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The Bible is not merely a book about God; it is also a book about man. If God and the Lord Jesus were taken away from the Bible, the Bible would become an empty book. In the same way, if man was removed from the Bible, the Bible would have no one to receive God’s speaking. Therefore, just as God and the Lord Jesus occupy a particular place in the Bible, man also occupies a particular place. The Bible reveals God and the Lord Jesus in order to show forth man. The essential object of God’s revealing of Himself is man; therefore, man occupies a very significant place in the Bible.
In the entire Bible, man probably takes up a greater number of pages than God and the Lord Jesus, because a greater part of the words written in the Bible deal with the things concerning man. The Bible plainly and clearly reveals the whole story of man in detail. If we really want to know man, there is no way other than to read the Bible carefully. This is because no other book in the entire world has ever described man’s condition as thoroughly as the Bible. Therefore, if we want to know the Bible, we also have to know the line of man in the Bible.
In the Bible there are different groups of people, and God speaks differently to each group. For instance, some words are spoken to the children of Israel, so we should not apply them to the believers. Some words are spoken to the church, so we should not apply them to the Jews. Every speaking has a particular group of people as its focus, and if we make a mistake in recognizing the object of a particular speaking, we will have a great problem in applying it. Therefore, when we read the Bible, we must pay attention to the line of man.
Genesis 1:1—8:19 concerns the Adamic race, Adam and his descendants. To speak about the Adamic race is to speak about the first group of people in the human race. In this period all human beings in the world were of the Adamic race; there was no distinction among Israelites, Gentiles, or the church. Concerning the first group of people, there are five main points that require our attention.
We all need to read Genesis 2. Adam was created in God’s image with a spirit, a soul, and a body, prepared to receive God’s life and reign for God.
Adam fell not long after he was created.
According to the account in Genesis 3, as soon as Adam fell, he hid himself and was afraid to see God. Therefore, God came to seek and to save him. On the one hand, God promised that the seed of the woman would come to be his Savior; on the other hand, God made coats of skin for him; this was done in anticipation of redemption.
Beginning with Cain the majority of the people in the Adamic race rejected God’s way of salvation; they tried to make a living and invented a culture for themselves. As a result, they became wicked to the extreme and corrupt to the uttermost. As a consequence, they incurred God’s judgment.
God then submerged the whole earth with the flood; all the people were destroyed by the flood except for Noah’s family of eight. At this point the Adamic race came to an end. This was the first group of people in the Bible.
The descendants of Noah are recorded in Genesis 8:20—11:9. Noah’s descendants are the second group of people in the Bible. Although God terminated the Adamic race with the flood, He rescued Noah and his family of eight. God established Noah as a new father, and his three sons became the fathers of the three races of mankind.
Whereas Adam was the father established by God in His creation, Noah was the father established by God in His salvation. The father in God’s creation was completely destroyed and terminated due to the corruption of his descendants; therefore, God saved a man—Noah—to be the father of mankind on the earth who had been judged and destroyed. Concerning Noah’s descendants, there are four main points.
Noah’s three sons greatly multiplied, and soon their descendants spread over the whole earth.
Noah’s descendants separated into many nations on the earth. Beginning at this point in time, nations began to appear on the earth among men.
However, Noah’s descendants joined together and collectively rebelled against God; this is the story of Babel. Before Babel, people on the earth opposed God individually; they never reached the point of being organized together. At Babel, however, men organized themselves to form an alliance, and they all joined together to rebel against God. They wanted to build a tower whose top reached the heavens so that they might make a name for themselves and remove the name of God from the face of the earth.
Just as the Adamic race was terminated due to God’s judgment, the line of Noah’s descendants was also terminated by God’s judgment. Whereas the previous judgment involved destruction by the flood, this judgment involved the confounding of their language so that they would not be able to form an alliance. They were scattered due to their inability to communicate with each other. At this point Noah’s descendants came to an end, and a third group of people became the focus of the Bible.
