To understand the story behind the Bible, we
must know the historical context. The message of the Bible is
conveyed through the history of its written pages.
The
Bible traces the story of humanity, from beginning to the end. The
Bible in essence is God’s plan of redemption for fallen man, woven
through the ages, projected forward to our eternal destiny.
The
Old Testament records the creation of the universe and life, man’s
perfection and fall. The Old Testament also reveals God’s plan of
redemption through a descendent Adam, the Messiah[1].
The first eleven chapters trace the first part of human history, from
Adam to Abraham. In Chapter 12, God separates the man Abraham from
his family and nation, and sends him to Moriah (Jerusalem). Through
Abraham, God would complete his plan of redemption.
Through
Abraham’s offspring, Isaac and Jacob, God would redeem fallen man to
Himself. In rest of the Old Testament, from Genesis 12 to Malachi[2], God details the plan of
redemption through the Messiah. Through prophets, God delivers His
message to a fallen world. Prophets establish the nature and character of
the Messiah, who brings redemption. Two pictures of Messiah emerge,
one of a suffering “Righteous” servant (Isaiah 53) and the other of
all-powerful ruling king (Psalm 2).
In
the Old Testament era, God demonstrated man’s inability for
self-redemption, showing the depravity of fallen human nature. Only
through God’s intervention, humanity could salvation come, not self- effort.
In
the New Testament, the details of Messiah, foretold by the prophets reach
fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ. The rejection and death
of the “Righteous” servant, who pays for sin, fulfills the words of Isaiah written
700-years before his birth. Jesus becomes God’s sacrifice for
humanities sins. The Gospels record the life and teachings of
Jesus, as God’s offer of redemption is made available to the Gentile
nations after Israel’s rejection. The book of Acts and
the Epistles (letters) record the advance of the good
news (Gospel) of redemption as it spreads abroad from Jerusalem.
Finally, the book of Revelation[3], looks forward to the
completion of God’s plan following the return of Messiah, at the Second
Coming, and the establishment of the Kingdom of God and eternal state
of humanity.
How are we? Why are we
here? What is our purpose and future? These are the questions,
which plague humanity. Both science and religion attempt to answer
these questions, creating a diverse view of the universe from man’s
perspective. The Bible however, is God’s answer, to a hopeless
world trying to find its purpose. The Bible is God’s love letter to
humanity, His plan for our salvation, and the final destiny of the
saved.
The
words in the Bible, God’s revelation to man define our being, letting us
understand the meaning to our existence. Without God’s revelation,
we would have no way of knowing who we are, where we came from or where
we are going?
The
Old Testament records the history of humanity and God’s plan of
redemption, the New Testament records, God’s fulfillment and completion
of His plan.
The are many ways the
history of the Bible can be divided, one method is dividing the periods
according to the methods of atonement. Six periods of history can be
distinguished in the Bible, which allows us to divide scripture into
understandable sections.
· Adam to Exodus: Before the
Tabernacle
· Moses to David: The
Tabernacle
· Solomon to the captivity:
The First Temple
· Zerubabel to Jesus: The
Second Temple
· The New Testament: Jesus
God’s sacrifice
· The Early Church:
Redemption offered to the world
The Mosaic
Covenant[4], established sacrifice in
the law, to demonstrate the righteousness required to be part of
the Abrahamic Covenant[5], these sacrifices pointed
to the ultimate sacrifice, the sacrifice of God’s son, the Messiah, who
would die for the sins of the world. Both the Tabernacle and the Temple
illustrated the holiness of God and the need for redemption.
Time
Period
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Adam to the Exodus
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Book of the Bible
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??
To 1450 B.C.
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The Fall of Man
God created the
heavens, the earth and mankind in 6-days and rested on the 7th day. God
created the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. They had “Free
Will” to obey or disobey God. They choose to reject God’s command
and listen to Satan, a fallen angel. By rejecting God’s command,
humanity became fallen and corrupt. God however promised a Messiah who
would redeem man and restore him. (Genesis 3;15).
15 And I will put enmity
Between you (Satan) and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."
Genesis 3;15
Man’s corrupt nature caused God to bring an overall judgment on the
human race, causing a flood to kill both human and animal life.
