Theology Summed Up Simply

The Bible is a recurring story. First, there is the Paradise. (The Garden, Zion, The Golden Age of Augustus). Then there is the fall, where sin casts them out of the Paradise (The Apple; Orgies, Idolatry and Disobeying the Sabbath; Adding to the Law of God and Making Merchandise of Religion). Then there is the captivity. (Adam and Eve are sent to the Earth; Samaria and Jerusalem are sacked by Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar; Jerusalem and the Temple are Destroyed by Titus), then there is the restoration, (Man is reconciled to God through Christ Jesus; Israel is Restored their Captivity through God by Cyrus' Decree; Christ's Second Coming Destroys the Captivity of Rome [40 Years as Told by Ezekiel].)

All of the Bible follows this plot. Samson, Moses, Israel's sons when they place Joseph in Captivity, David, Paul, Elijah, Jeremiah, Solomon, Hezekiah. It seems no great personage escapes this pattern.

In short, there is paradise, then the besiegement, then the tearing down of the walls, then of the captivity, and then the restoration, and then the rebuilding of the walls and temple and security. The story of Zion, the Daughter of Zion, is our story. The Daughter of Zion begins in Paradise, and then her people sin and in their sinful affluence grow corrupt and decadent. Finally, it arouses the suspicion and ire of other nations, and they come and besiege the kingdom, and tear down her walls and violate her peoples. Then with the walls broken, the people go into their captivity, where they toil and wait for their time to return (some, like the stubborn Israelites in the desert 40 Years, never return; but some are like Caleb and Joshua, or Daniel and Jeremiah). Then, a decree is set forth and God's wrathful decree is nullified by the Mercy of God. And the peoples are restored to Zion, where they in a slow rebuilding, return to the joys of paradise.