Sometimes you only get one shot. If so, you’d better make it count.

So it was with me one day several years back when my father-in-law and I rose from our chairs in a classroom at the local senior center. During the discussion time in a history lecture I had volunteered a brief comment about the Bible’s amazing historical memory: how the biblical narratives had actually spawned modern archeology, and how archeology in turn had consistently vindicated the biblical narratives. I was grateful for the opportunity to speak up, but thought that nothing further would come of it.

How wrong I was.

Immediately after the lecture an agitated man made his way straight for me. Before we could even exchange pleasantries, his question burst forth. “How can you possibly believe that the Bible is the Word of God?” It was not the first salvo in a tirade. He wanted an answer, and with some difficulty, was waiting for it.

How would you have replied? Seeing that your interrogator is upset, that he will stand for no nonsense, and that you doubtless have but one brief opportunity to deposit in his spirit your best single evidence for the divine inspiration and authority of the Bible, what would you give him?

Without premeditation—and I hope by the Spirit of the Lord—I gave him my best shot.

“Sir,” I replied, “there is one piece of evidence above all others that persuades me that the Bible is the Word of God. It’s what we call the unity of Scripture. As you may know, the Bible is actually a collection of books—sixty-six of them—written by over forty authors over the course of some 1,600 years. And yet for all this diversity, it really is one book. In all of its pages it tells one story, about one God, who sends one Redeemer into the world in order to bring together one beloved people for his eternal possession. The more you study the Bible, the more you see this amazing underlying unity. It is so pervasive, so intricate, so beautiful that no mere mortal could possibly have produced it. Rather, it simply has to be the product of a single divine mind, working through many different human authors. Above all else, it is this astonishing supernatural unity that persuades me that the Bible is the Word of God.”

And with that, he turned and walked away.

I reflect upon this experience with satisfaction, believing that by God’s grace I really did get off an excellent shot. My words, if quickened by the Spirit, were well able to give this troubled man a glimpse of one of the great supernatural marvels in the world today: what, in the paragraphs ahead, I will be referring to as “the biblical order.” In those paragraphs I want to examine this order in some depth. My fervent hope is that its intricate, beautiful, and majestic unity will not only strengthen your faith in the Word of God, but also give you renewed confidence to share that faith with others.

Orders, Orders Everywhere! 

Let’s begin with a few introductory remarks about the common but surprisingly luminous phenomenon we call “order.”

The dictionary defines an order as an arrangement of differing objects, integrated into a unified system, according to a definite plan. This definition says it all. Order begins with a multiplicity—a collection of differing objects. But it requires something more: the multiplicity must be brought into a unified system by means of an arrangement of its parts. But even this is not all. Any old arrangement will not do. Rather, there can be no true unity and no true order unless the arrangement displays a rational plan and purpose. This is, of course, the spiritually significant characteristic of ordered systems. Their manifest complexity, patterns, beauty, and fruitful functioning all arouse within us an immediate and inescapable intuition—an intelligent person with a purpose and a plan has been on the scene. Order is, as it were, the very fingerprint of personal intelligence and power at work in the world.

Let me sum this up by introducing you to a special friend. His name is order/design/person-with-a-purpose. As you can see, he is a three-in-one friend, a little trinity. And this is what makes him so significant and interesting: No matter where you look in all the world, there you will find him. You cannot not see him. Always and everywhere, you will find order, design, and a person-with-a purpose together. My friend is very stubborn about this. He will not allow you to see one of his faces apart from the other two.

The Bible knows my friend well, and embraces him as a vital partner in the apologetic task. We see this in the fact that Scripture calls our attention to at least three different orders. One is the biblical order itself. But to appreciate that order most fully, we must first look at the other two. As we do, let’s keep an eye out for our threefold friend.

The Natural Order

First, there is the natural order—the totality of all physical objects existing in space and time: the world, the universe. Opening our eyes upon it, we see immediately that order pervades the parts, and that order pervades the whole. It is present in the tiniest building blocks of nature—the atomic elements—which are composed of orderly arrangements of protons, neutrons, and electrons. It is present in the largest objects in nature: those vast and lovely aggregates of stars that we call galaxies and galactic clusters. And it is present in all the objects in between: crystals, clouds, columbines, conchs, crickets, cuckoos, crocodiles, and chemists. It is seen in the structure of things, the motions of things, the relationships of things, the complexity of things, and the beauty of things. Great or small, organic or inorganic, all the things that we call “things” are actually systems: orderly arrangements of component parts. Furthermore, these systems are always parts of bigger systems; and the bigger of bigger systems still, till at last we reach the biggest system of all: the cosmos itself.

And what is the spiritual significance of this all-pervasive order? In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul answers by telling us that order in nature is intended to press upon our minds inescapable intuitions of the existence and attributes of its divine Creator. Seeing order in nature, we cannot help but see design. Seeing design, we cannot help but see a person with a purpose. Self-evidently, this person is infinite, omnipresent, and divine (what finite person could create and sustain such a world?). And at least one of his purposes in nature is to show us that he is here, and that he is infinitely wise, powerful, and good (Romans 1:18-32).

The Moral Order

Next, there is the moral order. Unlike the natural order, this order is spiritual rather than physical. Nevertheless, it is no less real or consequential for our lives. Paul discusses this order as well, affirming that all men are innately aware of its several elements (Romans 2:1-16). These include the moral law, properly understood as a fixed code of moral absolutes, planted like solemn sentinels deep within all human hearts. Then there is moral obligation, an objective spiritual reality perceived by the faculty we call conscience. Pressing upon our conscience, moral obligation continually moves us to align ourselves with the moral law, or else to reconcile ourselves with it if and when we break it. Finally, there is the law of moral cause and effect. Our innate awareness of this law assures us that throughout history good will always triumph over evil; that what we sow we shall surely reap; and that righteousness will always bring reward, and evil retribution, if not in this life, then surely in the next.

