Over the next couple of months we are going to walk through the timeline of biblical events. Our goal undoing this is to not only get you familiar with the events and when they happened in context, but to also reveal the overall reason for each of the events. The Bible can feel like a maze of different books with different topics, written in different styles. But it is really a master overview of God’s plan...for man...and His other created beings. The themes and literary styles in the Bible are there for a purpose. They are for our benefit, so we can understand what God wants, what His plan is to get what He wants, and what our role is in that plan. So what does God want? God wants a family. He has always wanted a family to dwell with. He wants both a spiritual family which He has through the angels and other Elohim He created, and a human family, which He has through us.
God originally created man to be in both the physical and spiritual realms. His point in filling us with His spirit is so that we can operate in both the physical earth and at the same time the spiritual realm. If God wants a family, what does God’s enemy want? He wants to prevent God from having a family. This is the main theme of the Bible. It’s the story of God defeating His enemies and getting what He wants. You can think about it like a cosmic chess match. We already know who wins, but we are shown the moves God makes, and the moves His enemy makes through the Bible. God is always 10 moves ahead and is never caught off guard. This match has been going on a long time and it will continue as long as God allows it. When you study the Bible through this lens, it makes all of the seemingly separate, unconnected stories, completely tie together and make sense as a full picture.
If we read the Bible as separate events, we won’t see how those events go together to create an overall picture. It’s like looking at a bunch of pieces of a puzzle and trying to put them together without ever looking at the picture on the front of the puzzle box.
The bible as a whole shows us the picture God wants us to put together. That’s why I talk about context so much. All the books and chapters of the Bible are needed, because they work together to show you how it’s supposed to look in the end.
Have you ever worked on a puzzle?
Do you remember having that one piece that just didn’t seem to fit anywhere? The shape is wrong, but the color is right. You keep trying to fit the piece into a section with the same color,
but what you have to realize is that it doesn’t belong there. It actually fits into an entirely different section, and is for the purpose of having a tiny bit of that color in a different area of the overall picture.
The strange parts of the Bible that you can’t seem to understand are like those pieces. They don’t seem to fit where you think they should. But once you see where they fit, it makes perfect sense and you can’t believe you missed it for so long.
The bible of course is not just one book, but 66 books written by dozens of authors over thousands of years, gathered into one overall message. It has various writing styles and means of communication. There is narrative, poetry and prose discourse. Yet despite the variety the end result is a single, consistent, un- contradictory message. A narrative style is used for 43% of the Bible. Narrative is just storytelling and it’s the most universal form of communication. The next most used style is poetry. Poetry makes up 33% of the biblical text. Poetry speaks through the use of creative language. It uses metaphors to evoke emotion and imagination. And lastly prose discourse makes up the last 24%. Prose discourse is basically speeches, letters or essays that create an idea or movement of thought. That thought leads to a logical conclusion. It’s a means of persuasion, in order to support a position or idea. Let me now walk you through what we are going to dig into over the next couple of months.
Week 1. Overview of the timeline.
Creation to re-creation. That is what we are doing today.
Week 2. A study of creation.
Genesis 1:1 “1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”
If you want to know what the end will be like, just look at the beginning. The end will be like the beginning. The six days of creation. Is there a gap between genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2? Did God use a process of evolution or were the creation days literal 24 hour days? How do we reconcile modern science with the Biblical account? Hey, where did the dinosaurs go?
Week 3. The Garden and the Rebellion of Satan and man.
Genesis 3:1 “1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.”
The garden of Eden, God’s dwelling place on earth is where the rebellion story of man begins. Eden, the place where heaven and earth came together. What was Satan doing in the garden...what was his role there before he rebelled? The seed prophecy that set the chess match up. Satan makes his first move immediately and tries to stop the prophecy by getting Cain to kill Abel. Spiritual warfare.
Week 4. The Genealogy Adam to Noah in Genesis 5.
Genesis 5:1-2 “1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness ofGod. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.”
Why does God bore us with a genealogy so close to the beginning of the Bible? What is really being communicated? Why are some guys more famous than others? What do their names mean? Did the gospel exist before Jesus’s incarnation? Spiritual warfare.
Week 5. The Flood and the Watchers, a second rebellion.
Genesis 6:13 “13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”
Why did God decide to destroy mankind with a flood? Was it really all that bad, and He had no other choice? What did angels and giants have to do with it? Satan’s move and God’s counter move. Spiritual warfare.
Week 6. The Tower of Babel and a third rebellion.
Genesis 11:5-6 “5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 Andthe Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.”
What was so bad about building a city and a large tower? How many believers existed at that time? God changes human languages...but not forever. God then spreads mankind across the earth...and puts rulers over them. Satan moves and God counters. Spiritual warfare.
