The Bible is a big book. When writing God's Big Plan: The Story of the Bible, the challenge was to paraphrase the entire story into 12 pages — without squeezing thousands of words onto every page.
Fortunately, as the saying goes: "a picture is worth a thousand words." The plan was to let the illustrations tell as much of the story as possible. Some of the details may feel obvious; others are more subtle. This guide lists those details, with the hope that grown-up readers can use them to explain key biblical stories in greater depth when reading the book with children.
The Cover
The biblical story ends with the future hope of heaven and earth being unified, with Jesus as king. The cover reflects this hope — the clouds represent heaven, and the green hill represents earth. The design of the hill and the way Jesus is depicted connect to elements throughout the book, explained below.
Creation
The illustration includes all the elements of the six-day creation narrative in Genesis 1: light and dark, sky and sea, land and plants, celestial bodies, sky and sea creatures, land animals, and humans. In the middle of Eden is the garden, and at its centre are the trees of life and knowledge-of-good-and-evil — the first use of the green hill as the place where heaven and earth overlap. On the right-hand side sits the snake, coloured with blue and yellow stripes. These colours aren't tied to any specific biblical detail, but are used throughout the book to symbolise the adversary — the evil one.
The Fall
The city of Babel becomes a biblical archetype for cities in rebellion against God. The colours and architectural style established here represent this theme throughout the rest of the book.
Abraham
God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars and sand. While the text on this page doesn't recite this detail, the stars and sand are made prominent in the illustration. The promised land is also depicted here as the green hill.
Into Egypt
In the right-hand corner, Pharaoh overlooks God's chosen people from his palace. The colours and pattern of his palace and headdress have been modelled after the snake on the creation page — symbolising their shared role in opposing God's plan.
Out of Egypt
The arrangement of the twelve tribes of Israel at the foot of the mountain places the tabernacle — the hotspot of God's presence — at the centre. This mirrors how the garden (God's presence) was placed at the centre of Eden.
The Kingdom
The story of the kings takes place in the promised land, symbolised by the green hill in the background. Take note of the colour scheme of the kings' outfits — they will appear again later. Hint: compare them to the outfit Jesus wears.
Into Exile
Israel is exiled from the promised land (the green hill) into Babylon — note the similarities in style and palette to Babel on the earlier page. The king of Babylon, dressed in snake-coloured robes, overlooks from his palace. The use of repeated visual symbols to aid storytelling isn't unique to this book — it reflects the literary techniques the Bible itself uses.
Return from Exile
Note the physical posture of the prophet on this page. It will appear again later. Hint: compare it to the posture of Jesus when he teaches.
The Birth of Jesus
King Herod appears in the right-hand corner wearing blue and yellow robes, overlooking the city from his palace — just like Pharaoh. Can you guess his role in this story? For bonus marks: can you think of two biblical rulers who ordered the death of Hebrew baby boys? The Bible uses these kinds of echoes in its storytelling, and this book does the same.
The Ministry of Jesus
Note the colour of Jesus' outfit — the same as the kings, and King David in particular. Also note his posture — the same as the prophet. The intent was to visually depict Jesus as both the ultimate prophet and the ultimate king.
The Crucifixion of Jesus
The illustrations on this page are intentionally muted, so as not to draw attention away from the cross. You will see three crosses on the hill — an opportunity to talk about the thief crucified alongside Jesus, who acknowledged him as king and was welcomed into God's kingdom.
New Creation
The recreated and unified heaven and earth can be thought of as an advanced version of Eden. This has been depicted by using the same mountain as on the Creation page, but with a city integrated onto it. The illustration draws from imagery in the book of Revelation — removing the seas (a symbol of chaos) and replacing them with thriving agriculture (a symbol of abundance).
A Note for After You Finish
As you finish reading this book with a child, you may wish to talk about whether they'd like to be friends with Jesus, and what it means to have God present with them wherever they go. You might lead them in a simple prayer like this one — which uses language similar to that in the book:
"Thank you for making me, being pleased with me, and having planned special jobs for me.
I'm sorry for all the times I've done things my way. Thank you for forgiving me.
I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died and rose again.
I trust you and want to follow you. Please help me to live God's way.
Thank you that you are with me always."