The Hero Of History By Pete BriscoeExemplo

Don’t Miss the Big Picture

Only he who knows the greatness of wrath will be mastered by the greatness of mercy. — Gustav Stahlin

Without a big-picture view of human history, we lose perspective on some of the Great Story’s most important elements. If you’ve ever walked into the middle of a movie, you know what I mean. It’s hard to make sense of the middle and the end if you don’t know how the story began. 

It’s like that with the Christian faith as well. If we don’t understand what life was like before Christ and the cross, we don’t get the full picture of God’s character and who we are in Christ.

Of course, the story began in the ideal of Eden—where God looked at everything and said it was “very good.” There was God, His perfect world, and a man and woman walking with Him in perfect unity. And it lasted a good three pages.

Then man and woman chose to doubt what God said and believe the deception of the serpent—and perfection was thrown completely into crisis. Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden. One of their sons murdered the other. Insurance rates went up. The stock market crashed. Countless consequences emerged from the fundamental problem:

Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things. (Isaiah 59:1-3, emphasis mine)

This, indeed, is the central crisis of the Great Story: A perfect and holy Creator is separated from the creatures He loves because of their choice to live independently of Him—because of sin’s barrier between them. 

Have you pondered the consequences of sin separating you from a holy God?

Jesus, by the power of Your Spirit and the description of Your Holy Word, allow me to imagine the great gulf that existed between You and me before my redemption. Give me a glimpse of Your staggering holiness. Give me this bigger picture so that I can more fully celebrate the incredible things that you accomplished on the cross. Amen!