A Great Story

Darkness blankets the sky at midday. The fight has been long and hard. Sweat and blood now soak the ground of the parched earth of the battlefield. The stench of impending death now permeates the air. Our heroin’s life hangs in the balance. Will good triumph or will evil win the day and claim victory?

This is the climax of every epic story. Whether the characters are casted in medieval or ancient times or Marvel and DC comic superheroes facing intergalactic foes, each setting heralds the same adventurous classic of good versus evil. These riveting tales capture our attention and we always find ourselves on the edge of seats to see the narrative play out. No matter how old we get, something inside of us longs to see good prevail in the end. It is the main ingredient which makes every great story a classic.

A Classic Story

Mankind’s story is similar. Wrecked by evil and injustice, we need a hero to come and save the day. In fact, our story is not the myths of legend or the fairytales of children’s book. Our story is real; it is personal, lived out every day. In its tedious monotony and seemingly endless struggle, hope is hard to find.

Yet the author of our story took his pen and chronicled our salvation. To ensure the success of this conquest, he does not send a valiant warrior or a man possessing special powers. No, the author chooses to send himself. Due to the dangers that plague mankind he could not trust this mission to just anyone. Disguised as a man, the author enters the stage. No one recognizes him. He does not appear dashing and charming. His face and body are not like famous actors. He is average. In fact, he is very easy to miss.

Born to a young girl who is engaged to a man who is not his father our author comes on the scene in the middle of scandal and great family disgrace. He grows up to be a common construction worker in a day when his nation is being oppressed and ruled by another. Every day he sees the depravity of man, and man’s inability to save or fix itself. Thus, the mission of the author is clear . . . save what was lost.

Mankind had lost its relationship with its creator. With evil’s rooted hold over man, the author’s task looks unattainable. He would have to not only break the power of evil, he would have to remove it completely from the inside of man. Every man and woman would have to be changed from the inside out. How could this be accomplished?

There is one element about the author that is both his weakness and his strength. And evil knows this. It is his love for mankind. It was because of his love that he created this story from the beginning. His love has shown tremendous mercy to mankind when man turned on the author. This love even allowed the story to continue with the promise the author would make it right.

Evil though, has its own diabolical plan. Force the author to expose his true self and make mankind kill him. If the author is dead, evil becomes the new author and has complete power to finish the story. This plan seemingly works. The author shows his love for mankind by healing people and working miracles for them. At the same time, he proclaims how man is consumed by evil and what the author truly expects of man.

Evil sees all of this. By using man to rise up against the author, evil’s plan will work. Empowering religion and politics, evil convinces man the author is the problem and he must be killed. Even though man saw the love the author has for them, the evil inside of them moved them to strike the author down. Imploring the worst form of punishment, mankind whipped and lacerated the author then nailed him to a wooden cross, suspending the author between heaven and earth, making him a spectacle for the whole world to see. The climax of mankind’s story is at its peak. Evil’s victory is at hand. The author is dead.

Is this the ending the author intended? Was this the end of hope for mankind to rid itself of evil and be reunited with its creator?

A True Story

If this story was fiction, we could write whatever ending we wanted. Yet, this story is not fiction. This story is true. The reality is . . . this is your story. You are mankind. The Creator is God and the author is His son Jesus Christ. You see, the story didn’t end with the death of the author. No, this was his plan the entire time. Even though the author’s love was his weakness, it was also his strength. It was not something that he had . . . love is what he is. This, evil did not understand. You see the author had the power to lay down his life. And he had the power to pick it back up again. And that is exactly what he did.

Evil’s destructive plan against the author turned on him and dealt evil its final and crushing defeat. The author came alive! Rising again, the author took back what was stolen, what was lost. Through this victorious act, he reveals true hope to mankind for its deliverance. By accepting the author’s gift of hope, mankind is changed from the inside out. Evil is defeated person by person as individually the author creates new life into man.

Since this is your story. What have you done with the author’s hope revealed?