Noah, his family and all the living animals that entered the arc (the
boat Noah built) were spared from God’s judgment.
12
So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh
had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah,
"The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled
with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the
earth. Genesis 6:12-13
Everybody alive today is a descendent of Noah and his family.
Following the flood, The arc landed in the mountains of Ararat (Armenia),
in modern day Turkey, from there man as one tribe traveled to the lands
of the future Babylon,( Shunar, Summer). As one people, humanity
again began to rebel against God, building the tower of Babel, so God
caused a confusion in language between Noah’s descendents. This
confusion caused humanity to be dispersed over the earth forming the
different nations.
6
And the Lord said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have
one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they
propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 "Come, let Us go down
and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one
another's speech." 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from
there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the
city. Genesis 11:6-8
Abraham called
Abraham, a descendent of Shem, the second son of Noah, left Ur, a city
in Babylon, for Mt. Moriah (Jerusalem) at God’s instruction. God
promised Abraham, to make him into a great nation. Isaac,
Abraham’s son, had two sons Jacob and Esau. Jacob had 12 sons,
who would later become the nation of Israel. Jacob lived in the
land of current day Israel, but would live in Egypt for a time, before
being buried in Hebron with Abraham and Isaac. God’s covenant would be
transferred to Isaac and then to Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons who would
form the tribes of Israel.
His brothers
into Egypt sold Joseph, Jacob’s second youngest son. In Egypt, he
became prime minister. Famine struck the land of Canaan (Israel)
forcing his brothers to come to Egypt for food. There, they met their
brother who they sold as a slave years earlier. Joseph forgave
his brothers and they settled in the land of Egypt in an area known
as Goshen with Joseph.
Over the next 400-years, the descendents of Jacob multiplied. They
numbered over 1,000,000, and subsequently they became oppressed in the
land of Egypt, as slaves of a new Pharaoh. They cried out to God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for rescue, and God sent them Moses, a Hebrew
raised in Pharaoh’s house.
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Genesis
Job
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Moses to David: The
Tabernacle Period
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|
1450 B.C.
To
975 B.C.
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Moses, representing God to Pharaoh,
delivered plagues on Egypt, until Pharaoh freed the children of Israel
from captivity. Moses led the descendents of Jacob (Israel)
back toward the land of Canaan, the Promised Land. God
established the Mosaic Covenant with the Tabernacle,
as a picture of the coming redemption through the Messiah, who would
die for the sins of the world. (Hebrews 9, 10) The Messiah was God’s
sacrifice for our sins.
On the way, Israel rebelled against Moses and wanted to return to
Egypt. Because of rejecting God’s leadership, at the hand of Moses,
Israel wandered the wilderness of Sinai for 40-years until the
rebellious generation died.
11 Then the Lord said to Moses:
"How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not
believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?
Numbers 14:11
Joshua succeeded Moses, he lead Israel into Canaan. Israel
conquered and settled a portion of land and established a confederacy
of tribes after the 12 sons of Jacob. God ruled the tribes
through judges. Over the next 400-years, judges such as Samson, Gideon,
Jephthah, and Deborah would lead the tribes of
Israel against their enemies.
In the course of time, the people requested a king like the other
nations, and God gave them Saul as their first king in 1050 B.C.,
followed by David 1017 B.C.
David conquered the city of Jerusalem from the Jebusites, a Canaanite
tribe, making it the City of David. Through prophets, God
established David’s throne as an eternal throne later to be ruled by
his descendent, the Messiah, who would one day rule the
world with Jerusalem as the capital city of the earth.
12
"When your (David) days are fulfilled and you rest with your
fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your
body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 "He shall build a house
for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.16
"And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever
before you. Your throne shall be established forever." ' " 2
Samuel 7:12-13,16
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Exodus
Leviticus
Number
Deuter.
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
I & II Samuel
Psalms
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|
Solomon to the Captivity:
First Temple Period
|
|
975 B.C.
To
536 B.C.
|
Solomon, David’s son
succeeded his father as king over Israel. He was permitted to build the
Temple on Mt. Moriah, which later became known as Solomon’s
Temple. The Temple site was the same location, where
over 1000-years earlier, Solomon’s forefather Abraham was tested by God
(Genesis 22, I Kings 8)
After Solomon, Israel became a divided kingdom, the northern kingdom,
known as Israel (10-tribes) and the southern as Judah (Judah and
Benjamin).
