From Eden to the New Jerusalem: An Introduction to Biblical Theology
Book Review • Alexander, T. Desmond. From Eden to the New Jerusalem: An Introduction to Biblical Theology. Nottingham: InterVarsity Press, 2008. 208 pp. $16.86.
Read time: 12 min
“Why does Earth exist? What is the purpose of human life?” Such questions lie at the center of mankind’s existential struggle to understand the origin, meaning, and destiny of human life. Prefacing his work with these very inquiries, T. Desmond Alexander sets out to answer both by appealing to the biblical meta-story in the Christian scriptures (9). As senior lecturer in biblical studies and director of postgraduate studies at Union Theological College in Belfast, he writes from a seasoned position in the topic area of biblical theology. Additionally, he holds a PhD from Queen’s University (Belfast), where he lectured in Semitic studies. Among the books he has authored, From Paradise to Promise Land: An Introduction to the Main Themes of the Pentateuch, relates to the present biblical theology under review here. From Eden to the New Jerusalem presents numerous enlightening and worship-inspiring connections within the biblical storyline, vividly connected to the person and work of Christ and God’s design for his people.
Summary
Alexander introduces his work by explaining the logic of his central thesis: (a) God has communicated to man a truthful, authoritative, indispensable meta-story that concerns humankind; (b) this meta-story is found in the diverse, literary anthology of the Christian Scriptures; (c) traceable, major themes comprise this biblical meta-story; (d) and these themes relate directly to and shed light on God’s purposes for the earth and the humans he placed in it. In his own summary, the Bible “produces a remarkably unified story that addresses two of life’s most fundamental questions: Why was the earth created? What is the reason for human existence?” (10).
Alexander argues for this thesis, first, by tracing themes in the biblical meta-story that relate directly to God’s purposes for the earth and humankind. The corpus of the book, then, is comprised mainly of the unpacking of six such themes, each in its turn. Second, Alexander argues for his thesis by beginning with the end of the meta-story, looking for support for his thesis at the grand finale of the meta-story (10). To understand a story, he reasons, one may begin at the end. Thus, starting with Revelation 20-22 in each case, he shows how “the concluding chapters of Revelation offer a window through which the main themes of the biblical meta-story may be studied” (7). Upon peering through this window, we see six themes taking shape, themes common between these final three biblical chapters and—by no coincidence—the Bible’s first three chapters, Genesis 1-3. Alexander attempts to show in his book how these six themes emerge not only at the end and at the beginning but also all the way through the Bible. The themes or motifs that emerge from this method include (1) God’s presence and the idea of a temple, (2) God’s rule and the idea of a kingdom, (3) Satan as the source of evil, (4) Jesus as the redeeming Lamb, (5) human holiness and wholeness, and (6) the unified purpose of God throughout history.
Seeking to answer the fundamental questions concerning the purpose of the earth and of humans upon it, Alexander delves into the authoritative meta-story provided for us in the Bible.
Theme 1: Man’s Relationship to God’s Presence
In chapter two, Alexander traces the theme of man’s relationship to God’s presence. He shows how God manifests his glorious presence in various ways that progress throughout biblical history (13-19). First, God freely walks with our first parents in the Garden of Eden. Second, following the expulsion of Adam and Even from God’s presence due to sin, we read only occasional, brief, and unexpected theophanies (15). Third, after Israel’s Exodus from Egypt, God commands and instructs the building of a tabernacle furnished with a Holy of Holies where his glory would appear. Fourth, eventually, God privileged Solomon by building a permanent place for God’s dwelling, the temple in Jerusalem (16). Fifth, after the Jews’ seventy-year captivity in Babylon, God stirs Cyrus of Persia to permit some Jews to rebuild a temple atop that which Nebuchadnezzar razed. Sixth, following the Second-Temple period, we find that God ‘comes down’ in the person of Jesus Christ, who “tabernacled” (John 1:14) with humans in bodily form (Col. 2:9). Seventh, at Pentecost, through the Spirit Christ inaugurates (Acts 2:2-4) the divine inhabitation of ‘his body the church’ (Eph. 2:22), which he had established (18). Eighth, and finally, in the future New Jerusalem, John envisioned there being no temple, “for God himself and the Lamb are the temple thereof” (Rev. 21:22), the place of divine and human cohabitation (18). After atomizing and analyzing each of these to some extent, Alexander then gives specific ways that these administrations of God’s presence relates to man’s role and purpose on earth. This is where his thesis comes into play.
After arguing persuasively that the Edenic garden was essentially a temple-garden, or garden-sanctuary of God’s presence, Alexander connects God’s design for humans in Genesis 2:15 (“to serve, till” and “keep, observe, guard” Eden) to the only other simultaneous uses of those two Hebrew verbs in the Bible, which “describe the duties of the Levites in the sanctuary” (23). It seems, then, that man’s commission was priestly in nature, and his purpose on earth was, in part, to eventually convert the entire world into a sanctuary of God’s presence beyond the garden itself. Depicted in Revelation 20:6 (cf. Rev. 5:10) are the people of God in the end reigning with God as priests on the earth.
