A single story from start to finish
The Bible's narrative is an epic story that spans several thousand years
A single story, written over thousands of years
Many of us don’t realise that the Bible is primarily a story. While it is true that the Bible is a collection of books, written by different authors, in different genres, there is nonetheless a single story that unifies the entire book. A golden thread that runs all the way from the Garden of Eden to the Garden City in the book of Revelation.
In this series, I am going to show you how the whole thing fits together, how each individual story connects to the bigger story, and how through it all God keeps his promises. But before we jump in, a couple of notes about why I am doing this and where I am coming from.
Why this series?
I am currently finishing my doctorate on what makes people spiritually healthy. I am a pastor of a small Reformed church in Melbourne, Australia, and I have noticed that over the last couple of decades, a shift has happened in the Christian space. The church seems to have lost sight of the fact that the Bible is a cohesive whole. This is odd because churches have a whole category of theology that highlights this. We call it Biblical Theology - the study of scripture as a whole. Maybe we have become too consumed with chasing after miracles, that we have missed the miracle that was inspired by the Holy Spirit over a few thousand years. Maybe we rejected the dull lecture-like preaching that has unfortunately characterised church life for many, and so turned to seek spiritual experiences instead. Maybe it is simply that our parents never knew that Scripture forms a single story, and so they never taught us.
Whatever the reason, the truth remains: many strong and faithful believers don’t know that the Bible is a single story. As a result, we don’t quite know where to find ourselves in the story. What happens then is that when we read a great story, like David and Goliath, we immediately think to ourselves: “Well I must be the David character. This passage must be trying to teach me how to slay the giants that stand against my faith.” When we don’t take the big picture story into account, we fail to see that actually, the story isn’t so much that we are David trying to slay our Goliaths. We are the Israelites, hiding behind the rocks and we need a David to come and save us.
That is what this series hopes to help you see.
My Theological Lens
I want to be upfront about the theological lens through which I view the world. I am a conservative minister in a conservative denomination. I will be writing from a conservative, Reformed perspective. That means that some of the conclusions I come to will be very unpopular in today’s society. I will be as biblically faithful as I can, however, where there is reasonable disagreement on passages of scripture, I will try to point them out as I go.
How often and how much?
I will aim to post the next part of the story weekly. You can choose to "subscribe” to the posts, which will cost a small amount each month. The money goes directly to supporting ministry work in Australia. However, you may choose not to subscribe, that’s fine too. All posts will be publicly accessible. Subscribing is really only if you want to support the writing.
Subscribe now, and share this post to help others come along the journey too!
So join me on the journey as we walk from Garden to Garden City.
Help others find this.
