As King David was about to die, he charged his son, Solomon, to keep God’s instructions. After David died, Solomon became king. In a dream God offered Solomon anything he wanted. Solomon asked for wisdom. God gave Solomon wisdom, and Solomon was wiser than anyone else in the world.

Other nations heard about his wisdom and sent ambassadors to learn from him. The queen of Sheba, heard of Solomon’s wisdom and wanted to hear it for herself. She came and asked him many difficult questions. He was even wiser than she thought possible. She was so impressed with his wisdom that she told him of how blessed everyone who knew and served him were. Because of this she gave him many expensive gifts and then returned to her land.

In God’s instructions that he had given Moses, he said that the king was not to have many horses from Egypt, the king must not accumulate too much gold or silver, and the king must not marry many wives. Unfortunately, Solomon broke all these rules. Because of Solomon’s disobedience, God promised that the kingdom would split and the majority of it would be given to his servant.

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Meaning: At one point it looked like Solomon was fulfilling the third and final promise to Abraham by blessing other nations with his wisdom. The Queen of Sheba episode (in my opinion) is the pinnacle of the Old Testament storyline – the point of highest hope and expectation that finally the Savior/King/Son-of-David had come who would bless the nations by drawing them in and pointing them to God.

However, like Adam and Noah and so many others, he started well but finished poorly. Though Solomon was a son of David who reigned well for a little while, Israel continued waiting for the true and righteous Son of David who would reign forever. All hope of Solomon being the snake-crusher and world-blessing-bringer came to an end. And with that, all hope that the savior would come soon was diminishing.

One day God’s people were fighting their enemies, the Philistines. One of them, a giant warrior named Goliath, challenged any man of Israel to a duel. The two men would fight and for whoever won it would be as though their nation had won. All Israel was afraid of Goliath. However, a young boy named David volunteered to fight him. He fought confident that God would give him the victory. Goliath mocked both David and the God of Israel. David did not fight with a sword but picked up stones and a sling instead. With one shot of his sling he hit Goliath in the forehead, causing him to fall forward. Then David killed Goliath with Goliath’s own sword. David got the victory because God was with him.

Eventually, God chose David to be king over his people. David was a good king, doing what was right in God’s eyes for the people. Though David was a man after God’s own heart and helped God’s people, he was not perfect. God promised that one of his sons would be a perfect king over all the earth forever.

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Meaning: We already know that the Promised One will conquer evil and bless the world. The promises to Adam and Abraham are passed along to a descendant of David. Now we are told he will also be a good and righteous king forever. This promised king will be a descendant of Eve, a descendant of Abraham, and now a descendant of David.

David was not the promised one. Could it be that his son (Solomon) will be the Promised One who will finally conquer evil and cause the people to obey God’s instructions thereby bringing about the worldwide blessing through Israel? Will David’s son bring us back to the garden?

Joshua succeeded Moses as the leader of Israel and led Israel into the Promised Land. It was beautiful but full of people who did not obey God. Therefore, God commanded Israel to defeat these people.

Israel’s first challenge was against the people of a strong, walled city called Jericho. God instructed Israel to march around the city one time every day for six days. He told them to walk around the city seven times on the seventh day. As they circled the seventh time on the seventh day they yelled loudly and the priests blew their horns. Then the walls fell down. Israel charged into the city and destroyed everything in it. God told them to offer to Him all of the gold and treasures. However, one man kept some of the treasures for himself. His sin caused Israel to be defeated in their next battle. Israel stoned him because of his disobedience.

After this, they continued to overtake the land and divide it between themselves until God gave them rest. Joshua reminded the people they ought to continue worshiping God alone and following the instructions he had given Moses.

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Meaning: The three promises to Abraham of a people, a place, and a worldwide blessing are finally being realized. In the Moses Story we saw that Israel was a numerous nation, thus fulfilling the first promise. In this story, we see that Israel has finally entered into and conquered the Promised Land.

All that remains of God’s promises to Abraham is that final promise. Now that Israel is a large nation with their own land, will they be that blessing to the nations – an example of what love of God and love of others look like? Put another way, will Israel go the way of Adam and Noah by ultimately falling into sin, or will they serve God and obey his instructions? Will Israel, as a nation, defeat the serpent and save the world or will they, too, fall into sin?

Years later Israel was a large nation but was enslaved in a foreign land called Egypt. Israel cried out to God for help and He heard.

One day, Moses saw a burning bush not being consumed. God called out to Moses from the bush, saying, “I have seen my people’s suffering. I will rescue them and take them to the land. You, Moses, will lead Israel.”

