Hello! You might be wondering what I believe. Especially if you do not count yourself a follower of Jesus, or perhaps you are new to the message of the Bible, I wanted to share the story of Scripture. I pray this will bless you, and maybe fill in gaps you may have. I’ve broken it into parts for readability.

Creation

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them.

The Biblical God is the only true God. He is self-existent—He always was, He is, and He always will be. He is outside of time. His character traits are revealed to man both in general revelation–His divine character and qualities being reflected in creation (Romans 1:20)–and special revelation (the Bible). He is perfectly holy (that is, He is righteous, or morally blameless), He is loving towards His creations, faithful to His promises, truthful, merciful, just, all knowing, all powerful, etc. He does not change.

God also created the angels, beings which exist outside our dimensions, which we ordinarily cannot see. Everything that exists, whether visible or invisible, was created by Him, but He was not created.

God revealed Himself in the Bible as triune—one God (Deuteronomy 6:4, Isaiah 44:6-8) in three persons–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19). The first hint of God’s triune nature is that the Hebrew word for God in Genesis 1:1, Elohim (אֱלֹהִים), is a plural form. The second hint is in Genesis 1:26-27, where God says, “Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness…” All persons of the Trinity were active in the creation of the world (John 1:1-3, Colossians 1:16, Genesis 1:2).

God took six days to create (Genesis 1:3-31, Exodus 20:11), and on the seventh day He rested (Genesis 2:1-3), giving us a model for our week, which continues to this day. According to the genealogies and other records, creation is about 6,000 years old.

God’s creation was very good (Genesis 1:31). Man had perfect relationship with God, each other (the male and female, first husband and wife), and the animals. Both man and beast were vegetarians (Genesis 1:29-30). The man and his wife were naked, and they had no shame (Genesis 2:25). God established the covenant of marriage as it is written: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).

The Rebellion, the Curse, and the Promise of a Savior

God put the man (Adam) and his wife into a garden called Eden, where He planted many trees bearing food for them. In the middle of the garden, there were two special trees—the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They were freely given the fruit of all the trees except the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17).

The serpent (an angel who spoke from the body of a serpent) deceived the woman, and she ate of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. She gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he also ate.

The man and his wife realized they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together to cover their nakedness.

When God came walking in the garden, Adam hid. When God questioned the man, Adam blamed his wife—and indirectly, God—for why he ate the fruit. And the woman blamed the serpent.

God cursed the serpent, the man, and the woman. In the serpent’s curse, he would go on his belly and “eat dust”.  The ground was cursed for man, so that it would yield thorns, and by toil he would bring forth food. To the woman (whom Adam named Eve), He greatly increased the pain of childbirth.  Eve’s curse also implies conflict with her husband.

In the midst of this very sad day, the LORD God also provided hope.

To the serpent He said, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). The Seed of the woman who will bruise the head of the serpent is a promise of a Savior for Adam’s race.

Author’s photograph of the Creation Museum’s diorama (Petersburg, KY)

God made clothes of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them (Genesis 3:21). Animals don’t give up their skins without dying—this was the first physical death. Here in the beginning, God was demonstrating a principle which is found throughout Scripture, that the shedding of blood is necessary to cover over sin. Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” The shedding of blood is necessary is because the penalty for sin is death (Genesis 2:17).

Adam and Eve died spiritually immediately—their perfect relationship with God was broken–but physically they lived for a long time and had many sons and daughters.

All of Adam’s descendants are sinners: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned…” (Romans 5:12) and “in Adam all die” (1 Corinthians 15:22). Adam and Eve’s son Cain killed his younger brother Abel (Genesis 4). After Abel died, Eve bore another son, who she named Seth.

The Flood, and Babel

As the years passed, men grew increasingly wicked. By the 10^th and 11^th generations (via the line of Seth), the people were so evil that God decided to flood the earth and kill them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. God told Noah to build an ark, to preserve the lives of Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives, and animals of every kind which God would bring to Noah. And Noah obeyed God. Then God flooded the whole earth, covering over every mountain. And everything with the breath of life died, except for eight souls in the ark, and the animals God had brought to them (Genesis 6-8).

When Noah came out of the ark, God changed the diet He had set in the beginning. Now man was allowed to eat meat (Genesis 9:3), and animals were given a fear of man (Genesis 9:2).

