In my teen years I was an avid reader of Westerns. One book I read was Tappan’s Burro. The book lacked coherence and left me totally confused. Zane Grey the author, was my father’s favourite writer of westerns, but that book made me wonder about his choice. Later, picking up the book to put it away I noticed written on the cover “Tappan’s Burro – and other short stories.” Since the printing of the Bible, people have been doing what I did with Tappan’s Burro – mindlessly reading the Bible as though it is a single book. Some attribute spiritual powers to a Bible which is close to idolatry. The Bible has become a catalogue of religious practices from which churches can choose their preference. The Bible is filled with principles and examples from which we can learn and grow in faith.

The books of the Bible are God’s story of reconciling humanity to himself. His story began with the creation of a perfect world. Adam and Eve lived in paradise. That paradise was shattered by their eating the fruit of the only tree they were told not to eat. Genesis records their banishment from paradise, a cursed ground, and the loss of immortality. God told the woman that her descendant would crush the serpents head, referring to Jesus’ victory over sin and death. The book of Genesis includes the flood which destroyed all life except what was brought into the ark and every person other than Noah and his family. Man’s relationship with God was based on trust. God promised salvation through Abraham’s seed. He rescued the children of Israel from slavery to be his special people. 

God did not stop caring for and loving the people of the world, they still had access to him in the same way as the patriarchs did.

Starting with John the Baptist the end times, or last days of Israel began. Those days included the life of Jesus, the fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy, the preaching of salvation in Jesus. Believing Jews were obliged to observe the laws and ceremonies of the first covenant. Gentile believers were not required to keep the law and were not under the first covenant. All Christian scriptures were written during the apostolic period. God completed his plan to reconcile humanity to himself through the sacrifice of Jesus. The new covenant became of full force with the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem, and the kingdom fully established on earth with the return of Jesus immediately following the destruction of the temple circa 70 CE.

We are not participants in the story of reconciliation we are beneficiaries. We are covered by the new covenant, which is not material, we are God’s spiritual family. There are no rituals or regulations which governed Christians prior the destruction of the temple are imposed upon believers after that event. Christians must stop relying on rituals and traditions and trust in God completely. We must submit to God’s love and grace; his word is our hope and assurance.