‘God’s Big Picture, A Bible Overview’ is a book that sets out to give you exactly that – a big picture overview of the Bible and how it all fits together. Vaughan Roberts takes his inspiration for his book from Graeme Goldsworthy’s, ‘Gospel and Kingdom’, notching it down a few technical pegs and creating an extremely accessible book. 

Roberts’ book helps us to make sure that we are reading the Bible well, providing us with the tools to do so and the big overall picture of the Bible. The road map Roberts shows us is this: God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule and blessing. Starting from creation (the pattern of the kingdom) and the Fall (the perish kingdom, the promised kingdom), working through Israel’s history in the Old Testament (the partial kingdom, the prophesied kingdom), the turning point of Jesus in the New Testament (the present kingdom), the apostolic letters to the churches (the proclaimed kingdom) and moving ever towards the culmination of this pattern seen in perfection when Jesus returns (the perfected kingdom).

Vaughan Roberts’s overview and tools are exceptionally helpful in so many circumstances. Whether it be in our personal Bible reading, as we lead a Bible study group, as we sit with our children reading from their children’s Bible or as a friend asks us about a particular story. Understanding how the whole of the Bible is strung together helps it to make more sense. Strange books, or supposedly dry sections, like the law or genealogies, hold exciting insights into God’s Kingdom and the arch of salvation history. 

I can see this being a good book for Christians at any stage who would like to better understand the Bible. It helps us understand the reason for basically any chapter, book, or idea we come across. It helps us to see why the book of Ruth sits as it does in the history of God’s people.

It makes sense of why Jesus is referred to as the Suffering Servant, or the Passover Lamb and it helps any believer to see that God’s plan for bringing Jesus to save us from our sins and back into relationship with Him is the whole point of history. 

Having this map as we read the Bible means that no matter when you land, you can find your way around and see how it relates to God’s unfolding plan of salvation. It also pushes us beyond a simple intellectual understanding and towards a deepening in our relationship with our Creator, Lord and Saviour. 

To coincide with our annual conference, EQUIP Picks are 10 great reads, chosen and reviewed by the EQUIP Women Team for women.

EQUIP21 Picks will be available for a limited time online via our ministry partner, Reformers Bookshop.

A percentage of the sales from books bought via the above link will support our CMS missionary, M.

Meet Nicky Gangemi

Nicky has been a part of the EQUIP team since 2015, when we held our first EQUIP Teens conference.  She’s been married to Steve for almost 9 years and has had 3 kids: Hayley, who is in heaven with Jesus, Reuben who is 3 and Ethan who is 9 months old. They live and church in the South West of Sydney. Nicky loves perusing Instagram for fun activities to do with her boys, and also loves plays Ultimate Frisbee.