It Can Be Found in the Bible!
Thus far in our One Big Story Adventure, we have learned that God—as Elohim, the Sovereign God in Three Persons—stepped out of eternity to create Time, Space, and a Place called Earth, the piece of real estate upon which He planned to stage a Story of Self-Revelation that would last throughout all of time and into eternity.
We have also had a brief introduction to the unusual line-up of Actors making up the Cast of Characters for this production—a rather diverse mixture of the Divine, the Devilish, the Devoted, and the Duped—who will all be working together to move the action of the Story forward to its predetermined, cataclysmic conclusion. So, with the Stage set and the list of our Primary Players looking like this…
An Assortment of the Divine, the Devilish, the Devoted, and the Duped
…the time has come for us to discuss just what kind of Story this is.
More than likely, each of us has a particular type of story that we tend to gravitate toward—for some, it could be histories of kings, kingdoms, and military battles; for others, it would be mysteries or tales of great adventures, heroes, and monsters; and for still others, it might be stories of a more poetic, philosophical, or religious nature. Whatever your preference, the good news is that every one of these can be found somewhere in the Bible. But the Big Story of the Bible is one that has a far more universal appeal than any of these others, and that’s because it is a Love Story unlike any other that has ever been told.
It’s unique in that it is the only one that has ever been authored by God Himself who, as we learn from 1 John 4:7-8, is Love Himself…
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
The kind of love spoken of here is not the syrupy, emotional, or fickle kind that we so often associate with other love stories. Rather, it is described for us in 1 John 4: 9-10 in this way…
In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [appeasement/atonement] for our sins.
It is this kind of love that would make one willing to give up his life for another—which is just what Jesus did for us! And as John 15:13 tells us…
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
Ephesians 1:3-7 goes on to tell us that it was this kind of love that motivated God to want to have a Family…
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love…
…having predestined us [designed us in advance for] adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace…
In other words, before the earth was ever formed, love prompted God’s plan to create a race of human beings who would be so much like Himself that they could eventually…
Be legally adopted as His spiritual children,
Be conformed to the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ, and
Inherit all the riches of His glory.
This plan was followed through on in Genesis 2, when He created the First Man and Woman in His likeness and image as the forerunners of all those who would later become part of His family. In fact, the creation of the world and everything in it, the creation of humanity and the nations, as well as all subsequent human history have been directed toward the achievement of that one purpose—a Family for God.
Now, to see how this purpose has been worked out in our Story, let’s take a look at the plot used most often by other love stories…
The Hero meets and wins the girl but…He loses her to an attractive but evil rival.
The Girl finally sees the rival for what he is but…She cannot break free of him until…
The Hero beats up the rival and rescues the girl.
The Hero and girl marry, have a family, and live happily ever after…
…and we will see that it is essentially the same Plot that we find in the Bible (something which might prompt us to question which one came first or who is copying whom)! That being said, after plugging in the Principal Players that we’ve already identified, we see a story line that looks something like this…
…God the Father is in the Hero’s role, Israel is the object of His affections,
and Satan is the attractive but evil rival who tries to steal Israel away from her husband in order to prevent the birth of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
In spite of this, and after a long wait, Jesus is born.
He woos and wins a girl of His own, the Church, and ultimately destroys His evil rival, Satan.
God and Israel, having been separated for a long time, are reconciled. Jesus and His Bride are married, and God and His Family live happily ever after on a new earth for all eternity!
Of course, this is just a bird’s eye view of our storyline—however, we will fly in for a closer view in our next study, when we look at how its Jewish formatting affects our Plot in Love–Jewish Style!
Or–Next Up Format, or Format Up Next 🙂