Israel, as the chosen descendants of Abraham, is seen in the record from Genesis 11:10 through Malachi 4. This group of people occupies most of the writing of the Old Testament. With the exception of the first ten and a half chapters of Genesis, which speak of the first two groups of people, the remainder of the Old Testament concerns this group of people.
Adam was a father, Noah was a father, and Abraham also was a father. Adam was the father of the created ones, Noah was the father of the saved ones, and Abraham was the father of the called ones. The group God created failed, and the group God saved also failed; therefore, God came to call out another group of people.
God called Abraham and gave him the promise of grace, and later, his descendants inherited this promise. The content of this promise is the gospel that God is preaching to us today (Eph. 2:17; Gal. 3:8-9).
Although the descendants of Abraham were heirs of the promise, they did not stand firm in their position to inherit the promise; rather, they left Canaan and went down to Egypt, falling from their position as heirs of promise to a position of slaves.
They suffered afflictions in Egypt as slaves, so God came in to deliver them. Delivered by God out of Egypt, they were able to leave their position as slaves and return to their position as heirs of promise.
After they came out of Egypt and arrived at the foot of Mount Sinai, they received the law from God; they received God’s holy Word.
Then they passed through the wilderness, where they received God’s leading, encountered numerous circumstances, and saw many signs and wonders. In their journey God was manifested on many occasions among them.
They conquered the seven tribes of Canaan and captured the land of Canaan, allotting it for their inheritance.
Once they had gained the land, they established the kingdom. This brings us to the time of David and Solomon.
Not long after they established the kingdom, they were defeated, desolate, and carried away to the Gentile nations. The cause of their defeat, the condition of their desolation, and the result of their captivity are all recorded in 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
When seventy years of captivity were fulfilled, they were restored and brought back to Jerusalem in the land of Canaan.
Not long after they were restored and returned to their own land, however, they became desolate again.
Due to God’s judgment, the third group of people came to a temporary end at this point. Matthew 23:37-39; Luke 19:41-44; 21:5-6, 20-24 and 23:27-31 all show how God would judge His elect, the people of Israel, temporarily forsaking them until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
We can be very clear about the things concerning Israel as the chosen people of God if we remember these twelve points. In this long section of the Old Testament, from Genesis 11:10 to the end of Malachi 4, even though the Gentiles are sometimes mentioned, they are not the main subject; they are mentioned only because of their association with the children of Israel. In this long section of the Bible, the main character is Israel, the chosen people of God, the descendants of Abraham.
In summary, there are three groups of people in the Old Testament—the Adamic race, the descendants of Noah, and the descendants of Abraham. We also can say that there are three fathers in the Old Testament: the first is the father of the created people; the second is the father of the saved people; and the third is the father of the called people. If we keep these things clearly in mind, we will have a thorough and accurate knowledge of the Old Testament.
The fourth group of people in the Bible is the church. The church is composed of the believers; the believers are the components of the church. Individually, they are the believers; corporately, they are the church. The first twenty-six books of the New Testament are concerned specifically with the church, that is, the believers. However, the four Gospels also contain many references to God’s chosen people, Israel. Since the four Gospels are a transitional point in the Bible, involving a shift from Israel as God’s chosen people to the church, they speak about both the church and Israel, God’s chosen people. The main object of the four Gospels is the church, even though the background is Israel, the chosen people. Concerning the church, there are five main points.
The first great thing in God’s dealing with the church is to preach the gospel. The church was produced through hearing the gospel.
A greater part of the Gospels emphasizes hearing the gospel, but there is also a part that emphasizes receiving life. At the end of the Gospels the church has heard the gospel and received life.
In the book of Acts the church receives the Holy Spirit.
Because the church has heard the gospel, received life, and received the Holy Spirit, she becomes the dwelling place of God, the Body of Christ. To God, the church is a dwelling place; to Christ, the church is His Body. This is revealed in the Epistles.
At the end of the Epistles, almost all the “second” Epistles speak about the defeat and desolation of the church. Even though the church has heard the gospel, received life, received the Holy Spirit, and become the dwelling place of God and the Body of Christ, she also falls into a situation of defeat and desolation.
