There’s a Story in the stories.

In recent years, evangelicals have rediscovered that the Bible is not simply a collection of interesting stories about morality but one overarching Story about salvation found only in Jesus Christ. Perhaps that’s why we’ve seen an influx of Bibles for kids, such as The Jesus Storybook Bible, and chronological Bibles for students and adults that show how the Bible fits together.

We are not the first generation to see the Bible as telling one central Story. For centuries now, scholars and pastors have traced the major themes of Scripture, showing how God’s plan of redemption unfolds in history.

On December 31, 1961, W. A. Criswell, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, spent several hours walking his congregation through the Bible’s grand narrative, tracing the “scarlet thread through the Bible.” Criswell repeated this journey on other occasions and added a significant amount of material. But it’s the original sermon from Criswell that was later transcribed and published.