I Want to Understand The Bible!

By Barbara Markland

How many times have you decided to read it? So you start with Genesis and Exodus, stumble over hard-to-pronounce names and customs you don't understand, and quit ... again. You never "get it." If only the Bible made sense! What is the "Big Picture" anyway?

The Bible is one simple story. God's Promise. Adam and Eve sinned against God in the Garden of Eden. You probably read that in Genesis 3! Sin deserves death. Adam and Eve couldn't fix it. Then God promised to fix it. God promised to send His own Son. The Bible is the journal story of God's meticulous preparations to make the world ready to receive JESUS, the Son of God.

The Bible is alive with patterns and themes. And they all point to Jesus. It's all about Jesus. God began with one man named Abram. From that man, God grew a family into a nation. The nation Israel. One day, when God's meticulous plans were ready, God's Son was born in Israel. To a virgin in Bethlehem. The Bible is the story of Salvation. One Promise. One Way. One Savior. Details weave together in fascinating ways. The Bible is challenging. Intriguing. Inspiring. Life-changing.

God made a promise in Eden's Garden. To save sinners. God always keeps His promises. God sent His Son, JESUS. He lived. He bled. He died. He rose. He saved us.

If you truly want to understand the Bible, this book was written for you. You can do this! The "Big Picture" in small lessons. Study it. Think about it. Be changed by it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barbara Markland
• Release date: Apr 17, 2012
• ISBN: 9780971307018

Book preview

LESSON 1

The Amazing Promise

Genesis means beginnings. The first pages of the Bible contain God’s account of the beginnings of all things – earth, time, life, man, woman – and sin. Read Genesis 1, the account of creation. Even if the verses are very familiar to you, read every word carefully and imagine God at work. What phrases do you see repeated? What patterns do you notice in God’s creation work?

God doesn’t begin His Word by proving His existence to us. Why?

Read Genesis 2. What was special about the way man was created? What special responsibilities did God give to man?

Did you ever wonder what it must have been like to be Adam and Eve? Try describing their daily life, what they felt and experienced, what they might have said to God. Have fun with this!

Tell how God expressed His love for the man and woman by what He did in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2.

In a lush Garden filled with beauty and generous provisions, God gave them one restriction. What was it? Why do you think God made this restriction?

What was God’s penalty for disobedience? Do you think the penalty is harsh?

What did we learn about God when He warned Adam not to eat from the tree? State several reasons why God is to be obeyed at all times.

Read Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:11-17 (both believed to ultimately refer to Satan). Then read what Jesus said in Luke 10:18. These verses tell Satan’s beginnings. What happened between Satan and God that changed everything? List the five I will statements made by Satan. Remember them!

Choose one word to describe Satan’s heart:

Read Genesis 3:1-6. The Bible describes the serpent as "crafty, cunning or evil." The serpent is Satan. Read carefully what he said to the woman. Then list specific ways he manipulated her thoughts and her faith in God.

What is Satan’s intention in his dealings with each one of us? How did Jesus warn Peter (and us) in Luke 22:31?

Remember the five I will statements Satan made. (Isaiah 14) Name several ways Adam and Eve fell into the very same I will heart attitude toward God.

Choose one word to describe God’s heart as He watched Adam and Eve deliberately sin:

Read Genesis 3:7-19. Why did the man and woman hide? What sad new reality were they confirming by hiding?

The Garden may have physically looked the same. But Adam and Eve were about to discover that everything had changed.

The Bible teaches that no one can see God’s face and live. (Exodus 33:20 and Judges 13:1-24) So who walked in the Garden that day with Adam and Eve? Who called out to them?

Bible scholars teach this was the Preincarnate Son of God. Preincarnate means before coming to earth in human form. This means before Jesus was born in Bethlehem as fully God and fully man. We know Him as Jesus, or His Hebrew name, Yeshua. Jesus has always existed. He laid aside His eternal glory in Heaven to come to earth. Each time God appeared in the Old Testament, it was God the Son. No one can see the face of God the Father until Heaven. But we are allowed to see the Son. And to see the Son is to see the Father.

