A very brief overview of the Bible
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
On
the
sixth
day
He
created
mankind
in
the
form
of
Adam
and
Eve
with
all
their
needs
provided
for.
However,
Eve
accepted
an
argument
from
Satan
to
go
against
God’s
instruction
of
the
tree
of
the
knowledge
of
good
and
evil,
thou
shalt
not
eat
of
it
,
then
persuaded
Adam
to
do
the
same.
A
decision
for
which
they
were
expelled
from
the
Garden
of
Eden,
with
penalties.
In
time,
mankind
became
so
wicked
that
God
chose
to
flood
the
world
and
begin
again
with
righteous
Noah
and
his
family.
As
the
population
grew,
things
were
still
not
going
in
the
right
direction,
as
witnessed
by
the
Tower
of
Babel
incident,
and
so
God
chose
to
raise
His
own
nation
with
Abraham
as
the
patriarchal
head
of
that
nation.
Abraham
was
promised
that
his
descendants
would
inherit
a
land
given
by
God
and
live
there
in
peace
and
forever.
He
was
also
promised
that
in
thee
shall
all
families
of
the
earth
be
blessed
.
These
promises
were
repeated
to Isaac and Jacob. Jacob was to be the father of the Hebrew tribes.
Jacob’s
eleventh
son,
Joseph,
was
hated
by
his
brothers
and
sold
into
slavery,
telling
his
father
he
had
been
killed
by
wild
animals.
God
was
with
Joseph
in
all
that
he
did,
and
through
the
interpretation
of
Pharaoh’s
dreams
and
his
advice
on
how
to
deal
with
seven
years
of
famine
in
Egypt,
Joseph
was
elevated
to
a
position
whereby
he
was
able
to
save
his
family
from
the
famine
and
give
them
a
place to live in Goshen.
Generations
later,
when
the
Hebrews
had
grown
so
much
in
numbers
that
a
new
Pharaoh
saw
them
as
a
threat,
they
were
put
into
slavery
and
newborn
males
killed
at
birth.
Moses
survived
when
his
mother
hid
him
in
an
ark
and
placed
it
by
the
riverside.
There
he
was discovered by the Pharoah’s daughter who brought him up as her own.
When
an
adult,
after
killing
an
Egyptian
when
defending
a
Hebrew,
Moses
fled
Egypt
and
settled
in
Midian
where
he
married
one
of
the priest Jethro’s daughters and fathered a son.
Later,
whilst
tending
his
father-in-law’s
sheep,
he
is
called
by
God
through
the
‘burning
bush’
to
take
his
brother
Aaron
and
go
and
rescue Israel out of bondage.
It
took
ten
plagues
to
persuade
Pharoah
to
let
the
Israelites
go,
the
tenth
of
which
was
the
death
of
all
firstborn.
Israel’s
firstborn
were protected by the daubing of a lamb’s blood on the house door lintel and posts.
The
exodus
began
and
the
Israelites
headed
for
the
Promised
Land,
but
were
thwarted
by
a
bad
report
from
twelve
spies
sent
to
check
out
the
land.
The
people
were
persuaded
by
the
report
rather
than
trusting
in
God
and
were
condemned
to
wander
in
the
desert
for
forty
years.
When
they
finally
reached
the
Promised
Land,
Moses
was
succeeded
by
Joshua
and
the
invasion
began
with
the
successful battle of Jericho.
When
the
invasion
had
been
completed
it
hadn’t
all
gone
to
plan
as,
in
time,
the
Israelites
were
influenced
by
non-Jewish
inhabitants,
inter-marrying
and
following
some
of
their
gods.
Each
time
this
happened,
God
raised
a
judge
to
deal
with
the
situation
and
bring
the
Israelites
back
to
Him.
Sadly,
this
happened
numerous
times.
The
last
judge
was
Samuel
who
also
had
a
school
for
prophets.
In
his
old
age,
Samuel
made
his
two
sons
judges,
but
they
were
immoral
and
abused
their
position.
Consequently,
the
people
asked
for
a
king
to
rule
them.
Saul
was
chosen
and
anointed
by
Samuel.
At
first
Saul
was
a
good
king,
but
in
time
he
twice
acted
contrary
to
God’s
laws
and
then
against
His
instruction
to
destroy
Amalek,
with
the
consequence
that
Samuel
was
told
to
anoint
David
in preparation to replace him.
After
defeating
Goliath,
the
giant
Philistine,
and
subsequent
successes
in
battles,
Saul
became
aware
that
David
was
blessed
by
God
and
David
became
his
enemy.
David
spent
much
time
effectively
in
exile
until
after
some
years,
when
Saul
was
defeated
in
battle
against the Philistines and took his own life, he became king.
