Many people believe Jesus came into being as the babe in a manger. But Scripture tells us that Jesus is the eternal God and our Creator. He’s always existed from eternity past and will always exist into eternity future.

When we teach the Old Testament, we need to show that the whole Bible is about God’s plan of redemption—it’s all about Jesus! The gospel and the person of Jesus are found all throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.

Jesus isn’t just the babe in the manger we celebrate at Christmas. Jesus is the eternal God who stepped into history as the God-man to die on the cross and be raised again.

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• The Power of Biblical Chronology
• The Divinity of Jesus Revealed in the New Testament

This week we’ve been looking at how teaching the Bible chronologically makes it come alive. It connects the dots and helps us understand the flow of biblical history.

But we also need to connect the Bible with the world around us. As we teach God’s Word, show how it connects with archaeology, geology, biology, and anthropology. People need to see that the Bible is not some story book full of just moral truths. It’s a book of history! It connects with real people, places, and events in history.

And this unleashes a powerful truth. If we can trust what the Bible says about history, we can trust what it says about the gospel!

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• The Power of Biblical Chronology
• More than Just Bible Stories

If you ask most people where we find Jesus in the Bible, they’ll point to the New Testament or maybe just the gospels. But Jesus is the theme and focus of the whole Bible!

Jesus is the “scarlet thread” woven throughout the Old Testament. It’s here we see the unfolding of God’s plan to rescue the world through his Son. What we learn about Christ in the New Testament fulfills much of what we read about him in the Old Testament.

Seeing Jesus from the beginning to the end highlights that the Bible—and history itself—has one author. It’s all about Jesus and what he came to do for sinners just like us.

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• The Power of Biblical Chronology
• Who Is the Focus of the Old Testament?

So, which came first, the Exodus or the Exile? Did David live before Daniel? Who was Isaiah’s prophecy directed toward?

So many believers know isolated accounts from Scripture. But they don’t understand how these events fit into the scope of history. So, the Bible seems like a mess of people, places, and events.

But when we teach the Bible chronologically it makes sense. We’ve been designed to understand the world in a sequential order, so why don’t we teach the Bible this way? When we do, we can easily see that the events flow in a logical way. We see what caused them, and we can see God’s hand throughout history.

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• The Power of Biblical Chronology
• The Scandal of Biblical Illiteracy

An astonishing number of young people can’t answer questions like, “Where is Genesis in the Bible?”, “what are the gospels?”, or “what is sin?” Even many kids raised in churches don’t have an understanding of basic biblical principles.

One way we can fight this growing biblical illiteracy is by teaching the Bible chronologically. Teaching Jonah one week and Jesus feeding the 5,000 the next makes the Bible seem like a confusing jumble of people, places, times, and events. But the Bible shouldn’t be confusing!

When we teach the events in Scripture in the order of how they happened, you know what, the Bible really does come to life.

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• The Power of Biblical Chronology
• Biblical Illiteracy in America—What Can We Do?

Even though the Bible presents “many infallible proofs” of Christ’s resurrection, skeptics still refuse to believe it. But the problem isn’t with the evidence—it’s our sinful hearts.

Jesus addresses this problem in one of his accounts where Abraham says of unbelievers, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.” And when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the religious leaders couldn’t deny it, so they plotted to kill him! The problem isn’t the evidence!

But Christ did come to earth as the God-man to die in our place and be raised to life. Will you believe?

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• Moses, God, and the Resurrection
• Christ’s Resurrection—Four Accounts, One Reality

Was Christ’s resurrection just a legend that grew for decades before it was written down? People say this to make the Bible appear untrustworthy.

But the Apostle Paul wrote that Christ appeared to over 500 people at once and that most of these people were still alive. If the church back then didn’t believe Paul’s testimony, they could’ve asked numerous eyewitnesses.

Paul also said that he’d received his message from Jesus and that it was confirmed by Peter and James. This was just five years after Christ’s resurrection, and that’s not enough time for a legend to develop. Yes, we can trust what the Bible says. Jesus is alive!

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• Did the Resurrection Really Happen?
• The Resurrection Matters More Than You Think! | The Great Jungle Journey VBS: Showcase

Yesterday we learned that the Bible’s infallible proofs of Christ’s resurrection are his appearances afterward. Some of his followers saw the resurrected Savior on at least ten occasions before he ascended to heaven. And they were willing to die to proclaim it.

Now, Christ didn’t just appear before people. His followers worshipped him and clung to his feet. Christ showed them the scars on his hands, feet, and side, and he even invited Thomas to touch them. He also ate with the disciples and taught them. The Apostle Paul tells us that Christ appeared to over 500 people at one time.

Yes, Jesus really did rise from the dead.

