Time

Period

Adam to the  Exodus

Book of the  Bible

??

To 1450 B.C.

The Fall of Man

God created the heavens, the earth and mankind in 6-days and rested on the 7th day. God created the first man and woman, Adam and Eve.  They had “Free Will” to obey or disobey God.  They choose to reject God’s command and listen to Satan, a fallen angel. By rejecting God’s command, humanity became fallen and corrupt.  God however promised a Messiah who would redeem man and restore him. (Genesis 3;15). 

 15 And I will put enmity Between you (Satan) and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."  Genesis 3;15

      Man’s corrupt nature caused God to bring an overall judgment on the human race, causing a flood to kill both human and animal life.  Noah, his family and all the living animals that entered the arc (the boat Noah built) were spared from God’s judgment.

12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Genesis 6:12-13

      Everybody alive today is a descendent of Noah and his family.

       Following the flood, The arc landed in the mountains of Ararat (Armenia), in modern day Turkey, from there man as one tribe traveled to the lands of the future Babylon,( Shunar, Summer).  As one people, humanity again began to rebel against God, building the tower of Babel, so God caused a confusion in language between Noah’s descendents.  This confusion caused humanity to be dispersed over the earth forming the different nations.

6 And the Lord said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 "Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."  8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Genesis 11:6-8

Abraham called

    Abraham, a descendent of Shem, the second son of Noah, left Ur, a city in Babylon, for Mt. Moriah (Jerusalem) at God’s instruction.  God promised Abraham, to make him into a great nation.  Isaac, Abraham’s son, had two sons Jacob and Esau.  Jacob had 12 sons, who would later become the nation of Israel.  Jacob lived in the land of current day Israel, but would live in Egypt for a time, before being buried in Hebron with Abraham and Isaac. God’s covenant would be transferred to Isaac and then to Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons who would form the tribes of Israel.

     His brothers into Egypt sold Joseph, Jacob’s second youngest son.  In Egypt, he became prime minister.  Famine struck the land of Canaan (Israel) forcing his brothers to come to Egypt for food. There, they met their brother who they sold as a slave years earlier.  Joseph forgave his brothers and they settled in the land of Egypt in an area known as Goshen with Joseph.

     Over the next 400-years, the descendents of Jacob multiplied. They numbered over 1,000,000, and subsequently they became oppressed in the land of Egypt, as slaves of a new Pharaoh. They cried out to God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for rescue, and God sent them Moses, a Hebrew raised in Pharaoh’s house.

Genesis

 Job

Moses to David: The Tabernacle Period

1450 B.C.

To

975 B.C.

     Moses, representing God to Pharaoh, delivered plagues on Egypt, until Pharaoh freed the children of Israel from captivity.   Moses led the descendents of Jacob (Israel) back toward the land of Canaan, the Promised Land.  God established the Mosaic Covenant with the Tabernacle, as a picture of the coming redemption through the Messiah, who would die for the sins of the world. (Hebrews 9, 10) The Messiah was God’s sacrifice for our sins.

     On the way, Israel rebelled against Moses and wanted to return to Egypt. Because of rejecting God’s leadership, at the hand of Moses, Israel wandered the wilderness of Sinai for 40-years until the rebellious generation died.

 11 Then the Lord said to Moses: "How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them? Numbers 14:11 

        Joshua succeeded Moses, he lead Israel into Canaan.  Israel conquered and settled a portion of land and established a confederacy of tribes after the 12 sons of Jacob.  God ruled the tribes through judges.  Over the next 400-years, judges such as Samson, Gideon, Jephthah, and Deborah would lead the tribes of Israel against their enemies.

     In the course of time, the people requested a king like the other nations, and God gave them Saul as their first king in 1050 B.C., followed by David 1017 B.C.

     David conquered the city of Jerusalem from the Jebusites, a Canaanite tribe, making it the City of David. Through prophets, God established David’s throne as an eternal throne later to be ruled by his descendent, the Messiah, who would one day rule the world with Jerusalem as the capital city of the earth.  

