R. C. Sproul said, “The better we know the story of the Bible, the fuller we’ll see the glory of our Savior.” Do you know the story of the Bible?
How would you answer this question: What's the message of the Bible in one sentence?
Here's my attempt at that:
"A holy and sovereign God who created all things and all people rescues His chosen people from spiritual death through the atoning death and resurrection of His only Son, and then empowers them to live for His glory by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, while His Son prepares a place for them to live with God for all eternity."
I just finished an intriguing little book, The Serpent and the Serpent Slayer. In that book, the author, Andrew Naselli, made mention of a blog post by Dane Ortlund, where he asked 25 pastors that question. Here is a sampling of some of my favorite answers:
· God is in the process of recreating the universe which has been corrupted by sin and has made it possible for all those and only those who follow Jesus to be a part of the magnificent, eternal community that will result. (Craig Blomberg)
· God has made promises to bring His people to Himself and He is fulfilling them all through Christ. (Mark Dever)
· A holy God sends his righteous Son to die for unrighteous sinners so we can be holy and live happily with God forever. (Kevin DeYoung)
· God glorifies himself in the redemption of sinners. (John Frame)
· The movement in history from creation to new creation through the redemptive work of Father, Son, and Spirit who saves and changes corrupted people and places for his glory and their good. (Paul House)
· God is redeeming his creation by bringing it under the lordship of Jesus Christ. (Kent Hughes)
· The message of the Bible is twofold: to show how people can be saved from their sins through faith in Christ's atonement AND how to live all of life as a follower of God. (Leland Ryken)
· God reigns over all things for his glory, but we will only enjoy his saving reign in the new heavens and the new earth if we repent and believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the crucified and risen Lord and who gave himself on the cross for our salvation. (Tom Schreiner)
· Scripture tells us the story of how a Garden is transformed into a Garden City, but only after a dragon had turned that Garden into a howling wilderness, a haunt of owls and jackals, which lasted until an appointed warrior came to slay the dragon, giving up his life in the process, but with his blood effecting the transformation of the wilderness into the Garden City. (Doug Wilson)
· God made it, we broke it, Jesus fixes it! (Michael D. Williams)
· Kill the dragon! Get the girl! (Joe Rigney) This was my favorite!
I’m borrowing Rigney’s summary as the title of our Advent series for this year: “Kill the dragon! Get the girl!” I hope you will join us as we ponder the first coming of Christ, His ultimate defeat of Satan, and His glorious recue of His bride, who is us! If you missed our First Sunday of Advent service, it’s available on our YouTube channel.
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Pressing on with you, with our eyes fixed on Jesus,
Pastor Butch