God's Big Picture: A Bible Overview

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When did the invisible church, the body of Christ begins? At the New Testament Pentecost or during Adam's time after the fall? If it was the latter, how can the OT believers be incorporated to the body of Christ without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? The course is taught by Vaughan Roberts, author of the best selling bookof the same name and is a must for anyone wanting to dig deeper into the Bible and comes in an accessible format with Vaughan as a helpful guide. Man by his fall having made himself incapable of life by that covenant, the Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the covenant of grace: wherein He freely offered unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in Him, that they may be saved, and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto life, His Holy Spirit, to make them willing and able to believe.

Roberts gives helpful charts throughout the book, including showing how each phase of the kingdom portrays God's people, God's place, and God's rule and blessing. Each chapter concludes with a Bible study of one portion of the Scriptures relevant to that particular manifestation of the kingdom of God.

Starting with creation and the garden of Eden, Roberts shows us the pattern of the kingdom. The fall brings in the perished kingdom. He moves on to the promises to Abraham and the promised kingdom, then to the partial kingdom partially fulfilled in Israel, then to the latter half of the Old Testament and the prophesied kingdom. Moving on to the New Testament, he shows us the present kingdom in the earthly ministry of Jesus, then on to the proclaimed kingdom throughout most of the rest of the New Testament, and finally shows us the perfected kingdom portrayed in Revelation. As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so hath He, by the eternal and most free purpose of His will, foreordained all the means thereunto. Wherefore they who are elected being fallen in Adam are redeemed by Christ, are effectually called unto faith in Christ by His Spirit working in due season; are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by His power through faith unto salvation. Neither are any other redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, but the elect only. If union of Christ through the Spirit is necessary to receive all the spiritual blessings such as justification by faith, regeneration to overcome total depravity, and perseverance of the saints, then are these necessary for the Old Testament believers too? Can one under the OT have faith and repentance without the indwelling of the HS? Are the Ordo Salutis of the OT believers different from NT believers? I whipped through the book in just over an hour. I then laid in bed and marveled at the big picture of God's Word.

A disastrous line of idolatrous kings, the catastrophic destruction of God's kingdom, and amidst the rubble, new shoots of hope... The end of evil and the beginning of eternity: the final book of the Bible, Revelation, is a series of visions given to the apostle John which conveys a message through symbols to strengthen believers. The God's Big Picture Bible overview course traces the story of the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation to see how it all fits together, telling of God's wonderful plan to save the world through Jesus Christ. This covenant was differently administered in the time of the law, and in the time of the gospel: under the law it was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews, all fore-signifying Christ to come, which were for that time sufficient and efficacious, through the operation of the Spirit, to instruct and build up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah, by whom they had full remission of sins, and eternal salvation, and is called the Old Testament.Perhaps God's people would do better if they had a king to rule over them? In 1 Samuel - 2 Chronicles God's promise of a king is seemingly fulfilled by Saul, David and then Solomon. The last two kings bring great periods of peace and prosperity to Israel, but ultimately each one fails to bring the everlasting peace and kingdom that God has promised. We conclude that these partially fulfilled promises must be pointing to something greater. Christian Guides to the Classics: The Devotional Poetry Of Donne, Herbert, And Milton with Leland Ryken

Roberts defines the kingdom of God as "God's people in God's place under God's rule and blessing" (21). Roberts's definition of the kingdom of God is significantly important for the entire book. Throughout the book, he chronologically traces the kingdom of God following this definition. Each chapter provides the reader with a chart helping them understand where God's people, place and rule were within particular areas of history. In addition to this chart, there was another chart, which showed the progression from creation, fall, history of Israel, Christ and the new creation (157). The final chart presented the line of Israel beginning with Abraham progressing to the Northern and Southern split, the Southern exile and release, Jesus and the last days (158). Whilst Clayton TV recommends the ministries featured on our channel, all content needs to be watched analytically with the Bible as the final authority.Does TULIP applies to the Old Testament believers? Are Old Testament believers saved through the "Arminian" way or the "Calvinist" way? This perseverance of the saints depends, not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father; upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ; the abiding of the Spirit and of the seed of God within them; and the nature of the covenant of grace; from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof. As someone who holds to Covenant Theology framework, unfortunately I couldn't give 5 stars because there are some disagreements in this book with Covenant Theology, especially with regards to the Holy Spirit. The author of this book probably has not considered the following questions which were considered by the Reformers a long time ago As Roberts writes in his preface, his aim is "to provide all Christians, from the new convert to the mature believer, with an overview of the whole Bible that will help them see how the different parts fit together." He does that by using the framework of the kingdom of God, using a definition of the kingdom as "God's people in God's place under God's rule and blessing". And, as Edmund Clowney and Graeme Goldsworthy (and others) have opined, Roberts states, "The Bible must be understood and read as one book with one ultimate author, God, and one ultimate subject, God's plan of salvation through his Son Jesus." Of course, God's Word does contain passages that are not literal history. You will find prophesy, the parables of Jesus, the Proverbs, and songs of praise and worship, but these are clearly identified as such. What Roberts does is dismiss passages that are presented as historical (up until the wisdom of man distorted our interpretation of the Bible). In doing so, Roberts sets aside foundational truths and challenges the reader to wonder "If God's Word isn't literal here, if there is symbolism and allegory here, then perhaps even more of the Bible is symbolic and allegorical." This is a dangerous road to follow and one that leads many to select those portions of Scripture they agree with and dismiss the rest as nice stories or symbolism, certainly not worth building a life around. Worse, non-believers are left to scoff at a book that even self-described Christians admit is filled with symbolism and stories that should not be taken literally.

Having seen the 'people' and 'blessing' promises partially fulfilled we're now looking out for the promsie of 'land' to be fulfilled. But, because of further disobedience, we read in the book of Numbers that God's people are delayed forty years in getting into the land he has promised them. Once in the land things don't get much better: the nation descends into a cycle of sin, judgment and grace. God provides judges to rule his people. Believe the good news = recognising that he has paid in full for anyone to enter and remain in his Kingdom In this short little book, Vaughan Roberts gives a wonderful overview of the Bible that helps you to take in the over-arching story of the Bible. What I really like about the book is its clarity and warmth. This is not a technical book, this is a book written to help the ordinary Christian to understand how Exodus fits with Matthew, what on earth is going on in the book of Amos, and how Revelation should give them hope for the future. Instead of trying us trying to earn our way up into His Kingdom, the King brings his Kingdom down to us. In God's Big Picture, Vaughn Roberts attempts to build a framework upon which to view the entirety of the Bible. He would do well to view God's Word as the ultimate authority in this endeavor. Unfortunately, he does not.God's people, in God's place, under his rule and blessing- that's how it all starts... (Genesis 1-2) Can one enter the kingdom of God without the water and Spirit as mentioned by Jesus to Nicodemus? (John 3:5) I realised I had a pretty deficient/minimal understanding of what “the Kingdom of God” meant! He summarises it as - “Gods people… in Gods place… under Gods rule and blessing.”