God's Big Story

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God’s Big Story In the beginning, God created. His words, spoken into the nothingness, formed everything we know. Light. Sky. Seas. Land. Plants. Trees. Sun. Moon. Stars. Planets. Fish. Birds. Whales. Cattle. Bears. Camels. Dinosaurs. Man. In six days, God spoke everything we know into being. God is a God who creates. He is a God who loves relationship. He created one man from the dust of the earth, breathed the breath of life into him, and gave him a mandate to rule over this newly created world, to care for it, to reveal God’s glory embedded into every corner of it. The man couldn’t do it alone – and that was no accident. God took one of the man’s ribs and formed his perfect counterpart – woman. She was his divinely appointed helper. 1

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With her, they would rule this earth and fill it with more men and women. For everything was created to reproduce after its own kind. And humankind was the most unique of all. Humanity was not just spoken into existence as the rest of the universe had been. Humanity was formed by the hand of God and given life from His breath. Humanity was made not only to display the splendor of their Creator God, but to commune with Him, to know Him in relationship. Humanity was formed in His image – the “image” they bore was not a physical one, as the God who created them was not a physical being. Rather, man and woman bore His likeness in attributes that were smaller shadows of His divine ones. As their Creator, mankind was creative and able to create; their creation was not out of nothing, they didn’t create by speaking, but in a smaller way, they could use ingenuity and creativity and make things out of the materials around them. • The Creator was all-knowing, and humanity could know, learn, reason. • The Creator was righteous and just, and man and woman had a conscience and a sense of justice. • The Creator was sovereign over everything, and humanity had a will and was given responsibilities. • The Creator was loving, and the man and woman had the capacity to love and be loved. • The Creator was all-knowing, and He created humanity with minds, imaginations, and the ability to use reason and logic. • The Creator was all-powerful, and man and woman had power over their domains and the ability to influence the world. 2

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• The Creator was eternal – He had no beginning, He has no ending – and humanity is immortal – they had a beginning, but they were given immortal souls. For a short while, everything was perfect. The man called Adam and the woman named Eve lived in a flawless garden, in a perfect relationship, and had access to and relationship with the God who made them. There was one thing in the universe that was not flawless. Of the legions of angels God had also created, there was one who was not content with his status as a created being, lower than his Creator. He wished to take God’s place. He was cast out of heaven along with the other angels who followed him. And so began the great battle between God and his enemy, known as the devil or Satan. Satan, in the form of a serpent, approached the woman and convinced her to rebel against God, to do the one thing she had been prohibited to do – eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Did God really say you shall not eat from this tree? You will not surely die, you will be like God, knowing good and evil… the words hissed in Eve’s ear and suddenly she doubted. She doubted God’s word. She doubted God’s intentions. She doubted the truth of what He said. As the man and woman tasted that forbidden fruit, they died. Not physically. They died spiritually. Their souls were now tainted by evil. They could no longer have a relationship with God, for He was holy. They could no longer have a perfect relationship with one another, for they had become sinful. They were filled with shame and tried to cover themselves and hide from God’s presence.

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In response to their sin and rebellion, God said that the physical world would mirror the spiritual death and rebellion they had brought on themselves. They would experience physical pain, suffering, and death. The created world, once flawless, would now be filled with death, decay, disorder, destruction. Their relationship would be distorted and broken. Adam and Eve were sent out of the garden and banned from the presence of their holy and perfect Creator. For sin and holiness cannot coexist. But they did not leave the garden without hope – for God promised them that one day Someone would come who would crush the serpent and make everything right again. Time went on. People multiplied on the earth. But as people multiplied and spread, so the disease of sin and rebellion spread and intensified. Eventually only one man named Noah, along with his family, was faithful to follow God and believed that He was holy and His words were true. Men were so sinful that every thought in their heads, every intention of their hearts, was filled with evil. God decided to wipe the earth clean and start fresh with Noah’s family – the Truth of God’s Word and promise had to be protected and passed on. So, God commanded Noah to build an ark to protect his family and two of every kind of animal – enough to start over when the flood was ended. Every other person and animal on the face of the earth was washed away in the global flood. The tops of the highest mountains were covered. The entire earth was covered with water, with one tiny boat floating in the midst. Sin and holiness cannot coexist.