Again, the moral order may be invisible, but it is no less real than physical nature itself. It is like the wind: Though we cannot see it, we can see and feel its effects. Every day we observe people relating to it: striving to honor it, warring against it, stumbling over it, longing to be reconciled to it, and more. Clearly, it is just as pervasive, complex, powerful, beautiful, and well-intentioned as anything in the natural order. And like the natural order, it too manifests design and points to a person with a purpose. Clearly this person is infinite, omnipresent, and divine (what finite person could fashion such an order and keep it functioning in the deepest recesses of every human heart?). Here, however, his purpose is to show us something else: that he is a holy sovereign, that he desires us to live well, that he will reward us if we do, but will judge us (or perhaps someone else in our place) if we do not.

The Need and Gift of a Revelatory Order

We find, then, that both the natural and moral orders bear witness to an infinite personal god. But what is their importance for the defense of biblical faith? Simply this: They teach us that the “unknown god” who stands behind nature and morality definitely likes to reveal himself to us in orders: in multiplicities of different objects that he skillfully draws into unified systems according to a rational purpose and plan. Systems are, as it were, his very signature, through which we can learn important things about him.

Note carefully, however, that the natural and moral orders only tell us so much. They tell us that a personal god exists, that he is powerful and wise, and that he is holy and sovereign. But they do not give us the answers to any number of important religious and philosophical questions, questions that he himself has planted deep within our hearts. For example, does this infinite personal god have a name? Beyond the ones we can glimpse in nature and conscience, what are his attributes? How, when, and why did he create the universe, life, and man? Assuming that he is good, how did evil, suffering, and death enter and injure his world? What, if anything, be done about them? If something can, what is his part and what is ours? Truly, the list goes on. And the list includes what is perhaps the most urgent question of all: Where in the world can we find the answers to all the rest?

Happily, in light of what we have discussed so far, a possible solution immediately springs to mind. In the natural and moral orders we see clearly that “the unknown god” is trying to rouse our curiosity, to initiate within us a diligent search for a further revelation: a special revelation that addresses all the religious and philosophical questions burning in our hearts. But if that is so, would it not make sense for him not only to give us such a revelation, but also to cast it as a unified system: to fashion it into an intricate and sublimely beautiful “revelatory order”? To my mind, that would indeed make good sense, since in doing so he would be assuring seekers everywhere that the god who is disclosed in this revelatory order is the very same “unknown god” who created the natural and moral orders as well (Acts 17:26-28)!

Observant seekers of spiritual truth know that down through the centuries Christians have been contending for this very thing, asserting that in the Bible the unknown god has indeed given mankind just such a revelation. But how can we be sure of this? How can we know with certainty that the Bible really is the “revelatory order” for which the infinite personal god of the natural and moral orders has prepared the human heart?

It’s time now to find out.

The Multiplicity of the Bible

We cannot appreciate the unity of the Bible unless and until we see it against the backdrop of its very great multiplicity. Let us briefly consider it here.

The Bible contains a multiplicity of books—66 of them.

It was written over a multiplicity of years—about 1,600 of them—constituting more than 40 generations.

It was written in a multiplicity of places: on three separate continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe), in city and country, palace and prison, at home and abroad.

It was written by a multiplicity of authors—about 40 them. Note well that these authors were not just priests or theologians, but men from every walk of life. Among them there were kings, peasants, fishermen, poets, statesmen, a herdsman, a military general, a cup-bearer, a Gentile doctor, and even a tax collector. Furthermore, many of them were opposed by the spiritual leaders of their day, some were regarded as heretics, and some paid for their faith with their life. Clearly, the Bible is not the handiwork of any individual or of a closely knit religious cult.

Finally, it was written in a multiplicity of literary genres—at least eight of them. These include historical narrative, law, poetry, drama, proverb, prophecy, epistle, and apocalyptic vision.

If, then, the Bible really does display a striking multi-layered unity, the historical facts concerning its origin and literary character assure us that this unity is neither the product of one man, nor the collusion of many. But if it is not from man or men, from whom is it?

The Unity of the Bible

The unity of the Bible is indeed striking, multi-layered, and—I would argue—patently divine. I will now try to make that case by showing that the Bible is actually one story, about one God, administering one plan of salvation, centered around one (divine) Person, who is attested by one body of (supernatural) signs, and worshiped by one people, according to one (eminently satisfying) worldview. Let’s take a moment to explore each fascinating element of this ambitious thesis.

One Story

Anyone who reads the Bible in its entirety will soon discover that over the long haul it tells a single story. This story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Distilled to its essence, it tells of the creation of the universe, life, and man; their profound wounding by the fall of the first Adam; and their  redemption and glorification through the divine person and all-sufficient work of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the last Adam (Romans 5:12-21).

This story has many characters: divine, angelic, and human. It has many themes: the love of the Father for the Son; the love of the Son for the Father; their common love for the universe, life, and man; the triumph of good over evil, truth over lies, humility over pride, faith and trust over doubt and despair; etc. It has a plot and many sub-plots. There is rising action, developing conflict, apparent defeat, and sudden, unexpected deliverance and victory. There is romance, mystery, comedy and tragedy. And—for everyone who plays his part in the story well—there is this above all: a happy ending.

