The Grand Narrative
Reclaiming the Biblical Vision of a Corporate Household of God
Introduction The Bible unfolds a grand narrative, a sweeping epic centered around the concept of a corporate "household of God." This vision is pervasive in the minds of its writers. The bookends of the biblical are remarkably similar. The story begins with the dwelling of God with his all of humanity on earth, God reigns and humanity is expressing him as his imagers into all of creation by expanding the garden. The Bible ends with a similar picture of a Garden like City, which images God’s redeeming character. He is not one to crumble up and throw away this heaven and earth initiative, rather he redeems creation renewing his city for all who enter through its gates. The end has circled back to the beginning.
Placed squarely in the middle of the story, like a fold in time, is the Chris event that changes everything. Before him, the horizon of humanity was dimming, but since this event the horizon has been growing brighter until the noon day of his arriving, the horizon beyond that.
Creation's Purpose: Imaging God in a Corporate Household
From the outset, God's intention was for humanity to reflect His image and steward creation in fellowship with God. His Edenic “temple” of his dwelling place has a garden environment in which Humanity receives their edict as co-creators. This was not an individual mandate, but a corporate calling, where humanity, represented as Adam, was meant to live in communion with God, together, male and female, cultivating and caring for the world with God’s presence. This harmonious existence, a state of unified purpose and participation in God's divine household, is what is known as the "Edenic Edict".
Sin's Disruption: A Household Divided
Sin, in the biblical narrative, is not simply a collection of individual failings but a corporate state of existence, a departure from humanity's created purpose. Humanity saw an opportunity, reasoned it as good, and took the opportunity represented by the forbidden fruit. This pattern would be repeated throughout the many stories of human failings in the Bible. Humanity left their role as God's imagers, choosing instead to emulate the craftiness of the snake they took and ate a communion like meal with "the Satan." They stepped out of their intended environment and into a realm characterized by disobedience, estrangement, biting and devouring one another and breaking the created order, suffering the curse of the consequences of their decision.
Humanity, collectively, found itself "dead" – not in the sense of being inactive, but dead to forwarding their original purpose of imaging God. They found themselves as household servants in a "strong man's" household, outside of the garden, attempting to create a resemblance to what once was. Humanity became "sons of disobedience," living outside the purpose for which they were created. Some actively struggled for the Edenic vision by the sweat of their brow and the pain in their fruitfulness. Meanwhile others gave in to their own set of values, building their own cities and protecting their own cultural norms and ethics with walls.
Stemming from Adam and Eve's collective choice to abandon their created purpose, their home, and their family under the realm of their creator, this state of sin is not an individual malady ingrained somehow in an individuals’ flesh, rather a propensity toward evil being passed on to generations that follow. This decision doomed all of creation to their struggle as well, as there was no longer an expanding Edenic reality bringing the hope of God's Shalom into the chaotic, untamed "dust" outside of the garden, from which Adam was originally taken. Further, it is to that dust, Adam and all who come after him will return.
Christ: The New Adam and the Restoration of the Household
Coming out of the context of the Babel story in Genesis, the story of Abraham's earthly line continues the grand narrative of God, with it the secret established before the creation of the earth. From Abram and Sarai's calling, we witness the adoption of a re-start of creation. God not only adopts them, but they adopt His purpose for them. From this faith step, we are introduced to the many dimensions of our Creator God, YHWH. A family grows into a tribe, then a people, and then a nation that becomes a stage in the world's theater where their story can be known throughout history.
Onto this stage steps their Messiah, Christ the LORD, the complete revelation of God as a knowable human, Jesus is the new Adam. Where the first Adam failed, Christ succeeds. Through His life, descent into death, resurrection, ascension, and the yielding of the Holy Spirit, Christ establishes a new reality and a renewed household, a new Edenic household in which humanity is invited to step pursuing their created purpose, participating with God in this New Creation age.
Before this "Christ Event," humanity was faced the two frustrating realities of either, life in the strongman's household where Chaos reigned as Gentiles. Or, in the Jewish household where they struggled to conduct the Edenic edict under the close stewardship of the Law, writings, and prophets, and their storied past illustrates how difficult life was (Galatians 4:1-9).
