Day 11: What is the Master Story of the Bible? PT 01
Today, we begin to trace the Master Story revealed in the Bible. Looking at things from a high view, we will see how the Bible answers some of our fundamental life questions: Where have we come from? Where are things headed? Why are we here?
We begin our overview of the whole Bible today. We will present it as if you are reading a single book with a Prologue, five Chapters, and then an Epilogue. Hearing the Master Story of the Bible creates the context in which to understand who Jesus is and what He has done for us.
Prologue | Eternity (Past)
John 17:24
[Jesus prayed,] Father, I desire those You have given Me to be with Me where I am. Then they will see My glory, which You have given Me because You loved Me before the world’s foundation.
The Master Story begins in Eternity—the “place” where the One True God dwells. Before anything else existed, God existed. God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—lived in a fellowship of truth, goodness, and glorious beauty. Our existence does not flow out of the endless dark of an eternal night, but from the glorious existence of a God who loves and loves to be loved. Glory is an important word that we will come across quite a few times. Think about this definition:
Glory is radiant (it gives “light” and is meant to be seen) beauty (captivating) that is profound (heavy, deep), inexhaustible (we never tire of thinking about it) and remarkable (worth taking about)
In the passage above, Jesus tells us about His life with the Father before the creation of the world and we hear that it was glorious and loving. Jesus wants all of His people to be with Him so that they too can experience this eternal reality.
Chapter 1 | Creation and Blessing [Genesis 1-2]
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…
Out of His pleasure, the Lord-God creates all things for His good purposes. Father-God designs the physical realm (the Earth and our Universe) and also the spiritual realm (The Heavens) which oversees and governs the physical. In the New Testament we learn that all things are created in/by, through, and for Jesus (Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2). We also hear that the Holy Spirit of God is the agent or means of His creation (Genesis 1:2, Psalm 33:6-7).
God is the “Sovereign Master” (He can do whatever He pleases and desires) because He is the Creator. Yet He chooses to create other beings to take part in overseeing His Creation and to share in His abundant life. In the Heavenly realm, God placed the heavenly, angelic beings to oversee the heavenly, spiritual, or cosmic realm (Psalm 103:20).
God then designed and created humanity to oversee His Kingdom on Earth (Genesis 1:26-27). God created us to be His image and likeness on Planet Earth. We were designed with a grand and glorious purpose and destiny. This whole first study will be concerned with God’s plans and purposes for us on planet earth—how He has designed us and equipped us for His grand purposes.
As God looks at His creation, He says, “It is all very good” (Genesis 1:31). There was nothing wrong or flawed in God’s original creation. Everything that He had created would accomplish the purposes for which He had made them.
Chapter 2 | Rebellion and Fall [Genesis 3-11]
Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned.
All true-to-life stories have a villain because our Master Story has a Villain. He is Satan (Hebrew for “Adversary”) also known as The Devil. Satan is one of the angelic beings and he leads a rebellion in Heaven in which 1/3 of the angels join (Revelation 12:1-4). The Adversary is a master deceiver and his mission is very simple: he comes to steal, to kill and to destroy all that God values—all that is true, good, and glorious (John 10:10, Revelation 12:9ff.). In this rebellion, The Great Spiritual War begins between theLight(God and His allies) and the Darkness (Satan and his allies, the rebellious angels that are now demons).
Shortly after their creation, the first two human beings—Adam and Eve—are persuaded by the Devil to join in The Rebellion. Adam and Eve choose to reject God’s Kingship and to grasp at their right to self-rule. In this rebellion on Earth, Satan becomes “ruler of this World” (John 12:31) and “god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Human history now becomes the stage for the tyranny of the Dominion of Darkness and humanity becomes enslaved to these evil powers.
Chapter 3 | Redemption [Genesis 12—The Gospel of John]
God is not so easily frustrated or defeated by these rebellions and the seeming failures of His creation. In the longest chapter in our Story, God reveals His saving purposes through the Nation of Israel (the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) that culminates in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus the Messiah/Christ.
This section covers most of the Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures. Clearly, we cannot get into any detail in this large section. What we do see in this part of the Master Story is that no matter how many times humans fail, Father God remains faithful to His Word – His Promises.
Matthew 1:1
This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ,
the son of David, the son of Abraham. {NET}
Jesus comes to fulfill the promises given to and through Israel. Jesus is the “Son of Abraham” in that He fulfills the promise that all the families of the earth would be blessed through one of Abraham’s sons—a descendant. He is the “Son of David” in that He fulfills the promise that one of David’s sons would be King (Messiah/Christ)over Israel and ultimately over the whole earth (Psalm 2).
In a bold move, God himself enters into the human experience as a human! Jesus—the God-Man—does all that is necessary to destroy the Devil and save Adam’s rebellious and sinful family. Because Jesus deals once and for all with the problem of our rebellious sin, He is able to offer abundant, Eternal Life to all who trust Him (John 10:10). This is not just never-ending existence; it is living with the security, significance, and fulfillment that flows out of our relationship with the One True God.
Jesus Himself gives meaning and coherence to the Master Story. Before his birth, all history looks forward to Him through the promises Father-God made to Abraham and his family. After His death, resurrection, and ascension into the heavenly realm, all history looks back to the salvation that He provides and also looks forward to the renewing of all things at His glorious return.
Did anything in the reading today cause you to think in a new way?
*click on the chart below to see it larger or download it.
*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.