In sum, the Bible displays an outstanding literary unity, a unity in which we discern the hand of a single divine Author. Note carefully, however, a fact of immense importance: the Author is at great pains to assure us that his story is not a mere story (i.e., a myth or a legend), but the kind of story we call “history.” It is not the fruit of man’s fancy, but rather is a God-inspired narrative of true historical events, recorded in words that are meant for our illumination, transformation, and eternal welfare.

Accordingly, this story is His Story: the one true God-given story from which all lesser stories—be they history or fiction—derive whatever truth, goodness, and beauty they may contain. This is why we all love stories, and why the biblical story draws us back to itself over and again. For somewhere deep down, we all realize that history—whether cosmic or personal—is actually a story, and part and parcel of His Story. Said the wise Sam Gamgee, “What a tale we’ve been in, Mr. Frodo, haven’t we?” Yes, and we too know what Sam knows. But how we long to find the one Book in which the whole tale is told, so that we might discover our special role in it, find out how it ends, and (if at all possible) meet the Author as well. For folks who experience such spiritual yearnings, the literary unity of the Bible becomes a bright light shining in a dark place, inviting them to come, see, and understand (2 Peter 1:19).

About One God

In the one story one character towers above all: God. And a great part of the drama of the story consists in this, that the more it unfolds, the more we learn about him: his names, titles, attributes, divine prerogatives, mighty works, and mysterious ways. Then, as the story nears its climax, something of extraordinary interest comes to light: the one God is actually a trinity of divine persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And learning this, we also learn that his works in history are most fully understood, not only in terms of God’s love for man, but also—and even pre-eminently—in terms of the mutual love of the Father and the Son, and the desire on the part of each that the other should be glorified in this world and the next (John 17:1-5).

And yet, despite all this unfolding trinitarian light, the message in every book of the Bible remains fundamentally the same: “Hear O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one, and there is no one else besides him (Deuteronomy 4:35; 6:4; Mark 12:28-34). In other words, the Bible—unlike the ancient pagan scriptures, with their complicated theogonies and vast pantheons—displays a consistent theological unity. And like its literary unity, this too comforts us, for intuitively we know that there is, and can be, only one God. Moreover, if we come to believe that the Bible is his book, we are hardly surprised to learn that part of his mission in history is to expose and dethrone every other so-called god, so that “. . . in that day there will be one LORD, and his name [Father, Son and Holy Spirit] the only name” (Exodus 12:12; Zechariah 14:9; John 4:22-24; 2 Corinthians 10:5-6).

Administering One Plan of Salvation

We have seen that, by and large, the Bible is a history book. But this is history of a special kind: what theologians refer to as salvation history. In other words, at its heart the biblical story is the story of God’s specifically redemptive acts: past, present and future. Reading this story—and especially the part we call the New Testament (NT)—it soon becomes apparent that God’s redemptive activity is unfolding according a plan. As a result, we soon realize that the Bible is best understood as a divinely inspired history of the administration of a single divine plan for the redemption of the universe, life, and man.

In order to catch a glimpse of the that plan, and to see how it binds the events of salvation history into a unity, let’s briskly work our way through the time line below.¹

The Eternal Covenant

This is the heart of salvation history. It is unveiled in the NT, where we finally learn that even before the creation of the world, God foreknew the fall of the universe, life, and man, and therefore devised a plan to redeem (i.e., rescue and restore) them. The writer to the Hebrews calls this plan “the eternal covenant” (Hebrews 13:20).²

A close study of the Bible’s most famous verse, John 3:16 (and related texts), reveals that this covenant involves five basic elements.

In essence, there are two parties: God (the divine party) and all who believe in the divine person and all-sufficient work of his Son (the human parties).

There is a promise to all who will to enter the covenant through faith in Christ: the forgiveness of sins, the gift of Christ’s own righteousness, and eternal life in the Holy Spirit with the triune God.

There is a penalty for all who decline the invitation and disobey the command to enter the covenant: eternal punishment away from the life-giving presence of God.

There is a special provision by which the holy Creator, Ruler, and Judge can welcome sinful man into it without compromising his justice: God’s incarnate Son: living, dying, and rising again in behalf of all who will trust in him.

And there is a proviso (or requirement) with which fallen man must comply: repentance from his disordered life in sin and rebellion, and simple faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Again, it pleased God that for many millennia the several elements of his covenant would remain a “mystery”, a secret hidden away in him. Only in the fullness of time, at the appearing of his uniquely begotten Son in history, would they finally be revealed to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.³

Creation, Probation, Fall

After creating a very good world, God was pleased put Adam and Eve to a test. This was paradigmatic. Henceforth, even to the end of the world, he would test all men—including his own incarnate Son—to see if they would express their gratitude to their Creator, and love for him, by freely choosing to believe and obey his word.

Almost inconceivably, yet all too consequentially, Adam and Eve failed their test. In particular, the sin of the first Adam, who stood in Eden as the head and representative of all mankind, alienated the family of man from God, forfeited its access to the tree of (eternal) life, and placed both man and nature in bondage to a wide variety of spiritual and physical enemies: natural and moral evil, suffering, death, satanic forces, and—most dangerous of all—God’s righteous anger and the peril of eternal punishment. Henceforth, because of such dire spiritual bondage and human inability, there was only one hope: that another and far better Adam should come into the world to do what the first had failed to do, and to undo what the first had done, thereby redeeming all that was lost. Here, then, in the fall of the first Adam, we encounter mankind’s urgent need of the one and only provision of the eternal covenant: the gift of the last.

