BIG PICTURE OF THE
BIBLE
Lesson 1
INTRODUCTION
What is biblical theology?
1. Traces the storyline of God’s plan as it is
progressively revealed from Genesis to
Revelation (metanarrative)
2. Assumes unity of the whole Bible – ‘a narratival
canonical plotline’
 ‘The Old is by the New revealed, the New is in the Old
concealed’
BIBLICAL THEOLOGY
3. Relates problem passages to the one message
 Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk. Ex.23:19
 Dan is a lion’s cub, springing out of Bashan. Deut.33:22
 Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon looking towards
Damascus. Song 7:4
 The Leech has two daughters. ‘Give! Give!’ they cry. Prov.30:15
 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to Destruction, happy is he
who repays you for what you have done to us – he who seizes
your infants and dashes them against the rocks. Ps.137:8 -9
BIBLICAL THEOLOGY
4. Uncovers the relationship between OT and
person and work of the Lord Jesus
How does this text in question relate to Christ?
How do I relate to Christ?
 Eg
 Matthew – Abraham, David, exile = blessings promised?
 Mark – later OT salvation promises > John B – expectation
 Luke / Acts – fulfillment of OT promises
 John – God’s creative Word is the needed life-giving power
BIBLICAL THEOLOGY
Some OT Themes Applied by the New Testament to Christ
Creator
Word
Wisdom
Son of God
Adam
Israel
Son of Abraham
Son of David
Prophet
Priest
King
Light of Nations
New covenant
Salvation
Servant of God
Anointed One
Redemption
Shepherd
CENTRAL STORYLINE
Core intertwining threads
Creation
Fall
Redemption
Consummation
New-creational reign = penultimate logical
main point (leading to God’s glory)
CREATION
Primary strand of OT storyline:
‘The Old Testament is the story of God, who
progressively reestablishes his new -creational
kingdom out of chaos over a sinful people by
his word and Spirit through promise, covenant,
and redemption, resulting in worldwide
commission to the faithful to advance this
kingdom, and judgment (defeat or exile) for the
unfaithful, unto his glory.’ GK Beale, 62
CREATION
NT storyline:
‘Jesus’ life, trials, death for sinners, and
especially resurrection by the Spirit have
launched the fulfillment of the eschatological
already-not yet new-creational reign, bestowed
by grace through faith and resulting in
worldwide commission to the faithful to
advance this new-creational reign and resulting
in judgment for the unbelieving, unto the triune
God’s glory.’
CREATION COMMISSION
Genesis 1-3 lays the foundation for all else
Everything else in the Bible has its roots back
here and moves through to its goal in Rev.21
Adam’s Commission: Gen.1:26-28
Equipped for the task – image of God
 Subdue, rule over, further create
 Order, rank, harmony, goodness
 Prophet (listen & tell), priest (temple), king (tree)
CREATION COMMISSION
Adam’s Covenant Obligations
Faithfulness would have resulted in an
irreversible escalated state, bringing true rest
But he grasped for the reward in the wrong
way and at the wrong time
Failed as prophet, priest & king
CREATION COMMISSION
The Passing on of Adam’s Commission
 Noah, Abraham & his descendants
 Allusions to / echoes of
Gen.1:28
 Noah Gen.9:1,7
 Abraham Gen.12:1-3, 22:17-18 – renews vision for humanity
 Gen.47:27 – beginning to be fulfilled
 Exod.1:7, 12, 20; Num.23:10-11; Deut.15:4-6
 Israel and her leaders also fail thus there is reiteration of the
promise that end-time Israel and their end-time King will finally
succeed in fully accomplishing the Adamic commission –
Is.54:1-3, Ezek.36:9-12, Dan.7:13-14, Hos.1:10
CREATION COMMISSION
Differences in the Commission to Adam
and to his descendants
 Included reigning over unregenerate human forces – beacons
of light to others living in spiritual darkness Ex.19:6;
Num.32:22; Is.55:5
 Includes God’s promise to help carry out the commission and
the promise of God’s presence –first with Isaac Gen.26:24
 Under Mosaic administration - Israel were to obey God’s new
rules as ‘the promised land’ is viewed like the garden of Eden
Is.51:3, ezek.36:35
 Israel expelled, God withdraws, the promise remains unrealized
NEW-CREATION CYCLES
First chaos
of earth &
waters
Flood chaos Egypt chaos Wilderness
chaos
Babylonian
& land
chaos
Chaos of
oppression
First
creation
New
creation
NC through
Red Sea
NC through
return
Escalated
NC in Christ
First
commision
Noah’s
commision
Corporate
Corporate
Promised
Commission
Adam’s
Adam’s
end-time
of Christ
commission commission commission
First
Adam’s sin
New
Adam’s sin
(Noah)
Israel’s sin
Repeated
sin in land
First
Adam's
judgment &
exile
Babel
judgment &
exile
Wilderness
judgment &
exile
Judgment in Judgment of Physical
land & exile continuing
exile cont.
to Babylon
exile
but spiritual
restoration
NC through
Jordan
Forfeited
role by sin
Christ as
Adam-Israel
resists sin
LESSON 2
FALL
L2
FALL
L2
FALL
Why do people need to be created anew in
Christ?
