We’re Interested in the Bible but,
Where Do We Start?
By Liaf
Many folks who hear me teach say, "You know your stuff, but you go way over our heads." That is sad that folks feel this way. The result is those who are potentially interested in the Bible or things of God may shy away. Actually, it’s not anybody’s fault. Those who do not know the Bible were probably poorly taught the things of the Bible. It’s not as though one has to be a rocket scientist or Einstein to understand the core of what I teach. However, without adequate background it’s hard to relate where everything fits in. So I want everybody to understand that it is not an intelligence issue, but a familiarity issue. I will attempt to outline the Bible story in this message so that at least one knows roughly where he or she is in relation to the history and purpose of the Bible. However, one message such as this will give one only a crude idea of the whole puzzle. There is no simple way. Frankly, after a newcomer reads this message, it may be a good idea to go to one’s local Christian bookstore and obtain a Bible handbook. I recommend the abridged ones that outline each book of the Bible with its history. After several weeks, months or even a year of devotional study, one will have an adequate background to follow the rest of the teaching here. What these lessons say, however, are things that one does not hear being taught in the church. So after one gets a background with a Bible handbook, one must then ‘fine tune’ the prevailing belief to see what we are presenting here. So if you feel a little lost, maybe the mainline church does not really know all the answers, either. Even those in the clergy are intrigued at some of the things we teach here, and obviously somebody who has been in the ecclesiastical system for awhile can appreciate here what the rest of the churches lack in their teaching. In short, some of the stuff here may appeal most to those who know the orthodox doctrines and Bible stories well, but felt doubtful because the perceived dogmatic system does not answer their questions as to the real purpose of life and God’s plan. To my more liberal Christian friends I always said, "You have to have been raised Evangelical with what these TV Evangelists teach to really appreciate where I’m coming from." There is nothing like blowing dogma away. And yet, this is not to say there are no absolutes, but rather to say that those who dogmatically teach about absolutes may be in for a surprise as to what is really truth. In short, I say, "You want truth, I’ll give you truth." Realistically, do we know all about truth? No. And don’t believe anyone who says they do. However, what is presented here is a potpourri of subjects that have been tossed back and forth amongst various experts. They, in turn, are supported by Scripture. We don’t present something here unless there we believe there is an explanation and reference to Scripture. With all this being said, let’s look at an overview of the Bible story.
The book of Genesis deals with the creation of Adam and the generations after him. God created Adam as steward and master over this world with the expectation that he should submit to God as ruler over all. This was to be God’s Kingdom and paradise. Adam was supposed to take from the tree of life to produce spiritual sons of God. God wanted to reproduce Himself as any parent wants to do through their children. Adam, then, would have been the same as Christ had he done so. Instead, Adam took of that tree of the knowledge of good and evil (which was placed there by God to test him) by Satan’s temptation. In short, it was a test to see if Adam would submit to God and trust Him, or would Adam want to do things his way (as Satan did) by his own (inadequate) self-effort? Throughout the Bible, God then demonstrates hard lessons about man’s inadequacy to attain godhead and righteousness and the need to trust God instead. The whole theme of the Bible, as Paul taught, was God’s pleasure with those who had faith in Him. And with that mode of operation, God could work to bring in His ultimate Kingdom. Satan, on the other hand, is temporarily the "god of this world" due to Adam’s sin. The penalty for sin was death, and God then needed a people who would be His light-bearers and oracle people. From these would ultimately produce Christ who would save mankind from his sins.
Several generations later came Abram (later renamed Abraham) as the father of the Israelites, the chosen people of God. He was the man that God called for this purpose. Abraham, his son Isaac, and Jacob (renamed Israel later) were promised both physical, earthly, blessings and by extension spiritual blessings by promising them a great people from whom would bless all people. Jacob (Israel) had twelve sons and their descendents became the twelve tribes of Israel.
Due to unbelief by Abraham, God said that Israel would dwell in the land of Egypt (later in the days of Jacob) for 430 years. They went to Egypt initially due to famine. This is basically where the book of Genesis ended. Later they lost their greatness and reduced to laborers there. The next four books (of Moses) tell of their exodus from Egypt when God raised Moses as a deliverer about 400 years later. Once again, Egypt represented a type of sin and bondage, and their exodus was a deliverance by God. This was one of many types and shadows as the apostle Paul taught of a New Testament truth fulfilled in Christ. Once we learn basic spiritual truths, we can see types or analogies in the events. God was in control.
Everyone heard of the Ten Commandments and the Law of Moses. From that came more types represented by priests, religious ritual, sacrifices (a type of Christ and His death), the tabernacle tent, and so forth. The tribe of Levi were the priests. The tribe of Judah had the right to rule (Kings would come from them) and the tribes of Joseph had the birthright. These are dealt with in greater detail in the other messages. Moses was then to lead them back into the Promised Land that God said to Abraham long ago was to be theirs. Due to the Israelite’s hard-headedness and unbelief, they, including Moses, never made it in, but were conquered under Joshua (the book of Joshua). Later, Judges were raised by God to guide the Israelites in their new homeland. By the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, the Israelites had Kings to rule over them. Basically there was King Saul, then David (who God made a covenant of eternal rulers coming from him and ultimately Messiah) and then Solomon over all Israel (for the most part), but then after King Solomon the nation divided into two parts (the Southern Kingdom of Judah--- the Jews, and the northern House of Israel consisting of 10 tribes). This reasoning for this split is explained in other messages, but Israel did not follow the Lord fully. The sins (and prophecy) caused the split. They were separated just as our North and South United States were. Sometimes they warred. Sometimes they united to fight a common enemy. But they remained separate. Over several generations of Kings, the house of Israel was taken captive by Assyria. Over 100 years later the House of Judah was taken captive by Babylon. These captors were world powers back then. These captivities were due to their sins. Israel was to show God’s standard to the world revealed by the Law of Moses. Instead, God used their downfall to indirectly prove (as Paul taught) that man in his best efforts cannot keep the standards of God. But ironically, through the promises of God to Abraham, these same people would produce Messiah who would save them and the whole world. Their fall was needed, in other words, to teach lessons and in turn bring about Messiah for everybody.