The Era of Promise and Preparation

With the fall of mankind in Eden, the administration of the eternal covenant now begins. It does so in the Era of Promise and Preparation, a season some 4,000 years long, during which God, at various times and in various ways, both promises and prepares for the entrance of Christ and the covenant into the world. Along the way he raises up and preserves a special family and nation, through which he will grant the world its Redeemer. Along the way he administers some of the benefits of the covenant to those (Old Testament saints) who love and obey him, and who trust in his promises. And along the way he inspires, inscripturates, and preserves a record of his historical acts during this era.

But there is something unique about these administrations. Here Christ and the several elements of the covenant are indeed revealed, yet at the same time also concealed beneath a veil of types (Greek: tupos, form, symbol). We learn about this in the NT, which teaches that OT persons, places, things, events, and institutions were typological in nature; that they symbolically pointed ahead to Christ and the covenant. Importantly, this implies that God’s Old Testament (OT) administrations of the covenant were essentially promissory and preparatory: In them he neither fully disclosed nor fully administered the several elements of the covenant. Yes, the OT saints did enjoy a small but real foretaste of the blessings that Christ and the covenant would bring. Still, as the NT repeatedly points out, these OT administrations were largely shadows, shadows cast backwards by the true body: the Christ and the covenant yet to come (Matthew 5:17; 2 Corinthians 3:7-18; Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 7:18-19).

On the timeline I have cited the four main examples of the promissory and preparatory administrations of the covenant. In order to understand these better, let’s take a moment to consider the first two.

The Adamic Administration of the Covenant

After Adam and Eve sinned, God destroyed neither them nor their world, though he might justly have done so. Instead, in love, mercy, and grace he himself put to death one or more animals so that the guilty pair might be covered, and thereby qualified to continue in a (now damaged) relationship with him. In short, he graciously drew them into a preliminary covenant with himself (Genesis 3:20-21).

Reading of these things with the benefit of NT hindsight, we realize that Adam and Eve typified (i.e., symbolized) God’s people of all time and places. The slain animal (likely a lamb) represented Christ, the covenant Provision who—much later on, and under a wise, all-controlling providence—would be slain by God himself in order to supply his people with true covering: pardon, righteousness, and eternal life. In putting on the skins, the guilty pair unconsciously displayed the proviso of the covenant: faith in the Christ who was yet to come, thereby enjoying forgiveness and a (limited) covenant relationship with their Maker. Despite their sin, they now belonged to God again, though they neither received the gift of his indwelling Spirit, nor lived in abiding union with him. Such definitive covenant blessings must wait for the fullness of time (Genesis 22; Isaiah 54; John 14:17; Acts 4:27-29; Hebrews 11:1-2).

The Noahic Administration of the Covenant

Now consider Noah. God tells Noah to build an ark, for a global flood that will destroy all flesh is soon to come. Noah believes God and obeys, all the while warning his sinful neighbors of the judgment up ahead. Because he does so, all who believe and obey his word board the ark (eight souls in all) and are safely carried over the waters of judgment to a new world largely cleansed of the fruits of man’s sin.

Here Noah (whose name means “Comfort”) is a type of the person of Christ, and the ark a type of his redemptive work. Through Jesus’ perfect obedience in life and death, he prepared a vessel for the eternal salvation of all who board the vessel: who believe and obey his word. Noah’s family pictures the believing people of God. Their safe passage through the flood waters pictures their deliverance from the final global judgment by fire (2 Peter 3:7). Their descent from the ark into a world washed clean pictures the descent of Christ’s Church onto a new earth fully redeemed from the fall and fully restored to wholeness and glory. The rainbow displayed to Noah and his family (and now to all who see one) speaks of God’s eternal promise to his people: Just as he will never again destroy the world by water, so too, in the case of all who trust in his Son, will he never again judge them or their world by fire. Instead, he will live with them forever in a new and purified world to come.

Having understood this rich typology, NT saints, as led by God’s Spirit, will do as Noah did: They will urge their sinful but beloved neighbors to take and pass the test of life: to board God’s true ark of salvation through simple faith in the all-sufficient work of the divine Christ. So shall they safely pass through the Judgment and into the new heavens and the new earth where righteousness dwells (Genesis 6-9; 1 Thessalonians 4; 2 Peter 3; Revelation 21:1-4).

The rich typology that we behold in the Adamic and Noahic administrations of the eternal covenant we also see in the Abrahamic and Mosaic. This is the marvel of the OT, and the source of its great profitability for Christian faith and witness: It super-abounds in promissory types and shadows. Some of them are quite obvious, others more subtle. But all swiftly carry our thoughts God-ward: No mere mortal could ever have devised such stunningly intricate and beautiful Christ-centered correspondences as these!

The Promise of a New and Eternal Covenant in the Days of God’s Messiah

In passing, we do well to mention here that in the later years of the Era of Promise and Preparation God not only pictured Christ and the covenant through types and shadows, but also did so through predictive prophecies. In these he explicitly promised a new and better covenant that would fulfill (the mystical meanings of) the Mosaic covenant, and that would supplant it once and for all. This new covenant is none other than the eternal covenant, planned before the founding of the world; it is the one covenant that bestows, once and for all, the forgiveness of sins, perfect righteousness, the gift of the Holy Spirit, personal and corporate holiness, and eternal life in a new and glorified homeland: the world to come (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 16:60-61; 20:36-38; Joel 2:18-32; Matthew 5:17; Acts 2:14-46; Hebrews 8:7-13).

