Understanding the Gospel, Part 4: The Macro Story

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Written By Jill Cottingham

For many people, the Gospel is very short and concise; in so many words it may look like this:

“Jesus died to save you from your sins so you can go to heaven when you die.”

I would argue that this is a very small snippet of Good News that leaves one very focused on self and missing the big picture, the macro story. This post will focus on just that, the big picture. The story from 30,000 ft.

I know it’s easy to get caught up in singular moments, zoomed in on details so much that you miss the gorilla in the room, and I find it incredibly beneficial to zoom out and be reminded that there is more to the bible than the verse of the day and my yearly reading plan. What I’d like to do today is summarize the story of the Bible as if you could read it in one go, with all the main characters, key themes and plots conflicts and twists, as well as the ending and epilogue, all mapped out together.

  1. Creation Narrative

    1. Elohim, the Heavens and the Earth, Humanity, Image bearing

      1. powers, rulers, spiritual forces in the heavens (stars)

      2. race of mankind (dust)

    2. hunter/gatherers

  2. Eden Narrative

    1. Adam & Eve, Breathe of God, Paradise, Double/Triple Image bearing (Royalty)

    2. Trees, Tree of Knowledge, Tree of Life

    3. agricultural

  3. The Fall

    1. The Serpent, the Test, Exile

  4. Lineage war

    1. Line of Seth / Line of Cain

      1. alliances & loyalties

      2. gods (fallen angels) and demi-gods (nephilim)

        1. powers, rulers, spiritual forces of evil in the heavens

      3. technology and knowledge cults

      4. violence; anti-human agenda

    2. city states

  5. Noah

    1. De-creation

    2. Covenants

  6. Nations

    1. Babel

      1. elohim’s nations

        1. powers, rulers, spiritual forces of evil in the heavens

      2. YAHWEH’s nation

  7. Patriarchs (father priests)

    1. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob

      1. covenants, land, prophecy, lineage, blessing

    2. 12 tribes and Joseph

  8. Nation (People/Children) of Israel

    1. Oppression & Slavery in Egypt

      1. powers, rulers, spiritual forces of evil in the heavens

    2. Salvation

  9. Moses

    1. Tabernacle, Priests and The Law

      1. Passover and Atonement

      2. Reaping and Sowing

      3. Disclosure and Agreements

    2. the Wilderness

  10. Judges

    1. The Promise Land

    2. The Nations

      1. powers, rulers, spiritual forces of evil in the heavens

      2. priest kings & idols

        1. evocation, harlotry, authority

      3. judgement

  11. Kings

    1. Temple & Priests & Prophets

      1. concessions/giving over

    2. the Nation divided

  12. Exile

    1. global empires ( …assyrian, babylonian, greek, roman)

      1. powers, rulers, spiritual forces of evil in the heavens

    2. Prophecy

    3. Silence

  13. Messiah

    1. baptism, test, ministry, death, resurrection & ascension

    2. 12 disciples & Paul +

  14. The Church

    1. the “Body of Christ” and apostles

    2. Pentecoste baptism of Spirit

    3. persecution of early church & global reach of gospel

    4. anti christs, psuedo gospels & false teachers

  15. Diaspora

    1. scattering of Jews

  16. Christianity

    1. Modern Bible compiled preserved and dispersed

    2. Institutionalization

      1. Councils/Creeds

      2. Sects, branches and denominations

        1. east/west split

        2. protestant /catholic split

        3. denominationals splits

    3. Missions

    4. blessing, movements and revivals

  17. Globalization (subversive lineage war; alliances, technology and violence to humanity)

    1. islam, buddhism, hinduism, taoism, zoastroism, druidism, wicca, atheism, new age, science, humanism

      1. powers, rulers, spiritual forces of evil in the heavens

    2. technological booms and colonization/govermental reorganizations (15th century-19th century)

      1. transcontinental and transoceanic travel

      2. industrial revolutions 1-3

    3. world wars (ended 1918 & 1945)

    4. united nations (1945)/world bank (1944)

    5. Isreal returns as a Nation (1948/1949)

    6. world economic forum (1977)

      1. Industrial revolutions 4-5

    7. The End days?

      1. Industrial revolutions 6-7?

        1. “mark of the beast”

      2. Israel reinstitutes the 3 Temple?

        1. man of perdition, false prophets, the beast, the plagues

  18. Return of Christ

    1. Final Wars

    2. Resurrection

  19. The Final Judgement

    1. fallen angels, demons, elohim are legally judged for crimes agains humanity

    2. humanity is judged for their spheres of authority

    3. all submit to Christ and Christ submits to Father, YAHWEH is all in all.

    4. De-creation of evil and death

  20. The New Age begins on earth

    1. Reconciliation, Renewal, Restoration, Redemption

      1. eternal life

      2. glorification of the saints

      3. heaven and earth united

      4. return to Paradise

So this is a very rough outline of what the Bible narrates as the story of the heavens and the earth, start to finish. humanity and Elohim, namely YAHWEH and his chosen line and those loyal to him from among the nations. It tells the story of the good that comes from believing and trusting in Yahweh as Good Father, submitting to His plans willingly or rejecting Yahweh, believing in that which is contrary to His plan, allying with lesser elohim and incurring the repercussions that follow, namely death and suffering. But the story is still unfolding and the epilogue tells us what will come but how and when we don’t exactly know. All we know is that All will be made right, justice will be served, salvation will be had, evil and death with be undone.

The Good News, or Gospel, can only be appreciated fully when we see the big picture.

The macro view sets up a pretty big conflict, pretty gnarly villains, impossible odds and dire consequences. Interwoven through the story however are unlikely heroes, interventions from heaven and remnants of resilience, a thread of hope that hangs as a life line to the diligent and faithful. Will the the rebellious succeed in over throwing the powers or earth and heaven? Will the loyal be overcome by persecution and opression? Will the blind remain blind forever, unaware of the role they unwittingly play on another’s chess board? We know the answer but faced with the crushing weight of real time reality can even those who know the truth endure to see it?

The Gospel reaches far beyond the personal forgiveness of your short and microscopic life of wrong doing. The Gospel if the cosmic redemption of all of heaven and earth, the universal correction of evil and its effects. The Gospel is the counter-move that wins the game, the check mate of all check mates, brought about by the very hand of Jesus the Christ.

Check out the next post to see how this “chess” game unfolds from Bad News to Good News.

Jill Cottingham
Next

Understanding the Gospel, Part 3: Resurrection Belief in the OT