The Big Picture

M arc Hinds

A Guide to L earning the Bible’s Stor y

Contents Figures vi

Maps viii

Artwork viii

Photos ix

Acknowledgements x

Introduction xi

Lesson 1. The Layout of the Bible 1

The Old TestamentLesson 2. “Before Abraham Was” 11

Lesson 3. The Three Patriarchs 23

Lesson 4. Joseph in Egypt 39

Lesson 5. Going to Canaan 51

Lesson 6. Conquering Canaan 65

Lesson 7. The United Kingdom 79

Lesson 8. The Divided Kingdom 91

Lesson 9. Exile and Return 105

Lesson 10. The Books of Poetry 123

Lesson 11. The Books of Prophecy 137

The NEW TestamentLesson 12. The Life of Christ 149

Lesson 13. The Church 171

Lesson 14. The Letters 195

Lesson 15. The Book of Revelation 211

Index 225

Salt crystals on the shore of the Dead Sea.

xi

introduCtionPhilip the evangelist approached a man who was reading from the prophet Isaiah. He asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?” (Acts 8:30). Grateful for the help, the man gladly let Philip teach him about Jesus. It wasn’t long before that man became a Christian.

Reading the Bible for yourself is the best way to grow spiri-tually. This 15-lesson survey will help you with this goal. It is directed toward the student who wants to learn how the Bible fits together. This study may also serve as an excellent refresher for the seasoned Bible student. In either case, it is designed for someone who wants to quickly get up to speed with his or her Bible knowledge.

The first lesson is introductory in nature. Lessons 2–11 survey the Old Testament and Lessons 12–15 cover the New Testament. Figures, maps, photos and numerous sidebars throughout will help you make sense of the concepts and material.

Throughout the lessons, emphasis is placed on Jesus as the fulfill-ment of the Old Testament and the Savior of mankind. The Bible is ultimately all about him. May you grow closer in your relation-ship to our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, as you read and study the Bible for yourself.

lesson 1The Layout of the Bible

The word “Bible” literally means “book.” The Bible is a collection of numerous books—a library, if you will. And, as with any library, there’s quite a variety. Over 40

different people wrote these 66 books, including some pretty famous names like Moses, Paul, and Peter. Interestingly, Jesus didn’t write any books of the Bible, although his words are includ-ed in many of them. In fact, the entire Bible is really all about Jesus.

Two PartsThe Bible contains two major parts: 1) the Old Testament and 2) the New Testament. Your copy of the Bible most likely starts with the first book of the Bible (which is Genesis) on page 1. But there’s probably a lot of introductory material that comes first. Those pages are typically numbered with lowercase Roman nu-merals. Somewhere in your Bible’s introductory pages is a table of contents which lists all of the books of the Bible with their starting page numbers. What’s really great about this page is that it gives you a bird’s-eye view by listing all the books in order. Do you notice that these books are listed in two parts? The Old Testament and the New Testament.

Another word for testament is “covenant.” Those two words—testament and covenant—are used interchangeably through out the Bible. They mean the same thing. A testament is a covenant between God and humankind. It’s a legally binding document, just like a modern “last will and testament.”

� e Church

A.D. 30–100

Ministry of ChristA.D. 26–30

� e Silent Years (Intertestamental Period)

444 B.C.–A.D. 26

Return from Exile538–444 B.C.

Babylonian Captivity

605–538 B.C.

Judah Alone

722–605 B.C.

Divided Kingdom

931–722 B.C.

United Kingdom

1050–931 B.C.

Judges1300–1050 B.C.

Conquest of Canaan

1405–1300 B.C.

Wilderness Wanderings

1445–1405 B.C.

Slavery in Egypt(Exodus from Egypt)

1859–1445 B.C.

Abrahamic Promises

2166–1859 B.C.

“Before Abraham Was”

Compare with Figure 23 on page 74.

2 | The Big Picture: Lesson 1

Why is the first testament called “old” and the second testament “new”? It’s because of the wording in a prophecy made by Jeremiah (an Old Testament book) that refers to the future ar-rival of a “new” covenant. This passage is quoted in the New Testament book of Hebrews, after which the following comment is made:

In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete.

The old covenant was in effect from the time of Moses until after Jesus was resurrected from the dead. In fact, while living on the earth, Jesus, as a Jew, was under the old covenant. And because the books of the New Testament hadn’t even been written yet, the Jews in his day didn’t go around referring to their Holy Scriptures as the Old Testament. It was their Bible.