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After the waters receded, Noah and his family came down from the ark. They worshipped God and thanked Him for His provision and protection through the great flood. God commanded them to fill the earth and subdue it, just as He had commanded Adam and Eve generations before. They started over. Even though Noah and his family were followers of God, the generations that followed largely were not. They did not fill the earth as God had commanded. They banded together. They began to build a city with a tower that would reach to the heavens. They sought to make themselves famous and great and secure – rather than making God’s story known in the earth, they wanted to leave a monument to their own greatness. In response to their rebellion, God confused their speech – He caused this group of people who had previously all spoken one language, to be split into smaller groups with different languages. They could no longer live in one community, and they were scattered over the earth – just as God had originally commanded. There were not many who followed after God. But one day, God spoke to one man by the name of Abram [whose name God later changed to Abraham]. He told Abram to leave his country and his people and go to a new land that God would show him. He promised to make Abram’s descendents into a great nation. He promised them a land of their own. And He promised that through Abram’s family, all of the world would be blessed. In other words – the “Someone” God had promised to Adam and Eve, the One who would crush the serpent and make everything right again, would come through the family of Abraham!

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After many years of waiting, Abraham had a son named Isaac. God re-iterated his promises of a great nation, land, and the promised “Someone” to Isaac. Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau – God chose Jacob (who was later known as Israel) as the one through whom He would continue His blessing and promises. None of these people were flawless in their journey of faith in God – all were still sinful, just like the rest of humanity. This fact is well illustrated in the family of Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons through four women; dysfunctional does not even begin to describe it! Eventually he became a true believer in and follower of God, but in the meantime he made terrible choices and showed extreme favoritism to one of his children, which left lasting marks on the family. Jacob’s favorite son, Joseph, was not surprisingly hated by his older brothers. One day they conspired against him, sold him into slavery in Egypt, and told their father that wild animals had killed him. God continued to bless Joseph and eventually he went from slave to the second in command under Pharaoh. When a severe famine hit the land, it was the careful management of Joseph that allowed the people of Egypt, and ultimately his own family, to survive. The family God had chosen to tell His story to the world, the family through whom He would unfold His plan of redemption, the family of the “Someone” who would someday crush the serpent and make everything right again, was now living in Egypt and were known as the Hebrews. They were multiplying and flourishing under God’s blessing, but they eventually became threatening to a later Pharaoh who did not know of Joseph. God’s chosen people were enslaved and cruelly oppressed. The Pharaoh even ordered that the baby boys be thrown into the Nile river.

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God spared the life of a small Hebrew baby by the name of Moses who was, amazingly enough, protected and raised by Pharaoh’s own daughter. Eventually God used Moses to bring His chosen people out of Egypt. The Pharaoh was unwilling to let his slave force go free, but after a series of plagues against the land, people, and false gods of Egypt, Pharaoh relented. The Hebrew people walked out of Egypt and into the wilderness. When Pharaoh’s army pursued them, God parted the Red Sea and allowed them to walk across on dry land. When they were hungry, God made bread flakes known as manna appear every morning on the ground like dew. When they were thirsty, God provided water from rocks! He loved His people, even when they turned their backs on Him, as they often did. God instructed Moses and the Israelites (another name for the Hebrews, as they were descendants of Jacob, also known as Israel) about who He was and what He expected of His people. Because God is holy, the people must be holy. He gave them ten great commandments that formed a basic understanding of God’s definition of right and wrong – each law was based on His own nature and the relationship He desired with His people. • There was only one true God – nothing and no one else was to take His place. • There were to be no idols of false gods or physical representations of God – God had created the entire universe, all of mankind. He was the only true God, and the only authorized “images” of God were the people He created. • Because God is holy, His name was to be revered and used with respect. 7