God commanded Noah and his sons to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 9:1), and fill the earth. Their descendants quickly rebelled and began building a tower to heaven so they wouldn’t be spread across the earth. God confused their language so they could no longer communicate with each other, and they stopped building the tower. The tower was called Babel, because God confused their language. So, families began to spread across the earth, according to their languages (Genesis 11).

The Family of Abraham

God called one man, Abram, a descendant of Noah’s son Shem, to leave his father’s family and go to another land. “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3). Abram obeyed God, and went to the land of Canaan. There God promised to be Abram’s shield and reward. Abram wondered how that could be, because he was childless. God promised Abram an heir from his own body (Genesis 15:4), and He told Abram his descendants would be like the stars of the sky (Genesis 15:5). Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). God also promised to give him the land on which he was living. God made an unconditional covenant with Abraham, that He would give Abraham’s descendants the land—from the wadi of Egypt to the river Euphrates (Genesis 15:7-21).

Later, God made a covenant with Abram, and changed his name to Abraham, because He would be the father of many nations. He promised to establish His covenant between Himself and Abraham and his descendants after him–an everlasting covenant, “to be God to you and your descendants after you” (Genesis 17:7). God commanded Abraham and his male descendants to be circumcised, as a sign of the everlasting covenant between God and them. And God also changed Abraham’s wife’s name, calling her Sarah, and promising that she would bear him a son. Twenty-five years after God called Abraham away from his father’s house, Abraham’s son Isaac was born to him at 100 years old. And Sarah his wife was 90—past childbearing age (Genesis 21).

Later, God tested Abraham, asking him to sacrifice “only son” Isaac as a burnt offering on the mountains of Moriah. Reasoning that God could raise Isaac from the dead, Abraham moved to obey God. As they were going to the place God had told him, Isaac asked, “Where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” And Abraham said, “God Himself will provide the lamb, my son.” Then they reached place. Abraham was about to slay his son when the LORD called out to him and stopped him. The LORD opened his eyes to see a ram caught in a thicket, which he sacrificed instead of his son. So, Abraham called the place, “The LORD will provide,” and it was said, “On the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided.” And LORD said to Abraham, “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice” (Genesis 22:16-18).

God confirmed His covenant with Abraham’s son Isaac (Genesis 26:2-5), and with Isaac’s son Jacob (Genesis 28:13-15). Jacob had twelve sons. God also renamed Jacob Israel, “for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:28). In keeping with what God had promised to Abraham concerning his descendants, Jacob and his sons went to live in Egypt. Before Israel died, he gathered his sons and pronounced blessings over them. His son Judah would become the line of kings. “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (Genesis 49:10). God was declaring the line of the Seed of the woman in advance: He would come from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the tribe of Judah.

After 400 years, God sent an Israelite named Moses to lead His people out of Egypt, where they had become enslaved and oppressed. God brought them out by a mighty deliverance, after inflicting many plagues on the Egyptians. Before the last plague, God told the Israelites to kill a lamb or goat, put its blood on a door frame of a house, close the door, and cook and eat the lamb (or goat) together. At midnight, the LORD sent two angels through the land of Egypt. They killed every firstborn, but in accordance with the word of God, “when I see the blood, I will pass over you,” none of the Israelites lost any of their firstborns. After this final plague, Pharaoh expelled the children of Israel from the land. The LORD had Passover become a yearly holiday for the children of Israel, to remember what God had done, shielding them and delivering them from their slavery in Egypt.

The LORD was with the Israelites as they journeyed into the wilderness. He guided their way with a cloud by day and a fire by night—a constant reminder of His presence. He split the waters of the Red Sea for the them so they could pass through on dry ground, but when the Egyptian army of chariots pursued them in the path through the sea, He closed the waters over them and drowned them all. When the Israelites’ food ran out, He fed them bread from heaven (which they called “manna”). He also provided water for them. The whole nation met with God in the desert, at the mountain of Sinai, where the LORD descended in power and gave them His laws. The Israelites entered a covenant with the LORD to obey Him, and He would be their God. “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” the LORD told them (Exodus 19:5-6). All Israel trembled at the LORD’s power as they witnessed thunder, lightning, trumpet sounds, and the mountain smoking. God called Moses near and spoke ten commandments, and also wrote them on tablets of stone (Exodus 20:1-17). The first four commandments are about worshipping the LORD, and the rest are about how we are to treat other people. He also gave the Israelites many other laws. Many sacrifices were required, especially blood sacrifices, for when the children of Israel would break His laws. The LORD gave Moses a plan for the tabernacle, a tent where Moses’ brother Aaron and his sons would serve as priests, to offer sacrifices to God on behalf of the nation. Within the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant was stored—another reminder of God’s presence and covenant with the people of Israel. The ark contained the Ten Commandments God wrote into stone; Moses’ staff, which had budded supernaturally; and a jar of manna. Very quickly many of them broke their vows to serve the Lord and turned to idols, and to sexual immorality. They also angered God by their complaining. Moses interceded for the people, because the LORD was so angry with their sin that He wanted to destroy them. And the LORD relented.

