The Biblical Story of God, Man, Sin, and Redemption Genesis to Revelation

August 29, 2025

by Dennis Christian

(As drawn from the pages of Holy Scripture)

Table of Contents

Part 1 – Overview
Before Creation
God’s decision to create man
God’s purpose required man to be made in His image
The foreseen sin of man an obstacle to God’s purpose for creating him
God’s predetermined solution (the Cross) to the obstacle

Part 2 – Creation
Creation’s beginning:
Creation completes with the addition of man
Possible interpretations

Part 3 – After creation – the first humans
God’s purposes for creation were ready to be fulfilled:
The commandment, which exposed mankind’s vulnerability to sin, Adam and Eve (the Fall):
Paul’s exposition on the Law from Romans 7:
Sin’s impact on creation, mankind:
Paul’s exposition on the Fall from Romans 5 and 8

Part 4 – God’s predetermined plan to rescue sinful man begins, unfolding over time
God’s love for Adam and Eve (mankind) despite their sin
God wants to walk with man, but few will
Enoch, a descendant of Adam’s son Seth, was one of the few.
God’s grief over mankind’s rampant sin
Noah and the Flood
God selects a family, which will become a nation, through whom the Messiah will come:
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: God’s chosen people Israel
Joseph a type of the Future Messiah
Israel grows to the size of a nation
Moses and the Exodus, Moses and the Law
Joshua leads the Hebrews into the promised land (Canaan)
The Battle of Jericho
Canaan is divided among the twelve tribes of Israel
Israel ruled by Judges
Saul becomes the first king of Israel
David, slayer of Goliath then becoming a mighty king
Solomon and the peak of Israel’s earthly strength, wealth, and glory
Israel’s failures, but God’s faithfulness

Part 5 – Jesus (the Messiah) comes:
The ministry of Jesus
The Cross – His primary purpose for coming
What the cross did for mankind
How the cross did it
God’s purpose for creating mankind and His purpose for mankind restored for believers
God’s fulfillment of promises to both Jew and gentile – united now as one people, the principal role of His chosen people fulfilled

Part 6 – Jesus’ future 2nd coming and the end times
Uncertainties of the end time events
The rapture and great tribulation
The Day of the Lord
The Millenium
The Battle of Armageddon
Judgment
The end state(s) of mankind and all creation

 

Part 1

Overview: The Biblical account of God and His creation of the world and mankind in the book of Genesis was given to us by Moses, who was directed by the Spirit of God. In it, God reveals the goodness of creation, the role of mankind, God’s sovereignty, man’s disobedience (the first sin) and its corruption of creation because sin entered it, the consequences for man, and God’s ongoing and future dealings with sinful man. His dealings include (1) His promise to rescue man through a Savior who would come through a people whom God would choose, and (2) the fulfillment of the promise by choosing Israel as the chosen people and in sending Jesus Christ as the Savior of mankind. Paul expounds and explains this in detail in Romans. The Genesis account and Paul’s expounding of it will be woven together with the intention that God’s salvation for mankind will be made clearer and easier to understand and believe. Since man sins at the beginning of the Bible, the rest of scripture is connected to God’s unfolding rescue plan until the end of time.

Before Creation (Based on God’s character and Biblical truths revealed in scripture)

Did you ever stop to think why God created our world and us? What is His purpose for creation? What is His purpose for creating us humans? What does God want us to see as our purpose? These are existential questions we may not have the perfect answers for, but because we know God’s character from scripture, we can surmise what the answers to the questions would likely be.

What could the purpose of creation have been absent mankind? This is hypothetical since mankind does exist, but the vastness of the universe, the unimaginable energy it took to make it, the extensive and complex laws of nature, the boundless creativity of plant and animal life alone testify to God’s omnipotence, omniscience, and eternal nature, to His glory if you will. But one has to ask who was God testifying His glory to if not for mankind? There is no other god or being like Him. Perhaps the angels, but I believe He had more in mind. I believe He wanted to make physical mankind, and He created a physical world in which mankind could live.  For certain, God did not need to make mankind; after all, we cost Him the cross. He wanted to make mankind. But why?

