Quickly Memorize the Chronology of Key Sacred Historical Events

Creation to Babel

God created all, Gen. 1- 2
God created the heavens and the earth. Adam and Eve, the first couple, enjoyed precious fellowship with their Creator, and God saw that everything was good, but…

Adam and Eve committed the “original sin”, Gen. 3
Satan entered a serpent’s body to deceive Eve; who disobeyed God and led Adam to do so, too. This brought God’s curse on creation. Men’s sin increased and they grew unbearably evil and violent before God, so…

God had Noah build an ark, Gen. 6-9
God punished mankind with a huge flood. All people drowned except righteous Noah and his family, whom God kept safe in a huge box-shaped boat. Mankind began again as one race, but…

Proud men started to build Babel’s Tower, Gen. 11
The race built a city and a big tower hoping to reach the heavens and avoid being scattered. God confused their tongues and many distinct nations were born. These nations soon fell into idolatry, so…

Abraham to Moses

God made a pact with Abraham, Gen. 12- 15
God made a covenant with Abraham the man of faith, promising many descendants, a Land for God’s holy people and a Descendant in whom all races would be blessed. But Abraham’s great grand children in envy sold a brother, Joseph, as a slave, so…

The Israelites became slaves, Ex. 1 -18
Famine drove the clan to Egypt, the land of pyramid tombs. Their enslaved brother Joseph had risen to high rank there and protected them. They multiplied for 400 years. Then cruel oppressors enslaved them, but…

God freed Israel, instituting Passover, Ex, 12-15
God had mercy and sent plagues that forced Egypt’s king to free his Israelite slaves. An angel slew all firstborn, except where a lamb’s blood marked the door. God divided the Red Sea to let Israel escape from Egypt’s army. Moses led the newly born nation, which had no laws, so…

Moses received the Law, Ex. 18-20
On Mt. Sinai God gave Moses ten commands on stone tablets, the foundation for ancient Israel’s Torah. They broke God’s laws and He let them wander in the desert 40 years. As God had promised Abraham, He led His people to their Promised Land. It was full of hostile tribes, so…

Joshua to David and Solomon

Joshua conquered Canaan, Joshua
Devout and brave, Joshua led an army into the Promised Land and divided it among Israel’s 12 tribes. The Levite tribe served as priests and helped govern. After Joshua died, folks neglected God’s Law, so…

God raised up judges to rule, Judges
God raised up judges- warriors who enforced His Law- to lead His people. When God’s people worshiped idols, He let pagan nations oppress them. When they repented, He raised up a judge to free them. They saw that the pagan nations had kings and foolishly wanted the same, so…

Kings ruled God’s people, 1 & 2 Samuel
God gave Israel’s united tribes kings, starting with Saul and David. They crushed Israel’s enemies and brought prosperity. God promised David an heir (Jesus) would rule forever. David wanted to build God’s temple, but had shed too much blood; God only let him gather materials for it, so…

Solomon built God’s house in Jerusalem, 1 Kings
David’s son, Solomon, taxed heavily to build God’s temple. God blessed it with the glory of His presence. Priests slew animals as blood sacrifices to cover sins. Israel prospered, but then Solomon’s son Rehoboam became king and taxed his people even more harshly, so…

Divided Kingdon to foreign domination

Tribes in the north rebbelled, dividing the kingdom, 1 Kings
Civil war began; rebel tribes formed a second kingdom, Israel. Both kingdoms, Israel and Judah in the south, weakened; many worshiped idols. Prophets warned them to repent or become captives, but…

Israel and Judah were taken into captivity, 2 Kings 25
Unjust kings and idolatrous people rebelled against God, rejecting His prophets’ warnings. God lifted His protecting hand and let Assyria take Israel captive. Later Babylonia’s king took Judah captive. God’s punishment brought His people in exile to repentance, so…

Exiles, renewed in faith, returned to rebuild, Ezra
A repentant remnant of Judah returned to their land and rebuilt Jerusalem. Malachi wrote the last Old Testament book during this era. Judah never again fell into idolatry, but religious legalism and hypocrisy became rife, and God again brought judgment on His people, thus…

