The great Russian novelist, Leo Tolstoy, once lamented that history is 'nothing other than a collection of fables and useless trifles messed up with a mass of unnecessary dates and proper names'. Henry Ford is supposed to have put it more bluntly: 'History is bunk'. Alas, it seems that many today agree with these sentiments, and sociology has become more popular than history. The jokes in 1066 And All That are now often not understood!

The Christian, however, must not capitulate to such trends. In the first place, the Bible itself is a work of history. It tells of historical events — of the creation of the world, the fall into sin, the flood of Noah's day, the call of Abraham, the exodus, the giving of the law, the conquest of Canaan, the turbulence of the period of the judges, the foundation of the monarchy, the division of the kingdom, the destruction of the ten northern tribes by the Assyrians, the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, the return from the exile, the birth of the Messiah, his life and death and his resurrection. In fact, the apostle Paul declares that if Christ is not risen, then Christians are the most pitiable people on earth (1 Corinthians 15:12-19). The Christian faith is not founded on wonderful ideas; it is founded first and foremost on the hard rock of history.

Because of this, Christians recognise that God, as the Lord of history, continues to work through history. This brings the Christian great comfort — he knows that God works all things together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). Even apparently insignificant events — like a sparrow falling to the ground — are the result of the Father's will (Matthew 10:29). Such is God's control of history that, in a mysterious way, those who put his Son to death were carrying out his will (Acts 2:23; 4:28).

We should not think that God is at work when we worship, pray and read the Bible, but that he has nothing to do with the six o'clock news. In the days when the Assyrian Empire ravaged the Middle East, God described that brutal kingdom as 'the rod of my anger' (Isaiah 10:5). By this, he meant that he was using ungodly Assyria to chasten Israel for her sins. Assyria was bent on plunder and pillage, but unwittingly was being used by God for his own purposes. Two truths are maintained: Assyria was responsible for her sins, and God was achieving his sovereign purposes. It may be that part of the reason for World War II was that God was using the brutality of the Nazis and Japanese to chasten his wayward and rebellious church in Europe, North America and Australia.

All history is God's history, and church history is his special concern. The first book of church history is the book of Acts. To know the story as it unfolds from there on is to be aware of how God has worked. We see the high points as, for example, when God used George Whitefield, John Wesley and others to usher in the revival of the eighteenth century. And we see the low points as the church repeats past errors by jumping on the latest band­wagon, regardless of whether it be hitched to the Bible or to the world. We see the fulfilment of God's plan of spreading the gospel into every tribe, tongue and nation. As Philip Schaff put it, 'History is, and must ever continue to be, next to God's Word, the richest foundation of wisdom, and the surest guide to all successful practical activity'. That is why history is not 'bunk'; it is the stage on which God works his wondrous will.