Storyline of the Bible
Here at Ethnos360 Bible Institute we have an in-person course taught on the storyline of the Bible. It’s called Meta-Narrative of Scripture and is taught by Dave Field. We also offer a free online alternative taught by Scot Keen called The Grand Narrative of Scripture. As students go through these courses, they see different themes tie together throughout the entire storyline of the Bible. They see clearly that the promise-keeping God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament, and the God that we worship now. I’ll give you a brief overview of these courses; if it interests you I highly recommend taking the online course.
Storyline of the Bible: Why Study It
It’s important to study the Bible because it’s God’s revelation of Himself to us. It’s through reading His word that we get to know Him better. The more we study His word, the better we understand His plan and the way we fit into it. It’s also important to study the Bible because it is truth. There are a lot of lies that we’re bombarded with daily. The best way to recognize lies is to be familiar with the truth. We should be like the Bereans, carefully studying God’s word and comparing what we hear against the truth found in it.
Storyline of the Bible: How Do We Study It
A good way to study the Bible is to study it chronologically. When we study it chronologically, we see how God’s plan plays out from the Garden of Eden to the New Earth. When we have a good understanding of this timeline, we can ask ourselves the question, “What time is it?” Meaning, where are we at in God’s plan and what is our purpose? There are a lot of tools out there that can help you dig deeper into the context of passages or word meanings. Here are just a few.
- Blue Letter Bible, online commentaries and dictionaries
- 10 Best Christian Bible Study Books
- Overview of the Apostle’s Paul’s Life, Missionary Journeys, and Epistles
- Free Online Courses
Storyline of the Bible: Overview
It’s only in recent years that people have realized the Bible is one big story. It used to be viewed as a collection of stories or, at least, two separate stories: the Old Testament and New Testament. Stephen Wellum says on The Gospel Coalition, “The Bible, as God’s Word written, is centrally about what our glorious triune God has done to glorify himself by the redemption of his people, the judgment of sin, and making all things new in Christ.” It’s all intricately entwined. This chart below created by Chris Harrison and Pastor Christoph Römhild illustrates all of the cross-references found in the Bible.
Three of the huge themes found throughout the Bible are redemption, covenants, and God’s people. Through the redemption theme, we see God’s rescue plan for humanity. Through the covenants theme, we see God’s incredible faithfulness. Through the theme of God’s people, Israel and the church, we see who God uses to reach the lost and how He uses them.
Storyline of the Bible: Redemption
The cross is the central part of the storyline of the Bible, not in timeline, but in importance. It’s also the central part of this theme of redemption. The word redemption is defined as:
- an act of atoning for guilt, a fault, or a mistake, or the state of having atoned.
- an act or the state of being rescued.
The theme of redemption is woven all throughout the storyline of the Bible pointing to complete redemption through Christ. Why do we need redemption, or to be rescued? Because we have a sin problem. Ever since the Garden of Eden, humans have been sinful, and because of that, deserving of Hell. What’s crazy is that immediately after the first sin in Eden we see the theme of redemption for the first time. God immediately put into action His rescue plan!
- Serpent Crusher (Genesis 3:15) – In this passage, the Seed of the woman is mentioned. This Seed the verse refers to is Christ! It says that Christ will bruise the head of the serpent, Satan. This is already a prophecy of how God is going to redeem (save) us from our sins!
- Blood and Power (Exodus 12-14) – The Israelites were redeemed in Israel with blood and power. Each household slaughtered a lamb and put the blood on their doorway. Because of that blood, the Israelite were rescued from the angel of death who killed each firstborn in Egypt. After that the Lord used His mighty power to rescue the Israelites from the Egyptians at the Red Sea.
- Sacrificial Lamb (Leviticus 1:2-4) – The Israelites were instructed to bring a lamb without blemish as a sacrifice for their sins. This point of redemption points toward the redemption we have through Christ, “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
- Kinsman Redeemer (Ruth) – Ruth, a widow, and her mother-in-law Naomi, also a widow, were redeemed by a relative named Boaz. Before he rescued them, they were struggling to find food and their family line would have died out. Boaz took on the responsibility of a ‘kinsman redeemer.’ He married Ruth and provided for both her and Naomi. It’s through Boaz and Ruth’s line that Jesus, the ultimate redeemer, came.
- A Dying Savior (Romans 3:24) and A Waiting People (Romans 8:23) – All of these previous redemption stories point to the biggest and most important redemption story: Jesus Christ! God Himself came down here as a man and died on a cross. He took on the punishment that everyone of us deserves so that we don’t have to. He redeemed and rescued all who choose to believe in Him and the sacrifice He made. Three days later, He rose from the grave. Now those of us who believe are redeemed from sin’s power, but we still await Christ’s return and our glorification—ultimate redemption.
Storyline of the Bible: Covenants
The theme of covenants is the second most important theme found in Scripture. It comes right after redemption. All throughout Scripture, we see God making covenants with people and keeping them. Through these covenants, we see how incredibly faithful God is. When He says He will do something, He will.
- Noahic Covenant (Genesis 9:13-17) – God made a promise to Noah (and all the earth) that He would never again allow a worldwide flood.
- Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12:1-3) – God promises to make Abraham’s family into a great nation and to bless all the world through them.
- Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 19:5-6) – God promises to bless the Israelites if they keep His commandments.
- Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7:8-16) – God promises that David’s throne will be established forever. This is fulfilled by King Jesus being born into his line.
- New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34) – God promises that all Israel will have His Law in their heart, know Him, and that their sin will be remembered no more.
Storyline of the Bible: God’s People
In the Bible, we see two groups of God’s people: Israel and the church.
Israel
Israel was established as God’s people through the Abrahamic Covenant. God promised that He would give Abraham many descendants, land, and blessings. He also said that, through Israel, God would bless the world. God dwelt with them, and they became His kingdom of priests. People like the Queen of Sheba would come to Israel and learn about God. It’s through Israel that Jesus was born. He came from David’s line, the tribe of Judah among the people of Israel. God has promised to restore the nation of Israel. We can trust that He’ll keep His promise, because of His continued faithfulness we’ve seen all throughout history.
The Church
The church is God’s people for the world. It was established at Pentecost (Acts 2). It began when the Holy Spirit was given to believers. Anyone who puts their trust in Christ is part of the church. We’re a gathering of citizens of the coming Kingdom. We’re God’s new priesthood. Our job is to go out and tell people about the Lord. We’re to be His witnesses by telling people about the cross and the coming Kingdom of God.
Storyline of the Bible: Take our free course!
This post was based on our in-person Meta-Narrative of Scripture course taught by Dave Field. We also have an online Grand Narrative of Scripture course taught by Scot Keen and offered for free to everyone! You can take that course here.
