The Mission Heart of God

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 The Mission Heart of God

Contents
Introduction! 1
The Course Programme! 1
Reading! 1
Genesis 1-3 — The Sacred Garden! 2
Introduction! 2
Exercises! 2
Assignments! 2
Exodus 40 - The Tent of Meeting! 3
Introduction! 3
Exercises! 3
Assignments! 4
Isaiah 60 - 61 — The Glory of the Lord! 5
Introduction! 5
Exercises! 5
The Servant of Yahweh! 6
Assignments! 6
John 1 — The Word Dwells with Us! 7
Introduction! 7
Exercises! 7
Godʼs Eternal Plan! 7
Assignments! 8
Ephesians 2 — A Dwelling for Godʼs Spirit ! 9
Introduction! 9
Exercises! 9
Assignments! 10
Conclusion! 10
Revelation 21-22 — The Holy City ! 11
Introduction! 11
Exercises! 11
Conclusion! 11

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW
INTERNATIONAL VERSION and are copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible
Society. Used by permission of Hodder and Stoughton Ltd, a member of the Hodder
Headline Plc Group. All rights reserved.
 The Mission Heart of God

Introduction
This course will take place over 6 weeks and
will give an overview of “Godʼs plan for life on
earth” as Desmond Alexander puts it.
Through a series of studies on various biblical
texts, both Old and New Testament, the course
will explore what Godʼs plan for the world is and
how we as his people are part of that plan. The
sessions will mainly take the form of discussions
on the biblical texts.
The aim of the course is not simply to impart
knowledge, but to encourage all of us to a
deeper understanding of Godʼs Word so that we
may be transformed in our everyday lives to be
more like Jesus.
While not essential, you will gain more from
the course if you read the core book. The other
books will also be helpful but are less important
for the course. They can be borrowed rather
than bought if you wish! To gain as much as
possible from the course, some work during the
week will be needed.
The Bible renders to us the story
of Godʼs mission through Godʼs
people in their engagement with
Godʼs world for the sake of the
whole of Godʼs creation. The
Bible is the drama of this God of
purpose engaged in the mission of
achieving that purpose universally,
embracing past, present and
future, Israel and the nations, “life,
the universe and everything, “ and
with its centre, focus, climax and
completion in Jesus Christ.
Mission is not just one of a list of
things that the Bible happens to
talk about… Mission is, in that
much-abused phrase, “what itʼs all
about.”
The Mission of God 22

The Course Programme

Week 1:! Genesis 1 — 3 - The Sacred Garden
Week 2: ! Exodus 40 - The Tent of Meeting
Week 3: ! Isaiah 60 & 61 - The Glory of the Lord
Week 4: ! John 1 - The Word Dwells with Us
Week 5: ! Ephesians 2 - A Dwelling for Godʼs Spirit
Week 6: ! Revelation 21 & 22 - The Holy City

Reading
As with our other courses, we donʼt have a ʻsetʼ book for the course. However,
the themes we will be looking at are discussed in more detail in the book below
which is well-written and easy to read. Copies can be had from me.
From Eden to the New Jerusalem; T. D. Alexander. IVP 2008
Other books which will be useful and helpful if you wish to explore the topic
further are:
Mission as Transformation: A Theology of the Whole Gospel: V. K. Samuel, C.
Sugden, Paternoster Press
Missions in the Third Millennium: S. Guthrie, Paternoster Press
The Mission of God; C. J. H. Wright, IVP Academic
Transforming Mission; D. J.Bosch, Orbis Books
Perspectives on the World Christian Movement; R. D. Winter, S. C. Hawthorne
eds, William Carey Library
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The Mission Heart of God

Genesis 1-3 — The Sacred Garden

Introduction
As with many themes and topics of the Bible, these three chapters are
foundational to our understanding of the “Mission Heart of God”. As we look at
them, remember to come to the texts expecting God to speak to you out of the text,
not telling the text what it should say!
As we go through the Bible looking at the themes which are introduced here, our
aim is to begin to see the part that each one of us plays, not in being involved in
mission for God, but being involved in the mission of God.

