God's Big Picture: A Bible Overview

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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."

A million lives lost in the desert, the farewell speech of a dying man, and then battles, chaos and coronations... (Numbers - 2 Chronicles) 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. 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.” Believe the good news = recognising that he has paid in full for anyone to enter and remain in his KingdomIn 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. 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. How far do you take this line of reasoning? How much are you willing to bend God's Word and see it as "symbolism" before you finally arrive at a version of the Bible where you have defined your own version of truth?

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).

Summary of God's Big Picture

A disastrous line of idolatrous kings, the catastrophic destruction of God's kingdom, and amidst the rubble, new shoots of hope...

Too bad Roberts doubts the complete reliability of God's Word as he builds his big picture. For example, in Chapter 1, when describing creation, he states "Whether [God] completed the job in six literal twenty-four-hour days or over a longer period does not really matter..." Yes, it does. Read Exodus 20:8-11, or Romans 5:12. If creation was not completed during literal 24-hour days, then how long is the Sabbath rest? Weeks? Months? Thousands of years? If a day was a much longer period of time, what of death entering God's creation only after the fall? Next, in the second chapter when describing the fall of Adam and Eve, Roberts wonders if the snake literally spoke as the Bible records. He states, "My own view, for what it's worth, is that Genesis 3 describes an actual event but uses some symbolism as it does so." 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.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?