METANARRATIVE

This could stand some revising and fine tuning, no doubt, but here's my present understanding of the Bible's metanarrative:

When God created humans, He created us to be in His presence and to function as His image. Genesis 1 is foundational for all considerations about the relationship between humans and God. The “Image of God” is not a characteristic – like a family resemblance – it is a ROLE. We were created to be His representatives here on earth: to be fruitful and rule as He would.

But humanity wanted to have the final say on determining what is good and evil, breaking our relationship with our loving Creator, the source of Life Itself, leaving us now to suffer the consequences: hardship and death and loss of God’s direct presence in our midst.

Unlike Calvinists, I don’t believe that humans are God-hating worms deserving to burn in hell eternally. I see in Scripture that God and humanity have the same enemies: Sin, Death, and Satan. I see human beings created to be Image-bearers, constantly falling into sin but deep-down knowing we were made for something more. 

So God initiates his redemption plan through a man, Abraham - who becomes a family - who becomes a people. God slowly draws nearer to humanity again, even as they resist or stray. He makes a covenant with His people, signaling that they will never have to worry about HIM being the side to break covenant. He gives them the Law in order that they may know His character and how He desires for them to live their lives – as His Image-bearers. The Law is good and necessary, but it ultimately produces more death. Sin takes advantage of the Law to exert even greater influence over humans. Half the time, God’s people ignored the Law in order to satisfy their rebellious hearts and the other half they (sort of) obeyed the Law, hoping to gain God’s approval. 

All the while, Death is hanging over every human’s head. 

God promises that one day He will send a new King to reestablish proper order. Sin and lawlessness cannot continue indefinitely. The Messiah will inaugurate the Kingdom of Light. All other competitors are collectively the kingdom of darkness. Within God’s Kingdom, the will of God will ultimately be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Willing humans will be restored to their original purpose: acting as God’s representatives on earth, doing good. This is what we were created for and it is the only way for us to be truly happy. 

(Still, we stubbornly and selfishly persist in rejecting the Fountain of Living Water and constantly dig our own wells, broken wells that can hold no water (Jeremiah 2:13).)

At the proper time, the Messiah shows up, preaching the “good news” of God’s Kingdom being established at long last on earth. The Messiah Himself, fully God and fully human, lives a sinless life, perfectly fulfilling the role of Image-bearer, doing the work of His Father. (In fact, He says doing His Father’s will is His food! It’s His joy. It’s what sustains Him. It’s His reason for being on earth. He never mentions doing it out of gratitude and He certainly isn’t attempting to gain the Father’s approval.) 

This King makes an astounding offer: You don’t have to die – you can have eternal life within this new Kingdom.

But there’s a problem. Every potential citizen of the Kingdom whom Jesus meets has one of two hang ups. Either they don’t believe He is the King and so they look down their noses at Him and reject His offer. Or they want to enter, but they have a criminal record as law breakers. 

The Messiah says, “Pick up your cross and follow Me – right into Death itself. Kill the old self with its sinful ways and I will raise you as a new creature with a clean slate AND My Spirit living in you.” 

And then He shows His followers where the cross leads. He lays down His life, allowing sinful human beings to spill His holy blood. And that blood, which is the Life of God Himself, becomes a brand-new covenant. It cleanses away the residue of sin and opens the way into God’s presence, making His followers into clean temples where God’s Spirit can live and guide and teach.

Once inside the Kingdom, do we have to worry about getting kicked out if we sin? No more than I need to worry that my wife will divorce me if I get lazy and refuse to mow the lawn any particular night. Marriage is a legal arrangement, yes, but it’s more than that: it is a relationship. The same is true with a Master and His disciple. With a King and His servant. If a citizen breaks the law of the Kingdom, he will suffer punishment – from a wrist slap to imprisonment – but he doesn’t get deported. 

Now in my framework as I’ve described it here, I don’t know how (or why!) to draw a line between believing in the King (“belief” as "mental assent") and pledging allegiance to the King ("belief" as “obedience”). After all, why would I want inside the Kingdom if I have no intention of living under that good King’s sovereignty? What could it possibly mean to say I “believe” He is a King if I don't simultaneously bow my knee to Him? 

Modern American Christianity seems to think the Kingdom of God (thought of almost exclusively as “The Kingdom of Heaven”, a future reality) is something akin to Disney Land – with endless entertainment and your own mansion. But that’s not at all what I see in Scripture – the Kingdom is much better than that. And less self-centered. 

I see the Kingdom as a present reality where we are to be occupied in doing our King’s will right here and right now, doing what we can to be a part of God’s present work: rescuing as many as possible from the dominion of darkness and setting things right wherever sin and Satan have sown chaos. The Kingdom is also a future place where there is no longer a threat of death or any suffering or pain or sadness. Instead, it is a place of absolute joy produced by being in God’s presence and finally finding the fulfillment of the very purpose of our existence. 

It is a return to Eden - which is exactly how the book of Revelation envisions it. 

And all of this is why it's so utterly insufficient - to the point of being misleading - to say that the "good news" is that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness and Jesus came and died so that one day you can go to heaven.