This Is My Story: The Bible in Six Acts

The Bible isn't just ancient history—it's a living story that we're invited into today. When you step back and look at the big picture, Scripture unfolds like a six-act drama, with God as the main character pursuing relationship with His people. Let me walk you through this epic narrative.

Act 1: Creation

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

Before we learn anything else about God, we discover He is a creator—an artist who takes time and care with His work. The pinnacle of creation? You and me. Human beings made in God's very image, filled with the breath of God.

The first humans were "naked and unashamed"—completely innocent, knowing nothing of sin, guilt, or shame. Think about childhood innocence, before you realized how broken the world could be. That's what we're longing to reclaim.

I think this is why we're drawn to the outdoors—away from cities and chaos, out to the mountains or beach under starlit skies. We're searching for that simple purity of God's good creation, hoping that if creation can be good, maybe we can be good again too.

Act 2: The Fall

So what happened? How did we go from paradise to the broken world we see today?

Genesis 3 tells the story: the oldest lie in the book is that God is holding out on you. The serpent deceived Eve, and humanity reached for what we knew we shouldn't have. Like children touching a hot stove despite repeated warnings, we keep falling for the same temptations.

The consequences were immediate. Shame entered the picture. Relationships broke—between husband and wife, between humanity and the earth, and worst of all, between us and our Creator. We were driven from the garden, unable to return.

Yet God never gave up on us. He still loves us, still watches over us, still wants relationship with us. As Paul reminds us: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Every single one of us. But God meets us where we are, promising to cover our sin and shame with Christ.

Act 3: Israel

Things got worse quickly—by Genesis 6, "every thought of the human heart was only evil all the time." God needed a rescue plan.

He chose Abraham, promising that through his family, all nations would be blessed. Thus began the story of Israel—the bulk of the Old Testament. Through patriarchs, exodus, judges, and kings, God was trying something special with Israel.

"You will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation," God declared. Israel was supposed to be a light to the nations, drawing all people to God through how they lived.

God gave them the law—613 commandments by some counts. But here's the thing: the first people had just one rule (don't eat from that tree), and they failed. More rules weren't the solution.

God reminded them through the prophets: "He has shown you what is good... to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." It was never about perfect rule-following—it was about being 100% sold out for God.

The Old Testament ends on a cliffhanger, with God promising to send a rescuer. Then 400 years of waiting...

Act 4: Jesus

At just the right time—during the height of the Roman Empire with its common language, currency, and road systems—God sent His son. Not born to kings, but to peasants in a manger in sleepy Bethlehem.

Jesus came to show us what it meant to be truly human, to reveal a loving Father calling us home. He didn't abolish the law but fulfilled it. He flipped the script: *"You've heard it said, but I say..."* True transformation starts in the heart.

The story reaches its pinnacle at the cross—not a king on a throne, but the Son of God stretched out in the most excruciating death imaginable. Why? Out of love. Because God knew we couldn't save ourselves.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

This is the story we proclaim every Sunday, every Easter, every time we take communion.

Act 5: Church

After His resurrection and ascension, Jesus gave us marching orders: "Go into all the world and take the good news to all nations."

The church isn't God's Plan B—it's what Israel was supposed to be all along. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came, and the gospel spread like wildfire across the Roman Empire. A complete reversal of Babel: instead of scattering people, God drew them together to hear the good news.

Christians founded hospitals and orphanages, started education systems, cared for the sick during plagues. The church is God's plan for planet Earth today. We get to continue this unbroken line of men and women who have taken Christ's call seriously.

Act 6: New Creation

The story isn't over. The prophets foresaw a time when God would make all things right again—rivers in the wilderness, the child playing with the lion, everything broken becoming whole.

Revelation gives us a glimpse: a new heaven and new earth, the New Jerusalem coming down. No more death, grief, crying, or pain. God dwelling fully with humanity, us dwelling fully with God.

"Look, I'm making everything new," declares the One on the throne.

Every sad thing will become untrue. This is the hope we await—and that new creation can begin becoming reality right now, as we live out this story together.

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This is our story. Not a fairy tale from long ago and far away, but a living narrative we're invited into today. My story. Your story. God's story with His people, moving toward the day when everything will be made new.