Most familiar of the instances of
the introduction of a works principle in a premessianic redemptive economy is
the Mosaic Covenant. According to the emphatically and repeatedly stated terms
of this old covenant of the law, the Lord made Israel's continuing
manifestation of cultic fidelity to him the ground of their continuing tenure
in Canaan. This was not then one of the covenants of grant; it was not a matter
of Israel's being given the kingdom originally in recognition of past
meritorious conduct. But this case of the old covenant is relevant in the
present context as another notable example of the pattern which finds the
principles of works and grace operating simultaneously, yet without conflict,
because the works principle is confined to a separate typological level. Paul,
perceiving the works principle in the Mosaic law economy, was able to insist
that this did not entail an abrogation of the promises of grace given to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob centuries earlier (Gal 3:17), precisely because the works
principle applied only to the typological kingdom in Canaan and not to the
inheritance of the eternal kingdom-city promised to Abraham as a gift of grace
and at last to be received by Abraham and all his seed, Jew and Gentile,
through faith in Christ Jesus. The pedagogical purpose of the Mosaic works
arrangement was to present typologically the message that felicity and
godliness will be inseparably conjoined in the heavenly kingdom, or,
negatively, that the disobedient are forever cut off from the kingdom of the
eschaton.
In the case of the covenants of
grant, the message to be conveyed through the introduction of the works
principle did not so much concern the nature of the messianic kingdom, but
rather the role of the messianic king. The biblical data indicate that the Lord
was pleased to take the exemplary obedience of certain of his servants and to
constitute that a typological sign of how the obedience of the coming messianic
Servant of the Lord would secure the kingdom and its royal-priestly blessings
for himself and for his people. Abraham and David were recipients of such
covenants of grant as rewards for faithfulness. Phinehas was another (cf. Num
25:11-13). Each of these individuals had personal hope of heaven only through
God's grace in Jesus Christ, only as a gift received by faith alone. But the
conspicuous faithfulness of their lives in general or of certain specific acts
of outstanding service they performed was invested by the Lord with typological
significance so that they, with reference to a typological manifestation of the
kingdom, pointed to Christ as one who also was under a covenant of works and
received the grant of the kingdom for the obedient fulfillment of his
covenantal mission.
Common to all the displays of
obedience that were rewarded with grants of the kingdom in a typological form
may be discerned the motif of victory in the holy war against Satan and his
earthly forces and followers. Actual military combat is at times involved. The
promise of great reward to Abraham in Genesis 15:1 comes on the background of
his warrior role in the conflict against the forces of the kings from the east
(Gen 14). And the dynastic grant promised in the Davidic Covenant (2 Sam.7)
follows David's victorious campaigns against the enemies of God's people and
his capture of Zion as the site for God's sanctuary (2 Sam 5 and 6; cf. 7:1).
It is as if these servants of the Lord had been confronted, like Adam, with a
probation-mission, challenging them as guardians of God's sanctuary to enter
into judgment against the Adversary. By their valiant exploits in faithful
performance of their mission they typified beforehand the obedient second
Adam's salvation-victory in his judicial combat with Satan and his hosts. (Meredith
G. Kline, Kingdom Prologue: Genesis Foundations for a Covenantal Worldview [Eugene,
Oreg.: Wipf and Stock, 2006], 237-38)
