God's Big Picture: A Bible Overview

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So having to read this book all in one shot for a class was... different from my usual experience with Scripture, to say the least. Man by his fall having made himself incapable of life by that covenant, the Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the covenant of grace: wherein He freely offered unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in Him, that they may be saved, and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto life, His Holy Spirit, to make them willing and able to believe.

When I was younger and I first began to read the Bible in earnest, I learned to read passages in little chunks, deconstructing each sentence so that I could fully understand the meaning of each word in its context before moving on to the next bit. I would sometimes spend days meditating on a particular verse, especially if it presented a list of virtues to consider (e.g. Galatians 5:22-23). I would dedicate a day to each virtue, meditating on how I could cultivate each of these virtues in my life. Believe the good news = recognising that he has paid in full for anyone to enter and remain in his Kingdom In God's Big Picture, Vaughn Roberts attempts to build a framework upon which to view the entirety of the Bible. He would do well to view God's Word as the ultimate authority in this endeavor. Unfortunately, he does not. Too bad Roberts doubts the complete reliability of God's Word as he builds his big picture. For example, in Chapter 1, when describing creation, he states "Whether [God] completed the job in six literal twenty-four-hour days or over a longer period does not really matter..." Yes, it does. Read Exodus 20:8-11, or Romans 5:12. If creation was not completed during literal 24-hour days, then how long is the Sabbath rest? Weeks? Months? Thousands of years? If a day was a much longer period of time, what of death entering God's creation only after the fall? Next, in the second chapter when describing the fall of Adam and Eve, Roberts wonders if the snake literally spoke as the Bible records. He states, "My own view, for what it's worth, is that Genesis 3 describes an actual event but uses some symbolism as it does so."If union of Christ through the Spirit is necessary to receive all the spiritual blessings such as justification by faith, regeneration to overcome total depravity, and perseverance of the saints, then are these necessary for the Old Testament believers too? Can one under the OT have faith and repentance without the indwelling of the HS? Are the Ordo Salutis of the OT believers different from NT believers?

The end of evil and the beginning of eternity: the final book of the Bible, Revelation, is a series of visions given to the apostle John which conveys a message through symbols to strengthen believers. The God's Big Picture Bible overview course traces the story of the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation to see how it all fits together, telling of God's wonderful plan to save the world through Jesus Christ. His structure is loosely based upon Graeme Goldsworthy's work "Gospel and Kingdom", which he freely credits multiple times. Roberts' goal is to leave the reader with a mental road-map to assist with understanding the big-picture, so to speak, of the message of the Bible beginning with God's original creation in the Garden of Eden to the restored heaven and earth described in Revelation. As for his structure, it is one that is likely to help many people as they read individual passages, books, or Testaments. Having such a framework can prevent misinterpretation, or worse.In addition, it also appears to be incompatible with the Anglicanism 39 Articles, particularly article 17 because it stated that all whom God hath chosen in Christ (which I believe this implies OT believers too) received the same benefit of everlasting salvation (perseverance), effectual calling, justification, adoption and transformation into the image of Christ through the Spirit of Christ. I realised I had a pretty deficient/minimal understanding of what “the Kingdom of God” meant! He summarises it as - “Gods people… in Gods place… under Gods rule and blessing.” The premise of this book is that the Bible is one unified story, and the main character is Jesus Christ. Even though we aren't formally introduced to Him until the Gospel of Matthew, everything up to that point foreshadows Him and points to Him. This perseverance of the saints depends, not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father; upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ; the abiding of the Spirit and of the seed of God within them; and the nature of the covenant of grace; from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof.

Does TULIP applies to the Old Testament believers? Are Old Testament believers saved through the "Arminian" way or the "Calvinist" way? In this short little book, Vaughan Roberts gives a wonderful overview of the Bible that helps you to take in the over-arching story of the Bible. What I really like about the book is its clarity and warmth. This is not a technical book, this is a book written to help the ordinary Christian to understand how Exodus fits with Matthew, what on earth is going on in the book of Amos, and how Revelation should give them hope for the future. When did the invisible church, the body of Christ begins? At the New Testament Pentecost or during Adam's time after the fall? If it was the latter, how can the OT believers be incorporated to the body of Christ without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? Instead of trying us trying to earn our way up into His Kingdom, the King brings his Kingdom down to us. Starting with creation and the garden of Eden, Roberts shows us the pattern of the kingdom. The fall brings in the perished kingdom. He moves on to the promises to Abraham and the promised kingdom, then to the partial kingdom partially fulfilled in Israel, then to the latter half of the Old Testament and the prophesied kingdom. Moving on to the New Testament, he shows us the present kingdom in the earthly ministry of Jesus, then on to the proclaimed kingdom throughout most of the rest of the New Testament, and finally shows us the perfected kingdom portrayed in Revelation.Perhaps God's people would do better if they had a king to rule over them? In 1 Samuel - 2 Chronicles God's promise of a king is seemingly fulfilled by Saul, David and then Solomon. The last two kings bring great periods of peace and prosperity to Israel, but ultimately each one fails to bring the everlasting peace and kingdom that God has promised. We conclude that these partially fulfilled promises must be pointing to something greater. Of course, God's Word does contain passages that are not literal history. You will find prophesy, the parables of Jesus, the Proverbs, and songs of praise and worship, but these are clearly identified as such. What Roberts does is dismiss passages that are presented as historical (up until the wisdom of man distorted our interpretation of the Bible). In doing so, Roberts sets aside foundational truths and challenges the reader to wonder "If God's Word isn't literal here, if there is symbolism and allegory here, then perhaps even more of the Bible is symbolic and allegorical." This is a dangerous road to follow and one that leads many to select those portions of Scripture they agree with and dismiss the rest as nice stories or symbolism, certainly not worth building a life around. Worse, non-believers are left to scoff at a book that even self-described Christians admit is filled with symbolism and stories that should not be taken literally.

Can one enter the kingdom of God without the water and Spirit as mentioned by Jesus to Nicodemus? (John 3:5) We have an extensive range of teaching and preaching organised by both series and Bible book from well-known Christian speakers including Don Carson, Alistair Begg, Vaughan Roberts, Rico Tice, John Lennox and John Wyatt.Israel’s history takes a downward turn as the people continue to disobey. They are exiled from the promised land, they become a scattered fragmented people and are left facing God’s judgment rather than blessing. But in his grace God sends prophets to speak his word to his people and enforce his covenant.