The Vision: About The Big Picture Blog Series and How We’ll Journey Through Scripture

The Big Picture: God at the Center from Genesis to Revelation is about learning to see Scripture as one unfolding story and, above all, learning to see God at its center. Throughout the series, one question will guide us: What does this reveal about God?

Rather than beginning in Genesis and making one long journey straight through to Revelation, we are going to approach Scripture in several passes. We'll travel from Genesis to Revelation more than once, looking at something different each time and moving our view a little closer, making connections to the bigger picture and its themes with each pass.

I do want you to know that, as we begin, this series isn't yet complete, and this isn't a fixed outline. I'm still studying and writing as we go, so the plan is intentionally flexible. We may spend more time on something than I originally expected, combine some things, or discover along the way that there is something we need to stop and explore more carefully. I simply want to give y'all an idea of the vision for this series and where I hope our journey will take us.

Pass 1: We'll See the Whole Story

Our first view will be the broadest: Creation → Fall → Redemption → New Creation.

We'll look at where the biblical story begins, what went wrong, what God does in response, and where the story is ultimately going.

This first pass will move quickly. We're not trying to examine all the details yet. We're establishing the Big Picture so that when we later encounter Abraham, Israel, the Exodus, the covenants, the kingdom, the prophets, Christ, the Cross, the Holy Spirit, the Church, and the new creation, we'll already have some idea of where those pieces belong.

Pass 2: We'll Trace the Big Themes

Next, we'll move in closer by tracing the major movements, promises, covenants, and theological threads that run throughout Scripture.

We'll follow themes such as creation and new creation, sin and death, promise, covenant, redemption, God's presence, kingdom, sacrifice and atonement, the promised Messiah, the Holy Spirit, exile and restoration, and God's purposes for the nations.

Some of these journeys will carry us across the entire Bible in a single blog or a short group of blogs. We may begin in Genesis, move through Israel and the prophets, continue into the New Testament, and arrive in Revelation while following one particular thread.

Then we'll begin again with another.

We'll see how a promise made in Genesis can reappear centuries later in the prophets and become clearer still in the New Testament. We'll see how covenant connects with kingdom, sacrifice with redemption, God's presence with the tabernacle and temple, and the Old Testament promises with the coming of Christ.

Pass 3: We'll Move Closer to the Individual Parts of Scripture

After we've seen the whole story and traced its major themes, we'll journey through Scripture again, this time stopping to look more closely at significant passages, people, events, and relationships.

We won't try to cover every chapter or retell every Bible story. Instead, we'll select passages that help us understand both the unfolding story and the God who stands at its center.

And this is where the earlier journeys should begin to make a difference.

When we study Abraham, we'll already recognize themes of promise, covenant, faith, blessing, and God's purposes for the nations.

When we reach the Exodus, we'll recognize redemption, sacrifice, covenant, and God's presence.

When we encounter David, we'll connect his story with kingdom, covenant, and the promised Messiah.

When we listen to the prophets, we'll recognize judgment and restoration, the new covenant, the coming King, the promised Spirit, and new creation.

When we reach the New Testament, we'll bring all of that with us. And when we finally arrive in Revelation, we'll recognize things we've encountered from the beginning: the Lamb, the kingdom, the nations, the tree of life, the end of the curse, and God dwelling with His people.

The individual parts will keep connecting to the themes, and the themes will keep bringing us back to the Big Picture.

And Through It All, God Will Remain at the Center

Seeing how Scripture fits together is important, but the connections themselves aren't the point. God is.

The stories matter because they reveal Him.

The promises matter because they are His promises.

The covenants matter because He makes them.

Redemption matters because He redeems.

The kingdom matters because He is King.

And new creation matters because He is the One who declares, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:5)

So whether we're looking at the whole story, following a theme across Scripture, or examining one passage closely, we'll keep asking: What does this reveal about God?

A Journey We Can Keep Up With

There is a lot of Scripture ahead of us, but I know we're all busy. I want to keep each blog a manageable length so following the series doesn't become overwhelming and the journey stays sustainable for all of us.

That means there will be many blogs, and this series will take time. I don't want to rush through God's Word simply to reach the end, but I also don't want to pack so much into each post that it becomes difficult to keep up.

So we'll take it one manageable step at a time.

I hope you'll stay with me. I hope you'll stay with God's story.

I promise the end of the story is worth the wait.