The Old Testament (Part One)–2 of 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. If you want a big picture view of the Bible, you've come to the right place. We're exploring the drama of redemption, getting a quick overview from Genesis to Revelation. Today, more of the Old Testament will fly past us, so listen carefully and stay tuned. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, you've taken us through Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus so far.

What's up next? Well, Dave, as you well know, after that comes Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and on through the Old Testament. One of the things that I discovered as I was even teaching our children when they were young is that oftentimes we took passages of Scripture, stories of Scripture, but we never really gave the context. As a matter of fact, I remember one of our children telling us later that it was only when they had a course in Bible history that they began to understand the big picture of the Bible.

Well, that's what we are doing in this series. We're trying to help people to understand that the Bible is not a group of unrelated books, but rather one continuous story. Sometimes we see Christ more clearly in some passages and in some books than we do in others, but he actually is the center of it all because God in Genesis chapter 3 made that promise that he was going to bring redemption through a woman. So even as you study the history of Israel and you think of all of the experiences they had, it was always pointing toward a redeemer. Of course, the New Testament looks back at that redeemer, and that's why we have both the Old Testament and the New Testament, but looked at from a long-range point of view. They all have the same story. It's the story of redemption. And by the way, we are making this sermon series available to our listeners. Here's what you do.

Go to rtwofferer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Of course, after this message I'm going to be giving you that contact info again. Thanks in advance for praying for us, for helping us. Our desire is that we understand the word of God with more clarity. Numbers, they're getting ready to go back into the land. Deuteronomy is a recap. It's a recap of what happened and it's Moses' farewell speech. So that doesn't really advance the storyline either.

So notice in your chart, it occurs at the bottom. Now under Joshua, in the book of Joshua, they re-enter the same land. They've been in the wilderness for 40 years. Now over the Jordan River, they enter into the land and the land is conquered and it is divided up under Joshua. But, but remember this, there are still pockets of resistance. Some of the Canaanites are still left in the land by design. God says, I'm leaving them there so that, so that they can test you. God always leaves some enemies for Christians. That's why he doesn't exterminate the devil.

The devil exists for the glory and the happiness and the victory of God's saints. Same reason why the Canaanites existed in Canaan. Now after they are there, the period of the judges, you see, the judges are Israel trying to find leaders that will help them in their fight against the Canaanites because these warring tribes continue to become very strong. When you get to 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel is basically the story of Israel's first king, namely Saul. And Saul turns out to be a great disappointment. But the people wanted a king and so God says, I'm giving you Saul. And David begins to enter into the picture, though his story is most prominently displayed in 2 Samuel.

2 Samuel is the story of David. And when you get to David, God gives another covenant to David. And God says, David, I'm going to, through your seed, give you a son who is going to rule forever.

And it turns out to be Jesus. That's why you see the angel comes to Mary centuries later and says, he shall be great. He shall be the son of the most high. The Lord God shall give onto him the throne of his father, David. There you have the fulfillment of the Davidic promise, the beginning of the fulfillment of it.

So David gets a special revelation from God. And then what you have is his famous son, Solomon, and that opens first Kings. Solomon turns out to be a great builder and he builds a temple in Jerusalem and it was extravagant. If you'd have gone inside of it, you'd have seen all the gold that Solomon had there because he loved to do things in a big way.

He sacrificed thousands of animals. And Solomon also is one of the wisest people in the world. He is such a, he's a psychologist dream to analyze because he is so wise. He writes books such as proverbs.

Most of them were written by him. Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, all of those books relate to Solomon and the temple. Now, if you go to Jerusalem and you have a guide, the guide will always talk about the first temple period, the first temple period. The first temple period is the period of Solomon. And let's suppose that he builds it in approximately 930 BC. And now because we're BC, we're going, the numbers are going down as we get to the time of Christ. 586 BC, that temple is taken apart by the Babylonians, as you'll understand in a moment. And so that's a 350 year period, roughly. That's Israel's first temple period. Oh, wait until next week. Don't even think about not being here next week, because I'm going to explain Israel's second temple period and all of the intrigue that is going on in the world.