"The main point to always bear in mind is that God is present where he promises to be present. We don't pull him down out of heaven or bring him up from the grave; rather, he comes to us through his Word, especially as it is preached. God is omnipresent, but the question for us is not where he is present in his majesty and glory, but where he is present in his mercy and grace toward us as sinners. Surely God is present in a beautiful sunset, in a violin concerto, in the grandeur of the Grand Canyon, and in the kindness even of my non-Christian neighbors. However, the question is where God is present in peace, with the assurance that he accepts me, forgives me, and adopts me as an heir of his estate. This comes only through the gospel--a strange and surprising report that we do not know as a matter of course or learn about through common culture. It is a story that can only be told, Good News that can only be announced...
The Bible is a grand story, from Genesis to Revelation, with Christ as the lead character. The more we hear the story, the more we find ourselves being written into it as characters. We discover ourselves not in the fading scripts of this age or in glossy magazine images but in the story of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. We are there with Adam and Eve, capitulating to the lie. We are there with Abraham and Sarah, hearing and believing the gospel and being justified. We are walking along with the disciples, not getting it, then getting it, then not getting it again, and then really discovering what his journey was all about. And we are there with the company of heaven, worshiping the Lamb. It is the purpose of preaching and sacrament to put us there, to kill our dead-end character and to write us into God's script."
-Michael Horton, The Gospel Commission
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