What happens in the Bible is a series of ongoing steps by the Creator to re-establish what he intended from the world’s outset. God’s story is big, encompassing all things, but it’s also always personal.
God calls a man, Abram (later called Abraham) from Ur of the Chaldeans, and brings him to a new land, a new future, a new hope. God starts by making promises: You are small now Abram, but I will make you great—your name, your family, and your blessing, which will be for everyone. The seed for humanity’s renewal and the creation’s restoration is planted with this one man and the family and nation that will come from him—the twelve tribes of Israel.
These promises from God fit a regular pattern in the story. Big moves forward happen when God makes covenants or agreements at key moments in the story. These covenants start with God making pledges but also include the expectation of a faithful response by his people. We see this next when Abraham’s descendants are in deep distress in Egypt. They’re outside of the land God promised them and have become a nation of slaves. So God comes down to act with power to save his people, working with a new leader, Moses. God then makes a covenant with the entire nation at Mount Sinai.
This decisive action for Israel also creates another pattern that will show up in the story: Exodus. The word means “departure,” but in the Bible it comes to represent all the elements of God’s salvation for Israel:
- freedom from slavery and oppression;
- a covenant relationship between God the Father and his children;
- the revelation of God’s instructions for living;
- God coming down to live among his people in the Tabernacle or Temple;
- the provision of manna (bread) in the wilderness;
- offerings and sacrifices to atone for sins and reconcile God and his people;
- the gift of a promised new land filled with God’s blessings.
Israel is now to be a “display” people—a nation of priests and a light to all nations, showing the world who God is and what it means to follow him. The land of Israel is meant to be a re-creation of God’s garden at the beginning of the Bible. Working with one nation, God is trying to recover his original intentions for all creation.
Most of the First Testament is a commentary on Israel’s faithfulness (or not) to this vocation. Sadly, Israel regularly fails, breaking God’s covenant by ignoring his instructions for justice and right living and by worshiping other gods. The people of Israel, like Adam and Eve at the beginning, often choose to do whatever they think is right in their own eyes.
But God is patient and keeps reaching out to his people. Through his servants the prophets, he both invites and warns his people to stay faithful to their covenant relationship with him. He makes another covenant with Israel’s great King David, promising that his offspring will have a great kingdom and will rule forever. Israel’s hope is tied to this royal line. The prophets envision a future king who will honor God, teach God’s ways, and defeat Israel’s enemies.
Abraham’s family has been raised up to undo the downfall of Adam and Eve. But Israel persists in idolatry and injustice, refusing to repent and become the nation God called them to be. In anger and dismay God is compelled to force Israel into exile in Babylon, away from his presence in the Temple. The nation is invaded, Jerusalem is smashed and burned, and the people are once again enslaved. This is devastating for the Bible’s story. Israel was meant to be God’s answer, the means by which blessing comes back to all peoples. But now God’s plan seems in shambles.
Once again, the story is filled with questions: Can Israel be saved? Can this entire drama be saved? Has God’s plan for redemption failed? Can he find a way to bring his favor, healing, restoration, and life back to his broken world?