[0:00] It is not all the gold in Fort Knox, nor all the wealth in all of the world's diamond mines, nor all of the accumulated wealth of all of the nations of the earth, past, present, and future, that constitute our most valued and treasured possession on earth.
[0:16] I would have you know, if you do not know it already, that mankind's most treasured and valuable possession is the book in your lap.
[0:26] God's written revelation to us, the Bible. And the most desperately deprived people on earth are those who do not have this book in their native language.
[0:41] But the people to be most pitied are not those who do not have it, but those who do, and yet who choose to ignore it as if they didn't have it.
[0:54] For the next 8 to 10 sessions, we are going to be dealing with the subject, the progress of revelation. It is our intent to cover the Bible as a composite whole in the next several sections.
[1:12] We are going to be looking at it from the standpoint of what is called synthetically, rather than analytically. That is, we will attempt to synthesize the whole of the Bible with the intent that you will be able to get a grasp or an appreciation of the book as a whole in its totality.
[1:36] Because it is one thing to appreciate the parts. It is another thing to appreciate the sum of its parts. And as one might expect with the Bible, the totality or the sum of it is greater than the addition of its parts.
[1:53] It is bigger than that. It is a book that is so uniquely blended and put together that its authorship is unmistakable for those who have really gotten into it.
[2:06] I have heard a lot of people stand back and take pot shots of one kind or another at the Word of God. They have faulted it in their mind for what they think to be its inconsistencies or its errors, its shortcomings, and so on.
[2:24] But never have I found anyone who is really steeped in the book who could ever address it in that way. They are people who have a very superficial kind of knowledge, and a little knowledge can be dangerous.
[2:38] For those who have delved into this book, you will come away with the unmistakable impression that there is no way in the world that this book could maintain its unity if it were no more than what a lot of people think it is.
[2:54] Just a collection of ancient religious writings that different people put down over a period of years writing about life from their own personal perspective. If there is anything that the Bible is not, that is it.
[3:10] The Bible has a great number of writers, in excess of 40, but it only has one author. And this one author, superintending the several human writers, has drawn people from all walks of life and has used them to incorporate in his word the message that he has for mankind.
[3:32] It is simply wonderful, I think, that God has been pleased to use human instrumentality because this gives the humanness to the book. God could have just mysteriously, without the aid of any men at all, just had the record compiled and dropped down on planet Earth and here it is, written in heaven.
[3:54] But he chose not to do that. He has taken his word, which is of divine origin, and has filtered it through the human being and human experience and human vocabulary and all of the rest, so that the end result is we have a book that is not only divine in its origin, but it is human in the manner in which it has come to us.
[4:17] In the same respect, we have the Lord Jesus, who is divine and who is also human. He is the God-man. So this book is a divine book. It is God's book, but it also has human flavor and human instrumentality.
[4:33] These 40-plus writers have collaborated only to a very slight degree. By that I mean the majority of these writers whom God used to pen the Old and New Testament never knew each other, never met each other.
[4:53] There were some, of course, who were contemporaries, especially, is that true, in the New Testament, but for the most part in the Old Testament. And you must realize that the Old Testament came into being over a period of approximately 1,500 years, and it records some 4,000 years of human history.
[5:14] But the New Testament records only approximately 100 years of human history and was approximately 50 years in the writing, give or take a few years.
[5:26] These 40-plus different writers came from all walks of life. There were kings. There were priests.
[5:38] There were prophets. There were farmers. There were fishermen. There were sheep herders and goat herders. You name it.
[5:48] They came from virtually every realm of human experience, and God inspired them to write this document. Of the 1,181 total pages that comprise my Bible, and I simply say my Bible because the breakdown of the pages in yours may be different, but they are not radically different.
[6:11] You may have larger print or smaller print, thus more or less pages. But in my Bible, and the ratio would be the same in yours, there are 1,181 total pages.
[6:25] Incorporated in all of those pages are 66 individual books. However, in the Old Testament alone, of those 1,181 pages, 9,181 belong to it.
