Panorama of the Bible
Ishak Natan
Sep 2022
Introduction
The word bible comes from the Greek “ta biblia” (τὰ ) meaning “books”,
but it was originally written in scrolls and is considered scripture.
The Bible is a collection of 66 books divided into two main sections:
the Old Testament and the New Testament,
The essence of the Old Testament is about the Messianic kingdom
prophesied
and promised to the Israelites. The kingdom of Israel ruled by king
David was the prototype. The LORD God inspired different writers and
prophets to write records
in different ways and at different times. He reveals His
nature, His wisdom, His supernatural powers, His justice and His plans
for mankind.
The words of the Scripture are inherently dynamic – sharper than a
double-edged sword. God's Word is also alive and active and able to
judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb4:12). The Bible is
designed to sanctify believing sinners and help train them to be
effective and productive servants in the kingdom of God.
Let's
discuss sequentially referring
to the chart above;
Era of Innocence
From the book of Genesis chapters 1 to 3.
This era begins with the creation of the heavens and the earth and ends
with the expulsion of a human couple created by God as a copy of Him,
named Adam and his wife Eve. Why is it called the sin-free era? Because
in the beginning Adam and Eve were created in a state of innocence and
were given the mandate to manage the garden of Eden with the
message:
"You may eat freely of all the trees in
this garden, but the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of its fruit, for in
the day you eat of it you will surely die." (Gen 2:16-17)
This couple fell into sin through deception by Satan in the form
of a beautiful snake
that
can communicate with Eve,. (Gen.3:1-7)
It was then that SIN entered the world through one man Adam.
Hence
one
man's disobedience brought death. It spread to all
mankind because all have sinned (Rom 5:12). There
were three successive impact.
- Adam and Eve 'disconnected' (spiritual death)
with
their Creator. Driven by a guilty conscience, they hid themselves and
made up clothes from leaves because they were naked. They started
blaming other rather than
themselves (Gen.3:9-13).
- Before long they were driven out of the garden of
Eden. God replaced their clothes with animal skins whose blood had
been shed on the ground.
- After hundreds of years, Adam returned to dust.
Era of Conscience
Also known as the age of moral responsibility. The sin of man tend to
rebel against God's word and commands.
Outside the garden of Eden, the shedding of animal blood was introduced
as a way to approach the Creator by involving the death of another
party. Abel, the youngest son of Adam and Eve, offered an animal
sacrifice while
Cain
brought the fruit of the ground unto the LORD.
His offerings were ignored by the
LORD because there was no shedding of blood. Cain was irritated
and jealous of Abel. He killed his brother in the field (Gen4:6-9).
The first killing of human being occurred since SIN entered the world.
Furthemore the sons of God (the angels who left their habitation) saw
the
beauty of the children of human race and succeeded in taking them as
wife.
As a result, giant children were born, famous for their ferocity, so
that the LORD destroyed them by a flood that covered the entire
face of the earth (Gen6:4-8). Of all mankind, only Noah's family (8
people) survived. They
were saved from the flood as Noah obeyed the specific instructions
given by the LORD to build a big ark. Whosoever enters this ark
survives
the condemnation. Noah's Ark indicates an analogy of salvation "in
Jesus" ark. Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth (Ge 6:10).
Era of Government
This era is the rule by humans (democracy) in contrast to the rule by
God
(theocracy). From the descendants of Ham came a mighty hunter before
the LORD named Nimrod; His empire consisted of Babylon, Erekh, and
Akad, all in the land of Shinar (Iraq). The center of idolatry began in
Babylon where they wanted
to
build a tower that would reach to the heavens (Gen 11:4-7). Jewish
tradition relates that Nimrod was put to death by Shem for his
idolatry. Accorging to legend, Nimrod reappeared through Ishtar
(Semiramis). She gave
birth to a baby of her own son and proclaimed the worship of "mother
and child". This model of worship continues to this day which could be
found in modern-day religions.
