life groups survey of the bible message

7/30/2019 LIFE Groups Survey of the Bible Message

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2013For republication please contact

[email protected]

For more booklets in this series go to

guineafield.blogspot.com or graceofforesthills.com

All quotations are taken from the New American

Standard Version unless otherwise indicated.


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Table of Contents

Lesson 1 1-12

Overview of the Content of Scripture

by Section

2-5


by Chronology

5-11

Old Testament Overview 5-8

New Testament Overview 8-11

Lesson 1 Q & A 12

Lesson 2 13-21Scene 1 Creation and Fall 13-18

Scene 2 Flood 18-20

Lesson 2 Q & A 21

Lesson 3 22-31

Scene 3 The Creation of the Jewish

Nation

23-27

Scene 4 The Law 27-30

Lesson 3 Q & A 31

Lesson 4 32-40

Scene 5 Kingdom Gained 32-34

Scene 6 Kingdom Lost 35-39

Scene 7 Land Regained 39

Lesson 4 Q & A 40

Lesson 5 41-49

Scene 8 Good News 43-46Scene 9 Church

Expansion/Organization

46-48

Lesson 5 Q & A 49

Lesson 6 50-59

Scene 10 Culmination-Back to the

Garden

Bible Summary in a Sentence 53

The Example of Abraham 54-56

Lesson 6 Q & A 58-59

HELPS 60-63


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INTRODUCTION

The goal of this booklet is to give you an overarching view of

the Bibleto give the big picture. You have heard the saying

"you can't see the forest for the trees." That can happen to

all of us in our Bible reading. We need to dig and study out

the deep truths of God's Words, but that is best done when

we have the big picture of the

Bible in mind. We need a map

of the whole of Scripture (the

forest) to orient ourselves on

where we are so that we knowwhich tools to bring to

different harvest places of

Scripture. In the next six lessons we will try our best to gain

that survey together. So what is the big picture of the Bible?

In our study, we will first develop the content of the Bible.

Well try to treat it as if we were opening its pages for the

first time. After surveying the content, well try to develop

the major messageof the entire Bible from Genesis (the first

book) to Revelation (the last book). In our first lesson

together we will survey the content of the entire book. Hang

on; it will be a fast ride! Don't be overwhelmed. We will

come back and cover the major details of Scripture with a bit

more detail as we survey the Bibles message in ten major

scenes.

Charles Dickens was a great writer. He knew how to develop

characters and tell a story, winding a plot line through many

What does the

Bible say?

LESSON 1

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different lives. He earned his living through writing, but he

also had a higher purposea greater message. He wanted to

expose the dangers and ills of London's work conditions,

especially among children. His stories are fun to read. But

their purpose and effect on society were far reaching in his

day. In other words, the story was different from the

message he wanted to convey. Thats true in many well-

written books. The author tells a story, but he or she also

has a significant point that extends beyond the story itself.

The Bible does this as well. In this booklet, we will survey the

content of Scripture, but it is just as important to get thewhole message. What did God want to tell you by writing the

Bible? Lessons 2-6 cover that aspect of the Bible.


As we overview the content of Scripture, we will develop it in

two ways. First of all we will look at the different sections ofthe Bible. Then we will look at the chronology of these

sections, placing them on a timeline for you.

Content Overview by Section

It is essential to view the Bible as one book written to you by

God. It is "breathed out" by God to you as a special message.But remember that He used many different people over many

different years to write this message. In fact, He used about

40 different writers over a span of 1,500 years to develop

this message for you. Most of the authors were Jewish, but

their backgrounds were very diverse. Solomon was the

wealthiest king of Israel. Micah was a poor farmer. Paul was

a highly educated rabbi, who wrote complex logical

progressions. Luke was a gentile (non-Jewish) Doctor who

did meticulous research and often organized his accounts

chronologically. Mark was a young man who wrote in a

simple rough style. Each author had a different style but

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each one was used by God to write His Words. Think of them

as instruments in an orchestraeven with all of their

differences, the message they are playing is the same

because it is the same overarching Conductor. This is where

the comparison breaks down because these instruments are

not only being conducted by one Person, but are also all

being played by one PersonGod. The Bible is His

masterpiece written through the ages of time. This is a

helpful illustration because just like an orchestra has

sections, so does your Bible. We will discover those now.

Perhaps you have heard of the two major sections of the

Bible. In most Christian Bibles they are designated as the Old

Testament and the New Testament. This does not mean that

one is obsolete and displaced (Old), but it is tipping you off

to something very importantsomething well develop more

in a later section. But for now, it is helpful to realize that

they are both equally the Word of God and they both tell one

beautiful story. Think of these two Testaments as two small

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sets of shelves. Just like most other libraries, the two shelves

are divided into sections by content or genre. For instance, if

you went to a bookstore tomorrow, looking for a biography

of the president, you should go to the biography section.

Knowing where the sections of the bookstore are helps you

navigate the books to find your particular book. These

sections of Scripture help us navigate the 66 books of the

Bible. Let's survey each of the sections.

The Old Testament bookcase has three different shelves

composed of 39 different books. The three shelves are theLaw (Torah), the Writings (Poetry, History, and Wisdom

Literature), and the Prophets.1 The New Testament bookcase

has four different shelves composed of 27 books. The

shelves are the Gospels, History, Epistles (Letters), and

Prophecy.

So its important when you open the Bible for the first time to

know which shelf you are browsing. Wouldnt you treat a

book of poetry different from a book on history or a letter

written from a friend on his death bed? Of course you would.

In the same way, these are all different types of biblical

literature. The same common sense that you bring to the

other books also applies when you read Scripture.

Let's back up now and briefly summarize these sections.Well do this chronologically as much as we can. Well try to

lay these books out over the timeline of History to keep

ourselves oriented. Youll find a chart listing the books of

the Bible in a historical timeline in the back of the booklet

(pgs. 61-62). There may be too much information for you to

1In Jewish contexts, the Old Testament is often referred to as theTanach based on these sections. This word is an acrostic and each

consonant stands for a different section of the Tanach: T - Torah

(First five books of Law); N - Neviim - (Prophets); K - Kethubim (The

Writings).

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absorb at one glance, so if the Bible is new to you, don't

worry about digesting (or even viewing) the chart. This is

more for your future reference as you dig into the Bible on

your own.

Content Overview Chronologically

Old Testament Overview

The first section of the Old Testament is the Law. This

section is composed of five books and covers the greatest

span of time. The books are all written by someone youve

probably heard ofMoses. Maybe your mind goes to

Charlton Heston from the movie "The Ten Commandments."

Moses is a major character in the Bible story and wrote more

than any other author. Even though he comes on the scene

well after the beginning, he starts with the beginning of

everything. Moses gives us the details of creation in Genesis,and from there he recounts how God chose Abraham to

create a special nation. By the end of the first book of the

Bible we have already found out how this chosen man has

multiplied into quite a large group of people (the fourth

generation), and how they were clustered away in Egypt. The

next several books share how God multiplied these people

into a great nation, gave them a national constitution

(Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers) and then brought them right up

to a promised land (Deuteronomy).

This first section actually covers a few thousand years

depending on where you place the seven days of God's

creation. Moses finished writing at around 1500 BC and you

can date creation 2,000-4,000 years before that.2 Genesis

2In our dating we are going to be very general - don't think of most

of these dates as down to the year but as giving you a general place

in time ... within a hundred years or so =)

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Just because these are

children's stories,

does not mean you

should treat them as

children's stories.

covers the majority of that time. So if you want to get a great

History of the beginning of civilization, start with Genesis!

