From Genesis to Revelation

One of our neighbors has the ability to put the latest story of her life into any conversation, no matter the topic. She uses something in the discussion as a jumping off point to take the topic in a different direction. This amusing ability reveals what is dominant in her mind.

In a similar but less annoying manner, the Apostle Paul also reveals what is dominant in his mind. He inserted doctrinal truth into everything he said. He was so tuned in to what God was doing and had done, that it filled everything he wrote, even the “greetings” at the beginnings of his epistles (letters) and the closings at the ends.

Because they tend to be similar and familiar, I sometimes skip or scan the first few lines of these letters. However, I should pay more attention. For instance, in his letter to the church at Rome, Paul has a great deal to say in just one sentence. Consider this:

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. (Romans 1:1-4)

Paul says much here, but after a few rereads and still getting lost in these ten or so phrases, I checked a few other Bible versions to see if another translation might make this easier to understand. The New Century Version helps. The letter begins . . .

From Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus. God called me to be an apostle and chose me to tell the Good News. God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets, as it is written in the Holy Scriptures. The Good News is about God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. As a man, he was born from the family of David. But through the Spirit of holiness he was declared to be God’s Son with great power by rising from the dead. (Romans 1:1-4)

It starts out saying that the letter is from Paul. Then he identifies who he is (an apostle chosen by God to share the gospel) and uses that identification to explain that what the gospel is and that it is good news but not ‘new’ news. In fact, Jesus is rooted in history as David’s Son. However, He is also identified as God’s Son when He rose from the dead.

My devotional picks up on the ‘old news’ aspect of this introduction and says that the life of Christ is more than a New Testament story. Not only is He David’s Son from a human perspective, but He is revealed from Genesis onward. In fact, after Jesus rose from the dead and was walking with two of His disciples, Luke 24:27 says, “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”

I find this fascinating. If I am alert to the Holy Spirit as I read through the Bible, He will show me shadows and depictions of Jesus Christ on every page.

For instance, this morning I read the story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Then, at the last minute, God provided a substitute so that Isaac did not die. While this was a test of Abraham’s faith, it also points to the gospel truth that God provides a substitute for me. Jesus died for my sin so that I will not die (be separated from God) for eternity.

The writer of Hebrews (could also be Paul, note the same long sentence filled with doctrinal truth) began that epistle with these words:

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. (Hebrews 1:1-4)

God revealed Himself in various ways in the past, but the ultimate and final revelation is Jesus Christ. He is the Heir, the Creator, the brightness of God’s glory, His image, all powerful, and He is also my Redeemer.

The Bible is all about Jesus. It begins with God’s Word (Jesus) creating the world and all that is in it, and with how sin began — the reason Jesus needed to come to earth. He was promised in Genesis and the story ends with the final revelation of Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation.

I’ve read the Bible for pleasure, for instruction, for help with my life, and now, more and more, am reading to discover and better know Him, my Savior and Lord.