God’s decision to create man, His purpose for doing it, and the purpose of mankind (Every one of us)

The Bible is a record of mankind’s relationship with God. God did not just create us and then stand back and watch. Relationship is the key I believe in understanding God’s purpose for making us. John 3:16 testifies to God’s great love for us, and His first and greatest of the Ten Commandments for us is to love Him back with all that is within us. A mutual loving relationship is what God wants with mankind, with each one of us. This spells out both God’s purpose for creating us and our primary purpose in life. Of course, God also charged mankind to populate the earth, to love our fellow man, and to be a steward of all living things. This leads to realizing the important characteristics mankind must have.

God’s purpose for man required man to be made in His image

In Genesis, God said, ”Let us make man in our image.”  What does it mean to be made in God’s image? These characteristics are the ones that make us in His image:

  • Intelligence: This implies self-awareness, ability to reason, discernment, prudence, and ability of language
  • Emotions: Both positive (love, compassion, caring, humor, forgiveness, etc.) and negative emotions (grief, sadness, righteous indignation, disappointment)
  • A conscience, or the ability to know right from wrong, and that we ought to do the right.
  • An appreciation of beauty: God’s creation is a testimony to His appreciation for beauty appealing to each of our senses: – sunsets, rainbows, and flowers; beautiful music, wonderful aromas, sensuous foods, something soft to the touch.
  • Free will: Freedom to make our own choices, whether good or bad. However, our freedom is limited by our capabilities. The relationship God desires cannot be forced; it has to be voluntary, and that required free will.

The foreseen sin of man an obstacle to God’s purpose for creating him

Though God would call His creation including mankind “very good”, He never-the-less could see in His foresight that mankind with his free will would be vulnerable to the temptation to sin, and all would end up sinners. Since God hates sin and is too pure to even look upon it, man’s sin would be an obstacle to the mutual loving relationship. A way was needed for God to see man as righteous so the desired relationship could happen.

God’s predetermined solution (the Cross) to the obstacle

God chose how He would solve this problem before ever initiating creation. He based His solution on a principle that Jesus would one day share with mankind – the principle of “no greater love.” Here is what Jesus said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

God chose to use this principle to demonstrate the greatest possible love for mankind by laying down His life for them. He would take the punishment for sin due all mankind on Himself. Scripture says that God (the Son) did indeed suffer and die on the cross, even becoming sin, that we could become the righteousness of God. That’s how He could see us as righteous rather than as sinners.

But God is an eternal being and cannot die. He would have to become one of us to do that. Therefore, at the appropriate point in human history, He would enter His creation as a person, who would be both God and man. He would live a sin-free life then lay down His life along with enduring the suffering leading up to it. Sovereign God would deem that this act of love on behalf of mankind would erase or cancel out all of mankind’s sin, close the separation gap, and make possible the relationship He desired with them. God would remain just because His saving act was based on His “no greater love” principle permitting one to die for another. This act of God would make possible the healing and forgiveness of each person’s sin and each person seen by God as righteous – the righteousness of God Himself imparted to us. Forgiveness would be by grace – a gift from God – not anything the person could earn through good works. On each person’s part, they would have to have faith in God and His loving provision – not with the attitude that this let him off the hook and they could sin all they wanted, but with the attitude of acknowledging their sin and being repentant for it. The moment one repents and trusts in what God had done for them, they are renewed – born again as Jesus would say. Indwelled by God’s Spirit and with a new desire to please God out of gratitude for God’s great love for them.

That leads to the question “What does it please God for us to be doing in addition to having the loving relationship with Him?” The Bible is clear – there are things God wants His believers to be doing both corporately and individually on earth so that God’s will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Corporately, we are to assemble in local churches to worship our Lord and to organize and carry out God’s work of evangelizing and discipling our world beginning with our neighbors and extending to our cities, states, country, and the world. Individually, we are to: study and learn God’s word, have a daily quiet time with God, tell others about Jesus, be salt and light to your fellow man, abstain from every form of sin, be kind and considerate helping others in need, love others as much as yourself, live by the golden rule, do your occupation as unto the Lord – as if He were your boss, be a good steward of the earth, and be a good citizen of your country.

This was God’s plan to reconcile sinful mankind to Himself, have the mutual, loving relationship He desired, and have His kingdom come to earth through Jesus’ coming, through the indwelling Spirit in every believer, and through the impact of salt and light of believers on the rest of human kind.

