Psalm Six

In Psalm 6 David is in bad shape.
"My soul is in deep anguish," he says to God.
"Turn, Lord, deliver me."
He goes on:
"I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping..."

David reminds God that if he dies he will not be any good to God.
He says, "Among the dead no one proclaims your name. 
Who praises you from the grave?"

At this point in Jewish history there was no hope regarding life after death.
There was the concept of Sheol--a kind of murky place where the shades of the dead wandered around. 
Not really a hopeful picture.
There was no heaven or hell; those concepts
weren't yet developed.
The Book of Job does offer some slight hints of redemption after death.

The only explicit reference to resurrection is in Daniel (one of the last books of the Old Testament to be written). 
In the last chapter of Daniel it says, "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake; some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt."

Scholars talk about 'progressive revelation' in the Bible. 
That is, as history goes forward, new understandings come to light. Later generations have knowledge from God that earlier generations did not have. 
The plan of God unfolds little by little.

After the Bible is completed, the plan continues to unfold. 
There are some things that are becoming clear to us that were not clear to Paul, for example.
Paul never condemned the institution of slavery. 
But now, we do.
Paul seemed to be moving in the direction of full equality for women; but now parts of the Church of Jesus have come to understand the truth of equal rights for women. 
(And parts of the Church have yet to understand this.)

Other controversial issues can be seen in the same light. 
What once was a traditionally held belief is now left behind because of a clearer understanding the church is receiving.

If we were stuck back in Psalm six, we wouldn't have the hope that we now have in Christ.
David certainly had faith in God, yet his understanding was narrow. But thanks be to God that God broadens our minds and hearts. 
Here, I think, is where being 'progressive' is being in touch with the very movement of Scripture.