T H E B I B L E F A S T F O R W A R DPutting the Pieces of the Bible Together

Week 4

O U R P U R P O S ETo give a practical, historical overview of the Old

Testament emphasizing the unfolding plan of salvation as God reveals it through His covenants with the nation of Israel, and the fulfillment of those covenants in the

person of Jesus of Nazareth.

1 2 M A J O R E V E N T S1. The Call of Abraham

2. The Birth of Isaac

3. Joseph in Egypt

4. The Exodus

5. Moses Gets the Law

6. Joshua Conquers the land

7. The three kings of the United Kingdom (Saul, David & Solomon)

8. The Kingdom Splits: Israel & Judah

9. The Assyrian Dispersion (of Israel)

11. The Return to the Land

12. The Coming of Messiah

10. The Babylonian Captivity (of Judah)

T H E C A L Lof Abraham

G O D ’ S 3 - P H A S E P L A NFor rescuing mankind

1. God sets apart one man.

2. God promises to make a nation from that man.

3. God commissions that man, and nation to be a blessing to the world.

T H E A B R A H A M I C C O V E N A N TNow the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land which I will

show you.

And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, and so you shall be a blessing.

And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

G E N E S I S 12:1-3

G O D ’ S P R O M I S E SFor Abraham’s Obedience

“I will make you a great nation”.

“I will bless you and make your name great”

“I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.”

1. People 2. Land 3. Government

4. Prosperity

5. Protection

T H E B I R T Hof Isaac

W H Y I S A A C O N LYand not the line of Ishmael?

1. Isaac’s birth was a supernatural sign from God.

2. God’s choice was based on election instead of tradition.

3. Protection from syncretism (mixing with other religions and their foreign gods).

Abraham

3 G E N E R AT I O N S I N …and God’s people are already in serious trouble.

Isaac (and Ishmael)

Jacob

J O S E P Hin Egypt

J O S E P H , G O D ’ S W I L Land the Sovereignty of God

God’s Moral Will God’s Sovereign Will

What God would prefer

(this can be thwarted) (no way, buster)

What God will accomplish

J O S E P H I N E G Y P Tand the Sovereignty of God

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to save many people alive.

G E N E S I S50:20

and the Sovereignty of God

God’s Moral Will God’s Sovereign Will“As for you, you meant evil

against me”

(God used it to accomplish His rulership and sovereignty)

God did not thwart their evil desires against Joseph

but God meant it for good in order to bring about

this present result, to save many people alive.

J O S E P H , G O D ’ S W I L L

T H E E X O D U S

S U P E R N AT U R A L P R O T E C T I O N

The Exodus is God’s faithfulness to His

covenant by way of

W H Y I S G O D so faithful to the Abrahamic Covenant?

For this time I will send all My plagues on you and your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth....But, indeed, for this reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth. E X O D U S

9:14,16

M O S E Sgets the Law

A B R A H A M I C C O V E N A N T

than theV E R Y D I F F E R E N TThe Mosaic Covenant is

T H E M O S A I C C O V E N A N TIs the outworking of the Abrahamic Covenant

Abrahamic Covenant The Mosaic Covenant

A man

A nation

A blessing to the world

Moral Conduct

Ceremonial Religious Activities

Civil order and Government

T H E B L E S S I N G Sof the two different covenants

Abrahamic Covenant The Mosaic Covenant

Unconditional (binding on God alone)

Based on Grace

Conferred on individuals, Israel and also for other nations, dependent on faith

Conditional (binding on Israel alone)

Based on Works

Meant the nation of Israel as a whole, dependent on obedience

I S T H E M O S A I C C O V E N A N T

L O C A L O R

U N I V E R S A L?

3 W AY S T O K N O WWhether a Law was Local or is Universal?

Are we still obligated to keep it under the New Covenant?

Does it seem transcendent or just cultural?

How is this law treated in the Old Testament?

W A N D E R I N G S A N D I D O L SGod’s people begin to forget

C O M E A P A R Tthings begin to

T H E E X O D U SShortly after

A F T E R T H E E X O D U Sthings begin to come apart

Moses and Joshua go up to Mt Sinai for 40 days and the people get impatient.

The people ask Aaron to make a golden idol that they can worship.

God’s anger burns toward them and Moses intercedes for them.

E X O D U S32

A F T E R T H E E X O D U Sthings start to unravel

God still punished His people for their rebellion and idolatry. E X O D U S

32:14

“So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.”

N U M B E R S : 4 0 Y E A R Sof wandering as judgment for their rebellion

N U M B E R S

Numbers records the census (“numbers”) and tribes of Israel immediately after departing Mt Sinai.

It also describes their wanderings in the wilderness for 40 years before they were allowed to enter the promised land of Caanan.

N U M B E R S : 4 0 Y E A R Sof wandering as judgment for their rebellion

One year after the Exodus, God sends 1 spy from each tribe to spy out the promised land.

