Do you like to read mysteries? Is it fun to pit yourself against the author to see if you can figure out whodunnit before the sleuth? Or are you maybe the kind of reader who never figures it out first, but loves all the twists and turns and red herrings?
There is something satisfying about a mystery, getting to the end and having everything resolve. it feels… complete. Looking back on the story and seeing how all the pieces fit together, how the false leads were so false, how the one obscure clue was really the key to unlocking the entire case.
Agatha Christie is the queen of mysteries. Her super sleuth Hercule Poirot has mastered the subtle art of observation and deduction. I remember watching Murder on the Orient Express, and thinking “how did he figure that out???”
But as I thought back to the movie, all the clues were there. As unlikely as all the clues were, the accusation was inevitable as the ONLY explanation that fit all the evidence.
This is the delight of the mystery. Its not only the content of the answer, but the process of it as well.
The same thing applies to reading your Bible.
The first three chapters of Genesis reveal that a crime has been committed and ask the question “How will God redeem a creation that has turned against Him?”
In the Gospels, we get the final answer. He’ll send His Son to pay the price for the sin of the world. Then in the Epistles we get the detailed explanation of what it means and how it works.
Surprise!! Bet you didn’t see that one coming.
Just like with an Agatha Christie novel, no one reads the first chapter to find out what crime has been committed, then jumps to the last chapter to discover the guilty party. The satisfaction isn’t in the answer per se. It’s in the journey to the answer.
Your Bible has a lot of ground between Genesis 3:15 and Matthew 1:1. There’s a huge piece of the story that’s all about God unfolding.
He will reveal many ways that don’t lead to redemption. Ways that we would be tempted to believe offer some kind of hope. (And with the election season coming up in America, offer direct commentary on the fever that’s about to seize the nation) But with the finality of a slammed door, God declares “there is no hope here – look elsewhere”.
Along the way God dropped clues for what He’s going to do. Little pointers that give insights into His plans. After all, after His resurrection, Jesus took the walk to the town of Emmaus with a couple dejected believers. The Bible says that He opened the Old Testament (the only Scripture they had) to explain to them why the Messiah must suffer and die. It was all there, written out.
Agatha Christie teaches us that the Old Testament is a vital part of the Bible. Christians who don’t know their Old Testament are missing out on a huge part of God’s self-revelation. Their spiritual education is incomplete and full of holes. They are liable to have a broken world-view, essentially following all the red herrings and false leads that Satan sows in their story.
I believe we need the whole Word of God. And all of it is essential to our proper formation as disciples of Jesus. That’s why I wrote Study the Bible – Old Testament. Because the Six Easy Steps method isn’t just for New Testament Epistles. It’s flexible and adaptable to meet the needs of the Old Testament too.
But there are rules when it comes to studying the Old Testament. If you don’t follow the rules, you’ll get lost and confused. Or worse, you’ll come to the wrong conclusions and answers.
I’m on a quest to find the 10% of Christians who want to go deeper into their faith and understand the whole story of what God has for them. I know it’s not going to resonate for most people. But at the end of the day, that’s not who I want to talk to.
If you’re interested in getting a more Agatha Christie understanding of your Bible, you can find more here:
https://www.dennis-stevenson.com/product/study-the-bible-old-testament-bundle-paperback/
The best way to go is the Bundle. The book explains the process. The workbook gives you a guided opportunity to put it into practice and make it stick.
Until next time,
Dennis
