World History and the Bible
Posted by Matt Postiff March 19, 2021 on Matt Postiff's Blog under Theology
Here is a new installment of Bible literacy in minutes:
According to secular belief, world history started over 4 billion years ago, and the plant and animal creation came about because of evolution—time, chance, and random mutations. The Bible’s record of earth history is very different, although with regard to the last 4,000 to 6,000 years of human history the secular account and the Biblical account overlap very neatly.
The Biblical account of history starts somewhere around 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. In the span of just under a week’s time, God created the world and filled it with plant and animal life. The creation had an appearance of age after God’s work was done, but in reality, creation jump-started world history. God created two human beings to be managers over his creation. They were named Adam and Eve. They lived in an ideal, brand-new world.
Very soon, however, sin entered the world, and with it came death. Over 1600 years passed and a catastrophic flood enveloped the entire earth’s surface as a judgment from God. Out of that devastation one family remained intact—Noah and his three sons, and their wives. From them the earth is now populated.
The first 39 books of the Bible focus on a single people group—the Semite people, starting with Abraham. Later, God used Moses to organize a growing group of Abraham’s descendants into a nation. This nation resided in what we know as Palestine, or Israel. It has existed from around 1440 B.C. to the present. During the 700s B.C., a world power named Assyria harassed the northern tribes of Israel. After them arose the Babylonians, followed soon after by the Medo-Persians. In the fourth century B.C., Alexander the Great raised the Greek empire to prominence, and after that the Roman empire dominated the region.
A rabbi named Jesus was born and lived during the opening years of the first century A.D. He was more than a rabbi, however, and died on a cross at the hands of the occupying Roman government. He was buried, but then many witnesses saw him alive again. He started the church, which has spread worldwide since the first century until the present day.
These are some of the events that the Bible highlights for us as significant in world history. In another video we will consider what the Bible says about the future of our world.