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• Resurrection—No Doubt About It
• Learn to Defend the Resurrection

In the book of Acts, Luke wrote that Jesus presented himself alive after his suffering by “many infallible proofs.” So, what were these proofs of Christ’s resurrection?

Well, think about what it would take to convince you that someone became alive again after dying. The best evidence would be to spend time with him. You’d want to see him walk and talk.

You know, that’s exactly what Luke tells us. These infallible proofs are Christ’s many visitations after his resurrection. He appeared first to his disciples, and then to many others. And in most cases Jesus did more than just appear to people—but that’s for tomorrow.

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• The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: An Introduction
• The Impropriety of Evidentially Arguing for the Resurrection

Many Christians only think about the resurrection of Jesus around Easter, but we should reflect on it all year round!

You see, the resurrection secured the hope of every believer for eternity. The apostles believed that Christ’s resurrection was so important that it became the heart of their message, and you’ll find it all through the New Testament. Paul even writes that if Christ wasn’t raised, our faith is useless.

Because they’d seen the risen Christ, the apostles preached the gospel with confidence and turned the world upside down. And this week we’re going to learn how to defend Christ’s resurrection.

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• How Does Christ’s Resurrection Impact Our Future?
• Because Christ Is Alive, We Have Hope

All this week we’ve looked at what the Bible and science say about the issue of so-called “race.” We’ve learned there’s only one race, the human race. So, biologically, there’s absolutely no such thing as an “interracial” marriage.

Now, the Bible only talks about one biological race, but it does say there are two spiritual races: the saved race and the unsaved race. It’s a marriage between these two spiritual races that would be a problem!

Because we’re all descended from Adam and Eve, we can get rid of the idea of interracial marriage. It comes from prejudice, not from God’s Word. We’re only one race—the human race.

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• Teaching Kids About “Race”
• The Only Missing Link—It’s Spiritual

Have you ever heard of so-called “black and white” twins where one is fair-skinned, and the other is dark-skinned? People wonder, “How could twins be from two different ‘races’?” But biologically and biblically, we’re all one race.

The reason people groups look a little different is because of the events at the Tower of Babel. Shortly after the flood, God judged mankind’s sin by confusing their languages, forcing them to spread out and fill the earth. Different language families took different genetic combinations. Over time, different people groups and cultures developed, but we all go back to Adam and Eve.

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• It’s Not Just Black & White
• Twin Mixes Becoming More Prominent

According to the Bible, there’s only one human race. And science finally caught up with this!

You see, Darwin taught there were multiple races and some were more evolved than others. While he didn’t invent racism, he helped popularize it by giving a supposedly scientific justification.

But when researchers mapped the human genome, they declared that we’re all one race. Between any two people there’s only about a .1 percent genetic difference. And only a fraction of that percentage is made up of the so-called “racial” differences.

Science confirms what the Bible teaches. We’re one race, the human race.

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• Did Darwin Promote Racism?
• All in the Family

Ever heard this children’s chorus: “Red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in his sight”? Now, while all are precious in God’s sight, there are no “red and yellow” or “black and white” people.

You see, we all have different amounts of the same brown skin pigment called melanin. How much we have is largely determined by our genetics. Some people have genes to make a small amount of melanin, so they are light brown. Others produce a lot and are very dark brown. But we’re all brown—just different shades of it.

So, let’s teach our kids to say, “Shades of brown from dark to light, they are precious in his sight.”

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• What Color Was Adam?
• A “Shades of Brown” Family

We hear a lot these days about racial tensions in America. What’s the answer to this issue? The Bible’s history.

Genesis makes it clear we’re all descended from Adam and Eve. We’re one blood, as the book of Acts puts it. That means we’re all one biological race. It also means we’ve all inherited Adam’s sin nature. That’s why we all sin, and we’ll all die.

But the good news is that Jesus Christ the God-Man stepped into history as Adam’s descendant—our relative. He took our penalty of death for us so we could be forgiven and have eternal life.

So, every human has the same problem—sin—and the same solution—Jesus Christ.

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• One Race, One Blood
• Teaching Kids About “Race”

In far too many places, including here in America, it’s legal to kill the unborn in the name of “women’s rights” or “healthcare.” But we need to call it what it is: murder!

God’s Word gives personhood to the unborn. God told the prophet Jeremiah that he was known before he was formed in the womb. And Psalms tells us that God knits us together fearfully and wonderfully. Scripture is clear: the unborn are persons.

It’s also clear that every person is made in God’s image. And in Genesis we read that killing someone made in God’s image is murder.

Yes, killing the unborn is murder. We need to uphold the value of every life.

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• Does the Bible Condone Abortion?
• Post-Abortion Guilt

According to evolutionists, labor is painful for women because our species evolved upright walking and bigger brains. Apparently, our big heads have a hard time getting through the birth canal.

