Puttin' the Advent in Adventure

Time for a new blogging bible study, courtesy of my friend over at Abigail's Day! This time around, we're reading scriptures on an advent schedule that enrich our knowledge of the Christmas season. Today, it's two selections in Genesis: chapter 3:8-19 and chapter 22:15-18. But first, let's get all geek-glasses and talk about intertextuality!

Have you ever been amazed at the way a really good author can weave a complex story throughout the length of a novel or series of books, tying up all the loose ends perfectly? It's so pleasing to have "aha" moments where you realize that you've totally been sucked in to a story that someone planned out with great care and forethought.

For instance, I recently finished the Harry Potter series (if you have spiritual problems with Harry Potter, please forgive my liberties and insert your favorite series title here) and was BLOWN AWAY by the skill of J.K. Rowling's storytelling. She creates a world so concise and well-crafted that by the final novel, I was left unable to guess any sort of finale, and willingly let myself get carried away in the detailed perfection of it all. Names, colors, places, the slightest details mentioned throughout all of the books came into harmonious union as the story's end was revealed. The answers were there all along, mirrored in each other's pages. That's intertextuality.

And so it is with the Bible, except that it's not fiction. It's the honest story of mankind and God. The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, reveals Jesus, the man who was God who came to save us from sin. And so we begin in Genesis, in two passages; the first (chapter 3) describes the fall of man and the second (chapter 22) describes Abraham's testing.

After reading both sections of scripture and thinking about them for a day or two, I can't help but feel that they reflect each other in great sorrow and great hope. God created Adam and Eve in perfection, only to see them fall into their own sin. Abraham must have anguished over God's request, but told his son Isaac (who he was instructed to kill!) that God would provide a sacrifice.

I think that it is such with our lives and God's faithfulness to us throughout the years. In my life, I have had sorrow and joy, pain and hope. Events and circumstances, which I didn't understand at the time they happened, like my miscarriage, made perfect sense months later when God revealed the necessity of it. I am convinced that that is His beautiful nature -- the slow, steady (intertextual) presence of Providence, of Jesus. When Adam and Eve fell, God hinted at Jesus. When God asked great sacrifice of Abraham and then intervened, he again hinted at Jesus.

And now, a few weeks before Christmas, there are nativities, advent calendars and tinkling carols hinting at Jesus. He's already come, and yet there are still some who don't know that He has and will come again. I hope that in this season, I can lift the veil to those who can't see the epic story of a birth that brought salvation. Maybe it will start as simply as them reading the story for themselves!