Remaking Creation (part 1)

Paul seems to be infatuated with the idea of the new creation.  He firmly believes that the family of God---the heirs of the covenant, through their implementation of suffering-embracing-and-alleviating kingdom principles, are new creation-bringers.  In fact, he says that “the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God” (8:19).  These sons of God are not is not a special class of super-spiritual beings.  This is the justified, covenant-enfolded family of God, called into existence by belief in Jesus. 

The creation itself, long “subjected to futility” (8:20a), awaits the advance of God’s kingdom, doing so “in hope” (8:20c).  When we consider the nature of the hope of creation, it would be foolish for us to disconnect it from the cherished hope of the people of God, that being the general resurrection, so we acknowledge that God also intends to bring resurrection to His once good creation.  This is precisely the point at which Paul reaches, writing “that the creation itself will also,” along with humanity, “be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children” (8:21).  With this, Paul carries forward the words of verse fifteen, where he, speaking to the global family of God, said “you did not receive the spirit of slavery,” or bondage, “leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” 

Paul has also done something else with the words that he has here employed.  Not only has he joined together the fate of humanity and the fate of creation, with both joyously experiencing the power of the Resurrection and the new age (the creation doing so because of the kingdom principles that have been adopted and are being employed by the family of God, in wise stewardship as tenders of God’s garden, like Adam and like Jesus, who was resurrected into a garden and was even mistaken for a gardener), but he has also called to mind the exodus, which is the defining story of Israel (Passover, Israel’s most important holy day, which is the time of the crucifixion and the Resurrection, is forever and inextricably linked to the defining story of the renewed people of God, which is something to always consider).  His use of “bondage” and “the freedom of God’s children” serve to bring the experience of the exodus into the frame. 

In case we are not quite convinced that this is so, and if, for some reason, we disregard Paul’s extended effort to cause the believers to see themselves as an equal family before God, the previously defining barriers of covenant identification now removed and replaced by confession of Jesus as Lord, what comes next clinches the argument, as Paul writes “For we know that the whole creation suffers and groans together until now” (8:22).  This language is borrowed from the second chapter of Exodus.  There, we can read “During that long period of time the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites groaned because of their slave labor” (2:23a).  We note the groaning and the bondage.  We also find that “They cried out,” much like all can now cry out to God as their Father, and much like the creation itself is able to cry out, “and their desperate cry because of their slave labor went up to God.  God heard their groaning” (2:23b-24a). 

What did God do for the people on whose behalf He was going to exercise His redemptive power, and with whom He was soon going to enter into covenant?  As He has done, is doing, and will do for His new covenant people, the people who confess their trust in Him through their belief in Jesus and the fact of His Lordship, “God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, God saw the Israelites, and God understood” (2:24b-25).  He provided freedom, introducing them into a covenant-shaped life. 

Deception

Though there is much to be learned from his life, in comparison to his father and son (Abraham and Jacob), Isaac appears on the scene and passes relatively quickly from the pages of Scripture.  However, before he departs from view, we encounter the story of Isaac’s blessing of Jacob and Esau.  It is a familiar story, in that, it is a story that involves deception.  Why should this not be the case?   This is what we have now come to expect, and we will see it carried out all the way through the story of Joseph.  

If we were to explore the Biblical narrative, we would see Abraham engaging in outright deception on two occasions, and Isaac engaging in the same type of deceptive practices on one occasion.  How did those cases of deception turn out?  One could say that they turned out pretty well in the immediate aftermath of the discovery of the deceptions (gaining of individual wealth), though the deceptions may very well have had long-term implications in the area of Israel’s relations with the Egyptians and the Philistines.  In the case of Abraham, much wealth was added to him as a direct result of his engagement in deception, with those whom he defrauded supplying the material wealth.  In the case of Isaac, wealth also came to him, but it was indirect, in that the Scriptural report is that “the Lord blessed him” (Genesis 26:12b).  This blessing by the Lord, which Isaac would have been attributed by Isaac to the blessings of the covenant that had been made with Abraham, and which he now enjoyed (both the covenant and the blessings), is confirmed by what we see at the close of Isaac’s dealings with Abimelech of the Philistines.  There, we bear in mind the Abrahamic covenant, and its being passed along to Isaac, when Abimelech says to him, “Now you are blessed by the Lord” (26:29b).  

This family has displayed a history of a willingness to engage in deception, especially if such engagement is deemed to be crucial to survival (which is a questionable basis) or simply in their self-interest (much more likely).  We do not here attempt to pass judgment on this, nor do we desire to make an attempt to downplay the facts of the matter.  We do diffuse the potential argument in favor of the deceptions, in that they were dealing with those who were not, in a manner of speaking, “saved.”  However, it mattered not that they were dealing with Egyptians and Philistines, who were those outside of the covenant, for the covenant was designed and purposed to extend God’s blessings to them, so as to make them a blessing to all nations. 

These deceptive practices could very well have put in jeopardy the possibility of their being a blessing, but the results of the deception (the gaining of wealth and its attendant respect, whether direct or indirect) put them in a position to tell others about their covenant-making Creator God, His promises of blessing or cursing, and His transcendent nature as the God of all creation and all nations.  The fact that the hearers could easily observe the wealth, power, and respect that had been garnered by these men would serve as a witness to their words.  The accumulation of visual and historical evidence would then lead to an acknowledgment of their God, as we have seen here with Abimelech and his reference to “the Lord.” 

More than anything, the willful acknowledgment of these deceptive practices (for there is no escaping what they are) causes us, as observers, to look past these men to the God that had decided to use them and to work through them to make His name known in the world.  It appears to be an unavoidable conclusion that this covenant God works through flawed men in order to draw attention to Himself and to the accomplishment of His purposes.  This is why passing judgment upon these cases serves little to no purpose.  When we presume to judge, rather than simply observe and learn inside the foundational narrative of Scripture, we come to be focused on the characters that are on the stage, and we lose sight of the God that has created the stage on which the performance is taking place, and Who has a greater purpose that is being served.  This is not to say that we sanction the activities (for neither is that our place), but again, we observe and learn inside the exile and exodus criteria that is provided by the foundational narrative so that we might learn more of this God, and through that, better know Him so as to serve Him within and towards His grand design as we await His climactic, consummating, and transformational action towards His creation.  Naturally, we catch a brilliant glimpse of that climactic and transformational purpose in the Resurrection of Jesus, especially as we consider His crucifixion and Resurrection and how it can be understood within the increasingly obvious story of exile and exodus that is being so deftly told.        

Why all this talk of deception?  It seems like a bit of a black mark on the pages of Scripture.  That may be so, but only in the sense that if it is a black mark at all, it is not a black mark on Scripture, but on these men, which is useful because it keeps us from elevating them to the position of demigods, while constantly reminding us of the Creator God that would eventually embody a human form so as to do what was necessary to provide humanity and His creation with an exodus from exile.