They worship and resemble some image
in the creation rather than God’s image.
Christ’s work begins to regain for us
what was lost; we begin to be re-created
and reflect His image, a process
completed at Christ’s final coming.
L2
FALL
The Fall =
‘The rebellion of the whole human race
against God through the historic act of our
first parents. Their disobedience was a failed
attempt to become as God.’ G Goldsworthy, 134
L2
FALL
L2
FALL
‘When Adam stopped being committed
to God and reflecting his image, he
revered something else in place of God
and resembled his new object of
worship.’ GK Beale, 358.
 1 st Commandment (Exod.20:3); 1 st petition Lord’s Prayer (Mat.6:9)
Gen.3
What was the temptation?
L2
FALL
Temptation :
‘Satan’s suggestion that God’s word could not
be relied upon as the absolute authority and
source of truth for mankind.’
Adam & Eve made themselves the measure of
all things
L2
FALL
Idol worship = revering anything other
than God
Adam’s sin of idol worship = shifted his
allegiance from God to himself and Satan
How should Adam have acted as God’s viceregent to the approach of the serpent?
L2
FALL
How does Adam’s behavior in Gen.3
resemble the serpent’s in some ways?
L2
FALL
Israel’s history of battling idolatry
Exod.32 – Israel like rebellious cows running
wild needing to be regathered
Ps.115:4-8 idolaters resemble the spiritual
lifelessness of their idols
Is.6:9 people become like the idols they refuse
to stop loving
Hos.4:16-17 Israel’s stubbornness is idol
worship > out of control, head-strong,
wild
L2
FALL
New Testament
Matthew quotes Is.6:9-10 then quotes Jesus
saying to the disciples, ‘But blessed are your
eyes because they see; and your ears because
they hear.’ Why? ‘To you it has been granted
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of
heaven.’ Matt.13:11ff
Only God is the giver of sight and hearing and
can recreate to form them to reflect His glory
– Isa.29, 44
L2
FALL
New Testament
Rom.1:20-28 – idolatry = root of and essence
of sin
What is exchanged? (v.23, 25)
Israel gave up ‘the opportunity to bask in the
glory of the immortal God’ > they basked in
and reflect whatever else they substituted
Ps.106 – the glory of God for the image of an ox
Jer.2 – the same sin is continuing
L2
FALL
Perverted worship
Proper worship
Rom.1:18-28
Rom.12:1-2
v.24: ‘that their bodies would be
dishonored among them’
v.1: ‘present your bodies a living and holy
sacrifice, acceptable to God’
v.25: ‘they worshipped and served the
creature rather than the Creator’
v.1: ‘your spiritual service of worship’
v.25: ‘they worshipped and served the
creature rather than the Creator’
v.2: ‘And do not be conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind [in God]’
v.28: ‘just as they did not approve [it
proper] to have God in their knowledge,
God gave them over to a disapproved
mind [a mind not approved by God]’
v.2: ‘be transformed by the renewing of
your mind, so that you may approve what
the will of God is’
L2
FALL
Judgment
Serpent – cursed above all animals
Eve – pain and harmony disrupted
Adam – his dominion challenged
Death = broken fellowship
Loss of paradise > existence in the midst if
death
Can God’s perfect kingdom be restored?
L2
FALL
How is this re-creation possible?
Rom.8:28-29
Either we love some earthly object and
become increasingly like it, or we love God
and become increasingly like Jesus; whichever
image we revere (God’s or the world’s) we
resemble, either for ruin or for redemption
L2
FALL
Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first
transgression?
The covenant being made with Adam, not only
for himself, but for his posterity, all mankind,
descending from him by ordinary generation,
sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first
transgression.’ WSC16
L2
FALL SUMMARY
Adam fell as a living image-bearer of God,
set up by God on the territory of earth to
show that He was the ultimate ruler
 He was subdued by the serpent (another creature)
 Subduing the earth became wearisome and vain
 Instead of filling the earth with children bearing God’s
image of glory, he created and filled it with offspring
bearing their own inglorious sin and reflecting the
image of the fallen created order
L2
FALL SUMMARY
The first Adam brought us into a state of
Sin – guilt of Adam’s first sin, lack of original
righteousness, corruption of our whole nature
producing actual transgressions
Misery – lost communion with God, under His
wrath and curse, liable to all miseries of this
life, death, the pains of hell forever
‘IT IS BELIEVED THAT THIS MASTERPIECE CAN
BE RESTORED TO ITS ORIGINAL CONDITION.’
