SUMMARY
An overview of the history of the world and the purpose of this set of lessons as an improved learning method with future, free online access.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16
This often-quoted verse tells us that God loves us, His creations. He sent His Son to live a perfect life and die a cruel death of crucifixion for us. His life and death completed the plan of our salvation from our sins. Because of His death for us, our belief in Him will allow us to have eternal life in Heaven with Him.
God predestined in the plan of salvation before the foundations of the world that we should be adopted as His children through Jesus Christ according to the intention of God’s will (Ephesians 1:4‑5). God’s plan for His beloved children has been revealed to us in several steps over the history of the world:
Ussher’s Dates
Beginning 1. God has existed forever rather than matter or energy.
4004+ BC 2. God created the heavens and the earth
4004+ BC 3. God created man and woman in the Garden of Eden
4004+ BC 4. The fall of man in the Garden of Eden.
‑ 5. God dealt with all mankind during this initial period thru the Patriarchal Religious System (Dealt thru the head of the family)
2347 BC 6. The Flood
1912 BC 7. A special covenant with Abraham (therefore making the Jews a special race) to prepare for the coming of Christ. God continued to deal with the gentiles (non‑Jews) through the Patriarchal System.
1491 BC 8. The Exodus, giving of the “old law”.
4 BC 9. Christ was born of a virgin to live a perfect life for us for 33 years. (Dionysius Exiguus in 532 A.D. estimated dates and missed slightly)
29 AD 10. The crucifixion of Christ for our sins.
29 AD 11. Establishment of Christ’s kingdom (the church) on earth.
70 AD 12. The tribulation or the destruction of Jerusalem.
100‑150 13. Cessation of the miraculous manifestations of the Holy Spirit.
Today 14. We are presently living our lives as our response to the word of God.
Future 15. The future coming of Christ followed by Judgment Day and our eternal reward.
We are told of our reward in Heaven as being great (Matthew 5:12) for the obedient and of torment in Hell (Luke 16:23) for the disobedient. The story of Christ’s crucifixion tells us of God’s love for us. The story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1‑11) and of the Galatians (Galatians 5:4) tell us of the sureness of His Judgment. It behooves us to learn God’s plan for us and to follow it.
The following lessons are an attempt to help each of us know God’s plan for us so that we can each try to do our part of the Great Commission He has given to us (Matthew 28:19‑20).
Although we need only to know what the Jews knew on the day of Pentecost to become Christians and to start to assist in the spreading of the word, they learned more as the Apostles wrote the letters to the churches. Ultimately a lot of knowledge needs to be understood and retained today to participate in the spread and defense of the Gospel as a mature Christian today. Historically we have depended mostly on our memories to retain the greater percentage of the information.
The CHRISTIAN ARRAY LESSON SERIES is an attempt to assist in this process. The lessons are in a Bible Class format with the lessons online. Over a period of 2 years, classes can be introduced to the information and know where to find it in the future. The majority of the time can then be spent in doing the Great Commission rather than repetitively going through similar lessons for a lifetime.
In this manner, this series is an attempt to retrievably collect pertinent information in a form for your free access. It will be readily available on the internet or you can print it out and put it in a notebook. If you go to the website tab BOOKS, you can buy it already printed in a book form. By any of these methods, useful information can be found without your having to memorize everything. We hope that this series will be of assistance to you and we request your assistance in adding more information to the series.
We would appreciate your review, study, suggestions, updates and corrections on the material in this forum. Please send information, suggestions, comments, or corrections to [email protected].