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CHRONOLOGICAL BIBLE  
.::.   TEACHING STUDIES   .::.

Lesson #1 - Foundations

The Bible

SELECTED VERSES

Ps.19:7-10; 2 Tim. 3:16; Num. 23:19; Ps. 119:89; Ps. 119:105

TOPIC OVERVIEW

This lesson will introduce the Bible, it's origin, author and intent.  The lesson will also explain the method of study with reasons behind our choice of method.

LESSON

I.    Statement of Purpose

II.    What is the Bible? THE BIBLE IS GOD’S MESSAGE TO PEOPLE

A.   God desires to inform man about...

1.   Himself

2.   His creation

3.   Ourselves

B.   God will disclose information concerning..

1.   The past

2.   The present

3.   The future

C.   We will understand the Bible by observing...

1.   What God says about Himself

2.   What God has done in the past

3.   What God is presently doing

4.   What God will do in the future

III.   THE BIBLE HAS A CHRONOLOGY TO IT

A.   History is actually His-Story.

B.   The Bible as a play

1.   There is a beginning and an end

2.   There is a sequence of scenes

3.   Various characters are introduced

4.   God Himself is the central character

5.   Angels, men and the nations are other characters in the story

IV.  What about the bible?

A.   It is valuable                        Ps.19:7-10

B.   It is true                  2 Tim. 3:16; Num. 23:19

C.   It is forever               Ps. 119:89

D.   It gives guidance      Ps. 119:105

V.   Bible Facts

A.   God spoke through men called "prophets" the message He wanted written down.  Sometime He spoke audibly, other times in visions, sometimes He put the message down directly into their minds.  The Bible took 1,600 years to complete and 40 men were used in writing it!

B.   One question many people have about the Bible is: "Has the Bible changed over time?"  The evidence would indicate the Bible is the best preserved book from ancient times.  Copying, though done by hand, was exact.  One historian notes that when a book was completed, the number of words and letters were counted.  If there was any deviation, the book was not used.

C.   Did you know that the Bible...

1.   Was written over a period of 1,500 years.

2.   Was written in three languages.

3.   Was written by over forty authors.

4.   Was the first book printed using moveable type.

5.   Continues to be the number one seller in the world.

6.   Has been translated into enough languages so that 93% of the world's population can read it.

7.   In 1988 alone, 700 million scripture portions, 14 million entire Bibles, nand nearly 13 million New Testaments were distributed by the United Bible Societies.

8.   There are more manuscripts of the Bible than any other ancient document. (see the table showing Bible manuscripts at the end of this lesson).

9.   The Bible was carefully translated in Croatian.  Although there may be minor translation errors, the Croatian Bible is a good representation of what was written originally in Hebrew and Greek.

10.  It is interesting thing to note that the Bible is the best record of ancient cultures.  Archeological findings have consistently proven the accuracy of the Bible.

 

TOPIC WRAP UP

            1.         Who is the author of the Bible?

            2.         Why was the Bible written?

            3.         What can we expect to learn from a study of the Bible?

            4.         Is the Bible a disjointed collection of writings or is there a continuity or flow to it's content?

 

 

God - Before The Beginning

TOPIC OVERVIEW

This lesson is foundational.  The truth that God was existent before creation of the material universe is an important truth to establish.  For a person to actually come to grips with this fact and believe it will take away many of the struggles most face in the creation account.  If God indeed was before everything that now exists then He has to be the originator of all that is.

Another very important aspect of this lesson is the fact that God is, was and will ever be self sufficient. He has no need of His creation to exist because we see Him in existence prior to the creation.  This “High” view of God will also help in future lessons.

LESSON

ONLY GOD WAS PRESENT IN THE BEGINNING

A.   Scripture: Gen.1:1, Ps. 90:2

B.   Look around at what is now present, nothing was here before the beginning.

1.   Man, animals, birds, fish

2.   Tress, grass, water, earth

3.   Sun, moon, stars

4.   The very air we breath

C.   God was already present.  He has no beginning.

1.   When was God born?

2.   How long has God been in existence?

3.   Where did God come from?

D.   God is self sufficient

1.   He needs no one.  He is all wise.  Jer. 10:12

a.   No one to instruct Him

b.   No one to counsel Him

c.   No one to help Him

2.   He needs nothing to exist.

a.   Parents?

b.   Food?

c.   Water?

d.   Air?