[6:44] And there is a very small balance, relatively speaking, that belongs to the New Testament. In fact, there is 3 1⁄2 times the content of the Old Testament that there is of the New.
[6:58] And I suspect that this, in part, is one reason why the Old Testament is so greatly ignored. And this is one of my pet peeves, and just let me harangue here for a while, and I'll get it out of my system and go on.
[7:09] Okay? It is a source of real concern and irritation that a great many people in Christendom tend to ignore the Old Testament.
[7:21] I've said this before, and I'll say it again. In case there's somebody here who feels that way, I'm aiming for you. Well, the Old Testament, that's not where it's at today.
[7:32] You know, that's ancient history. Very boring. Very boring. I mean boring. It's about as exciting as watching paint dry to read that so-and-so begat so-and-so, who begat so-and-so, who begat so-and-so.
[7:45] And what do I care about all of those names in the Old Testament? They mean absolutely nothing to me. Most of them I can't even pronounce. It's just dry, ancient, boring history with the emphasis on bore.
[7:58] But I would hasten to point out to you, dear friend, if you have that kind of an opinion of the Old Testament, you are impoverishing yourself immeasurably.
[8:10] Because there is no appreciation for the present if you ignore the past. There can be no real appreciation for the future and where history is going if you ignore the past.
[8:25] The key to the present is the past. We've got to look at what has happened so we'll know how we got where we are. And granted, it isn't the most stimulating thing in the world to read about some of those names, many of which you can't even pronounce.
[8:42] I venture to say that if someone said, you know, you could really master the Old Testament. I mean, it is shameful to realize that there are people who've been Christians for years and years and years couldn't name the books of the Old Testament if their life depended on it.
[8:58] I mean, when you say Habakkuk, they head for the table of contents. They couldn't find Habakkuk. And when you say, well, I think that this doctrine can be supported by a passage in Hezekiah, they don't even chuckle.
[9:13] They don't even laugh because they think there is a book of Hezekiah. And they just sit there and kind of, you know, well, it's probably right there. If he says it's in the book of Hezekiah, it's probably right.
[9:24] There is no book of Hezekiah. That's what I use as a proof text. You ought to know that. If someone were to tell you, I've got a stack of $100 bills here.
[9:36] You look at it and your eyes pop out. Wow. There must be thousands there. Yeah. Stack of $100 bills. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to peel off one of those $100 bills for every Old Testament name that you can remember and pronounce correctly.
[9:53] Prophets, priests, writers, scribes, you name it. Boy, you would head for the nearest helps that you could get. You would want dictionaries.
[10:03] You'd want concordances. You'd want to look those up. How do you spell that again? Let me write that out. I want to get that straight. Why? Why would you do that? The answer is simple. You'd be motivated.
[10:17] Money motivates us. If you're going to give me $100 for every one of those that I get down, I'm going to, boy, I'll be thousands. I want to do it then because the payoff is worth it.
[10:31] May I tell you that the payoff that I'm talking about is far greater than any amount of money that you can talk about. I'm talking about spiritual verities and realities.
[10:43] The payoff is incalculable. And we who say we know and love the Lord Jesus Christ and really don't much care about that, well, that's the Old Testament. You see, the book that Jesus really has to do with is the New Testament.
[10:55] He doesn't even come on the scene until the New Testament. That's why I don't get too excited about the Old Testament. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Totally wrong. Jesus Christ begins in Genesis and continues all throughout the Old Testament.
[11:11] We'll see that this morning. What would you think if you were a young man in the service? Let's put you in the Navy.
[11:23] Sailors travel a lot. They have to go on board ship for months at a time. And you have this girlfriend back home. She is the sweetest thing that ever walked on the face of the earth.
[11:36] You have plans for her. I mean, you've got it all talked out and as soon as you get back you're going to get married and have that little dream cottage and raise a bunch of children and you've got it all planned.