Exercises
What I would like you to concentrate on here, is not what you know about this
text (or think you know) but what the text is actually saying. In familiar passages,
we often think we know things only to find they arenʼt there (!) or donʼt know things
that are clearly there. Please read these passages carefully, asking, “What am I
reading?” “What is this saying?”
1. Read chapter 2:4 - 3:24
• What facts do you learn about the shape of Godʼs creation of the earth?
• What separate ʻareasʼ does the Bible describe for us?
• What do you learn about the contents and activities that are in these
areas?
• Draw a picture of the earth and the garden as it is described in these verses.
• What seems most important? Why?
• What lessons might we take from this:
• About God?
• About his dealings with humanity?
2. Read chapter 1:24-31; 2:7-9; :15-25
i. What do you learn about man?
ii. What commands does God give man?
iii. What does this tell you about Godʼs purposes for man - his reason for
creating them?
iv. What do we learn about Godʼs relationship with man?

Assignments
Of necessity, our run through the Bible has to be somewhat superficial. Our
times together will be more useful if you do the assignments in preparation for the
following week.
1. Read Exodus 40
i. Make a list of the furniture made for the tabernacle.
ii. Write down anything that strikes you as important or difficult to
understand.
iii. Can you see any links with what we have read in Genesis?

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 The Mission Heart of God

Exodus 40 - The Tent of Meeting

Introduction
This week we continue looking at the ways in The tabernacle has features that
which God has been putting into action his plan associate it closely with the
for life on earth. Garden of Eden… These parallels
Our study on the Garden of Eden showed us suggest that the construction of
a number of aspects of this plan including the t h e t a b e r n a c l e m a r k s t h e
three-fold pattern of creation and the truth of continuation of Godʼs plans for the
Godʼs presence, his dwelling, being in the Garden of Eden.
garden with the man and the woman. We saw From Eden to the New Jerusalem
also how God had given the man and woman 34
commands as to what their role was in the
Garden and how this involved the moving out from the garden as his ʻviceroysʼ
to rule the earth. We also noted the fact that rivers flowed from the garden into the
rest of the world, bringing life-giving water. And we saw how in the centre of the
garden was not just the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil but also the Tree
of Life.
Our study this week focusses on the tabernacle - and, by extension, the temple
in Jerusalem. By looking at a number of passages, we will try to discover if
Desmond Alexanderʼs statement in the box above is true or not. And try to answer
the question, “What does the tabernacle tell us about Godʼs mission heart?”

Exercises
1. Draw a plan of the tabernacle showing the positions of the various items of
furniture.
2. Against each item in your list of furniture, write down any aspects of Eden which
you think my be parallels or linked in some way.
• Discuss other links you discovered in your assignment.
3. Using the table over the page, read the passages in the two columns and then in
the third column, explain the parallels. This may be
in terms of ideas, or imagery or words used.
4. In what ways can you begin to see connections
between the Old Testament presentation of the
tabernacle and the role of the church? This is
something that we develop over the next few
weeks, so we are simply raising the issue now
without really developing it all that much.

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The Mission Heart of God

Genesis 2:15 Numbers 3:7-8

Genesis 3:8 Leviticus 26:12;

2 Samuel 7:3-7

Genesis 2:11 Exodus 25:7,

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Genesis Ezekiel 47:1-12

2:10-14

Genesis Ezekiel
2:10-14 28:13-16

Genesis 3:24 Exodus

25:17-22

Genesis 3:24 Exodus

38:13-14!

Assignments
To make the most of our time together next week, please do the assignment
below.
1. Read Isaiah 60 and 61
i. Consider the promises that God gives his people in these chapters.
How would you describe them in general?
ii. What specific links with the imagery we have already met in the
Garden and in the tabernacle can you see here?
iii. What do we learn from these chapters about Godʼs plan for the
world?

