A Bible Panorama Part One: The Old Testament

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1 A Bible Panorama Part One: The Old Testament Romans 12:1-2 Rev. Michael D. Halley October 12, 2014 Suffolk Christian Church Suffolk, Virginia Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Romans 12:1-2 New International Version Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God s will is his good, pleasing and perfect will. The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God! Those of you who have heard me in this pulpit know that from time to time the announced sermon topic does not come together to the point of fruition. This has happened once again, this week, and today I offer you instead what I pray is an interesting trip through the Old Testament of the Bible. I am calling it A Bible Panorama, Part One: The Old Testament. I pray it will help you in this process of renewing your mind as Paul writes. The Old Testament is, for many Christians, a great mystery. It is composed of 39 books, many of which are very lengthy, compared with the 27 books of the New Testament. It has some rather brutal stories that many of us would rather not read. 1

2 But if we boil it down to its barest essentials, three things happen in the Old Testament: God creates man and woman They rebel God initiates redemption Act 1: God Creates Man, Woman, and Everything In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In six days God made everything. On the seventh day he rested. That s Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 2 tells us about Adam and Eve. God created Adam out of the dust of the ground and placed him in the Garden. Then he fashioned Eve from a rib taken from Adam s side. They began to live an ideal, even perfect life. Unfortunately, that did not last. Act 2: The Man and Woman Rebel Against God Page 2 God gave Adam and Eve everything they could possibly want or need. But to remind them that he was God and that some things belong only to God, he forbade them to eat of the fruit of the special tree in the middle of the garden. But then the serpent appears to Eve and deceives her and tempts her. Eve eats the forbidden fruit, gives some to Adam, and he eats. Eve ate the fruit because she was deceived by the serpent. Adam knew it was wrong, but he ate the fruit anyway. Later, Saint Paul put it this way: Sin entered the world through one man (Romans 5:12). This was the decisive moment in the Garden, the great turning point for

3 all of humanity, including you and me. Now, nothing will ever be the same. Suddenly Adam and Eve are ashamed. They notice that they have no clothes. Innocence is gone forever. When confronted by God, Adam makes excuses. First Adam blames Eve, then he blames God for giving Eve to him. Eve blames the serpent. Sound familiar? God s judgment comes quickly, and they are cast out of the Garden. But, even in their sin, God loves them, for he lovingly clothed them with garments of skin, a sign of his grace. On their own now, the world becomes a very unfriendly place for Adam and Eve. Cain, their son, kills Abel, his brother. Civilization spreads. Large cities form. Death is everywhere. That s in Genesis chapters 4-5. Things go from bad to worse, and in Genesis 6 God intervenes. The earth had grown corrupt and full of evil. God calls Noah, who builds an ark. When the flood comes, covering the whole earth, only eight people are saved. Thus we learn about judgment and grace. Page 3 After the flood, the three sons of Noah spread out and begin to multiply. Generations come and go. Eventually the people build a tower to express their enormous arrogance. And God sends the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel (may be pronounced either bay-bull or bab-bull ). As a result, people scatter across the face of the earth. Act 3: God initiates redemption Something very important happens in Genesis 12: God calls Abram, who will later be known as Abraham. Abram is a prosperous, middle-aged, pagan businessman in Ur of the Chaldees 1. God calls, Abram responds and he

4 Page 4 becomes Abraham, the outstanding example of faith in the Bible. Abraham and his wife Sarah have a son, whom they named Isaac. Isaac has a son he named Jacob. Jacob has many sons, the most significant being Joseph. Joseph s brothers, out of jealousy, sold him into slavery and he ends up serving Pharaoh 2 in Egypt. Joseph s family, about 70 people, eventually follow him there. God blesses this family, but one day a Pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph. And for the next 400 years the Joseph s people suffered in slave bondage until God raised up a deliverer named Moses. Moses went before the current Pharaoh and said, Let my people go. When Pharaoh says, No!, God sends ten plagues upon Egypt, the last one being the death of the firstborn child. But in a great redemptive act, God told his people to slay a lamb and put the blood over the doorpost of their houses. When the death angel came it would pass over the houses that were marked.... when I see the blood, I will pass over you (Exodus 12:13). Their last meal in Egypt was, therefore, known as Passover. After that last meal, Moses leads the Hebrew people out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, and into the desert. When they came to Mount Sinai, God gives the Law to his people, starting with the Ten Commandments. You can read about that in Exodus 20. When they came to a place called Kadesh-Barnea, they sent twelve men to spy out the land of Canaan. They found it to be a land filled with milk and honey. But, they said the people there were fearsome, like giants, and ten of the spies said, No, we can t go into that land. And because the people did not believe God s promise, they were forced