The four books which follow Genesis (Exodus, Leviticus,

Numbers and Deuteronomy) focus almost entirely on the

time when Abraham's descendants have grown into a large

company and are ready to receive their Charter or

Constitution and their Land.

After the law,the second sectionis classified as the Writings.

These are much more diverse, written by many differentauthors, and covering a time period of 800-1,000 years.

Perhaps it would be best to divide these into History books,

Wisdom books, and Poetry books. That will help you

navigate them.

The largest section of the writings is the History books

(Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, Ruth, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2

Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther). I'll try to

summarize the content in just a few sentences. We have

observed that the Law section of the Old Testament left us

with a chosen man (Abraham) whom God made into a chosen

nation (Israel) with a special constitution. (The type of

government God provided is called a theocracydirect rule

from God.) These books recount how God's chosen nation

(the Jewish people) entered the Promised Land (Joshua),proved unfaithful to God's

constitution (Judges) and

demanded a monarchy. The

remaining books show how

God sent invading armies as

a wake up call to bring

them back to Him. 1 & 2

Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2

Chronicles each tell this story. At the end of that time, God

expels His chosen people from their land.

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Ezra and Nehemiah tell the story of how some people began

to receive God's message encouraging repentance and

returned to the Promised Land.

In the writings you will find many of the great stories that

have been told in Sunday School for agesJoshua and the

Walls of Jericho, David vs. Goliath and Elijah vs. Jezebel. But

just because these are taught to children, don't block them

out as children's stories. As we will see, each one helps push

along the story-line of the Bible. Each story happened just

like it is recorded and the secular history that we havediscovered supports these Biblical accounts. These stories

are not made up or embellished. They are recorded by God

for you to learn about Him.

Another handful of books on the second shelf give a personal

account of how God talks with His people and how they talk

back. We will classify them as Wisdom Literature and Poetry

(or a mixture of both). The poetry in these books is a

beautiful record of God's people talking or singing to Him

(Psalms) or one another (Psalms, Song of Solomon,

Lamentations). Wisdom literature is extremely practical

(Proverbs) and even deeply philosophical (Proverbs, Job,

Ecclesiastes).

The third sectionof the Old Testament is the Prophets. Thebooks on this shelf are written by sixteen different prophets

and compose sixteen different books. You could think of

these as collections of public warnings that the prophet gave

to one group or another.3 Most often the messages were

3We often think of a prophecy as foretelling something that willhappen in the future and that element is often present in these

books. In fact, many prophesies are so specific that the correct

fulfillment could never be circumstantial. This is part of the proof

that the Bible is God's Word. But not all prophecy foretells future

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directed at the nation of Israel, but some prophets have

sections or entire prophecies against other nations (nations

other than Israel are called Gentile nations). These books are

diverse in their style and genre. Some of the prophets use

poetry while some use narrative (telling the story from

history). The prophetic books cover a fairly large block of

time as well. Their life and ministry appears throughout the

time that Israel is living in their own land, so most of the

prophets warned Israel that they must follow God or He

would send punishment. We will see that the prophets fit

perfectly into the overall message of the Bible, and foretellfuture events with miraculous precision.

Just like the second section of the Old Testament, this third

section is packed with stories that may be familiar to you:

Jonah and the whale (or great fish), Daniel and the lion's den,

or Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Following the Old Testament there is a brief time of silence

about 400 years. This was important because it prepared

God's people for His rescue plan in full force. Before we get

to the New Testament, take a look at the chart in the back of

the booklet that places the books of the Old Testament in

their (approximate) chronological place.

New Testament Overview

Whereas the Old Testament covers several thousand years

and has 39 different books, the New Testament covers less

than a hundred years and contains 27 books. Our summary

will be concise and clear, but definitely not comprehensive.

Speaking of only the life of Jesus, the Apostle John said:

events. Many times prophecy forthtells God's message about the

present instead of foretelling a message about the future.

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"And there are also many other things which Jesus did,

which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even

the world itself would not contain the books that would

be written" (John 21:25).

Frederick Lehman expressed it beautifully:

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

and were the skies of parchment made,

Were every stalk on earth a quill,and every man a scribe by trade,

To write the love of God above

would drain the ocean dry.

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

though stretched from sky to sky.

Let's get started, surveying the shelves of the New

Testament.

The first section is called the Gospels and is composed of

four different books (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John). Its a bit

misleading to call this shelf the Gospels, because they tell

one Gospel. Although there are four different Gospel writers

they are telling the same storythe life of Jesus. The word

gospel simply means good news. After four hundredyears of silence, people were waiting for some good news

and these books proclaim just that.

Although the writers are each different in their background

and focus, each one contains generally the same content.

They share how Jesus came (Matthew and Luke tell the story

of Jesus' birth), how He lived, died, and how He rose again

from the dead. They recount His miraculous healings, His

revolutionary teachings, and His sacrificial death. They dont

differ in the facts, but in the choice of the material they

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include and the people to whom they are writing. This

dynamic is extremely helpful because it gives us a four-

dimensional view of Jesus' life. Just think how unfortunate it

would be if we only had one biography of Abraham Lincoln or

George Washington! We could never get a full view of their

lives. The same is true of Jesus. His life and ministry are so

important that in God's message to you He includes four

separate books (about half of the New Testament) telling the

story of Jesus.

The second section contains only one book. The book iscalled Acts (the idea is "the actions of...").4 In summary, this

book is a history of the first people who followed Jesus and

how they spread the good news about Him across the ancient

Roman Empire. If the first four books of the New Testament

announce the good news of Jesus, Acts records the

proclamation of the good news of Jesus.

The third sectionincludes the largest number of booksthe

Epistles. The word epistle means a letter. The first thirteen

letters are written by the Apostle Paul. You probably have

heard of him or maybe you know him by his pre-salvation

nameSaul of Tarsus. The story of this man's life and how

he came to know Jesus is fascinating and takes up the

second half of the book of Acts (our previous section). God

used him more than any one else in Jesus' early followers toshare the good news with the world.

The other eight letters were written by Jesus original group

of disciples or people connected with them. These were

4People debate who does these acts. Some say that the book

contains the acts of the apostlesin fact thats the traditional title ofthe book. Others say these are the acts of the ascended Christ

through His apostles. Others suggest that these are the acts of the

Holy Spirit through the apostles. As you read the book youll

discover that in many ways, all three are true!

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letters written to groups of believers (churches) or individual

believers. Each has its own purpose and surrounding

circumstances, so it is helpful to know these background

factors when reading them. Many study Bibles will share

those circumstances with you. Although a summary of each

letter is too much for our current study, you should think of

the Epistles as explaining the good news of Jesus. Acts

recounts the proclamation of the Gospel message and the

Epistles give the explanation of the Gospel message. Further

elaboration was necessary and God gave us that clarification

in these Epistles.

The finalsection could also be considered an epistle because

it actually contains several letters. But in another sense it is

completely on its own because it records a visiona

revelation that the Apostle John had of Jesus. The letters

contained in this book are from Jesus to churches in Turkey.

The remaining portion is filled with spectacular imagery

about future accounts. It even takes us into the throne room

of heaven where we learn that God is the center of all things.

He is the consummation of all time and history. So we could

summarize the book of Revelation as the consummation of

the gospel of Jesus.

