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Far as the Curse Is Found: The Covenant Story of Redemption

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I just finished reading this book and must say that I am quite pleased with it. Michael Williams has done an admirable job of making a Biblical Theological model of understanding the Scriptures (i.e. redemptive-historical, in the line of Geerhardus Vos) accessible to a broad audience. I read a lot of this genre of literature, and most of it is fairly technical (i.e. a knowledge of Greek and/or Hebrew a must); however, Williams' book manages to retain both readability and an appropriate scholarly depth. The average reader will be able to pick it up without any problems.

Regarding the contents of the book: I was happy to see that Williams structures his book around the story of redemption. He draws the reader nicely through creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. In doing so he explores the richness of the Biblical narrative.

Overall, this is a fine introduction to the Covenant Story of Redemption. I think that it would make an excellent text book for a college Theology class.

Note: this book is not intended as an exhaustive scholarly treatise. So for those of you who have read a good deal of Dutch Neo-Calvinists or followers/sympathizers of Reformational thinking, you may find it to be repeating many things that you've heard before.

'Outside of God's gracious redemption, we will not read aright His revelation in His creation.' p 21

We have had a lot of time to reflect on the drama of redemption and comment on the work and Person of Christ, the lead role in this amazing true life story. And yet many have failed to give due attention to the nature of God's verbal word, His promises deployed throughout the drama, and the measures God took to ratify His covenants with various biblical characters - as a commitment of His faithfulness to His word, and as a display to the vast array of His divine attributes. In this book is revealed the plot of that story line that has been the glue of covenant theology. It secures for us the knowledge that this story has One divine author, and one progressive story line, one time-space context, one redeeming purpose and one future grand finale - all culminating in glory, as the Bible reveals to us how God acts in our world, and on our behalf.

We are, as much as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were, all participants in a covenant initiated by God. What we fail to grasp is that God enters into world history to do His saving acts, because of His covenant He cut with men in which He said to them He would. Here we must part ways with many modern and relatively recent interpretations of how a faithful God has been pleased to reveal Himself. 'The events of biblical history can become redemptive history only through the witness of the Spirit to the believing community as it responds to the biblical story.' p 18

Professor Williams connects the three relational offices, within the time frame of the Edenic covenant as: that of created man to Creator God, man to creation, and man to other humans. He furthers: 'The image of God does not make man unique from the created order, but rather unique within the created order. Man bears God's image for the sake of his calling to rule over and steward creation. Should we miss man's calling, we will miss the purpose of his being in the image of God...for the sake of the whole earth. That God has placed us here in this world and called us in service both to Himself and to His creation means that we can be comfortable with our creaturely status, our undeniable links with the creaturely. Man is made for earth. This world is our home.' pp. 60-61

Williams presents yet another catena of Israelite history by looking at the theocracy, and especially the initial 200 year-period of the judges after Joshua's conquest of the promised land is filled with insights into Israel's dismal failure to keep covenant with her God, as 'this cycle of sin-servitude-supplication-and-salvation' repeats itself. 'Upon entering the land, Israel begins to worship other gods, especially fertility deities of its neighbors. Israel had known many generations of slavery and then one as a nomadic people. Now Israel is becoming an agrarian people.' p 173 How Israel forsakes the sovereign Yahweh thinking that He is impotent to provide agriculturally, and turns to Baal repetitively, is their single greatest failure in fulfilling the 1st commandment.

As the kingship is introduced, the prophet retains the mediatorship between God and the people, and 'The prophet retains the right to censure the king on God's behalf, should that be needed.' p 180 The king therefore does not act as a spokesman for God, yet 'Although the history of Israel will show that the monarchy will always be at best a mixed blessing, it will be through the monarchy that God works in Israel. His obedience or disobedience will have enormous consequences for the national life as a leader and barometer of the national covenant life.' p 181 God's future hope of the messianic rule comes to expression in the Davidic covenant, wherein God promises to him 'your throne will be established forever.' Under David a kingdom and king arrives and God gives David rest from his enemies. 'But more pointedly, David's reign symbolizes the reign of Israel's heavenly King. It is in Christ that God establishes the throne of David's kingdom forever.' p 185 The apostle Peter spoke of the fulfillment in Acts 2:30 as Christ's reign following on His resurrection and, in fact, authorized by the Old Testament expectation: 'He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne.'

