One Story to Rule Them All
We often use stories to make sense of life.
Have you ever called someone and as the phone rang you began to tell yourself a story? Either you’re considering what the person on the other side of the phone is doing, or what they will think of you, or how the conversation will go…
You don’t do this intentionally, it just happens. We naturally think in stories. narratives, real or not have a profound impact in our lives.
My father used to tell a story that I believe illustrates this. This story takes place in Brazil in a time before cell phones.
The story is of a man, driving his pickup truck through country roads when he gets a flat tire. When he goes to change the tire he realizes he is missing the jack that will allow him to change the tire. He is very frustrated and as he considers his options he sees a farmhouse not too far down the road. He figures the farmer will likely also have a truck and very likely have the tools necessary to change a flat tire.
As the man makes his way to the house he begins to think about how the interaction will go.
He imagines himself knocking on the door, the farmer’s wife opens the door and he explains to her his situation. She asks him how come he was driving down farm roads without a jack to change his tire, she tells him he must be more careful in the future and that it is dangerous to be so careless.
She asks him to wait while she goes get her husband. Her husband is busy taking care of things at the farm, probably driving a tractor, or herding the cattle, maybe fixing up the barn, and now the farmer has to stop his important work to come and help this irresponsible man who is driving around without a jack to change his flat tire.
The man continues to imagine how things might play out. As he tells himself this story he imagines the farmer to be an older man, perhaps the age of his father. He imagines the farmer shaking his head, then taking an old handkerchief and drying the sweat from his brow, maybe washing his hands from grease after working to fix his tractor. The farmer comments with his wife about how these young men nowadays are so irresponsible, driving around without a jack and depending on the kindness of strangers. Now he will have to take time and effort to help this stranger who was foolish enough to drive down country roads without having a proper jack to change a flat tire. The farmer comments to his wife about how these kids are so entitled, and “what would he do if our house was not here? What if he had gotten his flat in a place miles away from anyone who could help him?”
All this was happening in the mind of the truck driver as he walked towards the farmhouse. He got himself so worked up with his imaginary story that by the time he knocked on the door he was already regretting it. imagining what the owners of the house would say to him he began to rehearse explanations. He had bought the truck recently and never needed the jack so he had never checked. To which the father would likely reply that he should have checked, you can’t afford not to check. The farmer would think he was naive, or lazy.
When the man heard steps approaching to open the door, he was feeling defensive, embarrassed, and angry.
When a kind man opened the door the man who was originally going to ask him if he could borrow his jack just said,
“You know what, you can keep your jack, I’ll figure something out.”
And he turned around and walked away, leaving behind a very confused farmer.
We tell ourselves stories. We make sense of life through stories. The stories we tell ourselves have a tangible impact on how we live our lives.
But not all stories are created equal. The very best stories withstand the test of time and get told again and again through generations. The best stories help us figure out what is true and what is important in life. Great stories help us figure out how we want to live our lives.
In this post, I will do my very best to tell you a story about life, the universe, and everything.
This is the story of our planet, God, and life. This is what I believe the Bible teaches and I’ll attempt to condense all of its teachings from Genesis (the first book of the Bible) to Revelation (the last book of the Bible). I will do my best to put down lots of references to where the Bible mentions themes I will touch on, and I will also use my personal imagination and interpretation to fill in details that the Bible is not explicit about.
Preface
According to John 1 God was there from the beginning, and not necessarily just the beginning of life on earth. I believe this to be a reference to the beginning of everything, time, space, everything!
This next part is my imagination, but based on what I have learned about God through my reading of the Bible. I imagine the godhead, or trinity, (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) having a conversation. God is love (John 4:8), therefore I believe God desires to create, God desires community. But for the community to be authentic it must be a loving community, and for love to exist beings must be free to choose. Love demands freedom, otherwise, it cannot exist. So if God desires to create other beings they must be free, this is the only way to have meaningful relationships, a sense of community, and most importantly love.
If the beings God will create will be free that means they are free to reject God, they are free to not love, in essence, to rebel. So, does God still create?
Since God, in His infinite wisdom can see that eventually there will be rebellion and disobedience does He still desire to create? The other option is an empty universe, with no life, no love, and no community. Jesus volunteers to die on behalf of His creation when the time comes. God has a plan, and with this plan in place, God begins to create the universe. We do not know much about the rest of the universe, but we are given several details about the creation of our planet, Earth.
Part 1. Creation - A Perfect World
Our Story begins with God, and He is creating everything through His Word. Genesis describes God speaking and the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters (Genesis 1:20). John 1 identifies the Word of God as Jesus. So effectively, we have the trinity involved in the creation of our planet. God creates and organizes, and everything is very good by the time He is done. In the biblical worldview, there is no evolution, death is not part of God’s perfect world. When God creates He creates things that are very good (Genesis 1:31), not just okay but through the continual struggle to survive will evolve and become superior. Yes, God’s creation is able to adapt and survive, but it was not created lacking in any way.
Not only did God create our planet as stated in Genesis 1 and 2 and John 1, but Colossians 1:17 also reaffirms that in Jesus all things consist. Even though Genesis focuses on life here on Earth, the Bible teaches that all of reality was created by God (Hebrews 11:3).
Everything that is, is because of Jesus, and can only continue to be in Jesus. I believe there is no other source of life outside of God and away from God ultimately everything dies (ceases to exist).
Part 2. The Problem - Why So Much Suffering?
Now we run into a problem.
If Jesus created and sustains everything that exists and we experience pain and suffering and death and all kinds of terrible things. Does that mean that Jesus created evil and suffering as well?
I would say no! As a student of the Bible, I claim these terrible things are the results of sin, the result of rebellion against God.
To quote Jesus, “An enemy has done this” (Matthew 13:28).
