Category: Story of God (Page 5 of 7)

Act Four – Jesus

September 15, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

Act Four is where the Story of God just absolutely soars. It really takes off here and just zooms majestically into beautiful places we never anticipated.

God himself comes back to the earth he created to live with his people. But this time, he comes as a person. The Creator of Heaven and Earth puts on human flesh and blood to live with us and to once and for all save us. This time, God doesn’t send an angel or a prophet or some other representative. He leaves his home in eternal glory to live with us himself. This time, God is not forming man from the dust; God himself enters that dust, he becomes that clay. This is very personal God. After all, it’s his promise.

“‘She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the LORD had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ — which means ‘God with us.'” ~Matthew 1:21-23

“You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The LORD God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his Kingdom will never end.” ~Luke 1:31-33

“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” ~John 1:29

Jesus says “I came to seek and save the lost.” “I came not to be served, but to serve and to give my life.” “I have come to proclaim the Kingdom of God.” “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”

Jesus of Nazareth is a real flesh-and-blood man in the real history of time and space. But he is also God. “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.” “I and the Father are one.” And God did not come just to save us from our sins, he came to save us to life: more abundant life, eternal life, life in union with God as true sons and daughters of God.

So God becomes flesh and makes his dwelling among us. And he immediately begins to overturn the effects of sin and death. He starts to change things back to the way they were in Act One. Jesus begins to reverse the curse of sin.

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them.” ~Matthew 4:23-24

Jesus heals the sick because there is no disease in the Garden of Eden. He feeds the hungry because there is no need in the Garden of Eden. Jesus raises the dead because there are no cemeteries in the beginning. He eats with Jews and Gentiles, he shares meals with religious leaders and sinners, because there were no distinctions in the Garden. He reaches out to women and elevates women, he calls and commissions women, because Adam and Eve were equals in the beginning. He calms the storms and stills the seas because earth and nature were created to cooperate with people, not destroy them. Jesus forgives sins because humans were created by God in the perfect image of God in order to live and reign with God in his presence forever.

Jesus is actively reversing the curse. He’s making all things right. And he is with us. Immanuel. God with us. Eating with us, worshiping with us, laughing and crying with us, blessing our children, living with us. Changing lives. Saving lives. Thousands of people traveled miles and days just to hear the words fall from his lips, just to feel the love in his gentle touch. Little kids were crawling all over him. People were climbing trees just to see him, ripping roofs off houses just to get to him.

And then Jesus did something only he could do. He did something to finally and ultimately and completely reverse the curse, to destroy the effects of sin and death forever.

He died.

He died on a cross.

On purpose.

Jesus resolutely set his face toward Jerusalem and walked to the cross. He allowed himself to be beaten and tortured. He allowed them to nail his hands and feet to the blood-soaked wood of a cross. He died willingly. He sacrificed himself. He could have called ten thousand angels. But he died alone. For you and me. It’s what Jesus came to do. The Lamb of God who dies to take away the sin of the world.

Peace,

Allan

Faithfulness

September 12, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

This week we’ve been considering together Act Three of the Story of God: Covenant – The Promised Kingdom. Instead of trying to write about and discuss Genesis 12 through Malachi 4, I’ve tried to identify four things I believe God is doing with the covenant he made to Abraham in Genesis 12 and in the ways he works with and through the covenant in the rest of the Old Testament. God is showing us four things, he’s communicating these four things to us. My suggestion is to identify these four things in every Old Testament story you read. Look for these things. It’ll help you better understand what God is doing when he makes and keeps his promises.

We’ve looked at Revelation, Presence, and Partnership. Today, let’s consider God’s Faithfulness.

We can know for certain a couple of things by reading the Old Testament and by just experiencing life. We know for sure that Satan has not lost interest in people since his big win in the Garden of Eden in Act One. He keeps coming at us. We also know that our God never, ever, stops in his love and care for the people and the world he created. The devil keeps trying and God keeps saving. We know this. Throughout Act Three, we see Israel chasing after pagan idols and God forever restoring them to their right ways. We Israel rebel against God, we see wickedness in Israel’s priests and kings, we see sin. And we see God relentlessly bringing them back. Our God will not be stopped.