Part 2

Creation: Let me start by acknowledging that believers do not all agree on how to interpret the Genesis account of creation. Some take it very literally and believe they would be denying the inerrancy of scripture if they did not do so. Others take into consideration observations or evidence from studying the created world when interpreting the Genesis account. As an example of their differences, the former group believe all creation was completed in six twenty-four hour days while the latter group believe scientific evidence shows creation began some 13 to 14 billion years ago and wasn’t completed until man appeared on the earth about 300 thousand years ago. Proponents of each group are sincerely motivated with good – the former motivated by defending the accuracy of scripture and the latter by defending the evidence from God’s other book – the observable universe. So, rather than focusing on their differences, let’s focus on their common points. These are that it was God who created the universe and us, and that He did it in a certain order. Now, let’s look at the Genesis account.

Creation’s beginning: Genesis 1 depicts God’s creation of the physical world in 6 days in this order: Days 1, 2, and 4 – the heavens (the sun, moon and stars), and the earth, Day 3 -the oceans, land masses, and plant life, Day 5 – birds and marine life, and Day 6 – land animals and man.

Creation completes with the addition of man, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. Genesis 1:31.

“And God rested on the seventh day.”

Possible interpretations:

o Creation completed in literally six 24-hour days

– Rationale for six 24-hour days: Proponents argue that there is no reason not to take the days as 24-hour days; the Bible is to be taken literally unless it is clearly a passage meant to be taken symbolically or metaphorically

– Based on scripture, the age of the universe and earth is claimed to be 6000 to 12,000 years: Proponents of the 24-hour day use the Genisis events and lives of the people to calculate the age of the earth.

– This view believes that how God created was through simple, authoritative commands and denies scientific evidence regarding the age of the universe.

o Creation took much longer based on scientific evidence (To God “a day is as 1000 years” (2 Peter 3:8-9); the six days are to be taken as six sequential steps in the creation process, and the Genesis account cannot mean 24-hour days.

– “A day is as 1000 years”: This does not mean a literal 1000 years but an indefinitely long period of time, which could be any length. The point is that God is outside of time, so if science proves it took much longer to create the universe, earth, life, and mankind, scripture has an explanation.

– This view believes God has two books – the Bible and creation. (Paul appeals to creation as evidence of God which implies the right and responsibility of man to study God’s creation. Romans 1:20) Both books reveal aspects of God. Both give us truth, and all truth is God’s truth.

– What does scientific evidence (not unproven theory) say is the age of the universe and the date of the first human’s appearance?

– Evidence (https://www.space.com/24054-how-old-is-the-universe.html) shows the universe began about 13 to 14 billion years ago

– Evidence (https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/when-did-homo-sapiens-first-appear) shows that mankind first appeared on earth about 300,000 years ago.

– This view believes God developed a myriad of life forms over time proceeding from simple to complex culminating in man’s anatomy, then added man’s soul to complete man’s creation.

– This view believes how God created was by using His limitless power and intellect, not by just simple commands which discount the power and intellect it took to create such a vast and complex world. God created matter from energy – the reverse of atomic power, which converts matter into energy. This view sees the big bang as the first moment of creation when God injected His energy to create the universe.

Creation Conclusion: Both views hold that God created the world and us. Now, let’s see what happened when man entered the scene. Next: Part 3 – After Creation

Part 3

After Creation – the first humans

  • God’s purposes for creation were ready to be fulfilled: God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and was ready to enjoy a caring, loving relationship with them. He had provided food for them in the garden – various fruit trees. God said they could eat from any of the trees except one.
  • The commandment, which exposed mankind’s sin, Adam and Eve (the Fall): Before the mutual loving relationship between God and man could get started, Adam and Eve[i] Satan through the serpent used God’s commandment (His law) to expose human vulnerability to sin. He tempted them to break God’s commandment not to eat from the forbidden tree. He pointed out how good the fruit of the tree looked and that surely their loving God would not cause them to die for eating it. He tempted them through their appetite and tempted them to doubt God’s word. The next day God confronted Adam and Eve, and they confessed they had disobeyed and eaten the forbidden fruit. From Genesis 3:1-13

