A Brief Book Notice from Books At a Glance
Fred Zaspel
Someone just recently pointed me to this book – a delightful survey / synopsis of the visions of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Paul, and John.
Contents
1 Introduction
2 Precedents for a Biblical Theology of Vision
3 Unity of Vision as Foundation for a Biblical Theology of Vision
4 Isaiah’s Vision: Vision of Salvation
5 Ezekiel’s Vision: Vision of Presence
6 Daniel’s Vision: Vision of King and Kingdom
7 Paul’s Vision: Vision of Inauguration and Anticipation
8 John’s Vision: Vision of the Culmination of History and Theology
9 Conclusion
Brief Summary (Quotes)
Isaiah’s vision encompasses a theology of God’s sovereignty, glory, holiness, and salvation. God’s holiness will not only judge, but also transform. His glory will tear down competing idols in order to fill the cosmos with his presence alone. This will result in his sole and uncontested dominion over the entire cosmos as he reigns from Zion….
Ezekiel, in slight contrast, focuses upon the notion of God’s presence. His vision of the chariot-throne introduced us to the various dimensions of God’s glory. God intends for his glory to fill the entire cosmos. He also desires to display his majesty corporately and within individuals. In sum, the chariot-throne vision exhibits God’s agenda to fill the whole earth with glory from the inside out….
Daniel proclaims a message about God’s kingdom. The Lord has a plan for history and controls the events of this world from start to finish. That scheme is set to one end: the establishment of God’s sole dominion. No kingdom will succeed in thwarting that agenda. The statue will be crushed….
Paul, on the Damascus road, sees the resurrected Christ and understands the realities surrounding the church, salvation, sanctification, and glorification. On the Damascus road, Paul experienced salvation, the reception of the Spirit, as well as the understanding that all history related to Christ….
John’s vision provides a view of what is to come. God’s plan of history will unfold as he fulfills all things in Christ. God will judge the world, leading to the climax of history. God will also fulfill prophecies associated with the visionary event that leads to the climax of theology. All of that finds its telos in Christ, who is the fulfillment of history, theology, and vision….
[These diverse visions interconnect and unite] into a single storyline, part of God’s working in redemptive history…
In light of this, we can see how the interconnected theologies and the resulting story unfold. Isaiah begins this by acknowledging that though Israel will soon go into exile as an unholy people, God will one day reverse all of this through his saving work….
Ezekiel continues Isaiah’s work by explaining the significance of the throne in the heavenly court. He thereby expands upon Isaiah’s paradigm by explaining how God’s glory will fill the earth. God’s presence will go even into the heart of man and ultimately, make them a new, resurrected people….
Daniel integrates the visions and theologies of Isaiah and Ezekiel into his own. His vision includes the Ancient of Days sitting on a throne, as Isaiah saw, and specifically, Daniel portrays that God sits upon the chariot-throne as Ezekiel’s envisioned. If the reader did not understand that Isaiah and Ezekiel’s visions were directed towards the same eschatological moment, Daniel makes this clear. He explains that the vision pertains to the fulfillment of God’s kingdom….
This progresses to Paul, who, seeing Christ after his death and resurrection, understands that he sees the same glorious individual as his predecessors did in their visions and experiences the inauguration of those related theologies. Salvation has come in Christ, as Isaiah envisioned. The Spirit has come in Christ, as Ezekiel proclaimed. Jew and Gentile have come together in Christ, as Daniel saw in his vision. This understanding informs Paul’s mission to prepare the church to anticipate the consummation of the vision….
Such movement paves the way for John, who fills out the substance of that expectation. History will soon reach its climax, as Paul predicted. Daniel’s vision and theology will come to pass soon (pp.232-236).
A helpful synopsis of Scripture’s prophetic visions and contribution to the understanding of the Bible story and God’s saving purpose.