The beginning of a story sets the stage for what is to come. It is where we are introduced to the characters and where seeds of conflict are sown. For the first two months of this year, we will do a fast, fly-over study of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. While we cannot cover every moment or book of the Bible at such a fast pace, we hope you gain a broad understanding of the complete story from start to finish.

Let’s start in the Book of Genesis: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (v. 1). God spoke and the universe came to be. He filled the space with living things, the best of which were humans, male and female, more like Him than the animals. These individuals were “made in the image of God (v. 27), that is to say, they represented Him on earth. They were given authority to rule and enabled to make decisions that would reflect their Creator. To be made in God’s image is a fact that has awesome consequences for the story of the Bible. This passage explains why human beings have such value in God’s eyes. Every person is an image bearer!

As the story continues, these image bearers will disobey and suffer devastating consequences (2:11–19). But God will forgive and cover them (2:21) and institute plan to undo the effects of their disobedience. He promised that a future Image Bearer would defeat evil (Col. 1:15). The hope of this promise, made at the very beginning of the Bible, is the thread that binds the entire story of Scripture together. As the scope of humankind’s disobedience is made plain, the scope of God’s plan to restore His relationship with His image bearers becomes even more grand. What a wonderful God we love!

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