The Golden Thread Across the Bible
This article is not associated with any church!
Once we see the Bible’s main message across old and new testaments, no church teaching, no Bible translation, or Bible misinterpretation can take us off track with our Christian faith. We will become able to easily spot the wrong message.
CONTENT
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Do Christians Really Know Our God As Well As They Think They Do?
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God Created the World in Days! Here is One Conceivable Way How
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Children of Adam & Eve Did Not Marry Each Other - God Created Other People!
1. What is The Main Theme of the Bible?
Answer: Forgiveness of sins through substitutionary sacrificial redemption, driven by God's love for us, to save us from hell.
Old Testament: Moses-law required presenting a perfect unblemished young lamb or goat sacrifice on behalf of the people daily for forgiveness of their sins. The sacrifice had to be eaten by the priests and their families to activate the sin-redemption for the people. A provisional proxy method until Jesus came.
New Testament: Jesus Christ the Messiah - The final perfect & sinless sacrifice on our behalf for forgiveness of sins of true believers. Jesus' sacrifice became "the Bread of life" that we receive daily from God the Father when we pray properly.
Every move God made throughout history was for the forgiveness of our sins, so He could reconcile us to Him. After the fall of Adam & Eve, God shifted focus to ways to save us from our sins, so we don't send ourselves to hell. The Bible says, the Holy nature of God demands that a death take place as a redemption for our sins, so that we ourselves don't have to die to pay the price. If you're thinking "we're good people, what sins?" see my page We're Good People What Sins?
He started with the Jews and the law of Moses, forgiving their sins with a proxy redemption method; by presenting daily "perfect unblemished" animal sacrifices and offerings (Old Testament). Then in the New Testament He finalized His salvation with the real and final sacrifice - the substitutionary suffering and death of His "perfect" Son Jesus Christ on the cross on our behalf. And turned it into a "Bread of life" that He gives us by faith, daily, for the forgiveness of our sins when we pray the Lord's Prayer and mean it correctly. In other words, we have to ask God the Father for the Bread of life to become forgiven and filled with the Holy Spirit, on a daily basis. He doesn't just give it without us asking properly!!! More on this in my page The Lord's Prayer is Misunderstood.
The Big Picture
Presenting to you the big picture as I formed it from years of studying the Bible. The main objective of God is to maximize the number of people in heaven at the very end, after judgement day. He did whatever it took to accomplish this objective. People look at bits-and-pieces of God's actions in history, point to them and complain - "God killed people, God killed animals, etc.." No one sees the big picture! No one knows what difficult choices God had to make to accomplish the bigger objective!!
God is the only one who can see things across time and space. His visibility is not available to us. He makes painful decisions to preserve the bigger objective. We, in our limited capacity, are like someone sitting next to a brain-surgeon and continuously complaining - "why did you cut here, why did you insert a needle there, that's painful, etc..."
Today's Churches Are Far Far Far Away From the Bible!
I am not saying this to mock or disrespect churchgoers. You're all good smart people, but the churches of today that you're trusting with your eternity are gravely misleading you! I humbly ask that you take a closer look at the Bible. I'm not selling anything!!
Protestants of all varieties: "by faith alone" their preferred way, not "By Faith Alone" the biblical way! Details with many precise and clear Bible references here.
Catholics & Orthodox: Praying to Mary and Saints. And a slew of unbiblical doctrines! Details here.
Calvinists of all varieties (Presbyterians, Reformed, etc.): God already selected from the humans for His pleasure, and discarded the rest!! Details here.
God, by transferring His required miserable suffering and death to His own Son, provided us with the simplest new-covenant plan to follow to become saved. Jesus showed us how, but most ignored Him!
God wants to forgive your sins. It is not as your church taught you! Jesus showed us how-to here 👉 The Lord's Prayer is Severely Misunderstood!!
More details on today's churches here: Are We True Christians?
2. What Does God Want from Us?
The Bible says God created us for a genuine relationship with Him. Example verses:
James 4:8
Come near to God and He will come near to you.
Proverbs 8:17
I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
And this verse, which churches don't talk about, but keep asking people to donate, when all that God really wants from us is get to know Him!!
Hosea 6:6
I don’t want your sacrifices - I want your love; I don’t want your offerings - I want you to know me.
