The Meta-Narrative (The Grand Story) of the Bible
- The very first sentence of the Bible is the bold declaration, “In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. The Bible and the story
of the Christian worldview begins with God and creation. God created the
universe, our world, plants, animals and mankind. He also created the physical
laws of nature and moral laws to make everything work in harmony and gave
humans the capacity for meaningful work, and the ability for rational and
moral thought, like himself. Because we belong to God, he has the moral
authority to expect us to fulfill certain responsibilities on earth and
to determine how we ought to relate to him and each other.
- Of course, God pre-existed creation. He is the perfect, eternal,
loving and sovereign ruler over everything. The opening scenes of the Bible
show Adam and Eve enjoying intimacy with God and each other and God giving
mankind responsibility for caring for his creation. God was in his glory
and he declared all of it good. The kingdom of God was alive and well on
planet earth!
- But, something went terribly wrong! Satan, an angel who rebelled
against God prior to creation, tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God. Ever
since “the
fall”, every person, ever born except Jesus has been born with a sin nature,
predisposed to distrust God and others and constantly trying to live independent
of both. Some of the consequences of sin are death, broken relationships,
selfish behavior, fear, lack of purpose and most importantly our relationship
with God is broken. But this corruption is not limited to mankind and society.
Animals, plants and the earth itself are affected.
- Satan himself has a kingdom and is the champion of disobedience – tempting
and deceiving mankind to continually ignore God. The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom
of this World are sworn enemies. One is committed to loving God and caring for
other people and God’s world. The other is committed to self-fulfillment, autonomy
from their creator, and has other gods and allegiances. But, other religions,
philosophies, or non-Christians are not the enemy. The enemy is Satan and the
self-deceptive power of sin.
- But all was not lost. Right in the Garden of Eden, God initiated his plan
to redeem or rescue his world. Central to that plan was the sending of a Messiah,
or Savior. However, God’s redemption plan did not lay dormant until Jesus came,
nor was God content to simply redeem mankind spiritually. God’s passion was that
his original intentions for mankind and his world be restored – love, justice
and shalom, or God’s peace, would again be the norm (albeit imperfect until Jesus
returns again). Shalom is the wholeness or deep contentment achieved when all
things are working in harmony as God intended. God’s expectation is that every
person who claims to love him be his agents or ambassadors, working to reverse
some of the effects of the fall.
- Therefore, right in Genesis God made a covenant or promise with Abraham,
the father of the nation of Israel (Jewish people). If Abraham trusted God alone,
God would lead him to a new land, make his descendants a great nation and all
the nations of the earth would be blessed, through Abraham.
- Six hundred years later, after God led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt
under the leadership of Moses, God created the first theocracy – Israel, a nation
led by God. God, speaking through Moses wrote their laws, told them where they
were to go and how they were to live. God was their literal king. He also made
a new covenant with Israel. If Israel would serve him alone and live according
to the ceremonial and moral laws he gave them, he would give them the land he
promised Abraham and make them a showcase of prosperity, peace and blessing.
Other nations would see the greatness of God and they too would choose to love
and honor him, thereby expanding God’s kingdom on earth.
- Unfortunately Israel did not live up to their end of the bargain for long.
Their problems began when they rejected God as their King and asked for a human
king like other countries. Whenever those kings and Israel obeyed God, they prospered.
As soon as they prospered, they began worshiping other gods, disobeying God’s
moral laws, disregarding the poor and embarrassing God. When God punished them,
they would repent and start living like the people of God again, only to repeat
the cycle over and over.
- But the prophets God sent to Israel never gave up the dream and the promise
of the kingdom of God on earth where God’s will would be done as it is in heaven,
and the earth would again experience the peace and prosperity of God. Isaiah
and the other prophets looked forward to the coming of the Messiah and the ushering
of a new era with a new covenant or testament.
- Jesus, the Son of God, was (and is) the promised Messiah. He came to earth
as our rescuer and messenger from God to explain what this new covenant from
God was and to personally fulfill it. It was a promise of peace with God based
not on our obedience to the sacrificial or ceremonial laws given to Moses, but
on Christ’s sacrifice alone. The Father God made it possible that by Christ’s
death and resurrection, any person who truly has faith that Jesus is the Son
of God, believes his teachings and repents or turns away from his or her old
sinful habits, will be forgiven of all their sins – spiritual redemption. This
free gift of God through Jesus Christ is called grace. Like the waiting father
in the parable of the prodigal son, God welcomes us back, with open arms, from
our rebellious journey! The Bible tells us that Heaven has a party, whenever
that happens.
- But, that’s not all! We don’t wake up the morning after the party, essentially
the same person, except forgiven. Heaven’s no! We are born again by the Holy
Spirit of God, given brand new spiritual DNA and actually become the spiritual
children of God. The Holy Spirit’s primary ministries are to remind us of the
things Jesus taught and empower us and the church (all believers, every where)
with spiritual gifts which enable us to serve more effectively. The Holy Spirit
also causes believers to exhibit what the Bible calls the fruits of the Spirit
(love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self-control).
- But, the other reason Jesus came to earth was to call all who would follow
Him, to join a new community of world changers – the kingdom of God on earth! “May
your kingdom come, may your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The
gospel or “good news” declared by Jesus was as much about a radical call to social
and economic justice, mercy and love as it was about salvation and heaven. He
made it clear that every believer has been given a “sub-kingdom”, or responsibilities
while on earth to be part of the redemptive purposes of God. We weren’t saved
just so we could go to heaven someday. Salvations purpose was and still is to
create an army of people sold out to God, doing the will of God, for the glory
and pleasure of God – in this life and the next!
- The early church took this seriously. We read in the opening chapters of
the Book of Acts that immediately upon responding to the gospel, people began
to love God with wholehearted devotion and took to heart Jesus’ command to love
others as much as they loved themselves. The early church was so radical in their
love and lifestyle that within a century millions of people became followers
of Jesus. The Kingdom of God spread like wild fire! They didn’t set out to change
the culture around them. They simply followed Jesus commands and the people and
culture around them changed in response. Christ, through his church (followers)
was again redeeming or taking back that which had been lost in the fall of man.
- Unfortunately, within a few more centuries this devotion to living out the
teachings of Jesus degenerated into religious form and inexcusable behavior by
the church. Still God preserved a remnant of men and women who loved Jesus more
than anything on earth. Today, regardless of the hypocrisy and outright sin in
many who call themselves Christians (including this author), Jesus teachings
are still true and when lived out are testimony to their truth. The Bible is
God’s message to mankind and as such is the ultimate authority for all followers
of Jesus.
- Our mission in life is to love God by loving and unselfishly serving the
people he has placed in our lives. In fact, love is the litmus test of our faith!
Jesus is our teacher and example for our message, motives and our methods, and
he expects his followers to do just that – follow his example. Those who do
are his true followers. Those who don’t, aren’t, regardless of what they say
they “believe” about Jesus, or the Bible.
- Followers of Jesus look forward with great hope and expectation to the
day when Jesus will come again for his followers and usher in the final stage
of the kingdom. All that is wrong with this present earth will be destroyed.
When he does return, all who did not follow Jesus in this life will be separated
from God and God’s people forever. Those who truly believed and followed Jesus
will be rewarded based on how well they served Jesus, by loving the people and
using the resources entrusted to them. They will then live with Jesus in a new
heaven and new earth forever. The redemption of the world will then be complete
and Shalom, God’s peace will rest on everything, forever.
- God
- Creation
- The Fall
- Redemption
- The Kingdom