Story Time

I was recently challenged to tell the whole story of the Bible in a few words.  Condensing a thousand page book, thick with theology, history, and all kinds of literary genres is no small feat.  Below is what poured out in a fury during this creative session.  I have not edited this from its original content.

Everything was created by God.  Of it all, man was God’s most prized work. God shared His image with man and loved him.  However, man disobeyed God through sin bringing death into creation.  This act cursed everything. But God began to reclaim His prize.  He made Abraham His son and made a covenant with Him, that through him, God would restore the nations to Himself.  This promise was carried out in the people of Israel whom God brought out of slavery and into the promised land.

This people had a great King, David, in whom God reaffirmed His promise to Abraham, adding that David’s son would build a temple and in this temple God would live with His people.  (This son would be Jesus Christ and His followers would be that Temple through which God would again dwell amongst His people.)  Israel turned away from God and was sent again into exile (slavery) away from the promised land.  The people longed for a Messiah and King to free them from exile, for even when they returned to the land they were still in exile because the land was not theirs.

God, at the perfect time, steps into history as a man, Jesus, and becomes the fulfillment of all God’s promises.  In Jesus, God brings His people out of exile to fulfill their purpose, to be the light of the world and to usher in His kingdom, bringing all nations to the Temple and thus the presence of God.  Jesus secures the redemption of Israel through His death and resurrection, vindicating God and ushering in a new era of resurrection.  Jesus commissions His Church to carry out His plan of blessing the nations by being the light of the world.  He promises to dwell among them in the Holy Spirit and to one day return and finally fulfill His ultimate desire and our destiny, the making new of all things, perfect communion restored with the Father and life everlasting.