Think About This – What emotions do you think God the Son felt in the Garden with Adam and Eve after they sinned?

Write Adam’s response to God. Was it wrong? Why or why not?

Write Eve’s response to God. Was it wrong? Why or why not?

What’s missing from both responses?

What curse did God place on the land because of Adam’s sin?

Tell why God’s curse pointed prophetically to Jesus. (Matthew 27:29)

In Genesis 3:14-15, God the Son spoke to the serpent. What amazing promise was made? Although Adam and Eve could not fully understand, how would these strange words bring the hope of rescue for the devastated man and woman?

Read Genesis 3:21. After God the Son pronounced judgment on their sin, what did He make for Adam and Eve?

At first blush, this seems like a simple act of kindness. Adam and Eve would be evicted from the safety of Eden’s Garden. They needed sturdy clothes! But something far more profound happened … As Adam and Eve watched, what did God the Son do in that Garden?

Genesis 3:21 is a prophetic verse pointing forward to the saving work of Jesus. What word picture do you see in this verse?

It was God the Son in the Garden when His beloved children sinned against Him. God the Son … the One who would be known as Jesus. The One who would pay the punishment for that sin. Write your response to this.

Read Genesis 3:22-24. Adam and Eve may have been puzzled when they didn’t surely die at that moment. They didn’t realize God was speaking of both their spiritual death, which was immediate, AND their physical death, which was now a certainty. What immediate consequence of sin did they experience? Name several reasons why God did this.

Just as threads weave two fabrics into one garment, themes weave together the Old and New Testaments in God’s Word. Many of those themes have their beginnings in Genesis and continue through the Bible. Themes help us understand the BIG picture of the Bible. Read Psalm 25:6, Psalm 103:8-12 and Ephesians 2:4-5 (just a few of many verses sharing this theme). What do you learn about God’s character?

How do you see this same theme in Genesis 3?

Read Genesis 1:4 with Exodus 10:21-23, John 3:19-21 and 1 John 1:5-7. What theme do you see in these verses? In the Old Testament, God’s Word refers to physical light. In the New Testament, what does light represent?

The theme of God’s Glory is everywhere in the Bible. Maybe God’s Glory shines the brightest when we realize He gave His Son to die in our place for our sin. We’ve studied two Biblical themes in this Lesson. (1) God is merciful, loving, and forgiving. (2) God separates light from darkness, holiness from sin, and good from evil. These eternal truths help us to understand God’s character and His great salvation plan. God saved us for His Glory.

Read Genesis 1:4 with Psalm 27:1, Psalm 104:2 and Isaiah 9:2. We know God separates light from darkness. Write what each verse teaches about light.

Write the familiar words of Jesus in John 8:12. Replace the word light with the name Jesus in the three verses we just read. What new significance does John 8:12 have for you now?

Genesis 3 contains two key verses:

Genesis 3:15 – God’s promise to send Someone to rescue us.

Genesis 3:21 – God’s example of what that Someone would do.

The entire Old Testament deals with God meticulously making the world ready to receive His great promise given in Genesis 3:15 – His own Son. We will look at many Bible verses in this study. These verses will come alive as we watch God’s salvation plan come together.

Let’s look at one more important theme in God’s Word to end this Lesson. Read Genesis 3:21 with Leviticus 17:11, Colossians 1:19-20 and Hebrews 9:22. Write the theme.

God’s Word is clear: It’s all about the blood. God’s forgiveness comes only through the shedding of blood. But as we will discover by studying God’s Word, not just any blood.

Knowing that God requires blood to forgive sin, what new understanding do you now have of Genesis 3:15 and Genesis 3:21?

Why do you want to understand the Bible? Write a short prayer to Jesus. Tell Him what you long for and what you want Him to do for you in this study. Then sign your name and date it. You may be surprised in a few short weeks to see how fully Jesus answers you!

Jot down everything new that you learned in this Lesson 1.

