10. Beginner Bible Course: The major themes in the Bible

EPISODE 10.  The simple Bible overview of…WHAT ARE THE MAJOR THEMES OF THE BIBLE?

In our last time together. I asked you to imagine the Bible as a large jigsaw puzzle. When you get a jigsaw puzzle, you want to master the picture on the cover. So you know how to fit the pieces together. That's very important. If you had a scene of a snow covered pristine Sierra Nevada mountain range, and you found a piece inside that was purple with an eyeball, it looks suspiciously like the children's character Barney, the dinosaur you'd think it got into the wrong box. That's really smart. The edge piece is define the boundaries of the puzzle pieces.

0

00:00:41

Just don't spill outside that boundary. My next encouragement to you as a student at the Bible is to understand what the edge pieces of scripture are. Edge pieces are the major themes. They define the boundaries of the story contained between the covers of the Bible. I suggest to my students, there are eight major themes in scripture edge pieces that define the contents or boundaries of the story it contains. And they're going to sound suspiciously, familiar to what we talked about in the last podcast. The picture on the cover, the big story, and shouldn't the boundaries of the puzzle.

0

00:01:22

Be consistent with the picture on the puzzle. Let's put them together, made a consistent theme in scripture is God made us, made us wonderfully, made us in his image and loves us deeply. Strayed. My students know what this means. When I asked them, they usually use the metaphor of sheep it's to wander off a consistent theme throughout scripture is they'll made to be with God. We have wandered off God, didn't leave us. We left him second pair of words lost. Having wandered away from God. We got hopelessly lost.

0

00:02:04

I asked my students if they've ever been lost, I don't mean mall lost. I mean, wilderness lost. And I tell them when you get wilderness lost, they always tell you the same thing. Stay put, let someone find you to try find your way out. We'll get you more lost cost. God found us and bought us back at a tremendous price. We'll discover what that price was. As we move deeper into the old Testament and the new let's review made strayed. We're wonderfully made by God, but we've wandered off from the relationship he intended lost cost.

0

00:02:45

We got hopelessly lost and God found us and bought us back at a great cost. Does this sound familiar of our story of the little girl? The next two pair of words are save, behave, save God alone can save us, buy us back. We cannot save ourselves. I tell my students that though I'm not a religious expert. I've heard that every major world religion is man, trying to find his way back to God, to merit God's favor. Christianity is different. It is God finding us and himself paying the price to buy us back.

0

00:03:30

Behave. Ouch. That sounds a little oppressive, but it's a consistent theme throughout scripture. Those whom God has found and bought back should obey in the analogy of the little girl with her ship should stay put getting ahead of ourselves in the new Testament. Jesus says, whoever loves me will keep my commandments will learn through this major theme throughout scripture. Obedience for God's children is not an option. It's an expectation for our own good I'm a teacher. So I do a lot of review let's review. Our pears made strayed lost cost, save behave, which brings us to the last to regain and reign throughout the Bible.

0

00:04:24

God says, I'll be your God. You'll be my precious people. And we will be together throughout the old and new Testament. God explains how we can regain our relationship. That was broken a relationship with him in the old Testament. God had a way to put a bandaid on that broken relationship. Spoiler alert the blood of an innocent animal in the new Testament. God fixed it through the blood of an innocent son, but I asked my students, some people claim to have regained a relationship with God, an intimate, real relationship with God.

0

00:05:05

But is this the best it gets? Scripture has a consistent theme. No, this isn't as good as it gets. Remember God said, I'll be your God. You'll be my people. And we will be together. That's the last word of our major themes? Rain. I know that sounds like a King over his people, more than a dad with his kids. And there's some of that in the scripture, but it also means being together in one place under one benevolent rule to be all we were intended to be here. They are one last time made strayed lost cost, save, behave, regain reign.

0

00:05:51

So why is that important? Well, they're edge pieces. If you get to any particular text within this jigsaw puzzle, the Bible and the peace does not fit with one of those themes. It's probably a Barney in the Sierra Nevada puzzle box. It doesn't belong there. That's Barney in the sear in Nevada puzzle box. It doesn't fit within the boundaries. I think you'll find this very helpful in trying to discover the meaning of this story about our amazing God and we, his children. So you've got the edge pieces all put together.

0

00:06:31

I asked my students, what do you do next? We'll talk about that in the next wordpicture.