What’s the BIG PICTURE?!
- 8 September 2011
I’ve always tried to see the BIG PICTURE rather than just some of the detail. Why? because the detail only really makes sense if you see what’s going on at large. One reason why the Christian church is in so much difficulty today is that she has lost sight of the big picture. But the Bible – our only ultimately reliable guide about what’s going on all around us – provides us with just such a perspective. Here it is roughly & briefly sketched out….
- The universe (our environment) is PERSONAL. God made it in the beginning. He’s our Creator and is almighty, totally in control and wholly good.
- History therefore is part of His revelation to us. Nothing happens by chance. God has a good reason for everything that comes to pass.
- God has revealed Himself CLEARLY to ALL of His creatures. This revelation includes EVERY CREATED FACT, which only really makes sense if seen in the light of His special revelation – the Bible.
- Supremely God has made known His being in the person & work of Jesus Christ. He is the central figure in History. In Him are ALL the treasures of knowledge, wisdom and understanding. He declared that the Scriptures are His words and therefore we, who claim to be His disciples, must make reference to them in ALL of our looking, thinking and seeing. We must strive to bring EVERY thought captive to Jesus Christ.
- All sentient (knowing) creatures know God in some intrinsic way. As creatures made in His image we (human beings) at all times sense His presence (Calvin: sensus divinatus) and cannot make intelligible sense of the world & our experience of it apart from God. Thus, in Him we live and move and have our being.
- Notwithstanding this, our created, NATURE we are born rebels – covenant breakers! As such it is our constant tendency & determination to MISINTERPRET everything. We worship and serve the creature (ourselves) rather than the Creator. We think ourselves wise but in fact are become FOOLS, having relinquished & suppressed the knowledge of God.
- God’s original plan & purpose for mankind was and still IS world-wide dominion. We are each called to work & exercise dominion over the created resources TO THE GLORY OF GOD.
- Sin, affecting ALL parts of our constitution, has corrupted EVERY aspect of our lives. We no longer THINK straight, WALK straight, SPEAK straight, etc. But
- God so loved the WORLD that He gave His only begotten Son as our Saviour to give us everlasting LIFE.
- God is mending ALL that was BROKEN by sin & Satan. Human culture & civilisation will yet redound to the glory of God.
- Jesus Christ is now bringing to FULL FRUITION what was won in principle on the cross. The nations are to be made His footstool. His LAWS & commandments will be established in all cultures. All art, science, history, geography, etc, will be PURIFIED in time so that they are no more polluted and corrupted with the lies of Satan.
- We, His servants, must therefore sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts (& minds) and confront unbelief wherever we encounter it.
- Just as Israel was commissioned to take Canaan, so the Christian Church must go on the offensive & capture the world for Christ. Then will be fulfilled, ‘Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’.
- Thus Christianity is far MORE than just a ‘fire & life insurance policy’ guaranteeing us a place in heaven when we die. Rather it is a WORLD & LIFE view embracing EVERY aspect of human life.
- The Christian life is a call to battle. The warfare is taking place now INVISIBLY all around us. Everything we DO and everything we SAY contributes either positively or negatively to the final victory.
- The ultimate (eternal) goal is heaven – not necessarily an ethereal ‘angelic’ experience out there but rather a renewed and sanctified earth upon which heaven has come down!
- All the facts of science, history, etc are CHRISTIAN. Only when perceived in relation to Christ do they make sense.
- Reasoning, logic & rationality are CHRISTIAN tools. They properly belong ONLY to the Christian worldview. Only Biblical Christianity can ACCOUNT for the ‘thinking’ process (induction, deduction, etc).
- Unbelievers who appeal to logical laws are ‘borrowing from a Christian worldview’. We must point this out to them!
- The unbeliever’s constant tendency to indict God for being malevolent requires the existence of a universal absolute standard of right & wrong (e.g. the 10 commandments). We must point this out to him too!
- In Christ, we have ALL the necessary resources at our disposal to be VISIBLY victorious. Christ’s kingdom, (Daniel’s 5th monarchy) continues to grow steadily. Defeat is impossible, victory is certain. Only one question remains: whose side are YOU fighting on?
