The Bible is one book, one story.  While Aesop’s Fables is a collection of individual stories, each with a different moral lesson, the Bible is one book, one story with two themes that run throughout the entire book like train tracks.  The first 11 chapters of Genesis introduce the story, and conclude with God giving every nation a different language, then scattering them over the face of the earth.  The story then identifies these two key themes in Genesis 12:1-3.  God tells Abram that He will bless him and that through Abram all nations will be blessed.  The story fulfills the two themes near the end of the book in Revelation 7 when people from every nation, tribe, people and language worship the Lamb joyfully together before his throne with God.  The Bible is the story of God scattering the nations and then bringing them back together in unified worship of Himself so that He receives maximum glory. 

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One theme that runs throughout the entire Bible is that God intends to bless us.  Take these well-known stories:

• David & Goliath

• Solomon’s Wisdom

• Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

• Daniel in the Lion’s Den

• Esther

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This first theme is easy to identify in each story:

• Trust God and He will help you slay giants

• Choose wisely and get it all

• If you are faithful, God will protect you in your time of need

• If you are faithful, God will protect you in your time of need

• Maybe God is raising you up for such a time as this

 

But there is also a second theme that we so easily miss – God is taking His blessing to the nations and wants us to join Him in the task:

• “...and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel” (1 Samuel 17:46 NIV).

• The Queen of Sheba and others come to see Solomon’s wisdom (1 Kings 10).

• “Therefore, I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces…”  Daniel 3:29

• “Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth: “May you prosper greatly!  I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.  For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end.  He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth.  He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”  Daniel 6:25

• “A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality…” (Esther 8:13 NIV).

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We are all familiar with the Priestly Prayer in Numbers 6:24–26:

“The LORD bless you and keep you;

the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

 

We love that prayer because it is about us.  It is about God blessing us.  But we rarely, if ever, talk about God’s purpose in blessing us:

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May God be gracious to us and bless us
   and make his face shine on us -
so that your ways may be known on earth,
   your salvation among all nations.  Psalm 67:1-2

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Throughout both the Old Testament and the New Testament we see this theme: God is on mission to bring the nations back together in unified worship of Himself, the loving Creator and sustainer of all peoples.  Embracing Unity Academy explores the implications of God’s mission on our discipleship regarding his call to unity with brothers and sisters in Christ from “every nation, tribe, people, and language.”

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This essay was adapted from the opening lecture of the Perspectives course.