Introduction: A Holistic View

Over the years, we have gone through the Bible many times and accumulated a substantial amount of Bible study material. However, I have noticed that many new brothers and sisters among us have not read through the entire Bible. To study it from beginning to end would take a considerable amount of time. I have been trying to solve this problem, and my approach is what I call An Overview of the Bible.

Some have written overviews of the Bible, but I find them to be summaries that do not provide a clear understanding of the subject matter. I am attempting to address this need; the most important goal of An Overview of the Bible is to provide a holistic view. It is essential to have a holistic view when learning. Our brothers and sisters often lack this holistic perspective, frequently leading to confusion and muddle when names of figures are mentioned.

Every time the names of Israelites are mentioned, the initial reaction is unfamiliarity. These names are often skipped when reading. For example, the Book of Matthew begins with numerous names in a genealogy. If one skips over these names, the problem remains unresolved. I will weave together the stories of important figures, presenting them in chronological order.

A holistic view follows a chronological progression. The five books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy were written by Moses 3,500 years ago. God created Adam approximately 6,000 years ago, and the time of Abraham is about 4,000 years ago. God revealed these stories to Moses. From Abraham to Joseph, the stories were passed down orally among the Israelites until the time of Moses.

Whether stories existed before Abraham in the Book of Genesis is something we cannot definitively know. According to Moses's writing in Genesis, we do not see Abraham commenting on it.

We will cover the stories from Adam and Eve to Abraham, from Abraham to David, from David to the prophets, and then to Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, and the Apostle John. Throughout these stories, we will interject practical and applicable insights. After reading about these individuals, what can we actually use? If we act according to those whom the Bible describes as pleasing to God, what are the results we will see in practice? The most important thing is to discern the mind of God.

Reliable Faith

When studying, it is crucial to be reliable. The faith in Jesus Christ as written in the Bible is very reliable. I have explored many faiths, but I have found that the faith in Jesus Christ is the most reliable:

Firstly, its origins are clear and distinct, from God's creation of Adam and Eve up to Jesus Christ. The concepts conveyed by Jesus Christ are all quoted from the Old Testament, with clear origins. Those who wrote the Bible spanned a period of 1,500 years, all prophesying and pointing to Jesus Christ.

Secondly, what makes it reliable is that Jesus demonstrated these things for us to see. These are all explained clearly. Why write a genealogy? Because it is necessary for reliability. We Chinese people like to organize genealogies.

Recently, a brother wanted to write a software for his father to organize the family tree and to know where they came from. It would be great if a genealogy could trace back several hundred years! But the Israelites' genealogy traces all the way back to Adam and Eve. We do not know about events before that, but God tells us how He created the heavens and the earth. I think this is reliable.

Discerning the Mind of God

One goal is to provide a holistic view, and another is to establish a chronological order. We must grasp the theological themes, understand the mind of God, and train everyone's spiritual discernment.

From Genesis to Deuteronomy, the books were written by Moses. Moses lived five hundred years after Abraham. As to whether those were things Abraham really said, no one can verify. The accounts from Adam and Eve up to Abraham are recorded in great detail, including finding a wife for Isaac. They are like Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Investiture of the Gods, all creations of later generations. Just as Moses wrote these, they represent the themes he wanted to convey.

After Moses came Joshua and others. Today we speak of Moses. If you do not know Moses, you cannot understand the rest. We must understand Moses, who wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In the Book of Exodus, he wrote about his own life.

The Legendary Story of Moses

Moses was born to an Israelite family. At the time God was about to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses was born. Moses's birth was a miraculous event. At that time, the birth rate of Israelites was very high, and the land was filled with Israelites, which frightened the Egyptians. During the era of Moses's birth, the Egyptian Pharaoh forgot about Joseph and turned the Israelites into slaves.

The Egyptian Pharaoh ordered the Israelite midwives to kill all newborn male children. However, the midwives feared God and never killed the boys. Later, a Levite man had a son, and seeing that he was handsome, he hid him for three months. This was Moses, whom they kept hidden. After three months, they could no longer hide him. They placed Moses in a basket made of papyrus reeds by the river. It so happened that Pharaoh's daughter saw this beautiful child and took him home to raise.

Nearby was a child, Moses's sister Miriam, who saw her brother being picked up by Pharaoh's daughter. She asked Pharaoh's daughter if she could do something. Miriam brought Moses's mother to be his nurse, so that she could raise Moses for Pharaoh's daughter.

Moses was always aware that he was an Israelite. The Israelites had a unique characteristic: they always passed down a remarkable story orally. Their ancestor Abraham had a son named Isaac, and Isaac had a son named Jacob. God made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They always remembered this: God told Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years, after which they would come out of Egypt. Moses calculated the time and felt that the time was approaching.

Moses was like a prince as the son of Pharaoh's daughter in the palace. One day, he saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite, and he killed the Egyptian. Two days later, he saw Israelites fighting among themselves, and Moses tried to mediate. The two Israelites said, Are you going to kill us as you killed the Egyptian? Moses, sensing danger, fled.

Moses ran to Midian, married a wife, and had children. Many years later, the Egyptian Pharaoh died. Because the Israelites were suffering from hard labor, they sighed and cried out to God. God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Because God saw the Israelites and knew their suffering, He sent Moses to deliver the Israelites from the hands of the Egyptian Pharaoh.

