Of Covenants and Promises: God commits
That was the title of Dr Iain Provan’s talk on the second night of Bible Week and, once again, Willowfield Church was filled with people eager to hear some excellent Bible teaching.
Iain reminded us that we cannot do without The Big Picture. In the words of African novelist Chinua Achebe: “The story is our escort; without it, we are blind. Does the blind man own his escort? No, neither do we the story; rather it is the story that owns us and directs us.”
“Holy Scripture is the great story that gives sight to the blind,” said Iain. “It is the lamp that God has given us for our feet, lighting up the way ahead of us so that we can stay on the right path.”
Iain took us through a broad sweep of the Old Testament and showed us that, despite evil and the repeated failure and sin of individuals and societies, hope survives. Creation begins in hope – God who is good has created and continues to create a world that is good, and is taking it on a journey – to an ending that is even more glorious than its beginning.
Unfortunately the world as we know it now is marked not only by goodness, but also, to a significant degree, by evil. People do not worship God, but idols instead. Consequently, there is an immense amount of injustice, as well as neglect toward, and damage of, God’s creation.
Our biblical narratives describe these realities in graphic detail as do our biblical prophets. But they also tell us that God the Creator is at work in the world in redemption, turning the world constantly toward the good; God has always been at work in the world in this way. He is committed to be being so, and he has made promises and covenants in relation to his commitment. A day is coming when God will bring justice to the world. This will also be a day of salvation, in which universal peace will be established in a new world order.
That’s the Big Picture as articulated in the Old Testament and we can track these promises and covenants in the New Testament, through the incarnate Christ in whom they are embodied and on into the future beyond the incarnation. This is the whole Big Picture, “from Creation to Eschaton, and the reality of the new heavens and the new earth”.
Thursday night’s title is – Of Evil and Suffering: God Saves (Psalm 73:1–14)
Please come along at 7.45 pm for worship teaching and encouragement.