Very importantly, many of these prophecies declared that the new covenant would appear in days of the Messiah, a Spirit-anointed descendant of king David who would bring eternal redemption to the Israel of God (Galatians 6:15-16). Here, then, we have explicit predictions of the provision of the eternal covenant: the divine person and all-sufficient work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one Redeemer who would serve God as the Spirit-anointed Prophet (Teacher), Priest, Sacrifice, and King of his eternal people and their world. In a moment we’ll take a closer look at the amazing number and nuances of these OT Messianic prophecies (Psalms 2; 89; 110; Isaiah 53; Jeremiah 23:4-6; Ezekiel 34:24-31; 37:25-26).

The Era of Fulfillment

Here at last the eternal covenant is fully unveiled and fully administered. This is gospel: good news! Note, however, from our timeline, that this era unfolds in two separate stages. In the first, the several elements of the covenant are indeed unveiled, but only to the eye of faith; they are indeed experienced, but only in part. During the second, however, they are finally unveiled to sight, and forever experienced in full measure.

In order to understand this better, let’s look briefly at both stages of this era, and at the different ways in which God, through Christ, administers the eternal covenant in each one.

The Humiliation of Christ

Stage 1 of the Era of Fulfillment includes these foundational events, commonly referred to as the humiliation of Christ: 1) the incarnation of the Son of God as the last and better Adam; 2) his righteous life, lived in perfect obedience to the Law of Moses, and also to the continuously revealed will of his heavenly Father, so that during his life he went about proclaiming the nearness of the Kingdom of God to the people of Israel, performing miracles, and healing every kind of infirmity, both spiritual and physical; and 3) his atoning death, in which he yet further fulfilled the righteous requirement of God’s Law, this time by suffering, in behalf of all God’s believing people, the penalty for their sin as prescribed in the Law (Genesis 2:17; Romans 5:12-21).

Accordingly, at the end of his life, just before he committed his spirit into the hands of his heavenly Father, Jesus cried, “It is finished!” He meant that he had now accomplished (though not yet administered to his people) the redemption of God’s new family and nation; that the provision of the eternal covenant had now been supplied; that the foundation of the coming Kingdom of God had now been laid. Henceforth, due to the full-orbed redeeming work of Christ, the triune God could righteously dwell within, and reign over, his beloved people: body, soul, spirit, both  now and and in world to come.

The Exaltation of Christ

Stage 1 of the Era of Fulfillment also includes the exaltation of the Messiah, which features these key events: 1) the resurrection of Christ, which publicly vindicates the truth of his teaching, and also the divine acceptance of his substitutionary life and atoning death; 2) the ascension of Christ, which further vindicates the divine origin of his earthly ministry, and that also signifies to the world the reality of the spiritual heaven above, from which he will come again in order to consummate God’s redemptive plan; 3) the session of Christ, which is to say his being seated at the right hand of the Father, with all authority in heaven and earth, there to reign over the Church and the world as its God-appointed Prophet, Priest, and King; and from there to administer the eternal covenant to the Church and the world; 4) the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, at which time he commenced the administration of the covenant by spiritually indwelling the first generation of Christians, and also inspired them to preach the gospel to Israel and the nations, so that God might forgive, justify, and grant eternal life to all who put their trust in his Christ; and 5) the era of gospel proclamation, now some 2,000 years long, during which time Christ himself—from heaven, by his Spirit, and through his Church—administers, in part, the promised blessings of the eternal covenant. Again, during this stage of the era of fulfillment the covenant blessings are only seen with the eye of faith, and only (though richly) experienced spiritually, but not yet physically.³

The Second Coming of Christ

Here we have the climax of the Era of Fulfillment: The Parousia or Second Coming of Christ, also referred to as the consummation. This stupendous event is the great hinge of salvation history, the awesome Day upon which the universe swings out of the present evil age (and Stage 1 of the Era of Fulfillment), into the glories of the age to come (and Stage 2 of the Era of Fulfillment). It is the Day on which Christ returns in glory with all his holy angels to seal the era of gospel proclamation and probation, and to administer the promised covenant blessings in their fullness. Upon his arrival from heaven Christ raises the dead, judges the world in righteousness, destroys the present heavens and earth by fire, consigns the unbelieving and disobedient to Gehenna, creates new heavens and a new earth, and delivers up his now perfected kingdom (i.e., his people and their world) to his Father, so that God may be all in all (Matthew 24-25; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28; 2 Peter 3; Revelation 21).

The Age and World to Come

In and through these ultimate events the King of the Covenant has ushered in the second and final stage of the Era of Fulfillment. Henceforth and forever, God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, all the holy angels, and all the redeemed of the earth live and work together—no longer by faith, but by sight—in a glorious new heaven and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17-18; Revelation 21-22). By the good pleasure of his God and Father, Christ himself has now fully unveiled and fully administered—both to man and nature—the cosmic fruits of his redemptive work: the promised blessings of the eternal covenant. In that Day a joyful and triumphant voice will be heard: “All has come to pass!” (Revelation 21:6).

Here, then, in too few strokes, is something of the Bible’s astounding soteriological unity.⁴ The more we see it, the more we stand amazed. Like tiles in a mosaic, the myriad stories of the two testaments somehow unite and coalesce to form a single picture. They show us a single (triune) God, administering a single Christ-centered covenant, for the salvation of a single beloved people and their world, for the glory of God the Son, whose labor of love was for the glory of his God and Father (John 5:22-23; 20:17; Philippians 2:1-11).

Who on earth could ever devise such a plan, or such a Book to tell us about it?

Centered Around One Person

Just as Christ stands in the midst of the eternal covenant—the one mediator between God and man—so too he stands in the midst of all Scripture. Like planets around the sun, all revolves around him. Jesus himself taught us this very thing. He said of the Scriptures, “These are they that testify of me” (John 5:39). Similarly, he told his disciples, “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me” (Luke 24:44). The christo-centricity of Scripture stands to reason, since one of the Father’s highest purposes in creation, providence, and redemption is to glorify Christ. He desires that all should honor the Son, even as they honor him (John 5:23).

