If you are looking to read through the Bible this New Year, might I recommend to you The Drama of Scripture: Finding our place in the biblical story ? You will likely find it a helpful and encouraging traveling companion, one that can keep you trekking along, and one that can point out the panoramic whole of the Bible's narrative. Here is what the authors write about their book in the preface (read the second paragraph especially close):
The Drama of Scripture has been written to tell the biblical story of redemption as a unified, coherent narrative of God's ongoing work within his kingdom. After God had created the world, and after human rebellion had marred it, God set out to restore what he had made: "God did not turn his back on a world bent on destruction; he turned his face toward it in love. He set out on the long road of redemption to restore the lost as his people and the world as his kingdom." The Bible narrates the story of God's journey on that long road of redemption. It is a unified and progressively unfolding drama of God's action in history for the salvation of the whole world. The Bible is not a mere jumble of history, poetry, lessons in morality and theology, comforting promises, guiding principles and commands; it is fundamentally coherent. Every part of the Bible-each event, book, character, command, prophecy and poem-must be understood in the context of the one storyline.
Many of us have read the Bible as if it were merely a mosaic of little bits-theological bits, moral bits, historical-critical bits, sermon bits, devotional bits. But to read the Bible in such a fragmented way is to ignore its divine author's intention to shape our lives through its story. All human communities live out of some story that provides a context for understanding the meaning of history, that gives shape and direction to their lives. If we allow the Bible to become fragmented, it is in danger of being absorbed into whatever other story is shaping our culture, and will thus cease to shape our lives as it should. The dominant cultural story of the secular Western world has been twisted by idolatry. If as believers we allow this story (rather than the Bible) to become the foundation of our thought and action, then our lives will manifest not the truths of scripture, but the lies of an idolatrous culture. Thus the unity of Scripture is no minor matter: a fragmented Bible may produce theologically orthodox, morally upright, warmly pious idol worshippers!
If our lives are to be shaped by the story of Scripture, we will need to understand two things well: that the biblical story is a compelling unity on which we may depend, and that each of us has a place within that story. This book is the telling of that story. We invite the reader to make it their story, to find their place in it, and to indwell it as the true story of our world.
There are three important emphases in this book. First, we stress the comprehensive scope of God's redemptive work in creation: the biblical story does not move toward the destruction of the world and our own "rescue" to heaven: it culminates in the restoration of the entire creation to its original goodness. The comprehensive scope of creation, sin, and redemption is evident throughout the biblical story and is central to a faithful biblical worldview. Secondly, we emphasize the believer's own place within the biblical story. Some refer to four questions as foundational to a biblical worldview: "Who am I?" "Where am I?" "What's wrong?" "What's the solution?" Tom Wright adds an important fifth question: "What time is it?" -that is, "Where do we belong in this story? How does it shape our lives in the present?" We will explore the biblical answers to these five questions as part of our telling of the grand story of the Bible. Thirdly, we highlight the centrality of mission within the biblical story. There is God's mission: The Bible narrates God's mission to restore the creation. Israel's mission flows from this: God chose a people to again embody God's creational purposes for humanity and so be a light to the nations, and the Old Testament narrates the history of Israel's response to their divine calling. Jesus' mission: When Jesus comes on the scene, he takes upon himself the missionary vocation which had been Israel's. He embodies God's purpose for humanity and accomplishes the victory over sin, opening the way to a new world. When his earthly ministry is over, he leaves his church with the mandate to continue in that same mission. In our own time, standing as we do between Pentecost and the return of Jesus, our central task as the people of god is to witness to the rule of Jesus Christ over all of life.
In this New Year may we all better understand and participate in the mission to witness to the benevolent rule of Jesus Christ in all things!
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