Pointing Forward

Read Acts 13:13-52

One of the things I most enjoy doing in my free time is watching movies. Now, understandably, there are a lot of inappropriate movies out there today, as well as many illegitimate ways of obtaining them for viewing. But when having chosen a good movie, I just love sitting and enjoying a good story. I love how all these little bits and pieces of a grander story begin to weave together until you get to the climax of the movie and it delivers some incredible ending or a satisfying resolution. For a movie to be entertaining, it has to have both of these necessary parts, both the buildup and the climax. If when you watched Gladiator, and all you saw was Maximus defeating Commodus in the Coliseum, you’d probably just think it was a movie with two alpha males exerting their dominance, without appreciation for what Maximus had to go through. Conversely, if you saw Mighty Ducks 2 and watched the US Jr. Hockey Team go through the trials of training and coming together at the international level, but didn’t see their final victory over the Icelandic squad, you’d be left without a satisfying ending. There was no closure, no pinnacle to the story.

In our passage for today, the Apostle Paul, is preaching to the men and women of Antioch in Pisidia. I think Paul crafts his message the way most movies find their success, he tells us all these little stories that ultimately point forward to the climax. He recounts to the Jews there all of their history as God’s people, from the time they were led out of Egypt, through the wilderness, into the Promise land all the way to how God gave them a king after his own heart in David. All of this was to point forward to the climax of God’s redemption story. Jesus. In his preaching on Jesus, Paul reminds the Jews of how Jesus is the culmination of God’s promises to them. That while the promises are being temporarily realized in the Old Testament, they find their final fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

I wonder if maybe we’ve neglected to see the build up in God’s redemption story and only focus on the climax. Don’t get me wrong, Jesus is the most important part of the gospel message. Without Him, there is no ending to the story, we’re still waiting for a messiah. But sometimes, I think not knowing about God’s interaction with His people and all he’s done to set the stage for Jesus doesn’t give us a full picture of who Jesus is and what He’s done. We want to see the build up that points forward to the climax. If you were sitting and listening to Paul’s message, how much of what he mentioned in Acts 13:13-25 would you understand? Do you know about Israel in Egyptian bondage, about 40 years of wandering in the desert, about Joshua and the Canaan conquest? About Samuel, and Saul, and David? About John the Baptist? About Jesus? Maybe God is challenging you to dive into His word, the account of His interaction with us, to see more of what He’s done, is doing, and will do throughout the whole of human history.

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