Foreign powers dominated Israel
This era produced no Bible books. Starting in 586 BC, the empires of Persia, Greece, Syria, Egypt and Rome controlled Judah, and gathered tribute. Devout Jews waited for the promised Messiah to free them, thus…

Jesus’ earthly life and coming of the Holy Spirit

The Son of God lived on earth,Gospels
Jesus was born of a virgin. He defeated demons, illness and sin, made followers ‘fishers of men,’ began a spiritual kingdom; Rome ruled politically. People called Him King, angering envious rulers, so…

Jesus was crucified, Luke 23
Religious leaders arrested Jesus for blasphemy, as he had let people recognize Him as the Son of God. Roman soldiers crucified Him. He died for our sins and was buried, although He was perfectly holy, without sin. God’s eternal law decrees that the righteous will live, so…

Jesus rose from death and ascended to glory, Luke 24
Jesus rose on the third day and promised to raise all who repent and trust Him, and to send the Holy Spirit in His place. Thus began the New Testament era, and Jesus ascended to Glory. His disciples waited as He had told them to do in Jerusalem for power from on high, so…

The Holy Spirit came to dwell in believers, Acts 2
The Holy Spirit came as Jesus had promised. On the feast of Pentecost, disciples saw tiny flames above them and proclaimed the gospel with power. 3,000 Jews heard the gospel and repented. The Holy Spirit gave believers boldness to testify for Christ, thus…

The spread of the Faith, early victories and setbacks

The Faith spread rapidly, Acts 8-28
Filled with the Holy Spirit, believers spread the Good News, and it multiplied like grain as Jesus said it would. All New Testament books were written during this era. Many faithful died as martyrs. For three centuries the church spread and had great vitality, but then…

Church and state united, (fourth century)
In AD 311, Roman Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity. It became popular, and pagans came into the church without having true faith. An elite clergy arose as the church organized as an earthly institution. Divisions arose, and arguments about theology, thus…

Church Fathers agreed on creeds (over several centuries)
To refute false teaching, godly leaders documented the key beliefs that they agreed on. The Apostles’ Creed defined the gospel and the Nicene Creed affirmed the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). The Faith spread, but the Roman Empire became corrupt, thus…

The Roman Empire collapsed, (centuries 6-7)
Fraud, disunity and selfish rulers caused the Roman Empire to decay from within; it ceased to be a world power, and the churches in the East separated from those in the West. Many in Western Europe looked to the church of Rome for stability, thus…

Rome’s Bishop rose in power (centuries 5- 7)
The Roman Church and its head the Pope claimed authority over all the church and became powerful. Eastern Orthodox churches opposed the Pope and separated from Western churches. Believers in both East and West strove to keep the church pure but could not halt the growing corruption, pagan influence and legalism that led to decay, thus…

Dark Ages to the present, and the future

Civilization languished in the Dark Ages (AD 600- 1000)
People neglected God’s Word and education declined. Faith grew cold in Europe except in monasteries, but kept spreading in Asia. Islam captured the Holy Land and threatened all of Europe, so…

Popes launched crusades against Islam, (centuries 11-13)
European armies, supposedly Christian, tried to recapture the Holy Land (Israel) and other lands from Muslim invaders. The church’s part in these military expeditions was shameful. Greed, power, lust and false doctrine corrupted the Western church, so…

Luther and others launched the Protestant Reformation (1500’s)
Martin Luther and other godly reformers translated Scripture, taught salvation by faith and resisted the Pope. The Roman Church’s counter-reformation corrected many abuses. Biblical truth spread but some churchgoers were not born again: thus…

Evangelicals awakened God’s people, (1700-1900).
Believers who had experienced the living Christ in their lives urged others to receive him in their hearts and be transformed by God’s Holy Spirit. Denominations arose in many countries as a result of the revival, and missionaries took the gospel to pagan lands, thus…

God’s people are discipling all peoples
Missionaries are taking the Faith to every cultural group on earth. The remaining frontier is where authorities prohibit evangelizing – one third of the world’s population, which points to Jesus’ final coming. So…

Jesus will soon return, foretold in Luke 21
Revelation. Jesus said “This gospel of the kingdom shall be told in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14). Hallelujah!