The Spirit of God is a remarkable storyteller, and his wondrous stories are drawn from the very mind of God:

 

As it is written, "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him." For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words (1 Corinthians 2:9-13).

 

Authors J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis admired God as the Master Storyteller. Both men comprehended the power of story to communicate truth and to inspire the spirit. Interestingly, Tolkien was drawn to story because of his love for scripture; Lewis was drawn to scripture because of his love for story. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, and Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia, used their masterworks to convey themes of good and evil and to allegorize the Christian faith.

My perspective of scripture was formed when, as a youth, I read Life of Christ and Life of Paul by respected Scottish preacher, Professor James Stalker (1848-1927). These slender storybooks awakened me to scripture as a sweeping, interactive narrative--not at all as a reference book akin in literary style to an encyclopedia or a dictionary. Stalker masterfully reconciled the Gospels with Acts, and Acts with the epistles. In time, I discovered the structure and relationship shared by the Old and the New Testaments; and, later, the recurring theme of Bondage, Deliverance, and Reconciliation, common to the whole of scripture and its many parts.

Even as readers engage in Tolkien's Middle Earth and Lewis' Narnia, readers of the New Testament can engage the narratives, characters, and correspondence of the Bible and discover--and develop a passion for--Father, Son, Spirit; and justice, kindness, humility. 

Further, His Story, The Divine Narrative--the story of God's relentless pursuit of reconciliation with all things on earth and in heaven--doesn't conclude with the final page of  The Revelation; it continues to unfold to our generation and beyond, inviting you and me to step into its pages and to participate in the story--much as Peter, Lucy, Edmund, and Susan stepped through the wardrobe and into C.S. Lewis' world of Narnia.