That was a whirlwind tour of the content of Scripture. Don't

be discouraged if you missed some details. As we unpackthe message of Scripture in the lessons to follow, this first

lesson will be the structure on which you can hang your

understanding of the message of the Bible

Are you ready to view the completion of world historythe

reason for human existence? That is where the content of

the Bible ends. As we turn now to the message of the Bible,

you will see that this is also where the message of the Bible

begins.

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1. List the three sections of the Old Testament and the four

sections of the New Testament below:

2. What is the difference between the "message" of a book

and the content of a book?

3. How does a symphony illustrate God's message to you in

the Bible?

QUESTION AND ANSWER

Old Testament New Testament

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INTRODUCTION

The first lesson was a whirlwind tour of the content of the

Bible. Lets keep pressing on! We will now give attention to

some of the major themes that tell the story of the Bible. In

the following lessons we will develop the major storyline of

the Bible through ten different scenes that tell the Bible story.

To help you remember each scene we will include a picture, a

word, and the major character in that scene. Although well

be brief, we will try to survey these familiar stories as if you

had never heard them beforetry to approach them that

way.

Scene 1Creation and

the Fall

Out of all the biblical scenes, this

one contains some of the mostimportant content for understanding

God and humanity. So much

happened in the first events of

world history.

Creation

God made everything in six 24-hour days. This is where the

Bible beginsIn the beginning God created the heavens and

GARDEN

ADAM

What does the

Bible say?

LESSON 2

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the earth (Genesis 1:1). As you continue to read, you

discover that this includes the planets, stars, and solar

systems, as well as the smallest particles. Two facets of

creation are very important for our study. First, God created

man on the sixth day in His image. Second, God made all

things good.

In God's Image

Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image,

according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish

of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the

cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping

thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in His

own image, in the image of God He created him; male and

female He created them (Genesis 1:26-27).

This is an important point. We are not just one more livingthing, like a tree or an animal. God made humanity special.

After all else was made, He made man in His image. This

means that man mirrors God in a way that the rest of the

creation does not. We also have a unique role to play over

the rest of creation. God has stamped His own nature in our

very existence as humans.

As human beings made in God's image, we have a unique

relationship with our Creator. God's perfect creation

included God and man talkingcommuning as a friend with

a friend in perfect harmony. This glorious relationship was

very good.

Life is Good

God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very

good (Genesis 1:31).

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Another important point to note is that God's original order

was very good. There was perfect harmony between God and

man and between man and the ecosystems of the earth. It

was paradise! Remember this fact when you see the

destruction, violence, and mayhem so prevalent in our world

today. Those things were not a part of God's original

creation. Man was not selfish. Man always did what pleased

God and there was perfect, unhindered communion between

them. Unfortunately, things did not stay this way. We fell

from this beautiful position of perfect communion.

Fall

God gave only one prohibition in the garden. He stated it

clearly and the result of disobedience was clearly stated as

well.

From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but fromthe tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not

eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die

(Genesis 2:16-17).

So there was only one test of mans obedience. If they ate of

the tree, then the perfect situation would be ruined and

death would enter the picture. God set up His order and in

that order it was also possible to rebel.

Right after the prohibition we find a temptation. In Genesis 3

a tempter comes in the form of a snake and deceives Eve.

Later on we find out who he really was. He is a created angel

who rebelled against God and wants all of creation to do the

sameof course he will start with those of creation that had

the rule and were made in the image of God. This fallenangel appeared to Eve in the Garden of Eden and tempted

her. He did so by challenging Gods Word. He promised Eve

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Satan uses the same technique today. He wants people to

doubt God's word, the Bible. The major religions of the

world differ in the text or texts which they claim are the

words of God. Consider the sourcethis makes a major

difference in what you believe about God. These texts aregiven to make people doubt the true Word of God.

Not only does the Bible clearly state that it is the Word of

God repeatedly, but it also gives several convincing proofs

of its reliability as Gods Word. One of our other studies

(Critical Questions for Christians) details these. Here is

a summary:

Internal Evidence:

o ProphesiesHundreds of specific facts that

were prophesied many years before they came to

pass.

o UnityThough the Scripture is written by many

different men through many different ages and

cultures, the main ethic and message remains the

same. External EvidenceSecular historians and

archeologists confirm that Scriptures records arefactually accurate.

that she would not die if she ate the fruit but rather that

many good things would happen. He was calling God a liar.

Eve believed the snake and ate. She brought the forbidden

fruit to Adam and Adam chose to follow his wife instead of

following God. The perfect situation was ruined. Adam and

Eve sinned and all of creation fell.

SIDE LIGHT: Consider the Source

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In one sense you fell that day too. Think of it this waywhen

the founding fathers of the United States declared

independence from England there were several

repercussions. Of course, the biggest at the time was war.

But now that the struggle for independence is done, all those

who are born in the United States also gain that

independence. Even though I did not fight in one battle or

even lift a finger in the struggle, I gain the same

independence that they gained. The same is true here. God

gave the human race a high and noble position as His image

bearer. As His image bearer we enjoyed free and beautifulcommunion with Him. But in place of this perfect situation,

we rebelled against the King of all creation and declared our

independence. The result was not freedom as Satan

promised. The result was bondage.

You are born in the same state of affairs as Adam's child. In

fact, every human being is born in this same state of

estrangement. The perfect situation of joy and eternal

communion with God is broken. We are now born enemies

to God. What if the Revolutionary War had never been won

by the United States? This would be a 250+ year war and I

would still be at war with England because I was born to

people who were at war with England. Here is an extremely

important point to realize. You were born at war with God. If

you don't know you are at war with God then you will notknow that you need to gain peace with Him.

A Solution Promised

God kept His promise. Adam died; Eve died. All who are born

from Adam and Eve died. God did not have to provide an

alternative ending. He set up the rules and we broke therules. However, God is merciful and He provided a wonderful

rescue plan. In this rescue plan He brings us back to that

perfect state of communion with Him. Even in the same day

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of the sin, almost in the same breath He promised that this

plan would unfold!

This glorious promise comes during a time where He

confronts Adam, Eve, and the Serpent. In fact, the promise is

given while God is cursing the serpent for leading the

deception. "And I will put enmity between you and the

woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise

you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel"

(Genesis 3:15).

God promises a future clash between a descendant (seed) of

Eve and the serpent (Satan). The serpent would give the

descendant of Eve a wound on his heel, but the serpent

would receive a fatal blowa head wound. It not by mistake

that the heel and head are used. The picture portrays a

person stepping on a snake. One day, when Jesusthe

descendent of Eve dies on the cross (heel wound). Jesus

destroys the work of the serpent through His sacrificial

death, and provides eternal communion with God to all who

will believe. In fact, right after God provided this promise He

slaughtered a lamb to clothe the rebels. This pictures a

future slaughter that will provide eternal covering from sin.

And that is the rest of the story of the Bible. In the lessons to

follow we will develop how God provides this eternalredemption plan to get humanity back to the conditions we

enjoyed in the Gardeneternal unbroken communion with

Godperfection.

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FLOOD

NOAH

Scene 2Flood

If you continue the Bible's story,

man's condition does not get better;

it gets worse. The first man born to

Adam and Eve eventually murders

his brother. And the story goes even

further down from there. The book

of Genesis traces the family tree of

each of the lines of Adam and Eve's children. Although there

were some significant exceptions (see below), the majority of

people followed in their own ways. They turned from the

morality burned in their conscience and pursued their own

lusts at any cost. By the tenth generation almost everyone

had turned against God's ways. Listen to the description

given in Genesis 6:5.

"Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was

great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts

of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5).

