o~r iGoJ'i] J",J m.~'vr_,
Ut carp", "risn
Au,~kt ""d sbc>ul Jo, joy.
YQ~ who J,,,rii;,, lb. lw,r l " -
For Y""r JIU>;5 [ih the Jr~' on Jmh !!ro'l'!),'
'l'"1 .."kr th. [,,~d of lb. <b~.i/'j co"'" 10 lif"
-[sa. 26: 19 (NJPSV)
This is a cryptic pa~s3ge . Some int~rpr~t it to ~ a flgurative expression of the hope
for a r~suTTection of th~ Dody" Israel from the gloom of defeat and d~spair. as in
Ezekid's vision of the valley of dry bone<> ( Ez~kiel 37), where the people complain:
"Our bones a~ dri~d up, and our hope is gone~ iv. 1I). In answer 10 the question,
"Can these bone5 live?" the prophet envisions a r~!illTT~tion of corporate Israel,
"bone to ilS bon~"-as pictur~d in the famous spiritual----and a "breath~ or spirit
(wind) blows into them new lile or reanimates th~m .
There is a ~ns~ in which the ,",i~w of corporate resurre<;tion is true to this
apocalyptic psalm in Isaiah. The poet is not sp~aking only about th~ ~5urrection
of ~ach individual a ft~ r d~ath but of the raising up of all the faithful dead in the
~ nd. But more is invoked than corporat~ r~surr~ction_ Wh~n r~ad in th~ previous
context of th~ apocalyptic banquet and the announcement that d~ath is swal-
l ow~ d up in divine victory, th~ passage contains an intimation of personal life
beyond d~ath . Early scri~s must have viewed it this way, for the n:c~ ived text in
w
H~brew reads; "your dead will com ~ 10 lil~, my body will arise. In any case, Paul
quot~d th~ passag~ about th~ "swallowing up of death" in I Cor_ ]5:54-55 to sup-
pon the view of the continuation of p~rsonal lif~ ~yond death. (~~ the discus-
~ i on of] Corinthians]5 below. )
8. Thar i<, ;n Sileot. th (" land of ,he deJ d.
 3 18 (DIll"'.... of 00 Ttslll"!7I1 Thml"!lJ'
\VbtH SIrrpm Awal:t
If then~ is any doubt about the c:schatological significance of the paS!><ige from the
Apocalypse of Isaiah, tht:rc is none in rega rd to a climactic passage in th e book of
ff
Da niel. The re:ader is told that "'a time of anguish will come, such as has nc:ver
before been ex~rienced in the history of the nations_
RIlt at Ihal lime your peOple ~h~lI be del1\'ered, everyon~ ....ho is found ...'Tillt'n in
the book. -"lany oi those who sleep in the dUSt of Iht' t'arth ~ hall a...·ake. some to
e--·erLu llng life. and some 10 5hame and everlasting conlt'mpl. Those who art' wiSt'
~hall shillt' like the bri8h!nes~ of the sky, and lho!;~ who I~a d many 10 righteous-
ness. lik~ the Stmi fOre'>·t'r and ever.
_ Dan.l101 _4
Here: the writer is spea king not about a genel7l1 ~surr~ t ion, but only of the "awak-
ing" of those membe~ of tM community 01 faith w~ names are enrolled in · tM
book of life" (cf. Exo d. 32:32· 33, Ps. 69:28). apparently an official register of memo
bers of the comm unity of iaith. -Many- ....,iII be brollght back to life. and · wme" of
these will "live forever; shining li ke the stars of heavens_ This paS!><ige is the clea r·
est expression of future life-indeed, it contains the only mention of "everlasting
life"-i n th e Hebrew Bible.
-
•
R(Sumctio,! o} tbr Body UtrsU5 Immortalily of IIx Soul
[n this apocalypt ic ..... ay of thi nking, the indh'idual is ra~ d to ne ..... life in the corn·
munily tha t cc:1ebrates God's victory over the po .....er; of evil, darkne$s, and death.
This event occur; not aher the immediate de ath of a person but at the end o f h is·
tory, the t ime when God'~ kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven. People
"skep" Ilnt il the Rnal consummation, wMn they wi ll be »awakened" to celebrate
God's dominion with those who are alive.
The apoca lyptic view of resurrection from the dead came to be a conuoversial
issue among Jewish interpreter;. One Jewish part}', the Sadductt'>, denied the doc·
trine because it ....'as not found in the To rah , while the Pharisees, more liberal in
their imerpretation, accepted it. On onc occasion, according to the Cospds (M ark
12: 18·23). some Sadducees questioned]esus on t he po int, and Jesus gave an inte r·
pretation that sided \.-ith the Pharisees. In Paul's defense of the doctrine, he proved
himself 10 be "a Pharisee. t he IDn of a Phari~ee~ (Acts 23:6.8).
The Pharisaic resurr«:tion view is alien to many modem people too, who pre·
fer to think in t... rms of th ... immortality of the soul, if they believe in furure life at
all. Toda}' the word "immortality" is o ften used loosel}' to refer to hope for a fumr..-
life. Strictly. however. the term expresses a sharp dualism of a deathless soul and
morta l body. Death is no t real; at th e end of life the deathless soul is merely freed
from the corrup tible body (priwn) of tlesh.
In the New Tes tament Jesus' triumph over dea th is. of cours..-, expresSt'd in
terms of resurrect ion. Significantly, the earliest Christi an co nfession of fait h, the
, n."..glot, eel. Krister Slencbhl (New York.: I'. bcmllbn, 1965).
Apostles' Creed, does nOt affinn belief in the immorta lity o f the soul but !><iYs: "I
liie, Death, and ResufTf:t"tion 319
bel~ in tM resurrecti On of the body and the life everlasting." The N icene Creed,
recited in many churches today, affi rms belief in "the resurrection of the dead." In
a famous sermon on "The Fullll1ment of life," Reinhold Niebuh r observed that the
creedal affi rmat ion. "t believe in the resurreCtion of the bo dy.~ expresses preg-
nantly "the wh ole genius" of the bi blical and Christian faith.9
Socr/31tS a.,J Jrsus
In his cekbrated Ingersol Lecture at H arvard University, the dist i n~..u tshed New
Testament scholar Oscar Cullmann presen ted an imprcssl~'e dtscussion of these
cv.'o views by comparing Socrates dri nking thc hemlock. as ~t forth in Platos
Phado, to Jesus struggling wi th his impending fate in the G arden 01 Cethsemane,
as portrayed in the Gospels of the New Testament. l {}
In the face o f death, Socratcs ts calm, for dea th is nOI a significant event. In the
Greek view. the soul is essentially deathlesS. It enters t he body from a higher realm,
the abode of eternal realities, and for a while suffe~ imprisonment. Death liberates
the soul "om the body, which has hindered it from performing {r..-ely. and it rerurns
to eternity-------bcyond the boundarics of lime and space_ A5 Cullmann putS it, "the
destruc tion of the body cannot mean the destruction of the sool any mon: th an a
1I
musical compo'Sition can be destroyed when the instrument is dest ro)'ed: Thus
Socrates downs the poison calmly, knowing that death does not touch the soul but
onlv libentes it to retum to its true home. the realm of the Real and Ihe Eternal.
•By cont rast, Jesus is confident that his life ts enfolded in Cod's fai thfulness and
love. but death is a rea l experience_ It mea ns to be forsaken by God ("I\-'\y God,
why ha\'e you forsaken me7") and to be taken away from the covena nt community,
at least tempol7lrily. T he Ilnality of death is expressed in the terse language of the
Aposdes' Creed: ·crucilled, dead, and buried: [f there is a future . beyond the hor·
rOT of death, it will result from Gods act of gr.l.ce. a new ac t of creation.
This language, derived ul timately from an apocalyp tic worJdviev.', is a 5)?11boJic
expression of fai th. It would be wrong to Iry to cramp the apocalyptic imagery in to
the exact li mitations of liteT<lI prose. Moreover, both immo rta lity and resurrecti o n
are symbolic modes 01 expression, neither of which can be proved beyond a
shadow of doubt. But the apocalypt ic symbolism has some advantages O\'Cf the
Creek doctrine of the immortality of the soul.
9. Rc;nhold NiebYhr, Br)"OtlJ T,oyr.1)' ( N~ ,," York, Scribnds Sans. 1937), 41-51. s.,~ also
Gabrie\ Fadu-e. "1 Believe in the Resurr~C1ion of the: Bod)·." /M1 46 ( 992 ) 41-51.
10. QK;or Cullmann, "Immonality of the Soul or Resurre<;tion of the Deadl The 'IX'itness of
the New T~tamrm\. - in I•• ~rul:ry..d Rts..mrt:"". fX:,tb ad R....rrrct:O>I · T"", (","",.-<1,"9 (~ ...... Is oJ
1I. lbid., 12.
