Waukesha Bible Church: Storyline of the Bible

While teaching the children in our fellowship the story of God I asked the question, “What do you do if you find yourself in a part of the story you do not understand?” One of the children cried out, “Keep reading the story!” Friend that is the best counsel I could give to any one who finds themselves in the hard place, “Keep reading the story!” I would like us to keep reading and find where the story ends.

There is a distinct person, purpose, and plan in the legacy our Lord and Hero left to those who love Him and who are privileged to carry out His mission in His physical absence. We go to all the nations, but we begin in Jerusalem. I often hear of imbalance where the focus is only on missions as it exists on foreign soil or an unhealthy emphasis in reaching your immediate context without any real concern for the world at large. Our responsibility to the world is not met by throwing a few dollars and offering up token interest. Such a response cannot silence our obligation to our immediate community either. We must become relational with our community and with our world through individual involvement and through corporate strength. Inside the Book of Acts there are three salient features. First, what were they to do; second, how would they do it; finally, where were they to go?

In the story of God, He created a world in which His story would unfold. From the very beginning a villain, an antagonist, was presented. But God also wrote into His story a deliverer who would bring deliverance. This hero was foreshadowed and imaged throughout biblical revelation and history. The foretelling and figure were so exact that when the hero arrived all who were looking were able to identify God’s hero. The Hero came at a very specific time in history and with a distinct purpose. He came as a deliverer and He brought with Him deliverance. The Hero has finished the work entrusted to Him by His Father; now He gives to His people the responsibility to carry on the work of proclamation to all the nations. Even though we acknowledge the story of God, we fail to see how we are living in the story and how our lives are a part of the ongoing story of God.

Everything in the story has prepared us for this moment in time. From Genesis 3:15 and 3:21 it is clear there will be an identifiable deliverer and deliverance. God has already written into His story the hero’s identity and His work.

Why didn’t Jesus come sooner? Why where there about 400 silent years between the testaments? Why wasn’t the world’s Redeemer waiting in the Promised Land to meet the incoming Israelites with Joshua?

When we consider the season of Advent, our own actions and attitudes toward Christmas appear vulgar, if not blasphemous. We have so commercialized the story of God that only a hard right turn will put us back on course. In life, it seems that greed and not God controls us. It is self-serving action and not sacrifices on any level that marks us and characterizes our lives. We are heirs of the promise and joint-heirs with Christ, yet we live puny lives simply because we do not know and live in the story.

Salvation always comes through judgment in various ways. Salvation for the nation of Israel at the Exodus came through the judgment of Egypt, and this pattern is repeated throughout the OT. When God saves Israel, he delivers the nation by bringing judgment on the nation’s enemies. Salvation for all believers of all ages is made possible by the judgment that falls on Jesus at the cross. The cross allows God to be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom 3:24–26). Even though members of the remnant live before Jesus, saving faith is explicit trust in the promises of God. I believe the promises of God begin in Genesis 3:15, and I think that many of these promises concern an anointed redeemer whom God will raise up to accomplish the salvation of his people—Messiah. So even though OT saints don’t know that the Messiah will be named Jesus, grow up in Nazareth etc., they have heard God promise to raise up a man who will save them and they trust God to keep his word. So they are saved by faith in God’s promised Messiah.

Why sin? Sin, is perhaps, the hardest truth for mortal man to accept. Sin is problematic not only because of its hideousness, but because of its application. Sin is a very real part of our present condition. We cannot fully appreciate the scope of sin’s permeation into our makeup, nor can we fully comprehend what life will be like without it. Yet, why would a good God permit the entrance of sin into a perfect universe? This question has puzzled thoughtful people for centuries. There is no truly adequate answer. Man does not have the capability of answering the question because of his finiteness and sin. Furthermore, the Bible is silent.

The Bible is the unfolding of God’s purpose and person for creation in general and for His people in particular.The Bible is the unfolding of God’s purpose and person for creation in general and for His people in particular.