🎧 11:19 - 12:11 (00:51)

The scroll of Isaiah describes a calling of an anointed servant that involves both victory and suffering, and eventually victory through suffering. This pre-Christian Hebrew Bible story bears a resemblance to the story of Jesus. As followers of Jesus, we read the Hebrew Bible in light of Jesus, but we also read Jesus in light of the Hebrew Bible. Jesus refers to and relates his actions to the writings and story of the Hebrew Bible in order to make sense of his mission.

Tim Mackie: is the strange calling of the anointed servant in the scroll of Isaiah. You got victory, you got suffering, and then it starts to feel like you have victory through suffering. Totally. That's exactly right. Yes. That's exactly right. All right. So, and if all of this is sounding strangely like the story of Jesus, it's just important to remind ourselves that this is all pre-Christian, pre-Jesus Hebrew Bible. So this is one of those areas where as followers of Jesus, yes, we do read the Hebrew Bible in light of Jesus, but we also read Jesus in light of the Hebrew Bible. And the sense that Jesus makes of why he talks the way he does and why he related everything that he was doing to these writings in this story, that's the dynamic back and forth that we're looking at here. So,

🎧 22:50 - 26:25 (03:35)

Humanity is seen as the image of God and the children of God. However, God chooses one out of the many to be a special representative. This is seen in God's election of Israel as a kingdom of priests and the selection of one royal son among all nations. The metaphor of being God's children still stands, but the intensity of God's identification with his chosen one increases. When God chooses one on behalf of the many, it is for the purpose of working through them to bring about his plans for others. The story of the Bible shows the narrowing down of God's choice, starting with humanity as a whole, then Abraham's family, the family of Israel, and finally the seed from the line of David. Through this narrowing, God incorporates the many and extends his rule to all nations. The paradox is that God's method of possessing all nations is through his narrowing down of choice.

Jon Collins: talked about this last time. I guess I still don't fully appreciate it. Because in some sense, humanity in general are the image of God. So we are all the children of God. So in what more significant sense can anyone be a son of God than that?

Tim Mackie: Well, I think this is the new Adam or the election theme. Where God chooses one out of the many and makes them a special representative. So this is what Yahweh does with all of Israel as a kingdom of priests. And then this is what Yahweh does with the family of priests among Israel. And now this is what Yahweh does with one royal son among all the nations.

Jon Collins: So we have one metaphor that's used in kind of levels of intensity in a way of like, so all of humanity is the image of God. We're all the children of God. Yeah. But then God electing Israel and calling them my son. Are they my? Yeah,

Tim Mackie: my son. This is my son. In Exodus chapter four, God calls Israel my son.

Jon Collins: So that doesn't mean that the previous metaphor doesn't stand, that all humanity is God's children. But then we're using the metaphor in a new way to talk about like a more intensity of God identifying with?

Tim Mackie: Yeah, because this is how election works in the Bible. When God chooses one on behalf of the many, it's always so that through them, he can do something for the many. So, God's unique and special son, who today I birth.

Jon Collins: This

Tim Mackie: is a metaphor. Yeah. For today, your identity is, as it were, recreated. And you are designated as my son. That is my chosen one who I will uniquely use to bring about my purposes for the many others.

Jon Collins: For them. I guess the metaphor works in my mind if you think about, okay, we're all God's children. But then we've all said, like, we've gone to the court and said, like, actually, I don't want to be a child of God. And now we're off. And then God's like, well, okay, how about you guys? You guys be my kids because I want to, like, get everyone back.

Tim Mackie: Yeah, it's interesting. You could think of it kind of like take an hourglass and then turn it on its side. And so the story of the Bible begins with all of humanity as the image and children of God. And then that goes the way that it goes, not so well. So, God narrows down and chooses one family, the family of Abraham out from the many, so the family of Israel. And then God narrows it down even more to choose one sub-family, David, and now one figure, the seed from the line of David, one

Jon Collins: person. But

Tim Mackie: at every step, what Yahweh's... Now you're at the

Jon Collins: center of the hourglass.

Tim Mackie: Now you're at the center of the hourglass that just tipped on its side. But now what we're getting is that through that one, Yahweh's rule will be extended back out to all of the nations. So through the one, God incorporates the many to become a part of his inheritance and possession again. So God's method of repossessing all of the nations is precisely by his narrowing. And that's the paradox of election. So I guess, I don't know. This is just how the concept works and this is how the biblical authors see how this works.

Jon Collins: Right. Okay. That's

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