Reddit reviews The Temple and the Church's Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God (New Studies in Biblical Theology)

1. Here is a great article on the Old Testament view of life after death by TD Alexander. The question of what the OT teaches concerning the eternal state is very difficult. To answer your question on the hope of the OT people: For the righteous who are down in Sheol, suffering the consequences of God’s punishment, there is hope for them because God has the authority to raise men from the intermediate state at the resurrection. Resurrection is the hope, which is what the Pharisees taught.
   
   
2. The Scripture, taken on its own terms, teaches there is one divine author. So this unity must always be thought of when understanding the plurality of the many authors of Scripture (and vice versa). You can more on Hebrew cosmology with this excellent resource.
   
   
3. I can't really speak to this one. It is interesting, though.
   
   
4. No, He did not. Judaism was always a monotheistic religion. It taught that God is one (in number) and one (in essence). Deut 6:4 teaches this. Furthermore, I think taking the first Chapter of Genesis clearly shows that God is the Creator, he's not vying for his title against other Gods, he's the creator, and anyother gods which exist are idols made by man's hands or imagination.
   
   
5. Do you mean the royal "us" in Genesis 1:26?
   
   
6. Yes. I think a sound Biblical Theological argument can be made for this. Adam was original prophet/priest/king who fails in this garden-temple. GK Beale has done lots of work on this. See "The Temple and the Church's Mission.
   
   
7. I personally believe Jonah died and was resurrected. A full-orbed way to understand Jonah is to look at the life and ministry of Christ, who actually identifies with Jonah in Matt 12:40. I think it is a stretch, and inconsistent with what Christ teaches about Jonah to identify the Peter incident with Jonah's decent into Sheol.
   
   
8. Water can often be used as judgement in the OT (Noah, Egyptians), however we see that Jesus goes under the baptismal waters of Judgement, so to speak so that the church would safely be carried through them. (Noahs family = church, Israelites passing through red sea = church). Futhermore, after these OT water episodes, a New Creation emerges. Noah's family (and a new earth), and Israel (a people and a promised land) are born as new creations after the waters of Judgment flood their enemies. This adds significance to Jesus' acts of rebuking the waters, being baptised in water, and the Holy Spirit's continued ministry of creating new life as the (lord, so to speak) of the waters of judgement (Gen 1:2). And what are we told in Revelation? There will be no more ocean. Reading Revelation on it's own terms, we should think of what this would mean to a Jewish reader -- God has completely done away with judgement and wrath and chaos. The New Creation has arrived.
   
   If these topics interest you, I highly recommend this work: New Testament Biblical Theology, A. The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New.
   

This is the correct short answer.

The long answer is linked below, and it is well worth your time and money to read

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0830826181/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473054914&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=the+temple+and+the+church%27s+mission&dpPl=1&dpID=41Wj1WGYN5L&ref=plSrch

I see it as based more on ANE theological motifs and cultic practices.

Haven't had time to sift through the comments (so likely noted elsewhere) but the Garden represented a Temple. The creation of the man/woman in Gen 1.27 was akin to the installation of the image of the deity in a temple. This is discussed more fully here.

Functional usage and installation of the temple image is discussed in these monographs:

• Born in Heaven, Made on Earth: The Making of the Cult Image in the Ancient Near East by Michael Dick
  
• Cult image and divine representation in the ancient Near East ed. by Neal Walls
  
• Induction of the Cult Image in Ancient The Mesopotamian Mis Pi Ritual, by Michael Dick

The Mystery of the Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery are both acts of the New Creation by God. There is a reason 2 Corinthians 5:17 calls us "New Creations"; there's a reason that Colossians 1:6 says that the Gospel is bearing fruit, harkening back to Garden imagery; there's a reson why the early Church Fathers called Sunday the 8th day.

Christ's resurrection has irreparably changed the nature of creation as we know it and it is now always growing forwards to a greater and greater manifestation of the kingdom of heaven onto the earth. I highly recommend that you read The Temple and the Church's Mission by G. K. Beale.