S4: Prep Week: How Christ is Present in All of Scripture

Summary

A Year in the Bible with Daily Grace Episode Summary: S4: Prep Week: How Christ is Present in All of Scripture Release Date: January 3, 2025

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Introduction to the Prep Week

In the opening segment of the episode, co-hosts Beth and Alexa warmly welcome listeners to the preparatory week of Season 4 of A Year in the Bible with Daily Grace. They outline the podcast’s mission: to journey through the Bible daily, focusing on how Christ is intricately woven into every page of Scripture. Beth introduces the week’s focus on developing tools to recognize Jesus throughout the Bible.

Notable Quote:

Beth [00:00]: "This year, we want to spend a few minutes with you every day walking through our study, Christ in all of Scripture."

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Understanding the Meta Narrative of Scripture

The heart of the episode revolves around the concept of the meta narrative—the overarching story that connects all the individual narratives within the Bible. Beth explains that the meta narrative is typically segmented into four key components: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration.

1. Creation

   • Alexa [01:15]: "Creation is the truth. God created a world that was good, where God, humans, and animals all lived together in harmony."
   • Description of God's original design for an intimate relationship with humanity, emphasizing joy, worship, freedom, and stewardship of the earth.

2. Fall

   • Beth elaborates on the entrance of sin into the world through human rebellion, leading to brokenness, pain, and mortality.
   • Beth [02:30]: "The world is no longer the good world that God created it to be... We all share in the same fate. Because of our sin, we're actually all headed towards death."

3. Redemption

   • Alexa [02:30]: Discusses God's steadfast plan to redeem humanity through Jesus Christ, highlighting Jesus' incarnation, perfect life, sacrificial death, and resurrection.
   • Explains how redemption restores the broken relationship between God and humanity, offering forgiveness and eternal life.

4. Restoration

   • Beth touches on the future hope of restoration, where Jesus will establish a new heaven and earth.
   • Beth [03:09]: "When that happens, there's going to be no more death, pain, or tears, and all things will be made new."

Notable Quotes:

• Beth [03:09]: "These four parts together make up the metanarrative of Scripture, which is the story of God and the story of us all, humanity."

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Seeing Christ in All of Scripture through the Meta Narrative

Beth and Alexa delve into how the meta narrative framework aids believers in perceiving Christ's presence throughout the entire Bible. They emphasize that viewing Scripture through this lens reveals that every story, whether in the Old or New Testament, points to Jesus and His redemptive work.

Notable Quote:

Beth [03:44]: "He is the one who redeems us and restores us. When we read Scripture through that lens, we see how every single story in both the Old and New Testaments tells us about God's plan to save us through Jesus."

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Application: Christ-Centered vs. Moralistic Approach

The discussion shifts to the practical application of the studied material. Beth and Alexa contrast moralistic application—focusing on right behavior to gain God's favor—with Christ-centered application, which centers on responding to God's grace through the lens of the Gospel.

• Alexa [04:35]: Explains that instead of asking, "What should I do?" believers should ask, "What is my response in light of what Christ has done?"
• This approach emphasizes obedience as a response to grace, not as a means to earn God's favor.

Notable Quote:

Beth [05:35]: "What is my response in light of what Christ has done? What an incredibly helpful way of framing application."

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Conclusion and Preview of the Journey Ahead

As the episode wraps up, Beth and Alexa encourage listeners to embrace the tools discussed during Prep Week. They tease the upcoming week's studies, which will delve deeper into specific Old and New Testament passages that highlight Christ's fulfillment of Scripture.

• Alexa [05:56]: Provides a sneak peek, mentioning an upcoming New Testament passage that demonstrates how all Scripture points to Christ and an Old Testament passage illustrating Jesus' fulfillment through His death and resurrection.

Notable Quote:

Alexa [05:56]: "Your mind might be blown a little bit, so be sure to join us next week."

Beth closes by inviting listeners to continue the journey of seeing Christ in all of Scripture, setting the stage for an engaging and transformative study ahead.

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Final Thoughts

This episode effectively sets the foundation for Season 4 by introducing the meta narrative framework and emphasizing the centrality of Christ in the Bible. Beth and Alexa provide clear explanations and practical applications, encouraging listeners to engage deeply with Scripture and view their studies through the transformative lens of the Gospel.

For more resources and to continue the journey, listeners are encouraged to visit thedailygraceco.com and follow the Daily Grace Co. on Instagram.

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Resources Mentioned:

• The Daily Grace Co. Website: thedailygraceco.com
• Instagram: Follow @dailygraceco for additional Bible study resources and encouragement.

Transcript

[Beth]

Welcome to A Year in the Bible with daily grace. This year, we want to spend a few minutes with you every day walking through our study, Christ in all of Scripture. Each week, we will dive deeply into two passages of Scripture, one from the Old Testament and one from the new, seeing how they connect and point to Jesus.

[Alexa]

Whether you are doing the study yourself or just following along with us here, we are hopeful that through studying these passages each week, you will see how Christ is not only present throughout the entire Biblical story, but the center of it.

