Past, present and future

In the beginning, there was God. Out of nothing, he created everything we see. The cosmos goes on further than we can imagine, probably more than 10 billion light-years in size. When we think about that, it's not the size that blows our mind, but that potentially God could be interested in this minute spec of dust that is me. And then there's time; we live on this planet for maybe 100 years. That too is like a grain of sand on a vast beach stretching further than we can see. In that context, words are insufficient to express who we are and who God is. It is into that milieu that I write about past, present and future...

When man became sentient, it is recorded that broken legs were splinted. This meant that people with broken legs were not left to die like many animals do, but there was an attitude of thoughtful care. This was in the image of a personal God who cared for people. At that stage, the relationship with God was naïve and later man chose to learn about right and wrong. It wasn't that this spoiled the relationship with God; it allowed for the relationship to deepen - love for God became a conscious choice rather than a default expectation, like a toddler growing to a teen and then to an adult.

Through the millennia of time the Bible spans we discern a progressive revelation; mankind growing and discovering more about God. However, in this written history, we observe that the relationship between God and mankind quickly faltered. The number of people listening to God had reduced, many deciding to go their own way, much to God's dismay. However, down through the ages, there have been some who have been God's friends. One of the first was a man called Abraham. God set a test to see how much Abraham was truly listening to Him, first making what appeared to be a totally unreasonable demand, then rescinding it. Having realised that Abraham truly listened to and heard God, he made a covenant with Him: God would bless Abraham and his descendants, and in turn, Abraham's descendants would tell the whole world about the one true God who loved them and sought a relationship with them.

The early details are hazy because they occurred before the Bronze Age, when writing was developed in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Hence, the early aural history wasn't written down for over 1,000 years; it's therefore more myth than accurate recorded history. Myths aren't necessarily untrue; they are just what is widely believed at the time. When it was written down, the descendants of Abraham went to great pains to ensure that the copying was incredibly accurate, counting each and every character to make sure copies were identical.  

Blessing and responsibility 

It didn't take long for Abraham's descendants to think more of the blessing than the responsibility. Abraham's great-grandson was a boy called Joseph. He was pretty much a spoiled brat; being his father's favourite really irritated his brothers. When he was young, he was someone who could hear God but totally lacked humility. In a fit of rage, his brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt. Joseph rose up in Egypt because he was hearing from God and built some amazing water canals that fed the Egyptian population and more. The land God had covenanted to Abraham was, meanwhile, drought-ridden, so Joseph's brothers and family ended up moving to Egypt under Joseph's care.

Abraham's descendants overstayed their welcome and ended up enslaved in Egypt. Another friend of God was a man named Moses. Though he came from Abraham's family, he grew up in the court of the leaders of Egypt, who had become the oppressors of his family. Drawing Abraham's family back to himself, God miraculously got them out of Egypt and back to the land he had promised them they could use. But that use had responsibility: They were to care for all foreigners in the land; it wasn't a right so much as a blessing to be passed on to others. God gave them ten simple commands, five about their relationship to him and five rules to live by.

Kings and rulers

They were then ruled by judges who made more and more and more rules to live by. Over the next centuries, these rules became more and more oppressive. The surrounding people groups all had kings, so the people asked God for a king. God responded 'You won't like it, he'll end up taking taxes and it will be even more oppressive'. But they were keen to have one, so God allowed them to have one.

Three of the kings: Saul, David and Solomon were people who listened to God in different ways. Solomon was a king known for his wisdom and David, though he failed really badly in some ways, was someone to be called a friend of God. They built a temple to God and they set up structures that gave separation between God and mankind. They only allowed a few special people into the holy of holies, where they believed God resided. Everything became more of a religion than a relationship. They found out God was right about kings and eventually the kingdom split in two, one of them taking the name Israel and the other the name Judah. 

