God's Big Picture: Pattern of the Kingdom
God's Big Picture • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 20:28
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· 1,494 viewsWe begin our series, God's Big Picture looking at how the whole story of the bible fits together under the idea of the Kingdom of God. God's people, in God's place, living under God's rule and blessing. This pattern was established when God created the world. Thanks to Vaughan Roberts for his work on this in his similarly titled book.
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What do you know about the bible?
What do you know about the bible?
You might know some facts.
66 books
39 in the OT, 27 in the NT.
You might know some of the names of some of those books. Maybe you know all 66 names?
You might know that of those 66 books there are a variety of different styles or genres.
History, Law, Wisdom, Prophecy, Letter
You might know a lot of different stories from all those different books.
Perhaps you know a lot of random quotes, or you’ve got one of those calendars that give you a different Bible verse each day which you memories, but you have no idea what the verse before or after it says.
You see the thing about the Bible is it’s not just a random collection of inspirational quotes, nor is it a library of unrelated books. It is God’s word. It actually fits together.
We’ve just celebrated Easter, the death and resurrection of Jesus is the centre piece of the bible. It is the story that holds it all together.
In the OT we read of God’s promises and in the NT we see their fulfilment. And we’re going to go into more detail about that over the next two months.
But I wonder If I asked you now what you think the big picture of the bible is? Is there a major theme that kinda ties the whole thing together what would it be?
God’s Kingdom
God’s Kingdom
The Kingdom of God
God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule and blessing.
The Pattern of the Kingdom
The Pattern of the Kingdom
In the opening chapters of the Bible, in Genesis 1-2 we see the world as God designed it to be.
Adam and Eve are God’s people. They live in God’s place - the garden of Eden. And they live under God’s rule. They follow God’s commands (for a chapter at least, more on that next week). And as a result of living under God’s rule they experience God’s blessing. They feel no shame (Gen 2:25), They live in a beautiful well watered, food filled garden.
You see in this first story of the Bible the Pattern of the Kingdom that we will see unfold through the rest of the scriptures.
But we also see some other key foundational ideas in these opening chapters.
God is the author of creation
God is the king of creation
Human beings are the pinnacle of creation
Rest is the goal of creation
God is the author of creation
God is the author of creation
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
God is the creator of the world. He was there in the beginning. He has no beginning. He was before all things.
God also made a material world and is concerned for his creation.
Many philosophies and religions, and some Christians if we’re not careful, are concerned only with spiritual things or with the soul. Bodies and matter are considered secondary. But the Bible doesn’t allow us to rank the spiritual above the physical. God made it and as we heard over and over he made it good.
God is interested not only in our souls but also in our bodies and in the created word we live in. And as members of his Kingdom we ought to have concern for those things too.
God is the king of creation
God is the king of creation
Another key thing we learn in these opening chapters is that God is not part of creation. He is the King of creation because he is the author of creation.
6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
7 for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
Today, if only you would hear his voice,
If you make it you own it
And if you’re made by it, you’re subject to it.
Illustration?
Human beings are the pinnacle of creation
Human beings are the pinnacle of creation
This is probably the key point of difference between a Christian world-view and a secular humanist (someone who doesn’t believe in God in the west).
Human beings are not merely more evolved apes, we are in fact the pinnacle of creation.
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
All human beings. Male and female, of any race or religion. All are created by God in his image.
Graham Goldsworthy said: “Man is a creature because he is made by God. But he is a unique creature, he is made like God.”
How are we like God? We are given delegated divine authority to rule over creation:
28 God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’
29 Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.’ And it was so.
We are like God in that we have dominion over creation. Of course we are not meant to do that solo. Or according to our own desires or needs. But actually to do it under God’s rule.
And so God’s good place with God’s good people living under God’s good rule is what we have at the end of day 6 where we get v31
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Very good. Not just good as it ha been before. Very good. As it should be.
But that’s not where the story ends is it. It’s not a 6 day creation story but a 7.
Rest is the goal of creation
Rest is the goal of creation
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
Notice the seventh day doesn’t end.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
When a job has been done perfectly there is nothing more to do. So God creates the world, creates humanity and wants us to live with him in that seventh day. In the day of rest. The story of Adam and Eve in Genesis 2. Is the story of God and human beings living in God’s rest.
That is God’s rest looks like his Kingdom being perfectly established.
It looks like
God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule and blessing.
As we unfold the story of the Bible over the coming weeks we’ll see how we lose that (next week). And we’ll see how God plans to get us back to that.