The Story of the Bible
The Bible starts off in a place of perfection. Man and woman in perfect unity with themselves, the creation, and God. They were given one rule: do not eat of the tree in the middle of the garden. The punishment if broken: death. Satan came, questioned if that could be true or if God really just wanted to keep man oppressed. Man fell. The consequences were clear. Man must die. From the beginning, God clearly never wants to kill man - man is made in his own image - He institutes a proxy but it is only temporary. Think of it as paying only the interest in a loan. The principal is still owed.
God promises to one day send a seed, through mankind, to war with Satan and prevail. Ultimately, this is Jesus. Man is given several opportunities to start fresh. Now banned from the garden, mankind responds with Cain and Abel, Nephelim, the flood, the tower of babel, The Golden Calf. Even David, a man after God’s heart is only a gentle reprieve. God continually invites any who will simply love him. Mankind does not. Time and again God calls man to Choose life and time and again man turns away. By now God’s punishment is warranted; no question. In Hosea, he opts to divorce Israel but promises to restore the relationship. How? God’s law declares that a divorce is only a provision for sexual immorality and it is final. The two can never remarry. Babylon and Assyria invade. Then Greece and Rome.
Enter Jesus. Foretold of by numerous prophets and going all the way back to the Garden, he rises as Messiah. He lives a perfect life. To re-use the debt analogy, he is the only human in history to go through debt free. He struggles, laughs, cries, and overcomes. He teaches us to love one another and how to best serve God. He separates the cruft of religion from the truth of Scripture. He distills the truths of the word from easy-to-fake actions and points to the underlying character the actions were asking for all along. At the end of it all, he is murdered. He who knew no sin became sin. God, on the cross, places all of the debt owed onto Jesus. He pays it in full. The lamb is now worthy to reclaim the title deed to the earth. He rips it from Satan’s hands. He is now ruler over all. Legally. Not only that, he is free to remarry whomever he chooses. He rises. Jesus walks again on the earth. Along with him, tombs are opened and the dead are raised - a taste of the resurrection to come. He walks, he teaches, he forgives. And then, he leaves. His parting words are to tell everyone and to be patient and wait for the comforter, the Holy Spirit.
The spirit comes 10 days later. The Christian church is born and the word begins to spread. Miracles are happening everywhere. Hearts are softened. Yet division grows. Legalism and freedom butt heads. Many letters are written to try and balance spirit and truth. And that is where we still are today.
From here, the road ahead is hazy. Some say this and some say that about Revelation. My personal belief is that it will be more literal than metaphorical. While I do think certain elements, such as The Beast that appears to mirror Daniel’s beast, rising out of the water are more a metaphor for “everything culminated in this,” I think that passages like Jesus touching down on earth will result in a literal ripping the Mount of Olives in half. Either way, the end of the story is clear: he is coming back for his bride. There are two faces to redemption in the Bible, forgiveness of debt (Jubilee) and avenger of blood (Cities of Refuge). Jesus intends to redeem his beloved in both ways. He came the first time to forgive. Next time, he’s coming with a sword. All along He has been begging us to love him. In the end, he rescues those who do from those who don’t. Those who don’t? They experience separation from Him for eternity. Be that annihilation or eternal punishment, I am unqualified to answer. I just know that I Choose life.
Zooming In - Areas of Interest
- The Temple
- The Sacrificial System
- The Law
- The Weightier Matters
- Faith and Works