RAIDING THE LOST ARK
Recovering the gospel of the covenant king
By Jonty Rhodes
IVP. 184 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 1 783 590 124
Written in a popular but informed way, this book is inspired by Jim Packer’s claim that the gospel, the Word and the reality of God are not properly understood until viewed within a covenantal frame.
He begins by affirming that a covenant is an agreement between God and human beings where God promises blessings if the conditions are kept and threatens curses where they are broken. He then distinguishes, in a classic Reformed manner, between the covenant of works and the covenant(s) of grace. The former was given at creation: perfect obedience would bring the blessings of eternal life, secured in paradise in the presence of God. The failure of the primal couple lost each of these blessings and rendered them subject to physical death and eternal, conscious, torment, were it not for God’s promise and their faith in his word. Tragically, he notes, where they went, we go too: guilt, grime and the grave are our lot.
Successive covenants
Briefly alluding to the Noahic covenant of common grace, the body of the book is devoted to the successive covenant(s) of grace with Abraham, Moses, David, and the ‘new’ covenant, as God works out, by stages, his one plan of salvation. In each case, Rhodes argues, life, paradise and the presence of God are secured by God’s grace in meeting the stipulations of the covenant himself – a grace accessed through the gift of faith and witnessed in joyful obedience that glorifies God by imaging him.
The major part of the book demonstrates how, in the ‘new’ covenant, the final chapter of God’s plan is revealed in Jesus by means of a three part drama: the past, present and ‘not yet’. He shows how Jesus meets the demands of the covenant of works and then ensures that humanity is brought to the place where human failure can never again get us into the same mess as Adam. Thus the grave, guilt and grime are, through our identification with him, superceded by life, righteousness and renewal. This grace is occasioned by the Father’s ‘entirely unconditional’, personal and effectual choice and outworked through the ministry of the Spirit, who gives life to the dead and unites us to Christ.
Rhodes concludes with pastoral application and, especially, with what the implications of being the covenant ‘body of Christ’ are for every believer. Not all will agree with his ecclesiology or his understanding of baptism. However, the emphasis that he places on covenant life is particularly valuable and well expressed.
An excellent book to introduce the shape of biblical faith and the Bible itself.