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 The Mission Heart of God

Isaiah 60 - 61 — The Glory of the LORD

Introduction
So far, we have considered the Garden in
Eden and the Tabernacle and seen how they
show something of Godʼs plan for the whole
earth. Both are seen as representing Godʼs
dwelling on earth and both show that Godʼs
purpose is that the whole world should become
his dwelling place.
This theme now continues in Isaiah and the
two chapters we read in preparation for this
week form a bridge between the historical
Temple in Jerusalem and the future Temple. As
we will see, the link between the two is to be
found in the person who speaks at the beginning
of chapter 61.
From the Lord to his people flows
everything they could need; from
them to him flows back an endless
paean of praise. The old, physical
forms of light are replaced by new,
spiritual light and changes and
fluctuations are past, due to the
perpetual divine presence bringing
with it unbroken joy.
The Prophecy of Isaiah, 498
J. A. Motyer

Exercises
1. Discuss the questions on Isaiah 60 and 61 you prepared for this week
2. Read Isaiah 2:2-5.
a. What images and
ideas in this
passage do you
recognise from our
previous studies?
b. What is the general
message of the
prophecy?
3. Read Genesis 11:1-9.
a. What is the reason
for Godʼs confusing
the language of
these people?
b. How do our previous studies help us to understand this event?
c. What link is there between this event and the exile?
4. Read Ezekiel 10:1-22
a. What images and themes can you find here that are linked to what we
already know about the Temple?
5. Read Ezekiel 43:1-7a.
a. Once again, find the links in imagery between this and our other studies.
b. What is Godʼs promise?
c. How does this relate to what we read in Isaiah 60?

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The Mission Heart of God

The Servant of Yahweh

The Servant of Yahweh is introduced in Isaiah Isaiahʼs use mountain imagery [in
42, as the one who will bring about Godʼs Isaiah 2] underlines that God
purposes. The introductory verses (1-4) of this himself will be exalted in majesty
chapter are central to our understanding of his as he exercises supreme authority
role. over the whole earth. This
1. Read the first four verses of Isaiah 42. What expectation brings to fulfilment
are we told the Servant of Yahweh will do? Godʼs creation blueprint, for it
2. Now turn to Isaiah 61:1-3. anticipates the Lord dwelling in a
a. What links do you see here? temple-city that will fill the whole
b. How would you describe what Godʼs earth.
plan entails? From Eden to the New Jerusalem
c. Read Luke 4:17-21 52
i. Why is it significant that Jesus
reads this passage?
ii. What are we to understand from this about how Jesus viewed his
mission?

Assignments
1. As further study from this week.
• Read Psalm 84.
• How would you characterise the psalmistʼs emotions as he contemplates
the Temple?
• What images are used here that we have met elsewhere in our study?
• Read Isaiah 49:1-6.
• How would you summarise the Servantʼs mission as expressed in these
verses?
• In what ways does this passage fit with our overall understanding of the
Mission of God?
• Who is the Servant of Yahweh?
2. For next week.
• Read John 1:1-18
• List any links in terms of imagery with what we have read in the Old
Testament?
• How would you summarise the mission of the Word in these verses?

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 The Mission Heart of God

John 1 — The Word Dwells with Us

Introduction
This week, we move into the New Testament This double mission [of the
and see how Godʼs purposes for his creation are Servant of the Lord] is made …
developed through the person of Jesus. explicit in Isaiah 49:1-6, where, in
response to the Servantʼs
Exercises complaint that his mission to Israel
1. Discuss the questions on Isaiah 49 you is getting nowhere, the Servant
prepared for this week. receives from God the explicit
2. Read John 1:1-18. commission to be a light to the
a. Discuss what you looked at during the Gentiles to bring Godʼs salvation
week. to the ends of the earth. So his
3. Read Matthew 1:22-23. mission to the nations does not
a. How are we to understand this short replace his mission to Israel but is
passage in the context of Godʼs an extension of it.
mission?
The Mission of God, 520.
4. Read Matthew 3:13-17
a. What is happening here? C. J. Wright
b. How does it link with what we have
learned in the Old Testament?
5. Read Matthew 12:1-14.
a. What is the importance of this passage in understanding how Jesus
viewed his mission?
b. Why does he heal on the Sabbath?
c. What does he mean by, “one greater than the temple is here”?
6. Read John 2:2-22
a. Why does Jesus clear the
temple?
b. What is significant about
his words in verse 19?
7. Read Luke 23:44-46.
a. What is the meaning of the
curtain being torn in two?
8. How does what we have read
this morning link with our earlier
studies?