[11:48] It's just great. She is the absolute ultimate. I mean, all you can do is think about her and you dream about her at night. She's on your mind when you go to sleep and she's on your mind when you awaken and you're just heart sick, you know, because you're separated by all these miles.
[12:03] So what do you do? Well, you ride her every day. You're a rider every day and the other ship comes by and picks up the mail and takes it on. Finally, you set into port and you're in Europe and you're on liberty in Rome.
[12:20] You can't wait to get to a phone. You're going to call her from Europe and the phone rings and she answers and oh, hello, hi, how are you? Oh, I sure miss you and it's great and I love you and all the rest and have you been getting my letters?
[12:36] Yes, yes, I've got a whole stack of them here. You must have written me every day. Well, I did. You know, I really care about it. Besides, there's nothing else to do on board ship and I just put down all my feelings and all my hopes and dreams and everything and I've sent them to you and what do you think about what I've said?
[12:53] Well, I have your letters here. Actually, I haven't gotten them opened yet. You haven't opened?
[13:04] You haven't read my letters? Well, I've been so busy. I have to wash my hair every night and I have this job, you know, and a girl has to keep her wardrobe up but I don't want you to think that I don't care.
[13:25] I just haven't been able to find the time. Now, if that guy is going to buy that, he's got a bigger problem.
[13:38] You know what he's thinking? If she really cared about me, she'd find the time. She'd make it a priority time.
[13:51] If she really cared about me the way I would like to think she does, she takes that letter from the mailbox and she has it torn open within seconds and she's pouring over the first page before she even gets away from the front door, God has sent us a letter.
[14:14] The word of God is his love letter to us. Sure is hard to find time to read our mail, to work it in. Why?
[14:26] We're just not adequately motivated. We just don't care as much as we think we do. So we use cop-out terms like, I don't have time.
[14:41] I'm too busy. I don't have the tools. You see, I've tried to read the Bible and study the Bible but I get so confused. I just get mixed up. I'm just not much of a student.
[14:53] Look at this as God's love letter to you and get into it. What it will do for you is incredible.
[15:05] It will revolutionize your life. It's intended to do that. Listen to this. Dr. Graham Scrawgy and I'm going to be using some of his diagrams and charts today.
[15:16] He is an English pastor who is with the Lord now but he left behind some just excellent volumes. Guide to the Gospels is one of them. It's monumental research on the four Gospels.
[15:28] I've appreciated it so much and the book from which we'll be taking some of the charts is one called The Unfolding Drama of Redemption and it is just masterful the way he has laid this out.
[15:41] I should wish that I could do it justice but I don't have any allusions to that. We'll take a stab at it. He says this in his preface on knowing the Bible. Christian leadership must know its Bible better than any other book.
[15:55] Bread is baked not for analysis but for consumption. A house is built not to be surveyed and criticized but to be inhabited. The Bible is given to us that we might know God and live the life of his plan for us.
[16:12] In the study of it criticism has its place criticism higher and lower but into these matters comparatively few can enter. That's the technical aspect of the Bible.
[16:24] Few can enter nor is the Bible's cheap value affected vitally by the results of such study. It is the people's book as inheritance and should be theirs as possession.
[16:38] I do not think there is anything that is more encouraging or more rewarding to any pastor than for his people to become people who love and know the book.
[16:52] don't worry about bibliology don't worry about worshiping the Bible. I don't think any of us have come that far. The truth of the matter is there is no such thing as intelligent worship of the God of creation apart from this revelation the Bible.
[17:11] You cannot know the God who is to be worshipped apart from the revelation that he has given. He knew that. that's why he gave it.
[17:22] That he might be revealed in it to us. And it becomes absolutely critical that we appreciate and understand this book. Now no one is suggesting I am not nor do I demand that any of you become some kind of expert or scholar as it were with the Bible either Old Testament or New Testament or original languages or any of that kind of thing.
