more on blessing

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
And God blessed them.
(Genesis 1:27-28)



The LORD bless you and keep you
The LORD make his face shine on you and grace you
The LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace
(Numbers 6:24-26 - pictured in Hebrew above)

I love this blessing theme. A while back I began noting every place my Bible referred to blessing. This grew out of (again) my time in Israel, and a book that was recommended entitled "The God of Israel and Christian Theology" by Kendell Soulen. His point in the book is first to smash supersessionism, or displacement theology, the position held by many Christians that God is through with Israel, that Israel was just basically a womb for the Messiah and especially because of her general rejection of him God is finished with her. He articulates the biblical narrative as principally about:

Creation
Covenant
Consummation

Most of us evangelicals have understood the principle biblical narrative as sin and redemption, that it is the "scarlet" thread running through and tying the whole story together. Now, again, lest my friends get nervous - this theme of sin and redemption, of the lamb slain before the foundation of the world, is hugely important and imperative, but it serves the theme of creation, covenant, and consummation.

With this perspective, God is not through with Israel. They are still integral to his purposes and plans (as Paul is driving at in Romans 9-11). How this will all come together we do not know, except to say that God is not finished with Israel, that there will be a turning to God which will mean life from the dead, and that whatever it specifically means "all Israel will be saved" (see Romans 11). However, this is really not my point today.

Soulen writes that God's design and desire in creation, covenant, and consummation is an "economy of mutual blessing" and "dependence." And he points out that this blessing is communicated in relationships of "differentiation": Creator and creation, man and woman, man and the rest of creation, parents and children... Jew and Gentile. This is beautiful and tremendously significant. I'll try to develop in some more in the near future.

Finally, in this context of "The God of Israel and Christian Theology", Soulen articulates the gospel this way:

the gospel is the good news about the God of Israel's coming reign, which proclaims in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection the victorious guarantee of God's fidelity to the work of consummation, that is, to fullness of mutual blessing as the outcome of God's economy with Israel, the nations, and all creation. (p. 157)

God bless you!