5 Page 5 to wander in the wilderness for the next 40 years. Then God raised up another leader, Joshua, who leads the people to conquer the land of Canaan, which is known as the Promised Land. As they occupied the land, next comes the wild period of rule by the judges 3, a time where everyone did what was right in his own eyes. You may remember some of the judges -- Deborah, Gideon, Samson, and Samuel. The story of Ruth, by the way, belongs in this period. God was trying to lead his people by prophets, priests and judges, but the people wanted a king. So, God relented and gave them Saul, their first king, who started out well but ended badly. Then came David, whose victory over Goliath made him a hero with all the people. But later, David s reign would be tarnished because of his sin with Bathsheba. Then came Solomon, the king who asked God for wisdom. God allowed him to build the magnificent temple in Jerusalem, but he married foreign women who turned his heart away from God. That can be found in 1 Kings 11. After Solomon s death, the nation split into two parts. The northern ten tribes 4 were led by a long string of evil kings. That nation, known as Israel, was taken into captivity, to Babylon, in 722 BC. The southern kingdom, known as Judah, comprised of two tribes 5, had a few good kings. But in 586 BC, the Babylonians also took them into captivity. Meanwhile, the prophets brought God s message of warning and hope. Isaiah spoke of a suffering servant. Jeremiah wept for his people. Daniel explained the handwriting on the wall. The people of God languished in exile for 70 long years, a hard and

6 Page 6 humiliating time for them. Finally, God raised up two key men. The first was Zerubbabel, who led a small group back to Jerusalem at the end of the 70 years. The other was Nehemiah, who rebuilt the walls around Jerusalem in 445 BC. As you can see, God s plan of redemption keeps unfolding. Sometime after that, Malachi the prophet gave his message from the Lord and the final book of the Old Testament bears his name. The Old Testament closes with a sense of longing and expectation. Promises had been made. The prophets had spoken. The people were waiting. What would God do? Fortunately for us, we know the rest of the story. We know about Jesus, God s son, sent to save us out of the mess we have made of our lives. And God graciously offers his love and forgiveness to us just as he did our spiritual mothers and fathers in the Old Testament. That s the whole point of the Bible, to bring us to faith in God, to receive the gift of forgiveness and eternal life through his Son Jesus, and to have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to be our guide and comforter. Let us pray: Dear God, how we thank you for your Holy Word. It is the complete record of how you have dealt with a rebellious and sinful humanity and how over and over you offered your love and forgiveness. May we obey you, follow you, and serve you, inspired and instructed by the Bible. We pray this in the saving name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen. The inspiration and outline for this sermon was graciously provided by the Rev. Ray Pritchard, in his article, The Whole Bible in One Message, at dated

7 November, He gives credit for his inspiration to his friend, the Rev Ryan Whitley, pastor of Crosspoint Church in Trussville, Alabama, As Pastor Pritchard said to me in an conversation, We milk many cows but churn our own butter! +==+==+==+==+==+==+ All Scripture references are from New International Version, NIV, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc., unless otherwise indicated. +==+==+==+==+==+==+ Page 7 Sunday Sermons from Suffolk Christian Church are intended for the private devotional use of members and friends of the church. Please do not print or publish. Thank you. Suggestions for sermon topics are always welcome! 1. An ancient city-state in Mesopotamia, which was located in the vicinity of modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, and Syria. 2. Pharaohs were the kings of Egypt. 3. The fifteen judges were: Othniel (Judges 3:7-11) was the first Judge after Joshua s death. Ehud (Judges 3:12-30) fought the Moabites. Shagmar (Judges 3:31) led the Israelites against the Philistines. Deborah (Judges 4-5) was a prophetess who guided Barak to victory over the Canaanites. She was the only female judge. Gideon (Judges 6-8) defeated Midianites with 300 men. Abimelech (Judges 9) was the only judge to win leadership through treachery. Tola (Judges 10:1-5) judged Israel for 23 years. Yair (Judges 10:1-5) judged Israel for 22 years. Jepthah (Judges 10:17-12:7) defeated the Ammonites. Ibzan (Judges 12:8-15) judged for 7 years. Elon (Judges 12:8-15) judged for 10 years. Abdon (Judges 12:8-15) ruled for 8 years.

8 Page 8 Samson (Judges 13-16) fought the Phillistines. singlehandedly. Eli (1 Samuel 1:9) was a priest who ruled the people from the sanctuary at Gilo. Samuel was the last judge before the kingdom came under the rule of Saul as king. Source: 4. They were the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim, and Manasseh. 5. They were the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Also, the tribe of Levi, from whom the priests came, were in Judah and a small number of them were in Israel as well.