Accordingly, in the NT we constantly find Christ in the midst: of the doctors, the disciples, the crowds, Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, the seven lampstands, the 24 elders, and the very throne of God. Likewise, in the OT, by means of Christophany (see below), type, and predictive prophecy, we also find him in the midst. If the Bible may be called the body of truth, then its skeleton is the history of the administration of the covenant, its sinews are the 66 books, and its heart—burning bright in the midst of all—is the divine person and all-sufficient work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here we behold the christo-centric unity of the Bible.⁵

Attested by One (Large and Diverse) Body of Signs

Since Christ is in the midst, God the Father desires to draw all men to him so that they may enter his covenant and experience its blessings (John 6:44). Jesus taught that, in good part, this drawing is accomplished by means of signs: vividly supernatural phenomena that cause men to stop, marvel, and inquire about Christ and the gospel (John 5:20, 30-47).

Looking through the window of Scripture, we see that God has posted many such signs all along the highway of salvation history. In the NT, for example, the Spirit spotlights Christ by means of his virgin birth, angelic visitations, the extraordinary testimony of John the Baptizer, theophanies (i.e., visible manifestations of the presence of God the Father, testifying to the world about his Son), mighty miracles, and—most importantly—his resurrection from the dead. Note also from the book of Acts that Christ appointed his disciples to function as signs (Acts 1:4-8). From subsequent Church history we see that they have continually done so, right up to the present day.

When we carefully study the preaching of the apostles we are also brought face to face with a variety of OT signs, signs that were—and still are—of extreme importance for the effective proclamation of the gospel (Romans 16:21-24). By and large they fall into one of three categories: Christophanies, Messianic Types, and Messianic Prophecies. Let us briefly consider each one.

Christophanies

A Christophany is a pre-incarnation appearance or manifestation of the second person of the holy trinity: the Son of God. As a rule, we encounter Christophanies in texts depicting the person and work of the Angel of the LORD, a title better translated as the Messenger of the LORD. Mysteriously enough, in these texts we find that the Messenger of the LORD is at once the LORD himself, yet also a divine person who is sent by the LORD! Such episodes are, of course, veiled revelations of the great biblical mystery of the holy trinity. Accordingly, NT saints take great delight—and receive much encouragement—when they read how the Messenger of the LORD appeared to Hagar (Genesis 16), Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22), Jacob (Genesis 31), Moses (Exodus 3), the people of Israel (Exodus 23; Judges 2), Joshua (Joshua 5), Gideon (Judges 6), the parents of Samson (Judges 13), and more. Again, these powerful texts are designed to buttress the NT revelation of the holy trinity, and also to assist in the proclamation of a fully divine Christ.

Messianic Types

As we saw earlier, these are persons, places, things, events, or institutions that point forward to Christ and the several elements of the eternal covenant. For beauty and sheer abundance they are indeed a marvel. Think, for example, of the miracle baby that God promised Abraham, and of how, by believing God’s promise, Abraham was reckoned to be a righteous man (Genesis 15). Think of Moses, a miracle-working shepherd and deliverer who, through high waters of judgment, led his people out of bondage, into a covenant, and into a new homeland. Think of the Passover lamb (not a bone of which was broken), whose blood, faithfully applied, wrought protection from the angel of death (Exodus 11-13). Think also of the manna from heaven—the bread of angels—given to sustain a pilgrim people day by day (Exodus 16; Psalm 78:25); of the stricken rock that supplied water and refreshing to the same (Numbers 20); of the scapegoat, who bore the sins of Israel out into the wilderness (Leviticus 16); of the bronze serpent fastened to a pole, lifted up for the healing of all who would look upon it in faith (Numbers 21);  of the delicious cluster of grapes from Canaan, suspended on a pole between two men, bearing witness to the goodness of a land up ahead (Numbers 13); and later on, of Jonah, who spent three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish (Jonah 1-2). If someone is at all familiar with the NT, is it really possible that he/she cannot see the person and work of Christ in these ancient pictures?

Messianic Prophecies

These abundant and highly detailed predictive prophecies of the humiliation, exaltation, kingdom, and second coming of Christ are meant to call our attention to the Redeemer, and to move us to a contemplation of the good news he brings to the world. For how can it be that even before he was born the entire course of his earthly and heavenly life was predicted, not by one prophet, but by many? How, for example, could they speak of his divine nature and pre-existence, his virgin birth, his place of birth, his miraculous ministry to the poor, his atoning death, and his resurrection, ascension, heavenly reign, and second coming in power and glory to judge, (consummately) redeem, and usher in the everlasting Kingdom of God? Reading these prophecies, we cannot help but ask: “Who inspired these astonishing predictions, and why? Perhaps we should consult the One who is said to fulfill them!” (John 4:25).⁶

Christians must never underestimate the power and importance of the evidential unity of the Bible, of the one body of Messianic signs. Why? Because, as we learn from reading the Acts and the Epistles, the Spirit of God is often pleased to use these signs to draw God’s people to himself. Together, they stand as a great chorus of witnesses, loudly singing of the divine Prophet, Priest, Sacrifice, and King of heaven and earth. Because of them we see that the Old Testament confirms the New, even as the New illumines and fulfills the Old. Because of them we understand that the two testaments really do belong together, and that together they really do constitute a single book. It is The Book: the very Word of God, given to lead us to the Christ of God.

