Mar

02

2012

The Overarching Story of the Bible

The way one thinks and lives is significantly defined by the foundational story they see themselves apart of.[1] These stories provide one with an understanding of the whole world as well as their place within it. The Christian’s worldview must be formed by the biblical story, or else the pervasive story of their context will determine how they live and act in the world,

resulting in them reading into Scripture the views and values of their society; it is of paramount importance that believers come to see themselves as living within God’s story for the world. This essay will briefly outline the story of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, identifying Scripture’s six key ‘acts’ and the key events and themes which are revealed in each act.[2]

The first ‘act’ of Scripture is creation. Genesis one depicts Elioheim, the sole creator-God, creating all things and bringing order out of chaos.[3] Starting with the earth in a state of “formlessness,” God forms the land, sea and sky, and then fills them with living creatures and vegetation. Moreover, God plants a garden-paradise in Eden (Gen 2:8) as a sanctuary in which he intends to dwell[4] and a fountainhead of shalom – goodness, blessing and flourishing – which was to be spread over the whole earth.[5] Elioheim, sole monarch over creation, creates humankind to be his vice-regents and image-bearers who would represent his rule[6] by spreading the shalom of the garden across the earth and by living in harmonious relationship with God, one another and creation; they were created for relationship and were commissioned to have dominion over and to steward God’s good creation.[7] Genesis two closes by stressing the goodness of Eden: Adam and Eve are naked yet they experience no shame.[8]

Scripture’s second act, the fall, sees the shalom of Eden shattered (Gen 3).[9] Adam and Eve transgress God’s only negative command, disobeying God’s prohibition of eating from the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Rather than accepting the limitations which come from being a creature dependant on God, by transgressing, humanity were reaching out after moral autonomy.[10] This transgression constitutes the first act of sin, and sin is shown to have disrupted all of life, extending to the created order itself. Interpersonal relationships and humanity’s relationship with the ground are tarnished, and humanity is banished from God’s very presence, sent east from the garden sanctuary.[11] Moreover, Genesis 4-11 demonstrates the downward spiral of humanity; sin has become a plague, a cancer which thwarts God’s intentions and permeates people’s hearts.[12] Humanity is depicted as moving further and further east, indicating the movement away from God and his good intentions for the world; God’s presence and his reign of shalom are distant memories, and people cease to be fully human.[13]

However, God has not given up on his creation. In act three, as an act of utter grace, God chooses a particular nation to be the vessel through which he will bring blessing and restore the world and humanity to a state of shalom. God selects Abram to be the father of this nation, forming a covenant with him (Genesis 12:1-3),[14] and against all odds, through Abraham forms a great nation. Thus, Israel emerges as God’s “means of undoing the sin of Adam”;[15] they are to become God’s true humanity.[16] Following God’s gracious act of salvation in the exodus, God presents his people will the Torah, Israel’s covenant charter which will enable them to live as God intends.[17] Furthermore, God instructs them to build the tabernacle, a sanctuary in which God would once again dwell among his people.[18] God eventually leads his people into the Promised Land which represents the ‘new Eden.’[19] Yet, despite the abundance of God’s grace poured out on Israel, they are unfaithful to his covenant and fail to be a light to the nations.[20] This results in them inheriting the curses of Deuteronomy 28; Israel is sent into exile. Even after being restored to the land, it is apparent that they remain in ‘exile’;[21] God’s presence and blessing for all nations remain absent.

In act four God’s covenantal faithfulness[22] is revealed through Israel’s Messiah, Jesus. Jesus emerges as the one who will be faithful where Adam and Israel failed;[23] God’s covenantal plan of putting the whole world to rights and restoring all things is fulfilled through Jesus. Jesus’ message and ministry was focused on the Kingdom of God, the restoration of God’s rule and reign within his world;[24] shalom was restored everywhere Jesus went. Also, incredibly significant is that once again God was present with his people, but now he has taken on human flesh and ‘tabernacled’ among them (John 1:14); God is present among his people as one of them. In sum, Jesus appears as God’s true humanity, living rightly before God as his faithful vice-regent.[25]

As Messiah, Jesus ultimately fulfilled God’s purposes for Israel through his representative death and resurrection.[26] These events make possible the forgiveness of sin and opened the door for God’s blessing to extend through Israel to all nations. No longer is Abraham’s family limited to one nation; now membership within the covenant family is available to Jew and Gentile alike.[27] Furthermore, Israel was awaiting the eschaton, where God would radically restore the world. In Jesus’ resurrection, the eschaton was ushered forward into the present age; Jesus inaugurated the future, ultimate Kingdom of God.[28] Thus, God’s covenantal plan to bless all nations and restore shalom to all creation thereby re-establishing his Kingdom were inaugurated by Jesus.

The fifth act began at Pentecost, where God reformed his people around the Messiah (Acts 2).[29] Here God’s people are formed by the Spirit - God’s own presence among us and within us[30] - into a community[31] who will spread the message of God’s salvation and Kingdom in “Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”[32] Though God’s Kingdom is not fully realized, the Church experiences a foretaste of it[33] as the Spirit enables them to live as genuinely human humans.[34] Significantly, this act is where today’s believer fits within God’s overarching story. The Church’s task of spreading the Kingdom to the ends of the earth remains today; thus, we are to engage in spreading God’s reign as we await its final consummation.

The final act, the consummation of God’s Kingdom, described in Revelation 21-22, has yet to come to pass. Jesus is going to come again to complete the work of restoration which he inaugurated through his death and resurrection, redeeming all of creation from sin and its effects so that “the whole cosmos should once again live and thrive under his beneficent rule.”[35] Within this cosmic redemption there is also a place for humanity:[36] we will receive renewed, resurrection bodies (1 Corinthians 15), God’s presence will be with us in its fullness, we will be restored relationally,[37] and in the context of new creation, we will once again act as God’s image-bearers and vice-regents, being freed to sum up the praise of all creation and to exercise dominion and wise-stewardship over God’s good world.[38]

The grand narrative of Scripture reveals the true character of God. Out of sheer grace God creates a good world, fashioning humanity to be his image-bearers, vice-regents and friends. Out of grace, he sets in motion a plan to undo the sin of Adam, and out of unfathomable grace, he remains faithful to that plan despite Israel’s unfaithfulness, entering the world himself so that his plan of redemption might be accomplished. This God of faithfulness and grace will carry his plan to completion, one day transforming all things that this may be “a world flooded with the joy and justice of the God who made it in the first place.”[39] This message ought fill the believer’s hearts with hope while challenging us to live faithfully, orientating our present lives around God’s eschatological Kingdom.