When this generation neared the land of Canaan, which God had promised to give their forefathers, one man from each of the twelve tribes spied out the land. Then they returned and gave a report. Only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, believed God and advocated for going in to possess the land. The other ten were afraid of the people who lived there, and caused the whole camp to grumble against the LORD. Because of their unbelief, none of the males of military age were permitted to enter the land except Joshua and Caleb. The people of Israel had to wander in the desert for 40 years, during which time the faithless generation died. God had Joshua bring their children into the land He had promised to give Abraham’s descendants. While Joshua lived, the Israelites conquered most of the peoples who were living in the land, but they did not cast them out completely.

The Bible teaches that no sinful man has seen the face of the Father (John 6:46, Exodus 33:20). Moses saw His back (Exodus 33:23). He is spirit (John 4:24). Therefore, where the Scriptures teach that people saw and talked with God in the flesh (e.g., Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua), they were seeing the preincarnate Son. God is called the Father because in Psalm 2:7, He declared to Christ, “You are My Son; today I have begotten You.”

After Joshua, God raised up judges who helped Israel for 400 years. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Eventually the children of Israel demanded a king, “like the other nations have.” Israel had no king because the Lord was their King. But they rejected the Lord as king, and asked for a man to be king instead. Therefore, God gave them what they asked for—a man named Saul became the first (human) king of Israel. But Saul did not walk faithfully with God, so the Lord anointed another man, David, to be the next king. David was “a man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22). During the course of his life, God promised David his kingdom and his throne would be established forever—the line of the Seed was narrowing further. David’s son Solomon built a temple for the LORD (a “permanent” tabernacle), where all Israel was to worship Him and offer sacrifices.

During the time David’s grandson reigned, the twelve tribes were separated into two kingdoms. Judah and Benjamin were the kingdom of Judah, and the rest of the tribes were called Israel. Israel quickly turned to idolatry and never repented, so eventually God let the Assyrians conquer them. They were uprooted from their landed and scattered to the ends of the earth. Though Judah had a slightly better record, they also turned against the Lord and worshipped false gods and disobeyed His law. God sent both Judah and Israel many prophets, especially when they were disobedient to His law. Most of them were hated, mistreated and killed. When the LORD had given Judah time to repent but they did not, He summoned Babylon against them. Those on whom God had mercy were taken into captivity in Babylon, where they would remain for 70 years. The rest were destroyed by sword, famine, and plague. The king of Babylon destroyed the temple of the LORD and took its objects to Babylon.  After seventy years, God remembered His promise and brought Judah back to her land. The people built a new temple, and the walls of Jerusalem.

Besides warning the people to turn from rebellion, the prophets also wrote many prophecies—especially about the promised Seed, called the Messiah. The prophets were typically hated and often killed.

Jesus’ Earthly Ministry

Jesus (Yeshua ישוע in Hebrew) is God in the flesh. He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). The Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High overshadowed the virgin Mary, conceiving in her womb the body of Jesus, and that is why He is called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). Jesus’ conception by a virgin was prophesied by the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 7:14) but also harkens back to the promise given in Genesis 3:15 concerning the Seed of the woman. Though He took on flesh at a particular time in the history of the world, Jesus always existed (Micah 5:2). As promised, He was a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David (Luke 3). Though He was tempted as we are (Matthew 4), Jesus never sinned. He obeyed the Father in everything (John 17:4) as a son while He walked on the earth.

When Jesus was about 30, He began traveling around, teaching about the kingdom of God, healing the sick, casting out demons, etc. During this time, He had twelve disciples [followers] who He was teaching more intimately. At the end of His ministry, Jesus went up to Jerusalem, where He was betrayed by one of His twelve disciples, arrested, tried and crucified (on Passover).

