The Old Testament archives the beginning of God’s work to redeem God’s people. From the very beginning, God had a plan that no enmity or enemy could stop.
The biggest misunderstanding of the Old Testament is thinking that God ever expected people to work for their salvation. It has always been grace through faith, and it always will be.
After the Israelites spent decades in exile, they finally were able to return home. Due to comfort and convenience, some Israelites never returned. A remnant came back to the land to reestablish the nation and await the Messiah. Life In Exile Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther conclude the historical section of the Old Testament, and they highlight Israel’s return to their …
After the division of the kingdom into Israel and Judah, the nation continued to spiral out of control. As sin increased, God sent prophets to warn the nations about impending punishment. Their disregard led to their exile. 16 – Exile The Purpose of the Prophets Prophecy does not simply mean foretelling the future. The primary job was to speak for God to …
After the prominence experienced during David and Solomon’s reign, the kingdom was divided and gradually descended into a shadow of what the nation was intended to be. Led by many ungodly leaders, the nation drifted further from God’s instructions. Division Handout OVERVIEW The division phase of the Old Testament focuses on when Israel endured a civil war of sorts and divided …
After the people got what they desired in King Saul, God appointed another king to lead his people. As David took the throne, the kingdom of Israel was established. THE FALL OF KING SAUL After David defeats Goliath, Israel begins to praise David more than King Saul (1 Sam. 18:7). King Saul tries to kill David, but David will not seek …
Since the people got stuck in a cycle of sin during the time of the judges, it showed the need for a stable leader. Instead of relying on God or a godly leader, the people rejected the model of a king they needed. The Rejection of Yahweh Judges 21:25 sets the stage: “In those days there was no king in …
After Joshua settled the people into the Promised Land, the people failed to finish the task of removing idolatry from the area. The people got stuck in a cycle of sin which God would alleviate through the hands of judges. OVERVIEW OF JUDGES In between Joshua’s leadership and the establishment of King Saul, Israel was led by a line of judges. …
After wandering through the wilderness for 40 years, Joshua leads the Israelites into the Promised Land. As they move into the land, they are to remove any trace of idolatry from within Canaan or within their hearts. JOSHUA OUTLINE Entering the Land (1:1-5:15) Taking the Land (6:1-12:24) Dividing the Land (13:1-21:45) Occupying the Land (22:1-24:33) ENTERING THE LAND Joshua is charged …
After the Israelites’ receive the commandments, they begin their trek to reach the Promised Land. Due to their disobedience, they suffer through the wilderness wanderings for forty years. THE REASON FOR THE WANDERINGS The Israelites wandered 40 years in the wilderness before ever reaching the Promised Land. Part of their delay was due to worshiping other gods or idols. One …
After God rescued the Israelites from bondage, He provided instructions for them to live by. The commandments were God’s instructions for His people to live a wise and obedient life. Facts Pertaining to the Law The Old Testament contains 613 commandments. All are found in 4 of the 39 books: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The purpose of the Law was …
After the Israelites are placed into Egypt, they are enslaved and suffer a great injustice. Through the Exodus, God sets the Israelites free. The Reason for the Exodus All of Israel moved into the security of Egypt, the most powerful nation in the world (Ex. 1:1-7). Generations later, a new Pharaoh is in leadership who does not know Joseph or …
God covenanted with Abraham to bring about a great nation. As this family grew, God revealed a great plan with an intentional placement of Joseph into the land of Egypt. Jacob’s Transformation Abraham fathers Isaac, and Isaac fathers Jacob and Esau (Gen. 25:21-28). God tells Isaac’s wife, Rebekah that “two nations are in your womb…the older shall serve the younger” …
God’s covenant with Abraham is pivotal not only for an Old Testament understanding but for a global redemptive plan. Through Abraham’s faith, God’s plan for salvation is further revealed. The Call of Abram Yahweh calls Abram to leave his home for another country (Gen. 12:1). God promises to make a great nation from him (Gen. 12:2). He was blessed in …