He created us with free-will to make choices. And is waiting on us to choose Him, pray to Him, and ask Him for blessings. That is choose Him His way as in the Bible! Not our preferred way, or the churches' unbiblical ways! He only acts when we ask Him, the biblical way! When you see wars and bad situations with people getting hurt and dying etc., please don't ask "where is God?" He is nowhere near there, because nobody asked Him the proper way! His way!!
1 Peter 3:12
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
God wants a genuine relationship with us, where we truly get to know Him as our God (through studying the Bible), love Him, and worship Him the proper way. And in return He forgives our sins, which makes us "righteous" in His eyes. He could then bring us into His Family, pour His blessings on us, and give us eternal life in Heaven. He wants us to mature in the knowledge of Him to get this relationship to a meaningful level. You can get started now with the Lord's Prayer and talk directly to "our heavenly Father".
God, in His Holy nature, has rules that He Himself cannot bend or break. Example, He cannot be in relationship with evil, which is us when we are sinful. Who among us is without sin? So knowing this, He devised a way to forgive us our sins - renewed day by day - to restore the relationship with Him. But first you have to ask for it, the proper way, by learning all about Jesus' commands and keeping them! Thus, seeking God in the Bible.
God Himself cannot bend or break His rules, but He can forgive us when we do!
What is His biggest concern? It is the risk of losing us. For example, become lost in this world's riches, worries, social media of today, or atheism. The worst sins of the flesh? He can forgive when we turn to Him with the right attitude. But leaving Him? means we've cut the cord; He can do nothing for us at that point. We'd be doomed to eternal torment. When you reject Him, He can only move away. And when He moves away, you have nothing left but darkness, desolation, depression, and every negative thing you've ever experienced in life greatly magnified.
You ask: Why would a loving God want to send us to hell and torment us just for rejecting Him?
Answer: He doesn't want to send us to hell - When you reject Him, He leaves. Then His absence is hell!!
Rejecting God comes in many shapes and forms; it's not only atheists or other religions. It is also when so-called "Christians" reject His redemption plan through Christ and instead turn to dead people like Mary and saints. Or when people become so arrogantly callous, stick to the high-level lip-service belief, "by faith alone" the Protestant's way, not the Bible's way! Or when they declare, "sit back relax, He already decided"! These are other forms of rejecting God. And the irony is, these people are throwing stones at atheists all over the internet!! I see more hope for atheists than for them.
See Atheism - A Different Perspective for more details.
3. Do Christians Really Know God As Well As They Think They Do?
Here are the characteristics of our unchanging God of the Bible that carried over from the Old to the New Covenant, but not many know:
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He forgives sins on a daily basis. Jesus’s prayer said so.
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His forgiveness requires a redemption sacrifice daily. Jesus Himself on our behalf, which became our “Bread of life”.
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The sacrifice must be eaten daily. Jesus’s prayer shows us how to ask God the Father for the daily Bread of life.
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His forgiveness is contingent upon us forgiving others. Jesus’s prayer said so.
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Then after obeying the above, He sends us the Holy Spirit to reconcile us to Him, daily! This is also in the Lord’s Prayer!
How did I get to these points? They’re all from the Bible! They are basically reciting the Lord’s Prayer, in other words!! Every one of these points has strong references from the New Testament Bible supporting it, all shown and explained here: The Lord’s Prayer is Severely Misunderstood
Related Reading:
4. Heaven & Hell
Heaven is an amazing place! The Bible describes a "new heaven" and a "new earth" that God prepared for us after the end of this world, after Judgement day. We will be in the new-earth forever. A magnificent actual physical place with no pain or suffering. We will be physical, young people forever. Better looking than any we've known in this life! Awesome nature, more vibrant colors then you've ever seen, and many other amazing gifts and capabilities we don't know about yet. It is a place, full of life, beauty, and goodness, because it is very close to God!
1 Corinthians 2:9
However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” - the things God has prepared for those who love him.
Hell is a dark place of torment, for eternity! A place far far far away from God. Where there is no light, no truth, and no peace. A complete opposite of heaven. People there will be extremely ugly! But that won't matter because they can't see each other from the pitch darkness. The Bible describes it as a "lake of fire". People there will be without any presence of God, just as they wished all their lives on earth. And they will behave accordingly - meaning the nastiest human behavior you've seen here on earth, greatly magnified.