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• God commanded His people to work six days of the week, and devote the seventh day to worshipping Him and resting – to cease from labor and recognize that God is the source of every good thing. • God commanded them to honor their parents, for just as the people were to have a reverent fear of their holy Creator, they were to respect and honor the authority set over them by God. • God is the author of life, and the people were prohibited to murder. • God desired a pure and committed relationship with His people, and marriages were to mirror that. Just as marriage reflected God’s covenant with His people, adultery was a reenactment of idolatry – a broken covenant, forsaking the true and pure relationship for a lesser, sinful one. • Stealing, lying, and coveting (desiring something that is not yours to have) were also prohibited, as God is the one who gives and takes away. He is the definition of Truth. He is the definition of goodness. To act in a way that violates His nature was and is the definition of sin. He wanted a relationship with them, to live among them. But they were still a sinful people (no matter how hard they tried they would still sin) – and sin and holiness cannot coexist. In order for the people to have a relationship with Him, God instructed them with great detail to create a large tent of worship known as the Tabernacle – there, God would dwell among them. Because of the sin that every person had in their hearts, including the appointed priests, something had to pay the price of their rebellion. Blood had to be shed to temporarily cover their sinfulness and allow them to approach God’s holiness without being destroyed. 8

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Thus, animal sacrifice was a focal point of life in the Tabernacle – for we all deserve death because of our sin. Sin and holiness cannot coexist. For every transgression, for every rebellion, something had to die. They would leave the Tabernacle after offering their sacrifice, go home, and inevitably fail again. Sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice. It was the only way to cover their sin and allow them to be near the Holy One. After many years of wandering in the desert (their wanderings were made 40 years longer because of their rebellion against God), God finally brought them home – to the land that had been promised to Abraham all those years before. He strategically placed them on the trade route between all major civilizations at the time. He did not place them there for their own prosperity, but that the world would come to their doorstep, as it were, and that they could tell them the Truth about who God was and that He wanted a relationship with them. The Israelites settled in the land. But all was not well. Although God had hand-picked these people, although He had brought them out of slavery, miraculously provided for them every single day in the wilderness, made a way for them to know Him, shown them how to live with Him as their God, and given them the exact land He had promised to their forefathers… they fell away. They refused to obey Him. They compromised and followed His commands halfheartedly or ignored them altogether. They rejected His leadership and demanded a human king. They worshipped false gods and built idols and centers of worship to honor them. They refused to listen even when God sent prophets to warn them of the consequences they would face for their rebellion. 9

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And like a loving parent who allows his child to face the hardship brought on by his own disobedience, God allowed His people to be oppressed by their enemies, attacked, and eventually taken captive and carried into exile because of their rebellion. Even in their rebellion, even in exile, God sent His prophets to remind His people of the Truth, to call them to turn back to Him. Years went by. A faithful remnant of Jews (a term derived from the name “Judah,” who was one of the most prominent sons of Jacob) did return to the land. Some were committed to following the One True God – they worshipped at the temple (the permanent replacement, which was rebuilt several times over the years, for the Tabernacle), they followed God’s commandments, and they waited… for while they were great in number, as God had promised Abraham, they had yet to see the promised “Someone”, the one who would crush the serpent. They had learned more about this promised One over the years from different prophecies – He would be from the tribe of Judah, the line of David (among other things!) They also expected that when this promised One appeared, that he would again make them into an independent nation and finally give them the full allotment of land that had been promised to their forefathers. For years God was silent. And then one day, an angel appeared to a young woman by the name of Mary. “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 the 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 10

