Page 136 - Through New Eyes

Breaking Bread: The Rite of Transformation 131
9. Placement of witnesses to report to God on man’s behavior
(Exodus 23:20-23; Deuteronomy 4:26; 30:19).
10. Arrangements for the deposition of the covenant docu-
ments (Exodus 40: 20; Deuteronomy 31:9-13).
11. Arrangements for succession of covenant vice-regents
(Deuteronomy 31:7, 14, 23; Deuteronomy 34).
12. Artistic poems and hymns that encapsulate the covenant,
and that are to be taught to succeeding generations (Deu-
teronomy 31:14-33:29).

We could probably come up with other aspects as well, de-
pending on how much detail we wished to go into.
This covenant order can be helpfully and Biblically grouped
in more than one way. It is possible and desirable to see the se-
quence as proceeding from God’s sovereign Control (1-3), to
manifestations of God’s sovereign Authority (4-7), and culminat-
ing in revelations of God’s sovereign Presence with His people
(8-12). 12 It is also possible and desirable to see the sequence as
having five aspects: 13

1. God’s transcendence (1, 2).
2. New order and hierarchy (3-5).
3. Stipulations (6, 7).
4. Sanctions (blessings and curses) (8, 9).
5. Succession arrangements (10-12).

In the present study, which is concerned with how God in-
stitutes His new Kingdom progressively in history, we shall
basically be concerned with four steps or stages:

1. God’s announcement of His intention, including His judg-
ment of the old world.
2. The exodus of God’s people to a new world.
3. The establishment of God’s people in the new world.
4. The history (and decline) of the new world.

We shall reserve a full discussion of this sequence, however,
for Chapter 13, because before we begin to look at history, we
need to take a closer look at man and at the world.