God's Big Picture

Bible study Luke 1:39–80; 2:25–32 What do the words of Mary, Zechariah and Simeon teach us about the salvation Jesus brings? How do they point to the fulfilment of the following Old Testament passages? Genesis 12:1–3 2 Samuel 7:11–16 Isaiah 9:2–7 Isaiah 42:5–7 Isaiah 49:5–7 Jeremiah 31:31–34 Malachi 3:1 How should we respond?

They warn of the danger of squeezing all parts of the Bible into a mould rather than letting them speak individually in their rich variety. That is an important warning that must be heard. Any unifying theme that is used to help us to see how the Bible fits together must arise out of Scripture itself, rather than being imposed upon it; and it must

The Bible calls the time between the first and second comings of Christ ‘the last days’ (e.g. 2 Timothy 3:1; James 5:3). This is the period in which the New Testament letters were written and in which we still live today. It lies in the intersection of two ages: ‘this present age’ and ‘the age to come’ (e.g. Matthew 12:32; see Figure 34). The kingd

The gospel promises are in danger of failing almost as soon as they have been made. Abraham decides it is time to take matters into his own hands, and sleeps with Sarah’s maid, Hagar, who gives birth to a son, Ishmael. But God makes it clear that his people will not arise from Ishmael. Abraham has to learn that, if the gospel is to be fulfilled, on

The kingdom of God God’s people God’s place God’s rule and blessing The pattern of the kingdom Adam and Eve The garden God’s word; perfect relationships The perished kingdom No-one Banished Disobedience and curse The promised kingdom Abraham’s descendants Canaan Blessing to Israel and the nations The partial kingdom The Israelites Canaan (and Jerus

We must not expect life to be easy. We are called to proclaim the gospel to a world that does not want to hear it and to live a Christian life among people who live in a very different way. We are citizens of heaven, who must, for the time being, live as ‘strangers’ in the world (Philippians 3:20; 1 Peter 1:1). But we shall not have to live away fr

The Bible does not just tell the story of God’s work of salvation; at the same time it reveals God’s character. He is its hero from beginning to end. Sometimes we miss the point by asking too quickly, ‘What is it saying to me?’ A good first question to ask whenever we look at a passage is, ‘What does this tell me about God?’ Very often the applicat

Goldsworthy defines the kingdom as ‘God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule’ (Figure 5).2 That may sound like an overly simplistic definition for such a significant theme in Scripture, but the simple words contain great depth. God longs for human beings to enjoy an intimate relationship with him in his presence. As he is a perfect, holy God, t

History Poetry Prophecy (Genesis to Esther) (Job to Song of Songs) (Isaiah to Malachi) Figure 1. The Old Testament (English Bible) In our English Bibles, the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament are arranged as in Figure 1. This order follows the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, made in the third century BC. The original Heb