Summary of BOUND FOR THE PROMISED LAND: THE LAND PROMISE IN GOD’S REDEMPTIVE PLAN, by Oren Martin

A Brief Book Summary from Books At a Glance

About the Author

Oren R. Martin (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is Assistant Professor of Christian Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Boyce College, Louisville, Kentucky.

Introduction

This book is part of the New Studies in Biblical Theology series, edited by D. A. Carson. In this book, Oren Martin explores the development and significance of land in biblical theology. Martin moves from Genesis to Revelation, exploring the canonical links between Eden, the Promised Land, and the New Heavens and New Earth. He considers the land’s role in God’s covenant promises, and presents a case that Canaan is a type that finds fulfillment in a renewed physical world, through the work of Jesus Christ. Martin argues that God’s purpose was to rule over his people in a particular place, and that this is brought to fulfillment when God reigns over his redeemed people from every tribe and nation in the new heaven and new earth. The land promises should not be spiritualized or allegorized, but they are surpassed by the antitypical, eschatological fulfillment.
 

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Biblical Theology and the Land Promise
Chapter 2: The Beginning and the End: The Land and the Kingdom
Chapter 3: Making the Promise: Genesis
Chapter 4: Advancing the Promise: Exodus-Deuteronomy
Chapter 5: Partially Fulfilling the Promise: Joshua-Kings
Chapter 6: Fulfilling the Promise? Exile and the Prophets of an Eschatological Hope
A Concluding Summary of the Old Testament
Chapter 7: The Fulfilment of the Promise Inaugurated: The Gospels
Chapter 8: The Fulfilment of the Promise Inaugurated: The Epistles
Chapter 9: The Fulfilment of the Promise Consummated: The Eschatological Kingdom in Revelation
A Concluding Summary of the New Testament
Chapter 10: Theological Reflections
 

Summary

Chapter 1
Biblical Theology and the Land Promise

The Bible opens with the creation of the world and the establishment of the Garden of Eden; it ends with a new heavens and new earth. Between the two there is the covenantal promise of land that was given to Abraham. In Eden the kingdom of God is inaugurated, and in the new heavens and new earth it is consummated. Between the two, God is establishing his kingdom on earth through the promises given to Abraham and his seed. The Promised Land typologically anticipates the future consummation.

Much of the work done on the theme of land in the Bible has failed to be comprehensive. It has also been approached from a variety of theological, philosophical, and socio-political angles. There is still work to be done in terms of unpacking a full Bible theology of land. Even though there is a great diversity of Scriptural themes — which preclude the identification of one “center” to biblical theology — this diversity is brought together by the unity of the one God who inspired the Scriptures. Land is not the center of biblical theology, but it is an important theme that is tied to covenant. Following Richard Lints, proper hermeneutics reads biblical passages in their textual, epochal, and canonical horizons (contexts). The Bible is an eschatological book where all things flow towards God’s appointed end. It is important to recognize that God intentionally designed OT realities to point forward to, and be fulfilled in, Christ. Typology is genuinely prophetic. When Christ — the antitype — brings the type to fulfillment, he surpasses the original. This study will demonstrate that the land motif in the OT is a type of the new creation that is won by Christ.
 

Chapter 2
The Beginning and the End: The Land and the Kingdom

The Bible needs to be read as a book that has a beginning and an end. Eden and the original creation is prototypical of the greater, eschatological creation that is depicted in Revelation….

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