[17:47] But I do want for you and for me to become familiar enough and conversant enough with this book that we will have a working knowledge of it.
[17:58] Now what do I mean by that? What is a working knowledge of the Bible? It isn't having all of your theology straight all of your doctrine all mapped out so that you know everything that goes here Hebrew, Greek that you know the order of the kings and of the prophets and to whom they minister.
[18:14] That isn't what I mean. By a working knowledge I mean that you know the Bible in a practical way so that it will work for you so that you can use it in a practical everyday way.
[18:29] This is not just some ancient document that we stand back and admire from a distance. It works. It's supposed to have an impact on our life.
[18:41] It's supposed to count. It's supposed to make a difference. And when we get the truth of Scripture lived out in our life in a practical day-to-day way that's going first class.
[18:53] That is living a biblically oriented life. And there aren't a great many Christians who do that. That ought to be and I suspect probably is the burden for every pastor who loves the Word of God.
[19:06] We just want you to come to the place where you not merely respect and revere the book but where the book works for you and works in you and changes us from image to image so that we are conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.
[19:28] Now I have some things that I should like for you to consider on the overhead. And the first that we'll deal with is the makeup of the Old Testament.
[19:41] Now we are going to be moving rather rapidly because that's the nature of this particular kind of an undertaking. And if you'll just follow me and I'll be glad to make these charts available to you so you don't have to write frantically and try to copy them down.
[19:58] Maybe we'll have copies of these available in our next session and we'll do so right along. So if you want them you can have them as handouts and won't feel constrained to try and write. The Old Testament is comprised of 39 separate books.
[20:14] They are broken down generally into four categories. Now these categories are somewhat arbitrary but they are as good as any and they are they which have been settled upon by Dr. W. Graham Scroggie as I've mentioned and the breakdown is debatable but it's as good as any others that I've seen.
[20:31] The law comprises the first five books. They were written by Moses. They are sometimes called the Pentateuch which simply means the five writings or the five books. They are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
[20:45] Then we move on to what is known as history and they are Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther.
[20:55] By the way Christ is in all of these. He's in all of these. He is either there by symbol or by type or by prophecy but he's in all of these. In Genesis, he is the seed of the woman that will crush the head of the serpent, Genesis 3.15.
[21:11] That is the Messiah, the Redeemer. In Exodus, he is the Passover Lamb. When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, they were instructed to slay the Passover Lamb.
[21:21] We're told in 1st Corinthians 10, even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. In Leviticus, he is the subject of all of the priestly offerings, all of the sacrifices.
[21:33] Leviticus is the handbook of the priests. It told the priests how to do their job. Talk about boring. Leviticus is one of the most boring books in all of the Bible to read.
[21:47] It is one of the most fascinating books in all of the Bible to study. So if you ever want a sedative at night, you can't sleep, and you really have a problem, forget about the night all and forget about all of that, all the pills that you take.
[22:02] Just whip open the book of Leviticus and start reading. And I'll promise you, before you hit the third chapter, you've got the nods. Now, if you want to study it, it'll keep you wide awake. I mean, it's fascinating, the content.
[22:14] The law of the offerings and sacrifices, incredible what is in Leviticus. Boring reading, fascinating study. That's the way it is with much of the Bible. People, many people, just are content with reading the Bible, and because it does not get them all excited and stimulated to read it, they conclude, the book's boring.
[22:36] I mean, after all, it's got to be the book. Couldn't be me. It's got to be the book. I'm stimulating. I'm exciting. It's the book that's boring.
[22:47] But if you get into it and study it, line upon line, precept upon precept, take it apart, ask questions, who, what, when, why, where, you'd be amazed how involved you can get and how fascinating it becomes.
[23:03] People who just read the Bible, that's all, just read it, will never be satisfied. Never. You'll always be disappointed if that's all you do is just read it. You've got to study to show yourself approved unto God.
[23:17] Numbers, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, he is the prophet that shall come. In Joshua, Christ is the antitype of Joshua who leads the children of Israel in.
