Toward a Practical Theology of Good Works: God’s Good Works in Old Testament History

I started this pursuit of a practical theology of good works by looking at the good works that God does. My thinking is that the good works that God has for us to do will resemble in many ways the good works that God himself has already done, is doing, and will do.

So far, we have looked at God’s good works in creation and his good works in relation to the fall. Now we turn to God’s good works in the rest of the Old Testament.

Obviously, we cannot cover all of God’s good works in the Old Testament. But we can look for patterns. And patterns there are. To help us discern them, here is a brief summary of Old Testament history in seven time periods.

Old Testament history from 30,000 feet

Cain and Abel to the Flood: This era, beginning with the tragic rivalry between Cain and Abel resulting in fratricide, reflects humanity’s descent from a temporary revival following Abel’s murder (“In those days people began to call on the name of the Lord.”) into worldwide sin and violence. It culminates with the divine decision to cleanse the earth through the Great Flood, sparing only Noah and his family due to their righteousness, thus resetting the course of humanity.
Abraham to Joseph in Egypt: Beginning with God’s covenant with Abraham, this period sees the establishment of the Israelite race through Isaac and Jacob, leading to Joseph’s rise to power in Egypt after enduring betrayal and slavery. Through Joseph’s wisdom and God’s providence, the Israelites flourish as a race in Egypt, laying the groundwork for their eventual liberation.
The Exodus to the Judges: The Exodus marks the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage under Moses’ leadership, followed by their journey to the Promised Land. This time is characterized by the wilderness wanderings, receiving the Ten Commandments, and the conquest of Canaan under Joshua. It then transitions into the era of the Judges, where Israel’s faithfulness wavers, resulting in downward cycles of increasing disobedience and divine judgement.
The United Kingdom to the Divided Kingdom: In response to the moral chaos of the time of the Judges, Israel pleads for a king. With Saul anointed as the first king of Israel, followed by David and then Solomon, this period witnesses the zenith of Israel’s political power and spiritual vitality. However, Solomon’s reign ends in division due to idolatry, leading the nation to split into the apostate Northern Kingdom (Israel – ten tribes) and the sometimes-orthodox-sometimes-not Southern Kingdom (Judah – two tribes), setting the stage for political instability and prophetic warnings.
The Divided Kingdom to the Two Exiles: The Divided Kingdom era is marked by a succession of kings who are often (in Judah) and always (in Israel) characterized by moral decay, idol worship, and prophetic rebukes. The Assyrian conquest and dispersion of Israel in 722 BC and later the seventy year Babylonian captivity of Judah in 586 BC are the result of God’s judgment for their disobedience.
The Return from Exile and Rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple: At the end of their Babylonian captivity, Persian king Cyrus permits the exiles to return to their homeland, sparking the period of restoration under leaders like Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel. Despite facing opposition, the community rallies to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls and the Temple, reviving their religious and national identity.
400 Silent Years: This 400 year period, also known as the Intertestamental Period or the Silent Years, lacks prophetic revelation recorded in canonical scripture. It encompasses the time between the last writings of the Old Testament and the emergence of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ in the New Testament. It is characterized by political upheaval, cultural changes, and the influence of Hellenism, setting the stage for the coming of the Messiah.¹

Some patterns in God’s Old Testament good works

With his good works, God judges wickedness while also showing mercy

Calling God’s judgment a good work may seem odd, but righteously dealing with sin and the pain that it brings is fundamental to doing good.

The Old Testament gives us many examples of God’s judgment. For example, God judges Cain, the entire world – except Noah – with the flood, the descendants of Abraham with slavery in Egypt, the Israelites in the wilderness, the Israelites during the time of the Judges, King Saul, King David, King Solomon and the idolatrous kings after them. Finally, he judges the entire nations of Israel and Judah.

But at the same time, God demonstrates mercy with his good works by initiating covenants with Cain, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Israel, David, and Judah. For God, justice and love are not either/or but both/and.

With his good works God performs miracles

God often intervenes miraculously in Old Testament history. He enabled the elderly Abraham and Sarah to have a son. He performed mighty miracles in Egypt to deliver his people from slavery. He fed his people with miraculous manna in the wilderness. These and many more Old Testament miracles testify to God’s love, care, and protection for his people.

Sinful people often threaten God’s good works, but nevertheless his good works thrive in spite of them

Throughout the Old Testament narrative, God’s good works seem to come to an imminent and premature end. Adam and Eve sin and ruin God’s creation. The world becomes so dissolute that it must be destroyed by a flood. The sons of Jacob begin intermarrying with outsiders, threatening their covenant with Abraham. Evil kings in Israel and Judah rise to power and abandon the faith. The northern ten tribes are captured and fade into historical oblivion. Jerusalem is destroyed.

And yet, out of each defeat, out of each seemingly impossible situation, a new and greater hope and new a greater initiatives arise. The previous “defeats,” we discover, are not failures at all, but simply foundations for something far greater.

God often accomplishes his good works through individual believers acting in faith

We saw in the creation account that God intended to use agency – in the form of Adam and Eve – to advance his creation. God’s practice of employing agency to accomplish his good works continues in the rest of Old Testament history. God used Noah to save the world from ultimate destruction. He used Abraham to begin the Jewish race, Moses to deliver God’s people from slavery and birth them as a nation, the Judges to deliver Israel from her enemies, David to begin the messianic ancestral line, Solomon to build the temple, Jonah to save the Ninevites, and the prophets to rebuke as well as encourage his people.

Again and again, in the darkest hour, when everything seems hopeless and lost, God chooses one person to lead his people back to him. How did they do it? Simply by believing God and following his direction.

God’s good works progressively reveal who he is to the human race

Throughout Old Testament history, we learn many new things about God from his good works. For example, we learn that God is hesed; a loving, covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. We learn this from the numerous covenants God enters into with individuals and nations. We also learn that God is holy through his giving of the Law to Israel. We learn that God judges sin, although reluctantly, when he judges the world with a flood, when he judges Egypt, and when he judges the Israelites numerous times. We learn that God is faithful to his promises and that he is merciful to those who confess their sin to him.

In this sense, God’s good works show humanity who he is and why we must come to terms with him.

In the Old Testament, God’s good works focus on family, family lines, clans, tribes, and nations

While God works through individuals in the Old Testament, he also emphasizes groups, specifically hereditary groups. This family emphasis is especially true with God’s dealings with Abraham. God’s covenant with Abraham specifically focuses on him and his descendants (“I will add many to the number of your children and all who come after them, like the stars of the heavens and the sand beside the sea.” Genesis 22:17). Starting with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Abraham’s descendants multiply into clans and tribes and, eventually, into a nation. It is through this nation that God’s messiah, Jesus Christ, came.

What God’s good works in the Old Testament teach us about the good works he has for us today

An important lesson we can learn from God’s good works in the Old Testament is that individual believers play a central role in carrying them out. In a sense, we work hand-in-hand with God when by faith we do the good works he has for us to do. Believers are not simply observers in a divine play, but active participants in its production. The writer to the Hebrews makes this connection very clear:

“By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did… By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family… By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went… By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin… And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised,since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” Hebrews 11

Furthermore, we learn from God’s good works in the Old Testament that good works reveal the nature of the person performing them. With our good works we demonstrate the reality of our salvation; what we were saved for, but not what we were saved by. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

God’s good works in the Old Testament also remind us that our own good works can sometimes seem futile and inconsequential. But there is no such thing as a futile good work.

And finally, God’s good works throughout the Old Testament with respect to the family remind us that those of us who have family dependents have a huge responsibility to love, support, and bless our spouse, children, and extended family in the name of Jesus Christ.

This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.

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