Week 7. God calls Abraham.
Genesis 12:1-3 “1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that
I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Abraham was to begin God’s nation in order to restore the rebellious nations that He scattered. From this point forward, God is making moves and Satan has to try and counter to postpone his ultimate defeat. Spiritual warfare. (God lets Abraham know why they’ll go to Egypt, gives the enemy time to prepare.)
Week 8. God calls Moses.
Exodus 3:1-2 “1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father- in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.”
God calls Moses to go get His people out of Egypt. From a prince to a shepherd. Moses is a hesitant leader, despite being raised in the king’s house. God had equipped the man He chose for the task. He would need both his experience as a prince and a shepherd to do this job.
Week 9. The plagues and Israel leaves Egypt.
Exodus 12:30-32 “30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. 31 Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the
people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you havesaid. 32 Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!” Moses confronts Pharaoh, The plagues and the exodus. The plagues were spiritual warfare on the gods of Egypt.
Week 10. God delivers the 10 Commandments.
Exodus 20:1-3 “1 And God spoke all these words, saying,2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.”Israel is to be set apart from the other nations that worshipped the other elohim. They are to worship Him only. Preserving the line that would produce the Messiah.
Week 11. The Judges, the Kings and the Prophets.
Judges 17:6 :6 In those days there was no king inIsrael. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” 1 Samuel 8:4 “4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”Everyone did what was right in their own eyes...(repeated, not a compliment) Give us what we want...now save us from what we wanted. We hate these prophet guys, they keep telling us we can’t do whatever is right in our own eyes. God narrows the
scope of the lineage to Jesus, Satan therefore narrows his attack. Move, counter-move, spiritual warfare. Timeline Graphic 3
Week 12. Jesus and the Gospels.
John 1:1-5 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
After 400 years of waiting between the Old and New Testament, the Messiah arrives. But He doesn’t do what they wanted Him to do. He went around teaching some dangerous new ideas. He was doing spiritual warfare and the darkness could not and cannot overcome it.
Week 13. The Church, an offensive weapon.
Matthew 16:18-20 “18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed[d] in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.”
This was the proclamation that Jesus would build his governing body and occupying force, on the very spot that represented the rebellion of God's enemies. It began as an undercover mission.
Week 14. Acts of the Apostles.
Acts 2:1-4 “1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
Who let the gentiles in? What is the Day of Pentecost? Isn’t that just speaking in tongues? Lev 23- loaves with leaven in an offering to God? Joel 2 - abstractly ties this feast to the spirit of God poured out on all flesh. Acts 2: first christian sermon ever preached Peter quotes Joel 2 declaring the feast of weeks is fulfilled in their sight.Satan moves right in to destroy, divide, and pervert the emerging church. Queue 1500 years of persecution and the dark ages.
Week 15. Where did everyone go?
Luke 16:22-23 “22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.”
Where are all the people who have passed on? Before Jesus was there more than just heaven and hell? And now after Jesus is there more than just heaven and hell? What does the Bible mean when it talks about shehol, hades, tartarus, hell, the lake of fire, paradise, Abraham’s bosom, and heaven?
Week 16. The Letters to the Churches.
Revelation 3:22 “22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
In Revelation we see the 7 letters to the seven churches. What did they mean to that church in that time, and what do they mean to us today? Was there a broader message Jesus was trying to tell his bride?
Week 17. The End Times Overview.Revelation 4:1 “1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” This will be the order of events for the end times. At least as much as we can tell by the scriptures. We will discuss all the crazy stuff that the book of revelation says will happen, but can’t say exactly when those things will happen.
Does that seem like enough? This is the path we will take for at least the next four months. But again why are we going to make sure we as the leadership at FUEL cover all these topics that range from the beginning to the end of the Bible? If I never see you again, I am charged with not shrinking away from the whole counsel of God’s word.
Acts 20:25-27 “25 And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am
innocent of the blood of all, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” I have to teach you all the Bible in order to be innocent of your blood when I come to the judgment of God. So the truth is that I’m doing it as much for me as I am for you. Let’s read on.
Acts 20:28 “28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
All the elders here are required to be teachers, because we are all responsible as overseers of this flock. That’s all well and good for the leadership, but why do you need to learn it? The reason that you need to learn this stuff is in the next two verses.
Acts 20:29 “29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.” This is a stern warning to everyone. Be aware that people will come in here who will try to lead us away into false teaching.
Even if you are here among us now, but don’t understand this stuff...you don’t know what Jesus is saying in the Word. You could easily be led into and lead others into false doctrine. The passage ends like this.
Acts 20:30-31 “31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. 32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
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