Eventually Israel and Judah tuned away from the God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob and started worshipping the idols in the land of
Canaan, Baal, Ashtorah, Chemosh, etc. God warned
Israel through prophets, letting Israel know these practices would
result in their destruction. The people rejected the messages of
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Micah and others, and continued their idol
worship.
Using
God’s pronouncements on Israel and Judah’s apostasy, through the prophets,
the day of God’s salvation was proclaimed, the coming Messiah,
who would redeem the sins of the world.
13
Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and
extolled and be very high. 14 Just as many were astonished at you, So
His visage was marred more than any man, And His form more than the
sons of men; 15 So shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut
their mouths at Him; For what had not been told them they shall see,
And what they had not heard they shall consider. Isaiah 52:13-15
God responded by sending the armies of Assyria in 722 B.C. to take the
northern part of Israel captive to the lands of Assyria. In
586 B.C. the Babylonians, destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple
taking those left into Babylon for a period of 70 years. Among the
captives were the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel.
At the end of 70
years, the Persians defeated Babylon under Cyrus the Great,
he allowed the Jews to return to the land of Israel. Cyrus also
allowed the Jews to begin reconstruction of their Temple in 536 B.C.,
construction was completed in 516 B.C., exactly 70-years after the
Temple was destroyed.
The Temple like the Tabernacle was a picture of God’s redemption,
through the coming sacrifice of Messiah, who would atone for the sins
of the world.
9
And they made His grave with the wicked-But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. 10
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When
You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall
prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His
hand. 11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By
His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall
bear their iniquities. Isaiah 53:9-11
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Ecclesiastes
Proverbs
I & II Kings
I & II
Chron.
Isaiah
Amos
Hosea
Micah
Jonah
Joel
Jeremiah
Lam.
Ezekiel
Daniel
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Zerubabel to Jesus; 2nd Temple
Period,
Inter-Testament Period
|
|
536 B.C.
To
4 B.C.
|
In Babylon, Israel was humbled becoming servants of the Babylonians.
However, in Babylon God raised prophets like Daniel who became the
prime minister of Babylon under king Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel
chapters 1-4). Through Daniel, God revealed his plans for Israel and
the world, and the coming of His Messiah. Giving the
exact month, year and day of Messiah’s death (Daniel
9;24-27)
"And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off,
but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall
destroy the city and the sanctuary. Daniel 9:26a
In 539 B.C. Cyrus the Great, head of a Persian-Median kingdom defeated
Babylon. He allowed the Jews to return to the land of Israel and
rebuild their Temple. In 516 B.C., seventy years after the Temple
was destroyed, the Second Temple was completed.
During this period, God spoke through the prophets, Zechariah, Haggai,
and Malachi to encourage Israel about the coming plan
of redemption through the Messiah. Malachi was the
last prophet of the age, writing about 425 B.C.
1
"Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before
Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even
the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is
coming," Says the Lord of hosts. 2 "But who can endure the
day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a
refiner's fire And like launderer's soap. Malachi 3:1-2
Inter-Testament Period
Malachi wrote during the period of the Persian control of Jerusalem,
less then 100-years later, the Persians were defeated by the rising
power to the west, the Grecian kingdom led by Alexander the
Great. In 331 B.C., Alexander defeated Persian control of
Judea.
Alexander allowed the Jews to maintain their worship and sacrifice as
he went on to fight Persia in the east. In 323 B.C., Alexander
the Great died in city of Babylon, and his kingdom was divided between
his four generals.
Two
of his generals, Seleucid and Ptolemy and
their descendents, would fight over the land of Jerusalem and
Judah for the next 200-years. Then in 168 B.C. Antiochus
Epiphanes decided to unify his Seleucid Greek Kingdom, under
the Greek religion, meaning the Jewish faith was to be
eliminated. This caused a Jewish revolt known as the Maccabean
War, which ended in the creation of an independent Jewish Kingdom
for about 100-years, and the celebration of Hanukah.
The
kingdom came to an end when, two brothers Aristobulus IIand Hyrcanus
II requested Romans help to settle their dispute. Pompey the
Roman general stepped in, conquered Jerusalem and established Roman
control over Judah in 63 B.C.
