Category: Overview

What the Bible has been about Eden Restoring Eden A shadow expression of this in the people of Israel, the land of Canaan, and the blessing of a Temple In the New Testament, the reality of what had been promised begins to take shape as God separates from the world…

Following Jesus’ resurrection, he appears multiple times to his disciples. On the final occasion he speaks the words of the Great Commission. It begins with Jesus saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”. Originally in Eden the great commission had been given in which…

From all the Noah/Babel nations God choose one nation – Israel. When Israel failed to be the Eden-like people they were called to be God narrowed in on a faithful remnant. By the end of the Old Testament the nations, Israel and the remnant have all failed. Matthew’s gospel introduced…

Jesus’ miracles pointed to him being the one who would bring in the Second Exodus restoration that would return the world to Eden. The surprising way that Jesus brings about this restoration though is not simply by leading Jews from captivity in Babylon, nor by removing the pagan Roman overlords…

The gospels indicate that Jesus, born of the fields of Bethlehem, is God-in-the-flesh come to dwell among the people of Israel – God is incarnational as when God’s dwelt in a goat skin tent in the wilderness. Matthew begins his gospel with a genealogy that has Jesus as being both…

For 400 years after Malachi the people of Israel, now called the Jews, continued to face hard times. They were dominated first by the Persians and then by the Greeks. In 167 B.C. the Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes defiled the temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar and setting…

The return from Exile meant that God’s promises to Abraham – people, land and blessing – had not been forgotten by the LORD. Nevertheless, the return had not met prophetic expectations. Aside from continual domination by pagan empires, the people themselves, while no longer committing idolatry, were not fully committed…

The hopes that the return of the remnant following the Exile will be the Second Exodus and restoration spoken by the prophets are mixed. A pagan king at God’s instigation has released Israel from bondage in Babylon, the people have returned to the land and rebuilt the temple. Furthermore, Israel…

Ezra 1-3 tells the story of how Israel returns to the Promised Land from slavery in Babylon. They return to find a land, city, and temple in ruins. The Persians appoint a man named Zerubbabel as governor who by God’s grace is a descendant of David. The prophets Haggai and…

When the Exile started it was a shock to Israel as they were God forsaken and made to be like the nations. Israel had always wanted to be like the nations but in Exile God fundamentally changed the people of Israel. We have stories like how Daniel’s three friends refused…