The Bible is not some dusty, ancient book about some forgotten land, none of which is relevant today.
The Bible is a cross-section of human history, a cross-section of humanity. When we get to heaven and look back on all of human history, we will see the Bible differently: it is a detailed record of over sixty books, by forty authors, written across a span of almost two thousand years. And yet, amazingly, all sixty-six books are consistent with each other, no small miracle.
Are you familiar with ice cores? Scientists have used drills to lift thousands of feet of ice from Antarctica, and the ice can be dated just as sedimentary rock can be dated: the deeper the ice is, the older it is. Thus, studying the molecular composition of ice from various depths reveals facts about the earth’s climate at various times in history.
The Bible is a bit like an ice core, providing us a cross-section of human history. It is not a dusty, ancient text. It is an observation window through which we can look into the past. You might compare it to a time machine. When you look deeply into the core of the Bible you are watching the story of human history unfold. That history is one seamless whole, one single beautiful story.
The Bible’s seemingly irrelevant collection of old books filled with other people’s stories is not irrelevant at all. And those stories are our stories too, just as those people are our people. It is all a seamless whole.
Here are two bits of evidence indicating the Bible is a seamless, timeless whole. First, the genealogies…
The Bible contains over twenty of these lengthy accounts of who-fathered-whom, some going on for pages and pages. They are nearly always dull reading. But imagine if your name were in one of those lists. Your father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, and so on. That would be amazing. And what if after your name it listed your son, your grandson, your great-grandson, your great-great-grandson, and so on?
Would you still find the genealogy dull reading? Of course not! It would be incredible! You would lift that page from the Bible and frame it, probably hanging a copy in your home, a copy in your office, and then you would send copies to all your friends. Because God has recognized you and your family line. Somehow, you matter to him, so much so that he put your name in his book.
But wait. Your name is in his book, the Book of Life, Revelation 20:15! Jesus said, “Rejoice that your name is written in heaven” Luke 10:20.
More importantly, your name is in the genealogies. Not written down perhaps—after all, those things are long enough, right? But you descended from Adam. And you descended from Noah. And you come from the line of Shem, Ham, or Japheth, or perhaps all three. In fact, the Bible names dozens of your ancestors. And while your name and mine are not listed in its pages, you can be sure that God knows every branch in your family tree. He knows every single person, every name and all their biographies.
God’s attention to the hundreds of names that are listed in the Bible proves his interest in family lines. He is interested in your family line. He knows the entire story of your life and your origin—everyone who came before you and all who will come after. One day, you will know it too.*
The second piece of evidence that the Bible and human history are part of a seamless, timeless whole is the nations it mentions.
Clearly God is interested not only in individuals, and in the groups created by family lines, but also in the groups we create when we build villages and nations, synagogues and churches, and even businesses and corporations. God enjoys both our individual life and our corporate life.
If people were asked what nations are discussed in the Bible most would say Israel, Egypt, and Rome. A few might remember Ethiopia, Greece, or even Spain.
But the Bible actually addresses a long list of nations, and God does not merely name them, but rebukes them for their evil ways and warns of judgment to come. Today I read about six in only six chapters:
“Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia” Isaiah 18:1. “And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians … kingdom against kingdom” Isaiah 19:2. “The king of Assyria shall lead away the Egyptians” Isaiah 20:4. “Babylon is fallen” Isaiah 21:9. “He called me out of Edom” Isaiah 21:11. “In the forest of Arabia shall ye lodge” Isaiah 21:13. “Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years” Isaiah 23:15.
The Bible actually names some two dozen nations.
There are many regions and nations on earth that are not mentioned, of course. But again—this is a cross-section, what pollsters and statisticians might call a “representative sampling.” As with the genealogies, the Bible does not pretend to record all of human history. But it provides a picture so thorough that everyone can find themselves within its pages.
America, for example is not mentioned by name. Yet, elements of our nation can be found throughout the Bible’s many books, from idolators to the devout, from professors and intellectuals, “the teachers of the law,” to those who live only to drink like patricians and fight like gladiators. America has Rome’s imperialistic impulses, and Rome’s moral decay. America sends missionaries around the world, and America battles Corinthian immorality in some of its best churches. America builds hospitals and charities to nurse the suffering like the Good Samaritan, and America’s rehab centers are filled with Prodigal Sons.
Imagine again the view from heaven. When you look back with heaven’s understanding of the story of humanity, you will see how perfectly the Bible reflects that story.
You will understand creation, the fall, and the thousands of years of history, of lives, cultures, villages that grew into nations, of wars and peace, conquests and revolutions, and “in the fullness of time” Jesus came, at the crux of history, to hang on the cross and rescue us.** The church was born, missionaries shared the message, new empires appeared and disappeared, and one day you were born. And the Biblical story is that story. Your story. My story. History’s story. It is all a seamless whole.
God’s story is long and thorough, encompassing every man, woman and child who ever lived. The Bible is a truncated telling of that story—the same story, only shorter and more manageable. No wonder Jesus said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon a rock” Matthew 7:24.
When you study God’s word, you are studying his story—our story. Your own story. Do you need wisdom for your life? You will find it when you read the Bible—which is the story of your life. It is all a seamless whole.[1]
“The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates to divide soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” Hebrews 4:12.
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* Yes, I believe you will fully know and understand your earthly family tree when you get to heaven. I could be wrong, but I believe the attention God gives family trees in the Bible is evidence of his deep interest in family lines. Otherwise, why spend so many pages of sacred scripture detailing who-begat-whom in Hebrew names most of us cannot pronounce?
**Crux, n. the decisive or most important point at issue. “The crux of the matter.” The word crux comes from the Latin word for the CROSS, the existence of the word itself pointing to the fact that nothing in history is more important than the CROSS OF CHRIST. You might say, the Cross is literally the crux of history. “The fullness of time” comes from Galatians 4:4. “In the fullness of time, Christ came.”
[1] This article is so good, I should probably delete mine and simply publish this link (but I wrote mine before I found this). Check this out: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/bible-says-about-itself/
P.S. Finally, one might argue the Bible cannot be the story of human history because it does not include modern man. There are no telephones, computers, automobiles, airplanes, oil wells, televisions, or atom bombs. There are not even any cathedrals or popes or Presbyterians or Baptists (other than John The). To that, I offer a sincere shrug. Perhaps our modern age is not as significant as we would like to believe. At the same time, I would happily add that I believe God is absolutely engaged in our world, fascinated by our nation building, our inventions, our engineering and more. In fact, surely he is at the root of our best work, from democracies to internal combustion engines to antibiotics. But the Bible story is complete nevertheless.
Household Words: 