TheBibleOverview

H O W T O U N D E R S T A N D T H E B I B L E A S A W H O L E

This booklet accompanies The Bible Overview course.

Inside you will find a beautifully presented summary of the

message of the Bible, as well as important Bible verses

which explain that message.

Designed to be completed in three short presentations,

The Bible Overview will leave you confident about what

the Bible is saying, how the different sections of the Bible

fit together, and our own place in the Bible’s unfolding story

of God’s relationship with his world.

The Bible Overview course is ideal for churches, small

groups, Scripture classes, or any group, large or small, that

would like to find out what the Bible is all about.

Course requires accompanying Leader’s Resource (DVD-ROM).

3263407818769

ISBN 978-1-876326-34-0

TheBibleOverview

H O W T O U N D E R S TA N D

T H E B I B L E A S A W H O L E

Written by Matthew Brain, Matthew A. Malcolm, Matthew R. Malcolm and Greg Clarke

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The Bible Overview© M. Brain, M. A. Malcolm, M. R. Malcolm, Matthias Media, 200ı.

Original artwork by Immki Quek and Ollie Lindsell.

Matthias Media

(St Matthias Press Ltd ACN 067 558 365)

PO Box 225

Kingsford NSW 2032

Australia

Telephone: (02) 9663 ı478; international: +6ı-2-9663-ı478

Facsimile: (02) 9663 3265; international: +6ı-2-9663-3265

Email: info@matthiasmedia.com.au

Internet: www.matthiasmedia.com.au

Matthias Media (USA)

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Email: sales@matthiasmedia.com

Internet: www.matthiasmedia.com

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL

VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights

reserved worldwide. Used by permission.

ISBN 978 1 876326 34 0

All rights reserved. Except as may be permitted by the Copyright Act, no

part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means

without prior permission from the publisher.

Cover design and typesetting by Lankshear Design.

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W E L C O M E | T H E B I B L E O V E R V I E W 3

Welcome toThe Bible Overview

Have you ever tried putting together a jigsaw puzzle without

a picture of what it is meant to look like when it is all

assembled?

It is almost impossible to fit the pieces together properly unless

you know what you are aiming for.

This short course is designed to give you an understanding of the

Bible as a whole. Like the jigsaw, it is much harder to understand

any one part of the Bible if you don’t have some grasp of the whole

book. Once you have this overview of the book, some of the smaller

parts don’t seem so confusing or difficult to understand.

This is a course for everyone, from children to grandparents, from

students of the Bible to those who are reading it for the first time.

It is designed to work like a guided tour. We provide a map, explain

the route, and point out landmarks and signposts along the way. It is

our hope that this will mean that you can come back to the Bible on

your own, confident that you know the terrain.

May God reward you on your travels.

M. Brain, M. A. Malcolm, M. R. Malcolm, G. Clarke

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C O N T E N T S | T H E B I B L E O V E R V I E W 5

Inside the pages of this booklet, you will find the 15 stages of

the unfolding story of the Bible as they will be explained during

The Bible Overview presentations. To explain each stage, we have

included:

• a verse or two from the Bible which introduces or

summarizes the stage

• a picture and summary word to make it easy to remember the

details of each stage

• a short explanation of what the stage is about, so that you can

remind yourself of it after the course is finished

• a few extra Bible verses for use in the Old Testament and New

Testament presentations.

After these 15 stages, there is a chart showing how these stages are

connected with each other. During the course of The Bible Overview

presentations, your course leader will construct this diagram on

a screen, or a display board or wall, using pictures which match the

ones in your book. The last few pages of the booklet provide a one-

paragraph summary of the story of the Bible and a quick-reference

chart for using the COMA method of understanding a Bible passage.

C O N T E N T S

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C R E A T I O NG E N E S I S 1 : 3 1 - 2 : 1

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.And there was evening, and there was morning—thesixth day. 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth werecompleted in all their vast array.

God made the world and everything

in it, and he made humans in his own

image. The first humans were Adam

and Eve. As Creator of the world, God

is the ruler (or king) of it. However, God

blessed Adam and Eve and appointed

them to be rulers over his creation.

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S T A G E 1

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Who God isG E N E S I S 1 : 1

1 In the beginning God created theheavens and the earth.

J O H N 1 : 1 - 4

1 In the beginning was the Word, andthe Word was with God, and the Wordwas God. 2 He was with God in thebeginning. 3 Through him all thingswere made; without him nothing wasmade that has been made. 4 In him waslife, and that life was the light of men.