Matthew 13:42 Jesus said:
"They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Revelation 14:11
"And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night..."
See Truths about Heaven and Hell for more details. Also see Section 7 here: Amazing Little Known Facts From the Bible.
5. Why Did the Jews not Accept Jesus as the Messiah?
Jesus is a descendant of the Jews in the flesh, and the Son of God in the Spirit. The Jews were the ones primed by God to receive their own Jesus as the promised Messiah (Messiah means the Anointed, the Savior). But many of them did not. Instead the Gentiles (Gentiles means non-Jews, all of us) did receive Him! Today's Jews are still Jews because their ancestors said no to Jesus. And are still waiting for the "true messiah" to come.
Most Jewish people at the time did not believe that Jesus was the awaited Messiah, for many reasons, examples:
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Jesus did not fit their pre-conceived image of the Messiah. They expected a strong warrior that would fight the Romans for them. And a grand public figure that would negotiate with the Jewish temple leaders etc. But God had His own plan for the Messiah. Jesus came humbly in a stable manger, spent most of His time teaching in poor areas, and performing miracles for them.
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God is One - How did He become 3? Not only the Jews, many religions shoot arrows at us for "worshipping 3 gods!" But they are unwilling to listen to any explanation we provide. The New Testament explains it very clearly! One God with 3 Personalities, Extensions of His Spirit. See section below for details. But if you insist on only accepting one simple god easy to figure-out, then Christianity is not for you!
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The coming of the Messiah, according to the Old Testament (Book of Torah), meant peace on earth! Where is the peace on earth?! Good point. But here is what Jews and Christians today don't know: It would have been peace on earth had the generations after Jesus's resurrection followed His commands!! No one followed His commands - not the Jews, and not the churchgoers! And therefore pain, not peace, on earth. More in this article.
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Skeptical of Mary's claims of the angel story and the conception through the Holy Spirit. To the Jews, Jesus was a regular guy from their town, the son of Joseph the carpenter. "How did He become the Son of God all of sudden?!"
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The arrogant leaders of the Jewish temple did not want anything that would change their way of life. They were money-rich, powerful, and respected. And who is this Jesus guy claiming to be God and changing everything? The teachers of the law were un-Godly, as Jesus showed on many occasions in the New Testament. Does this ring a bell? Today's highly-paid and respected seminary theology professors and church leaders - a parallel?
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Those Jewish leaders were also insulted because Jesus was operating solo and did not consult with them ("the teachers of the law”), before He went teaching in villages and performing miracles. So they kept trying to trap Him every step of the way.
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Many Jewish people rejected Him because He was performing miracles on the Sabbath!! And called Him demon-possessed for defiling the holy Sabbath. Jesus rebuked them for that and tried to explain why they were wrong.
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Despite all the magnificent miracles He performed, including raising people from the dead, most Jewish people did not believe He was the Messiah and are still waiting for the "real messiah" to come!!
Paul told them in the Book of Hebrews, "You missed it in the desert with Moses, then wandered for 40 years. And now you missed it again, not recognizing God's Messiah!" Today's Jewish people are the descendants of those who rejected Jesus. The fact that hey remained Jewish to this day attests to their testimony to continue rejecting Jesus as the Son of God.
Related reading: Christianity & Judaism - A Parallel
6. God is One - One Triune God
God revealed more of His awesome Self in the New Testament.
John 28:30 Jesus said: I and the Father are one.
If you insist on a god easily explainable with one simple word to fit your limited human intelligence, then you will be left behind, away from God. Because You refuse to learn more about Him and therefore He doesn’t know you!
A magnificent supreme Being capable of creating our universe and us intelligent people, is not easily figured-out! We are created with only a subset of His infinite intelligence. All we know about Him is what He revealed to us in the scriptures.
In the New Testament, He revealed more of Himself. He revealed that His Spirit extends to the Son Jesus and to the Holy Spirit. Thus the terms "Triune" and "Trinity". Although the term Triune is not used in the Bible, it is a correct one-word interpretation. So for true Christians who believe in Jesus Christ and what He said in the New Testament:
God has 3 Personalities, equal in Spirit but different in roles and greatness, in this order:
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Father
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Son
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Holy Spirit
There are many verses in the New Testament clearly saying this. Here are a few:
John 28:30 Jesus said: I and the Father are one. And at the same time, Jesus said throughout the Bible that He was doing the will of the Father. So, equal in Spirit, yes. But different in roles and greatness.
