SALVATION HISTORY

The work of the Spirit of God is manifested in the history of salvation, in the prehistoric narratives, patriarchal history the mission of the prophets, life and mission of Jesus and the life of the church.


SALVATION HISTORY
Bible is the book of the people of God. God is the agent and the content of the divine revelation. The intervention of the God in history aims at the salvation of the people. Thus the salvation history becomes the history of the people of God. The divine intervention can be manifested through different stages and those stages can be seen as the work of the Spirit of god. We shall try to see those stages or the work of the Spirit of God in this endeavor.

They can be grouped as the following.
1. creation of the universe - pre-historical narratives
2. vocation of the forefathers –Abraham to Moses
3. formation of a nation- Moses to David
4. Preparation for the immediate intervention of God (through prophets, kings and other messiahs)-David to Christ.
5. actualization of the promises (salvation through Jesus messiah-Christ )
6. Continuation of the effect of the salvation- Through Church till the second coming.

1. Creation of the Universe and Man

The bible begins by explaining the origins of the world and of the mankind. We do not go detail into the reasons why these first twelve chapters were included in the sacred scripture though it has no historical evidences but we concentrates on the divine intervention of the Spirit of God. At the very beginning of the bible we read that the Spirit of God was hovering over the water. And we see two creation accounts in the genesis- 1, 1- 2, 4 and 2, 4 - 3, 24. These two narratives are complementary and logical though they are from two different sources (j&p). The first narration relates to the creation of the universe the summit of which is the man and the second account to the man’s creation and the destiny. The work of the Spirit is well manifested in the creation of the world because the Spirit of God imparted an order to the universe where there was only chaos and disorder. Moreover the earth was null and void. It has been pointed out that the work of creation was set forth in an order that moves from the general to the particular and from the less perfect to the more perfect: and the plan and the divine intervention in the creation can be seen better in the systematic arrangement and the decoration of the universe. We shall see the work of the spirit in the creation briefly in the following chart.




Creation
Separation Decoration
God separates light from darkness God makes sun, moon
and the stars
He separates water above from water below. He adorns air with the birds and the
water with the fishes
He separates the dry land from the waters below. God decorates the earth with
beasts and MAN
The God rests on the 7th day as man should rest on the Sabbath

Thus the world was created by the wisdom of the lord; everything was planned in order and harmony. God created the world with his omnipotence. “God said…and it was so”. God’s words to man and the woman (1, 27) reveal the special intervention of God in forming the first man and the woman. The dignity of man lies in the image and likeness of God.
The second creation account of man situates the context of the salvation history. Having described the formation of the man and the woman and their first state it records the fall and its consequences and indicates the need of man to be saved. Adam is created from the clay and the breath of God. It means man is different from all other creatures. Though he is like God he is not God; though he is like beasts he is not one of the beasts.
There is a continuous progress in the narratives of the book of Genesis. The whole book speaks of the sin of man, punishment by God and the mercy of God. The third chapter describes it. Man rebelled against God through his inordinate pride and disobedience. The punishment naturally followed it. They were expelled from the paradise. Thus Satan, sin and death came into the world. But the mercy of God did not abandon them. God offered them a saviour. This part is called the proto evangelium (3, 15). The following chapters mainly elaborate these themes. The sin of Cain, followed by the punishment and the mercy of God, the expansion of the sin in the 6th chapter and the punishment of the flood and the covenant of God, and finally the sin of Babel and the punishment of the chaotic language give proof to this. But we do not see the promise or the mercy of God in this section but the author logically connects this part with the call of Abraham.
Here we see a background for the whole drama of the history of salvation and through the call of Abraham God unfolds the salvation history.