Paul’s exposition on the Law from Romans 7: Paul expounds on the truth that the Law (God’s commandments) exposes sinfulness. He argues that without the Law there is no violation. While Paul is referring generally to the Law of Moses, the principle is the same for a single law or commandment. It was God’s commandment to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that exposed the vulnerability to sin in the first people – Adam and Eve. Paul says, “for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.” Romans 7:11 and, “ Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.” Romans 7:13. Theologian N. T. Wright adds, “When the Torah arrived in Israel, Israel acted out on a grand scale the sin of Adam and Eve in the garden.” “In Romans 5:12 to 8:4, Paul refers to sin as a power: it is sin on steroids.” “The commandment was given: in the garden it was “You shall not eat of the tree;” in the Torah, it was “You shall not covet.” In each case, sin seized on the commandment as its golden opportunity.” The Day the Revolution Began, pg 284

Comment:  Sin as a force? Evil? Yes! And who is behind evil? Satan and his forces, the tempting of Eve in the garden a clear example.

Sin’s impact on creation and mankind: Sin had now entered and tainted God’s “very good” creation, and the consequences were severe:

To the serpent God said, “Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life;
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall [d]bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.” Genesis 3:14-15

Comment: The serpent went from being a beautiful animal to lowly snake.

To the woman God said, “I will greatly multiply
Your pain [e]in childbirth,
In pain you will bring forth children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you.” Genesis 3:16

Comment: The woman had three consequences: pain in childbirth, desire for her husband, and submission to her husband.

And to Adam God said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;

Cursed is the ground because of you;
In [f]toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the [g]plants of the field;
19 By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:17-19

Comment: Adam’s sin resulted in four consequences: (1) The ground was cursed producing thorns and thistles and requiring man’s toil to grow food, (2) Adam (mankind) would have to work by the sweat of his brow to obtain food, (3) Adam (all mankind) would die, and (4) Access to the Garden of Eden and the tree of life was sealed off.

God also said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.” Genesis 3:22-24

Comment: This was an act of mercy to keep sinful man from eating from the tree of life and living forever in a sinful state.

Paul’s exposition on the Fall from Romans 5 and 8: In Romans 5, Paul is comparing and contrasting the effects of two men on humanity: Adam and Jesus.  In Romans 8, Paul expounds on the curse on creation resulting from Adam’s sin. Romans 5:12, 18b-19, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned, even so through one act of righteousness [n]there resulted justification of life to all men. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”

Comment 1: Just as sin began with one man Adam and spread to all mankind, righteousness for all mankind is available through one man Jesus Christ.

Comment 2: An important question arises here on which believers disagree: Was it an added consequence of the Fall that mankind from thence forward would be changed to have a greater propensity to sin? Many believers think so. That is, Adam and Eve did not have a such a vulnerability at first, only after they sinned, and it was a consequence of the Fall. I disagree. That consequence is not in the Genesis account of the consequences of the Fall. That Adam and Eve as created could and did sin meant they had the potential to sin from the beginning. Like us, they were susceptible to temptation and sin’s power, and the commandment gave Satan the opportunity to tempt them. God made them perfect and innocent and did not want them to sin. But because He gave them free will, they had the freedom to sin when tempted and they did.

So, I submit all of us are just like Adam and Eve as created. We inherit their created vulnerability to sin, and, like them, we become sinners when we commit our first sin. Adam and Eve are a picture of us all. That is Paul’s meaning in Romans 5:12 when he says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world [it started with the first one of us], and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” We sinned like Adam the first man did, and thus we die like Adam as a consequence of, not Adam’s sin, but our own sin.

Christians have termed man’s propensity to sin as his “sin nature”. But, is that the best term for our vulnerability to sin?  That term is not in scripture. Why would it not be? Because, if you believe as I that man as created had the vulnerability to sin and that an increased sin nature was not added as another consequence of the Fall, then if you say we were created with a sin nature, you are accusing God of being involved in our sin. That would be blasphemous. Though God gave the commandment that exposed man’s vulnerability to sin, God is not an author of sin. He made us innocent, but gave us free will. When we sin, it is our choice, not God’s. If God chose for us, we would not sin.  I’m not sure if we need a term for our propensity or vulnerability to sin, but “free-will vulnerability to sin (FWVS)” might fit.

Romans 8:18-23, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, [i]in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

Comment: This scripture is meant to give suffering Christians perspective about their sufferings. Like the groanings of creation itself, which are temporary, so are the sufferings of believers. Four times Paul refers to creation describing it as “anxiously longing”, “eagerly waiting”, “subjected to futility”, and “groaning and suffering the pains of childbirth.”