The next question then becomes where did sin originate?
Where did this enemy come from?
“How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit.
- Isaiah 15:12-15 NKJV
Another passage that describes Lucifer is found in Ezekiel 28:12-19 (I don't think the literal, human king of Tyre was in Eden the garden of God).
“You were the seal of perfection,
Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
“You were the anointed cherub who covers;
I established you;
You were on the holy mountain of God;
You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.
You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created,
Till iniquity was found in you.
“Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor;
- Ezekiel 28:12b, 14-15, 17a
Lucifer, or Satan, also called the serpent of old, and dragon (Revelation 20:2; 12:9), was not created evil and ugly. Quite the opposite, he was a beautiful angel of light who was perfect. Lucifer was so perfect and beautiful that he began to desire to be God, this eventually caused a war in heaven and he was cast out along with a third of the angels who chose to follow him and rebel against God and His government (Revelation 12:7-17).
Sin and Death on Earth
However, sin did not affect us here on Earth until Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden (Gen. 3:5-6).
From this point on Adam and Eve were doomed to die because God said if they ate the forbidden fruit they would die (Gen. 2:17).
In one way sin is a legal problem because its wage is death (Romans 6:23).
However, sin is also a relational problem because it separates us from God, this is why Adam and Eve hid from God (Gen. 3:8), and now we can no longer face God for our sins hide His face from us (Isa. 59:2).
Finally, sin is also a governmental problem since sin is rebellion against God and His government, against His laws (1 John 3:4), therefore "he who sins is of the devil" (1 John 3:8). An intentional rejection of God’s laws is a decision to side with God’s enemy. When we reject God it is similar to accusing Him of being an unjust ruler or claiming that it is impossible to keep His laws.
Due to the first two humans sinning, we are condemned to die. Or as the Apostle Paul put it, "in Adam all die" (1 Cor. 15:22) because that was the consequence of eating the fruit from the forbidden tree (Genesis 2:17).
Because Adam plunged humanity into rebellion against God and His government, we are predisposed to disobey God's laws from birth (Ps. 51:5). This is why we face the struggle mentioned in Romans 7:21-25. Though we are not born guilty of sin, we are born with a tendency to sin, that is to disobey God rather than obey Him. That is why sinning comes so easily, but doing the right thing often feels like an uphill battle.
Part 3. The Solution - Jesus is The Solution!
Thankfully, God has a solution for this problem.
Jesus is the solution.
God did not scramble to figure out how to save humanity since Jesus is described as “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). God already had a plan in place even before the fall took place. Before creating us God had already decided to die to save us. You might think it would have been easier for God to not have created us at all, and perhaps that is true. But God values us so much that He would rather sacrifice Himself for us than to live without us.
In the same way that all of humanity was doomed to die in Adam, in Jesus we can all be saved (1Cor. 15:21-22). Not meaning that we were physically or spiritually inside of Jesus, but rather that He paid the wages of sin, He died for us, that is, in our place.
God has to punish sin in order to save His government. Sending Jesus to die for us is how God chose to save us without encouraging more rebellion. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
For God to change His law, would mean that Satan and all who rebelled against God’s law were right and God’s law was problematic, God’s leadership was flawed and therefore someone else might be a better leader. But with the death of Jesus on the cross, God upheld His law and it remains perfect, and God still found a way to save all who wish to be saved.
Salvation
In order to understand how salvation works, we must understand the Sanctuary.
The sinner comes voluntarily to the sanctuary, and confesses his sins while laying his hands on the head of the lamb symbolically transferring his sins to the innocent lamb (or sacrificial animal, bull, goat...) (Lev 4:4,24).
Thus the sinner is separated from the sin, an exchange is made, and the lamb is sacrificed fulfilling the penalty for sin. The sacrificial substitute must die in the sinner's place, then the sinner must depend on the priest who represents the sinner, to complete the process (Lev.4-5).
We are the sinners, and Christ is the Lamb, who died for our sins, and the Priest who makes the atonement (Heb.4:15; 7; 9:7,15), thus the law is fulfilled.
Even though the price was paid for sin and the legal part has been taken care of, we need to have faith in order to be saved (Eph.2:8).
According to John 3:16, whosoever believes (has faith) in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. However, it is not just any faith, we must have faith in God (Mark 11:22), and a faith that works outwardly (James 2:14). We must have a practical faith that does what God wills despite our feelings or thoughts (Heb.11).
This is the subjective part, this is what affects our personal lives, we must practice righteousness (1 John 3:7, 1 Tim 6:11-12), salvation is a real experience.
Part 4. The Culmination - The Second Coming of Jesus
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
- John 14:1-3NKJV
Nevertheless, there is a future part to salvation, when we are taken to heaven, where God has prepared new homes for us (John 14:1-3, Rev. 1:6; 21:4; 22:12). The Bible ends with a beautiful description of earth made new (Revelation 21) where God will wipe away every tear from our eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21:4) Earth will be like it was at the beginning, before sin and death entered it. We will live eternal, physical, lives and will discover perfect love and joy like we are not able to imagine (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Dear reader, God has revealed to us not only how everything began but also how it will end. But He has given you the freedom to choose who you will follow. I know there are many details that I did not cover in this post, but the big picture is clear. We can continue to study and learn and to fine-tune our relationship with God and how we live our lives, but it is clear that God loves us and desires to be with us. It is also clear that there is an enemy actively tempting us to rebel against God. Satan wants to bind us with guilt, addictions, and false promises of immediate happiness that never lasts.
You are free to choose.
Jesus stands at the door and knocks (Revelation 3:20) but He waits for us to open the door. Jesus will never kick down the door. He died for you, but waits for you to invite Him into your life. Salvation is available to all, but will not be forced on anyone.
Will you invite Jesus into your heart today?