2. Vocation of Forefathers –Abraham to Moses
At this point the story of mankind was moving not in the way God intended. The movement has been away from God to the kingdom of Satan. So God wanted to call mankind back to his presence. The chapter 12 onwards we see it. He elected Abraham as the vessel of salvation. He offered him a land, prosperity and prosperity. He shall be a blessing for the whole generation (12, 1-3). The work of God can be seen more clearly at this point. He elected Abraham to be his man and a generation. Then God promised him of the future. Finally God made a covenant with him. These three things become the undercurrent of the history of salvation of the Old Testament. The promise of the prosterity is being fulfilled through the birth of a son Isaac and Abraham reaffirmed his faith in God in the mount of Moria. Thus the aged man and the woman Sara had their children by the power of the work of God and Abraham was known as the father of the faithful in the history of salvation. The story of Isaac was eclipsed by the story of Abraham and the story of Jacob. Still we see God renewing with him the promise made to his father.
God selected Jacob as his dear. We do not know the reason. It is His decision. He was made prominent over his brother and he was given the birth right. However he was also cheated by his uncle Laban. Jacob had 12 sons when he returned to his father’s land. On the way to his land God encountered with him at Peniel and he was renamed as Israel. Henceforth story of Israel is unfolded. The 12 sons of Jacob- Israel is called the head of the 12 tribes. Even at the time of famine the Israel was sent to Egypt and God protected their lives. As a means to it the slavery of Joseph caused by the envy of the other 11 brothers was made a blessing. Thus the whole tribes of Israel came to Egypt.

3. Formation of a nation- Moses to David
The people of Israel became so strong in Egypt and the rulers of Egypt feared that the sons of Jacob would out number the Egyptians. Hence they started to persecute them. God listened to their cry and he called Moses to be their saviour. God gave him the power to impress the Pharaoh and also God revealed to him the name-YHWH. Moses worked ten miracles in Egypt of which the last one made the Egyptians let Israelites go away. Thus there came the practice and the feast of Passover.
The journey of the people from Egypt to the Promised Land was the manifestation of God’s power. By the work of the Spirit of God Israelites crossed over the red see miraculously. God accompanied them in the desert as the pillar of cloud and the fire protecting them from all dangers. He gave them water at Meriba..., punished and rescued them at the time of their disobedience, nourished them with Manna and quails. The Israelites were a disorganized group when they started their journey. As they proceeded they had to fight with many gentile inhabitants of Canaan. All these experiences were the part of their formation and God was directing them to the Promised Land. These are the years of training in obedience and trust in the providence of God. These were the period when Israelites rebelled severely against God and these were the period when they experienced divine providence abundantly. Only in the desert they adopted a common life, purpose, law and a leadership and gradually the mob became a people. When the God commanded them to make an ark of the covenant and the tent of the Tabernacle they were becoming a religious community. God made a covenant with them in the Mount Sinai and through that covenant they became the sons of God and God became their father. The history of salvation got a pace and a direction at the Sinai covenant. Thus Moses became the mediator and the saviour in the salvation history of Israel and promised them a prophet like Moses in the future (Deut 18, 15).
When Moses died Joshua took the leadership of the people. The task before him was to cross over the river Jordan and conquer the Canaanites. God worked miracle when the foot of the preists who carried the Ark of the Covenant touched the waters of the river. The people walked through the dried land when the waters withdrew. They conquered Canaanites at Jericho only with the power of God. Within a short period they conquered the whole land and shared the land. Thus they became a nation without a king and the promise given to Abraham was fulfilled partly. All these period God elected judges to guide and protect the people from all the dangers and keep them in unity.
The last of these judges and the first of the prophets was Samuel. YHWH worked in him and he led the people with all the vigour of the Spirit of God. When the people demanded for a king after the manner of their neighboring nations he anointed Saul first as their king and later David. David was an extra ordinary man; YHWH miraculously raised him to the throne of the people of god. He was a shepherd boy, warrior, hero, resourceful lover, bandit chieftain, poet, king, sinner, penitent, indulgent father, faithful friend, founder of an eternal dynasty etc.