This second major scene that we dip into illustrates the

results of the fall. Man no longer enjoyed continual

communion with God. Circle the words in the verses abovethat show the extent of man's sin. Man is bent on doing his

own works, pursuing his own desires. God does not allow

humankind to continue on a path away from Him. Rebellion

must be punished. God's image bearers must be brought

back into sweet communion with Him. God did just that.

He chose the last family on earth who sought Him to save the

whole human race. Noah was the tenth generation following

Adam's line through Seth. He found grace in the eyes of God.

I like the testimony given about Noah. "Noah walked with

God." There was one man who still yearned for the days of

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the Gardenthe days before sin when man was satisfied with

sweet communion with God.

In their talks, God told Noah that He would destroy the world

with a global flood. He assigned him the task of warning the

world with this messagerepent. God justice is preceded by

His patient mercy. In fact, Noah most likely preached this

message for one hundred years! During this time, God

assigned him the task of preparing a boat for all who

believed his message in order that they would be saved. No

one believed Noah's warning except his own family. God wastrue to His Word. God sent a flood and everyone except

Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives were saved.

Following the flood God made a covenant promise to Noah

and to all of us (we all descend from this one couple). The

promise is that He will not destroy the earth again in this

way. A pattern begins to develop: Humankind fails God in

disobeying Him. God communicates a message of salvation.

Those who believe what God says are saved and enjoy further

communion with God (a taste of the Garden). Those who

continue in their own way die in their sins. In this scenario,

Noah trusted in God, took Him at His Word, and was declared

to be right with God.

We will walk with Noah one day in heaven because heresponded in faith to the promised message of a rescue plan

that had developed to this point in human history. It was still

very early in the unveiling of the redemption plan but it is

clear. Mankind goes His own way, like a little sheep, and

needs God to rescue Him. Noah believed God and was saved.

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1. List below the created order (leadership structure) as God

intended and the order used by creation at the fall.

God's Intention Fall's Distortion

2. What does it mean to be made in God's image?

3. God made the world in ages of days (True/False).

4. What is the significance of the Flood in the story of the

whole Bible?

5. DISCUSSION QUESTION: How does being made in God's

image relate to racial equality, abortion and euthanasia?

QUESTION AND ANSWER

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INTRODUCTION

In our survey of the biblical story we have considered two

scenes so far. The first scene included the creation and the

fall. The word to remember from this scene is Garden and

the person to remember is Adam. From this scene we

learned that God's creation was perfect before sin entered.

In his nature man was made to enjoy perfect communion

with God. But Adam and Eve sinned, plunging humanity and

the entire creation into separation from God. The beautiful

thing is that even in that dark hour God made some

promises. He promised to send a Rescuer who would endSatan's plan of rebellion against God. He also promised to

bring humankind back to the garden state of perfect

communion.

The next scene we developed was the Flood where the main

character is Noah. In that scene we saw the extent to which

sin has affected man and his relationship to God. There was

only one man who continued to believe in God and respond

to God's revelation with faith. In fact all the imaginations of

all men were evil all the time! So God started over again

through Noah. Again, God gives some promises and through

these promises He illustrates His future rescue plan. God

promised to provide escapethose who believe in His rescue

plan (getting into the ark) will be saved from God's righteous

wrath.

In this lesson we are going to try to survey the next two

scenes. We begin ten generations after Noah as the line of

What does the

Bible say?

LESSON 3

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his son, Shem moves us forward in history nearly 500 years.5

At this point, the world's population has exploded. And yet

the number of those seeking fellowship with God has

diminished significantly. This time God chose one man, but

instead of making the one man into the only family on earth,

he chose to make him a distinct family and eventually, a

distinct nation among all the others on earth. That man was

Abraham.

Scene 3

The Creation of

the Jewish Nation

The picture in this scene is the

Star of David because it represents

the Jewish people. The key word

is Israel and the main character is

Abraham. Books are written on

the development of the Jewish

people, but we have time to

consider only the covenant

between God and Abraham (the

Abrahamic Covenant) and one event in Abrahams life.

Three Important Promises

On several occasions in Genesis, God reiterates His promises

to Abraham. When God first spoke to him, Abraham was part

of an idol-worshiping family. He had to decide whether to

obey God's promises (in faith) or continue in rebellion.

5It is important to remember that we do not have exact dates. TheHebrew language uses the same word for father and grandfather, so

the genealogical lists may include some grandfathers with their

grandsons. Obviously, this would extend the length of time

recorded.

Israel

Abraham

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Abraham responded in faith, and God entered closer

communion with Him, giving greater promises. Abraham

believed these as well. The Bible tells us the result of

Abraham's faith: he was reckoned (considered to be)

righteous before God. He did not become righteous, nor was

he made righteous, but he was declared righteous in the

courtroom of God.

Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him

as righteousness (Genesis 15:6).

God first gave these promises to Abraham in Genesis chapter

12:

Now the LORD said to Abram, Go forth from your

country, And from your relatives And from your father's

house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make

you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your

name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will

bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I

will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be

blessed (Genesis 12:1-3).

If we combine this passage with the other promises recorded

in Genesis, we can summarized them this way:

1. God promised to bless Abraham with a land of

inheritance.

2. God promised to bless Abraham with a nation of

descendants.

3. God promised to bless Abraham by making him a

blessing to all nations through one descendant.

We will see that these covenant promises are fulfilled in the

subsequent scenes of the Old Testament. God will keep

these promises to Abraham forever. It is interesting, though

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to realize that the final promise was not fulfilled clearly until

long after the Old Testament was finished.

The last promise to Abraham said that God's rescue plan

would involve one of Abraham's descendants, and that this

one descendant would be the agent of blessing to every

other nation on earth. So the promised descendant of Adam

will not only defeat Satan's plans but He will also effect a

plan of blessing to all nations of the earthnot just the

Jewish people.

In the remainder of the lesson we will see how the first two

promises are fulfilled through the following four scenes. But

before we do, we have to look at one story from the pages of

Abraham's life that is extremely important to Gods rescue

message, woven throughout the pages of Scripture.

One Important Picture

God made these promises to Abraham over a span of twenty-

five years. These events happened from the time Abraham

was seventy-five to about the time he was one-hundred

years old. Abraham responded in faith (with some

doubting), but he still waited for the first son! How could he

be a father of many nations if he had no children? This was a

great test. But the Lord proved faithful. Abraham had a son

in his one-hundredth year. And yet Abrahams greatest test

of faith was yet to come. It came in the form of a command:

He said, Take now your son, your only son, whom you

love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him

there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of

which I will tell you (Genesis 22:2).

Now that is a dramatic twist in the plot! Promises, faith,

blessed child, faith... Everything was going according to

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plan, and then God tells him to kill the promised son. What

will Abraham do? The next morning he got up early and

traveled three days to where God had told him to go. Why

there? As we will see; the place is important.

After the three-day journey, the small company came to the

appointed spot on a mountain. Abraham said my only

begotten son and I will proceed alone from here... We will

return to you shortly. I think its interesting that although

Abraham was ready to kill his son he knew that God would

find a way out; he knew they both would return ("We willreturn"). The New Testament tells us that Abraham believed

God would raise Isaac from the dead. But it never even came

to that. As Abraham raised his knife to take the life of his

promised son, God stopped him.

Abrahams only begotten son was saved because the angel

of the Lord stopped the knife. The significance becomes

clearer once you compare Scriptures and realize that the

references to the angel of the Lord are often references to

Jesus. And when you look at a few other passages, you

discover that this very place became Jerusalem and it was the

same mount where one day Jesus, God's only begotten Son,

would give His life. The messenger of the Lord who stopped

the knife that day would eventually give His own life as a

sacrifice, providing a blessing to all the nations of the earth.

