The Bible
The Bible
The Bible is a message from God. As such, it tells a singular story. That story is that God has prepared a plan to make a new creation, both a new heaven and earth, and new people.
When we look at scripture at a high level, undistracted by the details, we see something incredible. We see God telling this story over and over in many different ways. Hebrews 1:1–2 refers to this, saying, "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world." (NASB 2020)
Through Adam, Noah, Moses, David, Solomon, Samuel, Ezekiel, Elijah, Isaiah, Daniel, and so many more, Father spoke in many ways and piece by piece in ever increasing detail revealed His plan for a new creation in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Old Testament tells the story using the lives of the people of that time. It shows us examples of what happens to people who believe that God is telling the truth when He says that sin results in death. It provides examples of the natural end of people who reject Him, choosing instead to remain separated from the Source of Life.
The examples include shadow pictures of the final judgement. The story of Noah, the Ark, and the great flood is a prime example. He painted pictures of redemption by rescuing His people from slavery in Egypt. God's people being exiled into Babylon because of their idolatry are designed to illustrate the bondage of life apart from Him. Even hard images such as God telling the Hebrew people to kill off other nations are designed to help us see that God alone is the Truth, God alone is sovereign over all He has created, God alone is the Source of Life.
Details matter and we should be careful not to ignore them, but it is also possible for us to focus on specific details absent their context in the much larger message. When we do this, we find frustration because we cannot make sense of the details without considering how they fit into the whole picture. We must examine and study the details of scripture in the context of the great message of God. The Lord Jesus is all in all.
The story goes on today. It isn’t being recorded in scripture, but it is being written about. It is being taught. And it is being portrayed in our lives and the lives of all the people of the earth. We can watch for this when contemplating what is happening in the world. We can look for the way the good news of the Lord Jesus is incorporated into our own lives.