What God doesG E N E S I S 1 : 2 7 - 3 1

27 So God created man in his ownimage, in the image of God he createdhim; male and female he created them.28 God blessed them and said to them,“Be fruitful and increase in number; fillthe earth and subdue it. Rule over thefish of the sea and the birds of the airand over every living creature thatmoves on the ground.” 29 Then Godsaid, “I give you every seed-bearingplant on the face of the whole earth andevery tree that has fruit with seed in it.They will be yours for food. 30 And to allthe beasts of the earth and all the birdsof the air and all the creatures thatmove on the ground—everything thathas the breath of life in it—I give everygreen plant for food.” And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there wasevening, and there was morning—thesixth day.

How God worksP S A L M 3 3 : 9

9 For he spoke, and it came to be; hecommanded, and it stood firm.

H E B R E W S 1 1 : 3

3 By faith we understand that theuniverse was formed at God’scommand, so that what is seen was notmade out of what was visible.

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T H E F A L LG E N E S I S 1 1 : 4

4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city,with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that wemay make a name for ourselves and not be scatteredover the face of the whole earth”.

Adam and Eve chose to reject God their

ruler (or king). The effects of rejecting

God were devastating. As a result,

humans no longer relate rightly to God,

to each other, or to the creation in

which we’ve been placed.

The people tried to build a tower

so huge that they could make a

“name” for themselves apart from

God. People followed in Adam and

Eve’s footsteps, crying out to God,

“We know better—we’ll do things our

way!” God’s response to humanity’s

actions at Babel was to confuse their

language, so that they could not

complete the tower, and to scatter

them over the whole earth.

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S T A G E 2

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Who God isG E N E S I S 6 : 5 - 6

5 The Lord saw how great man’swickedness on the earth had become,and that every inclination of thethoughts of his heart was only evil allthe time. 6 The Lord was grieved thathe had made man on the earth, and hisheart was filled with pain.

R O M A N S 1 : 1 8 - 2 0

18 The wrath of God is being revealedfrom heaven against all the godlessnessand wickedness of men who suppressthe truth by their wickedness, 19 sincewhat may be known about God is plainto them, because God has made it plainto them. 20 For since the creation of theworld God’s invisible qualities—hiseternal power and divine nature—havebeen clearly seen, being understood fromwhat has been made, so that men arewithout excuse.

What God doesG E N E S I S 3 : 1 4 - 1 9

14 So the Lord God said to the serpent,“Because you have done this, “Cursed areyou above all the livestock and all the wildanimals! You will crawl on your belly andyou will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between youand the woman, and between youroffspring and hers; he will crush your

head, and you will strike his heel.”16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly

increase your pains in childbearing; withpain you will give birth to children. Yourdesire will be for your husband, and hewill rule over you.”

17 To Adam he said, “Because youlistened to your wife and ate from thetree about which I commanded you, ‘Youmust not eat of it’, “cursed is the groundbecause of you; through painful toil youwill eat of it all the days of your life. 18 Itwill produce thorns and thistles for you,and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eatyour food until you return to the ground,since from it you were taken; for dustyou are and to dust you will return.”

R O M A N S 5 : 1 2

12 Therefore, just as sin entered theworld through one man, and deaththrough sin, and in this way death cameto all men, because all sinned…

How God worksG E N E S I S 1 1 : 8 - 9

8 So the Lord scattered them from thereover all the earth, and they stoppedbuilding the city. 9 That is why it wascalled Babel—because there the Lordconfused the language of the wholeworld. From there the Lord scatteredthem over the face of the whole earth.

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T H E P L E D G EG E N E S I S 1 2 : 1 - 3

1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country,your people and your father’s household and go to theland I will show you. 2 I will make you into a greatnation and I will bless you; I will make your namegreat, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless thosewho bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

God chose one man, Abraham, and made

a special pledge to him (also called a

‘covenant’ or ‘promise’). Whereas at

Babel, the people had sought to make

a name for themselves, God promised

to make a “name” for Abraham, and

pledged to him a special relationship.

God would make a great nation from

Abraham’s descendants, and give them

a land of their own. He did this so that

in the end, the whole world would be

blessed, and humanity’s rejection of God

would not go on forever.