'The covenant is not contingent upon human response. The covenant can never depend on man. From this point forwards, God covenants with man not just as image bearer but also as sinner. For a creature in revolt against the divine rule, all overtures of grace are in spite of his fallen nature. God preserves His creation in spite of man. And He redeems in spite of sin.' p 95

Williams directs a well-aimed reminder to us: 'Sinclair Ferguson notes that Luke includes in his account of Pentecost a table of nations, just as the Babel story follows a table of nations. At Babel, God came to judge and scatter the nations into many tribes and tongues. At Pentecost, God comes to bless and scatter a new tribe, the church. Thus Pentecost reverses Babel and hence abrogates any need for a singular nation as covenant mediator. The mediation of the covenant, formerly the calling of the priest and prophet, now comes upon all.' (The Holy Spirit, pp. 61-63)

Williams writes in the theological line of John Murray and Palmer Robertson. The treatment is thorough and balanced, but the virtue of the book is the elegance of Williams' style. This is delightful reading as well as fine biblical theology.

Why did the first year at Covenant Theological Seminary turn my theology on its ear? There is not a more concise means of capturing many of the conceptual "take-aways" from year one of Covenant. This is essentially a synopsis of the Covenant Theology course that most first year MDiv students take. About the book, Dr. William Edgar's statement (on the back cover) is that it "combines four emphases in a remarkably fresh way: exegetical faithfulness, biblical-theological wisdom, awareness of contributions already made, and evangelistic and pastoral fire." Not surprisingly, the evaluation is an apt summary of Dr. Williams' stimulating approach to systematic theology. The book is no substitute for the experience of the course. But, it will serve as a handy compendium. As Dr. Richard Pratt suggests (also on the back cover): "If you want to get the big picture of the whole Bible, take a look at this work."

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 unpack--from God's redemptive plan to God's 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 Israel's 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 out of the Flood; and enables the restoration of that creation and God's 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). "God's 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 William's discussion of the "Decalogue" which addresses humanities fundamental covenant duty. (162) It was failures to keep God's 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 Christ's 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 "God's absolute promise that he will be victorious over sin and death and will reclaim his fallen creation in the glory of Christ's return. God promises redemption; and the fulfillment through Christ.

Name - Israel is the name of God's 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 I'll discuss more below. Here I'd like to think of name as the tie to the divine. William's explains how Israel and the church proper are connected by Christ. The name Yahweh is the divine name which "confirms God's promise of redemption." (27) Israel is the name God gives his Covenant people. It is interesting that William's 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 - God's 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) God's blessing seems evidently clear as he continuously delivers man from the destructive patterns of sin which emerge with each breaking of a covenant promise. Man's failure to keep his end of the bargain makes it clear that we cannot live up to our original design to be God's 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 people bound together by geography, speech, religion, and culture...common descent, history, and experience." (112) To be a "nation" is to be a cultural force. We as God's 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. God's 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 believer's existence is neither the people point nor the land point...It 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 God's eternal plan all hinges not on land, nation, name or blessing - but on Jesus Christ.

I'm currently using this book with my weekly small group Bible study and everyone is enjoying and learning from the study.

If you've ever read the Old Testament stories and asked yourself why these stories matter, then this book is for you. It's very readable!

I got the chance to speak with the author last summer and he told me that this book was not designed so much to be a text book, but rather a book that you could give to your mother ... I gave her a copy for Christmas and she's already buying copies to give to her friends.

absolutely amazing...like a good cup of coffee to the body, this is to the soul

THIS BOOK IS THE BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER RECEIVED FROM AMZAZON. THE BOOK ARRIVED ON TIME BEFORE CLASS AND IT WAS PROFOUND THEOLOGICAL WORK FROM WILLIAMS. I WOULD LIKE TO RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ALL CHRISTIAN, LAY PERSON, CLERGY OR ACEDAMIAN. PROFOUND BOOK ON THE SUBJECT OF BIBLICAL THEOLOGY.

Williams' history of God's redemptive acts would be good reading if he just stayed with the Bible story as it presents itself. Instead, he starts with Jesus' resurrection, then moves to the exodus from Egypt, and then finally goes to the beginning in Genesis. Of course, there are reasons for preparing us for Genesis, but it seems like he jumps around too much. At the end of the book he builds a strange theory of mostly-physical bodily resurrection, using Jesus' resurrection (before His ascension to a *glorified* body) as the springboard. That's why he begins at the resurrection of Christ rather than at creation. This causes the need for lots of flash-backs and flash-forwards, making the book much more confusing than a history of redemption ought to be.