24.3 The Conflict of Story
© 2015 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
We cannot know God apart from knowing Story. God, extending Himself out from Himself, first becomes known as Words. But then something happens to Word, something incredible. The Word becomes flesh, and that, dear reader, is Story.
And inside the Word becoming flesh, inside the Story of God, the most incredible action, the most precious of all story lines, is a Man rising to His feet in Gethsemane. And we know the full reality of that Story by these words: and we also. Thus we discover that we now are the Story of God.
The Purpose of Story
All good story serves the primary purpose of unveiling to the audience or readers the true nature found in the depths of the heart of the main character of the story, the hero.
Some of the best movies produced today serve that purpose very well; those that don’t can only be termed “entertainment” and typically do not prosper. Each story might unveil a different characteristic in the hero. In Shrek, it was his love for Fiona; in The Lion King, it was Simba’s facing his guilt for the sake of those who trusted in him. War and Peace, considered by many to be the greatest literary work written, takes five different individuals to the depths of ruin and there each one finds their purpose in the Lord Jesus.
Ripping Open the Heart
The essence of story, then, is to tear open the heart of the hero, that all may see what is inside. Leo Tolstoy, in War and Peace, created very different and unique circumstances for each of the five heroes of his story, and crafted the “ripping open of their hearts” in ways designed entirely to fit their person and different from the others. With Prince Andrei, it was lying in the tent of the wounded after Borodino next to his enemy, both ripped apart by cannon balls, and seeing how hatred and revenge were so meaningless, forgiving his enemy with all his heart. With Pierre, it was walking away alive from being captured by the French when all else, French and prisoners, had died.
The Enemy
If you will think through all good story, you will see how the author of the story arranges the circumstances to open up the heart of the hero, to bring him or her to the end of their shallow selves, and to see what is truly there.
Two things are required to accomplish that great task of “ripping open” the hero’s heart: an enemy and great difficulty of circumstance. Typically, the enemy is an individual, but in War and Peace, the enemy was shallow and empty lives, but the great difficulty of circumstance was the French invasion of Russia, cutting across the lives of all in the story. The enemy is almost as important to the story as the hero.
The Question
Without an enemy, there can be no “ripping open” of heart; without great difficulty, there can be no story.
The story begins, however, not with the intrusion of the enemy, but with a question, a mystery, related entirely to the hero, a question that intrigues the interest of the audience. In The Hobbit, the question, the mystery, was the word “adventure,” spoken by Gandalf, and at first rebutted by Bilbo. In the Bible, the question, the mystery, was the presence of two trees in the garden, life versus death. Whenever I start watching a movie, I ask what is the intriguing question, that is, what is the story about? Without a question, I stop watching, my interest is lost.
What Is Life?
The enemy finds his or her place entirely inside the mystery related to the hero and already established. The mystery comes first; the enemy opposes the hero regarding the mystery. In Gladiator, the mystery was who will be Caesar next. Immediately after that question is raised, Commodus comes into the picture, contending with Maximus over that question. In the garden, the mystery was what does eating of life really mean. The serpent becomes the enemy entirely inside that question. The enemy, then, matches the hero at every point along the way, seeming to be stronger than the hero by appearance.
The Goal
What does all this have to do with setting creation free? Very simple. Setting creation free is not the goal; rather, it is the outcome. The goal is to make the Father’s heart known, to pierce that heart, and to spread it wide open so that all can see who and what this Guy who created us really is. That goal is otherwise called the revelation of Jesus Christ. That goal is to KNOW the Father and to KNOW Jesus Sent.
The purpose is not to defeat the enemy. The enemy and defeating the enemy serves the purpose, the Pro-thesis of God, that is, making the Father’s heart known.
The Conflict
The conflict of God is between two words, the good speaking of Christ, “Let there be light,” versus the accusation of the accuser, “Did God indeed say?”
However, when I see the words, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” it is not words I see, nor even just a Man, but rather, the heart of Father. Word is Christ, flesh is man, but Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us is Father’s heart.
When Jane Eyre was sent to the boarding school, she was placed upon a box in front of the class, and the headmaster told all the teachers and children – “Jane Eyre is a liar.” God stood on the box; the serpent said, “God is a liar.”
The Tension of Story
All story, then, is developed along the lines of tension, like rubber bands drawn tight. The tension is not outside the hero, but inside. The enemy and all the difficulty pressing against the hero is entirely outside the hero. But the tension is inside. The tension is not evil, but God. The tension is the shaping of the human heart to fit God. The enemy and the difficulty aggravate and magnify that tension, but they are not actually part of it. The enemy is not the story.
Does God Speak True?
The story is the shaping of the human heart to contain and to reveal the heart of God Almighty. Yet this God has magnified His Word above all His name. There is no greater blow by which God can be hit than to call His Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, false.
Here is the tension of the great story of God. Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged” (Romans 3:4). The PROOF that God speaks true, and the opening up of the Father’s heart to be known by all are the same thing.
The Proof of God
What is the proof, then, that God speaks true? What is the climax of God’s story, when the winner wins and there is no more need for the fight, when all the audience knows exactly who and what the Hero is?
There is one Greek word of the New Testament that embodies that PROOF. – The Apocalypse.
- Apokalupsis: an uncovering; an unveiling, a revealing, a revelation. From apo – away from, to take off, to remove, and kalypto – to cover.
The Climax of the Story
That the PROOF of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is PROVEN by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the APOCALYPSE of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:7). – For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be APOCALYPSED in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the APOCALYPSE of the sons of God (Romans 8:18-19). The climax of the great story of God.
What does it mean to take off the cover? What does it mean to reveal that which has been hidden?
A True Heart
Eternal LIFE – that they might know You, the only true God. We have seen this word “true” before. Alēthinós Kardia – A True Heart!
And so the great mystery set by God in the garden before darkness ever entered the universe, the great question, what is life, that began the great story of God, is answered. Life is God made known. Life is the Father’s heart revealed. Life is the end of vanity. Life is creation set free.
A true heart in full assurance of faith: the PROOF of God.
The Glory in Us
Do you see now why the words, “There is a man after My own heart,” always bring me to tears.
The apocalypse of Jesus Christ and the apocalypse of the sons of God are the same thing. The glory to be apocalypsed in us is the Father’s heart made known – that they might know You.
This is why we must know STORY. The story is not about the enemy nor about the great difficulties nor about the darkness of this world nor about the vanity of creation nor about you and me. The story is about the Father’s heart made known to all.
We Are His Story
Yet this Father, who is DETERMINED (pro-orisen) with all the determination of God to PROVE His word true, has seized you and me for that very purpose (pro-thesis). We are His story.
For Father to reveal Himself as He really is, however, is a two-step process, two witnesses of a true heart are required. First, Father proves Himself true to us: by this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And then, Father proves Himself true through us: and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
By removing that which hides the heart of God.
The Arrow Again
God speaks the truth; His Word is proven true.
That heart is our heart; that heart is Father’s Heart. You and I reveal Father.