Most understand Paul as referring to the curse on the ground resulting from Adam’s sin. It could also be referring to the nature of the physical universe as we have come to understand it. Well before man was added to creation some 300,000 years ago, creation existed (scientific evidence showing God began creation approximately 13.8 billion years ago) and was a violent place with stars exploding and predatory animals killing and eating their prey.  By contrast, God’s future, new creation will be peaceful with the lion lying down by the lamb.

If Paul is referring to the curse of the Fall, then he is expounding on the nature of the Genesis curse. The straightforward reading of Genesis seems to say that Adam and all mankind to follow would have to cultivate, by the sweat of his brow, a ground now infected with thorns and thistles. Man’s easy life in the garden was over. Paul is expounding the curse description as creation now subjected to futility, groaning and anxiously waiting for the relief of the coming new creation. This is new information from God through Paul about the curse. Though Paul was likely alluding to the curse, the other explanation (that well before man existed creation was a violent place) is also true. Thus, I submit that creation’s suffering and groaning are due to both reasons – the nature of this present world from the beginning then added to by the curse of mankind’s sin.

Part 4

God’s predetermined plan to rescue sinful man begins, unfolding over time

God’s love for Adam and Eve despite their sin

God’s provision for them points toward Christ: “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21

Comment: The blood of an innocent animal was shed by God to make skins to clothe Adam and Eve. This looks forward to the shedding of innocent Christ’s blood to cover the sins of all mankind.

God wants to walk with man but few will: After they were removed from the garden, Adam and Eve began a family, and their descendants began populating the earth. Though God wanted to have a relationship with each one, sin became rampant among mankind. But a few did walk with God.

Enoch, a descendant of Adam’s son Seth, was one of the few. The Bible twice says he walked with God and then “he was not, for God took him.” One of only two persons we know of who went straight to God rather than dying.

God’s grief over mankind’s rampant sin: Man’s sin continued to multiply and got to the point where scripture says, “And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” Genesis 6:6. Though God had foreseen man’s sinfulness, when it came in full measure, the reality of it caused this emotion in God.

Noah: The Lord said, “I will blot out man from the face of the earth, …but Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”  “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time…and walked with God.” Genesis 6:8-9. So, God determined to destroy corrupt mankind by flooding the earth and had Noah build the Ark to save him and his family and to preserve the land animal species. Following the flood, Noah’s family began re-populating the earth and multiple nations were formed.

God selects a family, which will become a nation, through whom the Mesiah will come: God’s plan to rescue mankind by coming Himself as a man would start by choosing a people through whom He would come. God would grow them into a nation, and the world would know that this nation, this people were people who believed in the one true Creator God and the people whom God took care of.

  • Abrahamà Isaac à JacobàGod’s chosen people Israel

God initiated His people by calling Abram (later Abraham by name) to leave his homeland and go to a distant land which God would show him. Abraham, believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Abraham traveled south out of Ur of the Chaldees through Syria and Judea to Egypt and back to Judea. God made a promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations and that this promise would be fulfilled through a son he would have with wife Sarah.

That son was Isaac. Isaac had twin sons Esau born first then Jacob. God told Isaac’s wife Rebecca that Jacob would be son through which God’s promise of a Messiah would come. Jacob had twelve sons who became the twelve tribes of Israel. One son, Joseph, was sold by his brothers to Egypt as a slave because Jacob had shown favoritism toward Joseph and Joseph had shared dreams with his brothers that they would one day bow down to him. When famine hit the area, Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy grain.

  • Joseph a type of the Future Messiah

In Egypt the brothers discovered that Joseph had risen to be 2nd in command only to Pharoah and was in charge of the surplus grain storage. Because God had providentially arranged for Joseph to be in that position so he could save Jacob’s family from starvation, Joseph was like a type of Christ.

  • Israel grows to the size of a nation

So, Jacob and all his family and servants move to Egypt to live enjoying good treatment for a while but treated as slaves once Joseph had died and been forgotten. The Hebrews multiplied to become the size of a nation.

Moses and the Exodus, Moses and the Law: For 400 years Jacob’s descendants lived in Egypt, and their treatment as slaves became more and more unbearable. Moses, a Hebrew who had been raised in Pharoah’s household, was discovered to be a Hebrew and driven from the land.

