Do you know what the Bible is? Yeah, it's an old book, but how would you describe it? What is this book about? Do you think you know? Are you willing to take a guess?
Many different people will give many different answers to this question, some of them true and some of them false. Some think the Bible is just a book of rules; a simple list of Do's and Don'ts. Others think its just a historical artifact. And many Christians will give you the Sunday School answer and say, "It's the inerrant Word of God."
Now I'm certainly not going to argue with that last one. The Bible really is the true, inspired Word of God, written through people who walked closely with Him. But have you ever thought of the Bible as an epic love story? Try not to think of cheesy romance novels or romantic comedies. They barely have anything to do with actual love and they certainly are not epic. I'm talking about the greatest love the world has ever known. The love between God and His people. A love that spans thousands of years.
If you don't quite see it, just look at the key events in the Bible: God makes people to be in relationship with Him. They sin against Him, severing that relationship. And the rest of the Bible is about how God saves His people from their sin so that He can restore that deep relationship. This story is both tragic and epic. Over and over God tries to draw near to His people and over and over, for centuries, the people reject Him and turn away.
Just look at all the times in the Bible where God says, "I will be their God and they will be my people." It begins when God establishes His covenant with Abraham in Genesis 17: “I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.” (v. 7).
Many years later, God refers to His covenant and uses similar words when He talks to Moses through the burning bush in Exodus 6: “Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. Therefore, say to the Israelites: 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.’” (v. 5-7a).
Then God establishes the nation of Israel and dwells among them through the tabernacle/temple and the ministry of the priesthood: "So I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God." (Exodus 29:44-46).
But even after being delivered from Egypt as well as many other enemies afterward, the nation of Israel continually turns away from God in favor of false gods and wicked practices. God sent prophets like Jeremiah to remind His people of what He had done for them and what He had promised: “For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrificed, but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.” (Jeremiah 7:22-24).
And so the people suffered the consequences for turning away from God. Israel was divided and conquered by other civilizations. And the temple, God's dwelling among His people, was destroyed. But even then, God did not give up on them or stop loving them. Even when the people were captives in a foreign land, God sent prophets such as Ezekiel to tell them that a new covenant was coming: "I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever." (Ezekiel 37:26-28).*
Then, after years of waiting, that new covenant was made through the sacrifice of God's own Son, sent in the form of a man to die for humanity: "This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." (Matthew 26:28).**
But the story does not end with Christ's death. He rose again after three days, ascended back up into heaven. (Matthew 28 and Acts 1) Now that Jesus has died for our sins, God has made is dwelling within His people; we are now the temple and God lives in us (1 Corinthians 3:16 and Ephesians 2:21-22).
Today, the story still has not quite ended, but the book of Revelation tells us that it will be a ve
ry happy ending indeed: "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'" (Revelation 21:3-4).
This goes far beyond those stories where we hope the guy gets the girl in the end. At the end of this story, the God of the universe finally "gets" His people back after thousands of years of separation by sin. Their relationship is fully healed and restored and will never be threatened again.
That (in a nutshell) is what the Bible is all about. And the best part is that it's a true story!
*See also Jeremiah 31:31-34
**See also John 3:16-17