Jesus’ body was buried in a tomb and He rose again on the third day, in accordance with His prophecy, which was well-known, even to His enemies (Matthew 27:62-64). The circumstances concerning Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection were also prophesied in the Hebrew Scriptures years before He entered the world (e.g., Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22). He was seen alive by His disciples on a number of occasions in the forty days after His resurrection from the dead.

Jesus promised to return, but before He left, He gave His disciples a charge: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). Also, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Then Jesus ascended up to heaven in the sky from the Mount of Olives. The disciples watched until He was hidden from them by a cloud. Angels told the disciples He would return as they had seen Him go.

Salvation

Our “good” works to God are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). Isaiah 59:5-6 emphasizes the worthlessness of our deeds in a way that reminds of Adam and Eve’s fig leaf coverings and the seed of the serpent in Genesis 3: “They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; He who eats of their eggs dies, and from that which is crushed a viper breaks out. Their webs will not become garments, nor will they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.”  We cannot be justified by doing “good” works (Romans 3:20). No one is able to keep even the Ten Commandments perfectly, and when we break just one law, we are guilty of breaking the whole thing.

God loves the people He created. He does not want us to perish. Beyond the death we’re familiar with, there’s a second death, which is eternal. Because God is holy and just, He must punish sin as it deserves—through the death of a person. God wanted to extend mercy to our race, so He created a plan. God Himself would take on human flesh, live a sinless life, bear the sins of the world, and receive in His body the just punishment for sin—death (Genesis 2:17, Romans 6:23). Revelation 13:8 talks about the Lamb being “slain from the foundation of the world.” This refers to the fact God knew when He created the world that He would enter His creation and be slain on our behalf. Because He was sinless and did not deserve death, the grave couldn’t hold Him and He was resurrected from the dead on the third day.

Prophetically, Jesus’ forerunner John said of Him, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Jesus lay down His life willingly (John 10:15-18). Jerusalem, where Jesus was killed, is built on Mt. Moriah, were Abraham had moved to sacrifice his “only son” Isaac many years before, and God had provided the ram as a substitute for Isaac. When Jesus died on Moriah, the Father was sacrificing His only begotten Son as a substitute for us. Jesus is the Lamb of God we so desperately need—a sinless human blood sacrifice, to satisfy God’s justice towards our sin. Jesus is called the Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). The life of a creature is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11), without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin (Hebrews 9:22). When God sees a person hiding behind Jesus’ blood, He will pass over them.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-17).

The wrath of God remains on those who reject God’s only begotten Son (John 3:18, 36).  Those who die apart from Christ will go to a painful place called Hades (Luke 16:19-31), and eventually be resurrected, judged, and thrown into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:11-15) for eternity.

Jesus told us to count the cost of following Him. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26-27). He does not mean we should actually hate our family, but be willing to honor Him far above our loyalty to family members, or above our own life. “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39). Jesus says, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

To be saved, a person must repent of their sins and confess Jesus as Lord for the forgiveness of their sins. A person must believe Jesus is God in the flesh, who lived a sinless life, died on a cross, was buried, and rose again on the third day.

Belief of the facts is of salvation is not enough. In James 2:19, it says, “Even the demons believe—and tremble!” Unless we repent from our sin in our heart and let Him be Lord of our life, there is no salvation. The Apostle Paul testified how he taught both Jews and Gentiles to, “repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance” (Acts 26:20). Repentance is a genuine desire to turn from a life of sin and obey the LORD, with His help. It is not cleaning ourselves up before we can be saved—this is not possible! After we are saved, our repentance is going to reflect in our deeds. The power to obey God after a person is saved comes from the Holy Spirit, who indwells and empowers all follower of Christ.

The person who is saved is adopted as a son or daughter of God, and receive full access to approach the Father in prayer, and have a hope to receive an inheritance as a co-heir with Christ (Galatians 4:4-7).

A person who has chosen to follow Christ as Lord must continue doing so for the rest of their life. The Holy Spirit gives us everything we need to live a life of godliness, but we have a responsibility to pursue Him and take Him seriously. A person who does not continue in repentance and faith until the end will be cut off from Christ (John 15:2, 6; 1 Corinthians 15:2; Romans 11:22, etc.). It is worse to know Him and turn away from Him than to never know Him at all (2 Peter 2:21).