In Matthew 12:29, where Jesus says, "…how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first binds the strong man? Then he can plunder his house." Many theologians interpret the "strong man" as the Satan, and Jesus' binding of the strong man as a metaphor for His victory over demonic powers. This act of binding is seen as a demonstration of Christ's authority and power at the cross, as we read about in Revelation 20, which enables the Holy Spirit to advance the Kingdom of God. The idea is that by overcoming the forces of evil, the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church (Matthew 16:18).
Therefore, advent and accomplishment of this Messiah/Christ is completely effective.
First, by fulfilling the prophecies and promises made to Abraham, Christ concluded an era wherein God's domain was restricted to a particular race and location.
Second, the atoning completing act of God and Man living faithfully together as Christ/Jesus in one body, faithfully unto death restored a just status between humanity and God, “In Christ.” In Christ, the 2nd Adam, we have the righting of Adam's wrong. Jesus the Messiah was the only one who could regain the intended status of humanity on earth as God’s agents. The Bible’s good news story centers on this atoning event in history, and his resurrection from the dead demonstrates God's justice.
Third, Christ's work removed the purity barriers that since Adam prevented humanity from being vessels for the Holy Spirit. In earlier times, the Shekinah Glory was only observed in purified, sanctified vessels such as the mountains, the garden/wilderness, the Tabernacle, and the Temple. However, during the 2nd Temple period of the Gospels, the only vessel we find arriving in Jerusalem is recorded in the Gospel account of Jesus' body upon his arrival. Through his atoning life exchange (sacrifice), he "yields" the Spirit from his own container, “pouring it out on all humanity” allowing the Spirit to be free to do what the Holy Spirit wills (Acts 2:17). The first act is evidenced by bodily resurrecting the Godly from the 1st Covenant Age and fulfilling God’s promises to them (Matthew 27:50ff).
A. As Jesus the Christ "yields" the Christ Spirit, the curtain of the temple is opened from the inside out. The Spirit's mission is to draw all humanity to the Father through the accomplishment of Christ Jesus. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart, rather step into what God has for us (Hebrews 3:7-8, Psalm 95). Once again, the spirit is free to dwell through vessels that are not perfect of their own merit but purified by the “sprinkling” evidence of the atoning life exchange in Christ Jesus. Humanity is free to step into all that God has for us.
B. John's revelation shows how the gates of the New Jerusalem are open, allowing all nations and tongues to stream into God's City/Garden, joining like Israel's tribes as the People of God. They become God's people who embody the Holy Spirit and image Christ as His body all over the world. Our local gatherings living out His Word serve as entrances into the New Jerusalem, the Kingdom of God reality, His people embodying this new creation edict.
Christ's redemptive work is not merely an individual act but an event that changes everything for His estranged humanity. There is now an option for His intended imagers to hear the Christ Spirit's voice, wooing them back into fellowship with God and family. They are invited to enter His Garden reality once again manifesting his will on earth as it is in heaven, inviting others to join this new humanity, this new reality.
Entering the New Household: A Call to Participation
Salvation, within this framework or Biblical world view, is not earned but entered. Just as one enters a household and participates in the life established by its head, humanity is invited to leave the household of sin and enter the household of Christ, to be “in Christ.” This transition is empowered by the Holy Spirit, who actively draws individuals to God through Christ’s accomplishment, calling them to a life of participation and purpose as the People of God, adding rooms to God’s household. The emphasis is not on merit, but by entering the household that Christ has already established through His complete victory.
Eternal Life in Christ's Household and beyond: Purposeful Living now and forever.
In Christ's household, humanity is not in a state of passivity, rather humanity actively takes up God’s purpose. Individuals are invited to actively participate as God's household, rekindling the original intentions for God’s co-creators. This new life begins now, with Jesus, and extends through death into eternity.
This great exchange of life mirrors that of Christ Jesus. His example was a baptism of vocational change. He leaves his life as a carpenter to enter the waters of baptism, not for the remission of sins, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, he deconstructs and reconstructs his worldview in the desert. Upon his return, John the Baptist, the last prophetic voice in the line of Elijah was removed, and God Himself, as Christ Jesus, announces the arrival of the Kingdom of God.
In like manner, our vocation (from the Latin root for "voice" - as Tim Keller explains) is how we forward God’s voice into this world. Vocationally, our sphere of influence is where we interface in cultivating relationships as Christ’s ambassadors of reconciliation. Collectively, the church is our platform through which God continues His story of redeeming creation, wherever and whatever our circumstances.