Moses came to Pharaoh and said, “Let God’s people go!” Pharaoh mocked God so God judged Egypt. The final judgment was the killing of the firstborn. God instructed his people that each household was to sacrifice a perfect lamb and put its blood on the doorposts. Whoever followed God’s instructions would save their firstborn, but those who disobeyed would lose him. When the firstborn of every family in Egypt died, Pharaoh finally let Israel go.

When they were free, on their way to the Promised Land, God entered into a special covenant relationship with Israel. God instructed them on how they were to worship God and live before others so that they might bless the entire world.

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Meaning: God has fulfilled the first of his three promises to Abraham – of his descendants being numerous. Israel is a large nation. However, the problem is they are enslaved in a different country rather than being in the land of promise. The story of Moses is the story of God fulfilling the second promise – bringing his people up to the Promised Land.

Along the way, God gives Israel his instruction so that they might be a light in the darkness, an example for other nations. Upon entering the land, the hope is that they will obey God’s instructions and in so doing bring all the other nations to worship the one true God. In this way, God’s instructions appear to be the means by which God will fulfill his third and final promise to Abraham – to bless all the families of the earth. However, the question is, will Israel succeed by obeying God, or will they go the way of Adam & Eve, Noah, and the rest of humanity?

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Personal Note: This was one of the most difficult stories to get under 200 words. It was fairly easy to summarize the stories of Adam and Noah since they only consist of 3-4 chapters of our Bibles anyways. In the Bible, Abraham takes up a good chunk of the book of Genesis – but that’s still only one book! Moses’s story goes from Exodus through Deuteronomy! Therefore, I am aware that this story is somewhat lacking for us who know about Moses’s birth story, the 10 plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea, the wilderness wandering, etc. However, I tried to think about the flow of the great narrative of Scripture and Moses’s contribution to that “metanarrative.”

When the earth was, again, full of people, God scattered them and confused their language because of their continued wickedness.

Then God chose one man and told him to leave his family. This man, Abraham, obeyed. The Lord promised Abraham many descendants, a new land, and that all the families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham’s offspring.

God tested Abraham, saying, “Take your only son, Isaac, whom you love and offer him as a burnt offering.” So, Abraham took Isaac to the mountain God showed him. Arriving at the place, Abraham built an altar and bound his son Isaac on it. Then Abraham grabbed the knife to slaughter his son. But an angel stopped him saying, “Do not hurt the boy, now God knows you fear him.” There was a ram caught in a nearby bush, so Abraham offered the ram as a burnt offering in place of his son. The angel told Abraham that because of his obedience, God would surely give him many descendants, the new land, and that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through Abraham’s offspring.

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Meaning: Abraham is not “The Promised One,” but through his story the promise continues and expectation grows. God’s promise to Adam and Eve of a snake-slaying-savior will now be fulfilled in the offspring of Abraham. God promised to Abraham a great nation who would inherit the Promised Land. This nation-descended-from-Abraham would then bless all the other nations. But what is this blessing of the nations? Surely it is the reversal of the curses – the undoing of the fall. Through Abraham’s offspring, God promises to restore the perfection of Eden and save all the families of the earth. The greatest blessing of all would be a return to life in the physical and manifested presence of God, just as Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden.

Years later the earth was full of evil and violence. God regretted making man and said, “I will wipe off all creatures from the earth.”

Noah, however, found favor with the Lord for he walked with God. So God told Noah, “Make a big boat for I am bringing a flood to destroy all creatures. Bring into the boat a male and a female of every animal.” And Noah obeyed God.

Then Noah, his family, and the animals entered the boat. Rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights. The waters flooded the earth and lifted up the ark. All creatures on earth perished. Then God caused the water to begin to subside.

About a year later, God said to Noah, “Come out of the ark. I am establishing my covenant with you that never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. This is the sign of the covenant I am making: the rainbow. Go be fruitful and multiply.”

After this, Noah planted a vineyard. He drank the wine and became drunk.

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Meaning: This story shows us that whereas everything was perfect in God’s original creation, now everything had been marred by human sin and violence. God who is good and just will not allow sinful rebellion to go unpunished. God sent the flood to destroy those who sinfully rebelled against him while saving Noah and his family because of Noah’s faithful obedience. God established a covenant with Noah and all the earth that he would protect and care for the earth.

Noah’s name sounds like the Hebrew word for rest – apparently Noah’s father thought he would be the one to bring rest from the curses, rest from the pain of women bearing children and men working the land. However, Noah’s drunkenness at the end of the story reveals that he is part of the problem, and not the solution, not the promised one who would fix everything. We still await!

Here is the first story of our “Hope of the Messiah” story set, a summary of Genesis 1-3. As I wrote previously, our goal is to be faithful stewards of Scripture while summarizing these stories to around 200 words. Let us know what you think! (i.e., if you have questions about why we included certain details but not others, why we worded things the way we did, etc.)