 320 C~~tc« rs of OM Trsta",mt Thrology
P~)'(bosom<lti( U,,'-Iy Qj Ihr Pmo"
First , resurrection implies a different M anthropolo8Y," or view of human nature,
than the one to which we are accustomed . Human nilture is not a dichotomy-a
body of mortal flesh and a deathless soul, as in some philosophies, but rilther a
unity of body ilnd spirit , iln animated body-Icrr.t .. n'nwla (animated soul), as
Augustine put it. This view is expressed classically in the creation story fCHlnd in
Cene~is 2, ilccording 10 which the Lord Cod infused "spirit" (life force) into a lump
of clay and i! "became a living !l~pmlh" (Cen. 2:7, NRSV: "a living beingW )y The
Hebrew word should not be transla[ed "soul," if that means an immortal essence ,
but rilther "person" or Mse1f.~ The sd f is a un ity of body and spiril, iI psychosomatic
unity. That hum;!ns are "'embodied be ings." not a duality of body and soul, is
shown by recent fese~rch in genetics. l ~
In this vi ew. death must be taken seriously. As a sage advises us, wc should
"'count our day~" IPsalm 90 ) and live life to the full while we are given time, a
teaching of the book of Eccle~iastes . H \'1Ih en death comes, as it does to all form~
of life Iha! Cod has created, Ihe self collapses, it die~. Death is a total event-
there is no pan of human nilture. such as an immortal soul, that is untouched . The
"(phrsh d issolves to Ihe vani5hing point. le the n, there i5 a continuation beyond
this terminal point it will be a d ivine mirade_15 The self must be given a new bad·
ily form and the di\'i ne spirit or life force must be bre athe d into it (Cen. 2:7, cr
Ezek. 37: 1-11 )_ Future [ife, like the life we now ex~rience. will be a gift from
G od . a new creation, not something t hat is ours by nature.
11>1 EmboJi(,l S~~
Second . resurrect ion imagery uses body language to depict the particularity and
ide nt ity of the individual who has certain personal characteristics. Notice that
~resurrection of the flesh" is not intended in this symbolism. The body is the fonn
of our individuality, that which makes a person Msomebody.w Interestingly, wh en
the med ium of Endor, according to the biblical sto!)' ( ] Samud 18}, 'brought upw
Samuel from Sheol , he appeared as "an old man wrap~d in a robe" so thal Saul
recogniz(-d him. This. of cour;c, reAects supersti tion that Isr<ld's interpreter; tried
to prohibit, but it shows how h ard it is for us to thi nk of one's person<ll identity
12. Not~ tha! tht ""m~ ~xp='ion tr.",&",b h~n'~h) is u,~d of !h~ an imals in Gen. ] , ]9.
13 The science of genetics, according to one ,rudy, indicate, that "human personhood .::an-
not be r~duced to a pur"!y imm.,eri al or spirit ual nntinn, as sometimes occurs ... ben p«>pl~ iden-
lIfy thcm,eI"es with S<l<Ii5. \1::',- arc essentially and fundamtma Ily ",mbodied beings, with a geneti.::
h",ri,age from oor parent., rbeir parents, and '0 on. Thi' ge1l(:ti<: benlage affects all parts of us·
~ Brun R. Re ich~nba,h and V Elding Anderwn. ()., &b~1( oJ GoJ·A Chn',:idn EthicJ.TBiolog)· [Grand
Rapid~: E,-rdman" 19951 293· 'luO!«i in a paper pr""ented <0 the .A.merican 1n.:ological Soci~ty
[ 1998 l 'Th",ologzcal Reflcctions on G.:n"'lic, and Hllman Nature" by Alldrey R. Chapman,
Dlrecror rrogram 01 D,aloMUe Belween Science and Religion. American As<odation lor th",
Advanc", mem of Science).
1-4. 5« ~bcN"', chapter 3 1.
15 ]n lbe Old Teslament thi, m".. c1e i, a lsoe~p=sed in ,,,,rm, of (fanslation lrom ~arth ID
hea"",n, as III !he cases of Enoch (G:-n 5,24) or Elijah (1 Kgs. 1,11).
li fe . Dea!h. and Re~urrection 321
apan from bodily form , even that of a spiritual body. · Spirit," without bodily m<ln-
ifes!ation, is va!::ue and indetenninate. By contrast. body--especially a healthy
body- images a conCTCte person, who belongs to a community, who has identifi-
able traits of personality, and who moves to\<,'ard future fulilllment. The physical
body makes possible dea ling with others and thus expresses interpersonal (I .Thou )
relationships_
A biblical view of the body (sell) challenge5 the modern scientific worldv ie"W
that rests on the subject/object or mindlmaner dua lism of the philosopher Rene
Descartes ( 1596--1650 )_ This rationalism , portrayed in the famous statu~ of "The
Thinker" by Auguste Rodin ( 1840---1917), u nderlies the modern scientific world·
\'iew. By virtue of reason, human beings are able to control the material world
through scientific know-how and t~chno !ogy. nle great symbol is the computer,
a creation of the human mind, wh ich "thinks" logically and ~I times e\'en seems to
have a mind of its own' Medical scienc~ of the past has been too domin<lted by the
view that the body is a complicated mach ine, ntled temporarily by a phYSical
brai n_ But thi5 reductionist view of personhood i~ inadequa te, philosophically and
theologi cally. The question NWho am 17" cannot be fully answered by Ihe well·
k nown Canesian "cogilo ergo slim" (I think, therefore I am ).
The biblical view of the person as lem! mrimal.. has implications for the care of
the body and for medical treatm ent, to say nothing of issues of social welfare.
Accord ing to Stephen Sapp it even has impli cat ions for Alzheimer's d isease, "the
disease of the century.~ In an incisive essay based on a biblical view of human
nalllre , he argues that even when ra tiona l faculties fail or there is a tragic loss of
memory, the "I," or the person who was made in the image of Cod. continues to
exist. 16 The ~rson's identi ty, expressed in his or her body, is remembered-and
cared for- in the community and is ~remembered" by G od.
1\·1ore t han thai, the person will be resurrected in a new bodily fonn to exist in
eternal relationship with Cod and 10 tak~ pan in the redeemed community. If
there is real future life for a ~rson , beyond the morta l limitations of this life, there
will be personal identity, personal recognit ion. and personal reunion . Thus body
language has symbolic dimensions Ihat are di fficult to express in [enns of a discar·
nate. immortal soul.
lif( i " dx R(dumd Co",mlllliry-
Also , Ihe languag e of resurrection is based on the premise rhat life is give n in corn·
mun ity. as indicated above . Indeed, human life in iso lation is not life in the full
sense : NEin Mensch ist kein Mensch," as Ihe German proverb s.aY5. 17 That is why
solitary confinement in prison, or the anonymity of the homeless, is so dehuman-
izing. ~ II is not good for the hum an being to be al one ,~ 5ayS Cod in a biblical ere·
alion 51O!)' (Gen. 2, 18), so God ove rcomes this loneliness by providing <l Npartner;
on~ who stands o\'er again5t"vis-a· vis, in an "1·Thou" relalionship. Human life is
16. Sl<:phtn SaPP. ' li.',"!! "'ith Alzhe;mer's, Body Sou13nd the R~membcrinfl Commlln;!}':
CtJ",!:"r. C,,:r~r)' 11 5. nO . ] (1998) 54----60_

gi\'~nin the con text of intcllXrsonal rda tion~htp, If "~surrection' during one'~ life-
time meanS r~storation to th e comm unlly, so that one may "'walk before the Lord
[YahwehJ in the land of the living (Ps. 116:9 ), then the flnallibercllion &-om death
is appropriately portrayro as bei ng ra ised to life so that one may take part in the
redeemed community_ It will mean ex--rending the horizon of Psalm 23 beyond Ihis
eanhly life and being invited to sit at the Lord's Tabl~ with oth~rs and to be a guest
in Cod's hoose ~for~'er,' e\'en beyond Ihe limi tat ions of monallife.
Thus resurrection imagery em phasizes life in community. in contrast to the
individualistic doctrine of the immonality of the soul. Indeed, these tv.'o ways of
thinking yield imponant differences in ethics. "If Lm Things a~ ponrayed as the
destiny of isola ted persons.~ ""rites theologian Cabriel Fackre, "an individualistic
ethic is predictable . In contrast, the resurrection of the bedr carries with it the
mandate to care here and now for the hungry, homeless, and abused."'3 Moreover,
when resurrection is seen in its apocalyptic context of a new creation, which
includes the transfonnation of society and of nature. it has imponant ecological
implic.l1ions. As Paul said In a chapter that is indebted to the apocalyptiC per-
spective. "the whole creation has been groaning in labOT pains until now,~ w.aiting
with human beings for the final consummation, namely. "the redemption of ou r
bodies" (Rom , 8:22-23 ).
Thr Ed aJ H isklry
Finally, resurrection image!)', when appearing in .an apocalyptic comext, implies
mov~menr toward the goa l of hislO!)'. Just as the life of the individual is a "pilgnm's
progress," so the history of the world, from creation on, i\ understood 10 be a tde -
ological movement toward the final e\'ent of the coming of the dominion of God
on earth as it is in hea" en. If the doctriroc of immonality is un historical, promising
to redeem individuals from the lransience o f time and the e-vil of history, the res-
urrection hope endorses the ultimate meaning of our historical life. In this view,
there can be no divine justice jf faithful indi vid uals, who predecease the end, are
denied access to the Bnal consummation.
There arc, of course, problems with this apocalyptic image!)'_ Questions
ine-vitably arise: \'<'hat happens to faithful individuals in the in terim between their
de.a th and the Anal co nsumma tio n] 'W'hat conti nuity is the~ beT\Oieen the fleshly
body that decays and the transformed spiritual body that is incorruptible( [s final
salvation intended only for the righteous, the wicked being cast into darkness, or
does it include all human beings universally l In facing these and other questions,
interpreters must be on guard against turning the poetry of faith into the literalism
of exact prose. The important th ing is that the image!)' of resurrection at the end
em phasizes and endorses teleological mo\'ement, not only the destiny of individ·
uallife but the whole sweep of historical time. In apoca lyptic imagina tion. at the
great finale all faithful persons, li"ing and dead, will take part in the cschatologi.
cal victory banquet.