This is not conjecture. This is exactly what happened

according to the record of God's holy Bible. Listen to what

Abraham called this place: In the mount of the Lord it will

be provided." What will be provided? Eternal salvation! The

sacrifice for all. The rescue plan is getting more precise.

Though they probably did not understand all that happened

there, God is telling those who pay attention that His rescue

plan involved restoring mans relationship with God after

destroying Satans plans of rebellion. God chose to send a

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descendant of Abraham who would enact a blessing for all

nations. The point wasnt necessarily clear to those in

Abrahams day, but it definitely is to us as we look back in

hind-sight. God was demonstrating that He would provide a

sacrifice. This story foreshadowed that the sacrifice would

occur in Jerusalem and that it would be a sacrifice of Gods

only begotten Son.

Scene 4

The Law

Five hundred years passed. Much

happened in these years as well.

Abrahams son, Isaac, had two

sonsJacob and Esau. Jacob had

twelve sons and they become the

promised nation. They are the

twelve tribes of Israel. (When Godrepeated Abrahams promises to

Jacob, He also changed Jacobs

name to Israel).

In each of these characters we learn that those who believe

God's promises and follow (obey) the commands included in

the promises receive Gods blessing. They are blessed to

have a right relationship with God and a taste of the Garden,

a taste of restored communion which God intended us to

enjoy in the first place.

One of Jacobs sons was mistreated by his brothers. That

sounds lightyou might even think back to times when you

were mistreated by a brother or sister. But this was over the

top! Ten of the brothers sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt(Joseph's other brother was too young to join in the

conspiracy.) God turned this tragedy around and made

Joseph the leader of Egypt (the superpower of the day), just

"Law"

Moses

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under Pharaoh himself! Through Joseph, Jacob and the other

sons were saved from seven years of devastating famine.

Jacob, the other eleven sons and their wives moved to Egypt.

This began a four hundred and thirty year stay in Egypt and

during that time, the family grew from about 70 to a nation

of people. God's promise to Abraham of a nation of

descendants was already being fulfilled.

But for the nation to have a separate entity, they needed a

constitution and a land. That is where the next four books of

the Bible continue the story. God used Moses to take thechildren of Israel (Jewish people) from Egypt to the Land of

Israel.

The largest portion of these books records the Laws God

gave the children of Israel for living properly in this special

land. It is the constitutional document between God and the

nation. The Law was given to Moses on Mount Sinai and

repeated through him after the people wandered in the

desert for forty years (Deuteronomy actually means "second

law").

Lets look at two specific aspects of this section. We need to

highlight the sacrificial system and then also the

development of how God dealt with people at this time. We

will examine these two topics by answering two specificquestions.

What were the sacrifices about?

In the scenes weve already considered, the idea of sacrifice

kept coming up. When God clothed Adam and Eve, He killed

a ram to provide clothes for them. Two other sacrificesoccur in Genesis that we did not highlight. One sacrifice

caused the first murder. God required an animal sacrifice

from Cain and Abel (the first two boys born on earth). Cain

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Blood continued to flow

through the centuries as

Gods people portrayed

the fact that God

demands sacrifice for sin.

brought a sacrifice from his own efforts and Abel brought

what God required (the shedding of blood). Abel's blood

sacrifice was accepted by God and Cain's was not. The other

sacrifice in Genesis occurred in connection with Noahs ark.

Immediately after exiting the ark, the first thing Noah did

was to make a sacrifice to God.

We have just considered the most dramatic sacrifice, when

God told Abraham to kill his only begotten son. In this

case, God stepped in to provide a sacrificial lamb. This spot

was the very spot Jesus would one day die. As AbrahamsaidIn the Mount of the Lord it will be provided.

When the nation left

Egypt to go to the New

Land, God instituted a

special substitutionary

sacrificethe Passover

Lamb. Every household

who partook of this

sacrificial substitute

was saved from having the death angel kill their firstborn

child. God used this as a final blow to bring the children of

Israel out of Egypt. Because the Egyptians did not believe

God's Word, they didnt follow Gods prescribed protection

and every household awoke the next morning to tragedy.

The theme of sacrifice continues in the new land with the

promised people. This time, though, the idea of a sacrifice

appears front and center. In fact, the entire economy and

law surrounded the sacrificial system. Gods holiness

required sacrifice once a year for the sins of the leaders and

the people. He demanded a continual sacrifice for sins

whenever people transgressed. There were burnt offerings,

grain offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings, and guilt

offerings. The blood continued to flow through the centuries

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as Gods people portrayed the fact that God demands

sacrifice for sin. But all of these sacrifices pointed to a

greater, perfect sacrifice of God's Son. This is another key to

Gods rescue plan in history.

How were people saved at this time?

How were peoples sins forgiven? The same way as now!

Peoples sins were covered as people believed the revelation

that God had given them to that point. The sacrifice did not

save them. Their salvation came by faith in Gods promise of

deliverance. By that time, the word of God that they had

been given was specific and written. It gave a specific

location to how and when people should approach God.

People were required to come to God as He demanded.

And in a real sense, their sins were not yet taken away. As

we will see, Jesus paid the penalty for these sins hundreds ofyears later on the cross. Jesus sacrifice is the only one that

can effectively take away sins. But God saw the faith of these

people in His word as He had revealed up to that point. As

they trusted God, God declared that they were righteous,

based on the sacrifice that Jesus would give one day in the

future (Romans 3:25-26).

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1. List below the main word and main character for the first

four scenes.

Main Word Main Character

2. Which promise was given to Abraham that did not have

immediate fulfillment in the Old Testament?

3. How long did Abraham wait in faith until God answered

his prayer for a son?

4. What does the phrase, in the Mountain of the Lord it will

be provided mean?

5. (True/False): Under the Law people were saved by their

works.

QUESTION AND ANSWER

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INTRODUCTION

In this lesson we will consider scenes five through seven:

kingdom gained, kingdom lost, and land regained. These

three scenes will complete our survey of the Old Testament.

Scene 5Kingdom Gained

Moving ahead another five

hundred years brings us to 1000

B.C. We will have to pick up the

pace now. Well consider scenes

five through seven in three shorter

summaries. Well discover that the

rest of the Old Testament tells

how Israel received a king, lost the

monarchy and the Promised Land,

and then how they retook the

land.

We begin scene five with the chosen people of Israel, the

Jewish people, demanding a King. There was certainly need

for a king. The nation became extremely wicked from the

time of Moses to the time of David (our key figure for this

period). In fact, the period of the Judges could be

considered the worst time in Israels history as a nation.

Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. If you want to

pattern your life after certain actions, don't follow the book

Kingdom

David

What does the

Bible say?

LESSON 4

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of Judges!6 Eventually, a king was anointed and many other

kings followed. In fact, the largest section on the Old

Testament shelf is the history shelf because it tells the story

of the kings who reigned in Israel for the next five hundred

years (1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles). These

books are filled with the good and the bad reigns of Israels

kingsmostly bad.

The first three kings ruled over an undivided Israel where all

12 tribes followed one King. (The Land promised to Abraham

was divided into portions and given to the different familiesof Jacob's 12 sons.) Each of these kings had great times of

service to God and great times of military and spiritual

victory. King Saul came first. He did a great job of leading

God's people until his pride wrecked him. King David was

the next King and then his son, Solomon followed him.

