Understanding the Unified Story of the Bible

CREATION

(GENESIS) God is love and created a perfect world for humankind so they could share in His love. He created day and night, water and land, fish, animals and birds. He also created humans - starting with Adam and Eve - to rule over the land, be fruitful and multiply, and share in His love. God gave humanity a set of rules and free-will so they had a choice to love and obey Him. God’s commands always require obedience without exception. Yet the humans rebelled, wanting to be like God, and chose their own way, which was never God’s desire. When they sinned, they were separated from God and humanity was subject to death. God’s love was not conditional. Sin altered the relationship, but God’s love did not change. God, being all-knowing (sovereign), knew they would turn from him and already had a redemption plan in place that would restore fallen people into a right relationship with Him. 

PATRIARCHS

(GENESIS) Sin spiraled out of control with humanity. Wickness covered the earth. Man desired to be like God, and built a tower to reach the heavens. God saw this and was disappointed, so He confused their language and scattered humanity across the world. There was a man named Abraham who God chose to “father” a people (Hebrews/Israelites/Jews) to represent God to the world. God promised Abraham land, that there would be a great nation that comes from his offspring, and that all the people of the world would be blessed through him. Through Abraham’s descendants Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, we see trust and reliance on God, even in hard times, including when the Israelites became enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. Their trust in God would have been anchored in God's promise to Abraham and they would have continually been looking forward to the day when they saw those promises realized.

EXODUS

(EXODUS-DEUTERONOMY) Years later, through a man named Moses, God delivered the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt and led them toward the land He promised to Abraham. On their way to the promised land, God reminded the Israelites that He was the only true God, the creator of the universes. As such, God gave the Israelites laws in order to help them live in the land with each other and expose their sinful hearts. Because God is holy and just, He doesn’t tolerate sin and requires that the penalty of sin is death. Through the sacrifice of a lamb or other animal, God’s grace and love allowed judgment to be postponed until sin was dealt with in totality. Humanity could have right standing with God through a sacrificial system that was a temporary substitute for the life of a sinner. This sacrificial system pointed to the future redemption plan God had in store for humanity, when He would send the ultimate sacrifice - a rescuer to be the Savior of the world. As the Israelites wandered in the desert, Moses died before bringing the people into the promised land, and Joshua took lead and led the Hebrews to their new home: Israel.

KINGDOMS

(REST OF OLD TESTAMENT) As the Israelites got settled into the promised land, military and political leaders called judges were chosen to govern the people for 400 rebellious years. Yet the Hebrews desired a king like other nations. So kingdoms were created to rule over Jerusalem, the most famous ruler being King David, the greatest king in the new monarchy. Unfortunately his reign was followed by a succession of mostly ungodly kings, who led the Jewish people astray from God. During this time, Old Testament prophets had the job of reminding the Hebrews of God’s love, pointing people back to His law, and foretelling of God’s promised rescuer and king that would one day come. God still loved humanity and desired to restore communion with them. God also knew that He needed to strip the Israelites of everything in order for them to realize their need for Him. Because of this, God sent them into exile away from Israel.

EXILE

(REST OF OLD TESTAMENT) During the time of exile from Israel, the prophet Daniel provided leadership and encouraged faithfulness among the Israelites. Many other prophets continued to remind them of God’s love, His commands, and pointed to the day when God would save His people through a rescuer. Given the political and military oppression the Jews faced, they would have anticipated the Savior to be a military rescuer or warrior that would fight against the nations that put Israel into exile. After many years, the prophet Ezra led the people back to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, to rebuild what once was theirs. They then entered into 400 years where the Bible does not record a prophetic word from God. Meanwhile, Jewish leaders, also known as Pharisees, entombed the Hebrews in legalism by adding unnecessary laws to keep their “right standing” with God.

SAVIOR

(MATTHEW-JOHN) After 400 years of silence, we are introduced to the rescuer in the New Testament, born to a virgin and a descendant of Abraham. God provided the ultimate redemption for His people and restored our relationship with Him by giving us the gift of His Son, Jesus - who is both human and God. Jesus grew up and chose 12 men, called disciples, to help Him spread the news that He is the Savior that would redeem humanity. People all over Palenstine learn of Jesus, listen to His teachings, and experienced His signs and wonders. He taught many things that seemed backwards to the people of that time. Instead of encouraging the desires to have power, sex and money, Jesus instead spoke of servanthood, morality, and that the root of all evil was money. This totally shocked the people that heard His message! But in all Jesus preached, His main message centered around His purpose: that Jesus is the one and only way to have communion with God. While some accepted Jesus, most rejected Him, including many of the Hebrew leaders, who were expecting the Savior to be a military ruler or king who would overtake the Roman Empire, not a humble man who spoke of grace and love. Jesus eventually was crucified and buried, and then arose from death on the third day! He came as the promised blessing foretold to Abraham. He came in fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies of the rescuer. He came as the long-awaited true King of the Jews. He came to cover our sins in totality by fulfilling the law and the sacrificial system once and for all through His death and resurrection.  Because of the price Jesus paid, anyone that believes in Him has communion restored and will be with God in heaven through repentance of sin and trust in Jesus.

EARLY CHURCH

(ACTS) Before Jesus left the earth and ascended into heaven, He promised He’d one day return. He also instructed His followers that while He was gone, they were to “go and make disciples in ALL nations.” Everyone who believes, not just the Jews, will be with God in heaven someday, if they believe in Jesus, and this news should be shared! Empowered by the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ disciples travel from city to city to spread the gospel (Greek for good news) and were used by God to establish the early church. Two men that were instrumental in the growth of the early church were both unlikely leaders. Peter was one of Jesus’ first 12 disciples, and while following Jesus’ ministry, Peter fumbled over himself with the desire to pick a fight and ask a lot of questions. He even denied he knew Jesus at one point! But because of his ability to be courageous and bold, God used Peter to be a main leader that shared the message of Jesus. Additionally Paul, also known as Saul, was a key influence on the early church. Paul spent a majority of his life as a zealous Jewish leader that killed Christ-followers, yet he turned his life around to become the biggest Jesus fan. His expertise in Jewish law, citizenship in Rome, and background in Greek culture made him an ideal leader to spread the gospel message throughout Rome. While persecuted and put in prison along the way, Paul and others expanded the church throughout the Roman Empire during the next two decades. 

LETTERS

(REST OF NEW TESTAMENT) As the news of Jesus’s death and resurrection spread and churches were established in different cities, Jesus’ disciples wrote letters to instruct those believers, and us, how to live as a follower of Jesus. Just like us, the believers of the early church needed reminding and that’s just what the letters did. One of the most prominent authors of the New Testament letters was Paul, who often wrote his letters while in jail. The letters spoke of how our right-standing with God comes by His grace alone. The letters also provided practical advice around loving God, loving others, living in unity, forgiveness, and encouraged rejection of sinful practices. They also spoke of Jesus’ return and how we need to be ready. In fact, the last letter in the New Testament captures a vision from John, a disciple whom Jesus loved, which explained Jesus’ return and the end of the earth. It is in these last days, when Jesus returns, where our redemption will be completed and communion with God will be permanently restored for humankind.

CONCLUSION

In order to understand the importance of the message in the New Testament, we have to know the Old Testament background, the people, the stories, and the laws. So, when we see the gravity of Adam and Eve’s sin in Genesis, and understand the Old Testament laws and the sacrificial system, we realize our need for a rescuer shown to us in the New Testament.  It all goes together as one larger story and we realize that Jesus’ sacrifice was needed for our right-standing with God. We realize the importance of how community with God is restored forever in the book of Revelation and how the greatest love story of all is revealed.