E.   God is not confined to space.

1.   God does not have a body like us.  Jn. 4:24

2.   God has no limitations that our bodies put on us.

3.   God is everywhere present.  Jar. 23:23-24

a.   He is in heaven and on the earth. (this is not to say that He is in everything.)

b.   There is nothing hidden from Him.

c.   His eyes are not like our eyes, He see all at once.

d.   His ears are not like our ears, He hears the thoughts of our mind like a shout.

e.   Read Psalms 139:7-12.

 

TOPIC WRAP UP

1.   What single verse points out that only God was present in the beginning?

2.   What does the fact that God was already present before the beginning tell us about His person?

3.   Why did we say that God’s eyes and ears are not like our own?

4.   How would you compare man to God with what we have just studied?

 

Spirit Beings: Creation of Angels and Their Fall

SELECTED VERSES

Job 38:4-7

Psalms 103:19-21

Isaiah 14:12-15

Ezekiel 28:11-15

Revelation 20:10

TOPIC OVERVIEW

Before the creation of the material universe God created the spirit beings.  We refer to these beings as angels.  The angels were governed by Lucifer, the most beautiful and powerful angel God created.  He rebelled against God.  The rebellion and it’s consequences give a back drop for the evil and temptation seen in the garden of Eden in Genesis 3.

LESSON

ORIGIN:  WHERE DID THE ANGELS COME FROM?

A.   Source

1.   Created by God.  Jn.1:3; Neh. 9:6; Ps. 148:2-5

2.   Time?  Job 38:4-7 states they were present at the foundation of the earth.

B.   Type

1.   Body?  Heb. 1:14 tells us they are spirits.  They do not have physical bodies like us. 

2.   Number?  Innumerable, countless.  “Ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands.”  Rev. 5:11; Dan. 7:10; Ps.68:17

3.   Sex?  They do not marry. They are always seen and referred to as male.  They do not procreate and their initial number created is the number that they still maintain.

C.   Characteristics

1.   Character?  Initially all the angels were created good.  God created them as his servants and they are referred to as His messengers.

2.   Strata or rank?  They were all created good, but they were not all created with equal stature.  There is a organizational structure to the angels that God determined when He created them.

3.   Dwelling?  They lived with God and in His presence.

THE GREAT REBELLION

A.   Lucifer and the great rebellion

1.   He was the most beautiful and powerful angel.  Ezek. 28:11-15

2.   He became proud.  Isa. 14:12-14 cp. Lk. 10:18

3.   He challenged God in his dependent situation under the Creator and desired to be on a plane equal or above his maker.

4.   He led other angels in his rebellion.

B.   Results of the rebellion

1.   He was found out by God.  Ezek. 28:15

2.   He was cast out from Heaven, along with his cohorts.  They are presently inhabiting the atmosphere and environs of our earth.  Job. 4:18-19; Jude 6; Ephes. 2:12; 6:12; Jn. 12:31; 14:30.

3.   A place has been prepared for him and all who follow him in rebellion against God.  Hell. Mt. 25:41; Rev. 20:10

4.   He and his followers hate God and all that God loves.

 

TOPIC WRAP UP

1.   Are angels eternal in the same way that God is eternal?

2.   How have there come to be so many angels?

3.   What are some characteristics of angels?

4.   Where did the devil and demons come from if God created all of the angels good?

5.   What has God prepared for the devil and everyone that follows him?

Creation: God Creates the Physical Universe

REVIEW

SELECTED VERSES

GENESIS 1:1-26

TOPIC OVERVIEW

This is the account of creation from God’s perspective.  It is clear that God is not attempting to prove either His existence or the validity of the creation account.  Throughout the Bible this is the account that is refered to by the prophets, Jesus, as well as his disciples.  In the secular realm archeology has confirmed many of the cities and peoples found in the Bible.  Rather than disproving the truth of this Book it is instead proving it by many new discoveries.  We have already learned much about the character of God in His eternal existence and the creation of spirit beings, now we will see His character in the creation of the physical universe.

LESSON

I.          CREATION:       GOD CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH.

God, Hebrew is “Elohim.”

The name is made up of two parts “El”, a designate for God in the Old Testament.  The other part of His name here is “im” which is a plural marker in the Hebrew language.  Elohim is a plural name with a singular meaning.  It is a uni-plural noun and tells us something of who it is speaking of.  The trinity was involved in creation.  God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.1

Created, Hebrew is “bara”

God created ex-nihlo, that is made from nothing.  This word is only used of the work of God.  Only God can create-that is call into existence that which had no existence.

