WHAT ARE THE CHAPTERS OF THE STORY OF GOD?
Each of the chapters pertains to the test that Jesus took when he paid us a visit.
INTRODUCTION
The story of God was shown to the children of Adam and Eve in three (3) chapters. Each of the chapters pertains to the test that Jesus took when he paid us a visit. In the INCARNATION, Jesus set the stage for the test. In the CRUCIFIXION, he subjected himself to it. In HIS ASYMMETRIC ANSWER TO THE CRUCIFIXION, we have the result of the test. The story of God is alive. It has movement. It jumps from the Incarnation, to the Crucifixion and lands on Jesus' asymmetric answer to the Crucifixion. The story of God illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany. The ball bounces. Follow the bouncing ball.
CHAPTER 1 - SETTING THE STAGE FOR THE TEST
THE FIRST STOP ON THE ROUTE THAT JESUS TOOK TO SHOW US THE STORY OF GOD - NOT TELL US - WAS THE INCARNATION. On the brink of battle with the monster of the Crucifixion, Jesus did something that no human general would do. He made a move that was radically counterintuitive. It was alien to rational human thinking. Some would consider it crazy. Jesus doffed his invulnerable armor of divinity and donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood. He divested himself of his invulnerability. JESUS BECAME THE GOD WHO DISARMED - THE GOD WHO DEFORTIFIED HIMSELF. The almighty made himself weak and, in weakness, his strength was made perfect (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). JESUS BECAME ONE OF US - AN EQUAL TO US IN OUR HUMANITY - A PARTNER WITH US IN OUR SUFFERING. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). By dressing like us in our frail uniform of flesh and blood, Jesus made the untestable God amenable to testing. "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. " (Wisdom 2: 19). By testing God, we could draw our own conclusions about the nature of God. We would be able to figure out the nature of God for ourselves without having to rely on hearsay from remote sources.
CHAPTER 2 - SUBJECTING HIMSELF TO THE TEST
THE NEXT STOP ON THE ROUTE THAT JESUS TOOK TO SHOW US THE STORY OF GOD - NOT TELL US - WAS HIS CRUCIFIXION. 'Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe?' To discover the answer, we interrogated Jesus with lash, thorns, nails and cross. We gave him the third degree. We tortured and killed him. We made him suffer and die. We impaled him on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. In the Crucifixion, we baptized Jesus in a crucible of evils. We tested him with atrocities. It was a macabre experiment to which loveless creatures subjected their Creator who loved them. Dark was the foil against which the scintillating jewel was set.
CHAPTER 3 - THE RESULT OF THE TEST
THE NEXT STOP ON THE ROUTE THAT JESUS TOOK TO SHOW US THE STORY OF GOD - NOT TELL US - WAS THE GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY. 'Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe?' Jesus answered our questions. He did not hang mute. His tongue was not nailed to the cross. He did not take the fifth. We were given the result of the test. The result of the test was published for us. The Good News of Great Joy was his asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him - his surprising response to the atrocities in which we baptized him. HE FORGAVE US (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34 ) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45). He forgave us even though we did not deserve forgiveness. Forgiveness is one of the sweet fruits of love. BECAUSE ONLY LOVE BEGETS LOVE, JESUS LOVED US FIRST. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19). Jesus initiated the process of our salvation by planting the seed of love in the toxic soil of our stony hearts in order to depetrify them (Ezekiel 36:26). His love for us jump started our rehabilitation. JESUS DIDN'T WAIT FOR OUR CONVERSION TO FORGIVE US; HE FORGAVE US TO BRING ABOUT OUR CONVERSION. Forgiveness confronts us with the love of God. Forgiveness challenges us to come to grips with it. Jesus took a risk. He was audacious. JESUS TOOK THE FIRST STEP OF FORGIVENESS IN THE HOPE THAT WE WOULD TAKE THE SECOND STEP OF REPENTANCE. Since Eden, we have dug a pit of sin in our relationship with our God - a dark, nasty and loveless abyss. To span the pit, Jesus erected the bridge of forgiveness (John 14:6). Paradise is found not at the bottom of the pit but at the far side of the bridge. Our job is to stop digging the pit and to start crossing the bridge. Repentance is the vehicle that transports us out of the pit and across the bridge (Matthew 22: 11-13).
CONCLUSION
"Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour" (Isaiah 45:15). But, not after Jesus showed us the story of God. The story that Jesus showed us extracted the nature of God from the enigmatic black box in which it was hiding and published it for all of the children of Adam and Eve to behold. Watch the movement. The movement is the life of the story. The movement of the story that Jesus lived catapulted God from the darkness into the light. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3). The incandescence of the story of God illuminates our path through the darkness.