  • Moses chosen by God to lead Israel out of Egyptian captivity: After Moses left Egypt, he ended up in Midian and served the family of Jethro. He married Jethro’s daughter Zipporah and tended livestock. One day he saw a strange light up on Mount Horeb (AKA Sinai) and went up to investigate. There he saw a bush burning but not being consumed. As he approached, God spoke to him out of the burning bush and told Moses he was to go back to Egypt and lead his people out of the land. So, Moses went back to Egypt and enlisted his brother Aaron’s help and went to Pharoah requesting repeatedly that he free the Hebrew slaves. Each time Pharoah resisted, God caused some miraculous catastrophe for the Egyptians. In some cases, it was Pharoah’s choice, but in other cases it was God hardening Pharoah’ heart. A result of the series of miraculous catastrophes is that the surrounding nations heard what was going on, and it testified to them that Israel’s God was the true God.

After the miraculous catastrophe that caused the first born of every household that did not sacrifice an animal and put its blood on the outside of the door to die, Pharoah finally told the Hebrews to leave. As they were leaving, Pharoah changed his mind and sent his army to kill the Hebrews, but God blocked Pharoah’s army with fire and parted the Red Sea so the Hebrews could cross. After the Hebrews got to the other side, God removed the fire blockade and Pharoah’s army came after them but drowned when God released the water over them.

The Hebrews stayed in the desert for 40 years because they were afraid to take Canaan their promised land for fear of its existing residents. While waiting, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments and the other commandments that made up the Mosaic Law.

Moses and the Law: To the 10 Commandments, 603 commandments were added to the law of Moses for a total of 613. The Law of Moses fulfilled at least two purposes. First, now Israel would be their own nation and needed a constitution. The Law served that purpose. Second, it emphasized God’s sovereignty and mankind’s inability to honor Him as such and be obedient (To demonstrate man’s utter sinfulness – his inability to obey the Law – and need for a Savior as Paul later pointed out). Paul also refers to the Law of Moses as keeping Israel “in custody” until the coming of the Messiah. Included in the Law was the animal sacrificial system where unblemished, innocent animals were sacrificed regularly as a blood sacrifice to cover the sins of Israel. These temporary sacrifices looked forward to the once for all time blood sacrifice of Jesus the Messiah to pay for, to cover the sins of, not just Israel, but of all mankind.

  • Joshua leads the Hebrews into the promised land: Because of Moses’ disobedience by striking the rock at Meribah to produce water instead of speaking to it as God had commanded (Numbers 20:7-12), God did not permit Moses to lead Israel into the promised land. The Lord chose Joshua as successor and leader after Moses died and told Joshua to lead the people into the promised land.
    • God parts the waters of the flood stage Jordon River to allow the Israelites to cross it. This causes the kings to the west to leave out of fear rather than fight.
    • Joshua sends two spies into Jericho to assess the enemy strength. They are aided by the prostitute Rahab, and they agree to spare her and her family when they take the city. God instructs the Israelites to have armed men and seven priests with the Ark march around Jericho for six straight days. On the 7th day they are to march around the city 7 times and on the 7th time, at Joshua’s command, the armed men are to shout loudly. They did these things and, at the shout, the walls crumbled, and the armed men rushed in and destroyed the city’s inhabitants and burned the city.
  • The Israelites conquered the remainder of Canaan, and it was divided among eleven of the tribes of Israel. The tribe of Levi was not given land but rather were given the role as the Tent of Meeting priests and custodian of the Ark.
  • After the death of Joshua, Israel was ruled by a series of judges of whom Othniel was the first and Samuel the last. Judges ruled for 350 to 410 years.
  • The Kings of Israel: The people asked for a king, and so Samuel at God’s revealing anointed Saul as king.
  • David emerges as Israel’s hero after slaying the Philistine giant Goliath.
  • After a while, God asks Samuel to anoint a new king due to Saul’s increasing instability. He anoints David, but Saul resists and eventually seeks to kill David.
  • Saul is killed in battle, and David becomes a mighty king taking Israel to a mighty nation. David wants to build the Temple for God, but God saves that task for Soloman.
  • Solomon becomes king after David’s death and leads Israel to world-class strength, wealth, and glory. Soloman’s asks and is granted wisdom from God and becomes known as the wisest man who ever lived. Soloman develops and builds out Jerusalem and builds the Temple.
  • Israel’s role was to be God’s witness to the nations demonstrating God’s powerful support and blessings
  • However, after Soloman most kings were ungodly, and idolatry became commonplace. After multiple warnings from God through multiple prophets, Israel and Judah were conquered and pillaged by the Babylonians, and the city walls and Temple were destroyed. Most citizens were taken captive and exiled to Babylon.
  • Despite Israel’s failures, God’s was faithful, and after 70 years in exile, the Jews were allowed to return and begin rebuilding Jerusalem.
  • God used the prophets to also prophesy the coming of the Messiah to save and restore israel’s greatness. They would be looking for a political savior, but God was going to send a Savior of souls, and not just for Israel but for all of mankind.