Formless and void

Prior to God’s creative work of differentiation the matter created so far was without form.  God’s work now will be to distinguish particular aspects of the creation.  Observe how God divides and contrasts in His creation.  The prime mover of creation is the Spirit of God.  There is only One God but He is a trinity of persons.  The word “moving” of Gen.1:2 has been translated in other portions of the Old Testament; to shake or flutter as a hen would brood over her eggs.  It denotes a rapid back and forth movement.  Scientists tell us that ALL energy is in the form of waves.  The Spirit of God was the prime mover in the establishment of these waves.2

THE SIX DAYS OF CREATION

            Day 1:  Gen. 1:3-5  God created light.  How?  By speaking.  By separation.  What did God say of the light He created?  It is good.  God is the source of goodness.

                       

            Day 2:  Gen. 1:6-8  God created the sky.  Originally there was a layer of water (like our ozone layer now) that was above, a space, and then the waters below.  The space we would call the sky.  How did God do it?  God said, and it was so.

            Day 3:  Gen. 1:9-13  God created the dry land.  Ps. 95:5 tell us again that the sea is His and the dry land was formed by Him.  How? By His word.  Separation.  First He separated the waters from the waters, now He separates the waters from the dry land.  It appeared...as the waters were gathered.

 

God created vegetation.  Each species yielded seed after it’s own kind.  the vegetation God prepared on earth was self perpetuating.  He has never had to create again the vegetation He at first created.  what about us and the works of our hands? How did He do it?  By His word.  What was His pronouncement on what He had done so far?  It is good.

 

Day 4:  Gen. 1:14-19  God created the sun, moon and stars.  From the vastness of our solar system where our planets revolve around the sun, to the minutest part of matter, the atom, with even smaller particles revolving around the nucleus, the same Creator has left His finger print.

God in creating our universe shows us that He is everywhere present at the same time.  We cannot even see to the farthest reaches of our universe.  He placed stars throughout.  How?  By His word.  God said, and there was.

When is the last time you have heard of one of our brilliant scientists concocting a sun, or even a star?

Why did God create the sun, moon and stars?  Gen. 1:14.  For the measurement of time.  Are they here one day and gone the next, or are they constant?  Sun rise, sunset.  Seasons of the year... What does that say about their creator?  He is ordered.  The laws of the universe which are constant are the very things modern science depends upon to do their experiments by which they desire to discredit the Creator’s existence.  He is unchanging.

            Day 5:  Gen. 1:20-23  God created the water and air creatures.  How?  By His word.  He said, and it was so. the complexity of marine life alone should be enough to point a person to an all-powerful (omnipotent) and all-knowing (omniscient) Creator.

                       

            Day 6:  Gen. 1:24-26  Notice the term “after their kind” is used again as it was when talking of the vegetation God created.  Dogs do not give birth to cats, nor do cows give birth to elephants.  Each has been created after it’s own kind and it continues to recreate after it’s own kind.  God is the source of life.  He is the source of goodness.  God is the source of all things.  Gen. 1:26 tell us that we have our source as human beings in God the Creator.  How did God create the animals?  By His word.  He said, and it was so.

SUMMARY

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made...”  “O, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgements and unfathomable His ways.”

There is a continuity and a progressiveness that is traceable.  On the first day we see the light divided from the darkness and then morning and evening.  There is a flow.  On the third day there is the vegetation, but not without the dry land of the previous days creation.  Then on the fourth day the calling into existence the sun, moon, and stars.  How long could the plants of the third day have survived without the sun of the fourth.  God is the God of order.  All of creation builds to a climax of the six day, where God finishes with the creation of man.  Man is the crown of God’s creation and the earth was prepared with man in mind.

 

TOPIC WRAP UP

1.   What materials did the Creator use to create the world?

2.   With whom did He consult regarding the forms and shapes the world and it contents should take?

3.   What was God preparing the earth for?

4.   Is there anything man can learn about God just from observing the creation.

Note: 

For the trinity’s involvement in the creation look at;

            God Almighty-Gen. 1:1. 

            The second person of the trinity-Jn. 1:1-3; Ephes. 3:9; Col. 1:16; Heb.1:2.

            The Spirit of God moved-Gen. 1:2...cp. Job 26:13.