The Story of the Bible in 1,000 Words

Taken from: "30 days to understanding the Bible in 15 minutes a day!" Max Anders

The Old Testament begins when God created Adam and Eve in a perfect paradise. They later sinned and were driven out of the Garden of Eden, forced to live "by the sweat of their brow" in an imperfect world. As their offspring multiplied, sin also multiplied. Eventually, humanity became so sinful that, as judgment, God destroyed the earth with a universal flood, preserving only Noah and his immediate family on the ark to repopulate the earth.

Sin kept its hold over humanity, however, and once again people forgot God. As the years passed, God revealed Himself to Abraham (two thousand years before Christ), promising him a nation, many descendants, and a blessing that would ultimately extend to everyone on the earth. Abraham believed god and became the father of the Hebrew people. Abraham had a son, Isaac, and Isaac had a son, Jacob. The promises God made to Abraham were passed down through Isaac and Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons, and the promises were passed to all twelve sons, who became the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Jacob and his family of about seventy people were living in the land of Canaan (1) when a famine hit. They were forced to migrate to Egypt (2) to get food. In time, they became so numerous that they were perceived as a threat by the Egyptian people, and the Egyptians enslaved the Hebrew people for nearly four hundred years. Finally (approximately fifteen hundred years before Christ), God raised up Moses to lead them out of Egypt. with many astounding miracles, including the crossing of the Red Sea, they escaped Egypt and went to Mt. Sinai (3), where they received the Ten Commandments. Then they rebelled against God again and, as a judgment, wandered in the wilderness for forty years. When their time of judgment was up, they were allowed to enter the promised land (4). Moses died, and Joshua led in the conquest of the land.

Israel lived in the promised land in a loose governmental system, ruled by judges, for the next four hundred years. Samson and Samuel were the most famous judges. Then Israel insisted on establishing a monarchy (approximately one thousand years before Christ), and the Hebrews were ruled by kings for the next four hundred years. Saul, David, and Solomon were the first three kings, who ruled over a united monarchy for 120 years (forty years each). when Solomon died, the nation divided over the issue of taxation. There was now a northern kingdom, which kept the name Israel, because a majority (ten) of the tribes were loyal to the north, and the southern kingdom, which was called Judah, because Judah was by far the larger of the two southern tribes.

Because of the accumulating sin of Israel, Assyria, a nation to the northeast, came and conquered Israel (5) and scattered many of the people throughout that part of the world (6). About one hundred fifty years later, because of the accumulating sin of Judah, Babylonia came and conquered Judah (7), destroyed Jerusalem, and took many of the people into captivity in Babylonia (8).

About seventy years later, Persia defeated Babylonia, who had previously defeated Assyria. Thus Persia now ruled the entire part of the world from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea to the borders of India. The king of Persia allowed the Israelites living in captivity in Babylonia to return to Jerusalem (9) to rebuild it. Fifty thousand people returned (approximately five hundred years before Christ), rebuilt the city, rebuilt the temple, and restored ceremonial worship of God. They continued to live that way for the next four hundred years. During that time, Persia fell to Greece, and Greece in turn fell to Rome. Rome was ruling that part of the world when Jesus was born.

The ministry of Jesus was preceded by the ministry of His cousin, John the Baptist, who warned the Jews to get ready for the coming of the Messiah. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, near Jerusalem, in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Then Jesus and His parents, Mary and Joseph, moved back to their hometown in Nazareth, in the northern part of the country, Just west of the Sea of Galilee. There Jesus lived an apparently normal childhood until the age of Thirty, when all teachers, by Jewish custom, began their ministry. Jesus began His ministry in Jerusalem and in the surrounding area of Judea. His ministry was highlighted by authoritative teaching and remarkable miracles.

Because of mounting opposition to His ministry on the part of the Jewish religious leaders, Jesus went north to the area around the Sea of Galilee, making Capernaum on the north shore His home base. Much of His three year ministry was conducted in the area around Capernaum, though many events did not actually take place in Capernaum. Eventually, He returned to Jerusalem and, because of the jealousy of the religious leader, was soon crucified. Three days later He rose from the dead, and He showed Himself to His disciples several times over the next forty days. Then, with His disciples gathered around HIm on the Mount of Olives, just outside Jerusalem, He visibly ascended into heaven.

He had commissioned His disciples to take the new message of salvation through Christ to Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria (the surrounding regions), and to the uttermost parts of the earth. The church was established in Jerusalem, and the first Christians were Jews. The church there was overseen by Jesus' apostles. the spread of the gospel to the surrounding area and uttermost parts of the earth focused primarily on the apostle Paul, who conducted missionary journeys into areas of Asia Minor and Greece (10). Finally, Paul was arrested and taken to Rome, where he was eventually executed for his faith. There were enough disciples however, not only in Jerusalem, but also in Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome, that the message not only lived on, but it grew until it became the dominant world religion.