Get Your Pretense On!

60 • Get Your Pretense On!

Babel, and then to the patriarchs, the Bible outlines God’s sovereign determination to rescue humankind from its own worst rebellion through a Savior who would come through the lineage of Abram, later to be named Abraham. “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed’” (Gen. 12.1-3). Notice the contours of God’s covenant promise to Abraham given here: • I will make of you a “great nation” • I will bless you and make your name great • So that you will be a blessing • I will bless those who bless, curse those who curse • By you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (bless themselves) Essentially, the story of God outlined in Scripture can be conveniently divided into two, dramatically unequal parts. Part 1 is Genesis 1.1-3.15; Part 2 is Genesis 3.15 - Revelation 22.21! Genesis 3.15 represents the dividing line of the Bible’s overall theme; God is a warrior who is fighting in divine conflict with holy resolve to redeem creation from the power of the curse. “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3.8). The purpose of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ was to destroy the works of Satan, the original rebellion which led to the corruption and bondage of this present age.