In the Bible there is also a fifth section concerning man. Each of the first four sections covers a single race, but the last section, Revelation, covers all the various kinds of people together and speaks about them as a whole. Revelation shows us the outcome of all the people on the whole earth.
First Corinthians 10:32 divides the people of the world into three categories—Jews, Greeks (referring to the Gentiles), and the church. Two of these three kinds of people are descendants of Abraham. The Israelites are the descendants of Abraham in the flesh; the church (the believers) are the heavenly descendants of Abraham. Figuratively, Abraham’s descendants in the flesh, the Israelites, are like the dust of the earth, while Abraham’s heavenly descendants, the church (the believers), are like the stars of heaven. When God first made a promise to Abraham, He promised two groups of descendants. One group became His chosen people through the flesh; the other group became His chosen people through faith. In addition to these two groups of chosen people, there is still another group of people on earth; they are the Gentiles, the nations, who were left from Adam through Noah. Now let us consider these groups of people separately in Revelation.
The preceding section points out that the church became desolate; Revelation 2 and 3 speak of the Lord coming to judge the desolation of the church.
The Lord calls the overcomers out of the desolate church to meet His need, as shown in Revelation 2 and 3.
Revelation 11 and 12 show that the overcomers in the church will conquer God’s enemy and bring in the Lord’s kingdom.
Revelation 14 speaks of the rapture of the overcomers.
Revelation 20:4 says that the overcomers will reign with the Lord for a thousand years.
Revelation 21 and 22 say that all the saved ones in the church will participate in the New Jerusalem in eternity. In summary, Revelation speaks concerning the church in six events: judging its desolation, calling the overcomers, bringing in the Lord’s kingdom, being raptured, reigning with the Lord, and all the saved ones participating in the New Jerusalem in eternity.
Revelation contains only two points related to the Israelites. When they are passing through the time of tribulation, some will be kept by God and saved. These saved ones will participate in the New Jerusalem in eternity.
The New Jerusalem contains the names of the twelve apostles, representing the church, and also the names of the twelve tribes, representing the chosen people of Israel. The New Jerusalem will be a composition of the church and the Israelites, the two groups of chosen people, to become God’s eternal dwelling place in the universe and a vessel of God’s glory.
Revelation 6 shows that there have been increasing afflictions on the earth after the ascension of the Lord Jesus. For over two thousand years these afflictions have become increasingly more severe and common. These afflictions are God’s smiting and judging of the people of the world. They also are a tool used by God to open people to His gospel. Many sinners are willing to repent when they are stricken with afflictions; very few are willing to receive the gospel when it is peaceful on earth. Instead, when the earth is stricken with all kinds of disasters, the gospel is easily preached, and people are readily saved.
The first matter concerning the Gentiles in Revelation is that they are under judgment and stricken with afflictions. In this age we should not put too much hope in enjoying peace because God has determined that the Gentiles on the earth would be stricken with all kinds of natural disasters and man-made calamities.
Throughout the generations the Gentiles have been under the judgment of afflictions. Ultimately, when the Lord comes, He will judge them, separating them into evil and good; those who are evil will perish instantly, and those who are good will be citizens in the millennial kingdom. These citizens are the “sheep” in Matthew 25. The evildoers in Matthew 25 are the “goats” who perish.
At the end of the millennial kingdom some of the people who are citizens in the millennial kingdom will be deceived by the devil to rebel against God, and they will be devoured by the fire from God. This is revealed in Revelation 20.
Revelation 21 says that the nations will walk by the light of the New Jerusalem; this means that the nations will be ruled by the New Jerusalem. At the end of the millennial kingdom some of the citizens in the millennial kingdom will rebel against God and be devoured by fire; those who do not participate in this rebellion will become the nations in the new heaven and the new earth in eternity, being ruled by the New Jerusalem.
All the people in the Bible, from Adam to the New Jerusalem, have been mentioned. The beginning of man is with Adam, and man’s conclusion is seen in the reigning of the New Jerusalem and the nations under its ruling.