In our politically-correct culture, the term “Old Testament” is of-fensive to many people. But the Christian recognizes that Jesus came to make the first covenant “obsolete,” just like the book of Hebrews said. Many Jews today deny that Jesus is the son of God and refuse to acknowledge the books of the New Testament as binding on people today. They still refer to the books of the Old Testament as their Bible and deny that the old covenant was ever made obsolete.

So, what’s a believer in Jesus to do? As long as we keep referring to the second part of the Bible as the “new” testament, then there must—by definition—always be an “old” testament. Referring to the Old Testament as “Hebrew Bible” or “Jewish Scriptures” would be an alternative. But because I understand the first part to be leading up to the second part, it makes better sense to call them the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Keep in mind that just because it’s “old” doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be cherished and studied. After all, it is the word of God, too. But it is no longer a binding covenant (or testament) that needs to be obeyed today. The New Testament is what a Christian is obligated to follow.

Old TestamentBefore Christ—b.c.

New TestamentAfter Christ—a.d.

The events of the Old Testament occurred before

Jesus came to the earth.

The years before Christ are referred to as B.C.

For example, 1845 b.c.

The years after Christ are referred to as A.D. For example, a.d. 30.

Orthodox Jew reading a Hebrew scroll at the Western Wall.

The Layout of the Bible | 3

The Old Testament BooksThe Old Testament in our English Bibles is divided into five sec-tions—Law (5 books), History (12 books), Poetry (5 books), the Major Prophets (5 books) and the Minor Prophets (12 books). There are 39 books in these five sections (Figure 1).

Law (Pentateuch) abbreviation Major ProphetsGenesis . . . . . . . . . . Gen Isaiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . IsaExodus . . . . . . . . . . Ex Jeremiah . . . . . . . . . . JerLeviticus . . . . . . . . . Lev Lamentations. . . . . .LamNumbers . . . . . . . . Num Ezekiel . . . . . . . . . . . .EzekDeuteronomy . . . . Deut Daniel . . . . . . . . . . . .Dan

History Minor ProphetsJoshua . . . . . . . . . . . Josh Hosea . . . . . . . . . . . .HosJudges . . . . . . . . . . . Judg Joel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JoelRuth. . . . . . . . . . . . . Ruth Amos . . . . . . . . . . . . .Amos1 Samuel . . . . . . . . 1 Sam Obadiah . . . . . . . . . .Obad2 Samuel . . . . . . . . 2 Sam Jonah . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jonah1 Kings . . . . . . . . . . 1 Kgs Micah. . . . . . . . . . . . .Mic2 Kings . . . . . . . . . . 2 Kgs Nahum . . . . . . . . . . .Nah1 Chronicles . . . . . 1 Chr Habakkuk . . . . . . . . .Hab2 Chronicles . . . . . 2 Chr Zephaniah . . . . . . . .ZephEzra . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ezra Haggai. . . . . . . . . . . .HagNehemiah . . . . . . . Neh Zechariah . . . . . . . . .ZechEsther . . . . . . . . . . . Esth Malachi . . . . . . . . . . .Mal

Poetry (Wisdom)Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JobPsalms . . . . . . . . . . . Ps/PssProverbs. . . . . . . . . ProvEcclesiastes . . . . . . EcclSong of Solomon. SongFigure 1.

The 5 books of Law are sometimes referred to as the Pentateuch, which literally means “five-part book.” These first five books of the Old Testament (Genesis–Deuteronomy) were all written by Moses and are often called the Law of Moses.

Old Testament39 Books, written in Hebrew

New Testament27 Books, written in Greek

4 | The Big Picture: Lesson 1

The 12 books of History in our English Bibles are listed chrono-logically. The events of Joshua pick up where Deuteronomy leaves off; the events of Judges pick up where Joshua leaves off; and so on. The books of 1–2 Chronicles (this is pronounced “First and Second Chronicles”) actually repeat much of the material con-tained in 1–2 Kings, but from a very different perspective. Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther occur after 1–2 Chronicles.

The 5 books of Poetry cover very diverse time periods. They will be discussed in Lesson 10 starting on page 123.

The 5 Major Prophets were written by four different men. Jere miah wrote both Jeremiah and Lamentations. Isaiah wrote Isaiah; Ezekiel wrote Ezekiel; and Daniel wrote Daniel. Like the books of history, they are arranged chronologically.

The 12 Minor Prophets are not less important than the Major Prophets. They are called that because they are much shorter. In fact, the Hebrews sometimes collected the books together into one book, calling it “The Twelve.”