John 14:28 Jesus said: ".. for the Father is greater than I."
John 14:8-9
Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
1 Peter 1:20 “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”
Matthew 28:19 Jesus said: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Luke 11:13 Jesus said: "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!
Our God is eternally Triune; did not change in the New Testament! He just revealed more of Himself in the New Testament:
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The Father - Is the God Head
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The Son - Is an extension of God's Spirit incarnated in the human form. Jesus is the first-born of humankind. Came to earth for the sole objective of suffering and dying on the cross as the ultimate sin-redemption sacrifice on our behalf. Then became the Bread of life.
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The Holy Spirit - Is another extension of God's Spirit. His role is to reside in people who properly ask the Father for Him. He provides a 2-way communication channel between us and the Father and Son. This is how God hears our prayers and we hear Him. John 16:13-14 [Jesus said:] “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth... He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you."
A simplified earthly analogy - One man can be at the same time:
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The president of a country
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The husband of his wife
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The son of his parents.
If he commits a crime as the son of his parents, would he not reason with his president-self on what to do to try to get pardoned? Jesus prayed to the Father to remove that cup if at all possible. God the Father laid all our inequities on the Son, and punished Him instead of us. This is about as plainly explained as possible. Of course GOD is far more complicated than humans!!!
More Details Here:
7. Who Created God?
An infinite supreme being capable of creating such a grand universe and intelligent humans, is not one to be figured out easily by us, His creation! We are inside this universe, and He is outside of it! A house builder can only build a house from the outside. All these earthly "intelligent" questions about His existence, are moot! N/A when related to the creator! We can't reduce Him to our size and study Him based on our limitations!!
-We are created.
-God is not created. He exists, outside our world order. He is an infinite Being. Not simply understood in human terms!
This also aligns with His description of Himself in the Bible. He said His name is "I Am", as in, He exists.
God is not male nor female; these are human characteristics. He is our loving parent representing both genders. The Bible says He created us male and female in His own image. Both male and female are in His image.
See my page Atheism - A Different Perspective for more details.
8. God Created the World in Days! Here is One Conceivable Way How:
He created our universe in His realm over billions of years, then moved it over to our realm in days complete with fossils and bones. Don't be so perplexed! How did Jesus change water to wine? He's not a magician! Wine takes years to make, appeared instantly! The wine was made in God's realm, then moved over when Jesus asked for it. And the same with the few loaves of bread and fish that fed thousands. And God and angels themselves could enter and exit our dimension, example the angel that appeared to Mary then disappeared, and the angels that appeared to Abraham and Sarah. All these confirm the capability of God to move things from His realm to ours.
Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
This scripture is a description of earth when it was in God's realm, before He moved it to ours billions of years later. End result, from our earthly view, it took only "days" for the whole universe to appear in our dimension Genesis 1:16-19 ...He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky... the fourth day... "He set them in the vault of the sky"!!! Sounds like He moved them from another dimension to the vault of our sky!
Some choose not to believe this explanation because of the sequence of wording in Genesis. But I believe God mixed into the description of earth creation - some from His realm and some after He moved it to our universe. Because He uses similar vague descriptions throughout the Bible, examples, Old Testament prophesies, Jesus' parables, and the book of Revelation. Because His way is, to provide some of the answers, and the rest by faith.
God is outside of time. Peter tried to explain it this way: 2 Peter 3:8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. God wants us to diligently seek Him! And He reserved the right to selectively clarify the scripture to those who wholeheartedly seek Him. Proverbs 8:17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
Even scientists are now starting to find more evidence in-line with my view. Here is one recent science research article from “Popular Mechanics” magazine that is effectively saying the same thing: Was Our Universe Formed Inside the Quantum Chaos of Another Universe’s Black Hole?
9. The Bible Was Written by People!
For those skeptical of this being humans writing, let me remind you. If we believe in a supreme Being who is capable of creating such a grand universe, is it too difficult for Him to guide certain individuals to write, and others to compile the Bible for our learning?
