Revelations!

As I began my journey, I learned some things that are very important to understand at the start of the Bible study.  At our initial session at the Seminary, we began by addressing topics from the summer reading assignment, The Bible Compass by Dr. Edward Sri. This author identifies five interpretive keys to studying the Bible:

• Discover the author’s intention
• Be attentive to the Unity of Scripture
• Read Scripture within the Living Tradition of the Church
• Read Scripture with the Symphony of God’s Revelation
• Use the Four Senses of Scripture: Literal, Allegorical, Moral, & Anagogical

These five keys were discussed in some detail at our Seminary day and then again back in Monroe when we attended our first weekly meeting.

Additionally, we discussed that while there are 73 books in the Bible (66 in the Protestant version), the narrative of the story of Salvation is found in just 14 books. (Seems a little less over-whelming when you think of it that way, doesn't it?)  Additionally, the entire Bible is broken into 12 separate periods of time. All other books supplement the narrative found in these 14 books. Listed below are the 12 timeline periods and which of the 14 corresponding books go with each period:

1. Early World ~ Genesis 1 - 11
2. Patriarchs ~ Genesis 12 – 50
3. Egypt & Exodus ~ Exodus
4. Desert Wanderings ~ Numbers
5. Conquest & Judges ~ Joshua, Judges
6. Royal Kingdom ~ 1-2 Samuel, 1 Kings 1 – 11
7. Divided Kingdom ! 1 Kings 12 – 22, 2 Kings
8. Exile ~ 2 Kings
9. Return ~ Ezra, Nehemiah
10. Maccabean Revolt ~ 1 Maccabees
11. Messianic Fulfillment ~ Luke
12. The Church ~ Acts of the Apostles

As I mentioned in an earlier posting, I attended a brief Bible study at my church last Spring. The program was called The Great Adventure: A QUICK Journey Through the Bible. That program also recognizes the 12 periods.  In their program, each of the 12 time periods was given a color to help people remember the events tied to that particular time period. To aid our memories further, a bookmark and a bracelet with colorful beads was given to each participant.

12 periods of the Bible bracelet*

The colors and what they represent are listed next to the numbers in the following list. (The numbers correspond to each of the 12 periods in the list above.)

1. Turquoise – color of earth seen from space
2. Burgundy – Reminder of the blood covenant
3. Red – crossing the Red Sea
4. Tan – Desert Sand where God’s people wandered
5. Green – Lush green hills of the promised land
6. Purple – King David, who was promised an eternal throne
7. Black – Represents a Divided kingdom
8. Baby Blue – recalls the Children of Judah “singing the blues” in Babylon
9. Yellow – Brighter days ahead as the exiles come home to make a fresh start
10. Orange – Reminder of the Oil Lamps in the purified temple
11. Gold – gold reminds us of the gifts of the Magi to Jesus, who would fulfill God’s promises
12. White – The spotless bride of Christ 

As you can see, everything covered so far is still BIG PICTURE, prlminary information. In the next posting, we get down to work in Genesis. Until then, Peace!

* The Great Adventure program is a wonderful introductory study. You can find a link to it on my blog page. Also, my church is offering the course in an 8 week program, starting in mid-September, 2010. It is well worth the low cost and you can learn how to enroll by calling 734-847-2805.

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