Godʼs Eternal Plan

Model of Herodʼs Temple
In Ephesians 1:4, Paul writes,
“For he chose us in him before the
creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” In the context of our
studies, this is an important verse, reminding us, as it does, that Godʼs plan - from
before creation - was to have a people who were in communion with him. It takes
us all the way back to the Garden in Eden and through the choosing of Abraham to
the person of Jesus. This verse reminds us that the creation of this people was
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The Mission Heart of God

always “in him”, that is, “in Jesus”. The ministry

and mission of Jesus was not “Plan B” when all It is only those who have come
else had failed; it was Plan A from before the under the reign of King Jesus who
world began. You might put it like this, that can commend him to the world
history and Godʼs plans did not flow towards the and explain the message of the
culmination found in Jesus, but rather all flowed cross. So the proclamation of the
from Jesus, rather like the river flowing through gospel word must be at the heart
Eden to water the earth. of mission. Otherwise we lose our
distinctive voice and the world
Assignments misses the distinctive word of
1. As further study from this week. Christ crucified. At the heart of
• Read John 3:1-21. world mission is the gospel word.
• How does our study so far help us to
Total Church, 100
understand Jesusʼ conversation with
Nicodemus? T. Chester and S. Timmis
• Read John 4:1-26.
• What images do you find here which we have
encountered before?
• How does our study so far help us to
understand Jesusʼ conversation with the
Samaritan woman?
• What do you learn about who Jesus is and how
he viewed his mission from looking at these
passages?
2. For next week.
• Read Ephesians 2:11-22
• If you have the time, you will understand
better what Paul says here if you read all of
chapter 1 and 2.
• List the various things that Paul writes which
link this passage with what we have studied
so far.
• What are the consequences, do you think, for
how we see ourselves and our mission, as the
Church, of what Paul writes in verses 19-22?

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 The Mission Heart of God

Ephesians 2 — A Dwelling for Godʼs Spirit

Introduction
Until now, we have been looking at Godʼs At one stroke Peter connects his
mission, his plan for the ages, in terms of how Christian readers with the whole
that was expressed in the past, whether through heritage of Old Testament Israel.
the Garden in Eden, the Tabernacle and Temple Indeed, he identifies them as the
or in the person of Jesus. This week, we come same people, continuous with
right up to the present because we are looking at those who heard the words he
the church — at you and me as those who are quotes at the foot of Mount Sinai
part of Godʼs Kingdom now. (Exodus 19:4-6), heirs of the same
The New Testament gives a number of purpose of God through the
different metaphors to describe the church: body Messiah Jesus. In doing so, Peter
and bride, for example. The one which is most is consistent with the rest of the
relevant for us in this study is Temple. It is in New Testament witness and claim:
this image where the story we have been Those who are in Christ are in
following so far continues to encompass Abraham, called for the same
present-day Christians. purpose, redeemed by the same
God, committed to the same
Exercises response of ethical obedience.
1. What do you understand by the word,
The Mission of God, 387.
ʻtempleʼ?
a. How has this study, so far, helped C. J. Wright (Commenting on 1
develop or change your idea of what a Peter 2:9)
temple is?
b. From our study last week, why does Jesus use temple imagery to describe
himself and his ministry?
2. Discuss what you learned from reading Ephesians 2:11-22.
3. Read 1 Corinthians 3:16-17.
a. What point is Paul making about the church in
Corinth?
4. Read 1 Corinthians 6:18-20.
a. Who does Paul describe as the Temple, here?
b. What does this truth lead to?
5. Read 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1.
a. What does Paul say about the Temple, here?
b. What are the consequences for us?
6. Read 1 Peter 2:4-12
a. What images, familiar from our earlier studies,
does Peter use here?
b. What does it mean to be the ʻpeople of Godʼ?
7. Do you see any recurring themes in what being the Temple of God means in our
everyday lives?
a. How do these themes, and what we read in Isaiah, help us to understand
what the ʻKingdom of Godʼ looks like?

