Our four year old granddaughter, Sofia, was coming home from pre-school with her mother, Caroline. She suddenly stopped what she was doing, turned to her Mum and said:

“Mummy, who made me?”

 Caroline, while trying to focus on her driving, said: “God made you.”

“Who is God?” came the instant question.

“God is Your heavenly Father,” Caroline  replied.

“Where is heaven, Mummy?”

“It’s up in the sky, only much larger, and way beyond the sky” said Caroline.

“Can I see God?” asked Sofia.

“No, you can’t actually see Him but you can imagine Him – in your head.”

After a pause Sofia went on: “Can I talk to God, Mummy?”

“Yes, you can talk to God – in your head.”

“Will God answer me, Mummy?”

“Yes, God will answer you – in your head.”

Sofia fell silent for a few moments.

“Mummy?”

“Yes, Sofia?”

“God said He loves me.”

When we related this story to one of our friends she commented that Sofia had got the whole Gospel in one go.

Praise Him, that He speaks to little children.

They need no encouragement to speak to Him.

And Jesus spoke of revealing the mysteries of the kingdom to little children.

 The biblical story can be described, in a broad sense, as the implementing of God’s Kingdom in history, through a series of covenants, in pursuit of His redemptive plan beginning with His chosen people, Israel. All of this comes to fulfilment in the New Testament by God’s action in and through Jesus.

Redemptive History

Looking briefly at redemptive history there was Creation, Adam and Eve, and its implications, the Fall and its effects. The Fall from grace by Adam and Eve left a “chasm” between God and mankind. God then put Plan A into operation – His plan of salvation. There was no Plan B! God’s plan was to restore the relationship with His people.

Because of the sins of Babel (read the narratives in Gen Ch 3) there was the Flood, followed by the  first mention of a covenant,  God’s agreement with Noah (Gen ch 6). In spite of the Flood, God preserves a family for the world and a world for redemption. The same covenantal idea can be traced through Biblical history.

There is now a trail of covenants, from Abraham (the promise of relationship with God, the promise of seed/descendents and the promise of land, Gen ch 12 ), through Moses (a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, Ex ch 19), through David (a throne, a kingdom, a dynasty, a unique Father/Son relationship, 2 Sam ch 7) and the Prophets, to the New Covenant (”I will be their God and they will be My people” Jer ch 31), described in Ezekiel and Jeremiah, pointing to the coming of Jesus.  

The Atoning work of Jesus

Jesus was the fulfilment that Israel was meant to be but failed to accomplish. Jesus was the final revelation, the full picture. All the foreshadowings found their goal in Him: what was partial, provisional and incomplete came to fullness in Him. So He redefined what it meant to be “the people of God.” All His thirty-three years of life, His Cross, and His resurrection is timeless. The work He did was complete, and the salvation contained therein is for everyone.  But we need to appropriate it. Everyone from the beginning to the end of time existed in the heart of Jesus Christ when He died. Following His resurrection and ascension, He sent His Holy Spirit to lead us ever deeper in God’s truth, to continue to illuminate Jesus and convict the world’s sin. Jesus took up the whole sorry mess. (Read “Where are all the Men?”)

Jesus and His Church

Scripture therefore is not so much about words, as it is about a person Jesus Christ. He is the One bridging the chasm between God and humanity.

The Gospellers and Paul in particular, are engaged in establishing Jesus’ church on earth, leading to the Book of Revelation, where we see that we move forward to the New Heaven and the New Earth. Jesus is the sure foundation of His church, which is now the sign of relationship between God and man. Words are too small for such mystery, and complexity.

The mystery of the Incarnation is that God chose to express His solidarity with us, His people, by entering our humanity.  How do we, His mystical body on earth, express our solidarity with one another?

The transfiguring grace of the Holy Spirit creates a new belonging together in a life marked by passion and a thirsting, longing for God. Being  a Christian means our lives being shaped in every aspect by the life of Jesus Christ crucified and risen. We find our meaning and identity in the pattern of His self-giving love, a life shaped by the  Holy Spirit. Now God says to you: “I created you, I hold you in being, I love you, I call you by your name, you are precious in My sight. ” We are called to share intimately in God’s loving gift of Himself.

When God the Father looks at you His heart fills with joy (Zeph ch 3); when Jesus looks at you He sees a brother or sister for whom He died; when the Holy Sprit looks at you He sees His home. You are a temple of God’s Holy Spirit.

You are invited to simply be in the Presence of Love, because your whole life is a journey into the depths of a love that will go on forever. All you have to do is respond as you are called to do by God Himself.