12 "When your (David) days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 "He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.16 "And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever." ' " 2 Samuel 7:12-13,16

Exodus

Leviticus

Number

Deuter.

Joshua

Judges

Ruth

I & II Samuel

Psalms

Solomon to the Captivity: First Temple Period

975 B.C.

To

536 B.C.

      Solomon, David’s son succeeded his father as king over Israel. He was permitted to build the Temple on Mt. Moriah, which later became known as Solomon’s Temple.  The Temple site was the same location, where over 1000-years earlier, Solomon’s forefather Abraham was tested by God (Genesis 22, I Kings 8)    

    After Solomon, Israel became a divided kingdom, the northern kingdom, known as Israel (10-tribes) and the southern as Judah (Judah and Benjamin).

     Eventually Israel and Judah tuned away from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and started worshipping the idols in the land of Canaan, Baal, Ashtorah, Chemosh, etc.  God warned Israel through prophets, letting Israel know these practices would result in their destruction.  The people rejected the messages of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Micah and others, and continued their idol worship.

   Using God’s pronouncements on Israel and Judah’s apostasy, through the prophets, the day of God’s salvation was proclaimed,  the coming Messiah, who would redeem the sins of the world.

13 Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. 14 Just as many were astonished at you, So His visage was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men; 15 So shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; For what had not been told them they shall see, And what they had not heard they shall consider.  Isaiah 52:13-15 

            God responded by sending the armies of Assyria in 722 B.C. to take the northern part of Israel captive to the lands of Assyria.   In 586 B.C. the Babylonians, destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple taking those left into Babylon for a period of 70 years. Among the captives were the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel.

     At the end of 70 years, the Persians defeated Babylon under Cyrus the Great, he allowed the Jews to return to the land of Israel.  Cyrus also allowed the Jews to begin reconstruction of their Temple in 536 B.C., construction was completed in 516 B.C., exactly 70-years after the Temple was destroyed.

     The Temple like the Tabernacle was a picture of God’s redemption, through the coming sacrifice of Messiah, who would atone for the sins of the world. 

9 And they made His grave with the wicked-But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. 10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.  11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.  Isaiah 53:9-11

Ecclesiastes

Proverbs

I & II Kings

I & II

Chron.

Isaiah

Amos

Hosea

Micah

Jonah

Joel

Jeremiah

Lam.

Ezekiel

Daniel

Zerubabel to Jesus; 2^nd Temple Period, Inter-Testament Period

536 B.C.

To

 4 B.C.

     In Babylon, Israel was humbled becoming servants of the Babylonians. However, in Babylon God raised prophets like Daniel who became the prime minister of Babylon under king Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel chapters 1-4). Through Daniel, God revealed his plans for Israel and the world, and the coming of His Messiah.  Giving the exact month, year and day of Messiah’s  death (Daniel 9;24-27) 

"And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Daniel 9:26a 

            In 539 B.C. Cyrus the Great, head of a Persian-Median kingdom defeated Babylon.  He allowed the Jews to return to the land of Israel and rebuild their Temple.  In 516 B.C., seventy years after the Temple was destroyed, the Second Temple was completed.  During this period, God spoke through the prophets, Zechariah, Haggai, and Malachi to encourage Israel about the coming plan of redemption through the Messiah.  Malachi was the last prophet of the age, writing about 425 B.C. 

1 "Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," Says the Lord of hosts. 2 "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire And like launderer's soap.  Malachi 3:1-2 

Inter-Testament Period

     Malachi wrote during the period of the Persian control of Jerusalem, less then 100-years later, the Persians were defeated by the rising power to the west, the Grecian kingdom led by Alexander the Great.  In 331 B.C., Alexander defeated Persian control of Judea. 

