Scene 1 – The Beginning of Time

In the beginning God created man and placed him in a garden called Eden. Eden was paradise. There was so sickness, sorrow or suffering. Life could not have been better upon this earth. But unfortunately life did not stay that way. As you well know, Adam and Eve chose to disobey God. For more details on The Fall, read Genesis 3. Adam’s disobedience changed everything. We read from the book of Romans –

Romans 5: 12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. NLT

Adam’s disobedience brought sin and death into the human race. Because of Adam’s sin, we all are sinners. Because we all are sinners, we all will die.

Scene 2 – The End of Time

The Bible tells us how it all began. The Bible also tells us how it all will end.

Revelation 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and I saw the one who was sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. 12 I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to the things written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 The sea gave up the dead in it, and death and the grave gave up the dead in them. They were all judged according to their deeds. 14 And death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death — the lake of fire. 15 And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Because of Adam’s sin, we all are sinners. Because we all are sinners, we all will die. The Bible tells us that the consequence of sin is death. (Romans 6:23 a) It is important to note that hell is called the Second Death. Sin separates us from God. It separated Adam and God in the garden. It has separated man and God down through the pages of history. One day it will separate man and God eternally. Rather than enjoying paradise, sinful man will suffer eternally in the flames of hell.

Scene 3 – The Fullness of Time

Galatians 4:4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. NKJV

The Bible could very easily contain only two scenes:

• Scene 1 – The Fall
• Scene 2 – The Judgment

Man sinned against God and the result of his sin is death. That could be the complete history of mankind and no one could argue that it would be unjust. Yet fortunately there is a third scene that we must consider.

• Scene 3 – The Cross

2 Corinthians 5:21 He (God) made the One (Jesus) who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. CSB

Standing between man’s sin and his sentencing is the Savior.

To divide the Bible into three scenes may seem like an oversimplification to some; yet I believe that if we can grasp these three scenes, we can understand much of what God wants us to know.