After Adam and Eve’s eviction out of Eden, sin continued to run rampant while corrupting God’s good Creation. Through the flood, God made a statement very clearly in that He doesn’t play around with sin. Cain and Abel The first children of Creation reveal how sin is severely corrupting Mankind. The problem was not in the type of offering but …
After God’s good Creation, Mankind rebelled against their Creator. With the first sin, history was forever altered and the plan for redemption began. The Role of Satan Scripture gives insight into Satan’s fall in Isaiah 14:12-14 & Ezekiel 28:12-18. Satan is a fallen angel who desired to take God’s place. Satan comes in the form of a serpent which …
Untouched yet by Mankind, Creation was perfect in the beginning. God displayed His goodness and purpose in what He created and how He created it. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). The Creator of Creation The names of God used in Scripture usually signify something unique is transpiring. El is the Hebrew name for …
To understand the Old Testament fully, you need to understand it within the context of the entire Bible. Here is a summary of the story of the Bible. Old Testament Sections Creation – God created the world out of nothing. Fall – Mankind rebelled against God. Flood – God punished sin. Covenant – God made a covenant with Abraham’s family. …
The Old Testament is a foundational pillar of the Christian faith. Unfortunately, it is often avoided due to its complex nature, extensive lists, and historical distance. As believers, we are called to embrace the entirety of God’s Word for our sanctification. God’s Word teaches us regarding the importance of knowing the entire counsel of God: Joshua 1:8 Psalm 119:160 Acts …
While the word, “discipleship,” is not found in the Old Testament, the concept is embedded from the very beginning. God’s people were to pass on a legacy of faith to the following generations.
As we are nearing the end of Lander’s semester, it was time last week to hand out evaluations for my students to complete. As I was handing out their forms, I received last year’s evaluation from my Old Testament class. There are things they grade you on and then there is a place for comments. I received 12 comments and …
I’m teaching the Old Testament at Lander University and I am also teaching it at our church this Fall. As I prepare, I am noticing many things about the Old Testament that are misunderstood. One of them is that Noah and the Ark is not a children’s story. It’s a story for all of us. It’s deeper than rain and animals. It has to do with the fact that God takes sin seriously.
Adam and Eve sinned and were banished from the Garden. Their son, Cain, killed their other son, Abel. After this event, God blesses them with another son. When Eve births another son, Seth (Gen. 4:25), solemnity is slowing taking over. Seth’s birth gives a subtle indication of deeper things transpiring with Mankind.
While the first people were made in the image of God, Seth is curiously described as a son in Adam’s “own likeness, after his image” (Gen. 5:3). On the external level, this reveals that Seth’s appearance is similar to that of his father’s. This phrase possibly also acknowledges the fact that these following generations are more and more marred by the curse of sin first seen in the father Adam.
This sinful nature and Adamic likeness grows. Sin continues to pervert, distort, and destroy what is good in God’s creation. Evil increases greatly, and God becomes evermore grieved over Mankind. God begins to impose an age limit of 120 years (Gen. 6:3) except for a few unique exceptions (Abraham lives to 175, Gen. 25:7).
Further, God declares that he is going to destroy his Creation which was good before sin corrupted it. “‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD'” (Gen. 6:7-8). The fact that God feels “sorry” does not indicate that he is now aware of something he didn’t see coming and he wish he would have never done it in the first place. God foreknew all that had transpired and all that would transpire. The actualization of enduring Mankind’s sinfulness produces a different type of grief within God than previously described.
Noah is the exception here. Chosen by God for a specific task, Noah “was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God” (Gen. 6:9). God’s wrath was coming for earth ever so filled with violence and corruption (Gen. 6:11-12). To save himself, his family, and a remnant of animals, God instructed Noah to build an ark that could sustain the coming wrath of God (Gen. 6:14-22).
Noah and the Ark was never intended to be a mere children’s story.
As I type, I am watching a group of Lander students complete their Old Testament final exam for the semester. Some of them look like they got more sleep than others. Some have a rough week ahead, others not so much.