17. 'One humin oong is nOl i hum~n "",nl! ~t il l.'
t 8. Fad.~ , "I B( I i~'~ In (h~ RCS\lrr\"<.:tion: .\ 5-46
•
lifc, ~ath . and ResulTCCtion 323
TI)r Mrll11l1orpiJosis
The beSt discussion of resurrection hope in the Bible is found in one of Paul's let-
ters to the church at Corinth ( I Corinthians 15 ). The discussion is based on an
apocalypt ic perspective.
Here Paul divulges the apoc.alypti c "secret" or Nmyste!)'" ( I Cor. 15:51): the
end is ncar, so near that nOt all a!i\'e will "sleep," that is, suffer death. FollOWing the
JeWish apocalyptic scenario, he declares that the end will be sig naled by the
sounding of a trumpet (sce Joel 2: I; uph . I: 16). Then the dead will be raised to
take pan in the mming of God's kingdom. Their personal lives will be fulfilled in
the ultimate goa l of all history and creat ion.
[ n two respects, h owe\'~ r, Paul depans from Old Testament apocalyptic. First,
he insists that there ....,ill be a metamOrphosis in which the physical body is trans·
fonned into a spiritual body, for "flesh and blood c.annot inh~rit the kinlj:dom of
Cod" ( I Cor. 15:50). Notice, he does not speak of the release of the immortal soul
from its badi!}' prison, but rather says th.a t the monal bod)' must "put o n immor·
tality~ as somethinlj: ,ha! is added (v. 53 ). \'(lhen thi s occurs, as an act of God's new
creation, then the promise of the Isaiah Apocalypse (lsa. 25:8) will be ful~lIed,
"Death has been s..... allowed up in viClory:"t~
Paul devotes considerable attention to the body of the resurrection ( I Cor_
15:35.49). Using va rious illustrations, he argues thal there are different kinds of
bodies, .and th.at a spiritual body is one kind among these . His afgu~n( is that this
phy§ical body, which is no ....· the form 01 a person's earthly existence, \"iII be
changed into a spIritual body or, as he says elsc:where. ~a glori~ed body" (Phi!'
3:21 ) suitable for the new conditions of life in Ihe new age. the everlasting k.ing.
dom of God_
USlcn, I w,lIlell yOtl a ffi)' Slery: We will nOI all di~ , but ....'e will all be ch~nged, in
a mom~n(. in the (....'i nkling of an ty<:, al the lasl trumpet. For the tru mpet will
sound. <lnci (he dead .... ill be ra ised impel'1shable, and "cc will be <;h~ng~d
- J Cor. 15:51-52
To use a modem anal og)', the metamorphosis is like that of the caterpillar thal
changes fonn and wrns into a butterfly. This image has the ~d vantage of portray-
ing continuity and discontinuity: a differem form, yelthe sa me being.
Tbt Dmvni"9 of GoJs Dell!inioll
In the seco nd place. Paul depans fro m trad itional apocalyptic by making the bold
announcement that the t ime of God's kingdom has already dawned. That is the
meaning of Christ's resurrec tion, he sa.ys as he begins his discussion of the ""hole
subj«:t ( 1 Cor. 15:20·29). The resurrection of Christ is the "nm fruits" of the har·
vCSt, showi ng tha t the full harvest is coming. namely, the general resurrection
from the dead (v. 20). In the meantime. Christ is proclaimed the viCtorious king.
who will continue his redempti\'e wo rk until all po",'ers hostile to God's purpose
are O\'erCOme_
19 5«' the previous discussion in this chapter.
 Notice tha t in this apocalyptic scenario, the "laH enemy" to be on~ rcome is
Death (v_ 16), In the present evil age Dea th is still an aggressive power, invading
the land of the living and seizi ng its victims, as evidenced by viol e nce. oppression,
CONCLUSION
untimely death, and so on. But, according to Paul's proclam ation, Death'~ power
ha~ been broken by God's raising]es.us from the dead. Th is divine victory is a fore -
taste of the final triumph ove r all powers that threaten to separate people fmm the
love 01 God (Rom, 8,18- 19) , This event inte nsifies Chris ti an hope lor what is to
FROM THE OLD T E STA MENT T O THE NEW
come , "the liberation fmm monality" {Rom _8:13, REB} or better, "the rede mption
of our bodies.~

W~ know lhatlhe whole creation h"s been groaning in labor pams un tIl no ..... , and The scripturr5 writtfil long ngo
not only the cr~ation, bu t we o ur;eh'cs, ,dlO ha,"" the first frui t~ a l the Spirit, groa n
inwardly, while we wait tor ado ption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were nl/ wrjttfIJ Jor our jllslrllctiol1,
were saved. i l l order that tlJrollgh the encollragemfIJl
- Rom , 8·22 ·14a
Pan of the apocalypt ic scena rio is [hat in God 's plan Jesu s Christ will reign as
they give us we may maintaill
king until the time of the final vinory, at which time he will hand over the domin - ollr hope wjll) per,everallCf.
ion to Cod, who will be "all in all" {V\'. 27-18 ). After the conllin is over, and D eath
is destroyed. the dominion of God will come in its full glory. RO~1ANS 15 :4 (REB )

Bc $tMdfaslr
As in t he case of other apoca ly ptic literature, such as the book of Daniel, the pri -
mal)' purpose of [h is discussion is not to speculate about God's iu tllre timetable but
to enmurage people to be faithful in the struggles of daily life_ Victory is on the
way, and indeed we see its flrst signs already in Christ's resurrection. Accordingly,
Paul ends the discussion of futu r~ resurrection w it h an exhortation to people
caught in the midst of the historical slnJggic to hold on and act:
Therefore, my beloved. be steadfast, ,mll1o~' abk, always ~xcel1ing in {he work of
the lord, because ),011 know tha t in the Lord your labOT i~ not in vain.
- I Cor. 1558

W'e have scen already, in the case of the book o f Daniel , w h ich was writlen for
a revolution , that apocalyptic hope is not a "cop out" or a failure of nerve, bill a
motivation to stand finn against tremendous odds,~(1 As Pa ul exclaims-to rurn
aga in to the magnificent eighth chap,er of Romans:
If Cod is on OUr sidt:. who i~ aga inst liS;

- Rom . 8 :31 ( REBj

10_See (he aisc,-,ssion of (he apocalypse 01 Daniel. above chapter 33.

 35. THE ApOCALYPTIC TRIUMPH
OF JESUS CHRIST

IH the Christian Bible, as we observed earlier, the Old Testament has a rdative
independence. justifyin g works on "Old Testament theology~ or mon: properly,
biblical t heology of t he Old Tcstamen1. 1 This point has been made forcdully by
Br~ard C hild, in hi s BihliC <l1 Tho ro.!!)' of tll( 0 11 md Nw, ustllmen!s." In the Christian
Bible, he re minds us, Old and New Testaments have been linked as a uni~ed com-
position; but rh is linkage "d{X"S not mean tha t the inte grity of each individual t CS-
tament has been desrroyed _" It is nor jusTifiable to construct a biblical theology by
co nsidering how the New Testament interprets the O ld; nor is it right to reduce
the theolo gical task to following c e Hain lines of trad ition fro m th e Old Testament
to t h~ir culmimnion in the New. ~Both (C'itamenIS ma ke a discrete witness to J~sus
Christ which must b~ h~ard, both separa tely and in concen.« j
An expositio n of N~w Te-;tam~nt th~ology lie-; beyond the purview of th is
srudy. Any consideration of the transit ion from the Old Testament to the New
mUSt, however, take full account o t th e fact that C hristianity e rupted out of the
heart of Judaism . Contrary to earlier views, (here was no such thing as a '"'norma-
tiv~ Juda ism.« The Judaism of the lime was very diverse; di\'ided by parties (e.g ..
Pharisees, Sadduce~s ), split by s~ctarian mo\'ements, and reactl\'C to philoso phies
a nd religions of the H ellenistic world.
From the Old TC'itament s~veral paths s~em to le ad to th e New, at least from
a Christian point of vie\". Two of these wc have considered in the pr~vious ~ctions
(111 .A-B ), ( I ) ITom lorah to wisdom, and ( 2) from prophecy to apocalyp tic.

The PmistrlK( of the Wisaom Traditio/!

The wisdom movement continued vigorously into the opening of the Common
Era , as evidenced by the presence of wisdom writings in th~ Gre~k Bibl ~
(Septuagint). writings consiclered dculcTocanonical by Catholics and apocryphal
by Protestants (sec (he books c ontain~d betw·een the Old and New Testaments in
som~ editions of the NRSV, REB, NJB, etc. ). Since early C hristians read Jewish
Scriptures in th~ G r~ek translation (Septuagint), they w~ re i nA uenc~d by these
extra wisdom writings (Wisdom of Ben Sira, \'fisdom of Solomon) and others of
the type . The cosmic dimension of wisclom. as found especially in Proverbs S and
Wisdom of Solomon S. was eventually emphasized in the Logos (\Vord) theology
found in the prologue to th~ Gospd of Jo hn lIohn I , I - IS /_

L Stt abo~·~. chapr~r 2.

2. Hrcvard S. Chi lds. Biblical Thalogy of rt>. O!J ~"d Nrw T""' .. er.K n".oi~j(a/ Rrflrctio" Q~ rt>.
Cbr;<lia~ IM,I, (j.,.·li nnrapoi iso Fomcss Press . 19911. ... pKi.lly Tl- 79 .