David and Solomon are the most well known kings in Israels

history. We will spend time looking at David at the end of

this lesson.

Solomon was known for his wisdom. In fact, God gave

Solomon the privilege of asking for anything he wanted and

he chose wisdom. God also graciously gave him riches and

fame, more than any other king in his day. Solomon wrote

the book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. If you have never read

the practical proverbs of Solomon you should take a look.Many Christians make a habit out of reading one chapter in

Proverbs every day.

6That is not to say that we do not learn from the book. We can learn

from both positive and negative examples. We learn that even thosewho have ruined their lives in selfishness can be used of God later in

life if they turn their hearts to God and their talents to His disposal.

Perhaps some of these stories are familiar to youSampson, Gideon,

Jepthah. But there are some very dark scenes in Judges as well.

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After King Solomon, the kingdom was divided and never

gained unity again. The saddest part of the story, however,

is that the kings turned the peoples hearts over to idolatry.

They no longer sought

God and believed His

promises. In the chart

that lists the kings you

can see that only eight

kings after King David

served God (indicated

by an asterisk). Theothers followed after

idols and led the people

to do the same.

In fact, even the first

three great kings

followed God

imperfectly. Both Saul

and Solomon were led

away from God by their

wives who were idol

worshipers. The point

is that a mere human

monarch could never be

the solution to a heartproblem in Israel's

people. People

continually disobey

God's commands, but

those who respond in

faith to God's message about dealing with sin receive a

relationship with Him. That relationship opens up greater

communiona small taste of the eternal, satisfying

communion which we were made to enjoy, and which we can

all experience in heaven if we follow God's rescue plan.

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Scene 6

Kingdom Lost

God will not allow His people tocontinue in their rebellion. He

always sends a wake up call to bring

them back to communion with Him.

God did that very thing in Israel's

history. He sent the Assyrians in

721 B.C. to conquer Israels

Northern Kingdom (Remember that

there had been a split following King

Solomons reign into the North and

South.) God also sent the kingdom

of Babylon to take the Southern

Kingdom in 586 BC.7

When it came to seeking after, God, the whole period of the

kings was full of ups and downs. No one sought Godentirely. Even David, the man after God's own heart

committed adultery and murder! During these times God

continued to send prophets who encouraged His people to

follow Him. When these prophets were heeded, God sent

blessing. When they were ignored, God sent judgment.

This is the same process we have found in previous sessions.

When people respond to the Word of God in faith, God

blesses them with a closer relationship and gives them

greater revelation of Himself. When people spurn and reject

the Word of God, they are lost.

7Notice that the kingdom that had some godly leadership lasted

nearly 150 years more than the wicked Northern kingdom.

Kingdom

Lost

Isaiah

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Greater Promises

In the books that develop scenes five through seven, thereare significant promises given to God's people. We will look

at one primary theme that was given repeatedly to King

David and to the prophets.

A Triumphant King

Many of the Old Testament prophecies include wonderful

promises of future spiritual blessing that will come through a

King with an eternal rule. This promise was first given to

David (called the Davidic Covenant). Although David sinned

greatly, he loved God and believed Him. Gods promises to

David advance our understanding of His rescue plan.

God told David that he would send a Ruler from David's own

descendants Who would reign forever.

But I will settle Him in My house and in My kingdom

forever, and His throne shall be established forever (2

Samuel 23:5).

This foreshadows an eternal being living on earth. It

prophecies an eternal King who would reign over Israelforever. Perhaps David did not understand all that was being

promised, because a significant part of the promise was also

fulfilled in his son Solomon, but the only way these promises

could be completely fulfilled is for an eternal Person to be

born a man. The prophet Isaiah expands on this thought:

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;

And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His

name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

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Hindsight is 20/20. When we read of an eternal Person

ruling over Israel, or when Isaiah prophesies of a child being

born Who would be called the Mighty God and the Eternal

Father, perhaps we would expect the Son of God to be the

rescue plan. But, as we shall see, very few people expected

Him.

A Suffering Servant

Right along with the verses that prophesy a reign of peace,

there are verses

prophesying One

Who will suffer

agony for the sins

of others. And so

the theme of

sacrifice returns

with great clarity.Now the sacrifice

is not just a lamb,

but the Servant of God. This is clearest in Isaiah 53.

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He

carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten

of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our

transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the

chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His

scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone

astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the

LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him"

(Isaiah 53:4-6).

The rescue plan is complete even before we get to it. Godwill send HimselfHis Son. He will be the sacrifice for our

sins to bring us back to continual communion with Him. The

details of this covenant will be spelled out later.

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A New Heart

The prophets proclaimed that people must respond ingenuine faith to Gods Word rather than showing a

superficial, thoughtless obedience. Even in times of

obedience, the children of Israel could be going through the

motions of obedience to Gods Laws without following Him

with all their heart.

The prophets spoke of the need for internal and not merely

external obedience. They prophesied of a time when God

would make a new covenant that would be internal. God

would enable them to keep this new covenant.

Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit

within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your

flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit

within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and youwill be careful to observe My ordinances" (Ezekiel 36:26-

27).

"Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will

make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with

the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made

with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to

bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which

they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares

the LORD. "But this is the covenant which I will make with

the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I

will put My law within them and on their heart I will write

it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people

(Jeremiah 31:31-33). (Jeremiah also compares this

transformation to circumcision of the heart.8)

8Jeremiah 4:4; Jeremiah 9:6 "Circumcise yourselves to the LORD

And remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah and

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As the story unfolds, we will find that Jesus referred to these

passages and many truths in them. For instance, He

mentioned that His Covenant is the New Covenant. He also

taught that He would give the Holy Spirit Who would indwell

His followers and enable them to live a godly life.

Scene 7

Land Regained

God's chosen people did not stay in

exile too long (about 70 years).

After deportation, God's message

through the prophets changed.

Instead of repent from sin and

idolatry, the message now focused

on rebuilding the land of promise.

God used two individuals inparticular to organize a return

expedition. The first is Ezra and the

second is Nehemiah. They were

leading the people to try to re-build what the Assyrians and

the Babylonians had destroyed. Ezra focused on rebuilding

the temple and Nehemiah focused on rebuilding the walls of

Jerusalem. Both accounts are very motivational, because they

chronicle two men grasping hold of the promises of God by

faith and acting on those promises in a valiant manner. Both

examples can stir up others to trust God and follow His

commands.

inhabitants of Jerusalem, Or else My wrath will go forth like fire Andburn with none to quench it, Because of the evil of your deeds."

Circumcision was a ritual that signified a covenant commitment to

God. But someone was not to go through the outward symbol

without having a heart that followed.

Land

Regained

Nehemiah

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1. List below the first 7 key words and key characters.


2. (True/False): If you want to find people or principles to

pattern your life after, go to the book of Judges.

3. Match the following:

a. Solomon The creation of the Jewish nation _____

b. Scene 7 The man who prophesied of the new

covenant

_____

c. Jeremiah The man who prophesied of the

Suffering Servant

_____

d. Scene 3 The king known for his wisdom _____

e. Isaiah The king who was a type of a perfect

King to come

_____

f. David Land regained _____

4.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: Why does man need a newheart? How has world history to this point shown the

need for a new heart?

QUESTION AND ANSWER

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INTRODUCTION

We have finished an overview of seven different scenes in the

Bible that develop the overall message, the big picture. Its

clear that although mankind continues to fail, God continues

to graciously reveal Himself. Many people respond to God's

self-revelation in faith and obedience. As they do, God

delights in opening the doors of closer communion with Him.

