How did we get here? My study of theological German forty years ago introduced me to a word that sounds a bit like a sneeze: Heilsgeschichte. To be clear, it doesn’t mean sneeze. It means holy history, or salvation history. It is the study of how God got us to the place where we are.
Paul did not know the German language, but he did teach the people in the synagogue about holy history. Speaking to Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, he interpreted the history of God’s saving work of his people. He began with the ancestors, moved through the Exodus, and brought them safely into the promised land. This covered 450 years in a few sentences in Greek. Paul taught them about the people asking Samuel for a king and ending up with Saul and David. We are studying this very story on Sunday at Tallowood. David was chosen by God because he was a man after his own heart. Jesus descended from David.
Holy history starts with God and moves toward a conclusion. These were not random events. God was working in every story and in every life. In a way, their story foreshadows our own. God has been working for our whole lives to save us. He never wastes anything. God uses every relationship, every conversation, every decision to bring us closer to himself. Paul’s sermon ended up being about Jesus. Jesus was the crescendo of all God’s saving work for Israel. Truly, Jesus was the point of the message. He still is. Eating at a favorite restaurant with the owner and another good friend, we agreed: Jesus is all we have and Jesus is all we need. Pardon the pun but that is nothing to sneeze about. History is holy because God is holy. He is working, always working to make us his holy people. Our holy history will give way to a holy future because it is after all, all His story. Gesundheit. God bless you!
