The Seven C’s of History

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Introduction

In our lesson two weeks ago (before the apologetics focus last week) we mentioned a framework to help us understand the overarching storyline of the Bible. The Seven C’s of History is a tool that we are going to use to help us understand the flow of history as it is recorded in the Bible. As we work our way through this curriculum, we are going to be looking at the Bible in a chronological manner rather than focusing on specific topics or people.

• • Hand out the Scripture Strips as students come in. Ask each person to find the passage and mark it so he or she can read the passage later in the lesson.
  How many of you have ever studied or read the Bible in a chronological manner? Gauge the response and consider asking someone who has how they benefited or learned from it.

  If you were to read your Bible from cover to cover, you would actually be reading events out of order. Once you get past Numbers, there is a general chronology, but things get a bit jumbled chronologically after that, and Nehemiah should actually be near the end of the Old Testament. And 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles record the same basic events from two different perspectives. And I’m sure you know that the four Gospels in the New Testament are four records of the period of Jesus’ life. So a broad goal of this curriculum is to give you a chronological view of God’s plan of redemption as it has played out through history—and will play out in the future.

  Today, we are going to go on a whirlwind tour through the Bible. We are going to look at a big-picture framework for understanding the history of the universe—the Seven C’s of History.

  As we look at these points in biblical history, we will also examine how the world sees these topics and contrast the wisdom of the Bible with the claims of man’s wisdom. This framework of history is intended to help us grasp God’s plan for the universe and understand biblically the world we live in. By the end of this lesson, I hope you will see how vastly different the secular and biblical histories are and how this framework can help us keep biblical history in perspective.

  The goal of this lesson is to introduce this framework. We will be developing these themes as we journey through the Bible. You might have numerous questions about the details of each idea, but please hang on to those questions for later. In the next few weeks, we will be focusing in on the creation, and then there will be several lessons on the Corruption, and so on. I promise we will get to all of those questions eventually.

  Pass out the Seven C’s Comparison Chart to the students. As we survey the history of the universe, this worksheet will help you keep track of the details. We will be looking at the dates and basic descriptions of the biblical view and come back to fill in the secular view later on in the class.

The Seven C’s of History

Pass out the Seven C’s Comparison Charts. So, let’s start in the beginning with creation. Genesis 1 describes how God created not just the earth, but the entire universe. Have someone read Genesis 1:1 and 1:31.

The phrase “the heavens and the earth” is a figure of speech that includes the entire universe, much like we might say “the whole nine yards” or “high and low” to describe the totality of something. And the universe was all “very good” when God finished his creation.

As we take a plain reading of Genesis 1, God created the universe over a period of six 24-hour days and then rested on the seventh.

• Turn to Genesis 5. What do you notice about these genealogies? They have dates of the birth of a son with the age of the father.
• This list begins with Adam and makes its way to Noah and his sons. With a bit of basic math, what could we determine using these ages? The time between Adam and Noah could be determined by adding the ages of the fathers at the births of the sons.

  This could be combined with the other genealogies to arrive at the date of Abraham, which is about 2,000 years after Adam. Other genealogies and extra-biblical sources make it clear that Abraham lived about 2,000 years before Christ. That means that Adam lived about 6,000 years ago.

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  The timeline of history, from a biblical perspective, starts at approximately 4000 BC. Have the students fill this date in on the chart in the column under Approximate Date: 4000 BC.

God had created a perfect universe that was free of death, disease, pain, suffering, and sin. But that quickly changed. Please read Genesis 3:6–7.

• Does the Bible give a time reference between the creation of man and his fall into sin? No, there is no direct indication of how much time passed.

  Most commentators suggest that sin entered the world soon after the close of creation week—maybe just a week or so. We will discuss some of the reasons for this later. So, this second C—Corruption—is very close to the original creation. This act of treason against God impacted not only Adam and Eve but also the entire universe, as we read in Romans 8:20–22. Have the students mark 4000 BC for the date of Corruption.

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  Sin increased on the earth as mankind found many ways to deny God’s authority. The wickedness increased so much that in Genesis 6 God declared that he was sorry that he had made man, and he planned to wipe them out. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8).

About 2350 BC (1,656 years after Adam’s creation), God chose to judge mankind with a global flood that would also destroy all of the air-breathing, land-dwelling creatures. Many claim that the flood did not cover the entire Earth, but the Bible makes it very clear it did. Please read Genesis 7:11–12, 7:18–21.

The results of this globe-impacting event are evident today in the rock layers that contain the billions of dead things that were buried in the flood. The rock layers that extend across continents cannot be explained apart from a global event that could have deposited them.

In later lessons, we’ll look at how the animals fit on the ark, how the flood reshaped the earth, and other important topics, but we can’t let ourselves forget that the ark is a symbol of judgment and God’s hatred for sin and that the rock layers are filled with the evidence. But we also cannot forget that God provided salvation from his wrath—just as he has done in Christ. Have the students mark 2350 BC for Catastrophe.

• Who can think of the next world-changing event in the Bible after the flood? The building of the Tower of Babel occurred about 100 years after the flood.