In the covenant, God says, “I will bless you if you live right” and “I will take care of you if you obey my commands.” If not, well, then God makes other arrangements to bless his people. He finds other ways to save them.

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.” ~Ezekiel 36:25-28

If your heart is hard, I’ll give you a new one. If your mind is corrupted, I’ll create in you a new one. Over and over again in Act Three, God proves that he will do whatever it takes to live with his people and be their God. Whatever it takes. Because it’s his covenant. His promise. His Word. And he won’t let it be broken.

He gives Noah the rainbow covenant and Noah immediately gets drunk and exposes himself. Yet God’s promise goes on. He gives Israel the Sinai covenant and the people immediately build a golden calf. Yet God’s covenant remains intact. He gives David the royal covenant the king after God’s own heart immediately grabs his neighbor’s wife and breaks half the ten commandments in one weekend. Yet God’s promise remains. God keeps finding other ways. He keeps making other arrangements. His covenant will never be broken.

Your job is to believe it. Believe it. Abraham believed and God credited it to him as righteousness. If you believe God’s Word, if you trust him that he’s going to save you and that he will not be stopped in fulfilling his promises to you and to the whole world, he’ll consider that as faith. And he’ll give you credit. He’ll apply a righteousness to you, a holiness, that you don’t have and you can never receive any other way.

“The promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring — not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of all… He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed — the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations… He did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” ~Romans 4:16-21

If God has promised you life: life in Christ, life in the Spirit of God, a life of bearing Kingdom fruit — if he’s promised you life in his body, the Church — and if he’s ratified those promises by the blood of his own Son, Jesus the Christ, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, do you believe it?

Peace,

Allan

Partnership

September 11, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

“All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” ~Genesis 12:3

God calls his people and saves them and changes them in order to bless the whole world. He pulls them out of Egypt, he rescues them from slavery, and he gathers them to his presence on the mountain to commission them for his work on behalf of all the earth.

“You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” ~Exodus 19:4-6

Israel belongs to God. And, yes, they are called out to be separate from the world. But they are not separate in that they live in isolation from the other nations. As holy and priestly, Israel’s purpose is to save and bless the entire world in a partnership with God. The covenant is international in scope. It’s global. Israel is saved, not just for Israel’s sake, but so God can work through them to save all of humanity.

When God’s people break the covenant, when they live their lives in ways that are not holy, yes, it has serious implications for their relationship with God. But, much bigger than that, it thwarts the salvation plans of heaven for everybody else. In the exile, when Israel felt the full weight of the consequences of her disobedience, the focus in Scripture is on how it’s impacting the salvation of the rest of the world.

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” ~Isaiah 49:6

Even in the darkest period of Israel’s history, when her own release from captivity was the most pressing concern, God reminds his people of the bigger picture. He reminds them that it’s not just about them. Why are they going to be released? Why are they going to be saved? For the sake of others, not themselves. To use God’s blessings to bring salvation to the rest of the world.

We are covenant partners with the God of Heaven and Earth.

Somehow, though, we have encouraged the question, “What can God do for me?” or “What can the Church do for me?” Somehow, we’ve nurtured a culture that’s concerned with, “What can I get out of believing in God? or “What can I get out of going to Church?” Somehow, we’ve fostered an attitude that being a Christian means not much more than going to church to ask God for what we need and to thank him for what he’s given us. And that’s all. No wonder strong, smart, healthy people are completely bored out of their minds with church! And Christianity!

We are not just creatures of God. We are creatures uniquely made in God’s image, equipped by God and empowered by God as God’s partners in and for the world. We are partners whom God has invited and commanded to join his business of preserving and caring for the world. Of doing justice and showing compassion in human society. Sharing the suffering of those who suffer and freeing those who are enslaved by their own sins and oppressed by the sins of others.

Being in covenant with God is not a passive thing. It’s not just hanging around the church building waiting for Jesus to come back. It’s not like just sitting in the dark, eating your popcorn and talking to your friend, while you wait for the movie to start. We’re in the movie! We’re in the play! By virtue of the covenant, we’ve all been given and have all accepted the holy responsibility to advance the salvation cause of our God.

