Biblical scholars sometimes wrestle with the question of what unites the Bible. We have 66 books
written over thousands of years by dozens of different authors. Different times, places,
audiences, different genres. Even we have poetry, narrative, we have songs. And with all of this
diversity in the literature of the Bible, the question often comes up as to what unifies it. And one
way that I think is very helpful for us approaching how we see the Bible as a unified whole is by
thinking it in terms of, as, in terms of a big story or what we might call a Meta narrative. That's
just a fancy word for the overarching story that unites it together. And there are different ways
that we might structure the story. But we can think maybe in, in terms of four major acts or
events or scenes that encompass the biblical metanarrative. Those would be creation, fall,
redemption, and new creation. The Bible, of course, starts in Genesis 1 and 2 with God. And it
starts with God's activity of creating that matter and space are essentially given function and
purpose. God is organizing the world, creating light and stars, the sun, the moon, the earth,
vegetation, the animals, and ultimately humanity. And we're told humanity is made in God's
image and throughout the creation story, it's repeated that this is good, good, good, very good.
What God has created is good. And we find not long into the story though the authors don't tell
us exactly how much time has elapsed that things start to go wrong. We talk about the fall, which
occurs in Genesis 3, when humanity sins against God, they break one of his commandments to
not eat from the tree. But there's a, another fall before the fall. Sense, because before Adam and
Eve disobeyed God, there is a snake already in the garden. There's already been a rebellion in the
spiritual world that we find out about in other places in the story. And so this good world that
God has made, these creatures that he's endowed with intelligence, with creativity, with moral
qualities turn against him. They turn against his will and his ways. And sin begins to wreak havoc
on God's creation. And early in the book of Genesis, we begin to see how the story of
redemption, our third on the narrative, begins to develop. And many of us, when we think
creation fall, redemption in a Christian framework might immediately turn our minds to Jesus
into the New Testament. And that certainly is the climax of the story of redemption in Scripture.
But it actually begins in the Old Testament with Abraham. God makes a promise to Abraham to
bless him, to multiply his descendants, to give them a land, and also to bless the nations through
him. And Paul tells us in Galatians that the fulfillment of this promise to Abraham, this blessing
that would come to the nations has come to them through Jesus Christ. Darrell Bock has said that
the covenants of the Old Testament form the backbone of the gospel. And this is the first
significant covenant that we have in the Old Testament. These promises God makes to Abraham.
But there's also a covenant that he makes with Israel through Moses. He gives them the law. He
essentially says, if you're going to be my people, this then is how you should live. He makes a
promise to David and promises him a descendent who will sit on the throne forever AND rule.
And then there is the New Covenant, which we read about in Jeremiah 31. And he's ECL 37,
where God promises to pour His spirit out on his people to give them new hearts. And in various
ways, the New Testament authors see these covenants as factoring in and forming the story of
Jesus and the redemption, which we find there. This blessing to not only Israel but to the nations
through Abraham's descendants, comes in one of Abraham's descendants. In Jesus, a Jew, a
descendant of David, a descendant of Abraham. And as a descendant of David, he is worthy to sit
on the throne to rule as God's chosen King. And Jesus pours out the spirit. We read about this at
Pentecost, he tells his followers, when I depart, I will send you the comforter. The Spirit will be
given to them. And so the new covenant is fulfilled by means of Jesus sending the spirit after His
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ascension. So the redemption story connects from the Old Testament into the new frames how
we understand Jesus and his death and resurrection as bringing redemption and new life to
humanity, but not just to humanity for we also read in the New Testament that all of creation is
going to be renewed through the work of Christ. Paul tells us in Romans eight that creation is
groaning to be restored. And we read at the end of Revelation, when the final battle is done,
when Jesus stands victorious over his enemies, that a new heaven and a new earth have come
forth. And the heavenly city descends to the new earth where God's people will dwell in their
glorified resurrected bodies with their arisen glorified lord for all eternity. So these four points in
the story can help us to see how the Bible fits together. That this overarching story it tells of
creation, fall, redemption, and new creation provides us a way to understand its unity, but also
gives us a way to see our place in the story. That God is writing. Our role in His will, in His plan for
his world.
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