So, the flood ended a little more than one year after it began. God commanded the eight survivors to multiply and fill the earth—just as he had commanded Adam and Eve. But their descendants refused. The account is found in Genesis 11. Please read Genesis 11:1–9.

Here we have another example of God’s judgment being passed on all of humanity. Because of their pride and rebellion, God confused the languages of the people, resulting in various families scattering around the globe. We have a record of these families and where they settled in Genesis 10. This is often referred to as the Table of Nations. The section titled The Sixteen Grandsons of Noah on the Seven C’s Timeline gives a summary of the family distributions.

Tucked into Genesis 10:25 is a clue that helps us determine the timing of this event. Peleg was born and given that name because “in his days the earth was divided.” Since we know when Peleg lived, we can determine that the events at Babel happened around 2240 BC. Point this date out on the Timeline. Have students mark this date on the chart at Confusion.

• Why is this such an important event in human history? What does it help us explain about the world we live in? As the people spread across the globe, different people groups were formed with different physical characteristics. What people typically refer to as different “races” are actually all members of the human race—all descended from Adam through Noah. This also explains the main language families that we see in the world today.

  So, we have covered the first four C’s—Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, and Confusion—and we are only in Genesis 11! The next C actually begins in Matthew, so there is a big gap in the framework. The Seven C’s of History is intended to show that a foundation in Genesis 1–11 is vitally important to the Christian faith. If we can’t trust the teachings in the opening book of the Bible, when can we start trusting it? And, if there wasn’t really a fall into sin, and if Adam were not a real person, why did Christ have to come in the flesh to redeem us from a mythical event? Trusting God’s Word from the very first verse is essential to the integrity of the gospel.

  We could add many more C’s through the biblical history of the Old Testament, but if we added more, they wouldn’t be the Seven C’s of History! Emphasize the pun intended with the seven seas.

• Who can think of some other major biblical events that occur between Confusion (point on the timeline to about 2000 BC) and the coming of Christ 2,000 years later? Answers may include Covenant with Abraham, Commandments given to Moses, Camping in the wilderness, Conquering the Promised Land, Crown for the time of the kingdoms, Captivity under Assyria and Babylon, and many other possibilities.

  In Galatians 4:4–5, the Apostle Paul wrote that “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

The fifth C is the entrance of God in flesh into the world—the incarnation of Christ. We learn a bit about his birth in Matthew 1:21–23. Please read that passage.

Adam had brought sin into the world. Jesus came to earth to save his people from their sins.

• Which of the seven C’s saw sin enter the world? Corruption.
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  Jesus was the fulfillment of a promise made to Eve when God pronounced his curse on the serpent (Genesis 3:15). A Seed would come who would bruise (or crush) the head of the serpent. The fulfillment of this prophecy happened about 2,000 years ago. Though there is some debate about the exact date of the birth of Christ, it was probably around 5 BC by today’s calendar. Have the students mark this date on the chart.

  Christ lived a perfect, sinless life in perfect accord with the will of his Father. As Adam is the representative of sin entering the world, Christ is the representative of righteousness before God. All people are born into Adam’s sin and cannot be reconciled to God on their own—they need someone to take their sins away and credit his righteousness to their account. Only then can a person be reconciled to God and inherit eternal life with him.

• That leads us to the next C. Who can guess what it is? Cross.
• What was the point of Christ’s death on the cross? On the cross, Christ bore the punishment for our sin, taking God’s wrath against sin upon himself. He acted as our substitute and has given us his righteousness in return.

Please read Colossians 1:19–22.

This was all part of God’s redemptive plan that we see throughout the history recorded in the Bible. Paul referred to Christ as the last Adam in 1 Corinthians 15:45. Where the first Adam brought death through sin, Christ brings life through his righteous life, his substitutionary death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead. This leads us to hope in a future life where the effects of sin will be reversed. Have the students mark AD 33 on their charts for the date of the cross.

The final C in earth’s history is the Consummation. Now, this is not truly a historical event since it hasn’t yet happened, but in a sense, it has. We know with certainty that Christ will return to the Earth and reverse the effects of the curse in a new Heaven and new earth. So, even though it has not yet happened, it is certain to happen just as the Bible describes. Christians hold several different views of the end times and Christ’s return. Feel free to expand on this point as time allows.

Let’s read about this coming paradise in Revelation 21:1–4. Have a student read this passage.

What a gracious God to send a Savior to redeem us from a curse we brought upon ourselves and then grant us eternal life with him in heaven! I trust this is a hope that brings you a sense of joy.

And that is the history of the universe in a nutshell!

Discover the Truth

To recap, let’s go back and look at the question I had on the board when you came into class today. Review the question and show how having a framework to fit these events into helps to make sense of the general flow of history. Use the to show the events in history. If time allows, consider adding some other events into the framework: the pyramids must have been built after Confusion, the founding of the church could only have come after the cross, etc.

Application

We have gone through the Seven C’s of History from a biblical perspective; now let’s look at them from a secular perspective. You can fill in the last column on your worksheet as we discuss the differences between these two ways of looking at the world.