3. Ibid .. 78.
 328 Ccm'mlrl of 00 TtI"la""'''' n,(~y
A strong case could be made that a major road from the Old to the New
Testaments was via rorah and wisdom. Indeed, 'iOme scholar<i, panicipants in the
§()·called Jesus Seminar, maintain that »the hislOri<:al Jesus' was originally a wan-
dning Jewish sage whose image has been almost com plNdy effaced by superim'
posed messianic interpretations. An analogy wou ld be a palim psest, a vellum or
parchment document whose surface was used more than once. often leaving visi _
ble impertecliy erased wri ting. Some lost works of class ical antiquity have been
rr{:overed by probing beneath th e surface writing and recovering the earliest writ-
ing. Similarly, it is ar",.ued.""' critical hislOrical methodology enables scholar<i to
recover the original sayings of a peasant sage, Jesus of Nazareth . who spoke in wis-
dom forms of speech. such as the parable of the shrewd manager (Luke 16:1-8a)
or of the lost coin (Luke 15:8-9); or aphorisms. like the beatilUde (congratulation)
lor the poor (}.·!alt. 5:3 and parallds) or the ix-atitude for th e hungry l Matt. 5:6
and parallels).
The view of Jesus as a ,,"'isdom teacher is. these scholars admit. a NreconSINc_
tion,'" accomplished by reading critically between the lines of the Gospels and by
consulting other sources, such as the Gospel of Thomas, a collection of sayings
discovered in 1945 in the ancient library o f N ag Hammadi, Egypt.
In the judgment of many New Testament scholars, however, th is bold recon-
struction, which has attracted considerable public attention. rests on a question-
able: me:thodology.cI It draws tOO sharp a c:omrast betw~n ordinary '"hiStOry" and
the ·story" of faith ? It ignores the resUITcrted Jesus. the foundation of the
Christian gospel, in fa\'or of a so-called pTC"-Easter Jesus. It sets up arbitrary (~sci'
entinc) rules to de tennine what evidence is ac:ceptable: ..J In shon, this is a -reduc,
tionism» that amounts to Pthe dismantling of Chrislianit),," as Cordon Harland, a
Canadian theological friend, has appropria ldy put il.
For the theology of the New Testament it is more imponant to gi\'e attention
10 tha t kind of wisdom, considere:d earlier (chapter 28), th,1I comes from reflect ion
on the texts of the Torah. Leaders of Judaism scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees-
who engaged in disputations with Jesus about interpretation of the Torah (e .g. ,
... xc lhc book by Roben: \117. Funk. founder of th<- )esus s.:m,n~r. H""", '" Jrswl (s;,n
h'ncisco: Ha~rSanFrlnc;sco, 1996} A caulogue of the sayings, regorded ., ;Rnhenlie by
majority "Ole of memben of the Seminar. is given In the app-c:ndix of his book, pp. 326-3.5.
5. Sce John Dominic Crvs~n, .. nothcr leading member of the )C"SU'i Sem,n;... r", HJ5 rcTlC~)
)"~I' 1")", !.if! '" a AItJiltrr~/It~" iMilh Pl~!~.r (San Franc~o HarperSanFr;lncisco, 199 1t C"Sp-c:ci~1J)"
hi. conc!udin(l remarks. pp. "24--16.
6. Sec Luke limmhy Joh nson. n.. Rr..1J,!.< , Th AliJgy ,~(J O~rs1 Jod/" Hi,!i>1i(~1 J"U! ~,:J rh.- T"'11,
4 tb. T'aJiti~",,1 ~r~rls (San Frandsco: HarpcrSanFr.:I"cisco. I996J, ~I"" N. T. W',ight. Jl! ~' ~~J rh!
I!,cl<lry of Q,d (1-tin neapohs, Fort re-ss I'n.:-s~. 1996.1. 19-35.
7. On thi ~ ,~suc in the Old Tem.mem. see abo,·e. chap,er I.
8. See ,he exchange on "Eneoun'ering Jesus" bet,,'...,n W'illlam H. ~iillimon n .lockrn
Dis'B(tions) and .\hrcU\ Sorg (, POSt modern Revi$ionon8 -l. Orr""'n C""~ry 11 4. nO. 3 1 ( 1997)
1009-13.
The Apocalyptic Triumph of Jews Christ 329
Mark 12:13. 18 . 28), repr~nted the ""'isdom of Torah study that was perpetuated
in later rabbinic Judaism. 9
Prtachilrg tiN Kingdom of God
In his classic study, Tbr OII'1I}or ,!It Histon·c.rl )rsus ( 1906), one of the great book!.
of ,he twentieth century, Alben Schweitzer ""as on flnner ground when he main-
,ained that Jesus ",'.15 an eschatOlogical preacher who proclaimed the imminent
coming of the fina l kingdom of God. The vi e,,"' that Jesus was an apocalyptic
preacher has been strengthened by the disco"ery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at the
headquaners of an Essendike se<t at Qumran, on the shore of the Dead Sea, not
far from Jeric ho. There are striking affinities between th is Jewish sectarian group
and the early Christian communi ty. 80th ",'ere apocalyptic communities that
awaited the dawn of the new age. Bo th regarded themselves as people of the new
covenant- "the children of IiSh," in contlict with "the children of darkness" (cf.
Luke 16:8, Joh n 12:36; I Thess. 5:5 ). 80th shared messianic e:xpectations. The
Qumran community, howe .... er, aw aited three figures: Ma prophet like Moses,ff a
Davidic king of Israel, and a priestly messiah of Aaron.'o In the New Testament
these three images- prophet , priest, and king-are combined in one messianic
figure, as we shall see.
John the Baptist. who preached and b aptized in the: Dead Sea area (Mark 1:4-
11), seems to havc been an apocalyptic preacher. He preached that already the axe
was laid to the root of the tree, that God was about to destroy the: old orde r and
make a new beginning. and that it was time to repent {Man. 3: 1·12 1. }e<illi. who
was baptized by Jo hn the Baptist in the Jo rdan Ri\·er. mus, have been infl ue nced by
John'" apocalyptic message when he announced the imminent coming of God's
kingdom;
"The time IS fulfilled, .. nd tne kingdom of Cod has come near: repen t. ilnd bc-liC"'e
in the good. 1lt.'\o>"S..
_ /Iibrk I: 15
A1ar.l::\; ApocalyplK- Pr$tillf:
In any case, if we stan with thc Ne"" Testament Gospels in thei r canonj.cal form .
rather than going behind the text to recover a "h istorical JC"SU5.~ ;t is apparent that
t he Gospc"1 writers pc"Keived Jesus' message and career through an apocalyptic
lens, as shown dramatic:ally in the PBS television documentary. From lC51l1 !o Chris!
(April 1998). That Jesus was an "apocalyptic prophet," has bee n demonstrate:d
9. See t-lichad Fisnb;!no:-. ' From Scrihalism fORabb,nism, Perspec .. vC"S on tho:- Emergence 01
C1as~calJl.Idai, m; in Th 5"gr i~ 1",,,/ ~~J ,h! AJ"i(t,r Nr,I' Em. cd Leo G. Pen:lue ~nd John C .
Cammic (~f;nona l.lke, Ind .. E,~ nb<iun~. 1990i, "39-:56.
r0 See the altide 1», Joseph A. F',zm)·er. 'The [)';-ad Se, Scrolls;: in Har/l<1i Biblt D;rn......ry.
~. Paul Achtemeicr et al. (s..n francisco : Hirpcr & RO'<.', (985). 981-88.
330 Ccntowrs of OLl Tt5Ia",mt Thr%gy
effectively by a leading New Testament scholar, N. T. Wright, in Jesus and rh.-
Victory of God. 11
This apocalyptic perspecti\'e is evident from the earliest Gospel, the Gospel of
Mark, I. on which the other Gospe[s depe nd in some degree. In a book on Mark ,
Comlftlmity of Ib~ Nw Age, Howard Kee observes tha t /I.·lark shared with apocalyptic
wri tings, such as the book of Daniel. "a ~t of convictions and expectations." He
mentions several convictions held in common:
1. Rroeiatio" of rbl Divil1' SteTCI. Knowledge of Gocl's purpose for the world, and
especially (or his people, has been revealed to them t hrough visions and insights
of his chosen agent.
1. J'vI<lfi),rdQIII jr. Ibe Face (If OPPo,j"g Evil POl/XTS . The fa ithful must be willing to
accept suffering or e....en death, in the face of ~erce opposition from the religious
and political powers that are pr~ntly in control.
3. The Ap(I("aiyplic DawII oJ a Nw Age. Beyond the presen t tim e of testing and
martyrdom lies a new age, in which God 's purpose in and tor the creation will be
achieved, and his people will be fun y and etemally vindicated. 13
Also the letters of Paul, which come from approximately th e middle of the ~rst
century. are heaVily inAue nced by apocalyptic thinking. H
To underscore the future vindica tion of the faithful, early C hrislian inter-
preters. particularly Paul, employed the apocalyptic theme of resurrection from
the dead ( I Corinthians IS). As we have seen earlier.':> in apocalyptic prophecies
resurrection is an end·time eve nt, which makes it possible for faithful martyrs,
who have predeceased the arrival of God's dominion, to take part in the fina l
consummation.
Contir.uity ad Di,mllt/r.ui!)'
At the begi nning of our srudy, we found that the rdation between the testaments ,
the Old and th e Ne\<,·. is one of continuity and discontinuity.'6 The relationship is
not a simple continuity, as though the ~tream of JeWish tradition ilowed smoothly
iOlo the New Testament, Jewish trad ition actually flows past the New Testamen t
iOlo the Talmud and rabb inical Judaism. Nor was there a sharp discontinuity, as
though the stream issued in a waterfall that plunged to make a radically ne\,r begin.
ning, as advoca ted by Marcion. who held that the Old Testament is non· Christian
scriptu r~ {a view still shared by many today}. Rather. the rdationship is a dialec·
tic of continuity ami discontinuity. Both dimensions must be taken into accouOl, as
11. See Part 11 of \l:'right's book ,:Fortress Pre~" 1995) .
11. Probabl)' wrinen in ,he "'te 60s of th .... li m ccnruf)·.
\.3 . Howard C. Kee. Co"'.. w~;1y Dj It. 1\1"" Ag,' Stwd." i" ,\11rk, Go,/><i
We-;tmin~ter. 1977\ 11.
