A Helpful Overview of the Entire Bible

In God's Big Picture, Vaughan Roberts summarizes the Bible in 8 parts. God's story can be seen as eight levels of kingdom: pattern, perished, promised, partial, prophesied, present, proclaimed, and perfected.  

The Pattern of the Kingdom

Genesis 1-2 tells us how the world came to be and describes the basic pattern of God's kingdom.  Adam and Eve were God's people and dwelt in the garden in perfect fellowship with him.  God's rule was their guide as they experienced perfect relationship with all things. 

The Perished Kingdom

Genesis 3 tells the story of the perished kingdom.  God no longer has a people.  Adam and Eve disobeyed and were banished from the garden.  Their disobedience would curse later generations, as evidenced through Cain's sin, the destruction of the world by flood, and the dispersion of people at the Tower of Babel.   Yet God shows his kindness and mercy in each of these episodes through figures like Noah and later, Abraham.  

The Promised Kingdom

If Genesis 1-11 tells the origins story of the world, Genesis 12 and onward relates the story of God's people and the Promised Kingdom.  God promises Abraham multiple descendants and a place to dwell, all for the purpose of blessing the nations.  This three-fold promise is repeated to Isaac and Jacob (a.k.a., Israel).  When God's people become enslaved in Exodus, all hopes of a promised kingdom seem to be dashed.  But God raised up Moses to bring about the mass exodus from Egypt and to establish his people. 

The Partial Kingdom

After the people of God are rescued from Egyptian slavery, they are brought out to the wilderness to worship God. He gave them his law, his patience and his love.  They were to build a tabernacle for God so that he could be with his people.  They were to offer sacrifices so they could be forgiven.  They were to love their neighbor so they could be a blessing to all the world.  From Exodus to 2 Chronicles, the biblical writers tell the story of a people--the Israelites--who inhabited the land of the Canaanites, raised up for themselves a king like the other nations, and mostly disobeyed the law that God gave through Moses.  As a consequence for their disobedience and a failure to keep up their end of the covenant, God cursed them first by sending the Assyrians to sack the Northern Kingdom--referred to as Israel or Ephraim--in 722BC, and then Babylon to destroy the Southern Kingdom--referred to as Judah and Zion.  These two events clearly marked God's dissatisfaction with his people's disobedience.  Nevertheless, their remained a remnant that was obedient and faithful to God.  

The Prophesied Kingdom

When several years of exile came to an end, the Persian king Cyrus gave an edict that all Israelites could return to their land and rebuild their temple.  This, they believed, was a mark of God's presence returning to Israel.  However, throughout the stories and prophecies told from Ezra to Malachi, we get a different reality. God's people will be the remnant of Israel, but will also include all nations.  There will be a new temple and a new creation where God's people can once again dwell with him.  Furthermore, there will be a new covenant that marks God as the rightful king.  Surely, through this new covenant--this person--the world will be blessed.  

The Present Kingdom

Four hundred years after the prophet Malachi's words, the long-awaited Messiah ushers in the present kingdom.  The Gospels tell us of a Messiah who fulfills every aspect of God's law perfectly.  His teaching is prophetic and timely.  There is no doubt that he is an other-worldly king, reversing the effects of sin and death through powerful miracles. And finally, as a priest, he fulfills the final covering for sin through his perfect sacrifice, removing the just wrath of God and fully pleasing God's requirements for perfection.  His resurrection is proof that his sacrifice was accepted on our behalf.  Jesus's works reveal to us that he is the perfect Adam and the perfect Israel.  Not only does he represent what the perfect people of God ought to be like, he also reveals that he is the dwelling place of God.  He is the true temple; through him, people can access God.  And finally, as a true king, Jesus gives the people of his kingdom true rest.  Before Jesus left to be in heaven with his Father, he established the people of his kingdom on earth and called them "Church." 

The Proclaimed Kingdom

Jesus's departure left many questions for his followers.  How should they continue on without him? What should they tell others about Jesus?  How should they live in light of the forgiveness they received from Christ? The rest of the New Testament, after the Gospels, gives us answers to this questions.  This era is called the Proclaimed Kingdom.  God's people are comprised of both Jew and Gentile--they are the new Israel. God among each individual Christian through his Holy Spirit.  When two or three gather in his name, God is present.  It is no surprise then that the church --a people, not a physical geographical place--is where the presence of God is made manifest.  The book of Acts and the Epistles explain to us the significance of these new realities.  Christians must be a blessing to the nations as they testify to the goodness of God shown through Jesus Christ.  But Christians also learn that dealing with their own sin by the power of the Holy Spirit is simply a reminder that things are not yet as God originally intended to be.  Nevertheless, the presence of the Holy Spirit within us causes us to look forward to a day when evil shall no longer exist--the dawn of the Perfected Kingdom.  

The Perfected Kingdom

The end of the Bible ends the way it begins--in a garden.  God's people will be comprised of a multi-national family.  Everything will be recreated, including our bodies and the final resting place for our worship of God.  In the final chapters of the book of Revelation, John writes of a spectacular place that he calls the New Jerusalem.  In the New Jerusalem, there will be a new temple.  And at the center of this temple, God will be seated on his throne.  The Garden paradise we read of in Genesis 1-2 is now the ultimate reality we will experience: God's people enjoying the presence of God with perfect relationship in the midst of a garden.