I know what you're thinking. How can we be sure the Bible is it? Answer: If you were the devil, what would you do to keep people from seeing the true God? Create hundreds of false gods and other books. You ask, why does God allow it? He did not fix things so we become yes-people robots. He gave us brains and wisdom to choose. And hoped we seek Him wisely! This is the only way He could have a meaningful relationship with us!!
The reason Christianity is the largest religion in the world is because early Christians saw miracles before they became Christians! Although deteriorated over time with their unbiblical churches today, it is still a fact - The very first Christians were not converted by force; they saw miracles! Before you get swept in the atheist current and make a careless decision, do a little homework of your own in case you might be wrong and end up in the wrong place, for eternity!
10. Children of Adam & Eve Did Not Marry Each Other - God Created Other People
The biggest evidence in the Bible for this truth, is this: Incest marriages are against God's instructions!!
Here is what God said about brother and sister marrying each other:
Leviticus 20:17
If a man marries his sister, the daughter of either his father or his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They are to be publicly removed from their people. He has dishonored his sister and will be held responsible.
You may say this scripture is in Leviticus, long after Adam & Eve. Are you saying God caused people to sin (and tolerated it, as some churches explain)?! Why? Is He not capable of creating others to avoid this disgrace?! Would you want your son and daughter to marry each other? Would they want to, for any higher-calling?!! Even the mere thought of it is sheer horror!! How much more our Holy God would not want that for His creation!!
Nobody married their sister! There's not a single verse in the Bible that said they did! And there were no angelic beings mating with humans!!
I believe God similarly created other men from dust and the women from the rib-bone of their men, to create different races and ethnicities. There is much more biblical evidence supporting this explanation, including about the verse, "Eve the mother of all the living", here: Adam & Eve's Children Did Not Marry Each Other. And about the Nephilim mistaken for "giants", here Who Were the Nephilim?
Bible Summary
11. The Old Testament
Describes the time-period between creation and 400BC. From Genesis to Malachi, 46 books written by prophets guided by God. Note that the Old Testament is mainly a Jewish book. They call it "the Torah". But it is also the same Old Testament that Jesus referenced much of in His teaching. Therefore, we consider the Old Testament a key integral part of our Christian Bible.
The main theme of the Old Testament - Forgiveness of sins through provisional proxy animal sacrifices. It was also when the people of the light, God and His angels, started to communicate with the people of this world, Adam & Eve, Noah, Abraham, and the Jewish patriarchs.
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Adam & Eve
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Noah & the Flood
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Sodom & Gomorrah
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Abraham Isaac & Jacob
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Moses & the Commandments
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Old Testament Jewish Kings
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Psalms & Proverbs
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The Prophets
11.1 Adam & Eve
After God moved the universe-creation from His realm to ours, the Bible describes the creation of living things starting with the first couple Adam and Eve, followed by other people God created. It is not specifically stated how long ago creation happened, but based on the chronology of ages in the Bible, it is estimated to be around 6,000 years ago.
The area where Adam and Eve lived, the Garden of Eden, was God's perfection without any "pain on earth"!! Remained this way up until Adam & Eve brought the devil into their lives. Then God could no-longer be in relationship with them due to the violation of His Holy nature. He then had to design a redemption plan to forgive their sins to keep from killing them! This domino'ed into God taking drastic actions throughout history, including torturing and crucifying His own son as a redemption sacrifice, to reconcile those who truly seek Him, back to Himself.
Adam & Eve, while in God's perfect garden environment, failed God's test by choosing to eat from the forbidden tree. They were created with complete freedom to choose, and they chose to eat from the tree. Then God expelled them from the Garden of Eden, because they became evil in His eyes. As a result, He could no longer keep them in the perfect environment He created for them, nor stay in relationship with them.
But being the loving and caring God that He is, He provided them with a redemption method to forgive their sins and restore them to a relationship with Him. The Bible says God made garments for them from animal skins. Which meant that animals had to be sacrificed. And that Adam & Eve ate from it for forgiveness of their sins as instructed by God.
Adam & Eve and several generations of their descendants lived to an age between 600 and 900 years (see my page Amazing Little Known Facts from the Bible for more details). This continued up until the Noah flood.
