ONE: A New Generation of Unity Sample

# One Story ### By Samantha Rodriguez, High School Graduate, Class of 2020, in Fort Lauderdale, FL “He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”— ‭‭Luke‬ ‭24:44-47‬ (‭NIV‬‬) Cue the Star Wars intro music! Whether you like Star Wars or not, you’ve surely heard the phrase “May the Force be with you,” or perhaps “May the fourth be with you” if it’s May 4th. As I thought about it, though, I realized that the common factor in every movie actually is the Force. In the words of Luke Skywalker himself, the Force is “a balance that binds the universe together.” In a similar way, the Bible’s main theme is Jesus! Just like every Star Wars movie points to the Force, whether explicitly or implicitly, every story within the Bible points to Jesus and the gospel in some way. In today’s Scripture, we find Jesus spending His final moments with His disciples, where He revealed to them how everything in the entire Old Testament points to Himself! Only a few verses earlier, Jesus walked with two men on the way to Emmaus and “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all of the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27). When I first heard this, the brilliance of this reality did not immediately set in. It was after I took time to study the Scriptures myself, with the help of pastors and teachers, that I realized how amazing God and His Word are! Although we do not have time or space to go through every Jesus-connection, here are a few connections that will hopefully inspire you as they did me: * The skin that God used to clothe Adam and Eve’s shame foreshadowed Christ’s covering of our sin and shame (Genesis 3:21). * The lamb God provided that was slain on the altar in place of Isaac foreshadows how God would send His own Son, the Lamb of God, to take our place and be sacrificed for our sins (Genesis 22:1–14) * Judah offering to take the place of his brother and suffer the consequences that were not his to suffer so that his brothers could go back to their father foreshadows how Jesus took our place and suffered on our behalf so that we could go back to the Father (Genesis 44). * The angel of the Lord that jumped on the altar and ascended in the flame was Jesus foreshadowing His final sacrifice in the future (Judges 13:20). * Boaz marrying Ruth, a Moabite, after her husband died gave her an inheritance and a new identity like Christ has done so graciously in his redemption of us! How amazing is that?! And those are only three examples! As a result of this new knowledge and the Spirit’s power, we see in Acts that the early church thrives with the apostles preaching Christ from Old Testament writings! However, the most exciting part of all this is that we have the same opportunity! Because the Holy Spirit resides within us, He can open our eyes to see the beauty of God’s Word in the same way Christ did for His disciples! Therefore, we can now find joy and peace in sharing how this one story has changed both our lives and the world!