In addition, the tower of Babel was built to unite all mankind
and not to scatter filling the earth. This was against God's command
and invites punishment by destroying their communication
system.
This Era of Democracy begins with a covenant with Noah and his
descendants
and ends with language confusion. The genealogy of Shem to Terah,
Abram's father, closes the book of Genesis chapter 11. It was time for
the LORD to reveal Himself to Abram the Hebrew who later became
Abraham, the
ancestor of the Jews, the chosen nation of Israel.
Dispensation of the
Law
At Mount Sinai, the LORD gave 2 tablets of writing (Ten
Commandments) to the 6th descendant of Abraham, Moses.
Faith and obedience as the 'common thread' and the foundation of moral
life that characterizes this era.
The Mosaic Law contains 613 laws which can be categorized into three
groups:
- The Ten Commandments
- Community Regulations on
hygiene and health, food, rules for behavior towards each others in
moral, cultural, social life.
- Ceremonial Instructions about the manufacture of tools for
sacrifices,
the order and organization of the tabernacle worship by priests of
the Levites.
The cost of organizing and running the tabernacle service was supported
by the
tithe system of each Israelite family. The period of the
Mosaic Law is the time when God chooses from all the nations, the
Israelites as His "representative". The Jewsh people designated as
the path of His revelation and knowledge. This particular nation was
mandated to:
- Witness to other nations about who the LORD is.
- Through them the Creator reveals Himself as a Just,
Merciful and Faithful Person.
- Be a role model as a nation of praise and worship to
the Creator.
- Be a blessing to all other nations as "the entrace" for the
Savior of the world,
because of SIN which has shattered the whole order of God's
creation.
Jesus, was born as a Jew in this Age of Mosaic Law. He revealed himself first time as
king by riding on a donkey in Jerusalem (Mt 21:9,15; Mr 11:9-10;
John
12:13).
Kingdom of God Proclaimed by Jesus
Himself
The four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John reported His coming as
the Son of God and that He was prophesied to come as their King
Messiah. But his nation refused (John 1:10-13) and ended with His
death on the cross (John 19:15) and His resurrection from the grave (Lu
24:6).
The Book of Acts Bridging the Age of
Mosaic Law to the Age of Grace
After Cornelius and his entire family (Gentile = non Jew) believed
through the preaching of Peter,
then the ministry of Grace overflowed (Act10:44-48) to the pagan
nations
fulfilling the words of Jesus;
19 Therefore go, make disciples of all
nations and baptize them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teach
them to do all things that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with
you always, even to the end of the age." Mt 28:19-20
In this
transitional era, the kingdom of God was re-offered by the disciples of
Jesus to the Jews first and again was rejected (Act13:45-48).
Mystery
Dispensation of Grace - Kingdom
Postponed
Also known as church (ekklesia) age. Ekklesia is a Greek word defined
as “a called-out assembly or congregation.” Ekklesia is commonly
translated as “church” in the New Testament. The church is not an
organizational system nor a building to hold worship, but a gathering
of people who believed and have been redeemed by the blood
of Christ and sealed by the holy Spirit of God (Eph 4:30).
The thirteen
letters of the apostle Paul play a major role in explaining the nature
of the body of Christ as the holy Catholic Church.
The church is not the kingdom of God on earth as Jesus' disciples
expected when He was about to ascend to heaven.
6 When they therefore were come
together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, will you at this time
restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them,
It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father
has put in his own power. 8 But you shall receive power, after
the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the
uttermost part of the earth. Ac 1:6-8
Reader needs to know that the Bible never foretold the church
in Old Testament times. Even Jesus hinted before his death to the
future (Mat16:18). Everything about the ekklesia is revealed
in the New Testament by the writings of the apostle Paul. During the
Age of Mosaic Law, Israel was the Lord's witness to the world and the
name
YHWH was the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
Heathen people who repent will merge with Jehovah's people, the
Israelites, His
chosen people.