14. Thi' i, demonstratcd by J. Chris<iaa" Beker in P~~J!bt A""lIr' Tb< T" .",ph 4 GoJ
~ht (Minrleapolis, Fomes, P1"C'is. 1980).
15 . Sce above. chapter H .
16. ~ above. chapter 1.
The Apocalyptic Triumph 01 Jesus Chri,t 331
we have seen when conside ri ng such matters as the ancestral promise of land or
the ethical demands of the Holiness Code. 17
In the usual apoca lyptic sce nario there is sharp discontinuity between the old
and the ne"". The old age m ust pass away, the new age will supervene . Paul seems
to be saying something like this when he speaks ot the dawning of God's new
creation,
If an~'one i, in Christ. [that person] is a new creation, everything old has passed
a','ay, see, evef)'th ing has become new!
- 1 Cor. 5,17
When one compares Jewis h and Ch risti an apocalyptic. however. one ~nds not
only striking similarities but also signifkant differe nces.
Apocalyptic Dimt1tsiotfs of the Christimt GDSpel
Consider three basic convictions that the Christian proclamation shares with
JeWish apocalyptic.
Tht Kingdom of 5alall vs. th.- Killgdom oJ God. like apocalypti C, the early Chris tian
gospel makes a radical distinction between the dominion of God and the nJle of
evil powers that aHempt to usurp control of God5 creation. [n this view th e prob.
lem of evil can not be reduced to sin. that is. betrayal of co....e nant relationship with
God, rather, people are victims of oppressive powe rs that are at work in human
history, and even in the cosmos. Indeed , there is a kind o f dualism--a conflict
between the ki ngdom of God and the ki ngdom of the evil one (Satan ), though one
should add that this is a postcreation conflict, not one rooted in th e creation itself.
As in the conclusion of the Lord's Prayer, faithful people pray to be delivered from
the sinister power of the evil one (Matt. 5: 13}.
Tht Pmrt1t A9' ar.d Ih.- Agt to CO"". In the New Testament, as in apocalyptic literature,
these two spheres of sovereignty (ki ngdoms l are depicted as twO ages; "the present
age ." in which God's sovereignty is hidden exce pt 10 eyes of faith, and "the age to
come," in which the glory of God will be revealed for all to see. The present evil
order, corrupted by sin and violence, stands under God's judgment and must pass
away in order tha t the new creation may appear (see fig . 7).
Therefore, as Paul advises jn correspondence to the church at Corinth,
Christians should sit loosely to the present world:
The appointed tim~ ha, grown shon, from now on, let eyen those who h~"e wives
be: as thoug h they had non e, and those ",ho mourn as though Ihey were not mourn·
ing, and those who r~joice as thoogh Ihey were not rejoicing, and those who buy
{ Phil~ddphia,
~s thoogh thcv had no po5se-;sions, .lnd those who deal \"ilh the world as thoogh
they h~d no dealing-; with it. For ,he p1"C'ient IOffil of this world is passing aw~y.
,r.l.if, ~"J - I Cor. 7,29·31
17. On the form~r ' '"'' above. chapter 11; on the lalter. chapter 15.

FIGURE 7. "Thf Twc Agrl
END
OF THIS
SYSlRi
TI-lE PRESENT AGE THE AGE TO COME
The JU5uranu oJ God, U/!imait' TrillJlfpb. As in apocalYPlic, [~Chris[ian gospel amic.
ipales [~coming lriumph of God ovo:, rh o: powo:~ of o:vil and lho: imminent corn.
~ng. of an ago: in whicMh ther~ will be jus[ice, wdl-being, harmony--n-erything
19n1fied by the word peace t Hebrew 5"'110'", Gro:ek 6rtm ). As Paul writes in I
Corinthians 15, a chapler heavily inAuenced b~' an apocalyptic perspective,
Then cam~ tne end, ,,·hen he [Christ ) h~nds aver the Kingdom 10 Cod the Father
aher ne has <k<1fl),ed C\~ ru ler and ~ry authoritv and poo....e1". ' of Christ as King , the last Sunday of the seaso n o f Trin ity, is an occasion for co:le-
- I Cor. 1EH
Reimerpro:ting the domin ion God has given "tho: son of man" (human bein~ )
according to Ps. 8:6, Paul goes on to say that Ch rist must reign unlil he has put all
"his enemio:s" undo:r h is feo:[, those enemies being the demonic powers of o:vil that
dominate the present age. induding ~the last enemy." Deuh. Apocalyptic
pro~h~, as we have secn. o:nvisioned a great esc:hatological banquet, cdo:brating
Gods v,ctory ovo:r powers of violence . o ppression. and chaos. when death will be-
"swallowed up· 'or~·er ((sa. 14,6- lOa)."
Th NrQn:css of Gods Do,.ini{m. A.. in apoealYPlic, the Christian gos pel announces
Ihat Cods eschatologicaltriumph is near. The kingdom of God is not that ~one far.
~ff divin: even! [oward which t he wh ole creation moves" (Tennyson ); rather, it is
at hand. Accord ing to the Cos~1 of Mark , Jesus said to his listeners,
The Apocalyptic Trium ph of J~s Christ 333
Truly I lell you. there are some standin8 htre ""h.:> ""ill not totSlt <k.uh until dlC)' ~
that tOt kingdom of Cod h ~~ corn", with powe r.
- Mark 9:1
In view of the nearness of Cod's kingdom, the faithful know that the preso:m crisis
is urgent and they wa it and pray in intense hope.'9
Christial1 Tmllsfonnnliotl of Apocalyptic
The Christian gospel , however, has transformed the apoca lyp tiC view h«:a1lSC" of
[he anno uncement that Cod has done something totally and radically new
through the life , death, and resurrection of Jesus Chrisl. A "new cro:ation" has
begun to appear ( I Cor. 5:7). This "Ol'll"- has changed people's whole outlook (2
Cor. 5: 16), even the way they hea r propheaes found in Jew ish ScriPIUro:. NOlico:
some 01 the new accents of Christian apocaly ptic .
115 Aggmsor <lg"i" ~! 5111n" ~ Kingdom . Jesus is no t po rtrayed merely as an apoca-
)(3 115
lypt ic visional)' \vho announces the mystery of God's kingdom 10 a select few;
rathe r, he h imself is the sign of God's kingdom in the present historical age when
evil powers are at work. making people \·ictims of structures of oppression or
thro:a tening health and wholeness with invasive evil spirits. In t he Gospel of Mark,
for instance. Jesus is portrayed as Cod's age nt ....,ho. as the Divine \X/arrio r, goes out
to fight against Satan·s kingdom, which o""t:rpowers people and ;nAicts suffering
and bondago: on them. Jesus' exorCIsms are understood to be tM Messiah's "Warfare
against Satan's kingdom for the purpose of freeing people from the power of evil
(or the evil one). lesus' crucifixion. crowned with re surrection, signifies to
Christian failh that Jesus is th", victor in the long struggle with evil. The Festival
brating his royal triumph, although the ...Iorshiping community knows that his
c rown, his th rone, and his dominion are not like tha t of the rolers of this world.
Martin luther's famous hym n of the Reformation, M A M ighty Fortress Is Our
Cod," uses this mythopoeciC language, th ough one fears that it may be excised
from so me future hymnals owing to "the war on mo:taphors. "lO
A..J rbco;l b rbi. a'<lrIJ. ""ilh Jm1s fiild
.oo.iJ Ibrtall1l to ",.Jp Ql,
Ii'( rili II(JI -,"wr. }r c;.,J barh <;;IlkJ
bi", t",1b 10 tn-" .pb rbrowgb ".
The p" ",,( <I} o.,tbr~f gri ...,
r....blt "01 fo. bill!,
[Of
h;~ c"9r .""""" rnJ"tr,
jor 10. bi5 Joo", il 5>" t ,
0 >1( lirJ, Il'IJTJ .),.,11jtiJ ~''''.
19. s.:., N. T. Wril!'h~ , "\l(~1 1I""" 1~ 10 ' In JI!" 'Il~.J IN \/.rury of GoJ. 4-67- 72.
lOo R~f",ninR ~R~ ,n ~o K ,l Ihl« n N oniss ~y In n. (loi.tn" WaL!., ~ ~~ . ch~ptff 21.
 334 c.".,1OII1"I of Old TtSt.I""'" Tbrology
That · word above: all e arthly powers: according to Lut her's hymn. must be
spoken by -,hI:: man of God's ow n choosing,"' for "he must ..... in ,he batt1e.
w
(;t"fs lliwni"9 Nro lV"tlJ. The Christian gospel annou nces that the period of wait-
ing (Advent) is over, for the king has come and the dominion of God has already
been inaugurated . In other words, th e C hris tia n gospel ha s broken the lime
scheme of apocalypt ic . with its sharp sepa ration of -th e present [("viI] age" from
"the age to come.~ No longer are these rv."0 ages [ik(" circles that touch each othe r
o nly tangentially {see fig. 7), so that the old must pass away before the new can
co me i rather, the n.·o a~ are like overlapping circles isee fig. 8). for already Cod
has introduced the new age through Jesus Christ eve n while the old age persists.
