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The Beginning and the End

The Beginning and the End . Bookends to the Story of God’s Mission Preparatory reading: “The Urgency of Reading the Bible as One Story in the 21 st Century”. The Bible as Drama. A Shakespearean Play Four acts are written…. A Summary of the One Story.

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The Beginning and the End

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  1. The Beginning and the End Bookends to the Story of God’s Mission Preparatory reading: “The Urgency of Reading the Bible as One Story in the 21st Century”

  2. The Bible as Drama • A Shakespearean Play • Four acts are written…

  3. A Summary of the One Story • God loves human beings and the world. They lost him. He is getting them back. • Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation

  4. A Hermeneutical Map

  5. J. Christopher Wright, The Mission of God, (pg. 69) “The more I have attempted to use a missional map of the Bible, orientated fundamentally to the mission of God, the more it seems that not only do the major features of the landscape stand out clearly but also other less well-trodden paths and less scenic scholarly tourist attractions turn out to have surprising and fruitful connections with the main panorama.”

  6. One Story Introduction of Themes Resolution of Themes Drama: Interplay of Themes

  7. What is “worldview?”(The all-encompassing story) From J. Christopher Wright: • Where are we? (What is the nature of the world around us?) • Who are we? (What is the essential nature of humanity?) • What has gone wrong? (Why is the world in such a mess?) • What is the solution? (What can be done about it?)

  8. Four World-view QuestionsGenesis 1-3 and Revelation 20-22

  9. Where are we? (What is the nature of the world around us?) • Good and very good! • God’s declaration (Gen 1:10,12,18,25,31)Revelation 21:4-6; 21:23-27; 22:3 • The presence of God and Christ (“all things made by him and for him”) (Gen 3:8; Rev 21:3-6; 22:3-5)

  10. Who are we? (What is the essential nature of humanity?) • Significant Relationships with God, Others and Creation: (Gen 1:26-29) • The image of God (Gen 1:26); God’s apprentice in naming the creation (2:19-20) • Provision from God (Gen 1:29) • Implicit diversity and need for companionship (1:27) • Dominion (Gen 1:28) • Significance restored: (Rev 21:1-4; 22:1-5) • Intimacy restored (21:3, 7; 22:4); Image of the bride (21:2) • Dominion restored (22:5) • Provision renewed (22:2, 17)

  11. What has gone wrong? (Why is the world in such a mess?) • A broken covenant…broken trust • Eve misrepresents God (3:2) • Serpent contradicts God (3:4) • Serpent entices man to be like God (3:5)(note: lust of flesh, lust of eyes and pride of life (I Jn 2:15 cf Gen 3:6) • Resulting state: Shame—hiding from God (3:8) • Resulting act: Curse (3:14-19)

  12. What has gone wrong? What is the solution? • “Adam, where are you?” (Gen 3:9) • Curse is redemptive • Toward the serpent: enmity; bruising of his head (3:14-15) • Toward woman: pain inserted as a reversal of marital harmony and child-bearing (2:18, 21-25) • Toward man: eating as a free provision is reversed as pain is inserted (1:29; 3:17-18) • Life outside of intimacy with God must end. He was taken from the ground and given life. He now returns to the ground in death. (2:7; 3:19) • Note: Adam calls the woman “Eve”

  13. What is the solution? • There is no more curse (22:3) • God’s free provision is restored (22:2) • Marital intimacy is restored between Christ and redeemed humanity (21:2) • Death is defeated (21:4; 22:5)

  14. Beneath the surface of everyone’s life, especially the more mature, is an ache that will not go away. It can be ignored, disguised, mislabeled, or submerged by a torrent of activity, but it will not disappear. And for good reason. We were designed to enjoy a better world than this. And until that better world comes along, we will groan for what we do not have. An aching soul is evidence not of neurosis or spiritual immaturity but of realism. Larry Crabb, “Longing for Eden and Sinning on the Way to Heaven.”

  15. Implications (1) • The entrance of sin (i.e. the breaking of the covenant) has far-reaching consequences • God’s mission is restoring relationship (to Himself, to others, to the world) • God’s original purposes of intimacy and dominion will be fulfilled. • He who found man hiding and ashamed, leaves man redeemed and reigning in a renewed creation.

  16. Reflection for Next Week • Read Genesis 4-11 • Compare and Contrast these characters in the storyEnoch in 4:17 and the other Enoch in 5:21-23Lamech in 4:23-24 and the other Lamech in 5:28-29 • What is the point of Genesis 6:1-7? • After reading Noah’s story, do you sense any disappointment? Why or why not? • “(Re)New(ed) Creation: The End of the Story” by Michael Goheen

  17. End

  18. Renewed Creation by Michael Goheen • Is going to heaven when you die the goal of God’s redemptive work? Or is the goal of the story of God’s redeeming work a renewed creation? (p. 3) • “The story of the Bible moves toward that time when God’s restorative work will go as far as Satan’s mischief” (p. 5) • “When the expectation of a new earth is denied, the meaning of life on this earth breaks down. Only with an eye to God’s future can one understand the richness of life in the present.” (p. 8)

  19. Light / Dark Sky / Water Land / Seas Sun / Moon & Stars Birds / Fish Animals / Humans God rested The Seven Days of Creation Separates & Names Fills

  20. Humanity’s Role in Creation • “In our image…” (1:26) • “Let them have dominion over fish, birds, animals and creeping things.” (1:26) • “Male and Female he created them” (1:27) “And God blessed them.” (1:28) • Plants (yielding seed; i.e. fruits) for food (1:29) • Man names animals (2:19) [separates & names] • Intimacy and companionship (2:23-25) • This unique arrangement between God and man is later termed a covenant (Hosea 6:7)

  21. Covenant  Relationship • Definition: A Covenant is a bond between two parties or people (i.e. a relationship) usually inaugurated by the shedding of blood and the sharing of a meal. • Biblical Covenants: • Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Christ. • Covenants or dispensations? • The Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace?

  22. Implications (2) • The Bible should be read in light of this story. God loves the world and His creation. They lost Him. He will get them back. • The church will find its purpose within the broad stream of God’s mission. • I will find my purpose in life within this broad stream as well.

  23. End

  24. Discuss in Small Groups • In Revelation 22:1-5, there are a number of items that have a counterpart in Genesis. Share your observations about these items. • The tree: The curse: The division of night and day: Humanity:

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