The early church consisted of Jewish's disciples of Jesus
who witnessed His ascension to heaven recorded in the book of Acts
chapter 1.
It was on the day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit descended in the
form of tongues of
fire on the heads of the disciples. They gathered in
Jerusalem to celebrate with the Jews from
other countries. That particular day was the
birthday of the 'New Human Race' – a new creation in Christ
(2Cor5:17, Gal6:15). At present the world consists of three group of
human races namely
ethnic Jews, the Gentiles and the Church of God (1Cor10:32). Further
explanation click here. The existence of God's church on earth began
on the day of
Pentecost in Jerusalem and ended at the time of the rapture.
Kingdom Proclaimed Again (Rev14:6-20)
After the New Human Race is removed from the world, the moral and legal
infrastructure that hold back the elements of
evil disappeared. The whole world will face catastrophic climate
change, scarcity of foods and chaos of
global war (1The5:1-6). Sooner or later a charismatic leader emerges
from obscurity. He is
able to
explain the disappearance of hundreds millions of people and
elegantly resolve the chaos of the world. Many countries of the world
will accept him as their savior, including the
state of Israel as their Messiah. At last the peace in the
Middle East that the Jews and the United Nations have longed for is
accomplished by him. The Jewish Nation allowed to
rebuild its Temple.
This coming prince will established a treaty with many parties for
seven years.
At that point in time begin the countdown of the last 70th weeks of the
prophetic
history for Israel (Dan 9:24-27), namely the time of Jacob's trouble
(Jer 30:7), also known as the time of tribulation (Matt
24:21,29). Why? Because the Jews had rejected Jesus at his first
Coming.
I am come in my Father's name, and you
receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him you will
receive. Joh 5:43
The books of Hebrews to Revelation become the counseling hope for
the
Jews to survive during that horrific persecution (Hos5:15; Lu13:34-35).
Faith/belief plus deeds
are re-enacted in this Law/Tribulation period, in contrast to the era
of
Grace; faith alone without
works.
This
Law/Tribulation time span ends with the
second coming of Christ as king riding on a
white horse to Jerusalem (Rev19:11-16). The Antichrist will be
destroyed by the brightness of His coming (2The2:8).
Kingdom Established
The Kingdom Age was prophesied in the Old Testament Bible. The pattern
of life and the culture of its society is described in
Isa 2:1-5; Isa 65:18-25; Zech 8:20-23; Zech 14:16-21. The remnant
nations that survived will be gathered to be judged as a condition for
entering the thousand year kingdom. The basis of the trial is how the
nations treated the ethnic Jews when they are persecuted by all
nations under the rule of the Antichrist Mat25:32-36;Mat25:37-44.
As a note, during the millennium kingdom there will be two classes of
people living side by side,
- The New Human Race who is coming back with God
in their glorified bodies,
flesh and
bones (Lu24.39),
- Nations that survived the great tribulation
and are
allowed to enter. They continue to reproduce as flesh and blood human
beings who still have sin in their body of death (Rom 7:21-25).
That is why after the Devil/Satan chained in a bottomless pit for a
thousand years and released, he is able to lead the flesh and blood
humankind into rebellion against the King who ruled in
Jerusalem.
After being destroyed by fire that came down from heaven, Satan
the deceiver of the nations is thrown into the lake of fire
(Rev20:7-10). Subsequently, a great white throne court will be held to
jugde the second group of unsaved humanity (Re20:11-15). Finally,
eternity will be occupied with a new heaven and a new
earth (Rev21:1-8).
Maranatha
______________________
https://www.bibleanalyzer.com/download.htm
https://www.swordsearcher.com/download.html
https://www.gotquestions.org/who-Semiramis.html
https://www.inbcf.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Article-Easter-the-Truth-Behind-It.pdf
https://www.mosaicvenetianparc.com/recommendations/what-are-the-613-mosaic-laws.html
http://www.lianasilverstein.com/Bible-books-in-a-nutshell-Old-Testament-.html