Thus people of faith find themsel \"es living in the zone \vhere the circles over·
lap. "tasting the po\<"er of the age to come" [Heb. 6:5). even while the temptati ons
and influence of the present .... orld exert the ir po ...:er. The et hical problems of th e
Christian com mun i£)" arise from this double involvement: one foot in the present
evil age, 50 to speak, and the other in the ne w age tha t has already da .... ned
through Jesus Ch rist. l l
(b ri5ls Rt"Surrutior.. In the C hris tian reinte rpre tation of apocalypt ic, the supreme
sign of the IlCW age is the resurrection of Christ from th e dead. As Paul argues
• effcctively in I Corinthians IS , this end-time evenl has alread)' occurred in the
FIGURE 8 GcJ5 Dllllmil'9 Ntw World
T HE PRESENT ACE THE ACE TO COt\-I..E
11 . 5« lhe- ~In·.. nt discussion by J. Paul Sotmplcy, W~lI:; ..... b<t ...", IIx r.-...
R.~=irrg (Mmne-.. poIis, Fomns Press, 199 1).
The ApocalYpI"ic Triumph of Jesus Christ 335
midst of the presen t age. Christ's resurrection, Paul decla res, is "the first frui ts~ ( 1
Cor. 15:20) that gi\'es promise of the 'harvest~ that will come in the cnd, when
there will be a general resurrect ion of the predeceased to share the victory ce1 e~
bration of God's kingdom.
So near and certai n is God's a pocal}'plic trium ph that Paul can go so far as to
~y that not everyone will die. but for all there: will be a metamorphosis, as there
was in the case of Jesus, so th at th e presen t form of the self (body ) will be trans-
formed. In Handel's Alrssiab, the apocalyptic scena rio is portrayed in the solo, "The
Trumpet Shall Sound."
Listen, 1 win Ie-II you I m~lery! W", win nOl all die, bUI ""e will all Ix changed, in
J moment, in Ihe [\o','inkling of an eye, al Ihe la5t lIumpcl. For Ih" lrumpet will
sound. and the dead ""ill be- "'ised impcrishable. and wc ""ill b" changed. Fer this
perishable body must pm on imperishability, Ind Ihls morta l body must put on
IITl mortali[)"_
To be sure, the Christian community lives in th e tension 01 Ralready· and ~not
yet.~ Using the sym boli c limguage of apocalyptic. the trumpet signalizing God's
final tri umph ha s nO t yel sounded. There is still a period of waiting for the fi nal
consummation . the coming of Cods kingdom fully on earth as it is in heaven or,
in christological terms. the appeara nce {~'£lU51-a i of Jesus Christ in glory. But th is
wai ting is not the C'xpectation of coun tin g the da}'s o r speculating on an apoca·
Iyptic timetable. For alread}' God's triumph has been manifest in the resu rrection
, of Christ, the end-time event tha t g ives a foretaste of th(" final consummation. T his
fo retast.,. of God"s kingdom is a summons to responsibililY: "Be steadfast, immov·
able, always excellin g in the work of t he lord. because you know tha t in the Lord
your labor is not in vain" ( 1 Co r. 15 :58).:21
i'vlort Than C""I/"rroN. Finally. a pocal)'p tic has given to the early C hristian comm u'
nity a profound grasp of the mean ing of God's triu mph in Jesus Ch rist. In one
d imension, God's victory is libera tion from the power of sin through d ivine for·
giveness displayed in the vicarious and atoning death o f Jesus. The apocalypt ic
perspective. ho wever, pmhcs Christian interpreters to go beyond th is prophetic
message of sin and forgi\'eness and 10 proclaim Cod's tri ump h over all the powers
of darkness. chaos, evil. and death. Paul lists some 01 those powers in his great vie·
, tory proclamation at the end of Romans 8. where he dcc lares that th rough Christ
wc are "marc than conquerors."
'IX!},o will sep~r.l le us from the love of Chris!i 'Will hardship, or d,stress, o r p"rse·
cUlion. or hmint.". or nakedness, or peril. or \word; ... No, in all these thi ng<; we
ue more than conquerOl"'i th rough him ...·ho loved us. For I am convinc"d Ihat nei -
ther dealh. nor li fe, nor angels. 001" rulers, nOl" things present. oor things to come,
P~~!! ,\lor~!
22. Rcc~1l Irn, di~ssion of 1 Cor. 1S ~bo\'e. CNop ler 34
 nor PO\o,'CtS. I'IOT hcighl, nor dcpth, nor anything eke in all c:.-eatioo, \o,'ill Ix, able to
scp.. rate us from the lo~ of Cod in Christ Jesu~ our Lord.
- Rom. 8,35·39
Christian liturgy ought to take this proclamation more seriously. Our usual
liturgy has bttn heavily inMuenced by the prop hetic and priestly message of sin
and fOTgiveoe<;s. Toward the beginning of the service, .... orshipers uwally engage
in a ge ne~ 1 confession of sin, which is followed by an annou ncement of God's for_
giveness. to which the con~..rega tion responds wi th the Gloria PaIn. The celebralion
of Cod's victory, hO ....·(v('l". is incomplete unless the liturgy g~s beyond the for-
giveness of sins inlo the wider dimension of Christian apocalyptic; COO's victor)'
over all powers of darkness. (\',1, and death that oppress people.
Chris tian communities are called to be "'beach heads of God's d a....'ning new
world: as J. C. Beker has nicely put it.ll Cod has introduced the new creation in
Ch rist! its powers are already at work in the world. The Ch ristian community is
w mmoned to be part of God's healing and saving work. nOI in some secure place
of refuge in the desert or nOt JUSt in the privacy o f one's personallile, but in this
world that is tOrn apa rt by conAic!. Viole nce, and war. To be "in Ch rist,~ tha t is, in
the comm unity that is his body. is-to quote the great pra yer of Francis 01 Assisi-
to be ~a n instn.J me nt of Cod's peace. M "fulfi lled:' o r better, Uvalida ted : by God's new CO\'enanl ins tituted th rough Jesus
Lord. /!IlIke Ill' illstnmmlls of Thy Pta".
W'bm thm is 001,(,1, Id liS sew 1",~,
u,hm tbm is injury. /Ul rJOIl,
whm th~rr is dOllbl. fililh ,
wbtrt Ibm is drs(!a;r. ho/lf!
whrr~ tbm is ddrb!rs~ light.
lI,htrr Ibtu is sadutS>_ joy.
o Dirril:~ l\Lul«. granl tbat wr /!lay IIor !O 1IIIIcb ';u~
UI bot COfISOW. lIS 10 ro,,;ol..-,
10 bot IIl1drrstooJ. liS UI u!!dmtard;
10 bot l000i. lIS 10 1011f;
For it i5 ;11 gitJir,g tbat ~ rn::ritJt,
it is ill ~arJOIlmg 1001 wr <lrt padorn!'J,
aM it is In dyill9 Ibat Ult' art born to rtm:allifr 14
1~.&I:er. P".! IbI A"",uk 3 13.
14 I h ~"e d~PI"~d ,his, by c:hnging ~1n8UI ~r pronouns 10 pluml, so Ih311h .. Ch ri<t;3n <;om.
munity spe~I:s.
36. JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET ,
PRIEST , AND KING
In the light of Cod'~ · apocalyptic triumph~ in Jesus C h rist , the C hristian com-
munity rereads the Scriptures of Isr.llcl· the TOr.llh. the Prophets, and the W ritings.
The~ Scriptures gwere .... ritten down 10 instn.Jct us," Paul .... rote to the Christia n
community at Corinth. ~on whom the ends of the ages have come" ( 1 Cor. 10: 1 1).
, New Testament writers tTequen ti y d te the Old Testament . usually in the G reek.
version (SepiUagi nt ), find ing new meani ng in the scriptural heri tage:. Whi le the
Old Testame nt can stand by itself, speaking with its own independent voices. the
New Test ament is "inco mprehe nsible apart from the Old." as Brevard Childs
rightly obse rves. I
Gods COVnrl1l1!s with Israel Endorsed
Earl y Christian interpreters affirmed that God's covena nts ....,i th Is rael have been
Christ. To speak o f the "full1l1ment" of Cod's covenant promises is perhaps inade-
quate, for t he verb "fulfilr means to carry out o r realize something promised or
expected. In one sense, God's new revelation did nOI realize the promises o f the
covenants wi th Israel but introduced a deep discontinuity wi th Israel's tradi tio ns,
as we have seen. In another sense these Ir.lIditions were rece ived and transfonn ed .
enriching the content of the C h ristian gQspel.
The rel a{ion~ hi p betwee n the o ld and the new is not a dicho romy--a division
mto 1\0'0 mutually exclU'iive pans--bul a dialectic of continuity and discontinuity.
In th is relationsh ip o f continuiry/ discom inuity, God's covenan ts Wi th ls~d were
nOI abrogated or superseded, r.lI ther. they ....ere trans fonned and endorsed. by
C hrist. In him they recei~'ed their ·Yea and Amen" (2 Cor. 1:20).
Tnt COVl'Jtallts of Promist
Christian inlerpreter5 p referred the promissory covenants associated with
Abr.llh am and David----the "co\'enantS of promise- as they are tenned in Eph. 2: 12.
The t<.-I osaic covenant of obliga tion was suspec t in some circles (especially
M
Pauline l, for it w as fC<lred t hat the emp hasis on obed ience to th e Rlaw might put
one's relat io nsh ip wit h Cod on a basis o f merit r.lIt her th an free ly offered grace.
Acco rdi ngly. Paul traced God's promises of grace back before the giving 01 the law
at Sinai to Abra ham, who heard "the ~ospcl beforehand" (Gal. 3: 8 ) and who pot
his faith in Go d's promises (cf. Ccn. 1:5:1 -5 ).