Part 5

Jesus (the Messiah) comes: God’s plan before creation was that at the right time in history He God would come to earth as a man – a Being that would be both God and man. The Being would be God so He could pay the penalty for all the sins of all mankind, and He would be a man because the penalty of sin is death, and God the Father is an eternal Being and cannot die. The way God made this happen was for the Spirit of God to overshadow and young woman (Mary) and cause her to conceive the Being that was both God and man – Jesus. We all are familiar with the Christmas story as given in the book of Luke. That first Christmas morn when Jesus was born was the most profound, greatest day to that point in the long history and story of God and man. God had come to earth!!!

Only two other days are more important – the day Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins and the day He rose from the grave to prove He was God indeed and conqueror of sin and death.

We know little of Jesus life after birth until He began His earthly ministry at the age of 30. There is one account; it was when His family went to the Passover in Jerusalem when He was about 12 years old. He had secretly stayed behind in Jerusalem when His family returned to their home in Nazareth. When he was discovered missing, the parents went back to Jerusalem and after looking for some time, they found him in the Temple conversing with the scribes and priests. When asked why he didn’t say where he would be, Jesus replied, “Didn’t you know that I would be about my father’s business?” Even at that age, Jesus knew He was the Son of God.

The ministry of Jesus

In the three years of His ministry, Jesus enlisted 12 disciples to be his close companions and helpers, He preached that the people repent of their sins and that the kingdom of God was at hand. He presented the good news of the gospel – that He would suffer and die for the sins of all people, and that people could be forgiven of their sins by repenting of them and believing in Him and what He would do for them by dying on the cross to pay for their sins. To prove He was of God, He performed many miracles including healing many and various diseases, giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, feeding thousands with 3 loaves and 5 fish, raising the dead, casting out demons, commanding nature, even walking on water.

The Cross – His primary purpose for coming

Jesus stated openly that He was God come to earth with statements such as, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” and “I am the I AM.” The I AM was how God had identified Himself to Moses in the burning bush. The Jewish leaders didn’t believe He was of God, accused him of blasphemy, had Him arrested, and pressured the Roman command to crucify Him. As Jesus predicted, He rose from the grave on the third day, ascended back to heaven, and promised He would return one day to judge mankind.

What the cross did for mankind

As mentioned in Part 1 God’s predetermined solution (the Cross) to the obstacle, the cross or Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross was God’s loving solution to solve man’s sin problem so we could have the mutual loving relationship with God that He desired with each of us. Jesus took on Himself the punishment due all of us for our sins and offered forgiveness to all as a gift. Our part was to acknowledge our sin in an attitude of repentance and believe in what Jesus did for us – believe to the extent of trusting in it or relying on it for forgiveness and making us right with God. John 3:16 affirms that whoever believes shall not perish for their sins but have everlasting life in heaven with God.

How the cross did it

One could argue that God is sovereign, and if He wanted to suffer and die as Christ in our place, that was His prerogative. But God had a principle He used to do it. Jesus shared that principle during His ministry. It is this, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for a friend.” Matthew     God applied this principle to the ultimate when He demonstrated His great love for us and laid down His life as God the Son to save mankind form our sins. Paul later pointed out that when Jesus died in our place, all our sins were assigned to Him, and Jesus’ perfect righteousness was assigned to each of us who believe.

