The Amazing Story

Having no story is no good. But as believers we have no need to grope for a good story. In fact, we are already part of an amazing story. We are part of God’s eternal, infinite Love Story.

So what is our “bigger picture,” the Christian metanarrative, God’s love story? Who are the principal characters? And where do we learn about our story?

The last question is easiest for us to answer. Our story has been revealed in God’s book: the Bible. But surprisingly, many who read the same story reach different conclusions. For example, the key players in the grand story are not the ones billed in the church over the last hundred years or so. We’ve been mislead to think that men are at center stage, but that’s not where they belong. And the bigger picture is not about the salvation of sinners primarily, though that is certainly part of the story line. It is an eternal love story, but not like we typically think.

The amazing story is first and foremost about the glory of the triune God. The three Persons of the Trinity have the title roles. And the entire plot revolves around the infinite, eternal love of the Father for His Son. The biblical panorama puts God on display, not men. Too often we get it backward.

Undoubtedly someone is raising their hand to protest, “But what about John 3:16?” or something similar. “God so loved the world that He sent His Son.” There is no question that God loves the world, but His love for the world is not His first love. The Father’s love for the Son came first and provides the strategic motivation not only for creation but also for redemption.

I remember the first time I ever read this. In the summer of 1996 a friend of mine gifted me with John MacArthur’s commentary on Titus. (You can also read an updated and extended account in MacArthur’s forward to A Long Line of Godly Men.) It was normal for me in those days to read a commentary like any other book, so I started on page one. And it wasn’t too long before my understanding of the Christian metanarrative got a major adjustment. The eyes of my heart were opened and my worldview reshaped in Paul’s greeting.

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;

Verse 2 includes an intriguing phrase, namely that God promised eternal life before the ages began (ESV). The NAS translates the same phrase, “long ages ago,” but that is a bit misleading. That gives the impression that God made this promise of eternal life a long time ago in the Old Testament. And while there is no doubt that God revealed His promise of eternal life in the OT to Abraham and Moses and David and the prophets, that is not the meaning of the phrase.

The original phrase, πρὸ χρόνων αἰωνίων, refers to the time prior to creation and therefore previous to the Old Testament. That’s why the KJV translates it, “before the world began,” and even the NIV gets one right with “before the beginning of time.” The promise was made when the world did not yet exist and during the time before time.

So that prompts the pivotal question: to whom did God make this promise of eternal life? The world was not in existence. Men had not been created. So who existed with God before the ages began? The answer is His Son! All three Persons of the Trinity exist eternally and this promise of eternal life was a promise the Father made to the Son. Obviously the Father wasn’t promising the Son that the Son Himself would have eternal life, but the Father promised that a group from every tribe, tongue, and nation would have eternal life through and for the Son.

Let’s investigate this promise a bit more. What was happening before the world was created? The Trinity was writing the story of salvation in the eternal counsels, and the promise of eternal life included election.

2 Timothy 1:9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

God called us, believers, before the ages began (the exact same Greek phrase as Titus 1:2). In fact, He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:4-5). In eternity past the Father was choosing a people and promising to redeem them as a gift for His Son.

But this is a costly gift, and the purchase involved Christ’s death on the cross. To fulfill His part of this eternal covenant, the Son agreed to deliver the elect by His own blood.

Hebrews 13:20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

So before the world or mankind was ever created, the Father chose to express His great love by promising His Son a redeemed people who would love and serve and glorify the Son forever. These were hand selected by the Father for that very purpose, which is why their names are written in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8, 17:8).

And again, the Son also has a responsibility in this covenant: to shed His blood on their behalf. The Son agreed to lay down His life, to die as a substitute for their sin. He consecrated His life for all whom the Father gave Him (John 17:19).

This is the precise group of people that Jesus referred to as His mission. For example, in John 6 He identified this group as His purpose for coming.

John 6:37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

John 6:39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

Before time, the Father elected a group of people to give to His Son as a love gift, as an expression of His infinite love for His Son. The Father makes the promise and does the choosing. The Son gives His life for theirs.

We look in on a piece of this eternal plan in John 10, where specifically the imagery of a shepherd with his sheep is used to describe the relationship Jesus has to His people. We’re reminded in verse 29 that the sheep are given to the Son by the Father. And back in verses 11 and 15 Jesus explains His role, the Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep that they might have life and have it abundantly (v.10).

Now this is a story! This is a big, eternal, love story. But the story is not first or foremost about the love of the Shepherd for the sheep, though that is true and historic. This is a love story about the eternal, infinite love between the Father and the Son. MacArthur puts it this way:

It is astonishing to consider that those who are redeemed are caught up in this magnificent eternal covenant that two members of the Godhead have made with each other in order to demonstrate the infinite scope of their love for each other. (Titus, p.12)

This is the kind of thing that gets us out of bed in the morning. This metanarrative explains the purpose for everything. Better than that, this is the kind of thing that guarantees we’ll be spending every morning for a trillion times a trillion years with Christ if we are one of His sheep.

But don’t miss the point of the story. The reason this particular group was chosen is not because they were inherently valuable as a gift, but because the Son was infinitely valuable to receive the gift. Salvation is about something far greater than our personal happiness, better marriages, more obedient kids, or vocational fulfillment. We have done a poor job of knowing our story — which is really His story, of knowing our place in His story, and we’ve certainly done a lousy job of communicating and celebrating His story.

We’ve mangled the story so much that most of the time we present the key characters as the sheep. We talk like the sheep are so precious. The sheep are so beloved. The sheep are so special. Actually, the sheep are so stupid. In our (perhaps well-intentioned) enthusiasm to see others trust Christ and have this blood-bought eternal life, we tend to minimize the God parts, the eternal parts, and the sovereign parts because we’re afraid people won’t be interested in a story where they aren’t at the center. We try to evangelize and grow churches by telling men that they are the reason, the center, and the goal of God’s work. “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.”

But they can get a man-centered story anywhere. “Choose your own adventure” stories are retailed by every religion, sold by psychologists, advertised by professionals, hawked by educators, and sadly peddled in most churches. Everywhere we turn in our culture there is another man-centered story to choose from. What the lost can’t get is the truth. What they can’t get is something bigger and more meaningful then their little life-dramas. They need to hear the church proclaiming the truth of the gospel, the eternal love story of redemption. People are parched for it, even if they don’t know what exactly they’re thirsty for. May God help us to get our story straight.