Rockey's Thoughts

Introduction to the Bible Stories

Rockey Jackson, October 11, 2020

The Bible tells the story of the Heavens and the Earth from creation to their ultimate destruction and re-creation. It's primary purpose is to explain the plan of salvation for mankind. The Bible does this through many teachings as it says in Romans 15:4, “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” It also does this through the telling of stories as it says in 1 Corinthians 10:11, “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” Many scripture passages refer to an earlier Bible story and expect the reader to know the details of the story so they can understand what is being taught. So the stories recorded in the Bible may actually be seen as a foundation upon which the teachings of the Bible rest.

If we stand back and take a macro look at all of Biblical history, we can see three great eras. First, before the law was given by Moses, everyone did what was right in their own eyes. This era is generally referred to as the Age of Conscience. The second era is known as the Age of Law, when Israel, God's chosen people, lived according to the law given by Moses. Then Jesus came, He gave His life as a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind, throughout the earth and for all time. This began the third era that is known as the Age of Grace. Our Bibles are divided into the Old Testament (Covenant), which tells the history of the Jews during the Age of Conscience and Age of Law, and the New Testament (Covenant) that tells the story of the Lord Jesus Christ and Christians at the beginning of the Age of Grace. This can lead to the misunderstanding that the requirements for salvation were different in each of the three eras, but when we take a micro look at the stories in the Bible and what they teach, we will see that the old covenant of the law and the new covenant of grace are both at work throughout history. God uses the law to judge sinners who have rejected His salvation and at the same time He extends grace to His saints who have received His gift of salvation.1

The books that young children read are generally called story books. The books used to teach young children to read have traditionally been called primers and they tell simple stories too. However, there is another kind of book that children are often given even before they learn to read. These books are picture books and have no words at all. The story must be intuitively understood from the sequence of pictures. God has also done this for mankind. He has provided a picture in the creation that is intuitively understood so that everyone may know His plan of salvation and choose to believe it in faith or reject it. As it says in Romans 1:19-20, “Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” We see that the gospel has been shared with all of mankind through the creation. There are people throughout the earth who have never received an evangelistic presentation of the gospel who still just get it intuitively. In this Bible Stories section of Rockey's Thoughts, I invite everyone to join me as little children looking at the stories that are told in the Bible. Most are very familiar with the details of these stories, but we will go beyond the words that tell the stories to the pictures that the words paint to see what we can intuitively learn. It is said that: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Some may be insulted by this approach and say that I'm trivializing a very serious and Holy subject. My apology is simply to remind everyone of something that Jesus said in Matthew 18:3, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” So come on in, everyone is welcome here, it is story time.2

________________

1 For more about law and grace, see: Two Witnesses. For the plan of salvation, see: How Sinners Become Saints.

2 When any story or incident is observed by many witnesses, each person will see different details and come to personal interpretations based on their own perspective and psychological point of view . I'm starting by sharing my perspective and I invite everyone to share their perspective with me. If permission is given, I will most likely add it to my thoughts either credited or anonymous as desired.

Note: Bible Stories is an ongoing project. I will be adding more stories from time to time.