David
wanted
to
build
a
temple
for
God,
but
the
privilege
was
given
to
his
son
Solomon.
After
asking
God
for
wisdom
to
rule
his
people,
Solomon
was
also
given
the
promise
of
wealth.
His
wealth
was
built
on
trading
but
he
also
taxed
the
people
heavily.
When
his
son
Rehoboam
succeeded
him,
he
refused
to
reduce
the
tax
burden
on
the
people
and
they
rebelled.
Jeroboam
became
king
of
the
northern kingdom, referred to as Israel, whilst Rehoboam retained control of Judah and Benjamin, referred to as Judah.
Israel’s
kings
were
all
sinful
and
succession
by
murder
was
not
uncommon.
Despite
the
efforts
of
prophets
there
was
no
improvement, so God allowed them to be conquered by the Assyrians.
Judah
was
not
much
better,
although
all
kings
were
of
one
dynasty,
the
line
of
David,
and
there
were
some
kings
who
sought
to
bring
about
a
reformation.
Despite
these
kings,
and
again
the
warnings
from
prophets,
Jerusalem
was
eventually
besieged
by
the
Babylonians
and
their
exile
began.
Among
the
captives
were
young
Daniel
and
his
three
companions,
Shadrach,
Meshach,
and
Abednego
As
the
end
of
their
seventy
year
captivity
approached,
Daniel
was
praying
fervently
for
his
people
when
the
angel
Gabriel
appeared
to
him
and
gave
him
what
we
refer
to
as
‘Daniel’s
70
Weeks’
prophecy.
This
prophecy
predicted
Jesus’
triumphal
entry
at
the
end
of
the
69th week, and His death after the 69th week. The remaining 70th week is yet to happen.
When
Jesus
came,
the
Jews
rejected
Him
as
their
Messiah
and
were
consequently
set
aside
by
Jesus
until
the
End
Times.
This
fulfilled
the
promise
to
Abraham
that
in
thee
shall
all
the
families
of
the
earth
be
blessed.
Meanwhile,
Jesus’
ministry
continued
with
the
message
to
Repent:
for
the
kingdom
of
heaven
is
at
hand
.
Along
with
this
message
was
the
promise
from
Jesus
that
anyone
who
believes
on
him
will
be
saved
and
have
eternal
life.
The
authority
of
this
message
and
promise
was
demonstrated
in
actions
in
the
form
of
healings,
exorcisms
and
miracles,
all
of
which
showed
God’s
sovereignty
had
come.
These
messages
and
supporting
actions
Jesus
took
throughout
Galilee,
then
later
in
Judea
and
in
and
around
Perea
before
going
to
Jerusalem
for
the
last
time
where
he
was
betrayed
by Judas, tried and crucified.
His
resurrection
on
the
third
day,
the
subsequent
appearances
to
his
followers,
then
ascension
to
heaven,
preceded
the
birth
of
the
church when his followers received the Holy Spirit.
Following
Stephen,
who
was
martyred,
and
a
short
recollection
of
Philip’s
and
Peter’s
ministries,
focus
turned
to
Paul,
initially
known
as Saul.
Paul
embarked
on
three
missionary
journeys
throughout
Asia
Minor
(now
Turkey)
and
Greece,
picking
up
Timothy
and
Luke
during
his
second
journey.
When
arriving
at
Jerusalem
after
his
third
journey,
Paul
was
encouraged
to
go
with
four
men
in
a
purification
process
to
show
he
was
compliant
with
Moses’
law,
but
was
later
accused
of
taking
Gentiles
into
the
temple.
This
resulted
in
Paul’s
imprisonment over a few years, the end of which was in Rome, after which we heard no more of Paul.
At
some
time
in
the
future,
there
will
be
a
period
when
Jesus
will
unleash
events,
announced
by
the
seals
of
a
seven-seal
scroll,
that
will
precede
judgements
and
the
implementation
of
God’s
wrath
on
mankind,
including
the
battle
of
Armageddon.
This
will
be
a
seven-
year period of tribulation, the last half of which was referred to by Jesus during his first coming as the ‘great tribulation’.
At some point Jesus will gather his saints in order that they do not have to face God’s wrath.
After
the
seven
years
of
tribulation,
Jesus
will
reign
and
bring
peace
to
the
Earth
for
a
thousand
years,
during
which
time
Satan
will
be
bound
and
his
influence
made
ineffective.
After
the
thousand
years,
Satan
will
be
released
to
deceive
the
nations,
recruiting
supporters before the final battle between good and evil in which the loser will be Satan, his demons and human followers.
There
will
then
be
a
judgement
of
all
of
mankind
with
those
whose
name
is
written
in
the
‘book
of
life’
receiving
the
gift
of
eternal
life in a new heaven and a new earth.
