The Story of the Gospel

I wanted to offer something a bit different, the telling of the Gospel in the form of a short story. I will be posting a more detailed presentation in future blog posts. Without further ado:

The Lord God is One and he is King of All – not a being but Being Itself, containing all existence and all other beings within Himself. In His mind and heart He desired to make a beautiful world of creatures to share in his own being, his own joy, his own blessed and divine life, some lesser and some greater, some visible and some invisible, some quite like Himself – free and full of love. He spoke the Word and a myriad of creations flowed into existence, each new and wonderful and unique. First the heavenly hosts, burning with the light of the King’s glory with which He imbued them. So bright and shining, they were invisible to the lesser creatures lest they overwhelm them with their power and beauty. Then, at His Word, the visible world sprang into being, and the sight of it was marvelous to behold. Nestled in a new type of realm made of spreading stardust, in the depths of space and time – a great dune of sparkling sand, like a giant blanket unrolled in all directions. At his Word the sand took shape into endless configurations, each more wonderful and complex than the one before, the passage of time allowing for successive iterations. Soon every planet, sun, moon and star was set in its place, and each was governed by one of the invisible creatures, His angels. Out of the whole universe, the Lord God then desired that one small planet would be His temple, the humble but shining sapphire in the crown of his creation, unique among the planets. This jewel would be his dwelling place, and the place of one of His mightiest works, if any could be deemed so. He called to Him His angels and showed them what was to be and His plans for the new world, and for a new type of creature similar to the angels, but made yet of stardust. The angels rejoiced in great song and adoration out of love for their King.

But not all rejoiced. One angel, the most powerful, the most glorious, the most beautiful of all the angels, the one closest to the King in glory seethed with bitter anger, jealous of the King’s love for what He planned, falling into the error that Lord’s love was scarce rather than abundant, deceived in his heart by his own pride and selfish thought. In his wrath and envy he rebelled against the King and called his fellow angels to take up his cause that they may overthrow the King and take his throne and claim the new planet-temple for their own. Some of the angels, being deceived by the light-bearer, Lucifer, joined forces against the Lord. But most of the angels saw the great folly of this, and out of love and faithfulness they rallied to their King. In great might and power, the angels of the Lord, led by their captain Michael, cast out these fallen angels from the Heavens, and sent them forth into the abyss. Into this netherworld of Hell, utterly void of all God’s love, joy, blessing, and light, were the Fallen Ones doomed to remain for all eternity, reaping the cursed fruit of their rebellion.

On the new planet the Lord set forth his marvelous plan into motion. The world, full of mountains, deserts, oceans, towering cliffs and dark caves, massive boulders and tiny gems, had yet no life within it. Stretching His hands out over the world in blessing, the Lord spoke His Word and the Life within Himself spilled forth and rained down upon the stardust. And behold – the new planet teemed with life, tiny forms that moved and breathed. With great joy and skill too masterful to understand, the new creatures multiplied into ever more complex beings at His bidding, each reflecting a new idea in His mind, each more astounding and impressive to behold than the last, each with its own function and purpose, to inhabit every corner of the virgin earth.

At last, the time was ready for the Lord to set forth His Will to make the crowning jewel of this new world. The King reached down, raised the stardust up, formed it into the shape of a man, and breathed into it the breath of life. The man took his first breath and with it adored and thanked the Lord for the gift of his life. The Lord God took the man and placed him in a lush garden at the top of a mountain, and gave to him all the fruits of the trees within to be his food. He then created another being like the man to be with him, a woman to be his complement and his beloved. He blessed the couple and bid them to multiply themselves and care for the garden, the earth and each other, and to avoid, for now, the two trees in the center of the garden – the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Tree of Life. The Lord also warned them to remain vigilant in their duties, for beyond the bright garden, darkness and thorns lay about, sown and spawned by Lucifer and his monstrous horde. The man and woman lived in the garden as stewards of all creation, walking with the Lord in all His ways and wisdom. They were naked and feared nothing for they could not die, being so filled with the life of God. The world was at peace under their care, and any threats of shadow remained far off, a distant rumor of possibility.