Moses as the Leader of the Israelites

The first half of Moses' life does not have a detailed account of his relationship with his wife. When Moses fled, he became the son-in-law of his wife's family, and his wife was also very fierce. However, what Moses did in his life was unprecedented, a famous prophet of the Israelites. Moses was pasturing sheep in the wilderness when he saw a place on fire, but it did not burn the bush. He went near it, and God said, Do not come near; take off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. And he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

God said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land. Imagine today someone, perhaps on a mountain, hearing a voice to go to America to meet Trump. How difficult is that? At that time, 3500 years ago, Egypt was the most prosperous country in the world, as powerful as the United States today. Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? God said, But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.

This does not sound very reasonable. A very significant characteristic of our God is that He is called the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. (Exodus 3:15) Today, we know for sure that God likes to associate His name with our names. We must know that God is the God of the ancestors of the Israelites, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

We must begin to understand and constantly repeat this. We must understand Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, these three people linked with God's name. Know that God is a God who performs miracles, a God who remembers our suffering. We suffer in this world and seek Him; God is already waiting there. We will find that these three people have some peculiar characteristics, and Moses also has these characteristics. Our God is the living God, and the most important thing is to bring people out of slavery.

Many of us are actually like slaves, living very hard and feeling very uncomfortable. Today, let us begin to understand whether our concept of living is the same as the concept written by Moses. If our concept of living in this world is the same as that of the Egyptian Pharaoh, then we are probably vessels displaying God's wrath.

God is in Control of Everything in the World

Today, I was talking with a sister who is in sales, and she said that it is all about deceiving people. Actually, wasn't Moses deceiving people when he went there? Moses experienced a wonderful thing: he had a staff in his hand, and God said, Throw it on the ground, and when he threw it, it became a snake. Reach out your hand and take it by the tail, and it became a staff, so that they may believe what you say.

God said, Put your hand inside your cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous. Then He said, Put your hand back inside your cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was restored. If they will not believe you or listen to the first sign, they may believe the second sign. If they do not believe these two signs, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground. God used miracles to prove what He said. I think I am surprised by the miracles I perform myself.

From the moment a person is born, God actually has a wonderful plan in their life. Moses had a wonderful plan: to be prepared for the day when God told him to go to Egypt and bring the people out of Egypt. In fact, God has always been choosing people in this world, hoping that we can bring people out of the control of the devil.

Performing miracles, but Moses did not want to go. The LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? (Exodus 4:11) Actually, one cannot understand it that way. God is actually in control of everything in the world, and this was Moses' clear understanding of God.

Moses is a very interesting person. He wanted to save the Israelites back then, but he could not. Now he feels that he is not capable and wants to give up, but God sends him. So when we feel capable, when we are self-righteous, it does not work. When we feel that we are not capable, God still uses us. Our confidence in ourselves is of no use. When God did not use Moses, Moses killed an Egyptian and became a fugitive, falling from prince to shepherd, living a hard life. At this time, he was already eighty years old. After pasturing sheep year after year, one would think: let it be. But when a person feels that he is not capable, God uses them.

Later, I discovered that in front of God, I am nothing. In front of God, it is all grace. The things inside oneself must be repaired. Moses used to be a prince, so glorious, wanting to save the Israelites, but God did not use him; there were no miracles. After pasturing sheep for forty years, feeling that this was it, God sent him to save the Israelites. Finally, he went with the staff. And then things get interesting.

The first thing Moses encountered was that the LORD wanted to kill him. I guess he wanted to circumcise his son, but he was afraid that his wife Zipporah would not agree, so he let it go. Then the LORD God wanted to kill him. On the one hand, God sent him to Egypt to bring the Israelites out, and on the other hand, He wanted to kill him. This is a bit incomprehensible. At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” So he let him alone. (Exodus 4:24-26 ESV)

Many men are afraid of their wives, not wanting to live in quarrels, so they compromise. God is hard to use on men who are afraid of their wives. Since ancient times, since God created Adam, after eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil given by Eve, there is a story: women will ruin things, this is what I'm saying. Compromise is not the way. No matter who you are afraid of, you must first fear God. If you do not act according to what God says, it will cost you your life.

Moses' wife went to Egypt with him, but it is not known when she left. She left with the children. At that time, Moses was very powerful, a very famous person, leading three million Israelites, with God with him, unprecedented. Then his wife came back. We must know that our God values our kinship very much. God brought the Israelites out because He remembered the covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Actually, the Israelites are very bad. Moses highlights a very important concept here: if we can take on God's destiny, God will let us live. So we must have an understanding of God like Moses' understanding of God.

Signs and Wonders Will Accompany Those Who Believe

The LORD said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? (Exodus 4:11)

Reading these words, if you do not understand the overall picture, it is really troublesome. Actually, everything God does is righteous!

When he came to the Israelites, Moses performed the miracles that God told him. When the Israelites saw it, they believed. And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped. (Exodus 4:31 ESV) We must know a very important concept: when God sends someone to accomplish something, signs and wonders basically accompany them.

And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17-18 ESV)

Picking up serpents with their hands is the staff given by God. When thrown on the ground, it becomes a serpent; when picked up, it becomes a staff. Signs and wonders play an extremely important role in Moses' eyes and life. Later, God really chose me and used me, and I feel that I have the staff that God gave me in my hand. We must know that when God chooses a person, signs and wonders will accompany them. If you have different views on signs and wonders, you can learn a lesson from Moses' mouth: signs and wonders are very important!