It is at this point we part company with the mainline church. Although the Jews (the house of Judah) returned from their captivity, the house of Israel did not. These ten tribes became known to historians as the lost ten tribes of Israel when they seemingly became assimilated with their captors. It is our belief that these people migrated to become great nations as promised to Abraham, and part of their punishment was "national amnesia". They did not remember who they were, but were to be used by God in spite of themselves as light-bearers of the Gospel facilitated by their greatness. The Jews on the other hand, had part of the lineage of King David who would produce Christ, the focal point of that Gospel message by the time frame of the New Testament. Thus, the Jews retained their identity and returned the Promised Land to produce the new Jewish nation as told in books or Ezra and Nehemiah. Except for Esther, the next 5 books of the Bible are books of praise (Psalms), wisdom (Proverbs-Song of Solomon), and they include prophecy, too. Finally, the funny names of the remaining books of the Bible from Isaiah to Malachi are all prophets that existed in various times of Israel’s history. Their prophecy ranges from their time all the way to end times! They warned Israel (and they kept the both houses separate) of their sins and what would happen if they sinned. They prophesied of Christ’s Coming. And they also prophesied the fate of each of the houses including their ultimate restoration in end times. That basically is an overview of the Old Testament (Protestant Bible).
We come to the New Testament. The first four books (called the Gospels) tell of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. It says why he came: to seek and save those who are lost. These are a small group of people (as with a few Old Testament people) who want to relate to God by faith, and these saints (any believer) will rule and reign with Christ at his Second Coming for 1000 years (called the millennium). The Lord Himself gives some eschatological (a fancy word for end time doctrine) teaching. The Lord died and shed His blood for the sins of the whole world, although it only works for those who put their faith in the work of His death. The Bible had types in the Old Testament where blood had to be shed from an animal to typify a life given in exchange for another. Christ died (of the race of Adam) but due to the ability to keep the Law perfectly (because of His Spiritual conception by God with Mary), he was raised again as a new man creation. The Law promised eternal life to anyone who could keep it perfectly. Only Christ could. Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit of God, and produced God’s "only begotten Son". This was the same as if Adam had taken of that tree of life. By faith, we identify with Christ and in Christ our old Adam nature died at the cross but we are born again through Christ’s resurrection. The reality is that our physical body still dies due to Adam’s sin, but God will resurrect us again as He did with Christ and we are therefore born again as a new man and as Christ become Sons of God! This act of faith in identifying and accepting Christ’s death for our sins is in essence the same act of faith that Adam should have had by taking of that tree of life. We become one with God, allowing us (like Him) to judge nations and even angels in the end! In times of trouble, I take comfort in Psalms 2. This is a Messianic Psalm. And it applies to the believer in Christ as well! Dear friend, if you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins, and you accept by faith his death as the only means of salvation (as opposed to good works), then you too will inherit and rule over this world in end times as Christ and with Christ!
The next book is the book of Acts. It gives the history of the Early church and the teachings of the apostles of Christ. Here again, we part company with the mainline church when they believe that the apostles went to the Gentiles in addition to the Jews. No. Only Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, and the other apostles went to the lost house of Israel some of whom were located in Asia Minor and surrounding regions. However, the Bible prophesied that Israelites would be known as "not my people". That is to say they appeared as Gentiles to others so the tradition continued on that all the apostles went to Gentiles. So as to not make Biblical prophecy false, they could not blow Israel’s cover so-to-speak. Again, the migrating tribes of Israel migrated to other lands where they would eventually become many mighty nations, and indeed, some of these Israelites were already populous and mighty! Jesus Himself alludes to these people as "other sheep" with his teachings and parables.
The rest of the books of the New Testament are "epistles". That’s a religious term for "letters" to the churches. Many were for Gentiles with the vast majority from Paul, but there are some references to the lost tribes from the remaining epistles written by those other than Paul. These teach Christian doctrine including that of end times.
Lastly, there is the end time book of Revelation. This is the culmination of history as we know it. After a terrible seven year trial period here on Earth, the Lord will come again with His Saints to establish the millennial Kingdom of God here on Earth. The physical people of Israel will all be reunited and returned to their land to enjoy the millennial blessings. Israel will now become what God fully intended through the overseeing of Christ. Then there will be the paradise that should have been in Eden had Adam not sinned. However, people remaining will still be in their mortal bodies and their offspring will enact a final rebellion against Christ’s rule after the millennium! Adam fell, and the Law given to the Israelites had shown man’s shortcomings. Christ invited people to believe in Him by faith. Finally, God’s Kingdom will be visible for all to experience. The lesson here is that anybody rebelling after all this deserves eternal punishment. And it will squelch man’s final excuse for not attaining righteousness by self-effort. What is that excuse? I did not have a chance. Yes you did. You were given every opportunity. This will separate out those who ultimately have nothing more than the will to do things their way instead of God’s way. God left each of us with a choice. As Joshua once said, "Choose this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." No wonder the Bible then ends with the Lord creating a "New heavens and New Earth" after a final judgement. Lessons were learned, judgement was made. All will be as God originally intended for things to be. This, my friend was done by honest judgement without short-circuiting anybody’s free choice.