The Redemption Plan

Church this weekend was good. It was the first talk I've heard on Noah that resonated with me. It began to encapsulate that the Bible isn't many stories, but one story. One story of redemption. Everything led up to Jesus, and everything after him points back to him.

Jesus is the culmination of all stories, whether they're in the Bible or not. He is the answer to everything - he's the way, the truth and the life.

The story of Noah is not so much a story of God flooding the earth, as it is a story of God rescuing humanity. So that one day they could be saved in body and spirit.

You can read the story here. In the time of Noah, there was wickedness everywhere. Not one person was good. Think fraud, thievery, betrayal, child abuse, human trafficking, genocide, kidnapping, arson, rape, and more. That was the norm, for everyone. Humans had so identified with evil that it became who they were. As my pastor Drew Williams said, they were on total 'self-destruct mode'.

When we hear the story of Noah we wonder how God could be so heartless as to wipe out thousands of people. I'm not even saying that these people deserved it, although it seems they did. They were en route to destroy humanity and in the process would destroy the love plan of their redemption that God had in store for the human race.

If they all killed each other, which they were doing (just think how many mass killings there are in the Old Testament, and that's after the flood) - there would be no remnant to save.

But God so loved the world ... that he sent a flood to stop humanity from destroying itself. Only Noah and his family had good in them, and God saved them to continue the world.

There is no sparing us from wickedness. God loves us emphatically, but he always gives us the choice of how we want to live our lives. Destruction is certain for those who chose wickedness for destruction is the very nature of wickedness.

Because God sent the flood and stopped humanity from wiping itself out, we are here today. Because God sent the flood, there was a line for Jesus to be born into. And because God sent the flood, Jesus lived his life as a message and died taking our sins with him.

Our lives aren't big bang accidents. You don't see, hear, taste, smell, think and feel only for this world.

We are all creations of God's redemption plan, a plan that was set in motion before the beginning of time. Your life? Was determined before the the clock began ticking.

Do you think you're here now, alive to please yourself and live only for your own pleasure?

You are a drawing on a cosmic map.

You are aboard a ship that has a destination.

You are character in a story with a culmination.

You are very much a part of The Redemption Plan.

You matter. Your choices matter.

They will determine your storyline.