The Story of the Bible

Overview

• The Bible is a collection of many books written over a long period of time.
• Together, these books tell a unified story about humanity and their relationship with God.

Creation

• Begins with God, the author of all reality.
• God brings order and beauty to the chaotic world and creates a garden full of life.
• Humanity ('adam in Hebrew) is created as God's image to rule and bring more beauty and order.

The Choice

• Humans face a choice, represented by a fruit tree:
  • Partner with God and trust His knowledge of good and evil.
  • Seize power and define good and evil on their own, leading to death.
• A dark creature tempts humans to take the fruit for power and freedom.
• They take the fruit, leading to fractured relationships and a civilization (Babylon) that redefines evil as good.
• God scatters this corrupted project.

Abraham and Sarah

• The story focuses on Abraham and Sarah, who come out of Babylon.
• God promises a new nation from them that will have another chance to make the right choice.
• The rest of the Bible follows this family, but they also fail despite God's guidance.

Israel's Failure

• Even Israel’s best rulers, who loved God's guidance, failed.
• Israel's prophets warned that these choices would lead back to Babylon as captives.
• Israel ends up in exile in Babylon.

The Promise of a New Leader

• Prophets said the story wasn't over; a new leader would come to cover failures and transform hearts and minds.
• The Old Testament ends with these promises unfulfilled.

Jesus of Nazareth

• The New Testament introduces Jesus, from the line of Israel's kings.
• Jesus completes these promises, resists evil, and announces God’s rule.
• He teaches that real power is in serving others, loving the poor, and even enemies.
• Jesus is God become human, taking the consequences of evil upon himself.
• His sacrificial love proves more powerful than evil and death.

A New Choice

• Humanity now faces a new choice represented by a new tree:
  • Stick with the old ways or follow the way of Jesus.
• Those who choose Jesus are energized by God's power and transformed to love and forgive others.

The Jesus Movement

• The movement quickly spreads, forming new communities.
• These communities face external persecution and internal confusion/compromise.
• Apostles write letters to comfort and challenge these communities.
• The Bible ends with a future hope: a day when all wrongs are made right, evil is eradicated, and Heaven and Earth are united.

Conclusion

• This unified story ties all the Bible's books together.
• Each book contains different types of literature that uniquely contribute to the story.

Additional Resources

• The BibleProject provides more videos and free resources on their website.
• They are crowdfunded and support can be given on their site.