They gain back a portion of that fellowship that was enjoyed

by humankind on a daily basis in the Garden.

God gives these believers more intimate promises predicting

a great rescue plan. But as the Old Testament ends, we are

left longing for the culmination of that plan. Think back on

the string of promises that began in the Garden and has been

woven through each of the scenes so far (See next page).

After reading the Old Testament, you are left with these

promises unfulfilled. Where is the descendant who will be

the Rescuer? Who will defeat the serpent, be a blessing to allGentiles, lead people to consistent obedience, reign forever,

and be a sacrifice for sin? The sad thing is that there is no

answeronly silence. In fact, the last word in the Old

Testament is the word curse (Malachi 4:6), followed by 400

years of silence.9 Its as if someone played several notes of a

chord and then stopped playing before the final note. The

incomplete sound echoes out and leaves us longing for the

9Malachi would have been the last prophet to write chronologically,

though the Hebrew Scriptures end with 2 Chronicles.

What does the

Bible say?

LESSON 5

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final resolution of the chord. These prophesies rang out for

hundreds of years, waiting for some fulfillment, some

resolution.

Scene Word Promise Sacrifice

Scene 1Garden

Adam

A Son will come from Eves

descendants to crush the

serpent and Satans

destructive plans.

This event

culminates with

a sacrifice.

Scene 2Flood

Noah

Gods rescue plan will not be

thwarted, even in the darkest

hours of human sin. God

promises not to destroy theearth in water.

This event

culminates with

a sacrifice.

Scene 3Israel

Abraham

A Son will come from

Abraham's descendants and

through Him all nations of the

earth will be blessed.

Two major

events in

Abrahams life

climax with a

sacrifice.

Scene 4Law

Moses

A prophet better than Moses

will come one day Who will

enable believers to obey.

A continual

sacrificial

systemcommunicates

the need for an

effectual,

lasting

sacrifice.

Scene 5

Kingdom

Gained

David

A King will come who will

reign eternally and perfectly,

in contrast to the temporal

reigns of kings who lead the

people away from God.

This period

continues a

daily sacrificial

system and the

blessing of

those who

follow.

Scene 6

Kingdom

Lost

Isaiah

A human will come as God

and be the sacrifice for the

sins of men.

A human will

come as God

and be the

sacrifice for the

sins of men.

Scene 7

Kingdom

RegainedNehemiah

God will keep His promises

to those who believe and seekHim.

Sacrifices re-

instituted

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Scene 8

Good News

And then He came! The joyful song iscomplete with the coming of Jesus.

The details of God's rescue plan finally

become fully clear. Look at the first

words of the New Testament

(chronologically):

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus

Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1)

This small verse says so much! The Old Testament showed

us a picture of someone who was coming but left us grasping

for the details and waiting for the picture to be fleshed out.

The Old Testament ended with a cursebad news. The New

Testament begins with good news (Gospel), and paints the

rest of the picture. Its the wonderful news about JesusChrist Who is the Son of God.

Weve been talking about Marks account of the Gospel.

There were three other accounts written in Scripture of the

life of Jesus. You will remember from our first lesson that

these do not contradict, but complement one another to give

multiple dimensions in our view of Jesus. The other gospel

writers are Matthew, Luke, and John. Look at the beginning

of Matthew's gospel account.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of

David, the son of Abraham... He will save His people from

their sins (Matthew 1:1, 21).

Look at what God is telling us in this verse. Jesus is the

promised descendant of David (the eternal King) and the

promised descendant of Abraham (the One Who would bless

all nations). The gospel writers knew that the prophesies

Gospel

Jesus

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which were still unfulfilled at the close of the Old Testament

concerned Gods rescue plan and that they were fulfilled in

Jesus.10

Each Gospel writer communicates the same essential details

about Jesus life and we have already noted how Matthew and

Mark begin their Gospel. John, however, gives us an

interesting view of Jesus from the beginning. Look at John's

account.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was withGod, and the Word was God (John 1:1).

This is important for our study because it tells us of Someone

who is enjoying the pleasure Adam had in the garden. In

Johns description, the Son is with God. He is God! Being

with God is what we need as humans. We were with God in

the Gardenthat is how we function best. But sin blocked

that perfect communion and we have already observed

repeatedly that man cannot make his way back to God. We

constantly go our own way. Every period of earth history

every scene developed in these lessonsteaches that man is

not able to make his way back to the Garden.

But God can make His way to be with man and that is the

good news. Jesus is the God-manHe is the Son of God whocomes to bring man back into communion with God. A little

later in the first chapter John shows us how this will happen.

10Mathematicians say that the probability of having just sixteen

predictions correctly fulfilled in one man is 1 in 10 to the 45thpower.

And yet nearly two hundred Old Testament prophetic predictions

were fulfilled through Jesus life. Its also significant that these werepredictions Jesus couldnt changewhere He was born, who His

parents and grandparents were, or even how He died ("Science

Speaks", Peter Stoner, Moody Press, 1957).

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Once again, this ties together so many details from the Old

Testament pictures.

The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said,

Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the

world (John 1:29)!

Jesus is the perfect sacrifice pictured so clearly in every story

throughout every period of God's communication with us.

Our disobedience (sin) blocked our perfect communion with

God (garden/fall), and yet Jesus came to take on Himself thepunishment for all our sin. His sacrifice brings great

possibilities for all who will believe. They are forgiven from

their sin and gain entrance back into God's presenceboth

now and for eternity.

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true

God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent (John 17:3).

The major point of each of the Gospels is that Jesus came as

the Son of God to die and rise again

from the grave. Although they

recount His unique teaching, and

miraculous signs of mercy, the

gospels are primarily a story of God

coming down to kill death. That is therescue planHe had to die to end

death for all men. And Jesus

resurrection from the dead was Gods

signal to humankind that the chains of death had been

broken. The curse of death that fell on all men when Adam

sinned is reversed for all who receive Jesus. Even the effects

of that curse are being reversedwe can again be with God.

We can experience eternal life through Jesus victory over

death.

That is the

rescue plan.

He had to die

to end deathfor all men.

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So the story of Jesus death is not really a tragedy. It is tragic

in its pain and suffering, but it is glorious in the outcome to

all who will believe. It is tragic good news.

Scene 9

Church

Expansion/Organization

Expansion

Acts (the fifth book of the NewTestament) continues the story of God

fulfilling the Old Testament prophesies

through the Person of His Son, Jesus

Christ. The message of Jesus death and

resurrection did not stay in Jerusalem. If

you were among those early believers, you might have

wondered how it could spread. The disciples were all Jewish.

The last thing that would be natural to their minds was

spreading this message beyond their own Jewish people. But

Gods promise of blessing encompassed not just Abrahams

descendants, but also the whole world.11 Acts is the story of

how God kept His promise.

The expansion of the early church occurred through Gods

enabling Spirit.12The first day that the Holy Spirit came uponthe early believers there was a great expansion (3,000 new

believers). These new believers composed a new body called

11This is not just mentioned in Genesis 12:1 as a promise to

Abraham; it is a theme throughout the Old Testament. See also 2

Samuel 22:50; 1 Kings 8:43; Psalm 22:27, 46:10, 67:1-7, 72:17;

Isaiah 42:6, 49:6, 55:5, 61:11; Jeremiah 4:2; Malachi 1:11 for a fewother references.

12God the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead. God is One

but the one God exists eternally in three Persons (God the Father,

God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.)