The New Testament BooksThe New Testament contains four parts—Gospels (4 books), History (1 book), Letters (21 books) and Prophecy (1 book)—a total of 27 books (Figure 2).

The 4 Gospels are about Jesus’ earthly ministry. The term “gos-pel” literally means “good news.” These gospels all report the good news about Jesus.

Each book is named after its author. Only Matthew and John were actually apostles of Jesus. Mark and Luke were close associ-ates of the apostles.

The 1 book of History—Acts—was written by Luke. In fact, the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts are companion volumes. Acts picks up where Luke leaves off. Having dedicated a lengthy gospel to Jesus’ ministry, Luke wrote in Acts about the establish-ment of the church after Jesus’ ascension back to heaven.

Why Four Gospels?Because they present Jesus’

life and death from four different viewpoints.

Why Not Just One?Together they provide

an invaluable four-dimensional presentation of our Lord.

The Layout of the Bible | 5

Gospels LettersMatthew. . . . . . . . . Matt Romans . . . . . . . . . . .RomMark . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark 1 Corinthians. . . . . .1 CorLuke. . . . . . . . . . . . . Luke 2 Corinthians. . . . . .2 CorJohn . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Galatians . . . . . . . . . .Gal Ephesians . . . . . . . . .EphHistory Philippians . . . . . . . .PhilActs . . . . . . . . . . . . . Acts Colossians . . . . . . . .Col 1 Thessalonians. . . .1 Thess 2 Thessalonians. . . .2 Thess 1 Timothy. . . . . . . . .1 Tim 2 Timothy. . . . . . . . .2 Tim Titus. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Titus Philemon . . . . . . . . .Phlm Hebrews . . . . . . . . . .Heb James . . . . . . . . . . . . . James 1 Peter. . . . . . . . . . . .1 Pet 2 Peter. . . . . . . . . . . .2 Pet 1 John . . . . . . . . . . . .1 John 2 John . . . . . . . . . . . .2 John 3 John . . . . . . . . . . . .3 John Jude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jude

Prophecy Revelation . . . . . . . .RevFigure 2.

The 21 Letters are the lifeblood of the Christian. These letters were written to Christians about what they needed to be doing on a day-to-day basis. Most of them were written within the first 30 years or so after the church was established (see Figure 63 on pages 202–203). They are very practical for us today, too, letting us know how we should act every day of our lives.

The 1 book of Prophecy in the New Testament is called “the book of Revelation.” (Not Revelations, but Revelation.) It is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. It is written in a very different style from the rest of the New Testament. It gives Christians great hope for the future. Its main theme is that God is always in con-trol, no matter what is going on in the world.

Luke and Acts are companion volumes.

Acts picks up where Luke leaves off.

Both were written by Luke, a friend of the apostles.

Old Testament1–2 Chronicles

New Testament1–2 Corinthians

Old TestamentProphet

New TestamentApostle

Watch out for these similar-sounding books.

They’re not the same at all!

In the Old Testament, God’s special spokesmen

were called prophets.

In the New Testament, Jesus chose 12 apostles

to be his special spokesmen.

6 | The Big Picture: Lesson 1

Revelation is written in a very different style from the rest of the New Testament. Studying it requires a firm knowledge of some difficult Old Testament books, like Ezekiel, Daniel and Zechariah. Read it for yourself, but it is best studied by the ad-vanced Bible student.

Book, Chapter and VerseEven though the entire Bible is several hundred pages in length, you can easily refer to a specific passage with the aid of chapters and verses. Chapters and verses are separated by a colon (“:”). The verses can refer to a single verse (43), a passage (43–48), or a combination of the two (43, 47–48).

Throughout this series, citations that include chapters and verses will be abbreviated rather than completely spelled out. The rea-son why is because I want you to become proficient when read-ing and writing any material that refers to passages in the Bible. Memorize not only the Biblical books but also their abbrevia-tions (see Figure 1 on page 3 and Figure 2 on page 5).

Books with a number attached to it (e.g., 1 Kgs, 3 John) should al-ways have the number in front of it, followed by a space, and then the book’s name. Whether to include the traditional “period” fol-lowing the abbreviated Bible book is up to you (see Figure 3).

ConclusionIf you can’t recite your books of the Bible yet, you’ve got some memorizing to do. It won’t be long before you’ll be thumbing through the books of the Bible, finding passages quickly and easily.

There’s still a lot to learn, but you’re off to a great start.

