February 1931
T h e K i n g ’ s B u s i n e s s
56
Structure in Scripture The Entire B ible—A fter th e Divine D ispensa tiona l Pattern* B y N orman B. H arrison (Minneapolis, Minn.) All Rights Reserved
M a n ’ s R edemption Gen. 2 to Rev. 22 1. Creation and fall
E arth ’ s R eclamation Genesis 1 1. Creation and chaos
Old Testament
New Testament [Christ jospel—!Church
[Sun
2. Light versus darkness 5. Lights— 2. Good and evil 3. Government 4. Chosen people 5. [Christians 6. Waters—filled 7. Earth—filled 3. Waters 6. 7. 4. Earth (Land) a. Separated from a. Creature life a. Separated from a. Nature restored b. Man ruling seas nations b. Made fruitful b. Man over all b. Fruitful as a nation 8. God’s eternal rest 8. God’s rest day # UR last study gave us an introduction to Bible structure. We were led to the conclusion that Genesis 1 holds the structural key to Scripture; that the beginning of things in the material world, leading to and including the creation of man, was so ordered and recorded as to con stitute a divine pattern of that which God purposed to do in the entire range of human redemption. If this conclusion is at all warranted, the proof of its rightfulness will be found in seeking to carry the same structural plan on into the entire Bible. This we have done in the above tabulation, paralleling “Earth’s Rec lamation” of Genesis 1 with “Man’s Redemption,” i^hich is the story of the Bible. (The story, of course, includes the final restoration of nature as sharing in redemption just as it shared in the fall.) The placing of these two side by side, presents a num ber of points of parallelism that are at once suggestive and illuminating. To appreciate them we must first inquire into the typical meaning of terms used in this initial pat tern-forming chapter. S ign ificance of T erms There are in Genesis 1 three terms that are highly significant from a typical standpoint. That they are such cannot be doubted when we find Scripture constantly em ploying them in a moral and spiritual sense. It will be noted also .that they—light, waters, earth or land—are the three that, occurring in the first series, are repeated in the second. Light signifies something of heavenly origin and bless ing. It stands for divine truth as against worldly wis dom, evil, and error. So the psalmist says: “The Lord is my light” (Psa. 27:1) ; and he prays: “Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon Us” (Psa. 4 :6 ); and again: “O send out thy light and thy tru th : let them lead me” (Psa. 43:3). Moreover, as light is opposed to darkness in the Genesis account, so it is throughout Holy Writ. They are never to be confused. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness” (Isa. 5:20). Water signifies human nature in its instability. It stands for the mass of humanity in its unregenerate and therefore undependable state. While water is meant to be an untold blessing and is frequently given this typical meaning, yet in its mass—the sea, brackish and uncon trolled—it refers to the nations (as distinct from the na tion, Israel, and from the true church) in their- state of unyieldedness to God. Jesus gives it this significance: “dis tress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring” (Lk. 21:25). So it is elsewhere in Scripture. Earth, or land, because that particular portion of it so often referred to as “the land” has been given to the one nation, Israel, has typical reference to this people. They were called to occupy this special portion of the earth; to them it belongs; to it they will yet return as their home. (A familiar use of sea and earth in prophetic language is the reference to the two beasts—Rev. 13:1, 11—inter preted to mean that they are of Gentile and Jewish origin respectively.) See, now, what we have in these terms: a reference to the threefold division of the entire human race as God knows and classifies it. Light foreshadows His heav en-born people, the church; water, the nations; earth, the nation, Israel. (See 1 Cor. 10:32.) . S ymmetry of A rrangement In our pattern chapter, the symmetry is self-evident. Following the introduction, we find two series of three days each. The two correspond completely; at the same time the second is a progression from the first and a com pletion of the first. When we trace this arrangement through the Bible story, we discover a symmetrical design that is beautiful to behold. The Old and New Testaments harmonize in their dispensational structure; the Old in a series of three, the New in a similar number, wholly correspondent and complementary. In equally complete correspondence are the introduction and conclusion (1 and 8) ; taken in their entirety, they tell the whole story. *Third in a series of articles to continue throughout 1931.
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