Worshiped by One People

The Bible tells the story of a divine Father gathering together a single people for the worship of his Son, even as it also tells of a divine Son gathering together that same people for the worship of his Father. Jesus called this people his Church (Greek: ekklesia), by which he understood the totality of all persons of all times and all places who are called (Greek: kaleo) out of the world and into eternal fellowship with the living God (Matthew 16:18; Colossians 1:13). This people is a great multiplicity, being composed of Jew and Gentile, male and female, (a few) rich and (many) poor, slave and free, good and (formerly) evil, etc. And yet, because of their God-given faith in Christ, and their love for him, they are one.

In speaking of the people of God, the Holy Spirit has employed many striking images in order to display and highlight their unity: They are a seed, a people, a nation, a race, a dynasty, a priesthood, a congregation, a body, a temple, a flock, and a single new man (Genesis 3:15; Psalm 89:30-37; Ephesians 5:22-33; 1 Peter 2:9-10).

Of special interest here is Revelation 12, a climactic NT chapter in which the unity of Christ’s Church is strikingly portrayed under the image of a heavenly Woman. At the outset of the chapter we see her as the Mother of Christ, crying out in pain, struggling to give birth to a royal Child whom the dragon (Satan) is seeking to devour. This poignant symbolism depicts the vicissitudes of the OT saints who, through their costly faithfulness to the Lord, gave birth to the world’s Redeemer.

But after the Child’s birth, the heavenly Woman is depicted as the Bride of Christ. And she too is accosted by the dragon, seeing that her crucified, risen, and reigning Child is, through her Spirit-empowered proclamation of the gospel, winning souls to Christ, thereby wreaking  destruction upon the dragon’s evil kingdom. This imagery depicts the vicissitudes (and triumph) of the NT saints, who strive to remain faithful both to their Lord and his mission in the earth until the day of his return.

Here, then, in especially powerful imagery, we behold the deep spiritual unity of the age-old Church. The one heavenly Woman—both Mother and Bride of the Messiah—is comprised of all God’s believing children, OT saints or new. Throughout salvation history—ever since the fall in Eden—she has been making her pilgrim way through the wilderness of this present evil world, ever persecuted by the dragon, but also ever nourished and ever preserved by God’s grace, until that happy day when she enters the Promised Land once and for all.

In that day, when her humiliation is concluded and her exaltation is at hand, she will finally be revealed for who she truly is: a single holy Bride and holy City, forever dwelling with her Beloved in a new heaven and a new earth (Colossians 3:4; Revelation 12; 21-22). Such is the glorious hope and destiny of the one people of God.

According to One (Eminently Satisfying) Worldview

When the signs do their work, they draw a people not only to Christ, but also into his world above: the biblical world. And what a feast of fat things awaits their awestruck eyes! There they find fascinating answers to all the great philosophical questions that have ever burned in the hearts of men: 1) What is the ultimate reality? 2) What is the origin of the universe, life and man? 3) What went wrong: Why are evil, suffering, and death present in the world? 4) What, if anything, can be done about them? 5) What is the meaning and purpose of life? 6) How shall we live so as to be good and do good? 7) What happens when we die? 8) Where is history heading? and finally, 9) How can we find trustworthy answers to the questions of life?

Not only does the Bible answer all these questions, but it also does so in a way that has elicited the trust and commitment of multitudes. Yes, the various manifestations of scriptural unity undergird their confidence that its answers are indeed true; but so too does the important fact that those answers are intuitive, reasonable, ethically sound, and full of hope—and far more so than those offered by other philosophies and religions. The biblical answers to the questions of life make sense of the world as it truly is, with its otherwise bewildering mixture of good and evil, truth and error, beauty and ugliness. Thanks to the internal work of the Spirit of Truth, these answers resonate with the deepest intuitions and longings of the human heart (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13).

Very importantly, both seekers and believers also will find that the Bible speaks directly to the existential needs associated with the questions of life. For example, Scripture is not satisfied simply to identify the ultimate reality as an infinite personal god, but instead also goes on to explain how his beloved creatures can call upon his name, come to know him, and live in eternal union with him. Or again, it is not content simply to tell sinners about an afterlife in heaven or hades, but also goes on to uncover the ground upon which they can be sure they are going to the one and not the other.

Additionally, as maturing believers come to behold this philosophical unity of the Bible, they thrill to realize that the Spirit of Christ is coalescing the answers to the questions of life into a unified worldview. Thus, with ever-increasing clarity, they are able to look upon all things: things past, present and future; things above, upon, and beneath; things without and within; things human, angelic, and divine. In short, in the Bible they now can see and understand—albeit through a glass darkly—reality as a whole (1 Corinthians 13:8-13).

Such fullness, such intricate beauty, such vast comprehensiveness leave them breathless: It will take a lifetime—nay, an eternity—to take it all in. But of this one thing they are sure: their search is over. Unity in the natural and moral orders moved them to search for a revelatory order: a Teacher and/or a Book in which the infinite personal God discloses the true answers to the questions of life. Unity in the Bible—literary, theological, soteriological, christological, evidential, anthropological, philosophical, and cosmological—now convinces them that they have found it once and for all. The God of the natural order, the moral order, and the biblical order is clearly one. And in accordance with one eminently satisfying worldview, they will worship him forever.

A Concluding Word of Personal Testimony

Under God, it was the amazing unity of the Bible that revolutionized my worldview and transformed my own life.

