02.08. Overview of the Events recorded in Scripture
Overview of the Events recorded in Scripture When reading or studying Scriptures, it is helpful to have a high-level view and understanding of the flow of the whole Bible. This helps to provide context and reference points for the events that are recorded. The Bible starts with an account of the creation of the universe, the earth and all living things by God. God called His creation “very good”.
God planted a garden called Eden, put the man into it and gave some very basic commands
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. God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so. (Gen 1:26-30)
Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the 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." (Gen 2:15-17)
Adam and Eve did not obey the command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which resulted in the judgements and curses on people and the land. This is called the “fall of man” and led to the death, pain, suffering and groanings that we see all around us.
Cain murders his brother Abel and we see the increasing wickedness of people.
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, walked with God and was taken to be with God without dying.
Because of the wickedness and evil of all people, God decided to destroy the world with a global flood. Only Noah was found to be righteous on the earth. God commanded Noah to build an ark for his family and the animals. The global flood then destroyed all on the earth and in the sky.
Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. (Gen 7:23)
After the flood,
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. "The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. "Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. "Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. "Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man’s brother I will require the life of man. "Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man. "As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it." (Gen 9:1-7)
The people did not disperse as God had commanded, rather they wanted to remain together and make a name for themselves, so we have the episode of the tower of Babel. God confused their language and they stopped building and were scattered.
We then move on to Abraham and his family. He is called out of Ur of the Chaldeans and led to Canaan. We come to the record of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness. Abraham intercedes for the cities to the point that even if ten righteous are found, God would not destroy it. Obviously, ten righteous were not found.
Abraham is promised a descendant by God. When this is taking a long time, Sarah suggests that she could have her descendant via Hagar, her maid. Ishmael is the result of this union and God said
"He will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will live to the east of all his brothers. (Gen 16:12)
God then tells Abraham that Sarah will bear him a child and that His covenant will be with that child and his descendants. The child that Sarah bore was named Isaac. Isaac then fathered Esau and Jacob. Jacob then became the father of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Joseph, one of the 12 sons, is sold into slavery in Egypt where he ends up being second only to Pharaoh after he interprets the dream of Pharaoh regarding the seven good years to be followed by the seven very bad years.
During the bad years, Joseph brings his family to Egypt where they lived 430 Years.
They were subsequently enslaved by a later Pharaoh after which God sent Moses to lead the people out of Egypt into the promised land of Canaan. The Israelites frequently disobeyed, grumbled, and did not obey the command to enter the promised land. This led to the original group of men over 20 years old having to die in the wilderness prior to the Israelites entering the Promised Land.
Moses leads them until the conquest of the East side of the Jordan is completed. Joshua takes over and leads them through the dried-up Jordan and starts the conquest with the destruction of the heavily fortified city of Jericho where God caused the walls to fall down.
The Israelites serve God throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the elders that outlived him. After this, the tumultuous period of the Judges starts with the Israelites serving other gods and disobeying God. God then allows others to oppress them and, when the Israelites cry out to God, He sends a judge to deliver them. This pattern continues until the time of Samuel the prophet. As Samuel ages, the people want him to appoint a king over them.
Saul is then appointed as the first king. He however is not obedient, and God chooses David as the next king. David is called a man after God’s own heart.
David’s son, Solomon, takes the reigns after David and was given extraordinary wisdom. Under Solomon, the territory of Israel reached its maximum size. Solomon was not committed totally to God. His son Rehoboam does not listen to the advice of the elders, but rather follows the advice of his younger companions. The result is the division of the kingdom into the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel.
God keeps sending prophets to the people to urge them to turn back to Himself during the time of the Judges and Kings. Unfortunately, the people do not respond very well and thus they experience God’s judgement many times over.
The northern kingdom rebels against God virtually right away and as judgement is exiled by Assyria in 722or 723 BC.
Judah has a mix of good, bad and half-hearted kings and is exiled by Nebuchadnezzar starting in 605 BC down to 586/7 BC.
Under Cyrus, the Persian, the exiles are allowed to start to return and close to 50,000 go back to Jerusalem. While idolatry does not seem to be the problem anymore, disobedience to God and His commands certainly persisted.
It is during the time between the return from the exile and the start of the New Testament, that the Pharisees and Sadducees appear.
Jesus is born of the virgin Mary
The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. (Luk 1:35)
John describes Jesus in the following way
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. (John 1:1-4)
Jesus calls 12 disciples to Himself and goes about proclaiming the kingdom of God, teaching, performing miracles, healing people and casting out demons.
The Pharisees and Sadducees conspire to convict Jesus and have Him crucified.
Jesus is raised from the dead on the third day. He appears to his followers during the next 40 days and then ascends to heaven.
Jesus, being God Himself, was the only one who was sinless and could therefore pay the penalty for all of our sins, from Adam on forward.
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:16-18)
The Holy Spirit comes on the Disciples at Pentecost (50 days after Passover) and the disciples speak in tongues and proclaim Jesus to the people. They also start doing miracles by healing people.
The book of Acts records the growth of the church until shortly before the time of the Apostle Paul’s death.
The letters of the New Testament are written to address questions, problems and doctrinal truths.
John writes the book of Revelation towards the end of his life. Here we have instructions and prophecies regarding the end times. The main take away from the book is to persevere and be faithful.
"For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. "For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. (Mat 24:37-39)
While many are always trying to figure out the exact time when Jesus returns, Jesus Himself said
Revelation concludes with
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 any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, 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 any death; 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 to me, "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. "He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (Rev 21:1-8)