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The Bible is a unit. That is to say it tells a story from beginning to end. The “story” is God’s redemptive plan for the Heavens and the Earth. Each book of the Bible plays a part in helping us to understand God’s plans and purposes as they are related to His redemptive plan. The very first verse in the Bible gives us a hint that God’s Word concerns itself with both the Heavens as well as the Earth. We will find that the overwhelming majority of the Bible focuses on the Earth and God’s channel of blessing for the Earth; Israel. From the call of Abram through the end of the Acts Period, God works with and through Israel to reach the nations. It is not until Israel is set aside for her unfaithfulness with the end of the Acts Period, that God reveals his plan for the redemption of the heavens. In Ephesians, we are told that this plan was a “mystery” or secret which had been hid in God "from the foundation of the world" (Eph 3:9). That is, it was not revealed anywhere in Scripture prior to the revelation given to Paul (Eph. 3:3). This plan is being carried out today in and through "the Church which is His Body" (Eph 1:22-23). As we study Scripture will want to keep in mind that God’s Word is a revelation of His great plan of redemption. This will help us see the Bible as a unit. As we study, there will be many additional points of interest but we will concern ourselves primarily with this one goal – understanding God’s redemptive plan for the earth and for the heavens. The following six headings are one way of helping use view the Bible at a very high level.
Genesis chapters 1 and 2 address the controversial topic of origins. Was there an intelligent Creator or did the universe and all living things come into existence by a series of accidents? The Bible does not attempt to prove that God exist. It presupposes His existence and that He was the Creative Agent that brought into existence the universe[1] and all that it contains. Since the Bible assumes that God created everything in the universe, it does not attempt to prove what it takes to be a fact. For this reason, many details are left out of the creation story. This does not mean, however, that Scripture does not provide us with some of the particulars of the creative event. What we want to understand from this section of the Bible is that when God created the universe it was without blemish or defect. There was no sin. Everything functioned perfectly and in harmony with God’s will. But at some point in eternity past, an angelic rebellion took place and sin was introduced into the cosmos. Genesis 1:2 seems to indicate that after God had created the heavens and the earth the earth became desolate and uninhabitable for some reason. Second Peter 3:6 tells us that the cosmos perished when it was flooded with water. Many believe that this was the result of Lucifer’s rebellion. Genesis 1:3-2:3, describes how God restored “the present heavens and the earth” (2Pet. 3:7)[2]. In Genesis 1:26-27, we are told that God created Adam in his image and in his likeness. God gave man the responsibility for caring for and guarding over the garden wherein was the Tree of Life (Gen 2:15). But Satan convinced Adam to disobey God and man became a fallen creature. |
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Genesis chapter 3 is very important to understanding the need for a redemptive plan. Working through his wife Eve, Satan deceived Adam and, contrary to the command of God, Adam partook of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We do not know exactly what this tree was. What we do know is that having partaken of the fruit of the tree God was forced to drive Adam and Eve from the garden and from access to the Tree of Life. Without access to the Tree of Life, Adam and Eve were subject to death. But God had a plan that would restore man’s access to eternal life. God reveals this plan in a very important verse in Genesis 3. That verse is Genesis 3:15. In this verse God explains that Satan and man will be enemies. Then he says something very strange. He says that Eve and Satan will be enemies; that the woman’s seed and Satan’s seed will have a fixed rooted hatred or “enmity” for one another. As we study the book of Genesis we will notice that this hostility will be a reoccurring theme. |
Figure 1. The Seed
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Also, we will find that God will take an active part in preserving and protecting “the seed of the woman” until “the fulness of the time came, [and] God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law…” Figure 1 below traces “the seed of the woman;” the serpent’s enemy, through the Bible. Genesis 4 through 11 records nearly 2000 years of human history. It is a time characterized by murder, wickedness, rebellion towards God. The seed of the serpent will wage all-out war on the seed of the woman. Satan will attempt to pollute the human bloodline so that promise of “The Seed” could not become a reality. The Jewish historian Josephus says, “Nay, even while Adam was alive, it came to pass that the posterity of Cain became exceeding wicked, every one successively dying, one after another, more wicked than the former. They were intolerable in war, and vehement in robberies; and if anyone were slow to murder people, yet was he bold in his profligate behavior, in acting unjustly, and doing injuries for gain.”[3] John tells us that Cain “was of that wicked one” (1John 3:12). In Romans 1:18-32, Paul describes the population of the Gentile world at this time in human history as “being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful.” |
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He says that because, “they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up…” at which point God initiates a new program. He no longer deals with the nations but with “the nation.” In the last six verses of Genesis 11, an individual through whom the nation of Israel will eventually emerge is introduced. His name is Abram. It is approximately 1,950 years before Christ will be born in Judea. He is lives in a city call Ur in the land of the Chaldees which traditionally believed to have been located in southern Mesopotamia along the Euphrates River near the Persian Gulf. Abram’s father was named Terah and he had two brothers, Nahor and Haran (Gen 11:26). After moving from Ur to Canaan, God makes an important covenant with Abram who will later be renamed Abraham meaning “father of many nations.” |