11.2 Noah & the Flood
In those days, the Bible described the population in its entirety as "wicked" - people were not interested in God. Meaning, not only sinful in their behavior, but also rejecting of God, which meant no way to forgive their sins. One Exception, Noah and His family. Note that it was not that Noah and his family did not sin. They did sin; the Bible says no human is sinless. But Noah and his family faithfully followed the instructions of God of presenting sacrifices to atone for their sins. While the others in the land completely ridiculed and ignored God and His instructions. So, God guided Noah to build the ark, and raptured him and his family and all animal kinds before the flood. The Bible said the flood covered the whole earth - I often read in the news about fish fossils found at mountain tops, puzzling scientists etc.
After the flood, the earth re-populated from the 3 sons of Noah and their wives who were on the ark. Noah and his wife also had more sons and daughters after the flood. Then the age of people was limited by God to less than 120 years.
11.3 Sodom & Gomorrah
Sodom & Gomorrah happened some years after the flood. It was during the days of Abraham and his nephew Lot. The destruction of the cities Sodom & Gomorrah had a similar story to the flood. Their inhabitants were mostly sinful and rejecting of God. Then God raptured Lot and his family who followed God's instructions of presenting sacrifices for the forgiveness of their sins. And destroyed Sodom & Gomorrah who rejected God and His instructions. Note that in the New Testament, Jesus used Noah's flood and the destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah as parallels to the rapture coming in our future. He called it, "the return of the Son of man..." More on this here: End Times.
11.4 Abraham Isaac & Jacob
The patriarchs of the Jews started with Abraham, who was granted "righteousness" by God because he wholeheartedly believed Him. God made promises to Abraham, some of which will become fulfilled in the future as the Apostle Paul described in the New Testament, "the Elect". Abraham had two first-borns - Ismail from the maid Hagar, and Isaac from his wife Sarah. Isaac's descendants became the Jews. Jacob, Isaac's son, was also called "Israel". Jacob was the father of 12 sons who became the 12 tribes of Israel, which were the first ancestors of the Jewish nation.
God assigned the Jewish priestly role and the keeping of the temple, to the tribe of Levi (one of the 12). Moses was a descendant of Levi, and was given the role of leading the Jewish people out of Egyptian bondage and into the promised land. God also mandated the other 11 tribes to give 10% of their goods as a tithe to the tribe of Levi because it did not have a land inheritance. So the 10% came from the 11 to 1 tribes ratio, but became abused in today's churches!
11.5 Moses & the Commandments
God prepared people for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, by starting with the old covenant redemption plan through the sacrifice of animals and other offerings.
God appeared to Moses in the famous burning bush. Gave him hundreds of commandments and instructed him to document on tablets. This was the old-covenant law. It detailed commandments from God that the Jews had to execute in the temple daily in order to preserve God's holiness ("hollowed be Your Name"), keep Him among them ("Your kingdom come"), and remain forgiven of their sins ("forgive us our sins"). You see, the old-covenant from God was a shadow proxy covenant pointing to the new-covenant, the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ who worded His prayer for all of us to accomplish the same result! Because God is the same for Jews and Gentiles - Romans 10:12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile - the same God is God of all...
God started to lead the Jewish people into the promised land, but they did not follow God's instructions because they were afraid of the inhabitants of that land. They essentially did not have faith that God would be with them, even after all the magnificent miracles God performed for them in Egypt! So in God's anger, they became lost, and aimlessly wandered the desert for 40 years until that unfaithful generation died out. Then God led them to the promised land. The Jews remained faithful and followed God's law for the first few hundred years. Then deteriorated into rejecting God's rules and following the ways of neighboring nations worshipping other gods. Which resulted in their punishment and exiles multiple times for the next thousand years.
A Side Note: today's inhabitants of that land, Israel and Palestine, are both rejecting of Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the savior Son of God.
Jesus came 1,000 years later and fulfilled most of the old-covenant law requirements, then only 10 commandments remained for us Christians to keep. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross changed the redemption method from daily animal sacrifices that Jewish priests had to eat for the forgiveness of the Jewish people's sins, to a spiritual "Bread of life", Jesus's sacrifice, to be eaten daily by praying the prayer Jesus taught us for the forgiveness of our sins (see The Lord's Prayer is Misunderstood). Who said the Bible is not consistent? God's main concern ever since Adam & Eve was to design a way to reconcile us to Him. He executed His design perfectly, resulting in redemption plans that are very consistent. But most people don't know this! Because churches don't explain it.
