52 Steps

Introduction:
On the move with God

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All through the Bible, people are on the move. The first humans migrate eastwards from Eden. At Babel, God scatters humankind across the planet. God calls a man named Abram to leave his comfort zone for a land his family would one day inherit. Jacob and his family flee to Egypt. God leads the fledgling nation of Israel through water and wilderness to the Promised Land. A thousand years pass, and God’s rebellious people are marched to Babylonia. From Babylonia his people trek home to rebuild their land.

Centuries pass. Jesus journeys through Judea, Galilee and beyond, teaching and healing. And now He commands His Church to penetrate every corner of the globe to proclaim His good news.

But beyond all these journeys is one great journey―a journey that begins at Creation and ends in the glorious New Heaven and Earth. History has direction and destination. God has a strategy in human history. He reveals it to us in the Bible.

66 books―one story

The Bible contains 66 different books. They’re written by around 40 different people over a period of around 1,500 years. But although ordinary people wrote these books, God inspired them in a unique way as they were writing. The Bible is actually God’s book. It is the written word of God. When God speaks, things happen. God spoke the whole Universe into being. Through the Bible, God speaks powerfully to us.

The 66 books in the Bible contain all kinds of writing. There’s history and biography. There are genealogies and commands and practical guidelines on how to live. There are songs and poems, prophecies and letters. But through them all runs a single story. It’s the greatest story ever told―an epic, breathtaking drama with more twists and turns in the plot than any human writer could dream up. It’s a drama played out on a cosmic stage, a drama that spans all eternity.

God’s history book

The Bible is God’s history book. It’s the history of the world from the moment God spoke it into being, till the day when God renews and transforms this world at the end of this age. In its pages we learn how our world came into being. We learn what’s gone wrong with our world, and how God is putting it all right.

But God has a rather different view of history than we have. As we’ll see, God called a man named Abram to leave his home and travel to a land God promised to his descendants. This step of faith didn’t―as far as we know―even merit a footnote in contemporary historical accounts! Yet it began a whole new phase in God’s plan for this world.

Abram―later named Abraham―fathered the nation of Israel. That nation―apart from one brief period of glory under King Solomon―had a very chequered history. Yet Israel was the nation through whom God accomplished His plan of redemption for the whole world.

Jesus Himself was born in poverty and obscurity―in a humble home in a troubled corner of the Roman Empire. Very few contemporary records of Jesus’s life exist, outside the Gospels. Yet through His death and resurrection He rescued humanity from ruin, and transformed the destiny of the whole created realm!

And the Church that He brought into being appears―by worldly standards―small and weak in the midst of powerful godless civilisations that seem at times about to extinguish it. Yet Jesus commissioned His Church to be His witnesses to the remotest regions of the globe (Acts 1:8). And, one day, God’s people will rule with Christ over all creation!

So we need to see things from God’s perspective, not ours. Empires and civilisations have risen and then fallen into oblivion. But what has really shaped history―and what will determine its destiny―are not the great events chronicled in our history books, but those God records in the Bible. And this principle applies to us, too. Our lives as Christians may seem insignificant in the great plan of things as the world sees it. But our daily and largely unseen faithfulness to God has an impact far beyond what we might think.

And the Bible shows us who we humans really are, and why we’re here in this world. The Bible shows us the meaning of our lives. We discover that our lives have purpose and significance beyond what we could ever dream of. In fact, we can only really make sense of our own individual lives in the context of God’s great story―the story we read in the Bible. And that’s the story we’ll be telling as we journey during these 52 weeks.

We can only really make sense of our own individual lives in the context of God’s great Story―the Story we read in the Bible.

Viewpoints

During our journey we’ll be travelling through the great ‘mountain-peaks’ of the Bible story―its key landmarks and turning points. And from time to time, we’ll pause and take a break. If you’ve ever toured the highlands of Scotland, every so often you’ll come across a viewpoint where you’re drawn to linger and take in the breathtaking panorama laid out before you. We’ll meet such viewpoints on our journey. Here we’ll stop and see what God wants to teach us. For example, who is God? And how is it that He’s a Trinity―Father, Son and Holy Spirit? What does it mean that we’re made in God’s image? What really went wrong in the garden in Eden? And what happened on the Cross when Jesus died?

Finally, we’ll include links to further resources―videos, articles and books that’ll supplement what you read. You’ll find a link to a video at the bottom of the webpage for this introduction.

The great turning point of God’s story is the Cross. Through His death and resurrection Jesus Christ rescued humanity from ruin, and transformed the destiny of the whole created realm!

Why this series?

►Firstly, we hope it will make the Bible story clearer. Many things in the Bible seem rather haphazard and obscure – especially in the Old Testament! But when we see them in the context of the whole story that the Bible tells, we can see their true significance.

►Secondly, we hope it will help you to explain to others what you believe and why you believe it―the Bible makes sense of life, the Universe and everything!

►But finally, we hope it will help you in your personal walk with God. The stories of our own individual lives are part of God’s big story – the story that the Bible tells. So our individual lives only really make sense in the context of that story. From conception to dying moment and beyond, God has a purpose for our lives. God’s plans for His creation involve us, His people! And when we see how faithfully and purposefully God has dealt with His people through history, we can trust Him to do the same for each one of us!

In the next part . . .

We’ll outline the four ‘acts’ of God’s great story told in the Bible. And we’ll see how God created everything, as recorded in Genesis 1:1-31.

Question

Here’s a question you may like to think about as we set out on our journey:

?If a non-Christian friend of yours asked you to tell them what the Bible was about in just a couple of minutes, how would you reply?

Video

Firstly, here’s a video of Psalm 19. In this wonderful Psalm, we see how God has revealed His nature and His glory in the Universe and in His law. The last few verses are the psalmist response to God’s revelation―and can be our own response too.