THE DRAMA OF THE BIBLE IN SIX ACTS
The Bible is a collection of letters, poems, stories, visions, prophetic oracles, wisdom and other kinds of writing. The first step to good Bible reading and understanding is to engage these collected works as the different kinds of writing that they are, and to read them as whole books. We encourage you to read big, to not merely take in little fragments of the Bible. The introductions at the start of each book will help you to do this.
But it is also important not to view the Bible as a gathering of unrelated writings. Overall, the Bible is a narrative. These books come together to tell God’s true story and his plan to set the world right again. This story of the Bible falls naturally into six key major acts, which are briefly summarized below.
“I had always felt life first as a story: and if there is a story, there is a story-teller.” G. K. Chesterton
But even more precisely, we can say the story of the Bible is a drama. The key to a drama is that it has to be acted out, performed, lived. It can’t remain as only words on a page. A drama is an activated story. The Bible was written so we could enter into its story. It is meant to be lived.
All of us, without exception, live our lives as a drama. We are on stage every single day. What will we say? What will we do? According to which story will we live? If we are not answering these questions with the biblical script, we will follow another. We can’t avoid living by someone’s stage instructions, even if merely our own.
This is why another key to engaging the Bible well is to recognize that its story has not ended. God’s saving action continues. We are all invited to take up our own roles in this ongoing story of redemption and new creation. So, welcome to the drama of the Bible. Welcome to the story of how God intends to renew your life, and the life of the world. God himself is calling you to engage with his word.
Act 1: GOD’S INTENTION
The drama begins (in the first pages of the book of Genesis) with God already on the stage creating a world. He makes a man and a woman, Adam and Eve, and places them in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. The earth is created to be their home. God’s intention is for humanity to be in close, trusting relationship with him and in harmony with the rest of creation that surrounds them.
In a startling passage, the Bible tells us that human beings are God’s image-bearers, created to share in the task of bringing God’s wise and beneficial rule to the rest of the world. Male and female together, we are significant, decision-making, world-shaping beings. This is our vocation, our purpose as defined in the biblical story.
An equally remarkable part of Act 1 is the description of God as coming into the garden to be with the first human beings. Not only is the earth the God-intended place for humanity, God himself comes to make the beautiful new creation his home as well.
God then gives his own assessment of the whole creation: God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. Act 1 reveals God’s original desire for the world. It shows us that life itself is a gift from the Creator. It tells us what we were made for and provides the setting for all the action that follows.
Act 2: EXILE
Tension and conflict are introduced to the story when Adam and Eve decide to go their own way and seek their own wisdom. They listen to the deceptive voice of God’s enemy, Satan, and doubt God’s trustworthiness. They decide to live apart from the word that God himself has given them. They decide to be a law to themselves.
The disobedience of Adam and Eve — the introduction of sin into our world — is presented in the Bible as having devastating consequences. Humans were created for healthy, life-giving relationship: with God, with each other, and with the rest of creation. But now humanity must live with the fracturing of all these relations and with the resulting shame, brokenness, pain, loneliness — and death.
Heaven and earth — God’s realm and our realm — were intended to be united. God’s desire from the beginning was clearly to live with us in the world he made. But now God is hidden. Now it is possible to be in our world and not know him, not experience his presence, not follow his ways, not live in gratitude.
As a result of this rebellion, the first exile in the story takes place. The humans are driven away from God’s presence. Their offspring throughout history will seek to find their way back to the source of life. They will devise any number of philosophies and religions, trying to make sense of a fallen, yet haunting world. But death now stalks them, and they will find that they cannot escape it. Having attempted to live apart from God and his good word, humans will find they have neither God nor life.
New questions arise in the drama: Can the curse on creation be overcome and the relationship between God and humanity restored? Can heaven and earth be reunited? Or did God’s enemy effectively end the plan and subvert the story?
Act 3: CALLING ISRAEL TO A MISSION
We see the direction of God’s redemptive plan when he calls Abraham, promising to make him into a great nation. God narrows his focus and concentrates on one group of people. But the ultimate goal remains the same: to bless all the peoples on earth and remove the curse from creation.