You may be thinking, why did God do it this way? Why did He not skip the old Moses law and go directly to the Jesus redemption plan? The apostle Paul explained this point later in the New Testament. It was a bit too philosophical for the average person. In short, in the old covenant, God introduced His detailed law required to remain righteous in His eyes. This showed how difficult it was for humans to keep it, and that a redemption was needed to restore us back to God. Then the Messiah, the only perfect sinless human, Jesus Christ, with His sacrifice on our behalf, fulfilled the law, and turned it into a simple prayer, the Lord's Prayer, to receive the Bread of life in order to become righteous in the eyes of God.
11.6 Old Testament Jewish Kings
These were the kings that ruled Israel starting with King Saul, then David, then Solomon, etc. and ending about 1,500 years later with King Herod, who ordered the killing of all boys under the age of 2, trying to kill Jesus after he heard of His birth!
After Kings David and Solomon died, for the next thousand years until the coming of Jesus, the rest of the kings deteriorated significantly in their relationship with God. As a result, the Jewish people also forgot about God and followed other gods. Which drove God's prophets like Jeremiah to use harsh words and prophesy severe disasters on Israel unless they turn back to God.
They did not turn back to God, and the disasters did happen. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (today's Iraq), invaded Israel at one point, plundered the land, and took all its people as slaves. They were slaves in Babylon for hundreds of years until prophets like Daniel and others came and helped restore the Jewish people back to the land of Israel.
During this "Kings" period, there were occasional kings that tried to properly follow God's commands and bring the people back to the true God. But would not last long, as when the next king takes over, they go back to their God-rejecting ways. This theme of good and bad kings (mostly bad kings) took almost half of the Old Testament scriptures.
The ungodly events described in the "kings" period explain the horrible behavior of King Herod later. King Herod was the Jewish king during the time Jesus was born. He heard that the Messiah was born in Bethlehem. And what did he do? Ordered the killing of all baby-boys in the region to make sure Jesus is killed. Matthew 2:16 ...King Herod gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. It is not surprising that the Jewish people of that generation later crucified Jesus!!
11.7 Psalms & Proverbs
These were words-of-wisdom from prophets and people with Godly wisdom like King David who wrote almost half of the psalms. Old Testament Jews used these in their daily conversations, as reference to what is the wise thing to do in various life situations. Some of them were prayers that Jewish people prayed in the old covenant of God.
11.8 The Prophets
There were 17 Prophets that wrote in the Old Testament, including notable ones like Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah, Daniel, and King David. Their message can be summarized in 3 bullets:
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Drill in God's sin-redemption plan for the people to learn and follow.
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Warn the Jewish nation, Israel, of extreme consequences if they don't stop worshipping other gods.
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Love and worship the true invisible God of the Bible.
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Predict the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
A Messiah was promised - Messiah means the Anointed, the Savior. The English translation of the word "Messiah" is, "Christ".
There were more than 300 prophesies about Jesus in the Old Testament thousands of years before He was born! All came true in the life of Jesus Christ. Predictions such as his birthplace, lineage, and method of execution, were beyond Christ's control and could not have been accidentally or deliberately fulfilled. Some of these prophecies were so vividly described. Examples from Isaiah 53, "He was pierced for our transgressions", "He was led like a lamb to the slaughter", and "the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all".
12. The New Testament
Describes the time-period between 5 B.C. and 100 A.D.. From the book of Matthew, to Revelation. 27 books written by disciples and apostles of Jesus, guided by God. The birth of Jesus marked the beginning of the New Testament.
The main theme of the New Testament - Forgiveness of sins through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Jesus's sacrifice turned into a "Bread of Life" that we need daily for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus taught us the Lord's Prayer to receive this Bread of life.
See The Lord's Prayer is Insanely Misunderstood for more details.
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The Promised Messiah Has Come - Jesus Is Born
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The Gospel - The 4 Books of The New Testament
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The Rest of The Books in The New Testament
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The Book of Revelation
12.1 The Promised Messiah Has Come - Jesus Is Born
Jesus is the "Savior". Our Savior from what? From our sins! Without the forgiveness of our sins, God could not be with us, we'd be doomed to hell. You may ask, we're good people, what sins? See my page, We're Good People, What Sins?