Figure 2. The Ancient Near East 1800 to 1400 B. C. |
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In this covenant, God promises Abraham that he will become the father of a great nation and through him all nations of the earth will be blessed (Gen 12:1-3). He promises to give his descendants, “all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.” Sarari would give birth to Isaac, whose son Jacob would have twelve sons who would become the nation of Israel. This nation was to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:6). It was through this nation that “The Seed” (Gal. 3:16) who was to crush the Serpent’s head would come. This “Seed” would be Israel’s Messiah; the Anointed One. By the first century, it was understood by the masses in Israel that He would led them from their subjugation to Rome into a glorious revived Davidic Kingdom – “the Kingdom of God.” But when He came, He came as “Messiah Ben Joseph;” the Suffering Messiah. This was not what they expected. They expected “Messiah Ben David” who would conquer their enemies and lead them into their rightful position “above all nations” (Deut. 26:19, 28:1). Instead, He came to “suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day” (Luke 9:22). This was necessary to purchase Israel’s New Covenant (Mat. 26:28) and redemption for all mankind (Eph. 1:7). Throughout the Acts Period; for nearly forty years, God reaches out to Israel’s leadership. If only they would believe, their long hoped for “Messiah Ben David” would come “in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Mat 24:30). But they refused. And so God set them aside to begin a new program. From Genesis 12 through the end of the book of Acts and the revelation of “The Mystery” in the letter to the Ephesians, the Bible will concern itself with the nation of Israel and God’s plan for the Earth. |
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In the last chapter of the book of Acts, Paul is under house arrest in Rome awaiting a trial before Caesar Nero[4], Emperor of Rome. He is bound in chains “for the hope of Israel” (Acts 28:20). Upon his request, many of the cities’ Jewish leaders came “into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening” (Acts 28:23). When they refused to believe that Jesus was the risen Messiah, Paul quoted from Isaiah 6:9-10: “Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” Acts 28:26-27) Israel had seen and heard but they did not understand and did not perceive because they had stubborn hearts; their ears were stopped up, and their eyes are covered. He then declared that, “the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and…they will hear it.” This statement must be understood in the context of Romans 11 where we are told that during the Acts Period, the Gentiles we being crafted into “the root and fatness of the olive tree (Israel)” (Rom 11:17) in order to provoke Israel to jealousy (Rom 10:19, 11:11). For two more years Paul remained under house arrest and continued preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, without interference from the Roman authorities (Act 28:30-31). These two years would take Biblical history up through about 64AD. At the end of the Acts Periods, God revealed to Paul that Israel and their Earthly program were being set aside. God would no longer deal with them as a peculiar nation above all people (Exo. 19:5). Their program was set aside but not done away with! God will reinstate Israel’s program at some point in the future but with the setting aside of that program a new program, “which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God” (Eph. 3:9) was implemented. This program had not been revealed in Scripture. Paul could not have persuaded anyone concerning the Mystery in Ephesians,” both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets” because it had been hidden from eternity past and kept secret. Paul says that it was revealed to him that in this present dispensation, the nations were “to be joint-heirs, and a joint-body and joint-sharers of His promise in Christ through the gospel” (Eph. 3:6, ASV). Israel is no longer “above all people.” In this current dispensation all are on an equal footing, no member has ascendancy over another. All have access to God. There are no priests. No covenants. No ordinances. All of these are associated with Israel and Israel’s program. The “one new man” is a new creation with a new hope, a new inheritance, a new calling. In this dispensation, the Church which is His Body is “of his flesh and of his bones” (Eph 5:30) with Christ Jesus as its Head. |
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The believers of all ages will be resurrected to eternal life – some to will enjoy life here on the earth, others will have their part in God’s plans and purposes in Heavenly Places. For one thousand years, Israel will enjoy peace. At the end of the thousand years, Satan will be loosed to once again torment men but in the end he will be destroyed. The second resurrection then takes place. All of the dead will be resurrected and judged. Those whose name is not found in the Book of Life will be forever destroyed. Finally, God creates a new heaven and a new earth. The New Jerusalem will come down from heaven to hover like a satellite over the land given to Israel. The Creation will be at peace. There will be no more death. God’s present plans and purposes for the heavens and the earth will have been realized. |
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| Allen [2] Young’s Literal Translation [3] Antiquities of the Jews, Book 1, Chap. 2 [4] Nero was Emperor of Rome from October 13, 54 AD through June 11, 68 AD |
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