The BIG Picture

LESSON 1

In the beginning God created … (Genesis 1:1) A great deal of teaching is packed into those few words! In Hebrew it reads: "Beresheet bara Elohim." Beresheet is the name of the book – Genesis. The Hebrew word Bara is very special – it means "to create something entirely new out of nothing." Only God can do that! Elohim, one of many Hebrew names of God, means Strong One and is an interesting word. In Hebrew, im is plural – one cherub, two cherubim. But the plural noun Elohim is a singular name! The rich meaning of this is lost in English translations, but the third word in the Hebrew text provides a hint of the Trinity -- one God in three Persons. In a few words the Hebrew Scriptures begin with this marvelous expression of truth:

In the beginning of all things the Strong Triune God

- Father, Son and Holy Spirit -

created the brand new heavens and earth out of absolutely nothing.

God breathed all things into being. God simply spoke and the heavens and earth came to be. (Psalm 33:6-9) God breathed His own breath of life into the man created in His image. (Genesis 2:7) God breathed His Word into the hearts of men chosen to record it. (2 Timothy 3:16) And God the Son, the Word of God, (John 1:1-3) breathed His Spirit into His followers to equip them to share the Gospel with the world. (John 20:22)

Many themes run through the Bible. One theme is Light. God separated the light from the darkness in Creation. (Genesis 1:4) God is Light; in Him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5) Sin and evil are darkness, the realm of the Evil One Satan. In the Garden of Eden we saw the struggle of light vs. darkness as the man and woman were exposed to the temptations of evil and darkness presented by the serpent (through Satan) and they chose darkness. Their sin separated them from a Holy God in whom there is no darkness. Satan was masterful in his dealings with the woman. He began with, "Did God really say … alerting us that Satan indeed knows God’s Word and uses it to tempt us. But as he continued, Satan misquoted God, Did God really say. ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?" (Genesis 3:1) No, that is NOT what God said! Then Satan blatantly lied to the woman, just as he lies to each of us. He confidently assured her, "You will not surely die." (Genesis 3:4) Notice he twisted God’s exact words,

"You will surely die." (Genesis 2:17) Finally, he appealed to her pride, wooing her onto the same path of destruction that he once walked. (Isaiah 14:12-15, Ezekiel 28:12-17) Sadly, she succumbed to her pride, she doubted God’s goodness and generosity, then she willfully disobeyed God. Together Adam and Eve rejected God, ate from the forbidden tree, and stepped into sin’s darkness. They got exactly what they sought after – they knew good and evil. God again separated light from darkness by removing the Light of His Presence from them and banishing them from His paradise Garden.

Almighty God judged all three guilty parties – and none showed any repentance for their great sin. The serpent was thrust to its belly. Then God spoke to Satan and pronounced an amazing promise: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed. He will crush your head and you will bruise His heel." (Genesis 3:15) God promised a Savior who would crush sin and Satan. The Old Testament unfolds God’s preparations to send His own Son into the world.

God greatly increased the woman’s pain in childbearing because every child born would now be born with a sin nature. God cursed the ground that man was privileged to work and cultivate. The result of sin upon the ground was thorns -- and the coming sinless Savior would one day wear them as the crown of His people’s sin. (Matthew 27:28-30) God’s penalty for sin is death. Adam and Eve deliberately sinned against God, deserving to die. But in a display of Divine compassion and mercy, God shed the blood of an innocent animal in the place of Adam and Eve. We can conclude that Adam and Eve watched the lifeblood of an innocent substitute being offered in their place. Then God clothed them in those animal skins as a reminder that sin brings death but in mercy, God had allowed another to die in their place. (Genesis 3:21) As innocent blood dripped onto the soil in the Garden, a dramatic word picture was painted. In His Word God revealed that His Promise would be fulfilled in His only Son, Jesus, who would shed His innocent blood upon the soil outside the city gates of Jerusalem, offering His life in place of sinful men and women as the innocent substitute, the Lamb of God.

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