There are times in our desire to get to the “what does that mean to me” of Bible interpretation that we miss out on the big picture of what God is doing.

A story is told of a preacher who was given an opportunity to preach to 120,000 people – not at a large Christian event or conference but to truly lost people. Most preachers would give anything for that opportunity. As Global vice president I have had opportunities to preach to truly large numbers of people who are far from God – but nothing like this! On the day of the event,, as the story goes, the preacher was a no show. He just didn’t show up. No actually it was worse than that – he ran away from the opportunity.

This preacher not only was a no show – he attempted to bypass the responsibility by going thousands of miles in the opposite direction. No he didn’t take a plane, but he did take a ship and try to go as far away as he could – unimaginable. Who would think to leave 120,000 people without hope in a God who loves them?

As the story goes the ship gets caught up in a big storm and the preacher is tossed overboard and then – and this is amazing – he is swallowed by a big fish! Wait a minute, maybe you know this story already!

We often look at the story of Jonah and focus on the prophets’ disobedience. We apply the story in our sermons and small groups to the importance of obedience to the call of God – and rightfully so. But in our desire to ask what the story means for me, we sometimes lose sight of the bigger picture. There was a city of 120,000 people that were far from God. A city that God wanted to have the opportunity to repent. A city loved by God in spite of their wickedness. The big picture is about them and God’s desire to save them.

In this article we want to step back and see the big picture – the view from 32,000 feet (cruising altitude on most of my global trips), if you will.

I believe many would agree that the first 11 chapters of Genesis are eventful to say the least. In those few chapters we see creation and people as the climax of God’s creative activity. We observe God’s desire to be with people as he walks with them in the garden made especially for them – then we see sin or as others have put it paradise lost.

It is unimaginable how quickly people dissolve into a chaotic life of sin and rebellion. The first family produces the first murder, and life quickly becomes defined by the word wickedness (Genesis 6:5). God is so repulsed by His own creation that He decides to destroy what had been the very pinnacle of creation. But plan A is still to have fellowship with people so God preserves one family to continue the blessing of creation.

The world is destroyed by a flood and life begins again with one family – the amazing thing is how quickly life once again dissolves into wickedness. But God’s desire is still to bless people and to be a blessing to people. He gives Noah and his family blessing once again (Genesis 9:1) just as He had done with Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:28).

In many Bibles you will find Genesis 10 called the “table of nations.” An interesting refrain found in the table is this: “peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.” Indeed it is said of each of Noah’s three children. But we don’t yet, at least as far as the narrative goes, how this came to be. Then we reach Genesis 11 and learn of people’s desire to once again refuse the creative blessing of God – to multiply and fill the earth. They decide to not scatter but rather stay together and build a great city – another in a series of acts of disobedience.

But do not forget, God has always had a plan A – fellowship with people! Genesis 12 becomes the revelatory moment of how God intends to stem the tide of wickedness, defeat it, and restore fellowship with people – or once again, as others have put it, paradise restored.

God calls a man named Abram and his family to one of the most pivotal moments in all of revelatory history. To this man Abram God makes a series of promises in Genesis 12:1-3:

The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” (NLT)

There are personal blessings given to Abram – I will bless you and make you famous. There is a blessing to his progeny – I will bless you and make you a great nation and I will give you a land I will show you.

But don’t become so fixated on the family that you miss the greatest blessing of all – through you all families on earth will be blessed! That is the point! That is what God has been building up to through the previous 11 chapters of Genesis – there is still a plan to defeat the wickedness and once again bless people.

Blessing is a marvelous thing – it has its revelatory moment in creation and has God as its source. It is focused on what God wants to do in people, but now we see also that it is what God wants to do through people. And then, in what is an utter mystery, that which began with God and passes through His people to others can and ought to be returned once again to Him – “bless the Lord, O my soul…” (Psalm 103).

There it is, an insight into the intimacy of the fellowship God desires with each of us. To both receive His blessing, be a blessing, and together return blessing to Him. The Hebrew word is the same, but many translations use the word “praise” in Psalms 103. This blessing, or praise is an act of adoration to the God of creation. The creator of all! The One who desires, as He always has, to have fellowship with us.

In this pivotal moment God sets in action a redemptive plan to bless a family, a nation, and ultimately all peoples. He continues to invite us to be part of that plan – to pass on the blessing of redemption which will ultimately end in victory over wickedness.

That is the big picture – that is what God is trying to accomplish in the world – through us. The great commission is not new at all – it has always been God’s passions and should be ours as well. To be a blessing – in my home, my family, my workplace, my community, and wherever God may lead – so that all people may return that blessing and praise His name.

About the Author: Mark Powell is the Vice-President for Global Missions at General Baptist Ministries and is the senior pastor of Pleasant View General Baptist Church in Risco, Missouri.