4. Preparation for the immediate intervention of God-(David to Christ.)
During the reign of David a new direction was given to the hope of salvation. While he was mindful of building a house for the lord, the Lord promised that HE would build a house for David that is a dynasty. “Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house…. I will raise up your son after you ... I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father and he shall be my son. … And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever” (2Sam 7, 11). In Psalm 2 we are told that the kingdom of David will be universal, not only in time but also in extent. According to the prophesy of Nathan the descendents of David entered in a special way into the plan of God. The people then onwards began to expect a Messiah prophesied who will possess the kingdom both universal in extent and eternal in duration.
While we saw a divergence in the prehistoric times since people went away from God as the result of the effects and the diffusion of sin, we see a convergence here i.e., Gen 1 onwards. The hopes of the whole world were directed toward the Davidic dynasty. As per the promises given to him God lifted one of his sons, Solomon to the throne and he was given divine wisdom. He built a temple for the lord. But because of the influence of his foreign wives he left the God of Israel. Rahoboam succeeded him in the office but he was of poor diplomacy and the northern tribes seceded from him under the leadership of Jeroboam. Thus the kingdom was divided into Judea and Israel. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin formed the kingdom of Judea and the rest of the ten tribes formed the latter kingdom.
But in order to prevent the people from going to the southern kingdom for religious worship in Jerusalem Jeroboam erected new sanctuaries at Samaria, Dan and Bethel. This caused apostasy in the northern kingdom and the prophets came forward against this.
The pre-exilic prophets:All the men of God from the time of Moses till the exilic times were called the pre exilic prophets. The works of the prophets were not an easy task and the phrase “the reward of the prophet” meant generally the sufferings, silencing, imprisonment, death etc. But the prophets were unable to escape from their mission and they prophesied vehemently even at the verge of death because the Spirit of God working in their lives was so strong. However the main characteristics of the prophets were the internal spirituality, social justice and the unique worship of the true God. The prophet Elijah who confronted with the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel was a typical example of O.T. prophets. The Spirit of God working in the prophet urged him to oppose the sin of idolatry. After destroying all the prophets of Baal he blamed the king Ahab who cooked the plot against Naboth and possessed his vineyard. It was a cry against the injustice. After Elijah, Elisha came to the office.
They were followed by the writing prophets namely Amos, Hosea… While Amos spoke roughly against all sorts of social injustices prevailed in the northern kingdom at the time of the reign of Jeroboam II, Hosea spoke against all these in a different tone- in a tone of love relationship. God loved his people so much that he cannot leave them (Hos 11, 9). He uses the metaphor of marriage. However these warnings were in vain and the people did not pay heed to their words. During the periods of political uprisings and turmoil the kings of Israel changed their loyalty from Assyria to Egypt from time to time. Finally in 724 during the reign of Hosea Shalmanasser V, the king of Assyria regained his power and attacked Israel. He dethroned Hosea and captured Samaria by 721; deported a lot of people from the country to Assyria and brought foreigners to the land. As a result there emerged a mixed group in Samaria due to marriage with the foreigners: and the Jews later accused them of racial impurity.
Ministry of the prophets in Judah is evident in the times before and after the fall of Israel. Even when the king of Israel- Pekah, and other kings of Aram and Syria came against Judah as the king Ahaz of Judah rejected their invitation to attack Assyria, the prophet Isaiah promised that God will protect them (Isa7,5-8). The Immanuel prophesy of the first Isaiah (7, 14-16) - though its immediate connotation was about the son of the king to be born- is interpreted as the prophesy about the Messiah to come. The people of Judah experienced the power of the Lord when Sennacherib came against them in 701 B.C. Then prophet Isaiah prophesied in the name of the Lord against Sennacherib (2Kgs 19, 35) and he had to retreat as one lakh of his soldiers died in the camp; Jews believed that it was because of the intervention of the angel of the Lord.
B.C. 626 onwards Babylon began to grow as a powerful kingdom in the Middle East. In 610 they conquered Assyria completely. After the death of Josea the kings of Judah oscillated in their loyalty to the foreign rulers. Johoachim favoured Egypt and hence Nebuchadnezzar dethroned him and appointed his son Johoachin the king in 598. But after three months he was also taken to Babylon along with a lot of citizens. This is called the first phase of the Babylonian exile. Thereafter Zedechia became the ruler in Judah. But he also changed his loyalty to Egypt in 591. The prophet Jeremiah opposed this position vehemently (Jer 27,1f; 28, 10-11; 28, 24). Nebuchadnezzar killed the sons of Zedechia before his sight and he was taken to Babylon and a lot of elite people too. This is the second phase of the Babylonian exile that took place in 587. But when Cyrus became the ruler of the Middle East and Persia, he allowed the Israelites to go back to their home land in 537 B.C. So Deutro Isaiah speaks about their coming back as “a voice cries out: in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord…and the rough places a plain” (Isa 40, 3-5). The scripture assures that it is the Lord of Israel who anointed the king Cyrus to deliver the people from the exile. “Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him…for the sake of Jacob my servant and Israel my chosen, I call you… though you do not know me…” (45, 1-5). Thus the scripture makes it clear that it is the Spirit of the Lord who works and controls the whole nations. The idea is repeatedly stated in the book of Daniel too (Dan 4, 35). Daniel which is written in the second century B.C. when Israelites were under the dominion of the Selucian rule, also speaks of the universal lordship of the God of Israel.
Though the exile was a great blow to the people externally, God made it also a means for a lot of blessings. Their spirituality developed anything like. Instead of formalism they came back to their life: Instead of ritual sacrifices there were spiritiual offerings and synagogue worships. Ezekiel and second Isaiah contributed to their dry bones a new life.

