How God Relates to History
The History of the Bible in 261 Words
We are now in the midst of a series that seeks to answer one of the biggest questions imaginable: who is God? Today I want to expand the topic even further, if that is possible, and think about how God relates to history. To deal with that issue, first let’s try to depict the contents of history in three hundred words or less.
In the 17th Century, Archbishop James Bishop Ussher calculated that according to the Bible chronology history began somewhere around 4000 BC. It is interesting that secular scholars’ estimates of the beginning of civilization land us in about the same timeframe. The flood, according to biblical chronology, occurred somewhere around 2350 BC. Scripture tells us that after the flood God chose to work through the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and consequently the Old Testament from Genesis 12 on through Malachi, its last book, focus on the nation Israel. Then we have 400 silent years, which lead to the Gospels and the birth of Christ around 4 BC, His life, death, resurrection, and ascension around 30 A.D. This brings us to the founding of the church and the church age, which began on the day of Pentecost, around 30 A.D. and continues to the present. Many people, Christians and secular authorities alike, have the sense that history is winding down and one way or another will soon terminate. Please do not misunderstand what I’m about to project. I do not claim to know when that termination point will be, and therefore I am not trying to predict it. But for the sake of this discussion, let’s speculate that the next event of Scripture, the Rapture of the church, will occur sometime around 2050 A.D., which will be followed by a seven-year Tribulation period, leading to the thousand-year millennial kingdom of Christ. That event will be followed immediately by the final judgment, The Judgment of the Great White Throne, leading to Eternity Future.
So there you have it: history in 261 words, the main events being: 1) about 1600 years between creation and the flood, 2) roughly a 2000 year history of Israel, 3) a 33 year span covering the birth and life of Jesus, 4) around 2000 years of church history and still counting, 5) followed by a seven-year Tribulation and a 1000 year reign of Christ. So all told, that adds up to about close to 7000 years. We find this buffet 7000 years of history sandwiched between eternity past and eternity future.
The Role of the Persons of the Trinity in History
I sense that people tend to have a generic sense about God’s role in history. There is a God and there is history, and God works in history, and that pretty much sums it up. However, it is helpful to think more specifically about how particular Persons of the Trinity relate to explicit segments history. It was actually my wife, Connie, who got me thinking in these terms. I mentioned to her that I was dealing with the Trinity, and she reflected that there seems to be a special relationship between God the Father and the Old Testament, God the Son, and the Gospels, and God the Holy Spirit and the church age. I concluded that she had a point, and that it would be helpful to pursue that line of thinking. The more reflected on that perspective, the more I sensed its significance. First, let me grant that what I am about to propose is somewhat speculative. If you feel to you like I have gone off the rails, that’s okay. But I do believe there is value in the line of thinking I am about to suggest. Scripture seems to connote that certain Persons of the Trinity take up residence on earth during discrete years of history, and that their presence results in a particular impact.
To begin with, God is present and at work in every area of history. Without His presence humanity would soon descend into inhumanity and chaos. But in this article, we are distinguishing between God being present and at work and a specific person of the Trinity actually taking up residence on earth.
Regarding the first approximately 1600 years between creation and the flood, Scripture records God having a heart-to-heart conversation with Cain prior to his murdering of Abel. Apparently, God had a very good relationship with Enoch during those years. However, we find no scriptural reference to God in anyway taking up residence on earth during that portion of history. It seems that this arrangement may have contributed to the outcome of earth becoming a very wicked and violent place with only one righteous family remaining.
During the second major segment of history, when God interacts primarily with the nation Israel, we sense that there is good reason to believe that God the Father came to earth to live with that nation. We find Him commanding Israel to build a dwelling for Him in the very center of the camp, giving them elaborate directions for its construction. We sense this is God the Father is in view here because of the barriers He places between Himself and the people. When he appeared on Mount Sinai, He warned against the people approaching the mountain. When He took up residence in the Tabernacle, only the High Priest could enter His presence, and that only once yearly and with a sacrifice. When Israel finally settled in the Promised Land, Solomon replaced the Tabernacle with the Temple. When Israel rebelled against God, they were carried captive to Babylon in three phases. Between the second and third phase, shortly before the temple was destroyed, Ezekiel 10 and 11 records a heartrending description of the glory of the Lord departed from the Temple. We sense both His reticence to leave and His inability to stay resulted from the profuse wickedness of Israel that had reached even to the Temple itself. Though spiritually, Israel displayed many shortcomings, they did somewhat better than those generations living prior to the flood, throughout the Old Testament maintaining a core of people committed to the Lord.
The gospels record Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity, taking on humanity and residing among the people of Israel. John 1:14 records, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us….” The Greek word there translated “dwelt” literally means “tabernacled,” conveying just as God the Father took up residence in the Tabernacle in the Old Testament, the body of God the Son became His tabernacle on earth. Gospels record Him growing up in Nazareth and living there until age 30, ministering for three years, being rejected, crucified, raised from the dead, and ascending into heaven. Though many did not embrace His ministry, a minority were committed to Him, forming the nucleus of the church.
Forty days after the ascension of Christ, the Holy Spirit came to take up residence in the church, giving them spiritual life and empowering them to live godly lives. Many people see Revelation 2-3 as comprising an account of the various segments of church history. In it we find some eras of the church doing better spiritually than others. Nonetheless, the presence of the Holy Spirit residing within the church results in a strong spiritual presence on earth throughout the church age.
With the rapture of the church, a representation of the Trinity is no longer residing on earth. Though, as mentioned earlier, God is still at work but not resident. This absence of a resident Person of the Trinity seems to result in a spiritually chaotic time on earth. The Olivet Discourse even records betrayal among believers.
The thousand-year kingdom of Christ has both Christ taking residence on the earth and the Holy Spirit living within God’s people. This double representation of the Trinity seems to provide this era with a strong spiritual orientation, even though Scripture records it ending with a rebellion.
We finally get to eternity future. Early in the description of this era we read, “And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.’” (Revelation 21:3) Here we seem to find a merger of heaven with earth, with the Trinity in its fullness residing on earth, which is the ultimate reason we will experience heaven on earth for all eternity.
This description of the Persons of the Trinity taking up residence on earth, or not residing on earth at times, seems to convey at least two lessons. First we see the that the residence of Persons of the Trinity seem to create a more spiritual outcome. We also see differences in the personalities of the Persons of the Trinity, especially as pertains to their interaction with human beings. God the Father seems more distant, while God the Son walked among human beings, and God the Holy Spirit lives within them. It seems that each in order displayed a closer relationship, a closer arrangement for residing with human beings. How blessed we are to have the Holy Spirit living within us.