[Beth]

Hi, friends. Welcome back to the Year in the Bible podcast. My name is Beth and I am here with my co host, Alexa.

[Alexa]

Hey, everyone.

[Beth]

This is our final day of week one, the prep week of Christ and all of Scripture. Today we're going to be talking about one more tool that's going to help you as you journey through this year, seeing Jesus on every page of the Bible. The final tool is the meta narrative of Scripture. The meta narrative is the overarching story of the Bible. The Bible is made up of many stories, but they all work together to tell one big story, and that is the metanarrative. This narrative is typically broken down into four Creation, fall, redemption, restoration. Today, we're going to be walking through each of those four parts, beginning with creation. So take us away, Alexa.

[Alexa]

Yeah. There is so much that we could say about creation. But to keep it brief, creation is the truth. That God created a world that was good, where God, humans, and animals all lived together in harmony. And the relationship between God and His creation, and in particular us, was God's original design. We were meant to be in an intimate relationship with God where we worshiped him joyfully and completely, and we experienced freedom and life in Him. And we were meant to delight in the world that God created, representing who God is in the world and taking care of it in such a way that it brought glory to God.

[Beth]

Yeah, exactly. And then the Fall is what we call the moment when sin entered into the world. So the very first humans were called to trust God and obey him, as Alexa said. But they actually failed to do that. And their act of rebellion ushered in brokenness and sin. And sin now dwells in the hearts of all humanity. It doesn't take long for you to look and see that. And the world is no longer the good world that God created it to be. We experience things like hurt, pain, broken relationships, and evil. And worst of all, we all share in the same fate. Because of our sin, we're actually all headed towards death.

[Alexa]

Yes, but even though mankind failed in their Faithfulness to God. God put forth a plan to bring about redemption through Christ. So God remained faithful to that plan throughout many years, even when his people continued to be unfaithful to him. And in his perfect timing, he sent Jesus, who took on human flesh, lived the perfect life, died in our place on the cross, and rose from the grave. Because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, we're able to place our faith in Christ and receive forgiveness for our sin. And the punishment we have because of our sin is removed. So through Christ, we are restored in our relationship with God and given eternal life.

[Beth]

Yeah, and then restoration is the final movement of the metanarrative. This is the part that has not happened yet. So it is whenever Jesus returns and establishes the new heaven and the new earth. Revelation 21:4 tells us that when that happens, there's going to be no more death, pain, or tears, and all things will be made new. It is this restoration that was inaugurated with Jesus's death and resurrection. And this is what we have to hope in and look forward to as Christians. These four parts together make up the metanarrative of Scripture, which is the story of God and the story of us all, humanity.

[Alexa]

And that's so good, Beth. But how exactly does the meta narrative help us see Jesus throughout Scripture?

[Beth]

Yeah, that's a very, very good question and super important for us to talk about. As we're talking about seeing Jesus in all of Scripture, the meta narrative actually helps us to see Jesus across the whole story of the Bible because it shows us how the whole story of the Bible is actually about Him. He is the one who redeems us and restores us. When we read Scripture through that lens, we see how every single story in both the Old and New Testaments tells us about God's plan to save us through Jesus. Now, before we leave you to begin the first full week of study, it is super important that we spend some time talking about application. How does everything that we've talked about this week, the seeing Jesus in all of Scripture, seeing the attributes of God in Scripture, and the meta narrative. How do these things help us as we seek to apply God's word to our lives?

[Alexa]

Yeah, when you get to the application part of the study, you might find yourself wanting to connect what you read that week immediately to your own life. So you might think, okay, what should I do now? And while it's not necessarily wrong to ask that question, asking that question may lead to a moralistic application of the text in which we focus on right behavior so that we can please, God. Moralistic application keeps what we do at the center, but Christ centered application keeps Christ at the center. So when we make a Christ centered application, we apply what we learned in that week through the lens of the Gospel. Instead of asking what should I do? We ask ourselves, what is my response in light of what Christ has done? This helps us to obey God in response to the grace that we've already received and reminds us that our obedience to God doesn't earn God's favor because we already have God's favor through Christ.

[Beth]

I love that. What is my response in light of what Christ has done? What an incredibly helpful way of framing application. Well friends, you have made it through prep week and next week we're going to dive into our first full week of Bible study and begin our journey of seeing Christ in all of Scripture. Alexa, do you want to share a quick sneak peek at what to expect next week?

[Alexa]

Yes, we're going to start off next week looking at a New Testament passage that teaches us how all of Scripture points to Christ and as well as an important Old Testament passage that shows us how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament through His death and resurrection. Your mind might be blown a little bit, so be sure to join us next week.

[Beth]

Yes, please be there. We will see you on Monday.

[Alexa]

Thank you for listening to today's episode of A Year in the Bible with Daily Grace. Be sure to check out our show notes for some helpful links and resources related to today's episode, and make sure you're following aalygrace Podcast and hedaily Grace Co on Instagram for more Bible study resources and encouragement. We're looking forward to studying God's Word with you again tomorrow. Bye friends.