Those who are Jewish today, mockingly call Jesus an illegitimate child of a fallen woman, and are still waiting for the promised Messiah. Their ancestors did not believe Jesus was the One. So, they are still waiting today.
The Messiah was born, and peace on earth and glory in the highest?
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Glory in the highest? Yes indeed.
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Peace on earth? It would have been, had the generations of people followed Jesus' commands on how to become righteous and "wash their robes"!! But no, people got creative in their preferred ways, did not go with God's way. Regardless however, it is still peace on earth to those who truly love Him and follow His commands, just as it says in Verse 14 below. And just as it will continue to be peace on earth to the true Christians, all the way through the days of tribulations to come.
Luke 2:11-14
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Jesus came to earth, born of a virgin, the blessed Mary. Before His earthly birth, He existed with God for eternity past/future; He is "I Am". So Mary is not the mother of God. The Bible says she is the mother of Jesus (the human side). Jesus was fully human and fully God. And Mary was only human. To make Mary deity by association is a sin, a blasphemy against our Triune God!! She is currently dead and cannot hear any prayers, awaiting the second coming of Jesus like the rest of humans and prophets who died since creation. More on this here: Mary the Mother of God?
Jesus did not come to earth to have a family and raise children. No, the Jews did not outsmart Him! They did exactly what God wanted them to do!! Although they meant it for bad, God meant it for good, to bring salvation to all people on earth. End-result: God wins over evil! The devil wanted all people with him in hell, but God accomplished His redemption plan, and opened it to all people on earth. All we have to do is humble ourselves to God and accept His grace to gain eternal life.
12.2 The Gospel - The 4 Books of The New Testament
Written by four of Jesus' disciples who accompanied Him during His ministry on earth all the way through His crucifixion, death, and resurrection. They heard all His teaching and commands and witnessed all His miracles. Then years later, living in separate regions, wrote these 4 books. The early Christians assembled them into the Bible. All guided by God. You can be assured of that. Because He would not be the magnificent God that He is, then fail at giving us a book about Him?!
The 4 disciples who wrote these 4 books described the life of Jesus starting with His birth in a stable manger in Bethlehem to His resurrection and ascension into heaven. They described similar details in their own way. And sometime one reported certain stories that the others did not. But they all noted that they could write many books if they had time to include all the details.
John 21:25
“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”
12.3 The Rest of The Books in The New Testament
Apostles and other disciples wrote the books that followed the 4 books in the New Testament. Note these were also mere humans who performed miracles in the name of Jesus, including making crippled people walk, and raising people from the dead! For more on this, see my page True Christians Can Perform Miracles!
The apostles introduced Jesus Christ to the Gentiles (non-Jews). They preached to the newly formed churches, where early Christianity was work-in-progress. The New Testament was not yet written in their days. And they did not have scribes following them around documenting everything they preached. So, always remember that the complete message is in what Jesus said in the 4 Gospels of the New Testament, where 4 of His disciples wrote everything Jesus said and did.
The main objective of the apostles was to clarify God's salvation through Jesus to people. And to bring the message to the whole world as Jesus commanded. Meaning, after the death and resurrection of Jesus, He was no longer only the Messiah for the Jews, He became the Savior of the world. They introduced Jesus to the world. They did the introduction and performed miracles, hoping that people would be impressed enough that they would go do their own digging in the scriptures to learn more. But what did the people do? Some misunderstood the introduction as the whole thing - "by faith alone" not the Biblical way. And some went praying to dead people - Mary and saints. And here we are today - no peace on earth.
One of the apostles who wrote the majority of those books was Paul, who appeared on the scene after the death and resurrection of Jesus. He was a Jew who had started out as a persecutor of the church and a killer of the early Christians. But Jesus got his attention one day by blinding him with a flash of light on the road to Damascus when he was on his way to kill Christians there. Jesus revealed to him that He was the awaited Messiah. Then Paul, a wholeheartedly devout Jew, saw clearly and made a complete U-turn.
12.4 The Book of Revelation
A mysterious book full of visions and prophesies yet to be fulfilled. Uses difficult symbolic terms to describe future events to come. People throughout history attempted to interpret the meaning, but the reality is we only have speculations, and nothing confirmed by God. So, for now we keep reading this book and waiting for more wisdom from God to reveal these meanings to us.
See my page, End Times for more on this subject.
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