Reflection on Williams Far As The Curse Is Found

2006 Matthew Hundley

Reflection on Michael Williams Far As The Curse Is Found Matthew Hundley

Michael Williams book, Far As The Curse Is Found is packed with vital insight into covenantal thinking into. What makes it interesting for the reader is the unpacking of the contents; and there is plenty to unpackfrom Gods redemptive plan to Gods working in history and how this ties to his covenant relationships. Where does one start to organize all of the concepts and ideas presented here? The book itself walks through the Old and New Testaments presenting the covenants in succession along with Israels failures to keep each of them. Another way to approach this material might be to lump content into the four key categories of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. This pattern works not only as an outline of Far As The Curse Is Found but can be seen as the overarching storyline for the Bible itself. How I found myself organizing the ideas presented in this book was lumping things into key thematic ideas, such as: Jesus, creation, fall, mission, name, blessing, identity, land, God. Jesus Williams begins with Christ. Why? Because Jesus is the key to the story. (2) Jesus is the context upon which the rest of this book hinges. He is the fulfillment of the promise. He is our new covenant representative. He is the one who lets us in. He is a real man with a real history who also had real relationships with real people; in fact, he continues to have real relationships with real people today because he really is God. He is the fulfillment of the promise that God would come to his people, that he would come and dwell with his people, that he would come and stay. (7) Christ is the connector that links the Old Testament with the New; and the covenants of old with the new covenant. Creation Creation is that which gives us the means of understanding our identity as image-bearers. What we see is that God longs for relationship with Adam. Just as God longs for relationship with us. I like how Williams talks about sin as an invader, something unnatural that enters into the picture. This provides context then for the preservation of creation that comes

Reflection on Williams Far As The Curse Is Found

2006 Matthew Hundley

out of the Flood; and enables the restoration of that creation and Gods relationship with it which will happen on the occasion of the 2nd advent of Christ. Fall With the creation of humankind God bestowed upon them the freedom to obey or disobey. (50) What we sometimes fail to see through the first sin is how radically our response to God impacts other creatures. Williams shows us how the whole episode involving the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil warns of the most serious penalty for covenant unfaithfulness (51). Gods creation did and can not exist without evil of sin. To recognize that something is wrong with us presupposes an order of right, a way things out to be. (65) I had never really though of the fall in this light. Scripture passages such as Genesis 3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman show how the relationship between man and creation was knocked off kilter at the fall. What I have failed to perceive, until it was pointed out in this book, is how this even sets in place the longing of God for things to return to what they were, to the way they were supposed to be; the way things were intended by his divine design. One day God will return fallen humanity to the integrity of Eden. In relation to the fall we might also turn to Williams discussion of the Decalogue which addresses humanities fundamental covenant duty. (162) It was failures to keep Gods covenant by which all creation was subjected to corruption by the fall of Adam. Mission What is God trying to achieve by establishing covenants with men? Why do men continuously fail in keeping the covenants? The answer lies in the fall. With the fall we are corrupted. What God attempts to do over and over again is to deliver us from this corruption. This calls to mind Moses delivery of his people out of Egypt. God knows that men will not be able to keep their end of the bargain. Through this knowledge he sets into motion his own plan for redemption that will ultimately lead to Christs delivering us from sin. The mission is one of restoration of our relationship with him. In Far As The Curse Is Found we are told that the restoration viewed in Jesus bodily resurrection, is links to the restoration of creation. In the resurrection we see Gods absolute promise that he will be victorious over sin and death and

Reflection on Williams Far As The Curse Is Found

2006 Matthew Hundley

will reclaim his fallen creation in the glory of Christs return. God promises redemption; and the fulfillment through Christ. Name Israel is the name of Gods people who emerge through the covenant with Abraham. The discussion of name, of nation, of people and of the church (ekklesia) in some ways blur together. We think of name in terms of identity, something Ill discuss more below. Here Id like to think of name as the tie to the divine. Williams explains how Israel and the church proper are connected by Christ. The name Yahweh is the divine name which confirms Gods promise of redemption. (27) Israel is the name God gives his Covenant people. It is interesting that Williams points out how the people did not make a name for themselves as they did at Babel. (109, 110) In the latter portion of the book, Williams shows Jesus as true Israel. Throughout the book Jesus is seen as the conduit which joins up the elements of this covenant story. He is the vital key and link between the old and new covenants. I was surprised to see how this comes up in Hebrews 8:10 where Paul says, the time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. This is new to me, thinking of those who follow Christ as continuing the name, Israel. Blessing Gods blessings are clear in Abrahamic covenant along with the promises to make of him a great nation, and a great name. God chooses Israel out of nothing but his good pleasure. God will renew, purify and cleanse this world of sin; he will give us new bodies and place us in a world renewed. (273) Gods blessing seems evidently clear as he continuously delivers man from the destructive patterns of sin which emerge with each breaking of a covenant promise. Mans failure to keep his end of the bargain makes it clear that we cannot live up to our original design to be Gods vice regents of the kingdom. Out of the fall we experience a change in identity. Identity What is the identity of the people of God? Certainly our true identities with manifest in consummation . God himself, through events in Exodus, tells his people who he is. (42) Part of our identity is wrapped up in who we are as a nation under God, so to speak; as a

Reflection on Williams Far As The Curse Is Found

2006 Matthew Hundley

people bound together by geography, speech, religion, and culturecommon descent, history, and experience. (112) To be a nation is to be a cultural force. We as Gods children are called out ones. Under the category of identity we might also fold in an understanding of church and the blessings it inherits as the successor to Israel. God calls the church to be a royal priesthood and holy nation. (254) To see the passage in 1 Peter 2:9 echo Genesis 12:2 was new to me. Paired with the passage in Hebrews it opened my eyes to see the place of the church today as the new temple; and to see how it falls in line with the covenants of old. The church is the people of God, called to live out and proclaim the kingdom. The focusing point of this kingdom is the focus on the church. (265) Land Abraham is called to the land that Yahweh will show him. The land of Canaan becomes central to the redemptive mission for which Abraham was chosen (115) In the Davidic covenant God says, I will provide a place for my people Israel. The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you. There is this whole idea of place. Gods promises to David echo those to Abraham in dealing with people and land. God Ultimately it all comes back to God. the anchor of the believers existence is neither the people point nor the land pointIt is God.Christ is our anchor. Our hope is not so much in the restoration of creation but in Jesus Christ. These key themes are by no way comprehensive, but for me these are the broad headings which arose from my notes as I sought to unpack Michael Williams unfolding of Covenant Theology in Far As The Curse Is Found. The biggest overall idea that was driven home for me is the rich identity we inherit as Christians through the name, Israel. This is an identity we can only truly understand if we spend time studying the path from the first Adam to the second Adam. I would be remiss not to mention the idea of hope. While the hope for what is yet to come, the eschaton, is not the main focus of this paper, it is something Williams does spend some time on towards the end of the book where once more it is made clear that Gods eternal plan all hinges not on land, nation, name or blessing but on Jesus Christ.