Reflect on the Importance of Grasping the Big Picture of What Is Going on in the Bible

2041 Words9 Pages
Reflect on the importance of grasping the big picture of what is going on in the Bible. By Ian Kirkby “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. You turn men back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, O sons of men.” For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.” Psalm 90:2-4 The post-modern society in which we live has helped foster a view of the Bible as a collection of inspirational thoughts for use at the ‘Jesus and me’ level. Whilst it is certainly true that the Bible does speak to us in our individual situations, a failure to achieve balance and appreciate the bigger or cosmic picture will result in stunted Christian growth. There are many benefits to be had from looking at the ‘cosmic picture’ in the Bible and some of these will be considered in this essay following a brief consideration of the scope of the Bible. What, then, is the setting for this ‘cosmic picture’? If we look from eternity past to eternity future we can divide the timeline into 3 stages as shown in figure 1 below. The Bible is overwhelmingly concerned with the second stage, namely the time between present creation and its end with the dawning of the new heavens and new earth (Rev 21:1). STAGE 3 STAGE 2 PRESENT CREATION TO END CONSUMATION New heavens and a new earth New heavens and a new earth STAGE 1 BEFORE CREATION Figure 1: The Three Stages of the Biblical Timeline Quite clearly, we are currently in Stage 2; the stage to which most of the Bible is devoted. However, whilst we divide history into B.C. and A.D., the Jew would divide it into ‘this age’ and ‘the age to come’; the dividing point being the ‘Messiah

More about Reflect on the Importance of Grasping the Big Picture of What Is Going on in the Bible

Open Document