When Abraham’s descendants are enslaved in Egypt, a central pattern in the story is set: God hears their cries for help and comes to set them free. God makes a covenant with this new nation of Israel at Mt. Sinai. Israel is called by God to be a light to the nations, showing the world what it means to follow God’s ways for living. If they will do this, he will bless them in their new land and will come to live with them.
However, God also warns them that if they are not faithful to the covenant, he will send them away, just as he did with Adam and Eve. In spite of God’s repeated warnings through his prophets, Israel seems determined to break the covenant. So God abandons the holy temple — the sign of his presence with his people — and it is smashed by pagan invaders. Israel’s capital city Jerusalem is sacked and burned.
Abraham’s descendants, chosen to reverse the failure of Adam, have now apparently also failed. The problem this poses in the biblical story is profound. Israel, sent as the divine answer to Adam’s fall, cannot escape Adam’s sin. God, however, remains committed to his people and his plan, so he sows the seed of a different outcome. He promises to send a new king, a descendant of Israel’s great King David, who will lead the nation back to its destiny. The very prophets who warned Israel of the dire consequences of its wrongdoing also pledge that the good news of God’s victory will be heard in Israel once again.
Act 3 ends tragically, with God apparently absent and the pagan nations ruling over Israel. But the hope of a promise remains. There is one true God. He has chosen Israel. He will return to his people to live with them again. He will bring justice, peace and healing to Israel, and then to the world. He will do this in a final and climactic way. God will send his anointed one — the Messiah. He has given his word on this.
Act 4: THE SURPRISING VICTORY OF JESUS
“He is the god made manifest . . . the universal savior of human life.” These words, referring to Caesar Augustus (found in a Roman inscription from 4 BC in Ephesus), proclaim the gospel of the Roman Empire. This version of the good news announces that Caesar is the lord who brings peace and prosperity to the world.
Into this empire a son of David is born, and he announces the gospel of God’s kingdom. Jesus of Nazareth brings the good news of the coming of God’s reign. He begins to show what God’s new creation looks like. He announces the end of Israel’s exile and the forgiveness of sins. He heals the sick and raises the dead. He overcomes the dark spiritual powers. He welcomes sinners and those considered unclean. Jesus renews the nation, rebuilding the twelve tribes of Israel around himself in a symbolic way.
But the established religious leaders are threatened by Jesus and his kingdom, so they have him brought before the Roman governor. During the very week that the Jews were remembering and celebrating Passover — God’s ancient rescue of his people from slavery in Egypt — the Romans nail Jesus to a cross and kill him as a false king.
But the Bible claims that this defeat is actually God’s greatest victory. How? Jesus willingly gives up his life as a sacrifice on behalf of the nation, on behalf of the world. Jesus takes onto himself the full force of evil and empties it of its power. In this surprising way, Jesus fights and wins Israel’s ultimate battle. The real enemy was never Rome, but the spiritual powers that lie behind Rome and every other kingdom whose weapon is death. Through his blood Jesus pays the price and reconciles everything in heaven and on earth to God.
God then publicly declares this victory by reversing Jesus’ death sentence and raising him back to life. The resurrection of Israel’s king shows that the great enemies of God’s creation — sin and death — really have been defeated. The resurrection is the great sign that the new creation has begun.
Jesus is the fulfillment of Israel’s story and a new start for the entire human race. Death came through the first man, Adam. The resurrection of the dead comes through the new man, Jesus. God’s original intention is being reclaimed.
Act 5: THE RENEWED PEOPLE OF GOD
If the key victory has already been secured, why is there an Act 5? The answer is that God wants the victory of Jesus to spread to all the nations of the world. The risen Jesus says to his disciples, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” So this new act in the drama tells the story of how the earliest followers of Jesus began to spread the good news of God’s reign.
According to the New Testament, all those who belong to Israel’s Messiah are children of Abraham, heirs of both the ancient promises and the ancient mission. The task of bringing blessing to the peoples of the world has been given again to Abraham’s family. Their mission is to live out the liberating message of the good news of God’s kingdom.
God is gathering people from all around the world and forming them into assemblies of Jesus-followers — his church. Together they are God’s new temple, the place where his Spirit lives. They are the community of those who have pledged their allegiance to Jesus as the true Lord of the world. They have crossed from death into new life, through the power of God’s Spirit. They demonstrate God’s love across the usual boundaries of race, class, tribe and nation.
Forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God can now be announced to all. Following in the steps of Jesus, his followers proclaim this gospel in both word and deed. The power of this new, God-given life breaking into the world is meant to be shown by the real-world actions of the Christian community. But the message also has a warning. When the Messiah returns, he will come as the rightful judge of the world.
The Bible is the story of the central struggle weaving its way through the history of the world. And now the story arrives at our own time, enveloping us in its drama.
So the challenge of a decision confronts us. What will we do? How will we fit into this story? What role will we play? God is inviting us to be a part of his mission of recreation — of bringing restoration, justice and forgiveness. We are to join in the task of making things new, to be a living sign of what is to come when the drama is complete.
Act 6: GOD COMES HOME
God’s future has come into our world through the work of Jesus the Messiah. But for now, the present evil age also continues. Brokenness, wrongdoing, sickness and even death remain. We live in the time of the overlap of the ages, the time of in-between. The final Act is coming, but it has not yet arrived.
We live in the time of invitation, when the call of the gospel goes out to every creature. Of course, many still live as though God doesn’t exist. They do not acknowledge the rule of the Messiah. But the day is coming when Jesus will return to earth and the reign of God will become an uncontested reality throughout the world.
God’s presence will be fully and openly with us once again, as it was at the beginning of the drama. God’s plan of redemption will reach its goal. The creation will experience its own Exodus, finding freedom from its bondage to decay. Pain and tears, regret and shame, suffering and death will be no more.
When the day of resurrection arrives God’s people will find that their hope has been realized. The dynamic force of an indestructible life will course through their bodies. Empowered by the Spirit, and unhindered by sin and death, we will pursue our original vocation as a renewed humanity. We will be culture makers, under God but over the world. Having been remade in the image of Christ, we will share in bringing his wise, caring rule to the earth.
At the center of it all will be God himself. He will return and make his home with us, this time in a new heavens and a new earth. We, along with the rest of creation, will worship him perfectly and fulfill our true calling. God will be all in all, and the whole world will be full of his glory.
LIVING THE SCRIPT
From the beginning God made it clear that he intends for us to be significant players in his drama. No doubt, it is first and foremost God’s story. But we can’t passively sit back and just watch what happens. At every stage he invites humans to participate with him.
Here are three key steps to finding your place in the drama:
1. IMMERSE YOURSELF IN THE BIBLE
If we are unfamiliar with the text of the drama itself, there’s no chance of living our parts well. Only when we read both deeply and widely in the Bible, marinating in it and letting it soak into our lives, will we be prepared to effectively take up our roles. The more we read the Bible, the better readers we will become. Rather than skimming the surface, we will become skilled at interpreting and practicing what we read.
2. COMMIT TO FOLLOW JESUS
We’ve all taken part in the brokenness and wrongdoing that came into the story in Act 2. The victory of Jesus in Act 4 now offers us the opportunity to have our lives turned around. Our sins can be forgiven. We can become part of God’s story of new creation.
Turn away from your wrongdoing. God has acted through the death and resurrection of the Messiah to deal decisively with evil — in your life and in the life of the world. His death was a sacrifice, and his resurrection a new beginning. Acknowledge that Jesus is the rightful ruler of the world, and commit to follow him and join with God’s people.
3. LIVE YOUR PART
Followers of Jesus are gospel players in local communities living out the biblical drama together. But we do not have an exact script for our lines and actions in the drama today. Our history has not yet been written. And we can’t just repeat lines from earlier acts in the drama. So what do we do?
We read the Bible to understand what God has already done, especially through Jesus the Messiah, and to know how we carry this story forward. The Bible helps us answer the key question about everything we say and do: Is this an appropriate and fitting way to live out the story of Jesus today?This is how we put the Scriptures into action. Life’s choices can be messy, but God has given us his word and promised us his Spirit to guide us on the way. You are God’s artwork, created to do good works. May your life be a gift of beauty back to him.
For more help in understanding the Bible and finding your place in its story, go to:
Biblica.com/LivingTheScript.