Prior to my conversion I was a pantheist, and therefore a diligent student of the Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist scriptures. Undoubtedly these writings displayed a certain religious and metaphysical unity, since they all taught, directly or indirectly, “salvation” by absorption of the individual person into a quasi-personal Big Mind, a Mind from which we and our (illusory) phenomenal world allegedly have sprung. But beyond the bare fact that I wanted to believe them, there was little in these scriptures, or in their dogmatic philosophical unity, to convince me that they were true.

With respect to the Bible, however, the situation was almost completely reversed. Here there was much I did not want to believe, but a very great deal to convince me that it was true anyway. In the difficult time of my turning I well remember the decisive facts and the decisive moments. For some weeks I had been reading Christian books with a mixture of deepening fear and hope. At last a copy of The Scofield Reference Bible fell into my hands. As I perused its extensive study notes, in which the commentator highlighted the things of Christ typified and prophesied in the early pages of Genesis, the lights went on. All the fragments of my (limited) biblical knowledge coalesced into a single mosaic. I could see the Bible’s patently supernatural unity: the one story, the one God, the one purpose, the one people, and the one Redeemer—a Redeemer veiled in the Old Testament, but unveiled in the New.

Furthermore, in seeing this unity I could also see all I would ever need to know about the Bible: that it was inspired by a single divine Author; that it was providentially preserved by the same Author; that it therefore must be inerrant in all it affirms and infallible in all it promises and predicts; that it must be authoritative in all it commands; and that it must be complete, since the divine Messiah promised in the Old Testament and revealed in the New is, among many other things, the world’s supreme Prophet, authorized by the Father to bring a full and final revelation of his truth to all nations (Hebrews 1:1-4; Jude 1:3).⁷

Order, design, and a person with a purpose. I had seen them in nature and the objective moral order, and therefore concluded that there must be a personal god. But now I saw them in his revelatory order, the Bible. And so, with fear and trembling, I concluded one thing more: to be right with this God I must call upon his Son for salvation. I must be born again (John 3:1-21). And by his mercy and grace, I was indeed.⁸

Now you can understand something of my enthusiasm for the unity of the Bible. It’s an enthusiasm that has only grown over the years, ever deepened by my further study of Scripture, as well as by my study of other sacred writings that conspicuously display nothing of the kind. In short, the Bible is a miracle, a solitary marvel towering above all the other scriptures, religions and philosophies of the world.⁹

If, then, you are not yet a Christian, let me encourage you to consider the Book with great care, and with child-like simplicity to follow the light of truth wherever it may lead. As you do, the multi-faceted unity of the Bible may well become for you a bridge upon which you cross over to the Christ it celebrates, into the heavenly world where he lives.

And if you already are a Christian, please keep this holy bridge very much in mind. For in a tight witnessing situation—with only seconds to explain why you believe the Bible is God’s Word—it may be your only shot.

And your best.

Notes

1. This timeline reflects the traditional Reformed view of salvation history. Premillennial and dispensational interpreters would construct it somewhat differently. Nevertheless, all would agree in representing salvation history as the administration of a single Christ-centered plan in two basic eras: one of promise and preparation, and another of eternal fulfillment.

2. For an excellent brief discussion of the eternal covenant (of grace), see Louis Berkhoff, Systematic Theology (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1949), pp. 262-301.

3. Christ’s apostles were well aware that they lived in the era of fulfillment: the God-appointed season in which the mystery of Christ and the eternal covenant, formerly hidden, had now been brought to light. See Mark 4:11; Romans 16:25; 1 Corinthians 2:7; Galatians 4:4; Ephesians 1:9; 3:3; 9; Colossians 1:26; 2:2; 2 Timothy 1:10.

4. Soteriology is biblical teaching on the subject of salvation. Closely related to the Bible’s soteriological unity is its cosmological unity. Through the story of redemption, the Bible supplies a clear, comprehensive, and hopeful history of the entire cosmos: its origin, wounding, restoration, and final glory. In no other world religion or scientific theory is there anything remotely comparable or so profoundly satisfying and hopeful. I have shared my best thoughts on religious, scientific, and biblical cosmology  here.

5. For more on the Christ-centered unity of the Bible, please click here.

6. See Psalm 2; 16:8-10; 22; 110:1; Isaiah 7:14; 53 (esp. 53:11); 61:1-3; 63:1f; 66; Micah 5:2; Daniel 7:13-14.

7. Many biblical texts affirm what the whole tenor of the NT implies: that the One who inaugurated the Era of Fulfillment did indeed bring us a full and final revelation of God’s truth. This means that Christ closed the biblical canon, that the Book is now complete, and that religious leaders or books that pretend to supersede Christianity are false. See Matthew 7:24-29; 13:16-17; 28:18; John 4:23-26; 12:48; 14:15-18; 16:6-7; 12-13; 18:37; Ephesians 2:19-20; Jude 1:3.

8. I share the story of my own journey to Christian faith—my own test—in a little book called A Furnace for Gold. To read this, please click here.

9. The unity of the Bible—and its truthfulness—is greatly magnified when seen alongside the disunity of non-biblical scriptures. The Koran, for example, contains a unified system of (anti-trinitarian) religion: Muhammad’s. But there is no supernatural unity to verify his claims. Neither the OT nor the NT typify, prophesy, or in any other way anticipate Muhammad. Meanwhile, the Bible also contains a unified system of (trinitarian) religion: God’s. And in this case we know it is God’s because there is a supernatural unity to verify its claims. The Old Testament authors—who are many—all anticipate Jesus Christ and his teachings about the eternal covenant. How could they have done so if Christ’s religion was his alone, and not that of the one true living God? Theological unity amidst historical continuity: These are God’s imprimatur. You will find it upon the Bible, and upon the Bible alone.