Church

The Holy

Spirit

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the Church. God the Holy Spirit enabled Jesus followers to

speak in foreign languages that they had never learned. This

symbolized the fact that all nations should hear the message

of the good news of Jesus. And in the first day many did

believe the Good News that was proclaimed (his word in the

quote below).

So then, those who had received his word were baptized;

and that day there were added about three thousand

souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the

apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking ofbread and to prayer (Acts 2:41-42).

God also called a well-respected Rabbi to become the

preacher to the Gentiles. Saul, once a persecutor of the

Church, became a believer in Jesus and proclaimed the faith

he once persecuted. Acts records three different missionary

journeys showing how God used Paul to start local churches

in cities all throughout the ancient world.

The Holy Spirit indwelt these believers and enabled them to

obey Gods desires. This fulfilled the promises of a people

who would finally obey God because of the prophet better

than Moses (Jesus). Gods will is written in the hearts of

believersit is the Law of God, the Spirit.

Organization

We have made it to one of the final shelves on our journey

through the library of the Bible. The next to last shelf is the

epistles, or letters. This shelf has a large number of books

that detail how the local church should be organized. A Bible

driven church will develop its philosophy of ministry basedon these books.

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Most of the letters are written to churches, groups of

churches or to pastors of churches. Although Peter, James,

John, and Jude also authored letters, Paul is the key figure

because he wrote more epistles than anyone else.

These letters teach that in the era in which we now live, each

believer is a priest to God because we can come into God's

presence through Jesus our High Priest. The communion

enjoyed in the Garden of Eden is available to you today.

The Church is Gods presence on earth because God ispresent in every group of believers assembled.

Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple

of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will

bring ruin upon anyone who ruins this temple. For God's

temple is holy, and you Christians are that temple (1

Corinthians 3:16-17 NLT).

We not only enjoy God's presence in church on a regular

basis, but we enjoy God's presence individually on a daily

basis. Those who respond to Gods promise of forgiveness

of sins through faith in Jesus sacrifice enjoy this restored

relationship with God. He communes with them as a Father

with a child.

But the church is imperfect. Even from the first of days of

Acts, sin was evident and had to be addressed. Gods

presence is real in the church, but it is not exactly like the

garden. So Gods rescue plan is still in progress. The final

pages of His story (history) are just around the corner. And

that is the final chapter of this book of God's message to

usthe book of Revelation.

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1. List below the first 9 key words and key characters.


2. What is the final word of the Old Testament? How does

this contrast with the first phrase written in the New

Testament?

3. (True/False): Immediately after Jesus' resurrection His

followers were ready to spread His news to all nations.

4. Which prophesy is fulfilled by the spread of the gospel to

the nations?

5. Which prophesy is fulfilled by the Holy Spirits enabling

power?

6. DISCUSSION QUESTION: Discuss the tragic good news of

Calvary. How can one event be both?

QUESTION AND ANSWER

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Scene 10Culmination

Back to the Garden

We have come to the final scene

in Gods message. The book of

Revelation returns the record of

human history to the garden

where it beganperfect

communion with God. All thethemes of Scripture meld

together in this book.

Revelation also makes more

allusions to the Old Testament

than any other book in the New Testament. John gives us a

few glimpses of heaventhe future state of believers. The

visions are fascinating!

"After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing

open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like

the soundof a trumpet speaking with me, said, 'Come up

here, and I will show you what must take place after these

things'" (Revelation 4:1).

We will look at two major themes that find their climax in thisbook. The first is praise for Gods Sacrifice. The second is

pleasure in Gods presence.

Heaven

God the Father

What does the

Bible say?

LESSON 6

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Praise for Gods Sacrifice

As we have discovered, in every scene God's sacrificial Lambtakes a primary place in advancing the message of God's

rescue plan. In the Good news scene, we saw that it is the

very rescue plan. This is true in heaven as well. We get a

fascinating view of the Lamb in heaven.

The four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell

down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and

golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the

saints. And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are

You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were

slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from

every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have

made them to bea kingdom and priests to our God; and

they will reign upon the earth (Revelation 5:8-10).

John sees Jesus as a Lamb Who is slain. The biblical picture

of sacrifice finally reaches its culmination. For eternity we

will remember and praise God for the sacrifice of His Son for

our sins. Jesus will be praised because He purchased us back

to God. Humanity was lost for eternity until God

implemented His rescue plan, sending Jesus to earth to take

away our sins.

Eternal Pleasure in God s Presence

One paragraph in Revelation describes the scene at the end

of time. The amazing thing is that it is so similar to the

beginning of time (the garden)! Notice below the things that

will not be present in our eternal home.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first

heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no

longer anysea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,

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coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a

bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice

from the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is

among men, and He will dwell among them, and they

shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,

and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and

there will no longer be anydeath; there will no longer be

any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have

passed away. And He who sits on the throne said,

Behold, I am making all things new. And He said, Write,

for these words are faithful and true. Then He said tome, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the

beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts

from the spring of the water of life without cost

(Revelation 21:1-6).

Gods presence is again with humanity because our sin has

been dealt with once and for all. All those who have been

washed pure with the blood of the Lamb (with Jesus blood)

enter this place of God's presence. God's tabernacleHis

physical dwellingwill be with us once again. No more

hiding from God behind the tree. We will once again talk and

walk with Him in a sinless state.

You may have notice that several other things will not be in

heaven. Because there is no sin, there is no death nor anytears. Sorrow and all evil is a result of the entrance of sin.

The eternal heaven will get us back to the state we were

made forto enjoy eternal, unbroken communion with the

God of heaven. And that is Gods message to you. God

wants you back. He wants to get you back so much that He

came and died for you.

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Summary in a Sentence

As we conclude our study of the Bible, it is helpful to try tocombine all we have learned so far in a few short statements.

The Bible is Gods message to us. The major characters are

humanity and God. Humanity was made to enjoy perfect

communion with Him. We work best that way. But we broke

that perfect relationship and chose a selfish existence

instead. God did not leave us in this state. No sooner had

we walked away from Him but He was already promising a

rescue plan. We could actually summarize the Bible in this

short phrase: The Bible is God's promise to restore eternal

communion with Him to all who will believe His Word.

But what if we wanted to incorporate the rest of the content

weve discovered? We would need to explain how God's

rescue plan fulfills Gods promises. This sentence gets close:

The Bible is

a message from God proving His greatness by making good

on His promise to bring humanity back to eternal

communion with Him...

through His rescue plan:

choosing a man,

promising a family,

making a nation,

installing a ruler,

and providing a world Savior,

Jesus His Son, the perfect Sacrifice

for all those who trust in His

promise and respond to Hismessage in faith and obedience.

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The Example of Abraham

Notice above that we have to respond in faith to the promisesof God before the relationship will be restored. Faith is

always the bridge through which the grace of God in

salvation flows:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that

not of yourselves, it isthe gift of God; not as a result of

works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Man is saved entirely by grace on the

condition of our faith. We must

believe. Of course, salvation is not

earned by faith. Jesus is the only

Person Who earns salvation. He

earned our salvation by living a

perfect life and dying a sacrificialdeath. But that salvation is not

effectual to an individual heart until

they believe on God's promise. We wont receive the curing

serum of salvation until we believe.

In the beginning stages of Gods promises, the details of

God's rescue plan were not as clearly spelled out. Adam did

not know as much as Abraham, who did not know as much

as Moses, who did not know as much as David, who did not

know as much as Isaiah, who did not know as much as you.

Through each of the scenes that we considered abov

life groups survey of the bible message

Documents