God's Metanarrative

God’s Metanarrative Question: "What is a metanarrative?“ A metanarrative (also called grand narrative) is an overarching story or storyline that gives context, meaning, and purpose to all of life. A metanarrative is the “big picture” or all-encompassing theme that unites all smaller themes and individual stories. The biblical metanarrative traces the storyline of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. It is the triumphant story of God dwelling with His people and ruling as king over his realm (the kingdom of God). God’s intent has always been to dwell with His people and that they would be kings and priests and He is doing it through Jesus Christ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. Eph.1:9-10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Mt.6:10 The Temple of God And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Gen.1:28 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day Gen.3:8 The temple in its most simplistic form is simply the place where the presence of God dwells. Throughout the Old Testament we are given several types of temple forms. The first is the Garden of Eden. From the very beginning God reveals to us His original intention—to make his dwelling place with mankind. The Garden of Eden is a type of temple because God is seen walking with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. He visits with them and speaks to them in an intimate manner. The tabernacle, which literally means, “dwelling place” was another early form of temple. It was constructed according to God’s specific instructions (Exodus 36) and was built to house the ark of the covenant David’s desire and God’s response Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. II Sam. 7:11b-14a The temple built by Solomon (1 Kings 6) is also a type of temple which points us to the ultimate, final temple which the Messiah will build for God. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. Zech. 3:8 And the word of the Lord came to me: “Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah. Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. And say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.” Zech 6:9-13 This Temple, as revealed from these two passages, is tied to the identity of the future Messiah as a priest and as a king who sits upon a throne which lasts forever and rules over a kingdom that never ends He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Mt.16:15-16, 18 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. II Cor.6:16 What was the gospel that Jesus proclaimed? Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:14-15 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. Acts 1:3 What gospel did Paul proclaim? He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. Acts 28;30-31 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Rom.12:1 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Col.1:12-14 Peter’s Message? 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. I Peter 2:9 How will it End? 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. Rev. 1:5b-6 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Rev1:9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” Rev.5:9-10 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” Rev.11:15 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. Rev.12:10 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Rev.21:1-4 My Father’s House And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” John 2:16 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? Jn.14:2 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. Jn.14:10-11 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Jn.14:20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. Jn.17:20-21 Dangerous Dreams- changing the way we see things Sin, not as a legal infraction for which I fear punishment from an angry cosmic police force (God) but as a relational disconnection, a broken solidarity, a harm inflicted upon the common good when I fail to live in love. Salvation, not as an evacuation plan to get souls into heaven after death but as a transformation plan to bring justice and peace for the earth and all its creatures. The resurrection, not as a single resuscitation alone but as the uprising of a whole new humanity, filled with the Spirit of the risen Christ, to be the ongoing embodiment of God-with-us. The gospel, not as information about how to avoid hell but as good news of great joy for all people, that there is a better way to live, a better path to walk, and that if we are willing to rethink everything, we can start walking that path of love right now, just as we are. Brian McLaren Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda! “As God has spoken his word in diverse cultural situations, the church is confident that he will continue to speak through the Scriptures in a changing world and in every form of human culture.” The Presbyterian Confession of 1967 Maybe we need to reexamine the message and mission of the Church “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Mt.5:13-14