• What is the most popular idea of how the universe began? The big bang is the most popular idea to explain the origin of the universe from a secular perspective, and even among many professing Christians.
• Does anyone know how long ago the big bang is believed to have happened? Nearly 14 billion years for the beginning of the universe and about 4.5 billion years for the earth’s formation.

  The idea of creation implies a Creator, so secularists should not even use the word creation to describe the origin of the earth or universe if they are consistent in their thinking.

  As for the first people, secularists believe they evolved from ape-like creatures somewhere in Africa and then evolved into different races in different areas of the world.

  On to Corruption—the idea of sin is something that the world tries to suppress. From an evolutionary perspective, there has always been death, disease, and struggle in the world. Also, secular psychologists don’t believe that sin exists. Rather than calling violent anger a sin, they refer to it as intermittent explosive disorder. Rather than speaking of adultery, they call it a fling, an affair, or a sexual response that is an evolutionary holdover to the time when man was still an ape-like creature. Rather than being born into Adam’s sin, the secular view teaches that we are born blank slates and learn bad behavior from our surroundings. All of these ideas are clearly unbiblical and are intended to soften the sinfulness of sin and deny our accountability to our Creator.

• What about a global Catastrophe? How does the world view Noah’s flood? They reject it as a myth or legend. At best, they believe it was a large, local flood that has been elevated into mythical proportions.
• So, if the flood is a myth, then how would the world view the events at Babel and the Confusion of the languages? Discuss various answers.

  The congregation of all people in the Middle East at the time of Babel is rejected by the world. Rather than believing the biblical explanation for the people groups and languages—the Confusion at Babel— secularists suggest that different races evolved gradually over millions of years and languages did not emerge until much later as humans filled different areas of Earth.

• In your experience, how do people outside of the church view Jesus Christ? Discuss various answers.

  When it comes to Christ, they may consider him to be a good teacher, a humble prophet, or an enlightened sage, but he is definitely not considered the Son of God, and he definitely is not believed to have created the universe as Colossians 1:16 tells us. The real Jesus Christ revealed to us in the Bible is rejected for a personal view of Jesus that fits their own thinking. The cultural Jesus is loving and forgiving, and he never said anything judgmental or harsh. But we know the Bible tells us otherwise.

  Although some would admit that Jesus Christ died on a cross at the hands of the Romans, they believe he certainly did not do it for salvation from sin. Nor do they believe he faced God’s wrath against sin as he hung on the cross since they don’t believe there is any such thing as sin. And they deny the resurrection, since we know from science that dead people don’t come back to life.

• And as to the future Consummation, what is the end of each person in this world from a secular view? When people die, they return to dust and simply cease to exist. Since there is no soul, there is no need for an afterlife. Eventually, mankind will evolve into something different.

  The end of the universe from a secular view follows one of two courses: either the universe will gradually grow cold and die—what’s called a heat death—or it will begin to contract and squeeze back together in a big crunch, and possibly spawn another big bang and a new universe.

  As you look at the two columns, I trust you can see how the biblical view and the secular view of history just don’t line up at all—they are incompatible. Each person must decide whether to trust in God’s account of the history of the universe or man’s ideas.

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  Now let’s try to understand how this framework and the Scripture passages we looked at can help us answer questions about the world we live in.
• How do you see this framework being helpful as you interact with the people in your life (children, students, coworkers, others)? Allow for answers.
• How do you see this biblical framework of history being challenged in our society? Prompt students to think about each event and how each represents the heart of the battle over the authority of Scripture. For instance, the battle over the meaning of marriage relates to creation. God created one man for one woman for life in the beginning, and society is trying to change that by attacking the biblical foundation. The Catastrophe is denied in favor of the rock layers forming over millions of years. The need for the Cross is challenged as people deny the Corruption that has impacted every human.
• Who can name the Seven C’s of History in order? Consider using the Seven C’s Creation Evangelism Cube as a memory aid.
• Which of these seven events do people inside the church challenge the most? Why? Answers will vary depending on the experiences of the students, but it is unlikely to be the last three C’s. Attacks on the foundational book of Genesis are much more common than direct attacks on Christ and his work on the cross. It is still true that any attack on these historical events is an attack on the authority of Scripture.
• Will everyone we encounter hold a completely secular worldview or a completely biblical worldview? No, many people blend the ideas of secularism with spiritual or biblical ideas. There are also other religious worldviews that we will encounter in various ways. But ultimately, there are only two ways to look at the world—starting with God’s Word to understand truth or starting with man’s ideas (spiritual or secular). Everyone is religious. Everyone worships something. Everyone puts their faith in something. As we share the gospel, we need to help people recognize that their faith and worship are misplaced, calling them to trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins.

  Next week, we will begin looking at each of the Seven C’s in more detail, focusing several lessons on creation.

Group Prayer

Be sure to pray with your class and take rquests if time allows.

• Praise God for his trustworthy and sovereign character revealed to us in his Word.
• Ask God for wisdom to defend his Word as the truth we believe and trust.
• Thank God for his sovereign direction over the universe and the sure hope that we have of a future with him in the new heavens and earth.