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Evidence ID: BIB-EV77

Evidence: Biblical Meta-Narrative

Summary: The meta-narrative of the Bible, is singular in meaning and purpose, even though the 66 books of the Bible were written by approximately 40 men of diverse backgrounds over the span of 1500 years. This strongly suggests one author, God himself.

Description: A meta-narrative is an overarching theme or storyline that gives context and meaning to all smaller themes and individual stories [REF-MET01]. Generally, meta-narratives can be summarized in just a few sentences.

In the case of the Bible, the meta-narrative is the main theme and storyline that spans all 66 books from Genesis to Revelation. It provides a big picture that ties the individual books and stories together into a single story. The individual books and stories support and reinforce the meta-narrative of the Bible.

Biblical Meta-Narrative

The following is a summary of the biblical narrative:

• Main Character: God
  God is the main character of the Bible. The words "Lord" and "God" appear in the Bible with the most frequency. There are direct references and allusions to God throughout the Bible.
• Main Theme: God's Pursuit of Man
  God's loves man so much that he pursues him despite his alienation from God. God provides a plan to redeem man and restores him to a vital relationship with God.
• Main Storyline: God ... Man ... Sin ... Jesus
  In a nutshell, the main storyline of the Bible is God ... Man ... Sin ... Jesus. God created man so that man could enjoy God and live in relationship him forever. Man chose to disobey and reject God, thus severing his relationship with God. God sent Jesus to atone for mans' sin and restore mans' relationship with God. This storyline is the essence of the Gospel Message.

This meta-narrative progressively unfolds from the Old Testament to the New Testament. It culminates in the person of Jesus, God's ultimate expression of himself (John 10:22-30).

During the course of the Old Testament the meta-narrative is presented as a foreshadow of the redemptive work of Jesus. The exodus of the Jewish nation from Egyptian slavery (Exodus 1-40) and the ritual of atonement (Leviticus 4:1-5:13), are foreshadows of Jesus' salvific work of atonement. Even the symbolism used in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 5:5-6) reflects on the finished work of Jesus (the Lion represents a messianic figure, the Lamb represents the sin sacrifice and the Ram represents the one who conquers death).

The following observations can be made from the Biblical meta-narrative.

• The Biblical meta-narrative is remarkably consistent throughout the 66 books. Every story in the Bible supports this single meta-narrative without exception. The story of Jesus life and ministry represents the culmination of the meta-narrative. This unfolding of the meta-narrative parallels the progressive revelation of God from the earliest book of the Old Testament to the New Testament. Therefore, the Biblical meta-narrative is the expression of one author, God himself.
• Even though the 66 books of the Bible were written by approximately 40 men of diverse backgrounds over the course of 1500 years, the Biblical meta-narrative is singular and invariant. The only way this could be accomplished is that there must have been one author, God himself. This voice of God is demonstrated by the prepositional phases in Exodus 3 NLT, "God called to Moses", "The Lord told Moses", "God answered Moses" and "God said to Moses". This pattern of God speaking to his prophets is replete throughout the entire Old Testament from one prophet to the next.

Prophetic Accuracy

According to John Walvoord, there are approximately 650 unique prophecies recorded in the Old Testament and 530 unique prophecies recorded in the New Testament [REF-JFW01]. Other scholars have enumerated similar numbers of prophecies [REF-EWH01] [REF-JBP01]. These prophecies support the Biblical meta-narrative. They predict the consequences of man's failure and the redemptive work of the coming Messiah.

Scholars who have studied Biblical prophecy have concluded that those prophecies already fulfilled have been fulfilled with pin-point accuracy. What is remarkable is that the interval between prophecy prediction and prophecy fulfillment often spans hundreds and in some cases thousands of years.

One must conclude that only God would be capable of accurately predicting these events and ensuring their fulfillment. At best, man's predictions would be random or 50/50. Again, this demonstrates one author, God.

This singular meta-narrative presented in the Bible strongly suggests one author, God himself.

Resources:

• Christology of the Old Testament (REF-EWH01)

• Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy (REF-JBP01)

• The Prophecy Knowledge Handbook (REF-JFW01)

• What is a Metanarrative? (REF-MET01)