Later Herod the Great, a friend of Rome, was installed on
the Jewish throne until his death in 4 B.C., establishing the Herodian
dynasty in Judea/Palestine.
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Haggai
Zechariah
Ester
Ezra
Nehemiah
Malachi
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|
New Testament Period
|
|
4 B.C.
To
A.D. 95
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The New Testament
records the life, teachings and commands of Jesus Christ and His
church. Jesus fulfilled the prophecies regarding the suffering
Messiah, in the Old Testament. The Messiah, would suffer for the
sins of the world, paying the penalty of sin, as foreshadowed in the
Mosaic Covenant. (Hebrew 9,10)
Two portraits of Messiah
emerge in the Old Testament, one is the picture of a “Righteous”
suffering Servant, who dies for the sins of the world (Isaiah
53). The other is King Messiah who rules over the earth (Psalm
2). The death of Jesus in A.D. 33, fulfilled the prophecies
regarding the suffering servant. At His Second Coming, he will
fulfill the prophecies regarding King Messiah, who reigns over the
earth.
His death brought
redemption to humanity, and the mission of the church was to proclaim
salvation and redemption to the fallen world. The Gospels were
the written record of the life and teachings of Jesus the Messiah.
The Acts of the Apostles record the history
of the early church and its establishment in the Gentile nations.
The Epistles record the teachings of the apostles and instructions to
the church. The book of Revelation records Christ’s instructions
to the church, events leading to the return of Christ and the eternal
state of humanity. Revelation completes the picture of Genesis, which
records the beginning; Revelation reveals the end of all things.
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Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Epistles
Revelation
|
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Early Church Period
|
|
95 A.D.
To
325 A.D.
|
As recorded in the book of Acts, the church
began to spread throughout the Roman world. The spread of the
church caused many to turn from their Greek and Roman gods and
goddess. An early example of their success is illustrated
in Acts 19 as the men of Ephesus become alarmed at their loss of
goddess business.
24
For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver
shrines of Diana, brought no small profit to the craftsmen. 25 He
called them together with the workers of similar occupation, and said:
"Men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade. 26
"Moreover you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but
throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away
many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands.
27 "So not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into
disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be
despised and her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world
worship." 28 Now when they heard this, they were full of wrath and
cried out, saying, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!"
Acts 19:24-28 a @ 51-52 A.D.
The spread of Christianity caused
greater persecution, John one of the last remaining disciples was the
bishop of Ephesus, when he was exiled to Patmos during the persecution
of Domitian. On Patmos, John received the Revelation
of Jesus Christ, a letter to the seven churches foretelling a
period of persecution and apostasy within some of the churches.
Jesus however declared the events leading to the Second Coming, and the
eternal state of humanity despite the persecution and apostasy.
After John there were
periods of persecution where Roman officials sent Christians to the
arena to be torn apart by lions and burned copies of the
scriptures. This persecution reached a climax during the reigns
of Diocletian 303-305 and Galerius in
303-311 A.D.
In
312 A.D., Constantine came to power, after the Battle of
Milvian Bridge, seeing a vision of the cross, he later proclaimed
himself a Christian, and issued the Edict of Milan ending
legalized persecution of Christians.
Thus Christianity became established as the
religion of the Roman Empire by the beginning of the fourth century.
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[1] The term Messiah,
comes from the Hebrew word, xyXm Mashiyach meaning anointed, or
chosen. This term applied to kings and priest, however scripture
points to an ultimate Messiah, who would rule the nations for eternity
(Isaiah 9:6-7, Psalm 2). The Greek word for Messiah is Christ, hence
Jesus Christ refers to Jesus the Messiah.
[2] Malachi was the last
book of the Old Testament chronologically, written about 425 B.C.
[3] Revelation was the
last book of the New Testament, both chronologically and by order,
written during the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian about A.D.
95
[4] The Mosaic-Covenant
was the agreement God made with the descendents of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, after they left Egypt. God established the sacrificial system to
atone for sins.
[5] The
Abrahamic-Covenant was the agreement God made with Abraham, which
stipulated God’s blessing on Abraham and his descendents, and that
through him the nations of the earth would be blessed.
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