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In the beginning God created everything and it was perfect.

God created Adam and placed him in the Garden to work it. In the Garden were the Trees of Life and Knowledge. God told Adam he would die if he ate of the Tree of Knowledge. Adam was alone, so God created Eve from his rib to be his companion.

One day the snake told Eve that instead of dying after eating of the Tree of Knowledge, she would be like God. When she saw that the fruit was beautiful and good for attaining wisdom, she ate it and gave some to Adam.

Because of this, God told the snake that one of Eve’s descendants would defeat him. God told Eve that her pain would increase in birth and he told Adam that with great pain he would work the ground.

Because of this, God did not want them to eat of the Tree of Life and live forever. So he expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden and placed cherubim at the entrance of the Garden to guard the way to the tree of life.

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Meaning: This story tells us that God created everything that exists. Everything. And everything was perfect! He placed Adam and Eve in the Garden and they prospered in his presence. However, their disobedience shattered that perfection. All sadness, suffering, and death are results of Adam and Eve’s sin.

But, the good news is that God promised to send one who would crush the snake — who would save humanity by conquering evil. This promised one, a descendant of Adam and Eve, would make everything perfect again. Taken in context, this promised one would reverse the curses, give access to the Tree of Life, and allow us to walk with God in his presence once again. The Old Testament will go on to develop this promise and speak about the coming one who would defeat death forever.

The people we work with are primarily oral learners. The International Orality Network defines an oral learner as “a person whose mental framework is primarily influenced by spoken rather than literate forms of communication and who therefore learns primarily or exclusively by speech, song, etc.” In other words, many of the people with whom we do Bible studies prefer to learn via verbal communication instead of written communication. They pass knowledge from generation to generation through songs and stories, not books or documents of any sort. This does not necessarily mean our people can’t read (though that is the case for many of them). It’s more a matter of preference, culture, and what’s ‘normal.’

Therefore, we try to teach Scripture in a contextualized manner. We try to simplify the stories of the Bible so they can be heard, memorized, and meditated upon. When I lead a Bible study, I will typically stand up with an open Bible in my hand. I will tell them that the story I am about to tell is a story that comes from God’s Word. Then I proceed to tell the story. To aid in memorization, the story typically gets told 6-8 times throughout the duration of the Bible study, which happens in any number of the following ways: (1) me telling the story from beginning to end, (2) me asking guided questions for them to essentially tell what they remember of the story, (3) them telling the story as a group with each person volunteering what they remember of the story, and (4) one person volunteering to tell the whole story from beginning to end.

Once they all know the story fairly well I close my Bible (to symbolize the end of the inerrant Word and beginning of Greg’s words!) and I start to ask questions probing at the meaning of the story (keeping in mind that for many of them, they are hearing the stories about Creation, Noah, Jesus, etc. for the very first time). I do not have a ‘sermon’ prepared or anything like that. Instead, using a somewhat Socratic method, I ask them questions to try to get them thinking about the story and making connections between the stories and to their own lives. Obviously the questions change from story to story, but, in general, we look at (1) how the new story connects to the last story, (2) what we learn about God in the story, (3) what we learn about ourselves in the story, and (4) how should we apply the story. I love these discussion times as they are putting things together for the very first time – many times their questions are as simple as, “Who came first, Eve or Mary?” or “How long ago did these stories take place?” (They are amazed that Jesus wasn’t walking on this earth within the last 20-40 years!).

Usually I close our formal Bible Study time by telling the story one last time (either I tell it or I have someone else do it if they were able to memorize it during this time). I do this so that – hopefully – they remember God’s Word more so than my words. I want to close on what is of eternal worth rather than my mere interpretation.

So why am a telling you all this? The answer is twofold. First, perhaps this helps you know a little more about what Bible studies look like in our context. We do not pull out our Bibles and have everyone turn to a particular passage (since most don’t have Bibles and even those who do prefer to learn orally instead of written-ly). We tell them the Great Story of Scripture by means of the great stories of Scripture. Second, I write this post as an introduction to a series I will be putting on here. I would like to share with you our Creation to Christ story set, what we call “The Hope of the Messiah.” You will notice these stories are very short. In order for the stories to be memorizable, I have done my best to keep the stories to 200 words or less. I’ll try to post our first story in a few days! Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions about this process, I’d love to share more.

Antônio* is one of our primary disciples. He is the patriarch of his family and a leader in the community. Every Saturday morning, we have a Bible study at Antônio’s house. When everyone is in town, we have 15-30 people packed into his wooden house. The people form a circle with most of them sitting in plastic chairs, while others sit on a table, on the floor, or stand. Antônio invites people to the study and hosts it. We see God at work in his life and pray some day this will result in Antônio being a pastor of this nascent church meeting in his home.

