The Biblical Story of God, Man, Sin, and Redemption – Part 4

August 13, 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 – the pinnacle event of the history of God and man
What the cross did for mankind
How the cross did it
Man’s required response: Spiritual rebirth through repentance and faith
God’s fulfillment of promises to both Jew and gentile – united now as one people, the role of His chosen people fulfilled
God’s purpose for creating mankind fulfilled for believers

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
Judgment
The end state(s) of mankind and all creation

 

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 Messiah 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.

  • Abraham> Isaac > Jacob > God’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 Solomon.
  • Solomon becomes king after David’s death and leads Israel to world-class strength, wealth, and glory. Solomon’s asks and is granted wisdom from God and becomes known as the wisest man who ever lived. Solomon 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 Solomon 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.

Next: Jesus (the Messiah) comes