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The Mission Heart of God

8. What do you think are the consequences of

viewing the Church in this way for our
evangelism as individuals and as the church?
9. Lesslie Newbigin writes, “We must say bluntly
that when the Church ceases to be a mission,
then she ceases to have any right to the titles
by which she is adorned in the New
Testament”.
a. What do you think he means by this
statement?
b. Do you agree with him?
The Triune God is a missionary
God. The church, then, has a
mission because God has a
mission. The role of the church is
to participate in the mission of
God.
Total Church, 103
T. Chester and S. Timmis

Assignments
1. As further study from this week.
a. Read the passages we looked at again and spent some time simply
contemplating what God is saying to you through them.
b. Think of some concrete, practical ways in which the understanding you
now have of the churchʼs mission can be put into practice by you, your
small group, ICP.
2. For next week.
a. Read Revelation 7:9-17
i. Pick out the images and metaphors we
have met elsewhere. What do they tell us
about the end of Godʼs plan?
b. Read Revelation 21:1-22:21.
i. How does this passage bring Godʼs plan
to a conclusion?
ii. How does what we have studied help us
to understand these chapters.

Conclusion
In our study together next week, we will look at these
passages from Revelation and then try to bring the
whole series of studies to a conclusion.

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 The Mission Heart of God

Revelation 21-22 — The Holy City

Introduction
We come to the end of our studies
concentrating on Godʼs plan for his creation by
looking at the vision God gives John of the
culmination of those plans; the time when the
world is truly “filled with the knowledge of the
glory of the Lord1 ” when - in the new creation -
the New Jerusalem, the Holy City, comes down
out of heaven to earth.
Exercises
1. Revelation 7:9-17
a. Discuss this passage, paying special
attention to the themes and images we
have looked at during this course.
b. What comfort is there her?
2. Revelation 21:1-22:21
a. How would you summarise this
passage?
b. Discuss your answers to the questions
set as your assignment from last week.
3. How do these passages
a. challenge you about your Christian life?
b. encourage you in your Christian life?
4. How would you sum up what we have learned during this course?
The divine speaker identifies
himself as “the Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end”…
these titles express Godʼs
s o v e r e i g n t y o v e r h i s t o r y,
especially by bringing it to an end
in salvation and judgment…
The point of the title is that the
God who transcends time guides
the entire course of history… On
this basis, the readers are assured
that just as God brought the first
creation into being, so he will
certainly bring it to conclusion.
The Book of Revelation, 1055.
G. K. Beale (Commenting on
Revelation 21:6)

Conclusion
This has been a rapid run through one of the major themes of the Bible, how God
is creating a people for himself to enjoy his presence throughout eternity. As you
think about these things over the coming weeks and months, consider other images
and aspects that you encounter in Godʼs Word. Most importantly, prayerfully
consider how knowing what you know should change how you live as one of Godʼs
people with the charge to be part of bringing Godʼs kingdom on earth.

“Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.”2

1 Habakkuk 2:14
2 Matthew 6:9-10
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Further Notes
 Study Centre
International Church of Prague
Box 91, ℅ IBTS, Nad Habrovkou 3
Jenerálka, 164 00 Praha 6
studycentreicp@googlemail.com
(420) 296 392 338
www.icpstudycentre.cz