REDEMPTION
Savannah
LESSON 3
L3
REDEMPTION
Core intertwining threads of central story
Creation
Fall
Redemption
Consummation
New-creational reign = penultimate logical
main point (leading to God’s glory)
L3
REDEMPTION
Did God leave all mankind to perish in
the estate of sin and misery?
‘God...
…by a Redeemer.’
WSC20
L3
REDEMPTION
First promise of the Redeemer
Gen.3:15 = promise = word = Word = Jesus
Gen.4 > ‘offspring of serpent’
Gen.5 > ‘offspring of the woman’
These two lines remain in NT thought:
Jn.8:39ff, 1Jn.3:10ff – family resemblance
L3
REDEMPTION
He is the promised seed of Adam who
would crush Satan’s head (Gen.3:15).
Barye, 1932
L3
REDEMPTION
Gen.6 Sons of God and daughters of men
Noah – 2Pet.3:5ff, 13 (3 worlds)
Covenant and sign: shadow of good to come
Gen.6:18, 9:9
Adamic theology enlarged
Emphasized grace-promise
Strengthened evidence of God’s total sovereignty
Encouraged right and acceptable worship
Babel – separation (Noah 702)
L3
…324 years after Babel
Gen.12 Abraham
REDEMPTION
L3
REDEMPTION
Promise to Abraham – global blessing
through his Seed (Gen. 12:1-3, Gal.3:16).
L3
REDEMPTION
Abraham – Father of the Faithful
Genesis promise renewed at least 7 times,
made clearer, richer
Eternal blessing restricted to his family
Isaac
Jacob
 Repeated emphasis of grace-promise, revelations,
reforms of worship
 Gen.50:26
L3
The Seed will be
the son of Judah,
who will reign
eternally as king,
whose garments
are washed in the
blood of grapes,
and whose hand is
on the neck of his
enemies (Gen.
49:8-12).
REDEMPTION
L3
REDEMPTION
The Seed is to be a Passover Lamb
(Exod. 12).
L3
 A greater Son of
Israel who will come
out of Egypt
 A greater Redeemer
who will bring his
people out of greater
bondage and slavery
(Exod. 12-14).
REDEMPTION
L3
REDEMPTION
Redemption = ‘release by a cost or price’
Atonement
OT worship – substitutionary sacrifice
central
Rom.3:21-26 God’s end-time judgment has
broken into time at the cross
Warfare theme prominent in OT and NT
L3
REDEMPTION
L3
REDEMPTION
L4
CONSUMMATION
L4
CONSUMMATION
JESUS CHRIST
 Central to the Bible – yet abstract without
other biblical doctrines (Trinity, creation, fall,
redemption, consummation)
L4
CONSUMMATION
What framework ties these themes
together?
The ‘architectonic structure’ of covenant (‘a
matrix of beams and pillars that holds
together the structure of biblical faith and
practice’) ‘provides the context within which
we recognize the unity of Scripture amid its
remarkable variety.’
L4
CONSUMMATION
Covenant of creation / works with humanity in
Adam and at Sinai – command and promise
Command and Promise
Covenant of grace – the unconditional oath
made to the eternal Son, to Adam and Eve
after the fall, to Abraham, to David and us
Unconditional promise
L4
CONSUMMATION
E.g. Deuteronomy
Is it just timeless principles of blessing and
cursing?
 Must ask: how does the administration of this
covenant with the nation of Israel relate to the
eternal plan of redemption carried forward in the
unconditional divine promise to Abraham and
fulfilled in Christ? What of conditional obedience?
L4
CONSUMMATION
Scripture moves from promise to
fulfillment e.g.
Garden
Temple
City
Kingdom
Judgment
Salvation
Presence of God
Spread of righteousness
L4
CONSUMMATION
Scripture moves from promise to
fulfillment
‘Be fruitful and multiply’ Gen.1:28 > Gen.15:6 >
Jer.23:3ff > Eph.3:3-6 > Rev.7:9ff
‘the Seed of the woman’ Gen.3:15 > Gen.12:3 >
49:10 > 2Sam.7:12-15 > Isa.9:6 > Matt.1:1 >
Acts 2:29ff > Rom.1:4 > Col.2:15 > Heb.2:14ff >
Rev.22:16
L4
CONSUMMATION
Scripture moves from promise to
fulfillment
‘I will be with you’ Gen.26:3, 31:3 > Exod.29:4245 > Exod.40:34ff > 1Kings 8 > Amos.9:11 >
Ezek. 8-11 > Jn.1:14 > Matt.28:18ff > Acts
15:16-18 > 1Cor.6:19, 12:27 > 1Thes.1:10 >
Rev.21:3-7
L4
CONSUMMATION
Who restores the image of God in us?
Who crushes the head of the Serpent?
Who brings rebels back to Paradise?
L4
CONSUMMATION