5. Actualization of the promises
The entrance of Jesus into the world was an event of inexhaustible depth of meaning. The incarnation of Jesus into the world was God’s most intimate step into the human history. “but God who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us ---made us alive together with Christ…”(Eph 2,4-5).
The power of the Spirit of God was evident in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. When Jesus started his ministry he proclaimed “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour”(Lk 4,18). The whole life of Jesus was the manifestation of this power of the Spirit of the lord. At the very virginal birth of Jesus we see the Spirit of the lord. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you ..”(Lk 1, 35). The same overshadowing of the Spirit of God that took place at the Ark of the Covenant. In baptism we see Mark presenting Jesus as the son of God. So he has the power of God eksousia. This power of God is manifested in the word and deed of Christ. The deeds of Jesus include the exorcisms and healing miracles. Mark presents these miracles as the eye openers and they reveal who Christ is.
Mathew presents Jesus as the new teacher and the new Moses and also above Moses because as the new Moses He is the new law maker. Mathew presents the miracles as the direct attacks made by Christ on the kingdom of Satan from which man must be saved. The power of Christ is the same power of the Father and the Spirit. Through his life and ministry he was conquering sin, Satan and death. As Satan’s kingdom is weakened, the kingdom of heaven grows in power. “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out the devils…” (Mt 12, 28). John presents Jesus as the light of the world (Jn 8, 12), the door (10, 7-10) good shepherd (10, 11-18) life and resurrection (11, 25). All the miracles according to John are signs which reveal who Jesus is. He called the twelve disciples to continue his ministry and this was the new beginning of the new people of God or the new Israel. On the day of Pentecost thus Church was inaugurated solemnly by the work of the Spirit of the risen Lord Jesus. Church is the mystical body of Christ. But the actual work of salvation and the power of the Spirit of God fulfilled at the end of the life of Jesus. The supreme love of god is manifested in the crucifixion of the son for the sinful mankind. He humbled himself in obedience and accepted death on the cross (Phil 2, 8). Christ’s death was the victory over death. He conquered the devastating forces of sin- vices, pride and disobedience. According to the gospel of John the death of Christ on the cross was the hour of glorification.
While Jesus won over the sin by dying, he conquered the death by his resurrection. Thus the promise given to Adam in the paradise came into true. When we speak of the power of the Spirit of God we must remember the death and resurrection of Christ. He rose in his glorious body and that body was the instrument through which the Spirit would be poured upon the faithful. As St. John sees the death, resurrection and the giving of the Holy Spirit as the one and the same action of the paschal mystery, we see Jesus giving his Spirit at the very day of his death. “One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and at once blood and the water came out (19, 34). Immediately after the resurrection he breathed on the disciples and imparted his Spirit upon them (20, 19-21). According to the Lukan version on the day of Pentecost Jesus gave his Spirit to all who have gathered at the cenacle of Zion. Thus they were made the temples of the Holy Spirit and sons of God.

