The Old Story Re-released

Not long ago I saw an interview with Mervyn Warren, one of the co-founders of the Grammy award winning jazz ensemble Take 6. What most don't know is that before Take 6 was "Take 6" they were Alliance. And before Mervyn had Alliance he had a group called "Special Blend." This is a group he formed and wrote for when he was in college.

Well, Breath of Life Records decided to re-release the project. And I watched an interview with Mervyn where he said he listened to it and was proud to re-release it "with no disclaimers."

This man has worked with the late Michael Jackson's producer Quincy Jones and was one of the principal contributors to the Handel's Messiah Soulful Celebration. He has written movie scores like Sister Act. He has done quite a lot since he was a college student.

But he didn't bat an eye when he said that he felt that project a quarter century later is good enough to be re-released "as is." He didn't want to rework the background vocals. He didn't want to slap on a new vamp to one of the hit songs. He didn't want remix the title cut and put a newer beat to it. No, it's good enough. Leave it intact.

I started thinking about the central focus of Scripture. Thinking about what God promised to Adam in Genesis 3:15: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." The "Seed" of the Woman is Jesus Christ the Son of God. From that point we keep reading one prophecy after another of the coming Messiah until we reach the crest -- John 3:16 where John the Beloved declares in his retelling of the 1st century Nic at Night account: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

That's an old story that can be re-released! We can't improve that story. We dare not swap out the characters. There are none more noble, none more loving, none more selfless, none more worthy, none else is capable.

What makes that story so special? Well because it's a love story that the loftiest of words fail to adequately communicate. That God the only begotten Son, the "only One of His kind" risked so much to step into my place that I might enjoy the benefits of righteousness that I don't deserve makes it special. That there was no other, no "backup Son," none else that could be offered. He's the "ONLY" Son. From an investment perspective, that was ridiculously risky. But God the Father put it all on the line by giving us the Son. And He will forever bear the nail prints in His hands. And the Tabernacle of God is with men. And the headquarters of the universe will shift to this planet.

That's an old story that's so good it doesn't need to be contemporized, revised, colorized. It just needs to be re-released.

Comments

Popular Posts