Theme 2: Humans are Exiles on Earth
A second theme traced by Alexander follows from the realization that man’s fulfillment of this priestly design (among other designs) was cut short. Rather than being sanctuary-builders that usher in God’s presence throughout the earth, humans became exiles on the planet, toiling under the curse that sin brought upon all creation. So Alexander develops the motif of evil and its pervasive and militant rampage throughout creation. He sets his crosshairs on Satan, the originator and driving force behind evil. Although, as Alexander notes, “we catch but occasional glimpses of this shadowy opponent” in the middle of scripture, his handiwork is evident throughout Scripture (100). Satan’s influence is especially seen in his animating power in and over his spiritual offspring, those, metaphorically, who are in the line of Cain (i.e., 1 John 3:10-12; Jude 11; cf. John 8:44; 2 Cor. 4:4), who bare Satan’s likeness (107-108). Yet most clearly, Satan appears in the beginning as the subtle, temping serpent in Genesis 3. Then, gloriously, at the end of the meta-story, we learn of the final destruction of this “dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, and Satan” (Rev. 20:2, 10). The Lion, even the Lamb, has prevailed as the “divine warrior” (112). Jesus then will have fulfilled his earthly mission to destroy the devil and his works (Heb. 2:14; 1 John 3:8).
What does the theme of God’s archenemy have to do with earth and humans? That is, how does this theme relate to Alexander’s thesis? We exist, in part, to resist Satan and his present dominion over the earth (118). According to Alexander, such resistance includes Christians refusing Satan’s lies about the goodness of God and seeing evil as a fruit not of God but of the enemy who sows “tares in the field”—to borrow Jesus’ illustration (118). Resistance involves watchfulness (1 Pet. 5:8) for Satan’s attacks on our faith and perseverance in trusting God’s promises of reward to those who endure this testing (119).
Theme 3: The Slaughter of the Lamb
A third theme Alexander unfolds is what he calls “the slaughter of the lamb” in the accomplishment of the redemption of creation. Again, beginning with the end, we see Jesus Christ in John’s Revelation referred to as the “Lamb” no less than twenty-eight times, five times in the last two chapters. John’s vision of this Lamb is such that it appeared he had been slain from before the world began (Rev. 13:8). In other words, this Lamb’s death was planned by God before the creation of the earth. Alexander also notes John’s phrase “by your blood you have ransomed people for God” is reminiscent of the divine deliverance of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt” (124). Alexander skillfully connects the Exodus, the Jewish Passover, Jesus’ institution of a new Passover for believers—commemorating his broken body and shed blood—and Paul’s theology of “Christ our Passover lamb” (1 Cor. 5:7). In the end, this motif relates to humans in that we are “called to be saints,” atoned through Christ. We are meant to be the ransomed ones who have been purchased back to God from sin and death that we may be consecrated alone to him.
Critical Analysis
Strengths
Two strengths of this book are (1) Alexander’s methodology for determining what appear to be truly central biblical themes (i.e., beginning at the end, then the beginning, then connecting the dots throughout). He masterfully persuades the reader of the ‘major-ness’ of the themes he addresses. But also (2) Alexander casts thousands of homiletical seeds in the soil of this compact biblical theology—textual and inter-textual insights (especially while unpacking the respective motifs) utilizing biblical Hebrew when relevant, brilliant narrative connections and subtleties easily missed but obvious once pointed out. For example, he links the Tree of Life in Genesis to the Tree of Life in Revelation and the arboreal seven-point lamp stand in the tabernacle and temple to ecological transformation and the restoration of the cosmos, etc. (156). I highlighted many more such connections in my copy that are gospel-clarifying and soul-stirring. I am, by this, more deeply committed than ever to viewing Scriptures as a divinely inspired literary whole, superintended by God via numerous human authors.
A Weakness
One weakness of the book is that while Alexander persuasively delineates the half-dozen major biblical motifs themselves, in some instances, he stops short of entirely forging a vital connection between a given theme and the purpose for human existence, which is the thesis he sets out to defend. For example, while the slaughtered, atoning Lamb theme is certainly a central theme throughout the Bible, Alexander does not thoroughly lay out (as he does for other themes) what this means regarding the purpose of man’s existence on earth. To give a sense of this, consider that he exhausts over eighteen pages developing the motif of Satan’s evil rule and eventual demise and just over a page connecting it to our purpose on earth. His application of the theme is underdeveloped, merely calling Christians to resist Satan in a few obvious ways. Since both earth and humans were created prior to Satan’s dominion on the earth, it seems strained to try to explain the purpose of their existence in terms of Satan at all. This is only a criticism in that the entire thesis of his work claims that these major themes answer the fundamental, existential questions he initially poses.
Conclusion
As a biblical theology, From Eden to the New Jerusalem stands out as a remarkably accessible work suited for pastor-theologians and people in the pew alike. While other biblical theological works have delineated numerous themes in recent years, the six themes unpacked by Alexander here are, without a doubt, some of the most central motifs of the Bible. He firmly establishes them textually and connects them intertextually convincingly and beautifully, worthy of copious note-taking, meditation, and use in personal worship, sermons, discipleship, and evangelism.
While Alexander supports his thesis masterfully in most cases, he perhaps inadequately establishes the immediate relevance of some of the motifs to the specific questions to which he bound himself in his thesis (i.e., “Why was the earth created? What is the reason for human existence?”). This aside, the biblical themes that emerge from Alexander’s pen profoundly clarify to me as a Christian and human. I highly recommend this book for anyone seeking to understand the biblical meta-story better and to be stirred in their hope in Jesus Christ unto the end more thoughtfully. ❖