One day Antônio went upriver with his family to work their farm. When he got back he told me everything was going well at the farm, but that something was hurting in his back and he wasn’t able to raise his arms. He told me he took some medicine but that didn’t help. He said next he prayed to God, but God didn’t heal him. So he called on the Shaman, or witch-doctor, to come heal him. The Shaman performed some rituals and “healed” Antônio.

You see, Antônio grew up in a culture in which they regularly sang, danced, gave offerings, and performed other rituals for their ancestor-spirit-gods in order that those ancestor-spirit-gods would provide them with health, fertility, rain, food, etc. In his worldview, the powers-that-be must be appeased and even manipulated in order that he might get what he needs or wants. If he doesn’t receive what he needs he calls another shaman, performs a different ritual, or calls upon another power. (I think it is at least in part because of this worldview that the “prosperity gospel” is so prevalent across the Amazon and the whole of the Global South.) In Antônio’s mind if he’s not being cured it’s because he’s doing something wrong; therefore, he changes things up until something works. So what do we do?

On the one hand, we pray that God would perform miracles! I do believe that God is the Almighty, All-Powerful Creator and Sustainer of all things. I believe he is more than capable of healing anyone of any pain or sickness and I believe he still acts in supernatural ways in the world today. Therefore, in the spirit of 1 Kings 18 where God showed himself more powerful than Baal, we do pray that God would heal people like Antônio in order that they might see that our God is the one true God and that their Shamanistic rituals are empty. We pray that such miracles might operate as they did in Acts 14:3 where it says that Paul and Barnabas spoke “boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.” In other words, we pray that next time God would heal Antônio as a confirmation of the message that we are preaching and that such a miracle would help Antônio repent completely of his past ritualistic practices.

On the other hand we are hesitant to ask for miracles. Why? First, we don’t want the miracles to just play into Antônio’s worldview without shaking it up. Should God heal him this time, what will happen next time? What if God doesn’t heal him 6 months from now? Will Antônio simply find another god or ritual that works for him then? We want Antônio’s faith to be firmly in God, not in miracles. Second, we know that God doesn’t always heal people. God has plans and purposes for us even — or dare I say especially — in our suffering. God has designed suffering in such a way that it ought to cause us to depend upon him more and increase our faith (Romans 5:3-5; 2 Corinthians 1:3-4; 4:17; James 1:12).

So what do we pray? We pray for a transformed worldview. We pray that Antônio and countless others might be able to say just as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said to King Nebuchadnezzar right before being thrown into the fire: “If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

We do pray for miracles and we want Antônio to pray for miracles. But we want Antônio to have his eyes firmly fixed on God alone. We want him to be so transformed that he would be willing to suffer with God than to turn back to his old ways.

*Name changed for privacy.

A global pandemic. A shelter-in-place order. Worshipping with our churches from our living rooms, allowed to leave our homes only if necessary. Suffering. Weeping. Meeting new babies through glass windows  — cancelled trips and weddings, postponed funerals. Fear of financial collapse. Fear of the future as we pick up the pieces and count our losses and try to regroup. Death.

We feel the effects of the fall. That moment in history where mankind brought upon itself all the horror of disease, loneliness and shame, fear, hopelessness, separation and ultimately — death. The pain of this broken world can be masked by ease and temporary pleasure. The blow can be softened with money, distracted by Netflix, comforted with food. We work and laugh and gather and eat and buy and scroll and watch and sleep and then do it all again the following day.

But for the first time in a long time, we are all looking up from our phones. We have collectively paused. The whole world has stopped.

When we stop, we see. By the grace of God we see our world for what it is — incredibly, incredibly fragile. Crippled over one virus that cannot even be seen by the naked eye.

By the grace of God we also see who we are. When our world is in upheaval and everything in our lives changes in one fell swoop, we often find we see ourselves anew, as if looking into a mirror. We see fear and anger, disappointment and despair, laziness and hopelessness. We see things in ourselves we have rarely, if ever, seen before.

We see all the things God sees and knows — we see the real person that He loves. It gives us a chance to wrestle and repent over sins that lay hidden before this ugly time in our history.

And it gives us a chance to move. Not outside of our home at this point — we must continue to protect the vulnerable — but as we see the people around us in confusion and pain and fear, there has been no better time to use our voices to answer questions with love and compassion and strength and hope. To use the devices we hold in our hand and on our lap to speak truth into a confused, broken society.

Who in our lives needs to hear of the gospel that has power over disease and death, offers real life?!

Because for the first time in forever — they’re listening.