God’s purpose for creating mankind and His purpose for mankind restored for believers

After the cross and after one believes, when God looks at a believer, He sees him as righteous and can have the mutual, loving relationship and fellowship He desired. God wants all to believe so He can have this relationship, but He does not force it. Jesus commissioned believers to tell the rest of mankind – each generation – about the loving gospel of God and His Christ. To kick start this for the Gentile world, Jesus stopped God-zealous Saul of Tarsus in his tracks in a heavenly intervention turning Saul into the Apostle Paul – the greatest missionary of all time. Through Paul’s ministry the gospel spread through Asia Minor and Europe like wild fire, and Christianity became the largest belief system on earth.

God’s fulfillment of promises to both Jew and gentile – united now as one people, the principal role of His chosen people fulfilled

As Paul pointed out, once Christ came through the Jewish people, there was now neither Jew nor Greek, Jew nor Gentile, king or slave, man or woman. The identity as a believer in Christ made all as brothers and sisters on equal footing in the Kingdom of God – the church of God. God had produced the Messiah through a people He had chosen, and their primary purpose was fulfilled. Their future role in God’s plan is subject to Biblical interpretation. Some interpret scripture to say that the church has replaced the Jews as the chosen people – the children of the promise. Others interpret scripture to say that the Jewish people still have a special role in God’s plan for the future.

 Part 6 – Jesus’ 2nd coming and the end times

  • Uncertainties of the end time events: Various scriptures speak to the end time events. These include the prophetic visions in Daniel 7-12, Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 24, the description of the “last days” in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, and passages about Christ’s return in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1 Corinthians 15, and Revelation. These passages describe signs like wars, famines, and moral decay, the great tribulation, the day of the Lord, the eventual triumph of God’s kingdom, the 2nd coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the rapture of the church, judgment, and the new heaven and earth.
  • The rapture and great tribulation: The word rapture is not actually used but the event is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 where the dead in Christ shall rise to meet the Lord coming down from heaven and those who are alive will be changed in an instant and join them. Christians are divided on when this happens. Some believe it is before the end period of the great tribulation, while others believe it will be during or at the conclusion of the tribulation. The tribulation is described in apocalyptic detail in Revelation 6-19. Jesus describe it in Matthew 24 as the worst time in all of human history, and it is stopped when Christ returns.
  • The Day of the Lord: This phrase is used in scripture to refer to the start of the end time events.
  • The Millenium: There is more division over the understanding of this than any other end time event. It refers to a 1000 year period mentioned in Revelation 20 where its vision is that Satan will be bound for 1000 years and Christ will reign with resurrected martyrs on earth for the same 1000 years, after which Satan will be released for a short period. There is much division in Christendom regarding the 1000 years. Some believe it has yet to come (premillennialism), some believe it is a perfect number symbolizing when time ends and we get to be with our Lord (amillennialism), and some believe it started with the first advent of Christ and will end at His 2nd coming (postmillennialism).
  • The battle of Armageddon: When the Lord returns and defeats Satan and his armies and casts him into the lake of fire forever.
  • Judgment: After Armageddon, when all mankind is judged for their deeds and those whose names are in the Book of Life (believers) will enter heaven and everyone else will be cast into the lake of fire.
  • The end state(s) of mankind and all creation: According to scripture, the current heaven and earth (universe) will pass away and God will create a new heaven and earth and a new Jerusalem to be its capital city. The new heaven, earth, and Jerusalem will be populated with God, Christ, believers (those whose names were written in the Book of Life), angels, and other heavenly beings such as Cherubim and Seraphim. All these will reside there for eternity. There will also be an abyss (hell or lake of fire) where Satan and his demons will be cast. Unbelievers (those whose names are not in the Book of Life) will also be cast into the lake of fire. Satan and his demons will reside there in torment for eternity. Since Jesus mentioned destruction of the soul (Matthew 10:28), there are two views about the end state of unbelievers. The traditional view is that they will reside in hell in torment forever. The second view is that their soul is destroyed after receiving a just amount of torment in hell commensurate with their level of iniquity while on earth (they must pay the penalty for all their sins) followed by destruction of their souls. Their destruction is also a punishment of missing out on the joys of being in heaven and in the presence of God and Christ.

 

 

 

[i] Were Adam and Eve real people or representative of the first real people? Does it matter? I think not. The truth is either way, God created them as the first humans, God wanted fellowship but they sinned, and God caused consequences for their sin that were passed down form them.