Introduction
The Story’s basic PLOT conflict:
- God wants to bless and rule the world through humans
- Humans are the problem
- Solution: we need a new kind of human (Genesis 3:15)
Jesus
Colossians 1:15 (ESV) He is the image of the invisible God…
This is where the New Testament begins and introduces us to Jesus. The Gospels all claim that Jesus is Israel’s God become human (John 1:1-18) to fulfill both God’s part and Israel’s part of the Covenants. This becomes the backbone of the storyline of God’s redemption. God preserved the world through Noah, initiated redemption through Abraham, formed a special people through Israel, promised a shepherd-king through David, and then fulfilled all of His covenantal promises through Jesus.
Matthew 1:1 (ESV) The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Mark 1:1 (ESV) The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
John 1:1-5,14,16-17 (ESV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth….For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Mark 1:9-11 (ESV) In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
Jesus saw Himself as fulfilling these prophetic promises and called people to become part of the new covenant family.
Covenant with Abraham: the Son of Abraham — Jesus lives by trust in the Father, even to the point of death, and teaches His new family of disciples to do what is just and right and so become a source of blessing for all nations (Matthew 4, 5-7, 28:18-20).
Covenant with Israel: the True, Faithful Israelite — Jesus is the truly obedient Israelite who kept, fulfilled, and thus transcended the law of God, and empowers his followers to love God and become truly obedient by following the leadership of His Spirit (Matthew 5:17-48, Romans 8:1-11).
Covenant with David: the Son of David — Jesus is the royal son from the line of David who inaugurates God’s kingdom in his life, death, and resurrection, and now sits at God’s right hand reigning as shepherd-king over the earth and will continue to reign forever over the new creation. He promises that His Spirit will be present in and with His new covenant people to lead them into obedience (Matthew 1, Luke 1:26-38, Luke 24:36-48, Hebrews 8-10).
Mark 10:42-45 (ESV) And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles Lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Mark 12:29-31 (ESV) Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Jesus said his death would seal the new covenant and inaugurate God’s kingdom and this new covenant people (Matthew 5-7, Luke 4:14-20, Luke 22:19-22).
Luke 22:19-20 (ESV) And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
Jesus perfectly succeeded at every point humans failed, and then became the sacrifice for all of humanity’s failures. This makes him the one who guarantees and mediates a new and better covenant (Hebrews 7:22, 9:15). And now, Jesus invites us into this new covenant community, not by keeping the covenant commitments perfectly, but by faith and trust in Jesus. This is grace.
Hebrews 8:6 (ESV) But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.
Luke 24:44-49 (ESV) Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”
The New Covenant People (Resolution)
Jesus’ disciples, now being made up of all nations (not just Jews), are the family of Abraham, the new covenant people who follow the Spirit of Jesus (the Holy Spirit) into a life of freedom and blessing (Galatians 3:13-14, 23-29, 5:16-25).
Galatians 3:13-14, 27-29 (ESV) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith… For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
Our sins and failures have been forgiven, we get new hearts and God’s Holy Spirit dwelling in us, causing us to love God’s laws and walk in His ways. We can do righteousness and justice, and so be the light of the world, a light to all nations. All because of Jesus.
Ephesians 2:1-10 (ESV) And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Romans 5:17 (ESV) For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Colossians 3:8-11 (NKJV) But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
Romans 8:29 (ESV) For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
1 Peter 2:9 (ESV) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Revelation 1:4-6 (ESV) John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Epilogue
The end of the story describes a new creation of God and man in partnership cultivating His goodness in all of creation where there once was devastation, corruption, and destruction.
Revelation 22:1-5 (ESV) “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.