L2
338 (,",Iown 0/ OU T"ta.",1 Thtology
Som~ y~ars ago J. C. Rylaa rsdam, a scholar at th~ University of Chicago, wrot~
an illuminating ~ssay, "Jewish -Christian R~lationships: Th ~ Two Covenan~ and
the Dilemmas of Christology,"l H e provided an excdlent discussio n of two of the
symbolic trajectories t hat we have considered: the Mosaic pattern of symboliza-
tion that moves in the hOrizontal dimension of history, from promise to fulflllment;
and the Davidic symbolization that moves in the venical dimension of the cosmic
and the mundane. heaven and eanh. H e main tained, on the one hand, tha t the
Jewish community gives priority to the conditional /I.·losaic covenant of obligation,
with its demand for obedience under the sanctions of the blessing and the curse,
and subord inates the Davidic CO"enant with its cosmo logkal symbolism o f temple
and king_ On the other hand, the ChriStian community gives priority to the
unconditional royal covenant in which the king is perceived to be the Son of
God, who represents God's cosmic rule on earth and in which the ~'l osaic
covenant of law is subordinate. Rylaarsclam proposed to understand the coexis-
tence of the Jewish and Christian commu nities by considering these (Wo cove·
nantS, the Davidic and the Mosaic, which b.:long logether d ialectically in the
economy of Cod's pul"pOSC_
This was a bold and provocative attempt 10 understand theologically the sep-
arateness of these two communities and their essential partnership in God's pur-
pose. The theSiS, however, is challenged by the witness of both testaments. The
two patterns of symbolization are pre'>Cnt, and interact, in both testa ments: it is
not a matter of one or the other. In the New Testament, for instance, Jesus is per·
ceived to be a prophet li ke Moses as well as a king like David. In the fina l analy·
sis, all the co\'enan ~ of grace-Mosaic, Abrahamic. Oavidic-are necessary for
e)(pressing the preo;cnce of the holy God in our midst.
Old ustammt Traditiotl5 ana th~ Shapillg of 'he Gospel
Careful study of the Synoptic Co<;pels discloses that Israel's major trad itions have
had a great influence in t he literary e)(pression of the Christian gospel. This is the
conclusion of Willard M. Swanley, who, in a fascinating study. shows that major
Old Testament streams of tradition have helped to shape the coment and suucrure
of the three Gospels, Manhe,,', Mark, and Luke.! The traditions of exodus, torah-
teaching (Sinai), " ' Cl)" in the wilderness-in other words, what we have called the
Mosaic covenant trajeCtOT)'- were influential in shaping the account of Jesus'
C alilean miniStry. Funher, Israel's tradi tions of temple and kingship (i.e., the royal
covenant trajectory) have helped 10 shape narratives about Jesus in Jerusalem and
vicinity.· It is note ....orthy. howe\'(T, that in the Synoptic Gospels what we have
2. J Coen Rylumi3m, "JC'oo'ish·Ch ri s",,-n Rcla.iomhips: The T,,'o CO\'eOlln l~ ~nd the
I)ilemm;os of Chri n ology," i fS 9 , no, 2 (19n) 249-7U, di$CUS$ed above, chapter H .
3. Wil1~rd />.'1. S"'.anley, J~",rl So-ip talf TmJ,~ ad dot S~, c.,1~1 SIO<r} Sb.lp:r.g Srory
(Peabo<iy, Mu!'.: Hendrickson, t994 ).
4, ~ chap. 7 in ibid. for.a <yntM;s of hi< stud,'.
Jesus Christ as Prophet, Priest, and KinS 339
designa ted as the Priestly trajectory is subordinated. To be sure, the temple ngures
prominently in them, but lacking arc typically Priestly concerns: sacrince, priest-
, hood, the tabemacling presence, and the life of ho[iness.1
One of the imponant aspect~ of Swanley's study is that he emphasizes the
dimensions of continuity and discontinuity {or "transformat ion") in the appropri-
ation of Old Testame nt traditions. For instance, Jesus is portrayed as the Divine
Warrior• as in t-'Iosaic tradition (e_g _, Exod. 15: 1· IS). but he liberates people from
bondage to the oppressive kingdom of evil; moreover, the savi ng benefits are not
limited to ~God's own peo ple" but are extended to the poor, (;cntiles, women, and
others ·outside the boundaries."6 Funher, Jesus is ponrayed in the colors of royal
,
tradition. but his humble and ..'Ulnerable kingship, which is not 1,ke the nations:
is freed from all na tionalistic interp re tation.'
God with Us
To echo the opening theme of our exposition o f Old Testament theology: the
Bible, from beginning to end, bea~ witness to the incredible and startling good
news that the holy God, who is comple tely beyond our world of experience and
beyond the reach of our conceprualizatiOn, has come into this ,,'orld supremely
th roug h Jesus Christ. To pomay the meaning of the coming of Jesus, rdigious
imagination soars beyond the prosaic realities of histOry and employs imagery o r
patterns of symbolization that we have found in the O ld Testament. In the New
Testament Jesus is portrayed in the symbolic "istas o f at least three major images,
all de rived from the Old TeStament. H e is a prophet like Moses. though o ne
greater than Moses; he is a priestly mediator of an everlasting covenant, though
not standing in the succession of Israel's priests, and he is a kin g of the Davidic
line. but his royalty is not like that of worldly rukrs.
As we noticed previously, in the Qumran cove na", community these three
roles were represented in thc expectation of three d ifferent messiahs (prophetic.
royal, priestly), whereas in t he New Testament Jesus, the Messiah, performs all
three.
A Prcpbd Dirt AloIn
Jesus Christ is, first , the eschatological prophet whom, according to the witness of
Deuteronomy 18, God would raise up to speak C od's words to the people. In the
book of Acts, onc of Peter's sermons pOrtrays Jesus as the prophet like M~
whom God would raise up at last (Acts 3: 12·16). Indeed, he specifically quotes the
key passage from Deuteronomy:
5. Ibid., 266----68. He o~r"e'S ( p , 192) that the SynOptiC lraditior'l 'did not ur'lden,ke ~ the<:>·
IogiGl iI<~!.Il1ent of prieoidy Ihmtogy as did the- book of Hcb~'s:
6. Ibid., J63-<i4 .
7. Ibid .• 268-69

Moses s.. id, ""The lord your God will l<Iise up lor you from ~·our ow n prople a
prophet like me"
- Acts 3,22; {Deut. 18,1; }
Here, however. the verb "raise UpN is a double entendre, re/erring also to Jesus'
being raised from the dead (v. 26). Despite this discontinuity. the sermon ponrays
Jesus as standing in a succession of prophets, ocginning with l\loses and including
Samuel (v. 14}---and we could .. dd. Elijah, who appeared with Moses on the
Mount of Transfiguration (\I.·lark 9: 1-8 ).
Significantly. some people of the t ime supposed that Jesus migh t have been
anoth er Jeremiah ()\·latt. 16:14). As we have seen earl ie r,S Jeremiah also was
regarded as a prophet like 1\·loses, only with th is difference , the prophet who
speaks God's words to the people suffers in perfonning his task. Th is view of a ~suf­
fe ring prophet."' not found in rhe original Mosaic tradit ion, was something new in
Jeremiah's time. The view probably intluenced the ponrayal o f the suffering ser-
vant of Isaiah, and it certainly influe nced the pro phetic image of Jesus in rhe New
Testament . In the Story of the walk to Emmaus, for instance, J~us is ponrayed as
"a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all th e peop le~ who "must ruf.
fer" before "enh'~ring into his glory~ (Luke 1 4: 19-17). In th is view. Jesus is t he suf-
fering se rvant who perfonns the twofold role o f covenant mediator: speaking
God's words to the people ,m d representing them before God. He is a prophet like
Moses, yet much greater.
A1MiatoT of all fVfflasli"g CavtII<1II1
The priestly imagery of the temple and God'~ tabemacl ing presence among the
people have had a greal influence on the me~sage of the New Testament. As we
have ~een , in the Synoptic Gospels th e royal imagery o f temple and throne was
influentia l in the narrat ion of Jesus' J udean ministry. But Priestly theulogy. wh ich
dominates the Pentateuch in its ii na! fonn , comes 10 expression above all in the
Epistle 10 the Hebrews, which draws on the ancient mythology o f the relin ion
bet,"een macrocosm and microcosm. celestial and terrestria l. 9 There Jesus is por·
trayed as the great high priest, o f the order of .~·Ielch izedek (Ps. 110:4) . who per-
forms his sacrifice not in an earth ly temple bur in its heavenly protot ype . and
whose s.acri fi ce is ~once for all." not sub;ect 10 cyclical repetition. In th is view,
whic h draws d.ee ply on the Priestl y theology of Exodus and lcviticus, )esus is th e
mediator of an "everlasting CO\'enant" (H eb . 13:10) tha t reconc iles people to God
and. e nables th em to live in the prese nce of the holy God.
1"u5 (hri,t as Kill!)
Finally. Jesus Christ is king , the ··son of God'· of royal messianic tradition. In rhe
Gospel of Luke. an angd tells 1\·\ary t hat rhe child 10 be bom to hcr will be called.
the Son of God.
8. Abo,·e . chapl.·r 21_
9. 0 " this he~ven · eart h corr~pondence . 5<..... abo'·e. chapter 13.
Jesus Christ as Prophet, Pri~t, and King 341
He will be great. and will be ca lled the Son of the Mo<;t H igh, and the lord God
will gi ve to him the throne of his ance,lOr Da,·id.
