Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 24:1 (Spring 2020)
Article: From Deuteronomy To Hebrews: The Promised Land And The Unity Of Scripture
Author: Gareth Lee Cockerill

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From Deuteronomy To Hebrews: The Promised Land And The Unity Of Scripture

Gareth Lee Cockerill

Gareth Lee Cockerill has taught New Testament at Wesley Biblical Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi since 1984, where he also served as the Academic Dean and Professor of Biblical Interpretation and Theology. He earned his PhD from Union Theological Seminary. Dr. Cockerill has served with his wife, Rosa, for nine years as a missionary in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Dr. Cockerill has written numerous articles and book reviews for such journals as Tyndale Bulletin, Bulletin for Biblical Research, Journal of Biblical Literature, The Evangelical Quarterly, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Interpretation, and Missiology. He is also the author of The Epistle to the Hebrews (NICNT, Eerdmans, 2012) and A Guidebook for Pilgrims to the Heavenly City (William Carey, 2013).

Introduction

“The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land” (Gen 12:7a). With these words God brought his promises to a climax. He had already promised to bless Abraham, to make him a great nation, and to bless the world through him (Gen 12:2–3). The land would be the place that gave concrete shape to fulfillment.

These promises to Abraham address the degenerate state of the human race depicted in Genesis 1–11. Through distrust and disobedience Adam and Eve have usurped God’s lordship over their lives and thus forfeited the divine presence, disrupted the harmony of human community derived from that presence, and suffered exile from Eden the place of blessing. They

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have become inhabitants of a world under God’s curse. Through faithful Abraham God begins the process of redemption. He promises to restore his presence, to establish a new community of people whose life and character reflect that presence, and through that community to offer blessing to an accursed world. He also promises to provide a blessed land as the locus for the fulfillment of these promises.

When we think of the unity of Scripture our minds turn to such concepts as divine presence, salvation history, promise, covenant, and kingdom.1 The Promised Land, of course, is closely related to these themes: it is the place of God’s promised presence, as the context for covenant obedience it is an integral part of salvation history, and it is the locus for the initiation of restored divine rule. With the establishing of Davidic dynasty and the City of Jerusalem...