The Church

Christ is the head of the Church, consisting of all people who follow Jesus, both Jew and Gentile, male and female. After Jesus ascended from the Mount of Olives and returned to the side of the Father, His disciples waited in Jerusalem as He told them to do until they received the Holy Spirit. Jesus had promised to send the Holy Spirit after He left (John 15:26-16:15), to convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. To the follower of Christ, Jesus promised: “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore, I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

“When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4). Many Jews from other countries were assembled in Jerusalem for the Festival of Weeks (Hebrew: שבועות‎ Shavuot). Each heard the disciples speaking in their native tongue, which attracted a large crowd. Some mocked them as being drunk, but others marveled, and Peter, one of the Eleven (Judas killed himself after betraying Jesus), stood up and testified to them all about the power of the Holy Spirit, of which they were witnesses. And Peter proclaimed Christ who was crucified and raised from the dead, drawing from prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures about Jesus (Acts 2:14-36). And some who heard asked, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Peter answered them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” That day about three thousand believed (Acts 2:37-41).

John the Baptist, Jesus’ relative, preached repentance of sin before Jesus was revealed to the children of Israel. John emphasized that he himself was not the promised Messiah of Israel, but another would come after him, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11).

Water baptism for followers of Christ is a symbol, and act of obedience to testify to witnesses that he or she has already been baptized by the Holy Spirit through repentance and faith in Jesus.

From this point on, God tabernacles (dwells) inside His followers, that His glory may be known among the nations.

The last recorded words of Jesus before He ascended to heaven were these, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

The newly empowered disciples obeyed Christ and they spread the word in Jerusalem, to the point where their adversaries said, “You have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine [teaching]!” (Acts 5:28).

Now after some time, a disciple named Stephen was brought before the high priest and the council on trumped up charges. He preached a powerful message to those listening, recounting the history of their people, up until their part in the crucifixion of Christ. They gnashed their teeth at Stephen and stoned him to death.

Acts 7:57-8:3 (NKJV)
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
8 Now Saul was consenting to his death.
At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.
3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.

The persecution beginning at Stephen’s death caused most of the Church to scatter to Judea and Samaria, the second and third places on Jesus’ list (Acts 1:8)—and to make disciples there, as Jesus had commanded them (Acts 8:4).  And some went further out, to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch (Acts 11:19), originally only preaching to Jews.  But some disciples from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to non-Jews in Antioch.  And before that, the Lord saved the household and friends of Cornelius, a God-fearing centurion (Acts 10). And so, the disciples learned that the gospel was meant for the salvation of both Jew and Gentile [non-Israelite] (Acts 11:1-18). The salvation of the Gentiles was also prophesied in the Hebrew Scriptures (Isaiah 49:6, among other places).

While Saul was traveling to Damascus with the authority of the chief priests to arrest followers of “the Way” (a name for Jesus, from John 14:6), Jesus appeared to Saul in a blinding light and spoke with him. Saul was transformed. The Lord said of Saul (Acts 9:15-16), “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” The former persecutor of Jesus’ followers quickly began to prove in the synagogues how Jesus was the Messiah.

In time, God set Saul and others apart to go on journeys through what is now Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, Malta, and Rome. Saul (also called Paul) would bring the gospel first to the Jews. And when they rejected it, he would leave the synagogue and share it with the Gentiles. In each city, he established local churches—bodies of believers who meet together and obey the many “one another” commands Christ has given us. He appointed elders over the churches (or had co-laborers do it) to serve the people, teaching them grow in the Lord and warning them against being deceived by false teachings. Paul’s letters to the churches comprise most of the New Testament.

As the Lord had prophesied, Paul suffered greatly as he proclaimed the gospel to Jews and Gentiles, and before kings—even the emperor of Rome (2 Corinthians 11:22-33). Though suffering is not fun, it is clearly within God’s plan to use the suffering of His people to sow the seeds of the gospel to the nations (Luke 21:12-19). Everyone who desires to live a godly life in Christ will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12), but Christ is with us, empowering us through the presence of the Holy Spirit, as He promised.

It’s been nearly two thousand years after Christ ascended. The end is in sight, but we haven’t made disciples every “ethnos” [think ethnic group], tribe, and tongue.  This will be fulfilled (Revelation 7:9) before the end (Matthew 24:14).

Last Things

The story of last things, including the [second] coming of Christ, is written all through the pages of Scripture, from the first book, Genesis, to the last, Revelation.

