Visual Numbers

Numbers, so named for the two censuses that are take at the opening and closing of the book, chronicles the events of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. Having already failed at Sinai by worshipping a golden calf, the people lose faith once again on the borders of the promised land. Twelve spies are sent in to spy out the land, but only two, Joshua and Caleb, have any confidence that an incursion would bear fruit. The people side with the other ten and wish to return to Egypt.

God then judges the Israelites, telling them they will wander for 40 years in the Sinai peninsula until the present generation, excepting Joshua and Caleb, died. The time is marked by rebellion, military conflict, and the continued faithfulness of God, who never abandons His people. Near the end of the forty years the Israelites march into Moab and are ultimatly decieved by falling into idolatry with Moabite women. For this deception, Israel makes war on Moab, completely destroying them. At the end, Israel sits on the border of Canaan, preparing to cross over into the promised land, as Moses gives some instructions on the distribution of land that will eventually occur once Israel is settled.

Visual Leviticus

In the “read through the Bible in a year” plan, Leviticus is normally where most people give up. After chapters and chapters of descriptions of the articles for the tabernacle in Exodus, the rules about sacrifices, cleanliness, and other laws can make this book drag on for many readers.

However, Leviticus is a very important book. God is supremely magnified as holy and set apart. Hence His laws exemplify that nature and call on His people to be like Him: holy and set apart. Sin mars everything, but God has provided a way for restoration and healing.

As the sins of the people were transferred to the “scapegoat” by laying hands on its head, so too our sins are transferred to Christ when we identify with His sacrifice. As the sacrificial animals were to be without blemish, so too Christ was without the taint of sin.

When Jesus identified the second greatest commandment, He quoted Leviticus. When He lived, He followed the Levitical law. When He died, He suffered its curse. Ultimately it is Christ that these sacrifices and laws point to.

Visual Exodus

Exodus. God fulfills His promise to Abraham that his descendants would suffer in Egypt but be brought back to the Promised Land. A would-be savior discovers that his way of doing things is not God's way, living a life of obscurity and only beginning to fulfill his life's work at the age of 80.

God's plan was not just to extract the Israelites from Egypt, but to bring Egypt and her Pharaoh to their knees in the process, showing them, the children of Israel, and the world who is God. After 10 plagues and a miraculous dividing of the waters, the Israelites soon lose faith in God. They grumble and complain. Moses goes up on a mountaintop to receive God's instruction while they live out their wicked and lustful desires down below. It is beginning to look like the salvation wrought in the Exodus was a foreshadowing of the kind of salvation they would need... from their sin.

Visual Genesis

This is part one of a short summary of the Bible.

---

Genesis. God creates. In six days He created all that exists. In one day, man fell into temptation, seeking to usurp the place of God over their lives.

So begins the deadly cycle of sin and death that reigns in humanity, a continuing byproduct of Adam's sin. God destroys His creation but saves a remnant. Out of this remnant he choses a man for Himself and promises to bless the nations through his offspring.

Abraham and his descendents show moments of great faith and unwarranted doubt. Deception lies deep within their hearts. But God shows time and again that He is faithful and will fulfill His promises. He turns Jacob into a believer and sets the stage for his twelve sons to become the progenitors of a great nation, saving them from famine by His miraculous working in and through their sinful choices to bring them into Egypt...