Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration

​Every worldview has a metanarrative which just means every worldview whether secular or biblical has “an overarching story or storyline that gives context, meaning, and purpose to all of life” (gotquestions.org). The secular metanarrative begins with millions of years (evolution) and ends with nothingness because secularists believe that when we die, we simply cease to exist. That’s pretty hopeless! The biblical metanarrative begins and ends with purpose, intention, and the love of a Father. The biblical metanarrative can be described in three words: creation, fall, redemption.

Creation

In Genesis chapter 1 God intentionally creates the world and everything in it in
six literal 24-hour days. Nothing He creates is by accident or without purpose and
design. He provides everything needed for humans to flourish before putting humans on
the earth: light, water, land, vegetation, day and night, etc. Then He creates man and
woman. On day six God said, “Let us make man in our image after our likeness. And let
them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over
the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the
earth” (Gen. 1:26, ESV). God not only gives man a purpose: to have dominion over the
earth, but He also creates man in God’s own image. God doesn’t do that for any other
created beings, not even the angels!

Fall

God created boundaries for the first man and woman by giving them one
prohibition in the garden in which He placed them to live: “And the Lord God
commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat…” (Gen. 2:16-17a).
Unfortunately for them and us, they did not obey. The serpent, Satan, questioned God’s
Word, which he still does today; and Eve ate the fruit. Eve gave some to Adam, and he
ate too (Gen. 3:1-6). Because of their disobedience, sin entered the world, and with sin
came separation from God.

But this situation is not without Hope! In Genesis 3:15, we see the first mention
of a redemption plan that will bring us back into right relationship with God. “The Lord
God said to the serpent… ‘And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and
between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his
heel’” (NLT). Did you catch that? God has a plan where Satan will receive a death blow
(a strike on the head), and one of Eve’s offspring will receive a bruise on His foot. Who
is it that will receive an injury that will not ultimately result in death? That’s Jesus! Jesus’s death, which resulted in a resurrection, is what redeems us from sin. Even when sin
entered the world, God offered Hope!

Redemption

The separation from God that happened when sin entered the world has affected
everything in our lives. Relationships fall apart, we lie to keep ourselves out of trouble,
words are said in anger, hate and rage become commonplace, and the list goes on and
on. When the sin in our lives continues to compound itself daily, how can we ever face a
holy God? The answer is… we can’t. We are never good enough, never clean enough
to come to a holy God. How then can we be redeemed? We need Someone Who can
make us clean, Someone Who can pay for our sins so that we can be made right with
God. That Someone is Jesus.
The truth of God’s Word tells us that “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God…” (Rom. 3:23, ESV), and the punishment for sin is death, “For the wages of sin
is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). We
are unable to save ourselves; there are not enough good works that we can do to make
ourselves righteous. Therefore, the sinless Son of God made Himself a sacrifice on our
behalf; He would die in our place: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no
sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). To be
saved, there is only one thing we must do and that is “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and
you will be saved…” (Acts 16:31). All we must do to be saved, redeemed by God, is by
faith, fully trust in Jesus alone as our Savior. One day God’s plan of redemption will be
complete and all of creation will be fully restored.
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Conclusion

The biblical metanarrative of creation, fall, and redemption gives “context,
meaning, and purpose” to our lives. It explains why the world and people are the way
they are. It explains why we need a Savior, and it offers Hope to us by showing us that
God has a plan and purpose for us. I pray that you will get into the Word of God this
week and read it for yourself. I particularly pray that you will think about salvation and
your need for a Savior and put your faith and trust right now in the only One Who has
ever given His life to save yours.

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