Despite growing up in a Bible teaching church, being raised by believers, and memorizing verses, the stories of the Bible failed to live in my memory except as scattered pieces. Starting with a new translation, the New Living Translation, I read straight through for the first time and made many connections I previously missed. I now see the simplest summary of the Bible as this:“Jesus says, ‘Come to Me.’” God made us to live in a perfect relationship with Him. However, we have darkness in us that prevents us from coming to Him. John says “God is Light. In Him there is no darkness.” To be with God, we need a way to clean the darkness from us. Jesus is the Way, and He offers the invitation to come, saying “There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me.”
Jesus’ invitation to “Come” is written in two parts, the Old Testament which tells that “Jesus is coming” and the New Testament which says “Jesus has come!”, ending with the promise, “I am coming soon!”
As we look deeper, the invitation to “Come” is wrapped in the story of a man (Abraham) who is given three promises by God. Abraham has a family of 12 great-grandsons who grow into a nation, Israel, through whom Jesus comes to bring us back into relationship with God.
Drilling down further, the stage is set for the promises to Abraham by the “Pre-His-Story” events that occur before datable history, which begins about the time of Abraham. From Abraham comes the family that grows into the nation of Israel. Then, God shapes the nation of Israel into a people who watch for the Savior. Finally, Jesus arrives and completes the plan to bring us back into relationship with God through his teaching, sacrifice and resurrection. The Bible Trail Guide illustrates these summaries with 21 icons to mark the highlights.
Each stop along the way includes text of the Bible word-for-word and uses three dots, “…”, to indicate some omission of text. When you want to read the omitted text, chapter and verse references make it easy to fill in the gaps. For each “…” some time passes and there is more for you to discover. Sometime a moment passes; sometimes it is hundreds of years. With the trail guide you will connect the dots to see the Bible as a single story. Most stops on the trail take about five minutes to read. Each scene also includes a key phrase and a brief action recap to help connect each scene.
One more tip before you hit the trail: there are a few words that are rarely used outside of Bible discussion. One of them is “redeem.” You probably have no idea what “redeem” means, unless you have searched roadsides and alleys for empty glass pop bottles. There is a seven-year old heart in me that jumps for joy at the thought of a “redeemable” bottle because that meant a trip to the candy counter. When you returned an empty soda bottle to a store, the owner would buy it from you for three or five cents depending on its size. At that point the store owner had “redeemed” the bottle. In other words, he had paid the price to claim something valuable. God is like the store owner and we are like the bottles. God thinks we are so valuable that he paid a huge price, his son Jesus, to claim us. Like the empty bottles, some of us are a little sticky inside, some are a little dirty and some are caked with mud – none are completely clean.
Now the pop bottle “redemption” story breaks down because the store owner only wanted the bottle because the soda company gave him more money for them. God doesn’t want us this way. He wants us to come live with him forever. When we come to him, God will clean all the dirt away. He will start cleaning right away, but he won’t finish the job on any of us until we are with Him in person.
So now, when you hear “redeem” or the phrase “Gods’ story of redemption” just think about finding an empty soda bottle and turning it in for a sweet treat. The thrill of a seven-year old at the candy counter is a picture of the joy ahead of you. See you at the candy counter.
Scott
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.