The Centre of the Bible

I've not read this book yet, but I really want to. It might be helpful if I buy it first! The title gives away what it's about, and I think he's right. The thrust of the book is to develop the thematic centre of the Biblical message. So what is the Bible all about, really? It's about God glorifying Himself in the salvation of human beings through judgment. Stated differently, the Bible is about God, and how He has acted in history to show Himself to be supremely excellent. How has God demonstrated His excellence most fully? In saving human beings through judgment. In my humble opinion, this is the theme of the entire Biblical story line. It's a theme that ought to cause believers to: 1) shout for joy, and 2) live our lives in humble obedience to our sovereign saviour and Lord.

It's fun to see this theme teased out all over scripture. I've been reading though Exodus recently (I'm through chapter 10), and it's all over the place.

This is what God says to Pharaoh through Moses about why the 10 plagues are happening:

Exodus 9:14–16 (NIV)
14 or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. 15 For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. 16 But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

God's bringing judgment on Egypt and saving Israel from it, that His name might be proclaimed in all the earth. God's glory in salvation through judgement anyone? We see it again here:

Exodus 10:1–2 (NIV)
1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these miraculous signs of mine among them 2 that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the LORD.”

God wants it to be clear that He alone is God. He alone is excellent. He alone saves His people through judgment. This is what Israelite parents were to tell their children when they reminisced about the exodus (We parents today can learn a lot from this). If you think about it, isn't this what the cross was about? God demonstrated His incomparability, His excellencies by saving His people through His judgment falling on His own Son. God's glory in salvation through judgment.