One of the beauties of the Bible is that through the 66 books, God chose to progressively reveal His plan for the ages. It’s aptly called progressive revelation. One ancient theologian described it, “What at first is only obscurely intimated is gradually unfolded in subsequent parts of the sacred volume, until the truth is revealed in its fulness.”
One brush stroke sweeps across the whole canvas of the Bible as the main theme: God’s kingdom with Jesus Christ ruling and reigning. The brush is first set on the canvas of time with this Genesis verse: And I will put enmity between thee (Satan) and the woman (Israel), and between thy seed (antichrist) and her seed (Jesus & Israel); it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Gen 3:15) Get some popcorn and read the Bible. It’s about a seed.
But you know, if you just read that Genesis verse and nothing else, you have no idea who the seed and the woman are. You might just read over it as interesting history and move on looking for your verse to get you through the day.
I point this out for several reasons related to “how to study the Bible.”
First, God said the beginning and the end tie together: Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. (Isa 46:10) From that verse, we see that our heavenly Creator is not only the creative author of the scriptures we study, but He also sovereignly rules over the situations and events they describe. If you want to get to know God better, get to know the scriptures. If God’s glory is unfathomable, so is His word, including the history it describes and the method He uses to communicate it. He chose progressive revelation.
Second, if you are a “find my verse for today” kind of Bible reader, you have a “milk” approach to the Word. God says, Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little. (Isa. 28:9-10) In other words, only when you compare scripture with scripture will you discover each passage is more than just history. You dig to discover how this place in Genesis relates to Jesus before He was even born, and to His second coming, which is still to come. When you do that, you are enjoying the meat of the word. Some people have never tasted this meat before, and they don’t realize there is more than milk. Meat is delicious!
We have a little micro example of progressive revelation in Genesis with the covenant God makes with Abraham. He doesn’t give the full story to Abraham all at once. He unfolds it in seven visits. That is certainly tidy. Seven is the number of completion. We can call these seven installments of God’s plan to Abraham progressive revelation. The messages from God spanned 25 years between the first and sixth visit, and then ever how many years old Isaac was when God asked Abraham to sacrifice him.
1. Gen. 12:1-3 |
God calls Abram to leave his country and family and promises to bless him and make him a great nation. |
2. Gen. 13:14-16 |
After Abram fully obeys and he and nephew Lot part ways, God reiterates His promise to give Abram’s seed the land of Canaan. |
3. Gen. 15:4-16 |
God makes a covenant with Abram, promising him countless seed in number and defines the boundaries of the land they would inherit. |
4. Gen. 17:1-22 |
God establishes a new seed covenant with Abram, changing his name to Abraham and introduces the practice of circumcision as a sign of the covenant. God also changes Sarai’s name to Sarah and promises she will bear a son. |
5. Gen. 18:1-33 |
The Lord, with three angels, reaffirms His promise that Sarah will bear a son and tells Abraham about His plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. |
6. Gen. 21:12-13 |
God instructs Abraham to listen to Sarah and send Hagar and Ishmael away, promising that in Isaac his seed would be called, but also promises that Ishmael will become a great nation. |
7. Gen. 22:15-18 |
God tests Abraham’s faith by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac. After Abraham demonstrates his obedience, God reaffirms His seed covenant and blessings. |
Throughout the Bible, beginning to end, there’s a tussle between Satan’s seed and the seed promised to Abraham that would ultimately bruise Satan’s head. The seed is Jesus, but it’s also as numerous as the stars of heaven and is Israel. The seed is dual. You see the brilliance of God?
God sweeps that paintbrush through the Bible until we get the last reference to that seed in what completes this hue of the picture of progressive revelation: And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Rev. 12:17) The dragon ultimately ends up in the lake of fire.
That’s just a limited view of the brush sweep over the whole Bible. There are many more truths that have their beginning, or first mention, in Genesis that play out through the Bible. The Old and New Testaments intricately weave together in a picture of progressive revelation.
In closing, if you tend not to read the Old Testament, ask God for a hunger for it. Ask Him to open your eyes to learn more about Him. He will show you.
R&J Shee
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