Why the occupation with history? We can only understand a lot of things in our lives if we know the history behind them. For believing Christians there is another crucial perspective: history exists because it is wanted. God created us (and all other earthly creatures) as beings of time. Into the history of mankind the unchanging God reveals Himself as God acting for salvation. In this way, history "connects" itself with a history of salvation. The present work is an attempt to make the traces of this history of salvation understandable into the present and future. Above all, the impression is created that past, present and future are in God's hands and none of it escapes the great world leader. revised and supplemented edition.