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The Promised One had come. The One they had expected from the beginning had arrived. And most people didn’t realize it. He wasn’t born in a palace and lauded by the rich and powerful – He was born in a stable and welcomed by social outcasts and foreigners. They had expected this Promised One to be a political savior. They expected Him to overthrow the Roman rule they were under, to restore to them the entire tract of land God had promised to Abraham, to create social and political peace and prosperity. He didn’t do that. He taught from the Scripture. He blessed children. He healed sick people – sometimes even on the Sabbath, the day of rest! He had harsh words for the religious leaders who thought that knowing God was strictly about keeping rules. What made people the most upset, however, was that He claimed to be God. To those who did not believe, it was blasphemy. And so, with hearts full of hatred and anger, they had him crucified. What they didn’t realize was that Jesus’ death was part of the plan all along. Remember, sin and holiness cannot coexist. Fundamentally, God desired a relationship with the people He created and loved. Even though God had put the system of sacrifices and worship at the Temple in place long before, it was insufficient. People were sinful to the core. No animal sacrifice was enough to cover their sin once and for all. No animal sacrifice was enough to truly wash them clean in God’s sight and allow them to have access to Him – a true relationship not bound by a physical place, sacrifices, walls, and curtains.

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And so Jesus came as the Lamb of God – the one perfect sacrifice. He was fully God, and thus was perfect and sinless, but He was also completely human and able to suffer and die on behalf of the people He loved. They didn’t take His life. He gave it. But that isn’t the end of the story! On the third day after His crucifixion, the disciples (the men who were Jesus’ hand-picked followers) found his tomb empty! They were confused and dismayed and afraid, but Jesus came to them Himself and erased all doubt that the unbelievable was true: Jesus was alive again! Jesus stayed on the earth for forty days following his resurrection from the dead. He appeared to many people, and continued to teach His disciples and prepare them to tell the world the Truth about Himself. After Jesus ascended back to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit of God to the disciples to be with them forever and enable them to do the great work He left for them. You see, instead of sending the world to their doorstep, as He had with Israel, Jesus had commanded His disciples to go and tell the world about Him, and make more disciples who would follow Jesus. And so the disciples took the Truth about Jesus Christ (Christ is a title meaning “anointed One”) to those around them. When persecution broke out, the believers in Jesus began to scatter across the entire Roman world. Peter, Paul, and the other apostles carried the Truth everywhere they went – teaching the Jews the good news that Jesus was the Promised One they had been waiting for, teaching the Gentiles (those who were not Jews) that God had made a way to have a relationship with Him. 12

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That was two thousand years ago, but the story isn’t finished yet. The Bible tells us that one day, Jesus will return. There is a seven year time period before Christ’s return to reign known as the “tribulation.” It will be a terrible time of wars, plagues, catastrophes, and global unrest that is unmatched throughout the rest of world history. The Bible also teaches that the Church, not specific denominations but all who are sincere followers of God who have trusted in Jesus Christ as the only one who can save them from their sin, will be “caught up” or raptured into heaven. While not all Christians agree on the timing of this event, I believe that the Scriptures indicate that this will happen at the beginning of the tribulation period. At the end of this time, Jesus will return to earth. The Bible says that the nations will mourn over Him – for this time He is returning to judge the sins of mankind. Like the worldwide flood in Noah’s time, only those who are true followers of God, those who have their sin washed away by the sacrifice of Jesus on their behalf, will be spared from the destruction of all those who are in rebellion against God. The serpent will be crushed. God will restore Israel to a right relationship with Him. God will give them the land He promised them. They will see peace. God keeps His promises. We don’t know when Jesus will come back. But we do know that the signs He told us to watch for are all around us. We believe it will be soon. Are you ready?

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God loves us and created us to have a personal relationship with Him. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 • Our sin keeps us from having a personal relationship with God. "... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." Romans 3:23 • Only through Jesus Christ can we have a personal relationship with God. "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." 1 Peter 3:18 • We must personally respond by trusting Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God..." John 1:12 •

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