Matt 5:43–48

Say the above citation like this: “ Ma� hew chapter 5,

verses 43 through 48.”

Book Verses

Chapter

Figure 3.

The Layout of the Bible | 7

what did You learn in lesson 1?Match the key concept in the numbered list below with the letter of the phrase that best describes it. Answers appear upside-down at the bottom of the page.

Key Concepts

1. Acts

2. Book, Chapter and Verse

3. Prophet

4. Gospel

5. Genesis

6. Bible

7. Letters

8. Apostle

9. Hebrew Bible

10. Pentateuch

11. New Testament

12. Covenant

Descriptions

A. God’s special spokesman during Bible times.

B. These documents were all written within the first 40 years after the church was established, teaching Christians about how they were expected to live their lives from day to day.

C. The collection of 27 books in our English Bibles.

D. The very first book of the Bible.

E. An aid that allows you to more easily refer to and locate a specific passage anywhere in the Bible.

F. A special spokesman for Jesus shortly before and after the establishment of his church.

G. Literally means “five-part book” and collectively refers to the first five books of the Bible.

H. The companion volume of the gospel of Luke that records in narrative form the events following Jesus’ earthly minis-try, including his ascension into heaven and the establish-ment of his church.

I. A collection of 66 books that was written by over 40 differ-ent people.

J. A term that literally means “good news” and is also used to refer to the first four books of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).

K. A word that is used interchangeably with “testament” and means a legally binding document.

L. A “politically correct” term used to refer to the Old Testament.

Answers

1H, 2E, 3A, 4J, 5D, 6I, 7B, 8F, 9L, 10G, 11C, 12K

8 | The Big Picture: Lesson 1

Fill in the Blanks.

1. Name the five divisions of the Old Testament.

1. How many books?

2. How many books?

3. How many books?

4. How many books?

5. How many books?

2. Name the four divisions of the New Testament.

1. How many books?

2. How many books?

3. How many books?

4. How many books?

3. Why do you think the first five books of the Bible are called

the “Law of Moses”?

4. What group of Old Testament books were called “The

Twelve” and why?

what did You learn in lesson 1?Do your best to answer the following questions. Some answers can be found in the text of Lesson 1, but not all of them. For others, you will be asked to look up passages in your Bible to find them.

The Layout of the Bible | 9

5. Luke and Acts are “companion volumes.” What does that

mean?

Read Luke 1:1–4 and Acts 1:1–2. To whom were both of these

books written?

Multiple Choice. Circle the correct answer. 1. What is the difference between the Major prophets and the

Minor prophets?A. Only the Major Prophets are considered to be inspired.B. Only the Major Prophets are arranged chronologically.C. The Major Prophets are more important than the Minor

Prophets.D. The Major prophets are much longer books than the

Minor Prophets.

2. Which author of a Major Prophet book wrote Lamentations?A. Isaiah.B. Jeremiah.C. Ezekiel.D. Daniel.

3. The term “gospel” literally means . . .A. Good news.B. The message about Jesus.C. Christ.D. God with us.

4. Which of the following choices best describes how to prop-erly say the citation, Num 6:22–27?A. “Num six, twenty-two and twenty-seven.”B. “Num six, twenty-two through twenty-seven.”C. “Numbers chapter six, twenty-two beginning.” D. “Numbers chapter six, verses twenty-two through

twenty-seven.”

10 | The Big Picture: Lesson 1� e

Church

A.D. 30–100

Ministry of ChristA.D. 26–30

� e Silent Years (Intertestamental Period)

444 B.C.–A.D. 26

Return from Exile538–444 B.C.

Babylonian Captivity

605–538 B.C.

Judah Alone

722–605 B.C.

Divided Kingdom

931–722 B.C.

United Kingdom

1050–931 B.C.

Judges1300–1050 B.C.

Conquest of Canaan

1405–1300 B.C.

Wilderness Wanderings

1445–1405 B.C.

Slavery in Egypt(Exodus from Egypt)

1859–1445 B.C.

Abrahamic Promises

2166–1859 B.C.

“Before Abraham Was”appliCation oF lesson 1.

For Discussion.

1. If the Old Testament is “obsolete” and we are not under

it today, then was it a mistake? In other words, is the New

Testament God’s second attempt to get salvation right?

Explain your answer.

2. How can a New Testament Christian benefit from the study

of the Old Testament?

3. The first four books of the New Testament are called the gos-

pels, which means “good news.” What is the good news that

they report?