Jesus promised He would come again and receive His people to Himself. After Jesus had ascended in the clouds, two angels appeared and promised the disciples, “This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Jesus left bodily, visibly, in the air—and so He will come again. He also ascended from the Mount of Olives, which is just east of Jerusalem (Acts 1:12), and to there He will descend (Zechariah 14:4).

Many signs precede His coming. These include signs in the earth and the heavens, ethnic hostility, wars and rumors of wars, widespread persecution of believers, widespread deceptions (especially concerning His coming), and widespread apostasy (people turning away from believing or obeying Christ), etc. The signs were given us so we could recognize when He is near (Matthew 24:32-34, Hebrews 10:24-25). Though the exact date and time is a secret (Matthew 24:36), the coming of Christ will be after this time of great tribulation (I refer to it as “the Tribulation”), which will come upon one generation (Matthew 24:33-34).

Sometimes the “Day of the LORD” refers to a period of time culminating in Christ’s coming—such is the case in Isaiah 2:5-4:1. Other times it refers to a singular day (2 Peter 3:10).

The book of Daniel includes many details about the last days, which Jesus referred to when He mentioned the abomination that causes desolation (Matthew 24:15). He was given a special prophecy about the people of Israel. 69 “sevens” concluded with Christ’s crucifixion, and the 70^th seven (Daniel 9:27) is still future. Based on the fulfilled portion of the prophecy, each seven is understood to be 7 lunar years, which is just shy of seven solar years. By comparing Scripture with Scripture, the 70^th seven can be understood as the Tribulation. Revelation 6-18 also describes the Tribulation in more detail. Some portions of these prophecies are chronological, and others are parenthetical. The second half, after the abomination that causes desolation and the stopping of sacrifices, is more severe—this is when many followers of Christ will be put to death. It is also prophesied to be an extremely difficult time for Israel (Daniel 12). God will use the testimony of His people, His Word, and the difficulties of suffering to draw many of the family of Israel to acknowledge Yeshua (the Hebrew name for Jesus) as the Messiah of Israel. Jesus will not come again until Israel experiences revival (Hosea 5:14-15). Their belief (a much more significant remnant) will precede the resurrection (Romans 11:15).

After the Tribulation, Jesus will come on the clouds (Matthew 24:30, 1 Thessalonians 4:16, Revelation 1:7), with trumpet sound and the voice of the archangel. Everyone will see Him, and most will mourn, but those who are in Christ will rejoice. The dead in Christ will be resurrected at His coming. Christ will also slay the people who hate Him, but others will be shielded on that day. Those in Christ who are still alive and remain in Him will be caught up in the clouds with the resurrected believers to meet the Lord in the air.  The same will get glorified bodies, which no longer war against sin, and cannot die (1 Corinthians 15:35-58, Philippians 3:21).

At the end of the Tribulation, many nations will assemble against Israel with the mind to destroy it, but Jesus will return and instead destroy them. On that day, as Christ destroys the armies, He will expand the borders of the land (Is 26:15) to the dimensions to which He made a covenant with Abraham (Isaiah 27:12, Genesis 15:18)—from the wadi of Egypt to river Euphrates. Christ’s victorious coming will cause the survivors of Israel and the other nations who formerly did not acknowledge Him to believe (Ezekiel 38:23, 39:5-6, 21-29). He will gather the people of Israel into the land (Isaiah 27:13), and comfort them. He will reign as King over the earth (Isaiah 24:23, Zechariah 14:9), bringing justice and true peace (Isaiah 2:1-4).

Healing waters will flow from Jerusalem to the western sea (Mediterranean Sea) and the eastern sea (the Dead Sea), and these waters will bring healing to the nations (Ezekiel 47, Zechariah 14:8).

Satan will be locked up when Christ returns, so that he cannot deceive the nations anymore until a thousand years have ended. Afterwards he will be set free for a short time (Revelation 20:2-3).  He will test the peoples, and those he deceives will gather into a large army to come against Israel. But fire from heaven will consume them (Revelation 20:7-9).

Afterwards, Satan and his fellow rebellious angels will be cast into the Lake of Fire. The second resurrection, which includes all the rest of the dead, will occur. And Christ will judge each person by their works. Anyone who’s name is not written in the Lamb’s book of life will be thrown into the Lake of Fire.

Then God will dwell with His people forever, in a new heaven and new earth.

Revelation 21:3-4 (NKJV)
3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”