- Luke 1:32
joseph Fi tzmyer points out (hat almost the same language is used in one of the
Dead Sea Scrolls, indicati ng that "such titles were not th e product of the hell-
e nization o f Ihe Christian gospel as it was carried by early missionaries from
Palestine into the Greco·Roman world," but belongs finnly in JeWish lTaclition. 1O
The Matthean version of Pete r's confession at Casaerea Philippi: "You are the
Ch rist, the Son of God.,'· echoes th e Davidic covenant, which portrays the king in
, these terms : "I will be a lathe r to h im, and he shall be son to me" (1 Sam. 7:14)_ At
first glance. Peter·s (esrimony see ms to go beyond the functional meaning of
H ebrew malbillb (anointed one), a teffi1 used o f one anointed for a tas k. "Messiah"
(Greek ,hristos ) is basically a term of agency or function, not of ontological rela -
,
tionship with God. In this instance. the telTI1 'Son of God" seems to echo exalted.
language used in ancient Israel of th e king . In roya l psalms the anointed one is
declared to be God's son Nthis day," originally the day of coronation (Ps. 1:7); he
is portrayed as seated at the right hand of God, sharing the di vine rule ( 110: I )i and
in one instance, if we follow ··the diffi cult read ing" of the received text rather than
sidestepping it (as in ~ome modern translatiOns ), the king is addressed as divine:
rowr Ibror.(. 0 GoJ, ""J"'(l fom'fr "" J " 'fT.
-Ps. 45:6
Most scholars understand th is poetic language as the hyperbole of Eastern
H
"coun slyle. The king was extolled. in extravagant terms. especially on festival
occasions (enthronement, royal \"edd ing ). [n (he Old Testament there was no
serious departure from the vi ew tha t the king was God's agen t. anointed for a task.
This is und.oubtedly true in the well-k no\"n messianic passage in Isaia h 9 ("unto us
a child is bom, a son is given"). wh ere th e coming king is given the most glorious
throne titles, '·Wonderful Cou nsdor, " ·Iighty God. Eve rlasting Father, Prince of
Peac e" (lSil. 9;6 ). The king , eve n th e one who was 10 come, was not regarded as
di vine, ···consubstantiar with the Deity.
The theolog ian Elizabe th johnson is righ t in saying that ·Jewish scriptural
symbols: such as "messiah" and "son of God: do not "connote divinity." A signif-
icant step, she adds, " 'as made when interpreteT'i used wisdom categories (e.g.,
Pro\,. 8:11 -3 1) to explore the messiah's ~on to l ogica[ relationsh ip with God" and the
cosmic status of the mess iah, who is act ive with God in the creation. "
It was not in the Old Testament but in the Kew tha ( a mom entous th eological
sh ift took place: from a fu nctional Christolo&'Y inherent in the word NmessiahHor
~Ch rist" to an omo[ogical Christo)ogy concerned wi th the being of Christ in
t 0_ Fitzmyer. ""The De~d Sea Sc roll 5: in /iap,.,.CaliiMs Bib!. Dirtio",,!)', ed. Paul Achtemeier et
31. (rev_ ed.; San Fr.mc;o;.co Harpe&nFrancio;.co, 1996 :', 987. He Cil~ and translate, 4Q246
11- 2,1.
11. Eli zabe th Johnson. S~ 1Vi" k Tb< ,\1)";1'1)· oJ W i. F"",ni,' n,,,,I,,g,c,,1DiS'""", (N""" York:
Crossroad. 1 99 ~ i. 98 _O n the ",isdom ca tegorics 5<..... the discussion above, chapter 30.
•
342 u",lmIrs of QY Tr')"''''''' Thro!..;y
rdation to God. This shift is ~vident when one moves from the symbolic world of
the Synoptic Gospels, deeply rooted In Israd's covenant traditions, to the quite
differen t symbolic world o f [~Foun:h Gospel, I.thic:h is introduced b), ide nt ifyi ng
ChriSt with the Logos (Word) tha t in the besinning ,,'as ' with God" and Mwas
Cod: This shift to ontology is also evident in post-Paul,ne writings such as the
Epistle to the Co1ossians, which declares that Cod created the world in Christ
(Col. 1:15-17) and tha t in him "all the fullness of God/deity- dwells ( I: 19, 2:9).
Statements like these have no real parallels in the Old Testament but move in th e
direction of the trinltanan discussions of t he early Christian church.
In COllclllsion
To sum up, just as in the O ld Testament the \'arious covenants. interacting with
one another. present parrerns of symbolization tha t express CoOs relation to the
people and the presence of the holy Cod in their midst, so in th e Ne",' Testament
these covenant ~rslX'ct i ~'es are employed to confess our fa ith in Jesus, the C hrist,
whose life, dea th, and resurrectio n signify that "God is wit h us." Jesus stands in the
succession of the prophets, eSlX'c ially those in the j\'\osaic tlddition (Hosea and
Jeremiah ), ye t he is more than a prophet. Jesus has a pTiesdy role, like the priests
who ministe red in the Jerusalem temple, yet his priestly minimy is unique. And
Jesus is king, a ruler like David who is called the Son of God and ,,,ho bears dlC
throne name Im manue1. yet a king whose domin ion is u nl ike thilt of David.
from the SIilndpoint of biblical theology, th en. it is appropriate tha t in the
church's theolOgical rraditions, espe<iall), the Reformed tldditiOn, I} the wo rk of
Christ is portrayed as a threefold ollke ( nUlliUS Inpb) prophet. priCSt, and king. '3
12. John Golvln, f".trtw. DJ dot Omr'~1I RrI'9-'C'I . cd. John T "1cN~,n. tr:Ins. Ford Le>..'is Banles,
libr.lIIy of ChnSl, .. n C1~5<;iCS 20 {Philadelp/'ua We<;tmirn,ler, 1960), -t94--503. CNoptcr 1S: 'To
Kno'" the PurpOS<: to r ~'hic h Chri~\ "'as Srnt b~· th~ Father, and Wh~t H~ Conkrred upon Us,
W~ Must Look abo"t All at Thre~ Thon8i in Him· Th~ Proph~tic Ofi;(C'. Kinlj'ship. and
Priesthood: On th~ thf~ fold oflke. ! « funher Ge.::>ffrey Wainwright, For 0., S<tIo~II".:l~, r"",
A/lprDachfs ~ d,'! w.,~ pJ Chn',t (Crand Ra pids, E~rdm~ns. 1997/, th~ s~cond ,et olleclUres,
11. On the t hf~cfold ofli(~ S« Ceof~r \/I?a,n",rishl, For o..r 5..1''<1r,,,... r"", Ap/>fMch.s Co thf
Wor~ oJ Oml (Gr3 lld Ropids, E~fdmans . 1997{ P~rt 2. He displays an edll ed "cnion of ls.~c
\'(Iall~' hymn . "Join All .he Clorious Kamn" ( 1709). .... hich cdebratC'S in t hlff succes~h'e v~rsc:s
( p 98) the Ihlff role<; 01 Christ, "gfC'at prephet of God,' "gf~a. high p1ic'M : lnd 'our conqueror
and ii"i.~
APPENDIX 1
I
BIBLICAL THEOLOG Y OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
A C O URSE PRECIS·
I
The title oJ this stady (echoing earlier formulations in the hiStOry of the disci-
, pline) intends to emphasize that "O ld Testament theology" belongs within the
larger framework of biblkal theology. This, o f course, is a Christian fo rm ulation,
JUSt as ~Old Testamen{ is Christian language for th e Scriptum of Israe l. Yet within
the Christian Bible the Old Testament has ils own intcgrily in relation to the Ncw.
, Various approaches to O ld Testament theology have been use d: Hrik!ltsCbi,brc
(in the sense of Oscar C ul1man nl, ~cross-scctio na l" srudy of the covenantal struc-
ture of Israel's faith (Eichrodt ), h,story of traditions (HriiJgtsChichu in the sense of
Gerhard von Rad ). thcmatic. dOCtrinal, and so on. The approach used in th is work
is different from all. though inA ue nced somewha t by von Rad and Eichrodt. The
work begins with an exposition of Israel's experience of the holy (the m>daliOll of
the Holy Onc), not jllst as impersonal power but as personal power of concern and
ethical demand, that is, the "root ex~riences~ <Emil Fackenheim ) of exodus and
Sinai. This fundamental ex~rience , wh ich (omes to expression in the symbolism
of language and cultic practice, is seen against the background of, and in the con-
text of, the: rc:1igions of the: ancient Near East.
;
lsraels experience of ~the Holy Onc in our midst" is expressed in and refracted
through major p~tt erns of covenant symbolization, associated ""ith Abraham.
,,"'loses , and David. rcspc:ctivc:1y. Each attempts to bring to expression the funda-
men tal con!cssion that Yahweh (the personal name of the Deily ) i5 t he Holy One
""ho has entered into the human world and is present in the midst of Israel. Each
covenant symbolization is related to panicular sociological circumstanCes in
which the o riginal formulation was socially meaningful (e.g., Mosaic covenant
tocology in the social setting o f t he triba l confederacy. Da~'idic covenant theology
in the time of the rise of the monarchy), but the power of the symbolization OUt-
lasted lhe: social setting and formed a major ~trajcctory· that became mean ingful in
, other social settings and persisted into the New Testament.
These: covenil nt symbolizatio ns ("theologies" is tOO abstract a term ), however.
did nOt do full justice to th e "dialcctical contlddictions· in the root experiences of
the Holy God in the midst of a pcopleand in the world. These polarities (e.g .• uni-
\'ersalism and panicularism, dh'i ne sovereignty and human freedom , divine tran-
scendence and immanence), treated differently in each of the covenant symbol-
izatio ns, exploded the various co"enant fo nnulations. especially under the impact
of the gldvity and enormity of the problem of evil as ex~rienced at the fall of the
'Prncnttd Apn l2 1982 at Princcton lheoloHic~1 Stmina,)'
,. ,