From Before the Beginning to Forevermore: A Brain Stretching Story

By Judy Knapp

Do you know some of the stories from the Bible? There's the story of how God created the earth; Noah and the ark; Joseph and his coat of many colors; Moses and the burning bush; David and the giant, Goliath; the story of Jesus's birth; many stories of Jesus healing people; and, of course, the wonderful story of the first Easter. Did you ever wonder how each of these stories and many others were chosen to be in the Bible and how they fit together? Each of these small stories is part of a much, much larger story.

Now most stories begin and end. They start with "once upon a time" and end with "they lived happily ever after." The Bible is different because it is God's story, and He is a forever God. His story goes "from before the beginning" and continues "to forevermore," and it is all about His big plan for you and me. Are you interested in learning more? I should warn you that since God is so big, His story takes a bit of brain stretching to understand. But don't worry, brain stretching is not painful.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9781639613472

Book preview

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From Before the Beginning to Forevermore

A Brain Stretching Story

Judy Knapp

ISBN 978-1-63961-346-5 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63961-347-2 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Judy Knapp

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Thank You!

Introduction 1

Before the Beginning

The Beginning

The Beginning

Part 2

The End of the Beginning

The Very End of the Beginning

A New Beginning

Introduction 2

The Beginning of the Middle

Abraham

The Middle

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

The Middle

Joseph

The Middle

Moses Part 1

The Middle

Moses Part 2

The Middle

Moses Part 3

The Middle

Moses Part 4

The Middle

Moses Part 5

The Middle

Joshua and the Judges

The Middle

The Kings

The End of the Middle

The Prophets

Introduction 3

The Beginning of the End

The Middle of the End

Part 1

The Middle of the End

Part 2

The Middle of the End

Part 3

The Middle of the End

Part 4

The End

Part 1

The End

Part 2

The End of the End

After the End

The Beginning of Forevermore

Author's Note

Scripture Quotes

About the Author

Thank You!

First and most important, I thank the Lord Jesus Christ who does not believe in retirement and gave me this book to write instead. Next, I thank my nieces Jan Hanrahan and Linda Bomberger and my friend Kelly Coy for reading the early draft of this book and giving me encouragement, suggestions, and gentle corrections of my mistakes. I also thank Jan for introducing the book to her friend Amber. As I told Amber in a note, the others read the book because I asked them to do it, and they are kind and helpful people. Amber, however, even though it is sometimes difficult for her, wanted to read the book just because she loves Jesus so much and wanted to learn about His Word. For that reason, this book is lovingly dedicated to my first real reader: Amber Buttery.

In May of 2021, Amber went to be forevermore with the Lord. In my mind, I picture her sitting right now at the feet of Jesus learning all the things she always longed to know right from the Master Himself.

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

Introduction 1

Hi.

You must like reading. Otherwise, why would you be here?

Have you read a lot of books? Books are great, whether you've only read a few or if you have read enough to make a pile as high as a mountain.

Do you have a favorite? I do. I should tell you that my favorite book is not like any other book you have ever read or ever will read. This book is amazing, and it is absolutely, completely true. How can I be sure of that? Because I know the author of this book, and he always, always, always tells the truth.

His book is quite long and has many parts with many different stories, but when you read it, you will find out that all the many little stories in it fit together to tell one really big story.

There is something about his book that you have never seen in any other book. You know how lots of books start out once upon a time? Well, this book started before that. Most books start at the beginning of the story, but this book starts before the beginning.

Are you getting interested? Eager to start reading?

Before you do, I should warn you about something.

The writer of my favorite book is very, very big and beyond smart. There are things in this book that are big thoughts. You will have to stretch your brain to understand. That's okay. In fact, it is a good thing. The writer wants us to get to know him, and knowing him requires a bit of brain stretching.

Okay, here we go.

Before the Beginning

Most books start at the beginning, tell what happened, and then have an ending like they lived happily ever after. This story isn't like that. This story starts before the beginning.

Wait a minute! The beginning is the start. How can anything start before it begins?

Brain-Stretching Time!

It all has to do with the writer of the book. There is something I didn't tell you about Him. He is God—yes, God, the one and only God Himself.

You've probably guessed by now that the book we're talking about is the Bible. The book you are reading now is not the Bible, but it is all about understanding the Bible. That's why we're here.

If you have already read or heard some of the stories from the Bible, I'm sure you know some things about God, like He is always good and kind and loving. You might know that His home is a place called heaven. And you might even know this about Him—He is forever. He has always been alive, and He always will be forever and ever and ever and ever and ever (you get the idea). He doesn't have any beginning or any ending, so He was around long before the start of our story. Actually, our story is really His story, and it's all about Him.

God has so much love. He decided that He wanted to have a people of His own, people that He could lavish with His love. (Do you know that word lavish? It is like having pancakes for breakfast and Mom saying you can pour on the entire bottle of syrup. That's lavish.)

In that forever, before the beginning of time, God came up with a plan. Then God decided it was time for the before to turn into the beginning!

The Beginning

The Bible starts this way, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Created means that He made them. I'm guessing that you like to create things too, things made with paper and scissors and glue—wonderful, sticky, icky glue. Or maybe you like to create on paper with crayons or paint—wonderful, splashy, messy paint. Or you might like creating with clay—wonderful, gooey, squishy clay.

Brain-Stretching Alert

Did you notice that all things you and I and other people like to create start with something that is already made? Let's try an experiment. Put everything down so that your hands are completely empty. Now create something. No, you can't pick up some clay or paint or glue to use. Create something out of empty-handed nothingness. Can't do it? Well, of course you can't because you are not God. But God is God, and He can make something out of empty-handed nothingness, and that is exactly what He did.

God made something out of nothing just by speaking. His words are so powerful that when He said, Let there be light, there was beautiful, bright light everywhere. It must be wonderful to be able to create something just by saying it. When God saw the light He made, He said that the light was good. It was a magnificent part of His creation. Can you imagine how awful it would be if He hadn't created light? We would all be stumbling around in the dark and running into each other. God knew exactly what He was doing.

God decided to call the light day and the leftover darkness He called night so there was an evening and a morning, and that was the first day of the beginning.

But God wasn't done! That was just the first day. He had lots more in mind.

On the second day, He made the waters and the sky.

On the third day, He made the oceans and the dry land and all the plants and trees that grow on the land.

On the fourth day, He must have been thinking really big because He made all of space complete with the sun and moon and stars and comets and galaxies!

On the fifth day, He filled the oceans with fish and all kinds of sea creatures, and He filled the sky with all kinds of birds.

On the sixth day, God really went wild. He made every kind of animal you have ever seen, and some