Peace,

Allan

Presence

September 10, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

“I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.” ~Genesis 17:7

We’re going to be together. We’re going to live together, just like in the garden in the very beginning. God says we’re going to occupy the same places together just like in Act One. The covenant is about God being visibly, physically present with his people.

When he delivers them from Egypt, God leads them from a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Scripture tells us neither pillar “left its place in front of the people.”

And then God brings his people to a mountain in the middle of the desert and he tells them the details of the covenant. God is right there, physically and visibly on the mountain. There’s smoke and fire, thunder and lightning. The people are trembling with fear.

“They offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD. Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, ‘We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey.’

Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.’

Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.” ~Exodus 24:5-11

God uses the blood of the covenant, the blood of the sacrifice, to cleanse his people so they can sit down together and share a meal. They saw God and they ate and drank. The blood made them righteous. Because of the blood, God considered them holy, so they could be right there in his face-to-face presence. Eating together! With God! It’s remarkable! But that kind of proximity, that kind of physical relationship and presence, is what God and the humans had in the garden in Act One. And that’s what God is working to restore with his covenant.

God longs to physically live with his people. So, next, he tells them to build him a tent.

“Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them.” ~Exodus 29:45-46

“I will put my dwelling place among you… I will walk among you and be your God and you will be my people.” ~Leviticus 26:11-12

This is the promise, this is the language through the rest of the Old Testament. I will live with you; you will be my people and I will be your God. At the tabernacle. At the temple. Five times in Ezekiel. Five times in Jeremiah. Three times in Zechariah. God gives us his covenant so we can live together with him in his presence.

Peace,

Allan

Revelation

September 9, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

Valerie bought her first car yesterday: a 2008 Ford Escape with just 46,000 miles and one previous owner. Leather seats. Moon roof. Power everything. And clean. A far cry from the ’74 Monte Carlo I bought with roofing money when I was sixteen. This is a pretty sweet ride. Her mom and I matched the money she had saved and now Val’s cruising around campus and Canyon in her own set of wheels. Her “whip,” she calls it. I have no idea what that means.

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God gives us his covenant and he works through his covenant to reveal himself. He tells us who he is, he shows the world who he is, by his covenant actions with his people. In Exodus 34, God does not destroy his people after the golden calf incident, although he wants to. Moses talks him out of it. Instead, God reveals his glory to Moses. He tells Moses his full name, he discloses to his people exactly who he is:

“The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin.” ~Exodus 34:6-7

It’s such an important revelation of God that it’s quoted nine times in the Old Testament. This is who God is. These are his eternal characteristics, his eternal nature. And you find these character traits on display as God keeps his covenant Word to his people. It’s a very helpful exercise in reading and interpreting the Bible, I think, to look for these characteristics in every passage. Is revealing his compassion here? Is God demonstrating his patience here? Is this where God shows me that he’s forgiving? It’s important to God that we know him; we should look for it in his Scriptures.

There’s a well known Assyrian prayer that’s titled “A Prayer to Every God.” And in this pagan prayer, the worshiper is trying to appease a god from his anger over some offense the worshiper has committed. There are only two problems: One, he doesn’t know which god is angry and, two, he doesn’t know what he did wrong. So he makes a bunch of confessions to sins he doesn’t know if he’s committed or not. And each confession is addressed to “the god I do know or the god I do not know.” Maybe he’s eaten a forbidden fruit he knows nothing about. Maybe he accidentally wandered into a sacred space nobody told him about. The prayer is so frustrating and hopeless. You can hear the desperation at the end:

“Although I am constantly looking for help, no one takes me by the hand;
when I weep, they do not come to my side.
I utter laments, but no one hears me;
I am troubled; I am overwhelmed; I cannot see…
Man is dumb; he knows nothing;
mankind, everyone that exists — what does he know?
Whether he is committing sin or doing good, he does not ever know.”

This is how we would be without revelation. That’s why the covenant is so important, that’s why God’s law was such a treasure to Israel: because God had spoken to them. In an act of divine grace, God communicates to his people what pleases him and what angers him. We don’t have to guess.

