Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for” (CCC 27).

It is only in God’s revealed plan that mankind can once again find its intended purpose for being “because man is created by God and for God and God never ceases to draw man to Himself. Here’s the basic plot: God gradually reveals His plan to reestablish the broken relationship between Himself and His treasured creation. The whole plot of the Bible’s message is laid out in the first chapters of Genesis, and it builds to its dizzying conclusion in the Book of Revelation. This epic story of God’s love for mankind has all the elements of intrigue, passion, violence, romance, and redemption you’d expect to find in the most exciting secular novel: God loves mankind, mankind spurns that love, God pursues, mankind is fickle and vacillating and ultimately treacherous in its betrayal of His love, the Hero of the story dies a dramatic death, and then comes the surprise happy ending. Although it’s made up of many stories, the Bible is really a single story: It’s about God and His relationship with mankind, the most complex of His creation and the true object of His love and affection. To avoid this frustration, let’s first stand back and look at the “big picture.” What is the overarching message of the Bible? It’s the story of salvation history.

Consequently, many become discouraged, losing their excitement about studying the Bible, and put this untapped treasure back on the coffee table with a sigh of, “What’s the use?” Rather, the books are generally grouped by literature types. In fact, it isn’t even arranged as a sequential narrative. But it doesn’t take long to figure out that the Bible doesn’t read like a popular novel. Many who open the Holy Bible for their first serious attempt to read and study it expect to start at the beginning of Genesis and read on through to Revelation with the same ease and excitement as if they were reading Gone With The Wind or a Tom Clancy novel. How tragic this is in light of the fact that, as Pope Leo XIII said, the “Scripture is a letter written by our Heavenly Father to his children for the purpose of revealing Himself to them.” The Holy Bible – for some, the very words evoke feelings of warmth and wisdom, but for many Catholics today, the Bible’s chronology can be confusing and its meaning hard to grasp. When reading the Bible do you see only trees and no forest? This Bible teacher explains how to step back and see Scripture’s single basic theme.

Jeff cavins bible timeline