But the peace did not last long. Lucifer, twisted and bent with evil purpose and filled with rage and vengeance, came to the garden. There he deceived the man and woman, who had grown so used to peace that they forgot the watchfulness they had had in the beginning, failing to remember the Lord’s command and warning. Lucifer, who possessed more natural cunning and power, even in his fallen state, came in disguise and deceived the man and woman, convincing them to forget their love and faithfulness for their Lord. Instead of calling upon the name of the Lord and His holy angels, and summoning the beasts of the field and air to drive out Lucifer, who had taken the form of a serpent-dragon, the man and woman instead reached out their hands and ate of the sacred fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil they had been commanded not to eat.

In that instant the peace and harmony in the world came crashing down, as a tsunami upon a coastal city or an avalanche upon a mountain town. The divine life faded from their souls and limbs, and for the first time the man and woman experienced shame, fear, powerlessness, and vulnerability. This was the first sin of the human race, the first separation from God. Since nothing unholy could abide the presence of God and remain in the garden with Him, the man and woman were banished into self-chosen exile. The garden and the Tree of Life, no longer protected by their stewards, were swept away and destroyed by the ensuing chaos, falling out of grace into the ravages of time and forgetfulness.

Many generations of men were born from them, yet each was inflicted with the wound of sin and death, feeble of body and soul, unable to hold themselves in greatness without the spirit of God in them. Life became a toilsome burden to merely survive. The very creation had turned against them, betraying them just as the man and woman had betrayed it. Lucifer and his demons prowled the earth striving for the ruin of all souls, devouring many, and causing many men to rise against one another and against God. But not all. The Lord God did not abandon His people. He raised up and called forth a chosen remnant of men and women who were faithful to Him. These passed down their faith and their loyalty to their children and over years beyond count became a large people. From this chosen race and holy nation, the Lord declared He was going to bring forth one who would have the power to destroy the enemy once and for all, to heal the wound of sin forever, and to even reverse death itself. The Lord would bring his remnant back into His grace and power, and save them. In turn, this remnant would be chosen to heal and sanctify the nations, banishing the darkness of error with the light of truth and casting out demons with the power of God.

In the fullness of time the Lord called forth and anointed the One who would carry out this mighty deed. For so noble and arduous a task, only one Person would have the strength and authority to accomplish it. The Lord sent His only Son, hidden from the world since the dawn of creation, but now revealed – though with His power and majesty veiled in the humility of His human form. As in the beginning there was one man and one woman brought forth from the man, so now the Lord chose a woman to bring forth the Man, His Son. The Son came from Heaven and dwelt among the exiled race of men, illuminating their darkness with his unquenchable light. The men were pleased at first, but when they could not bend the light to their fallen will, they yielded to the evil in their hearts and sought to put the Man, the Savior and Teacher of the world, to death. At the bidding of Lucifer they took the Man and hung him upon a tree with nails driven through his hands and feet. Unknowingly, they accomplished the very act that would free the world from the power of the enemy – the death of a perfect and innocent Man offered in sacrifice to fulfill the law of justice: that for the punishment of evil committed against an innocent world, an innocent man must pay the price of death. Only so noble of blood as the Son of God could so perfectly atone for the evil done in the garden against the Most High Lord, only He could bind the separation that sin had caused between man and God.

The Son of God died upon the tree, which in that moment became the new Tree of Life. For by his sacrifice the whole world was redeemed and given the chance for life with God once again. Lucifer was thrown down and his authority as ruler of the world was removed, for the Lord was now King, both in Heaven and on Earth. The Son of God rose from the dead proving that death had lost its power for those who follow Him. To those desiring to be saved He gave to them the Fruit of the Tree of Life: His own divine flesh. Having been hung upon the Tree of Life, He Himself was the Fruit, declaring that those who ate and who loved Him would thus be able to live forever. To the remnant who had remained loyal to Him he charged to go forth into all the world and bring the Fruit of the Tree of Life to all peoples that they may partake of it. By sharing in His divine flesh, His very life, they would be granted life once again and be able to come to the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Son then departed into the Heavens being born up by the very clouds and the hands of His angels. He promised to return at the end of all time to bring His victory to its ultimate finality. He will come to judge the world, to separate the faithful from the wicked, and to renew all of creation in glory.