The saying, “Don’t miss the forest for the trees” is very important when reading the Bible. Many people are all gung-ho about reading thru the Bible starting January 1st, but somewhere between Leviticus and Deuteronomy they begin to taper off and eventually stop altogether. I think the problem for most people is that they see the sixty-six different books of the Bible as being so diverse and different and they cannot seem to make sense of the “Good Book” as a whole. Without reading in context, any book becomes confusing and laborious. As I’ve heard it said, “A text without a pretext is a context”. So am I suggesting that the Bible has one main theme that runs throughout it? Yes! It is when people think the Bible is just a ton of different interesting and inspiring stories about kings and nobodies and the drama of their lives that they end up shelving the Bible for Harry Potter or Twilight. Why is it that millions of Christians around the globe have found the Bible to be their source of daily spiritual nourishment while others have found it, well, rather boring? Why is it that many believers will openly confess they don’t like reading the Old Testament or don’t understand it? I write this to say it is because they have missed the grand story of Scripture, or as theologians call it, the meta-narrative.
So what is it? What’s the main theme that runs from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22? It is God’s plan to redeem sinners from around the world by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. You can see this plan all through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus…you name the book of the Bible, this theme is behind it. The Old Testament unfolds the story like this: The triune God creates everything out of nothing and sees that it is good. Then, this same high and holy God who spoke all into existence, lowers himself to our level and molds dust with His hands to form man in his own image and breathes life into His lungs. He then takes Adam’s rib with His hands and personally crafts Eve before giving her life as well. Now the world is perfect, except that Adam and Eve rebel, doubting God’s love, listening to the voice of Satan over their Creator and plunge the world of man into sin. Now, just as God said, man and woman will forever be born separated from God into a sin-cursed world filled with the cycle of depravity, disease, and death. The end? Is there no hope for those created in God’s image? Is God’s crowning masterpiece of creation, humans, simply thrown to the trash pile? No way! Although God’s image in man had been marred by sin, it was not altogether lost. God, speaking a curse on the devil, writes, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Gen. 3:15). Finally some good news for mankind! Notice who this individual is that God is speaking of to the Serpent. First, God says “offspring”, then God speaks of a specific “he”. This man to be born of the woman would bruise (lit. crush) the head of the individual Satan and Satan would bruise this man’s heel. What’s up with all this head and heel talk? It’s a poetic way of pointing to the cross. At the cross, the Man Jesus Christ would crush the work of the Serpent finally, though it would cost Him an agonizing death on the cross.
So what’s with all the stuff about the temple and the bloody sacrifices and the crossing of the Red Sea and the stories of the unfaithful kings? How does all that fit into this grand story? The author of Hebrews writes that all this is, “…but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities” (10:1). As my little girl’s Jesus Storybook Bible states, “Every story whispers His name”. The temple was the place where God’s presence dwelt, but it only prepares us from the true Temple Jesus Christ who is Immanuel, or “God with us”. The sacrifices reveal to us that every sin, ever rebel thought, word, and deed must be punished by an atoning sacrifice. But the ultimate sacrifice of the sinless and spotless Lamb Jesus Christ on Calvary’s tree would atone for sins fully and finally. All the kings and judges who failed to lead God’s people to Him pave the way for the King of kings and Judge of all man who would rightly shepherd and lead His own into a right relationship with God. When you read the Bible in this way, it never loses its luster and its pages will forever captivate your heart as they bring you to the place where God’s love and justice meet, in Jesus Christ crucified for sinners.
As for my daily reading? I’ve started a little journal where I write out how each Scripture I read points to God’s amazing grace given in Jesus. Here are my notes from today’s Bible reading as I use the ESV Study Bible reading plan:
Genesis 28: Jacob sees a vision of a ladder with angels ascending and descending to heaven and God promises to keep his covenant to Abraham thru Jacob. Like the ladder reaching heaven, Jesus is the only true point of access to God, who was to come thru Jacob’s family line.
2 Chronicles 5: Solomon’s Temple is filled with God’s Shekinah Glory. The filling of the temple with God’s glory points to the glory of Jesus Christ indwelling every believer by His Spirit.
Psalm 31: David writes, “Oh how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you” (19a). The abundant goodness of God which is stored up for all who fear Him is seen most clearly at the cross of Christ, where Christ bore my sins on the cross and clothed me with His own righteousness.
Luke 22: Jesus shares His last supper with the disciples and prays in the garden of Gethsemane with such agony that his capillaries burst and he sweats blood. Praise God that Jesus endured the full strength of God’s wrath prepared for my sins because of His love for sinners. Because of Jesus, I am forgiven and freed to live with God forever!
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