Christ Through the Bible
There are many ways to study the Bible. One way is the old familiar Sunday School way which is pretty useless. One either reads through a quarterly, or something superficial like that, and lightly skims over a section or theme of the Bible, or he studies the stories of the Bible, especially in his or her younger days. Another method is to study the books of the Bible in a paragraph by paragraph or verse by verse style. When one book has been studied, the class often moves on to another one in the Bible. A third approach is to study the Bible as if it's primary purpose was for application to one's life and circumstances. It is as if the Bible were a book of moralisms on how to live one's life successfully with meaning and purpose. A lot of nationwide, popular Bible studies for men and women take this tack. There is even a Life Application Bible for this purpose. In fact, in most , I would say this is probably the primary method of sermon presentation. The seekers and the regularly attending Christians enjoy a topical approach that aims at the practicality of Christianity and how God provides answers to life's perplexities. A fourth way to study the Bible is by systematic theology, they way the Bible is often studied if one goes to a seminary. All of the teachings of the Bible are indexed and organized by major topics -such as God, Christ, salvation, the nature of man, etc, - with Scripture verses.
Now all of these methods have some value. But the one thing that none of them does is tie everything together into one story so that the Bible makes sense to people. I teach people who have been Christians for most of their lives, and most of them are pretty much bewildered about the Bible overall. They know some stories and a few detailed facts. Few have any idea even what any one book is about. They might be able to quote a few favorite verses. But this is pretty much the extent of it for most people I meet. They have been to Sunday School since they were kids, listened to a thousand sermons in churches and on TV, but most still cannot tell you what the Bible is all about starting at Genesis and going through the Gospels. The reason for this is because, even though the Bible's content is a STORY of redemption, it is presented in every way one can think of except by the way the Bible historically presented itself. One hears Bible stories, but these stories are rarely, if ever, connected to THE STORY.
Let me give an example of what I am talking about. Suppose you were in a class with other students. The teacher picked up a novel to discuss with the class and said, "Okay, I'm going to turn to page 367 and read the first two sentences of the second paragraph, and then we will discuss those sentences." The group spends an hour discussing those two sentences. The next week the teacher says, "Now let me read from page 67, and we will discuss Bob's decision to marry Doris." On the third week, the teacher says, "I'm going to read from page 200 today, and we'll talk about this one incident in this novel." Somewhere along the line somebody should say, "Wait a minute! Why don't you start at page 1 and read the whole story to us so we know what this novel is all about? Then when we understand the overall picture, we can discuss these various events and page and quotes within the context of the WHOLE story."
Unfortunately, the illustration above is generally how the Bible is taught and preached to most people most of their lives. The best way to study the Bible is the way it was given to us. It came historically section by section at a time. It didn't drop out of heaven in a bound book. It came over thousands of years little by little. The reason for that is because God was giving information bit by bit on the Redeemer He was sending. It is a magnificent story about Christ. It is sort of like reading a novel. Until you know that story overall, most of the things you read in the Bible aren't going to make near as much sense. This method of study is called The History of Redemption.
You can find these illustrated studies right here on this website. It is found elsewhere by Googling Playing Chess With the Devil: Making Sense of the Most Popular Book In the World. But the same thing is right here under the shortened title of just Playing Chess With the Devil. I am in the process of continuing this to the end if I can, but I think if you start reading the first few studies I have written you will begin to get the idea. I have yet to insert a number of diagrams within the studies on this web page, but they will be completed shortly.
I have written these studies for the Christian layperson who wants to understand the overall story of redemption through Christ. I am certain these studies will do that. May the Lord use these studies to bring honor and glory to His Son. You do not need to give me any credit for anything. You may take it all as if you wrote it yourself. Print it out, give it out, use it as the curriculum for your class, or read it together with others for a discussion. Use the diagrams and illustrations freely without any reference to me. If someone says, "I saw this on the Internet, and it was written by Dale Haven Cox," tell them I am your best friend, and I gave you permission to use anything anytime. If this is helpful to you, just pay me back someday by sending a thank you note as an encouragement for me to complete this. I will never be paid a penny in this life for having written this. So it makes no difference who takes it or uses it. If it helps a person to understand the Bible better and see the Christ in it, my reward is complete.
Now all of these methods have some value. But the one thing that none of them does is tie everything together into one story so that the Bible makes sense to people. I teach people who have been Christians for most of their lives, and most of them are pretty much bewildered about the Bible overall. They know some stories and a few detailed facts. Few have any idea even what any one book is about. They might be able to quote a few favorite verses. But this is pretty much the extent of it for most people I meet. They have been to Sunday School since they were kids, listened to a thousand sermons in churches and on TV, but most still cannot tell you what the Bible is all about starting at Genesis and going through the Gospels. The reason for this is because, even though the Bible's content is a STORY of redemption, it is presented in every way one can think of except by the way the Bible historically presented itself. One hears Bible stories, but these stories are rarely, if ever, connected to THE STORY.
Let me give an example of what I am talking about. Suppose you were in a class with other students. The teacher picked up a novel to discuss with the class and said, "Okay, I'm going to turn to page 367 and read the first two sentences of the second paragraph, and then we will discuss those sentences." The group spends an hour discussing those two sentences. The next week the teacher says, "Now let me read from page 67, and we will discuss Bob's decision to marry Doris." On the third week, the teacher says, "I'm going to read from page 200 today, and we'll talk about this one incident in this novel." Somewhere along the line somebody should say, "Wait a minute! Why don't you start at page 1 and read the whole story to us so we know what this novel is all about? Then when we understand the overall picture, we can discuss these various events and page and quotes within the context of the WHOLE story."
Unfortunately, the illustration above is generally how the Bible is taught and preached to most people most of their lives. The best way to study the Bible is the way it was given to us. It came historically section by section at a time. It didn't drop out of heaven in a bound book. It came over thousands of years little by little. The reason for that is because God was giving information bit by bit on the Redeemer He was sending. It is a magnificent story about Christ. It is sort of like reading a novel. Until you know that story overall, most of the things you read in the Bible aren't going to make near as much sense. This method of study is called The History of Redemption.
You can find these illustrated studies right here on this website. It is found elsewhere by Googling Playing Chess With the Devil: Making Sense of the Most Popular Book In the World. But the same thing is right here under the shortened title of just Playing Chess With the Devil. I am in the process of continuing this to the end if I can, but I think if you start reading the first few studies I have written you will begin to get the idea. I have yet to insert a number of diagrams within the studies on this web page, but they will be completed shortly.
I have written these studies for the Christian layperson who wants to understand the overall story of redemption through Christ. I am certain these studies will do that. May the Lord use these studies to bring honor and glory to His Son. You do not need to give me any credit for anything. You may take it all as if you wrote it yourself. Print it out, give it out, use it as the curriculum for your class, or read it together with others for a discussion. Use the diagrams and illustrations freely without any reference to me. If someone says, "I saw this on the Internet, and it was written by Dale Haven Cox," tell them I am your best friend, and I gave you permission to use anything anytime. If this is helpful to you, just pay me back someday by sending a thank you note as an encouragement for me to complete this. I will never be paid a penny in this life for having written this. So it makes no difference who takes it or uses it. If it helps a person to understand the Bible better and see the Christ in it, my reward is complete.