6. Continuation of the Effect of the Salvation
Salvation is the unique possession of Jesus Christ. All of us have share in it only if we are in union with him. In order to have union with him we should have faith in Him which means acceptance of Jesus as our saviour. Sacraments are next element of this union. The baptism which effects the union with Christ who died and rose is the basic sacrament. Now we do not see the miracles which Jesus and his disciples performed in the N.T. period in its literal senses. The place of those miracles is replaced by the sacraments and these sacraments are the miracles of the new era. The Spirit of God works through these sacraments at present in the life and ministry of Church.
Church possesses the truth and the power of Christ. Through it Christ continues to teach, to overcome the Satan and to communicate the life of the spirit. In Church one contacts the saviour and experiences the salvation. While sin drove men away from the paradise or the goodness the life in Christ, the Spirit brought him back to the state of goodness. The process of coming to God which started at the time of Abraham is completed in Christ and it is being continued till the end of the time. The Church is expecting a Parousia when Christ will be all in all. In him man will regain the lost state. The salvation which Christ accomplished is perfect and each man must personalize it subjectively in the Church; sacraments are the means to it.
Work of the Spirit in the church: the Spirit of God in Christ brings us in union with God the father (2Cor 5, 21). We are made the temples of the Holy Spirit (1Cor 6, 19), citizens of heaven (Phil 3, 20), brothers of Christ (Rom 8, 29), children of his father (Eph1, 5-6), co-victors over Satan- we who are united with Christ become the sharers in his victory too, spiritual descendent of Abraham (Gal 3, 26-29) and united to each other in Christ.
The glorified Christ has completed his mission on the day of Pentecost after pouring out the spirit. The Spirit enlightens the Church by making her aware of the treasures of revelation that Christ has deposited in her. Revelation ended with Christ but the Spirit continues to enlighten and interpret the church. Spirit sanctifies the Church and gives her life and makes her the temple (1cor 3, 16). Now the gifts we see in the Church are also because of the work of the spirit. He is active in the church. All the varieties of the gifts are inspired by one and the same Spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills (1Cor 12, 4.11). Pouring out these gifts the Holy Spirit bears the Church forward to witness to Christ and sustains her in that witness. Today Spirit raises up missionaries and the apostles in the Church and supports the Christians in their witnesses till the second coming of Christ. The Parousia is the completion of the history of salvation. Then, Christ delivers the kingdom to God the father destroying every rule and every authority and every power (1cor 15, 22-24). On that final and the perfect day of consecration of the history “we shall be with the lord” (1Thess 4, 17).

Conclusion
God had demonstrated his supreme power over the world by creating the whole universe and as the culmination of the creation he created the man in his image and likeness. The work of the Spirit of God was well manifested in the universe when he formed the family of Abraham. The work of the Spirit of God was evident in the election of Jacob, his twelve tribes, preservation of their family in Egypt, the election and the call of Moses, the ten plagues, crossing over of the sea of reed, covenant at Mt. Sinai etc. Then God spoke to his people through Law and through prophets. They warned, instructed and foretold the fate of the people and asked them to follow the way of the lord. When the time is fulfilled God sent his only begotten son to the world. It is the progressive entrance of God into the history of man (Jn1, 1-5 .10-14).
In the paradise sin separated man from God and among themselves. Christ’s birth was meant to bring them back to those relationships. The whole story of the salvation is thus the love of God and the work of the spirit, who is trying to bring back the mankind which went away from him by sin. The saving work of the Spirit of God or the work of God which started at the very moment of man’s sin in paradise was continuing through the history, through different stages as we have seen above. It was actualized in Christ objectively but as God respects the human freedom, man has to personalize it individually. Hence there is an already but not yet aspect. The work of the Spirit of God in the salvation history will be over by end of the history only which is the Parousia of the Lord Christ.