Getting a birds-eye view of the Bible helps us to see the major themes, ideas, etc. that connect from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible is ONE story in 66 books!
In a word: Jesus
In a thought: God’s amazing love-relationship with mankind through Jesus Christ (The greatest love-story ever told!)
In a complete sentence: God loved mankind so much that he began working out a plan of redemption (Genesis through John), culminating in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, to bring them (us) back into a love-relationship with Himself.
In several sentences: God created Adam & Eve (and mankind) to be in relationship with Him. But they disobeyed God and sin & death came into the world corrupting everything. But God loved mankind and purposed to bring us back into relationship, through an unfolding, redemptive plan. Through the Jewish people God created a bloodline in which the Savior, the Messiah, the God-man, would be born. In the fullness of time Jesus came, lived, and died for the sins of the world. He rose again on the third day and then commissioned His disciples to go and make disciples, spreading the good news that God will forgive men’s sins if they will believe on His Son Jesus! He then ascended into heaven. We await the rapture of the church and the restoration of all things – a blessed eternity with Him in heaven for those who have received Jesus – and for those who have not, eternal condemnation in hell.
In a short story:God created the heavens & the earth – everything -- with man & woman being His most prized of all the creation. Adam & Eve disobeyed God by listening to Satan, and eating the fruit from the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Because of this, sin entered the world, death began to reign, and mankind was separated from God. Since that time the whole world has been tainted by sin, death, corruption, and separation from God.
But God loved the world too much to leave us in this state. He formed a divine plan to restore us in a right relationship with Himself and reverse the effects of eternal death caused by sin, by giving us eternal life. He, Himself, would pay the penalty for OUR own sin, by dying on a cruel cross. This magnificent, yet difficult, divine plan was prophetically hinted at in Gen. 3:15.
God sent the Great Flood because of His great displeasure with humanity’s out-of-control sin, but protected a godly lineage through Noah and his family.
As the world began to re-populate, God chose to bring His divine plan of redemption through the formation of a special people, the Jews. From them the world would tangibly learn of God’s existence and how we could be in relationship to Him. The Jews would also be the bloodline from which the Messiah, the Savior, would come. This special people began with a man named Abraham. From him, Isaac and Jacob were born. Jacob, renamed “Israel” by the Angel of God, was the father of 12 sons, who later multiplied into the 12 tribes of Israel. Joseph, one of these sons, was sold into slavery by his 11 brothers. But God was with Joseph in a providential way, and brought him to be second in command over all Egypt. The 11 other sons and their families came into Egypt to survive a famine, and grew into a great and mighty people, just as God had said to Abraham. Eventually they were forced into slavery in Egypt for 400 years.
God then raised up a Hebrew deliverer named Moses, and brought the children of Israel, known as Hebrews or Jews, out of bondage, and into the Promised Land (Canaan) that God gave their forefather Abraham. But before they entered the land, God needed to teach them some lessons. Through Moses God gave the Israelites the Law and Tabernacle, which was to teach them about sin; that God requires a blood sacrifice (sacrificial system) to deal with sin; how to approach, worship and relate to the true, living and Holy God; their need for a holiness and righteousness; their utter inability to keep the Law and therefore be in a right relationship with God; and especially their desperate need of God’s mercy and grace because of sinfulness. The Law was a teaching tool to show them (us) that the only way we can get the righteousness we need to be in good standing with God, is by faith --- faith placed in Jesus, God’s sinless sacrifice. That’s how Abraham received righteousness, and that’s how we today receive it. They eventually came into the Promised land and prospered.
As a people, the Jews went through periods of obedience and subsequent blessing from God, but also disobedience and chastisement from God. God usually chastised His people was by raising up evil oppressors that would bring them into captivity. But when God’s people repented and cried out to Him, He would raise up a deliverer.
The children of Israel went through numerous cycles of disobedience and repentance. And they went in and out of woeful captivity. Many Old Testament prophesies tell of the coming Messiah who would eventually, once and for all, deliver them, then set up His earthly kingdom and rule His people forever.
Finally, Jesus the Messiah came. He was born supernaturally of a virgin in Bethlehem, Judea. He grew in wisdom and stature and began teaching about God’s Kingdom and how we could be saved from our sins through Him by faith. He lived a sinless life, made disciples, healed the sick, preached the Kingdom of God, and then died on a cruel cross for the sins of humanity. He arose from the dead three days later and commissioned His followers to go, likewise, and make disciples and teach others everything He had taught them. Then Jesus ascended and He sent the Holy Spirit to empower believers in the great task that lay ahead. The church began expanding exponentially, to the Jew first, then to the Gentiles. God converted Saul, and renamed him Paul. And he became the first missionary to the Gentile world. He wrote over half the New Testament through his many instructive letters to the church. John the Apostle received a revelation from Jesus Christ, while on the Isle of Patmos. The vision gives us glorious view (if not enigmatic) of our future with Christ in heaven, the judgments and the restoration of all things.
We await the Rapture of the church, The Great Tribulation, The Second coming of Christ, The Great White Throne judgment, and the New Heavens, New Earth, & New Jerusalem.
