Lights, Bible, Action!

A lot of people have trouble understanding the Bible.  It's a big book -- 1200 pages or so.  It's easy to get bogged down in the lists of people and places we don't know.  So how do we understand it?  Here's an idea:  imagine the entire Bible as a single movie.  There is a long list in Wikipedia of movies based on the Bible, but most of them take just one story or sequence or idea. How would we create a movie on the whole Bible?

We'd have to decide the central theme first.  Most people read and understand the Bible chronologically, and that's okay, but it takes a long time to get to the point and you can miss the main ideas in trying to keep the chronology straight.  My favorite idea, courtesy of Dr. Gary Deddo, is to portray the Bible as a "whodunit," a mystery.  That's really a pretty good description of the Bible -- there are lots of characters, conflicts, twists and turns of plot, surprises, and many times when you wonder what this scene has to do with the story. But when the truth is revealed, you can say "Aha!  Now I get it!" as you see all the pieces fall into place.

The central theme of the Bible is God, through the Son, creating the universe and humanity for a never-ending relationship of love.  How did God create everything?  Through the Son (John 1:1-3, Heb. 1:2).  What happened to humanity?  We decided not to trust God and left that relationship of love (Gen. 3:1-8).  How did God win us back, proving his love for us without any doubt?  Through the Son, whom we know as Jesus, coming to live among us (John 1:14, Heb. 1:1-2), giving his life for us (John 3:16-17, Rom. 5:1-10) and moving us back into a relationship of love with God (2 Cor. 5:15-21).  How will it all end up?  When Jesus returns in glory and the entire creation is restored to fellowship with him (Phi. 2:10-11, Rev. 21:1-7).  So, the central character in our movie has to be the Son of God.  The entire story revolves around him. 

So, just for fun, how about outlining a script of the Bible's story?  The question is, how would you begin your version of this movie -- with Genesis 1?  John 1?  Hebrews 1?  Revelation 21? The story of Israel? The birth of the Messiah?  The end of the story in Revelation?  Really, you can begin the movie anywhere you want, just so you focus on the central character. That's what the Gospel is really about.

And how about you?  Do you understand it?  Have you realized how God has planned to love you, from before he made the earth (Eph. 1:3-5) and is right now pursuing you as the one who loves you more than anyone else?  Right now is the time for you to face that awesome truth -- that security and peace beyond all others -- and dive headlong into his love!