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jasoncomely's review against another edition
5.0
I discuss this book on my podcast Jesus in Books: http://jesusinbooks.com/jesus-god-of-surprises-and-disguises/
alanrussellfuller's review against another edition
2.0
Limbaugh says God's promise-plan can be seen as the primary unifying thread of Scripture. A thread is a series of scriptures that are connected somewhat like a connect the dots picture. Redemptive-historical progression is the basic, foundational way of connecting the dots. Each and every covenant God makes advances His salvation history (Heilsgeschichte) toward fulfillment of His promise-plan. Every period of salvation history involves God’s covenantal dealings with man.
You won't find the dispensational covenants in the Bible with the labels Limbaugh uses any more than you'll find the word "rapture."
According to Limbaugh the Bible is historical and not merely allegorical. That includes the stories of the creation of Adam and Eve, Jonah and the great fish, the flood, the slaying of Abel, etc. The very fall of mankind, it can be fairly said, resulted, in part, from man’s failure to take God at His Word. Adam and Eve “was a plan to cast doubt upon the plain, literal, unmistakable meaning of thus saith the Lord."
Daniel’s remarkable prophecies show that the Jews would occupy the land again, though not completely, until the time preceding Christ’s second coming. In one of the most remarkable of all messianic prophecies—of all biblical prophecies, Daniel predicts the precise date of Christ’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. After making this stament Limbaugh supports it with terms such as clearest, believed to be, many scholars also believe and; "Of course many dispute this precise dating and I am not insisting on it, although I think a strong case can be made for it. I just think it is astonishing that the prophecy comes anywhere close to being accurate." This isn't very reassuring to me for one of the most remarkable of all messianic prophecies, and of all biblical prophecies.
In summary, we find Christ in the OT portraits, the types, the Christophanies, the Old Testament offices, His work in creating and sustaining the universe, His redemptive activities on behalf of the Israelites, His names and titles, and in the stunning messianic prophecies.
My problem with Limbaugh's view is that he primarily finds Christ in the OT through salvation history (Heilsgeschichte) and dispensational covenants.
The term Heilsgeschichte was coined by Johann Albrecht Bengel (1687-1752). Bengel was also one of the developers of the historical-grammatical, or literal, method of interpretation. It came to be used to describe “the nature of the Bible as an account of God’s working out divine salvation in human history.” John Nelson Darby is recognized as the father of dispensationalism, which was later adopted, modified significantly and then made popular in the United States by Cyrus Scofield's Scofield Reference Bible. Limbaugh calls Scofield a theologian. During the early 1890s, Scofield began styling himself Rev. C. I. Scofield, D.D.; but there are no extant records of any academic institution having granted him the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree.
Did Christ say the scriptures were about him in anticipation of 18th and 19th century doctrines? That is my problem with Limbaugh's view. Contrast that to the Christ centered approaches found in the second and third centuries.
If any one, therefore, reads the Scriptures with attention, he will find in them an account of Christ, and a foreshadowing of the new calling (vocationis). For Christ is the treasure which was hid in the field, that is, in this world (for "the field is the world" ); but the treasure hid in the Scriptures is Christ, since He was pointed out by means of types and parables.
Irenaeus Book IV.XXVI.1
Truly has Justin remarked: That before the Lord's appearance Satan never dared to blaspheme God, inasmuch as he did not yet know his own sentence, because it was contained in parables and allegories; Book V.XXVI.2
For many reasons, then, the Scriptures hide the sense. First, that we may become inquisitive, and be ever on the watch for the discovery of the words of salvation. Then it was not suitable for all to understand, so that they might not receive harm in consequence of taking in another sense the things declared for salvation by the Holy Spirit. Wherefore the holy mysteries of the prophecies are veiled in the parables—preserved for chosen men, selected to knowledge in consequence of their faith; for the style of the Scriptures is parabolic. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, Book VI.XV.
You won't find the dispensational covenants in the Bible with the labels Limbaugh uses any more than you'll find the word "rapture."
According to Limbaugh the Bible is historical and not merely allegorical. That includes the stories of the creation of Adam and Eve, Jonah and the great fish, the flood, the slaying of Abel, etc. The very fall of mankind, it can be fairly said, resulted, in part, from man’s failure to take God at His Word. Adam and Eve “was a plan to cast doubt upon the plain, literal, unmistakable meaning of thus saith the Lord."
Daniel’s remarkable prophecies show that the Jews would occupy the land again, though not completely, until the time preceding Christ’s second coming. In one of the most remarkable of all messianic prophecies—of all biblical prophecies, Daniel predicts the precise date of Christ’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. After making this stament Limbaugh supports it with terms such as clearest, believed to be, many scholars also believe and; "Of course many dispute this precise dating and I am not insisting on it, although I think a strong case can be made for it. I just think it is astonishing that the prophecy comes anywhere close to being accurate." This isn't very reassuring to me for one of the most remarkable of all messianic prophecies, and of all biblical prophecies.
In summary, we find Christ in the OT portraits, the types, the Christophanies, the Old Testament offices, His work in creating and sustaining the universe, His redemptive activities on behalf of the Israelites, His names and titles, and in the stunning messianic prophecies.
My problem with Limbaugh's view is that he primarily finds Christ in the OT through salvation history (Heilsgeschichte) and dispensational covenants.
The term Heilsgeschichte was coined by Johann Albrecht Bengel (1687-1752). Bengel was also one of the developers of the historical-grammatical, or literal, method of interpretation. It came to be used to describe “the nature of the Bible as an account of God’s working out divine salvation in human history.” John Nelson Darby is recognized as the father of dispensationalism, which was later adopted, modified significantly and then made popular in the United States by Cyrus Scofield's Scofield Reference Bible. Limbaugh calls Scofield a theologian. During the early 1890s, Scofield began styling himself Rev. C. I. Scofield, D.D.; but there are no extant records of any academic institution having granted him the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree.
Did Christ say the scriptures were about him in anticipation of 18th and 19th century doctrines? That is my problem with Limbaugh's view. Contrast that to the Christ centered approaches found in the second and third centuries.
If any one, therefore, reads the Scriptures with attention, he will find in them an account of Christ, and a foreshadowing of the new calling (vocationis). For Christ is the treasure which was hid in the field, that is, in this world (for "the field is the world" ); but the treasure hid in the Scriptures is Christ, since He was pointed out by means of types and parables.
Irenaeus Book IV.XXVI.1
Truly has Justin remarked: That before the Lord's appearance Satan never dared to blaspheme God, inasmuch as he did not yet know his own sentence, because it was contained in parables and allegories; Book V.XXVI.2
For many reasons, then, the Scriptures hide the sense. First, that we may become inquisitive, and be ever on the watch for the discovery of the words of salvation. Then it was not suitable for all to understand, so that they might not receive harm in consequence of taking in another sense the things declared for salvation by the Holy Spirit. Wherefore the holy mysteries of the prophecies are veiled in the parables—preserved for chosen men, selected to knowledge in consequence of their faith; for the style of the Scriptures is parabolic. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, Book VI.XV.
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