I had never taught Old Testament at the university before. I have taught different world religions courses, but this semester I got to teach Old Testament for the first time. As I prepared for the class, I decided that I would teach it differently than traditional ways of teaching it.
While Genesis 1 summarizes Creation, Genesis 2 takes a behind-the-scenes look at a very pivotal part of the work created on day six. The author presses rewind and looks at the significance of how God created the unceasingly, stubborn race known as Mankind. While Genesis 1 describes Elohim the Creator, when his work with mankind is revisited, a subtle English shift takes place with major Hebrew implications.
Instead of God creating Adam, the LORD God creates Adam. In many translations, you might read the word “Lord” with every letter capitalized. This word is not the simple Adonai meaining “Lord,” this word is Yahweh. This is the name that God designates to himself when Moses later asks him how he should describe him to Pharaoh. “I am who I am.” Only when the shift happens from universal creation to the creation of mankind is Yahweh mentioned. This shows that there is a God over all, but there is a LORD in relationship with some.
While God spoke everything else into existence, he “made” man (Gen. 1:26). God formed man out of the dust from the ground like a potter skillfully shaping and molding a vessel to his liking.
His hands, matted with dusty earth, shapes this man to be a specific image-bearer.
A simple threefold pattern describes the first six days of Creation. In each day, something was stated, created, and affirmed. God spoke something into existence. He used words. He said, “Let there be light.” Using solely words, light burst forth at 670,616,629.2 miles per hour across nothing to illuminate the beginning of something. God stated, and with those words, he created. Each day, reflecting upon the day’s work, he would affirm it. He saw that it was “good.” It wasn’t evil. It wasn’t imperfect. It wasn’t lacking. God’s creation was good.
God’s creation was the way it was intended to be before something so vile began to corrupt something so good. In these first days, everything was new and vibrant and life-giving. It was good. It couldn’t help but be good — God created it.
He is good and it is only fitting that his creation would reflect his character.
In the beginning, God. The first words of the Old Testament leave no room for misunderstanding. Before the details of the rest of the story are conveyed, the author wants to make sure the reader grasps a fundamental doctrine: in the beginning, God. In the beginning, there was nothing other than God, and from the beginning, there was nothing that did not come from God.
God created everything we know and see out of nothing. Usually, when someone tries to imagine “nothing,” they fall short. Normally, that person is imagining space or a dark expanse, but even that is something. That something fails to be nothing. Aristotle stated, “Nothing is what rocks dream about.” It’s impossible for our finite minds to even comprehend the concept of nothing, but that is exactly out of what God created. He created the world ex nihilio (“out of nothing”).
He didn’t need any outside advice or help. He wasn’t scrounging around for building supplies. All he used to create everything we experience today was words uttered from his lips.
What a wonderful day of worship! We finished Major in the Minors today with the study of Malachi. So good!
The worshipers were ready today! I was overwhelmed with the volume and the passion of our worshipers today. We had a scaled down acoustic set, but it was way heavy on the worshiper side.
Today, we worshiped to:
We had a great morning at North Side! Even on a holiday weekend, we experienced three great services as we focused on Nahum.
Jeff’s message on Nahum was powerful. 3 themes he pointed out:
Our God is a sovereign God. Our God is a righteous God. Our God is a good God.
Today, we worshiped to:
Great time today of focusing on our 3rd prophet Amos in our series “Major in the Minors.” With a full day ahead for our church body, I can’t think of a better focus than what God pointed us to this morning.
Today, we worshiped to:
I decided a while back to do an acoustic service this Sunday (the picture above is of the boys playing the cajon which was played today, well, they didn’t play it during the service, just after ;)). I honestly didn’t have a reason to, I just felt like doing it. I didn’t know at the time that God was going to lead Jeff to preach out of Amos concerning worship that God hates.
This week’s book of the week is Walter Kaiser’s Mission in the Old Testament. Top 5 Thoughts: God’s original intention was to extend his offering of grace beyond merely the Jewish people to the Gentiles (9). Blessing had to start somewhere with someone. God’s purpose in blessing one people was to create an instrument to bless all other nations of …
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