How Do You Tell the Biblical Story? A Proposal

Everything in the life of the church starts, ends, and depends every step of the way on identity, God’s identity. And from that flows the church’s identity.

God’s identity is confirmed in Consummation, adumbrated in Creation, and fully revealed in Jesus of Nazareth.  

1.    In creation, God inaugurated the realization of his dream – a community of humans to call his people and with whom he could live forever in loving fellowship on the creation.

2.    Humanity’s rebellion trashed that dream and put humanity and creation in mortal disarray.

Good established order – rebellious trashed disorder: the original revolution.

3.    The rightful king, now the ruler in exile, begins a counter-revolutionary campaign of reclamation and restoration to subvert what humanity has become and demonstrate what God always wanted.

 

In reclamation and restoration, God is a subversive counter-revolutionary.

 

4.    In covenant with Abraham and Sarah God calls them to be his subversive counter-revolutionary people (universal family).

5.    In covenant with Moses God provides the way of life and content of his subversive counter-revolution (demonstrating God’s life intended for humanity).

6.    In covenant with David God promises his own subversive counter-revolutionary rule through a Davidic king forever (divine rule).

7.    In new covenant God promises intimate presence and communion with his people.

 

Covenant brings and sustains God’s people as a subversive counter-revolutionary movement.

 

8.    In, with, through, and as Jesus of Nazareth God comes as the subversive counter-revolutionary par excellence announcing and enacting the rule of creations rightful King (God’s Kingdom).

9.    His resurrection is the victory of God’s Kingdom, the dawn of new creation – all things have been set right by him.

10. His followers, filled at Pentecost with his Spirit, continue to be his subversive-counter-revolutionary movement implementing and extending his victory throughout the world and await his return to finally and fully establish God’s Kingdom, the rightful rule of creation’s rightful King.

Jesus embodies and enacts God’s subversive counter-revolutionary activity that reclaims and restores humanity to its primal dignity and vocation, redeems and renews creation, and he returns and ratifies that God has kept all his promises and achieved his creation dream.