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S T A G E 3

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Who God isG E N E S I S 1 2 : 1 - 3 (see opposite page)

G A L A T I A N S 3 : 6 - 9

6 Consider Abraham: “He believed God,

and it was credited to him as

righteousness”. 7 Understand, then,

that those who believe are children of

Abraham. 8 The Scripture foresaw that

God would justify the Gentiles by faith,

and announced the gospel in advance to

Abraham: “All nations will be blessed

through you”. 9 So those who have faith

are blessed along with Abraham, the

man of faith.

What God doesG E N E S I S 1 7 : 7

7 I will establish my covenant as an

everlasting covenant between me and

you and your descendants after you for

the generations to come, to be your

God and the God of your descendants

after you.

H E B R E W S 6 : 1 3 - 2 0

13 When God made his promise to

Abraham, since there was no one greater

for him to swear by, he swore by himself,14 saying, “I will surely bless you and give

you many descendants”. 15 And so after

waiting patiently, Abraham received what

was promised. 16 Men swear by someone greater

than themselves, and the oath confirmswhat is said and puts an end to allargument. 17 Because God wanted tomake the unchanging nature of hispurpose very clear to the heirs of whatwas promised, he confirmed it with anoath. 18 God did this so that, by twounchangeable things in which it isimpossible for God to lie, we who havefled to take hold of the hope offered tous may be greatly encouraged. 19 Wehave this hope as an anchor for the soul,firm and secure. It enters the innersanctuary behind the curtain, 20 whereJesus, who went before us, has enteredon our behalf. He has become a highpriest forever, in the order ofMelchizedek.

How God worksG E N E S I S 1 5 : 5 - 6

5 He took him outside and said, “Lookup at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them”. Then hesaid to him, “So shall your offspring be”.

6Abram believed the Lord, and hecredited it to him as righteousness.

G A L A T I A N S 3 : 6 - 7

6 Consider Abraham: “He believed God,and it was credited to him asrighteousness”. 7 Understand, then,that those who believe are children ofAbraham.

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E X O D U S F R O M S L A V E R YE X O D U S 2 : 2 3 - 2 4

23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. TheIsraelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, andtheir cry for help because of their slavery went up toGod. 24 God heard their groaning and he rememberedhis covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.

E X O D U S 1 4 : 2 9 - 3 0

29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground,with a wall of water on their right and on their left.30 That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of theEgyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead onthe shore.

Abraham’s descendants became

known as “Israel”. They went to

Egypt, and there they were made

slaves for about 400 years. But God

had not forgotten his pledge to

Abraham. God saved his people Israel

from slavery in Egypt, by bringing

them through the sea.

T H E B I B L E O V E R V I E W | E X O D U S F R O M S L A V E R Y12

S T A G E 4

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Who God isE X O D U S 6 : 2 - 8

2 God also said to Moses, “I am theLord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaacand to Jacob as God Almighty, but by myname the Lord I did not make myselfknown to them. 4 I also established mycovenant with them to give them theland of Canaan, where they lived asaliens. 5 Moreover, I have heard thegroaning of the Israelites, whom theEgyptians are enslaving, and I haveremembered my covenant.

6“Therefore, say to the Israelites:‘I am the Lord, and I will bring youout from under the yoke of theEgyptians. I will free you from beingslaves to them, and I will redeem youwith an outstretched arm and withmighty acts of judgment. 7 I will takeyou as my own people, and I will beyour God. Then you will know that Iam the Lord your God, who broughtyou out from under the yoke of theEgyptians. 8 And I will bring you to theland I swore with uplifted hand to giveto Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. Iwill give it to you as a possession. I amthe Lord.’”

What God doesE X O D U S 2 0 : 1 - 2

1 And God spoke all these words: 2 “I amthe Lord your God, who brought youout of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

How God worksE X O D U S 1 5 : 7 - 1 0

7“In the greatness of your majesty youthrew down those who opposed you. You unleashed your burning anger; itconsumed them like stubble. 8 By theblast of your nostrils the waters piled up.The surging waters stood firm like awall; the deep waters congealed in theheart of the sea. 9 The enemy boasted,‘I will pursue, I will overtake them. I will divide the spoils; I will gorgemyself on them. I will draw my swordand my hand will destroy them.’ 10 Butyou blew with your breath, and the seacovered them. They sank like lead in themighty waters.”

1 P E T E R 2 : 9 - 1 0

9 But you are a chosen people, a royalpriesthood, a holy nation, a peoplebelonging to God, that you may declarethe praises of him who called you outof darkness into his wonderful light.10 Once you were not a people, but nowyou are the people of God; once youhad not received mercy, but now youhave received mercy.

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