The Biggest Story: How The Snake Crusher Brings Us Back To The Garden

Laferton, Carl. The Garden The Curtain and The Cross. The Good Book for Children, Belgium 2016. pp.33. $12.98

Complex. That word well describes the Bible. It is an assortment of 66 books written over thousands of years, in a host of different languages, by a diverse assortment of authors. Tons of books have been written in attempt to explain the Scriptures. But despite all its complex nuances, grammatical structures, historical connections, the Bible is actually a rather simple story. It is the story of the gospel; the story of good news; the story of how sinful men and women can once again have a perfect relationship with God; the story of how Jesus died on the cross to redeem on who believe on him for salvation. In fact, the central story of the Bible is so straight forward, Carl Leafeton can recount it perfectly in his new children’s book, The Garden The Curtain and The Cross.

The Story

As the title suggests, Leafton moves through theme of the Bible by focusing on three important stories. First, he focuses on the Garden of Eden. He describes how God created the world perfectly. Then, he discuss how Adam and Eve brought sin into the world because, “They decided they wanted a world without God in charge.” And because of sin, people can no longer enter into God’s wonderful place. Next, Leafton jumps to the story of the Temple to explain that God is still wonderful and still very separate from sinners. You see, the temple curtain keeps people from entering into God presence. As the author writes, “It is wonderful to live with him, but because of your sin, you can’t come i the garden and the curtain and the cross 2 n.” Thankful, the story does not end with separation. The final phase of the book focuses on the cross. Jesus came to live and to die so that He could open, “God’s wonderful place again!” Because of Christ’s life, death and resurrection, those who believe on Jesus can live with God again. Just like Adam and Eve before, those who trust Jesus, “will see God and speak to God and just enjoy being with God.”

What’s To Like

The Garden, the Curtain, and the Cross conveys the amazing story of the Bible in language and pictures that younger children can easily digest. The pictures are bright, colorfully, and full of movement. It takes more than a glance to see what’s there. And there will not be much down time between pages. The book can be read in about 5 minutes or less. And when the last page is closed, children will have heard that God created the world, that men and women brought evil and sadness into the world by disobeying God, and that Jesus brings us back to God by triumphing over all our bad and sad things on the cross.

And though the book’s is filled with winsome illustrations and kid friendly pros, Laferton upholds the integrity of the scriptures. He keeps his readers from thinking that the story of the Bible is just another children’s story. He clearly states on the first pages of the book that the Bible took place, “right here in this world.” The front cover says that the book contains a “true” story. And, the last page of the book provides the reader with the scripture references from which the story was taken. In short, Laferton has put the story of the Bible into a children’s book without demeaning the life changing power of the Bible. This was quite a feat! Only Kevin DeYoung has done something similar in The Biggest Story. (Both books are worth the read!)

What’s Not To Like

The only downside to Laferton’s book is that is omits the term repentance. Readers are
encouraged to believe on Jesus, but never directly to repent. However, the book does such an excellent job describing sin and the glories of justification (the truth the Jesus pays for all our sins and make us holy) readers cannot help but realize that they must abandon sin to embrace salvation.

Closing Thoughts

Get this book! If you are a parent, grandparent, or Sunday school teacher who works with kids that enjoy picture books, you will want to have the book on your shelf. It recounts the gospel, the whole story of the Bible, in less than five minutes in a way that will engage our kids. Its perfect for family worship times, for bed times, and for story time. My wife and I will be reading this book to our kids! Will you join us?

The Biggest Story

Beginning with Adam and Eve in the Garden, DeYoung recounts the story of fall. He then

touches on Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets. Describing how each man failed to ultimately crush the snake. Though they led well at times, they and God’s people were always overcome by sin and never returned to the garden. DeYoung clearly shows his readers that they – as the people before them – can’t make way their back to God on their own. But thankfully, humanity is not left alone. Christ arrives on the scene as the perfect deliverer, judge, and conqueror. He crushes the snake’s head and leads his people back to the Garden via the cross. As DeYoung writes:

Our story is the story of God doing what we can’t, in order to make up for us doing what we shouldn’t. Christ suffers for our sin, that we might share in his sinlessness.

And so deliverers are born to die. Things fall apart so they can come together. God kicks his own people out of Paradise and then does whatever it takes to bring them back – p.107.

DeYoung then focuses on how the Holy Spirit empowers believers to interject elements of the garden into today’s world through godly living. Lastly, he extols his audience to eagerly anticipate the wonderful day on which Jesus will return, ushering all of his people into paradise.

Strength And Weakness

website ready book the big picture interactive storybook bible

Admittedly, DeYoung’s book is not as thorough as the Big Picture Interactive Bible Storybook. Joseph gets a sentence, Hosea is never mentioned, and Jesus’ earthly ministry is reduce down to one page. If you are looking for an in-depth kids’ Bible study that covers all 66 books in detail, you will need to look elsewhere. Checkout the afore mentioned Big Picture Bible or grab a copy of Long Story Short and Old Story New by Marty Machowski. And readers shouldn’t be too surprised by this reality, given the books purpose.

The Biggest Story is not meant to be commentary; it’s designed as an overview of the scriptures. The book could almost be said to be the kids’ version of The Message of the Old Testament and The Message Of the New Testament by Mark Dever. Both adults and kids benefit from both in-depth studies and overviews of the Bible. We shouldn’t lose the tree for the forest nor the forest for the trees. As a helicopter soaring over the forest of scriptural narrative, The Biggest Story delivers.

Conclusion

Using only 10 chapters and 129 pages, DeYoung has captured the heart of the gospel message by exploring the themes of sin, repentance, and restoration as found the biblical narratives (A phenomenal accomplishment, especially for a preacher!). The book can easily by read in under an hour. I would encourage parents with preschoolers and gradeschoolers (and/or those looking to understand the grand scheme of the Bible) to purchase a copy of this delightful book. There are few better resources.