Introduction

If you where to explain the gospel to someone, where are some places in Scripture that you might start? Maybe in one of the gospels or in Romans, what are your thoughts?

Would anyone begin in the Old Testament?

That is where we are going to begin. We are going to give an overview of this study by looking at the gospel in the Old Testament. If we were to look at each of the four gospels we would notice that Matthew begins by giving a genealogy from Abraham to Christ, Mark begins by quoting several Old Testament prophets concerning Jesus and John the Baptist, after the baptism of Jesus Luke provides a genealogy from Jesus back to Adam, and John begins with the creation of the universe. From this we can see the importance of the Old Testament to the writers of the four gospels and the early church.

Would someone read Luke 24:13-35 for us?

“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).

What does he mean by this? What does it mean to begin with “Moses and all the Prophets?”

Exactly, Jesus began in Genesis, which was written by Moses, and then explained everything written about Him in the Old Testament.

I. Metanarrative and Worldview Revisited

Thinking back to last week’s discussion on we need to look at five questions that every worldview must answer. These questions also form the basic outline for our study of the storyline of the Bible. They are as follows:

• Creation — How did we get here?
• Fall — What went wrong?
• Redemption — Can it be fixed?
• Consummation — Where is it going?
• Application — What now?

So let’s have some fun here and answer these questions as if we were characters in The Lord of the Rings. Is someone a big Tolkien fan and wants to answer them all or should I divide up the questions?

• Creation — How did we get here?

“Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.”

• Fall — What went wrong?

“One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.”

• Redemption — Can it be fixed?

Yes, by destroying the ring in the fires of Mount Doom.

• Consummation — Where is it going?

I think this question varies depending upon the various races in Middle-earth so I am not going to attempt an answer.

• Application — What now?

We must journey to Mordor and destroy the ring.

II. The Gospel as Metanarrative

Now if we take that same framework and apply it to the Bible we will see both the metanarrative, the grand story, of Scripture and the worldview it presents. Furthermore, we need to pay special attention to note how Jesus is the unifying center of the Bible.

A. Creation — How did we get here?

In what way does creation relate to Jesus?

In Genesis 1:26 God says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” So we see Jesus as a part of the Trinity in whose image man is made. If we turn to the New Testament we learn in Colossians that “For by him [meaning Christ] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him” (1:16).

B. Fall — What went wrong?

Is Jesus related in any way to the fall and if so how?

Exactly, Jesus comes to redeem humanity from the curse of the fall. Jesus comes as the second Adam to give life where the first Adam brought about death.

C. Redemption — Can it be fixed?

1. Seeing the Gospel in the Garden

Continuing to look at Genesis 3 do you see the gospel mentioned there, perhaps in verse 15?

Yes, Jesus will conquer Satan and undo the curse.

2. Seeing the Gospel in the Flood

Can someone summarize the story of the flood? How would we see the gospel there?

God in His grace provided a way for Noah, and his family, to be spared from the wrath to come. In the same way we see that in Christ God has provided a way for us to be spared from the wrath to come.

3. Seeing the Gospel in the Calling of Abraham

Will someone read the calling of Abram in Genesis 12:1-3? How do we see the gospel in this account? Someone read Galatians 3:8 to see what Paul has to say about this event.

We see here that the gospel is proclaimed to Abraham and to the Patriarchs after him in the form of the Abrahamic Covenant whereby God promises to bless the nations through Abraham, specifically through Jesus a descendant of Abraham.

4. Seeing the Gospel in the Exodus

The narrative of the exodus is spread over fifteen chapters, which we do not have time to read, so will someone give us a synopsis? What are the key points? The exodus is rich with messianic foreshadowing what strikes you as the most vivid pictures of the coming messiah?

Clearly the Passover lamb points us to Jesus, the Lamb of God, through whom we have redemption. Even the Passover feast has been given new meaning in the Lord’s Supper, or communion, as it now reminds us of the death of Christ on the cross.

5. Seeing the Gospel in God’s Covenant with David

Someone read II Samuel 7:8-17. In what way do these promises point to David’s son Solomon and in what way do they point beyond Solomon to Christ?

This text is first fulfilled in Solomon and ultimately fulfilled in Christ. In I Kings 10:23-25 the wealth and wisdom of Solomon are recorded and so we see that God does establish Solomon’s kingdom. In I Kings 6-9 we see the building of the temple and so we see that he indeed does build a house for God’s name. However, this is not the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy because we read of the descent and death of Solomon in I Kings 11, the division of the kingdom between Judah, the Southern Kingdom, under Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, and Israel, the Northern Kingdom, under Jeroboam I in I Kings 12, and then eventually both kingdoms fell and were carried off into exile; Israel in II Kings 17 and Judah in II Kings 24-25. So at this point we are left with a fairly dismal picture for what was promised to be an everlasting throne.

6. Seeing the Gospel in the New Covenant

In Jeremiah 31:31-34 we read of the promise of a New Covenant where God will write His law upon His people’s hearts and remember their sins no more. In Hebrews 8-9 we read of how the old covenant, specifically the Mosaic Covenant, which we did not discuss, has been superseded by the New Covenant because Jesus has secured our redemption, a redemption that was anticipated and foreshadowed by the Mosaic Covenant and its sacrificial system.

D. Consummation — Where is it going?

Where is all of this going? We read of man’s creation, his fall into sin, and the various covenants which God has established in anticipation of their consummation. If we would turn to Revelation 22:1-5 we will see the great end which all of these covenants anticipate.

Will someone read that for us?

Let us think back through our notes for tonight and see how this section of Scripture points us to the fulfillment of all that we have studied. Looking back to the fall of man and the cursing of creation we read in verse 3 that “No longer will there be anything accursed.” Also in verse 3 we see that man’s relationship with God has been restored as “his servants will worship him.” Looking back to God’s covenant with Abraham we see that indeed the nations are blessed as verse 2 tells us of the tree of life whose leaves are for “for the healing of the nations.” Thinking of God’s covenant with David and the promise of an everlasting kingdom and throne we read of “throne of God and of the Lamb” in verse 1 and verse 5 closes with the promise that God with His people “will reign forever and ever.”

E. Application — What now?

We stand between the giving of the New Covenant, in Christ, and the consummation of the covenants at His return. “We stand.” Did you catch that? This is not just the story of Israel or the church. Yes, it is God’s story, but it is also the story in which we dwell. So a critical aspect of application is discovering what it looks like to live out this story and discerning where we have read contradictory aspects of false stories in.

John 20:21 helps us answer the question “what now?” Will someone read that text for us? How does this text answer our fifth worldview question?

There is a lot to be learned from this text and we will devote a significant amount of time studying it at the end of this series. But now at the risk of extreme oversimplification we will look at Christ’s paradigmatic statement, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). If we are sent by Christ just as Christ was sent by the Father then we must be about the task of seeking and saving the lost. Looking back to the title of this series we see that not only must we indwell God’s story but we must also embody His mission to seek and save the lost.

Conclusion

Are there any other questions before we conclude? That was a very brief overview of the metanarrative of Scripture. We will spend the rest of our time breaking that story down into smaller narratives and seeing how they fit into the larger whole. Next time we will be diving into the story of creation and looking at both its message and its context within the history of God’s people. Take time to familiarize yourself with Genesis 1-2 as we will spend the next two sessions studying this text.