Today, we look back at some of the Old Testament laws and we criticize the strictness and we question the seeming arbitrariness of some of it. But you don’t get that reaction from the Hebrews themselves. They seemed rather relieved that their God had agreed to define a relationship with them.

The covenant is about revelation.

When God’s planning and raining down the ten plagues on Egypt, he states over and over again it’s so “you will know that I am the Lord” and so “all of Egypt will know that I am the Lord.” When the Israelites were getting close to Jericho, Rahab told the two spies they were all afraid because they had heard about what God did to Egypt. She claimed their hearts had all melted at the news “for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” When the Israelites cross the Jordan River, the people are told that God divided the waters “so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.”

When you have a covenant with God, you no longer have a remote, unapproachable God. You have a God you can know. A God you can count on. It’s important to God that we know who he is. And he reveals himself in clear terms though his covenant actions in Act Three.

Peace,

Allan

Act Three – Covenant

September 8, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

In Act Three of the Story of God, the Lord comes to one of the humans and articulates a solemn promise to make things right between the Creator and his created. He guarantees to repair the relationship and to once again live with his people. His love for all men and women and his loyalty to the earth he created compels God to make this covenant. Act Three is good news.

“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” ~Genesis 12:2-3

God makes this covenant with Abram of Ur. And he uses the word “bless” five times, some say because he uses the word “curse” five times in Act Two. So the blessings counter the curses. This is God’s solution to sin. This is how God’s going to fix the problem and redeem the creation and restore the relationship. Through Abram. And every single thing that happens for the rest of the Story, from here in Genesis 12 through Revelation 22, hangs on this covenant. It’s so important that God repeats it four other times:

“Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.” ~Genesis 18:18

“Through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.” ~Genesis 22:18

“Through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.” ~Genesis 26:4

“All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.” ~Genesis 28:14

God proclaims the covenant five times, some say because the word for “corrupt” or “spoiled” is used to describe the earth five times in Act Two. So the covenant undoes the corruption.

This is enormous! It’s everything! This is the good news that, despite the wickedness, rebellion and sin, despite the chaos and darkness of Act Two, God is going to bless the whole world through this family. The apostle Paul calls this the gospel in advance:

“[God] announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.'” ~Galatians 3:8

And then God seals the covenant with blood. Blood makes the covenant official. Since before recorded history in the Middle East to this time in Genesis almost five thousand years ago to some Bedouin communities in the Middle East today, all covenants require the shedding of blood to make them official. God and Abraham did it in Genesis 15. Abraham cut up the five animals and then God walked through the blood to ratify the covenant. God owns it. It’s his promise.

In Genesis 22 when God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son to hold up his end of the covenant, he was ready to. Covenants require blood. On the way up the mountain, Isaac asks his dad, “Um… hey… where’s the lamb for the sacrifice?” And Abraham answers, “God himself will provide the lamb.” And he does. A ram caught in the bushes by its horns. Sheep blood was spilled instead of the blood of Abraham’s child. The blood of a lamb provided by God.

From here on out, blood sacrifice is a central aspect of life for God’s people. Lots of blood. Blood everywhere. Blood all the time. They pour blood on the altar. They sprinkle blood on the people. They paint their doorposts with blood.

The blood says to the people: Remember, God promised to pay for our sins. He said he would fix what’s wrong with everything. We have an arrangement with God. He’s going to make things right. And the blood says to God: Please, remember your promise. Please, fix everything like you say you will.

Act Three: Covenant. It’s a long act. Hundreds of scenes. From Genesis 12 through the end of the Old Testament is about God enacting and working out the covenant. And it’s long. If you were sitting through this play in a theater, this would be the act right before intermission. And it takes forever.

Obviously, I can’t write about all the scenes this week. That’s impossible. It’s thirty-eight-and-a-half books. It’s too much. What I’d like to do is give you four things to look for when you’re reading the Old Testament. This will help you, equip you, to read and interpret and apply the Bible as a story and not as a law book. I think God’s communicating four things, he’s doing four things with his covenant: Revelation, Presence, Partnership, and Faithfulness. We’ll start in on those tomorrow.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Story of God (Page 5 of 7)

Act Four – Jesus

Faithfulness

Partnership

Presence

Revelation

Act Three – Covenant

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