This separation meant that people lost the intimate relationship with God and drifted away from him. To try to bring them back, God took them out of the land he had covenanted to them. It worked, but was very painful. Their return became, however, more religious and rule-bound. I wrote more about the time from the beginning of sentient human beings to this point in the story, but it’s important to note that it was a relatively small number of people who knew God intimately through his Holy Spirit.

To the rescue

For centuries they had been hoping for a person who would deliver them from external oppressive regimes. They saw God in external terms with external religious observances. So when Jesus arrived on the scene, it was a bit of a shock to the system. He wasn't into power politics, nor rescuing them from the Romans, who were by that time in control of the land. His message was simple: The new kingdom is about a direct relationship to God, not about physical earthly structures... and it was a kingdom of peace. Jesus taught in stories and one exemplified that message directly: It showed that the religious VIPs were basically out of touch with God and that God wanted a relationship with the normal people. There was a sting in the tail in that the normal people had to accept God's way of doing things, but it was a free gift. 'Wow', everyone thought, yet only a small number decided they wanted this.

There was, however, something they were missing: right from the start, with the covenant with Abraham, this was not just a blessing for his descendants but something for everyone on the planet, if they accepted it. This was a new covenant or maybe more strictly a renewed covenant, because God's covenant was always about relationship. Some people did accept it and, as a result, the message of a close relationship with God spread throughout the world. Meanwhile, Abraham's direct descendants were kicked out of the land and they too spread around the globe. One could argue that this was God trying to remind them about the part of the covenant to be a blessing to the world.

So how did this new covenant come about? Jesus talked about it being his shed blood, echoing the blood used in covenants from the dawn of history. Jesus was killed for his challenge of the religious VIPs, so his blood was literally shed. But to prove the covenant was real, God raised Jesus from the dead. But that was just step one; step two was that God gave his Holy Spirit to indwell those who wanted a relationship with him and were prepared to journey through life following in Jesus' steps. This involved a total change of direction, but it was available to everyone, whether or not they were physical descendants of Abraham.

Right up to date

Millennia passed, the followers of Jesus became rule-bound and religious and, having been kicked out of the land two millennia ago, the physical descendants of Abraham were setting up religious communities around the world. A group of people developed a theory that these descendants of Abraham wanted to take over the world. It wasn't true, and it was an evil lie, but it created a backlash, and some people tried to eliminate them. There are still people today who believe this lie and are trying to obliterate the children of Abraham. However, a covenant cannot be broken and eventually they returned to the land. Sadly, they had forgotten two things: that they were to be a blessing to the world and that they were to care for the foreigners in the land. This was even more complicated as the foreigners had been living there for the millennia that the descendants of Abraham had been away!

Back in the land, they are shouting about their rights, not the amazing love of God who wants a direct relationship with them. What is sadder is that the followers of Jesus, too, are shouting about their rights, not the amazing love of God who wants a direct relationship with them; a relationship which will inevitably be active on God's behalf in the world. It feels like everyone has 'lost the plot'. The truth is, it's not about religion but a God who longs for a direct relationship with people.

The end of the story?

So, what is the end of the story? God’s not impressed with the physical descendants of Abraham, but a covenant is a covenant. He has disciplined them in the past and it’s quite possible he will do so in the future. He’s also not impressed with many of the followers of Jesus, who claim the new covenant, who have become as religious as the descendants of Abraham! What we do know is that there is a time in the future when God, who created the entire universe, will say ‘enough is enough’ and will take those who want to be in relationship with him, from the descendants of Abraham, from the followers of Jesus and quite possibly from other places too, and, he will create a community of people who can enjoy a relationship with him for eternity. When this will happen, we don’t know, but at least to me it feels like it might be soon. 

There is one thing that I think is important here. If God is real, then the relationships with him will be real and he will guide us. If God is just an idea, then accurate theology matters because he is not directly involved in a way that gives assurance. And I've no problem accepting that in the grand scheme of things, I am nothing. The wonder is that God loves that nothing.