Did you question the meaning of the four vacant chairs
that were present on the tarmac when
President Jimmy Carter’s remains arrived back in Georgia?
Me too.
In 1998, a story was unfolding on the Kapiti Coast of New Zealand. Among a group of Baptist youth pastors, the concept of The Four Chairs was born.
This creative exercise aimed to illustrate how the Bible, spanning centuries and written by various human authors, tells one cohesive story of restoration and rescue.
The four vacant chairs represent a story defined by four pivotal events:
Creation, Fall, Redemption, and End.
Inspired by John Stott's observation that biblical history is marked not by the rise and fall of empires but by these four major events, the chairs have since become a dynamic teaching tool. Through their simplicity, and renamed Good, Bad, New, and Perfect, they offer a lens to view God’s grand narrative and invite participants to explore it deeply.
Constructing the Chairs: Telling the Story
The GOOD Chair: Represents creation, this chair is about design, order, and flourishing relationships between God and humanity, humanity with one another, and with creation. It reflects the image of God in community and purpose.
The BAD Chair: Here enters the tragedy of sin, breaking the harmony established in creation. Themes of guilt, shame, evil, suffering, and death dominate. Each relationship - God with humanity, human to human, and humanity to creation - suffers under this stain.
The NEW Chair: Redemption begins to take shape. This chair reflects God’s relentless pursuit to heal and restore. It’s the age of the Spirit, the church, and the Kingdom of God breaking into the present.
The PERFECT Chair: The final chapter - a world without tears, pain, or brokenness. It’s the culmination of hope, the promise of new heavens and earth where Christ reigns supreme, and justice and glory prevail.
Sitting in the Chairs: Indwelling the Story
The chairs aren’t just a story to observe. They invite participation. By sitting in each chair, we are encouraged to see the world through God’s perspective:
In the BAD chair: Grieve the brokenness in the world. Recognize the subversion of God’s design and feel the weight of humanity’s fallenness.
In the GOOD chair: Reflect on God’s original purpose and design. Consider the image of God within all creation and how sin has marred it.
In the NEW chair: Celebrate the hope found in Christ. How do redemption and restoration bring healing, freedom, and purpose?
In the PERFECT chair: Imagine a world made new. What does justice, wholeness, and the absence of pain mean for your life and the world?
Each chair provides a unique vantage point, fostering a biblical worldview on any topic, from suffering to hope.
Conclusion
The Four Chairs offer a powerful, interactive way to understand and live out God’s grand story. By engaging with each chair, we move beyond viewing the Bible as isolated stories or moral lessons. Instead, we see it as a single divine narrative. A story that invites us to indwell its truths and let them shape how we view the world.
Not surprising when we consider how Jimmy Carter lived his life.
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