There are two parts to a chess match – the “Long Game” and the “End Game”. The Long Game is the majority of the match, and its purpose is to set up the player’s End Game. God’s Long Game is the entirety of the Old Testament. His End Game is found in the Gospels. The incarnation is His opening gambit to His End Game.

 

Here is the video link for today’s Podcast:

Christmas – God’s End Game

The audio links to Spotify and iTunes is to the right, as usual.

Below is the transcript used for today’s podcast.

Christmas…

God’s End Game

A Game of Chess

I played a good deal of chess with my father when I was a child. Growing up in Alaska as I did, there were some winters when we were snowed in for days at a times. To pass the time we would have “round-robin” chess tournaments between my dad, my mom, my brother Pat, and myself. Over the years Dad taught me to be a pretty good chess player… though never good enough to beat him. One of the things I learned about chess from him was his approach to the game. He looked at chess in two phases – the “long game” and the “end game”. Each phase had what was called an “opening gambit”.

One of the definitions of the word gambit – as defined by Merriam-Webster – is a “calculated move”.

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Gambit. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved December 8, 2024, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gambit

 

In chess, the opening gambit is a move or a short series of moves designed to begin the “Long Game” – the majority of the contest – which ultimately will lead to the “End Game”. 

My dad would play in such a manner as to force me to move  in a way that he could get around to initiating the opening gambit of his “end game”, which always ended with his Checkmate move, winning the match. I never saw his end game moves until it was too late.

Using the game of chess as a metaphor has been helpful to me as I have read through the Bible this last year or two. It has been helpful in my developing what I call the “10,000 – foot view” – or the big picture.

God’s “Long Game” began in Genesis with Adam and Eve. Satan, God’s opponent in this cosmic game of chess, hits hard with some powerful moves. We know the story, he deceives Eve, interfering with what COULD have been an amazing life in the Garden. The game of chess continues with God’s moves, followed by Satan’s response. There was Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. At each step of the way the enemy of our soul worked his best to derail God’s moves. Moses brings a new nation out of Egypt, only to find himself and Israel backed up against the Red Sea with a powerful army bearing down on them. God countered Satan’s move with the parting of the Red Sea. 

This “Long Game” continues through all of the Old Testament, with God moving, followed by Satan’s response time after time.

Then, in a flash, God plays the opening gambit in His “End Game”… the incarnation. Satan responded by trying to kill the child via Herod’s orders. For the next 33 years or so, God’s “end Game” unfolded, culminating in the death and resurrection of Jesus – God’s “Checkmate” move.

In this gripping scene from the movie “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” CS Lewis explains the resurrection and its power over the Witch.

Resurrection of Aslan 

A beautiful depiction of how the Witch didn’t understand Aslan’s “end game” and therefore was unprepared to deal with it.

As I said before, the resurrection was God’s closing move/gambit – His “Checkmate” move, if you will.

This brings us to Christmas – our celebration of the birth of Jesus. The incarnation is God’s opening gambit to His end game. He has manipulated the game over the centuries with His “Long Game” the same way a chess master manipulates a chess match, taking control and forcing the opposing player into a false sense of security before initiating his “End Game”, crushing him with his “checkmate” move.

There will be three more podcast episodes following this one between now and January.

I will look at Mary and Joseph, followed by the Shepherds, and concluding with the Magi and Jesus’ family’s escape from Herod.

In His Grip,

Paige