     Alexander allowed the Jews to maintain their worship and sacrifice as he went on to fight Persia in the east.  In 323 B.C., Alexander the Great died in city of Babylon, and his kingdom was divided between his four generals.

    Two of his generals, Seleucid and Ptolemy and their descendents, would fight over the land  of Jerusalem and Judah for the next 200-years.  Then in 168 B.C. Antiochus Epiphanes decided to unify his Seleucid Greek Kingdom, under the Greek religion, meaning the Jewish faith was to be eliminated.  This caused a Jewish revolt known as the Maccabean War, which ended in the creation of an independent Jewish Kingdom for about 100-years, and the celebration of Hanukah.

    The kingdom came to an end when, two brothers Aristobulus II and Hyrcanus II requested Romans help to settle their dispute.  Pompey the Roman general stepped in, conquered Jerusalem and established Roman control over Judah in 63 B.C.

     Later Herod the Great, a friend of Rome, was installed on the Jewish throne until his death in 4 B.C., establishing the Herodian dynasty in Judea/Palestine.

Haggai

Zechariah

Ester

Ezra

Nehemiah

Malachi

New Testament Period

4 B.C.

To

A.D. 95

     The New Testament records the life, teachings and commands of Jesus Christ and His church.  Jesus fulfilled the prophecies regarding the suffering Messiah, in the Old Testament.  The Messiah, would suffer for the sins of the world, paying the penalty of sin, as foreshadowed in the Mosaic Covenant. (Hebrew 9,10)

   Two portraits of Messiah emerge in the Old Testament, one is the picture of a “Righteous” suffering Servant, who dies for the sins of the world (Isaiah 53).  The other is King Messiah who rules over the earth (Psalm 2).  The death of Jesus in A.D. 33, fulfilled the prophecies regarding the suffering servant.  At His Second Coming, he will fulfill the prophecies regarding King Messiah, who reigns over the earth.

    His death brought redemption to humanity, and the mission of the church was to proclaim salvation and redemption to the fallen world.  The Gospels were the written record of the life and teachings of Jesus the Messiah.

The Acts of the Apostles record the history of the early church and its establishment in the Gentile nations.  The Epistles record the teachings of the apostles and instructions to the church.  The book of Revelation records Christ’s instructions to the church, events leading to the return of Christ and the eternal state of humanity. Revelation completes the picture of Genesis, which records the beginning; Revelation reveals the end of all things.

Matthew

Mark

Luke

John

Acts

Epistles

Revelation

Early Church Period

95 A.D.

To

325 A.D.

As recorded in the book of Acts, the church began to spread throughout the Roman world.  The spread of the church caused many to turn from their Greek and Roman gods and goddess.   An early example of their success is illustrated in Acts 19 as the men of Ephesus become alarmed at their loss of goddess business.

24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Diana, brought no small profit to the craftsmen. 25 He called them together with the workers of similar occupation, and said: "Men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade. 26 "Moreover you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands. 27 "So not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship." 28 Now when they heard this, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!"  Acts 19:24-28 a @ 51-52 A.D.

    The spread of Christianity caused greater persecution, John one of the last remaining disciples was the bishop of Ephesus, when he was exiled to Patmos during the persecution of Domitian.  On Patmos, John received the Revelation of Jesus Christ, a letter to the seven churches foretelling a period of persecution and apostasy within some of the churches.  Jesus however declared the events leading to the Second Coming, and the eternal state of humanity despite the persecution and apostasy.

    After John there were periods of persecution where Roman officials sent Christians to the arena to be torn apart by lions and burned copies of the scriptures.  This persecution reached a climax during the reigns of Diocletian 303-305 and Galerius in 303-311 A.D.

      In 312 A.D., Constantine came to power, after the Battle of Milvian Bridge, seeing a vision of the cross, he later proclaimed himself a Christian, and issued the Edict of Milan ending legalized persecution of Christians.

Thus Christianity became established as the religion of the Roman Empire by the beginning of the fourth century.