10 Steps through the Bible: STEP 1 THE BEGINNING

Introduction

As a teenager I was first introduced to the concept of 10 steps through the Bible.

Usually the average reader of the Bible thinks that you just read chronologically through the Bible, but the Bible is arranged topically.

The Bible is arranged in the following manner.

In the Jewish Old Testament there are three major sections

Torah (instruction) - Genesis through Deuteronomy

Nevi’im (prophets)

Former - Joshua through Kings

Latter - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel (major, big books)

Minor - Hosea - Malachi (minor, small books)

Ketuvim (writings)

Poetic - Job, Psalms, Proverbs

Five Megilot (Scrolls) - Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther

Historical - Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles

Our English Bible

Genesis through Deuteronomy is called the Pentateuch

Joshua through Esther are books of history.

Job through Song of Solomon are the poetry.

Isaiah through Malachi make up the prophets.

Matthew through John are the Gospels

Matthew through Luke are known as synoptic Gospels.

John gives a beautiful picture into the inner workings of Jesus ministry and mind.

Acts is the history of the first century church.

Epistles are the letters of the New Testament churches. Romans - Jude

Pauline - Romans through Hebrews

Catholic 1 Peter - Jude

Revelation is prophecy.

The 10 steps through the Bible are: the beginning, the exodus, the promised land, the judges, the kingdom, the exile, the restoration, the coming of Christ, the church.

The history of the Bible is God’s story. He is sovereignly directing the course of history through the sea of time.

1. The beginning of a perfect world at Creation. Genesis 1-2

Explain

It spans nearly 2,000 years.

The world was created by God through his Son Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 1:2 “2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;”

Colossians 1:16 “16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:”

The world is created by God’s power.

Omnipotent - possessing all power.

The Trinity

Genesis 1:1 “1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

The Holy Spirit - Genesis 1:2 “2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

Genesis 1:26 “26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

God created the world in six twenty-four hour days.

Exodus 20:11 “11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

We find throughout Genesis 1 evening and morning for six days of Creation.

God created with the appearance of age.

Psalm 33:6–9 “6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. 7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: He layeth up the depth in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord: Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. 9 For he spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.”

We reject theistic evolution and the Darwinian evolution.

We find in the DNA there is room for micro evolution in the code, but this means that all that does is create variety within a kind.

For example their are a variety of new breeds within the dogkind. https://fotp.com/learn/dog-lifestyle/new-dog-breeds-past-10-years

or new varieties of plants within particular kinds of plants. i.e. Schochler Watermelon.

God created man and woman to have fellowship with him.

Revelation 4:11 “11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

Genesis 3:8 “8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.”

God created mankind to also fellowship with each other.

Genesis 2:18 “18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”

God had Adam name all the animals to bring him to the realization that he needed a help meet.

God put Adam to sleep and took one of his ribs and made Eve.

Genesis 2:24 “24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”

The world is created without sin, death, and suffering.

Romans 5:12 “12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”

Genesis 2:15–17 “15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

God created mankind in a state of untested holiness and innocence.

Genesis 2:25 “25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”

Apply

God makes all things well. Genesis 1:31 “31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

Work is a blessing from God. Genesis 2:15 “15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”

2. The beginning of sin at the Fall. Genesis 3-5

Explain

Genesis 3 the Temptation of Eve and the fall of Adam and Eve into sin.

Satan tricks Eve

Questions God “Hath God Said” (Genesis 3:1)

Denies God’s Word. “Ye shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4)

Bad mouth’s the character of God. (Genesis 3:5)

The protoevangelium: The promise of a virgin born Savior.

Genesis 3:15 “15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Genesis 4 The depravity of man quickly revealed as Cain murders his brother Abel.

Abel is slain by his brother who breaks the mold of true worship.

Abel brought an unblemished lamb.

Hebrews 11:4 “4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.”

Cain is the model of works based religion.

Cain brought the fruits of his garden.

Genesis 5 The reality of death revealed as we have a genealogy of Noah’s family.

Every person dies.

The world is ready for a Savior

Argue

No one is able to escape the physical realities and side effects of the consequences of sin.

While there is hope offered in the seed of the woman, reality is that we physically die in accordance with what God warned. Genesis 2:17 “17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

Apply

We all are sinners

Romans 3:23 “23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

Romans 3:10 “10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:”

We all need a Savior.

3. The beginning of a new world after the flood. Genesis 6-9

Explain

Genesis 6 God decides to destroy the world, but Noah finds grace in the eyes of the Lord.

God is gracious - He gives favor that is undeserved.

God gives Noah the plan for building the ark.

The arks dimensions

450’ long

75’ wide

Square footage 97,700 square feet. (20 standard basketball courts)

Largest ship ever built until 1884.

Many ancient ship builders and still today use the width - length- and height ratios today.

It has one window

Significantly if also has one door.

This is a picture of Jesus, the door.

John 10:9 “9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

John 14:6 “6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Genesis 7 God tells Noah to enter the ark and brings two of every kinds of unclean animal and seven of every clean animal to Noah in the ark.

The ark had sufficient space.

Argue:

there was room for many more

2 Peter 2:5 “5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;”

Illustrate

Apply

The ark of Jesus Christ is sufficient to save all who will come to Christ in faith.

John 1:12 “12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

Hebrews 7:25 “25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

God grace is sufficient to save.

Have you trusted Him.

Do not put limitations on God. His grace is sufficient to atone for all our race.

You must come to God through His way.

For the preflood - the ark

For us through Jesus Christ.

4. The beginning of Nations at the Tower Babel. Genesis 10-11

Explain

There was rebellion against God’s command to fill the earth.

Genesis 9:1 “1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”

Genesis 11:1–4 “1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

Nimrod was the leader of the rebellion against God

God confounds their language and scatters them

Genesis 11:9 “9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”

Proverbs 20:26 “26 A wise king scattereth the wicked, And bringeth the wheel over them.”

Argue

Throughout the nations there are archeological finding of Babel like structures.

The Aztecs

Ur of the Chaldees

Babylon - Ziggurats

Egypt’s pyramids.

Evidence of a common ancestor.

Noah’s Family (Genesis 10)

Japheth (Genesis 10:2-5)

Greeks

Thracians

Scythians

Ham (Genesis 10:6-20)

Canaanites

Egyptians

Philistines

Hittites

Amorites

Shem (Genesis 10:21-32)

The family line of the Jews/Hebrews

Other nations include: Chaldeans, Assyrians, Persians, Syrians

Illustrate

Pentecost was a reversal of a short time of Babel as the church spoke tongues in the human languages of those visiting Jerusalem, telling them the good news of Jesus. Acts 2

Apply

Zephaniah 3:9 “9 For then will I turn to the people a pure language, That they may all call upon the name of the Lord, To serve him with one consent.”

God is giving the introduction of the Bible.

Matthew 28:19–20 “19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”