PICTURE IT:

As with any good story there needs to be a really good and captivating main character. The Bible’s got that! And then for the story to be interesting and keep your undivided attention, the main character must be trying to accomplish some particular goal, and even more urgent if people’s lives depend on it. The Bible’s got that!   A good story will contain a major conflict, incredible obstacles, some edge-of-your-seat battles, tender love stories, a host of good guys versus bad guys. The Bible’s got that! And of course, a really good story has to have a great ending that resolves all the challenges and conflicts, the good guys win, and they all live happily ever after. The Bible’s got that!

The Bible has all of the elements of a great story and so much more! So, as we go through this book together, I want you to think about the Bible as one incredibly great story about an incredibly great main character who has an incredibly great and important objective to accomplish. Because that is exactly what it is. 

Think about this…The Bible is not only about God, but the Bible is also inspired and authored by God. Don’t you think that God would be the most incredible author? He absolutely is! The Bible is the bestselling book of all time! This book has excitement and mystery. It has a rollercoaster of emotions, which any good captivating story has. It has love and romance. It has things that will make you laugh and things that will make you cry. It has the best of the good guys and the worst of the bad guys. It has worldwide devastation and it has amazing unbelievable miracles.

At the very onset of the opening sentence of Genesis, “In the beginning…” God has immediately captured our curiosity and grabbed our attention, just as any first opening line of a good book. For instance, “In a land far, far away…” hum…, that’s very intriguing. I want to know more.  Or “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. Okay, you got me with that one. The opening line is perfect, just as “In the beginning”.  

We are then immediately introduced to the main character which is, none less than, the Creator of the “Beginning”, the Creator of Heaven and earth and of all things, the all inspiring God of the Universe. And then He proceeds to show us who he is and what he is like. He wants us to know Him and know His character.

Then, after being introduced to the main character, the Creator God of the Universe, we are quickly introduced next to the overarching conflict that runs the length of the storyline, and the pressing need for the “Redemption of man”, the ultimate goal to be accomplished. We quickly understand the reason for this need of “Redemption” just within the first few pages of Genesis. It starts out with a beautiful and perfect relationship between God and man, but it becomes broken. Right away we understand that man is sinful and God is holy. The story opens with a perfect creation, a perfect world that God has called good. Life is beautiful in the Garden. God and man enjoy perfect fellowship and there is nothing that man needs or wants that God has not provided. Life is Paradise. 

Then, the conflict happens. An adversary enters the scene. An enemy. To be sure, a slithering and vicious snake, not to be lightly entertained or trusted. He slowly and maliciously infiltrates paradise and begins his scheme of lies and manipulation, causing disaster and disruption. Now, because the man listened to the lies of the enemy, the beautiful garden and the creation of all things came under a tragic curse. The perfect and beautiful relationship between God and man has been sadly and regrettably broken. And so, the journey of repairing and restoring immediately begins. A plan for “Redemption” is laid out with a coming “Redeemer”, but, as with any good suspense story, it will take time for it to be completed. Along the way there will be struggles and obstacles. There will be highs and lows. There will be mountains and valleys. Page after page is written between Genesis and Revelation of person after person and their personal struggle as a result of that tragic sinful fall of man, and of God’s continual and faithful and consistent plan of “Redemption” being played out until its full completion.

Then, at just the right time, an ultimate sacrificial payment, that is beyond anything that we can compare, is freely given in retribution for all the death and destruction that has occurred because of sin. Gloriously, restoration and freedom are then made available and graciously offered to anyone who will accept. 

Soon to follow, the evil enemy will be chained, crushed and finally destroyed. Creation will be renewed, relationships will be restored, and evil will be no more.  And at that very precise and exact “Day of the Lord”, everything will be accomplished, and everyone that accepted that payment for sin, will all amazingly “live happily ever after” …in perfect Paradise…forever, with the One who fought and paid for their eternal salvation. What a beautiful and adventure filled story!! 

The Bible – An exciting, adventurous, dramatic, mysterious,

romantic, creative, miraculous, artistic, beautiful action-filled love story!

Now, that’s a book I want to read! How about you?