Well, God’s Word gives us the real answer to why childbirth is so painful. When Adam and Eve sinned, God cursed his “very good” creation. And part of the curse on the woman was that she would have pain in bearing children.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way! The pain of childbirth reminds us of the curse and our sin. But the new life that comes through childbirth should remind us of the new life we can have through faith in Christ.

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• Bigger Brains and Childbirth Pains
• Is It Wrong to Interfere with the Pain of Childbirth?

In order to justify abortion, unborn babies are often referred to as “a pregnancy.” But from the moment of fertilization, a genetically unique person is present. And the growth of this little person is amazing!

By just four weeks the tiny heart is beating, and by the second month the brain and spinal cord are well-formed. A month later the baby can open and close the tiny fists. Fingernails, toenails, and even fingerprints are forming. By the end of the fourth month the baby is fully-formed and just needs to mature.

A baby is a human being from the moment of fertilization, and each baby is knit together by God.

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• When Does Life Begin?
• Defining Life: Fertilization

Your most important organ as an unborn baby is the placenta. This organ forms shortly after fertilization. The egg divides, and one cell develops into the baby, and the other becomes the baby’s lifeline, the placenta.

This organ immediately begins producing hormones so it can implant in the uterus and baby can grow. It then serves as a filter allowing nutrients, gases, and hormones to pass from the mother’s blood to the baby’s blood without the two ever touching. The placenta also serves as the baby’s lungs, kidneys, liver, and digestive and immune systems!

The placenta showcases the incredible handiwork of our Creator.

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• The Placenta
• Does Placental Death Violate the Principle of “No Death Before Sin”?

The idea that an unborn baby progresses through supposed evolutionary stages, with gill slits, a yolk sac, and a tail, during development has long been debunked. But it’s still taught in textbooks!

What these textbooks don’t say is the “gill slits” are throat pouches that will form features such as the inner ears.

And the poorly named “yolk sac” serves as the baby’s first blood cells.

And the “tail” is the tailbone, where all the muscles will eventually attach so the baby can sit, stand, and walk.

We don’t go through evolutionary stages as we grow in the womb. Instead, we’re carefully knit together by our Creator.

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• 1.5 Embryonic Development
• Recapitulation Theory: How Embryology Does Not Prove Evolution

Jesus said his coming judgment would be like that in the days of Noah. People would be eating and drinking, not realizing judgment was around the corner.

It’s interesting that Jesus compares his coming judgment to the flood of Noah’s day. Many Christians today say this flood was just a local flood.

But what does this say about the coming judgment? Is Jesus only going to judge people living in a certain area? Of course not! The Bible’s clear everyone will be judged.

Just as the past judgment on Noah’s evil world was global, so will this coming judgment be. But God has provided an Ark of salvation for us today—Jesus.

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• Noah’s Flood and Judgment
• Did Noah Warn People About the Coming Flood?

Many Christians say Noah’s flood was just a localized event in Mesopotamia. But this idea doesn’t come from the Bible, and it has a lot of biblical problems, including this one—if the Genesis flood was a local flood, God is a liar.

You see, after the flood God put a rainbow in the sky and promised Noah and his descendants he would never flood the earth like that again. But if it was just a local flood, God didn’t keep his promise. There’ve been thousands of devastating local floods since Noah’s day.

When we don’t trust God’s Word, we make him out to be a liar. But the Bible says, “Let God be true, and every man a liar.”

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• Taking Back the Rainbow
• 5 Reasons to Trust God‘s Word

When I talk to guests at the Ark Encounter, I often hear, “Wow! The Ark was huge!” You really have to see it for yourself to understand how massive it was.

Why did Noah need to build such a big ship? Well, because he, his family, the animals, and a year’s worth of supplies needed to be on board. And there was even room for anyone who would repent, though no one did.

Now, some people think the flood was just a local event. But then why would God ask Noah to build such a big ship? The people and animals could’ve just moved away from the flood’s path.

When we start with the Bible, we know the flood was a global event.

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• Thinking Outside the Box
• How Could Noah Fit the Animals on the Ark and Care for Them?

Many Christians believe Noah’s flood was just a local event. This idea doesn’t come from the Bible—it comes from squeezing millions of years into Scripture. You see, if the flood really was global, then all the rock layers didn’t take millions of years to form. Instead, they were formed just a few thousand years ago during the flood. So, to accept millions of years, you have to reinterpret the flood.

But in both the Old and New Testaments we read that only the eight people on the Ark survived. With a local flood people outside the area would’ve been fine. This contradicts Scripture. The Bible is clear—the flood was global.

Dig Deeper

• A Flood of Evidence
• 5 Confirmations of a Worldwide Flood