The Bible’s Story

(an overview)

When time began, there was a King who set up a kingdom of exquisite beauty with splashes of brilliant colors, fun and exotic animals, wonderful horticulture, happy rivers, perfect temperatures, loving subjects, and a castle complete with many servants, court musicians (seraphim), and elite temple guards (cherubim – think about the guards at 10 Downing St. in London).  Oh, what a kingdom!

It was an incredible kingdom with the loving King going out daily to walk among His subjects midst peace and joy in abundance.  The King expected His subjects to serve Him in His gardens and among His animals and He promised to meet all their needs.  It was a marvelous kingdom!  (Think of the ball that Cinderella attended – delightful, captivating, magical, intriguing, fun, and glorious!)  What a King and what a kingdom!  It was perfect!

One day, the subjects decided to rebel.  They decided that the King’s rules were too restrictive and that they should have a say in how the kingdom was to be ran.  They revolted under the influence of a chief temple guard who had revolted and been removed from service in the castle.  The King was furious!  How could it be that subjects given the very best life and surroundings imaginable could reject His love and blessings?  How could subjects slap Him in the face accusing Him of being selfish and unloving?

The King was furious and forced His subjects out of His gardens into the lands He owned but were not enriched with all the amenities of His gardens.  Furthermore, He took away their daily provisions of joy and peace, His daily walks of fellowship and encouragement, and their well-being (their new life would slowly sap their life until they died).  The King was furious with their rebellion and they paid a price!

However, the King still loved His subjects, so much so that He offered them restoration if they would repent and submit.  The King selected one man to begin a special family to be used by the King as His mouthpiece to the rebellious subjects.  Over time, the selected and blessed family was most often rebellious like all those around them but still God used them and used some in the family to speak for Him.  They declared His will that all subjects repent of their rebellion and return to Him in loving obedience so that times of peace and joy might return.  Yet, the special family and all the wayward subjects around them persisted in their selfish ways.

Finally, a man came from the castle into their world outside the castle grounds who was the King’s own Son (there had been rumors of a Son, but it wasn’t clear until He appeared).  He came to tell the rebellious subjects of the King’s will and ways, of the King’s love, to show the King’s power over all manner of human issues, and to restate the King’s wrath because of their rejection of His goodness.  The Son told the subjects to repent and submit and the King would receive them.

However, the subjects didn’t like His message and they killed Him.  The Son was buried, but came back to life and returned to the castle leaving the subjects with the option of repenting and asking for forgiveness from the King and being restored to the King’s favor or remaining obstinate and facing the King’s coming full wrath.

The King then sent a special Servant from the castle to bring people to belief in the Son and to help those who loved the Son to live lives pleasing to the King.  Those who were King lovers met every week to thank the King, to learn about the King and His desires, and to help each other serve the King among peoples who hated the King.  Those who loved the King were often were attacked yet they continued their love and were eager for the King’s Son to return.

After many days, the King sent His Son again to where His rebellious subjects lived.  This time the Son came to gather to Him all those subjects who had accepted the King’s offer of restoration, both dead and alive.  He then gathered all those who refused the King’s offer and sent them to a place filled with nothing good – a terrible place.

The Son stayed with those who had accepted Him and they lived for many years with Him in peace and joy.  Lastly, the King’s Son cleansed all the land of problems and brokenness and made all the lands like the castle garden which had been in the beginning.  Those who loved the King in the days before were given the joyful service experienced by the very first subjects before rebellion – Adam and Eve.  Then, even the King came to live among them and they all lived happily ever after!