Fruitful
*

Storylines 

From the first chapter entitled 'The Bible in 20 pages'

The Bible is the bestselling book in the world, yet to many it remains a mystery. The Bible is, and has been since it was written, the source of all our teachings and beliefs as Christians. Many of us, however, still have big questions about our own Scripture. Who wrote it? Is it accurate? How can we say it's God's word? Why do we trust it? How can a collection of ancient stories relate to modern life?

These questions are very important and while we do intend to examine them in this book, our real aim is to look at one key question. Not why, or who, or where, or how but what; what is the Bible all about? Isn't it just a random collection of 66 separate books? Don't the stories in the books often seem to contradict each other? Doesn't the God of the Old Testament seem radically different from the God of the New Testament?

There are lots of stories in the Bible, but like The Lord of the Rings films, they're all part of one big story. This story is HIS story. This story is also our story. But above all, this story tells of the relationship between God and humanity: the highs and the lows; the joys and the heartbreak; God's never-ending pursuit of a relationship with those he loves. The first four words of the Bible are 'In the beginning God'. The Bible makes no attempt to explain what there was before God. The possible pre-existence of Cliff Richard is not an issue! It simply makes the point that everything begins with God. As we tell the story, then, let us begin at the beginning, with God. . .

God created 'something' out of nothing. We call it the universe. He created towering mountains, unfathomable oceans, spectacular waterfalls and beautiful views. He created dense forests, wide open plains, and a world that bursts with variety from its animals to its insects, from its flowers to its fruits, and, as the centrepiece of his creation, he made something that would resemble him. That something was plural; it was Adam and Eve.

Adam and Eve together reflected his image and likeness. It was only once he'd created Adam and Eve that he declared his creation to be 'very good'. Adam and Eve were created for relationship with, and dependence on, God. They were given the task of 'ruling' (which means 'looking after' or 'ruling over') the rest of creation on God's behalf. But instead of embracing this relationship, they messed it up. Choosing not to trust God, they opted for a life of independence.

The first course on the menu of independent life was forbidden fruit and the side-effects included loss of innocence and death. Adam and Eve, having eaten the fruit, lost their innocence, and when God came to hang out at the bottom of the garden they realised for the first time that they were naked, and hid from him.

The human race has been hiding from him ever since.

The (much) younger of the two of our authors recently spent some time in India. While there, he was sitting outside reading a book (in order to nick bits for this book). He glanced down and noticed a large ant, the type that has a nasty bite, moving threateningly in the direction of his foot. He turned to his friend and announced, we quote: 'If that ant even thinks about biting me I'm going to stamp on its head!' Wouldn't you do the same to an insect or wasp that stung you? It wasn't until a few minutes after he'd turned back to reading that he suddenly wondered - what if God had said that about us? 'If the human race even thinks about hurting me I'm going to stamp on them!' The story of the Bible is different from this situation in two ways. One: the ant, in fact the whole colony of ants in the story - the human ants - did bite God. Two: God did not stamp. Why?

Another difference is that to God we are not just like a colony of ants that bite. The Bible makes clear that God did not create us because he was lonely or bored. We're not there to satisfy his curiosity. Nor were we created in order to 'complete him'. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity implies many things; not least, the doctrine of the Trinity implies that God is a relational God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit live for eternity in a perfect community of love. It was as if, one day in all eternity, the Father said to the Son and Holy Spirit: 'We have so much love for each other, let's create something that looks like us, sounds like us and smells like us - then we can share our love with it.'

The first five days of creation were about God preparing the nursery. He chose the colour scheme (mainly greens and blues), he ensured there were thousands of starry nightlights, and he laid down a carpet of meadows, deserts and seas. Then, on day six, humanity was born.

We are told that out of the dust of the earth God created Adam, but there was no life in him. Then God breathed his life into Adam. Many of us might imagine it happened something like this: God was standing with his feet on Earth, his waist around Mars and his head somewhere north of Jupiter. He took a big tube, placed one end strategically over Adam's nostrils and blew. The whole of the Bible implies it happened differently. It was as if God knelt down, lifted Adam's head slightly, and gave him the kiss of life.

When God made humanity, he was not constructing a car, he was having children. It was relational, it was intimate.

'God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness. . ." ' (Genesis 1:26, emphasis added). In other words, it was as if Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as an expression and overflow of their love, said to each other, 'We will make something that looks like us, sounds like us and smells like us.'

Something similar happens when boy meets girl. They fall in love and get married. In a perfect love story their love grows deeper each day. They are so in love they'd be happy to live, just the two of them, on a desert island for the rest of their lives. However, as with many married couples, the two decide that making something in their own image and in their own likeness will give new and wonderful expression to the love that already exists between them. So they have a child. They make something that looks like them, sounds like them and, well, sometimes smells like them. This is called 'the parenting instinct'. It's an instinct we get from somewhere and it is God who has the original parenting gene. The fact that we are his children, created in his image, has probably got something to do with the reason why God didn't flatten us when we walked out on him. A click of his fingers and God could have wiped out creation and, if he'd wanted, started again. Instead of destroying everything, however, God chose not to give up on his children.

The story of the Bible is God's plan of action - his plan to restore the relationship he'd always longed for between himself and his children. Why God chose to do it in the way he did rather than starting with a clean slate is a mystery and in some ways will remain a mystery. It's the mystery of love...

 

Mike Pilavachi and Andy Croft head up Soul Survivor in the UK.

© Used by permission of David C Cook & Survivor
To read more, purchase the book at Kingsway bookshop