N U M B E R S12-13

N U M B E R S : 4 0 Y E A R Sof wandering as judgment for their rebellion

What happens when the spies return from scouting out the land?

2 spies give a good report, 10 give a bad report about the land. The good = land of milk and honey The bad = land of many enemies

N U M B E R S12-13

N U M B E R S : 4 0 Y E A R Sof wandering as judgment for their rebellion

Caleb and Joshua encourage the people that they can take the land. The others spread fear.

The people do not believe God will deliver them, and begin to turn on Moses. Again, God’s anger burns and Moses intercedes for the people.

N U M B E R S13-14

N U M B E R S : 4 0 Y E A R Sof wandering as judgment for their rebellion

The Lord pardons their iniquity but consigns them to wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.

N U M B E R S13-14

Say to them, “As I live,” says the Lord, “just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you. Your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me.

N U M B E R S14:28-29

Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.”

N U M B E R S14:30

“And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those who were

disobedient? And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.”

H E B R E W S3:18-19

B L E S S I N G A N D C U R S I N G

at work, giving bothM O S A I C C O V E N A N T

Here we see the

D E U T E R O N O M Y“The second giving of the Law”

The transition from the wilderness wanderings in Numbers to the conquest recorded in Joshua.

N U M B E R S13-14

D E U T E R O N O M Y“The second giving of the Law”

It includes the final words of Moses and the giving of the law again, to a new generation.

D E U T E R O N O M Y

It was given in preparation for them to enter the land God had promised them and marks a significant shift in leadership from Moses to Joshua

J O S H U Aconquers the land

G O D ’ S P R O M I S E SContinue to come true for His people

God begins to fulfill his promise of making them ”a great nation” by giving them land.

Joshua sends out spies to Jericho, who stay with Rahab the prostitute. They spare her when they take the city and she joins God’s people.

J O S H U A1-3

J O S H U A’ S C O N Q U E S Tin the land of Caanan

Joshua subdues 6 nations and 31 kings in 6 years.

God shows his power at Jericho by crumbling the walls on the seventh day as Joshua leads the army around the city once per day in faithfulness to God’s command. J O S H U A

1-3

J O S H U A’ S C O N Q U E S Tin the land of Caanan

Joshua launches a southern campaign against a number of Canaanite cities. J O S H U A 10

Joshua launches a northern campaign through a surprise attack. J O S H U A 11

J O S H U A 13-24Joshua partitions the land amongst the 12 tribes of Israel.

T R I B E S O F

I S R A E L

J O S H U A’ S L E G A C Ywith the people of Israel

Joshua’s exhortation, “As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord”

J O S H U A 24:31

J O S H U A 24:15

Joshua’s legacy: “And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the Lord which He had done for Israel”.

F R O M J O S H U A T O J U D G E SThe End of the Theocracy

N O W W H AT ?Israel’s cycle after the death of Joshua

1) Israel is expected to cleanse the land of the Canaanites because of their wicked influence over the Hebrews.

For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you. But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, and smash their sacred pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.

D E U T E R O N O M Y7:4-5

N O W W H AT ?Israel’s cycle after the death of Joshua

2) The Hebrews do not drive the Canaanites out as they were commanded to do, but enslaved them instead.

N O W W H AT ?Israel’s cycle after the death of Joshua

3) The Canaanite influence eventually permeated the Hebrew culture, causing them to worship false gods (such as Baal).

D E L I V E R A N C Eof sin, subjugation, prayer,

T H E P AT T E R NThus begins

and rest

I S R A E L’ S C Y C L Ein the book of Judges

1) Sin — Israel falls into idol worship and forgets the Lord

J U D G E S3:7-9

2) Subjugation — God allows an oppresor to come against Israel.3) Prayer — God’s people cry out to Him for help.4) Deliverance — God’s raises up a judge to rescue them.5) Rest — A period of quiet before sin returns.

N O TA B L E J U D G E Sin the book of Judges

Gideon — God commissions him to free Israel from the Midianites, he doubts and asks for various confirmations.

Samson — God raised him up to free Israel from the Philistines, though under Nazarite vow. God gives him superhuman strength and kills thousands of Philistines but ends up falling in love with a Philistine girl named…

N O TA B L E J U D G E Sin the book of Judges

Samuel — Samuel is Israel’s last great Judge and first great prophet. God called him as a boy, and when the people reject God as their king (because of their jealousy of other nations), Samuel anoints Saul as the first king of Israel, and later annoints David to replace Saul as King. 1 S A M U E L

3

A N D T H U S B E G I N Sand the period of the Judges,

T H E O C R A C YThus ends the

the reign of Kings.

N E X T W E E K :

T H E T H R E E K I N G S

of the United Kingdom: Saul, David & Solomon

T H E K I N G D O M

S P L I T SIsrael and Judah

T H E A S S Y R I A N

D I S P E R S I O Nof Israel

T H E B A B Y L O N I A N

C A P T I V I T Yof Judah

S E E Y O U T H E N !