Wayfinding Bible - Flipbook - Page 8
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START
FLYOVER
START
DIRECT
START
SCENIC
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1
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THE BEGINNING
GETTING YOUR
BEARINGS
God’s story has no beginning or end, but our part in it begins
when he creates the heavens and the earth. God has big plans for
his creation. He creates humans in his own image, giving them
both dominion over all creation and also the privilege of being
in intimate relationship with him. The first humans enjoy direct
fellowship and conversation with God until they choose to violate
God’s only commandment. The communion they had with their
Creator is gone, and evil permeates God’s creation. Things are no
longer the way they are supposed to be. God punishes humanity,
but he doesn’t destroy them. In fact, he already has a plan to
restore the relationship he intended to have with them.
WHERE ARE WE GOING?
We get glimpses of God’s plan even in the earliest stories of the
Bible. When creation becomes consumed with sin, God cleanses
the world with a flood, sparing the righteous Noah and his family.
When it is all over, God sends a rainbow as a sign of his promise
to never again send such a catastrophe.
God eventually selects one man, Abraham, through whom he will
restore his close relationship with humanity. God promises to
bless Abraham and his family by making them his chosen people.
They will represent God to the world and demonstrate his desire
to reunite with all humanity.
Abraham and his family are far from perfect. In fact, Genesis
records the many failures of God’s chosen people right alongside
the stories of their faithfulness. God is at work in this family,
transforming them into the kind of people he wants as his
representatives on earth.
YOU ARE
HERE
Great Flood
First date on
Egyptian calendar
The Great Pyramid
is completed in
Egypt
?
4236 bc
2530 bc
?
7000 bc
2600 bc
2166 bc
Creation
A walled
settlement is
built at Jericho
The oldest surviving
papyrus book is
made in Egypt
Abraham
is born