[23:28] Judges, he is the one to whom all judgment is committed. In Ruth, he is the kinsman redeemer. Boaz is the type of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who loved the bride. In 1 and 2 Samuel, those are terribly important books because there the monarchy is established.
[23:44] Saul becomes the first king, David becomes the king, and Christ is the antitype of David the king. The monarchy is established which sets the pattern for the whole royal genealogy of which Christ will be the culmination.
[23:57] And there is much repeated in Chronicles from those two books. Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther are all post-exilic books that deal with the return of the people to the land or the return after the Babylonian captivity.
[24:12] And the poetry and wisdom books, Job, Christ is the umpire that Job talks about in his book.
[24:23] He is the daysman. He is the go-between. Job says, Oh, that I might search for him. Oh, that I might find him. In the New Testament, he's found.
[24:34] We'll see that. The Psalms, there is so much in the Psalms that speak of Christ. Psalm 22 is messianic. Psalm 2 is messianic. Psalm 89 is messianic.
[24:45] The 23rd Psalm is the shepherd's psalm and it speaks of Christ. Psalm 110 speaks of Christ. There are so many of the Psalms that are prefiguring the Lord Jesus in one way or another.
[24:58] And in the book of Proverbs, the writer talks a great deal about wisdom. And our Lord Jesus Christ is a personification of wisdom. And Colossians addresses him as being the one in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
[25:14] Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon's beautiful poetic books with many similarities to the Lord Jesus. And then when you come over to the prophetic books, there are 17 of them. And Isaiah is the one who addresses him as wonderful counselor, mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
[25:31] The government shall be upon his shoulders and of his kingdom there shall be no end. And chapter 7, the virgin shall conceive and bear a child and shall call his name Emmanuel.
[25:42] These are all prophetic and they look forward to, prophesy, anticipate, the one who is to come. Jeremiah chapter 31, he is the basis for the establishment of the new covenant.
[25:55] God says, I will make a new covenant with my people and the new covenant will be sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ in Jeremiah 31. Lamentations is a tremendous book. What is Lamentations?
[26:07] Anyway, I wonder how many people here, how long it's been since you've read Lamentations? Been a long time since I've read it. You know what it means? It's a book of tears. It's a book of lamenting.
[26:20] It is the Lamentations of Jeremiah. All that means is Jeremiah looked upon his nation and he saw it so lacking and so far from God.
[26:34] He realized what God had provided for the nation and he realized how the nation had turned its back on God. And Jeremiah sat right down and had a big cry.
[26:48] He lamented. The theme of his prophecy is, Oh, that my eyes were a fountain of tears so that I might weep day and night for my people.
[27:02] Jeremiah was a man who was very sensitive and deeply wounded over the sins and transgressions of his people. You know what Jeremiah said? My people are so hardened and are so removed from God that they won't even cry for themselves.
[27:23] I'll cry for them. That's what he did. Tremendous, sensitive, compassionate man, Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. You know who he typifies? When Jesus came into Jerusalem knowing that within days he would be crucified on one of those crosses, he stopped and looked over the city and he saw a community of his countrymen there.
[27:50] As far as they were concerned, they had it all together. They were the people. Jesus said, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if only thou hadst known the things that belong to thy peace.
[28:03] But now, they are hidden from you. Do you know why they're hidden from them? It's an incredible principle. Always holds true.
[28:14] Old Testament, New Testament. God withholds truth. God withholds light from those who are not prepared to receive it.
[28:26] people who are not prepared to receive light are people who are in the state of rejecting light. And God doesn't cast his pearl before swines.
[28:40] How off would I have gathered you together as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings? But you would not. You would not. They rejected the truth.
[28:51] And any time a person rejects truth, they become super vulnerable to the lie. Rejecting what we know to be true ought to be very, very scary.
[29:05] There is nothing scarier that you can do than to hear truth, recognize it as truth, understand it as truth, but reject it. You talk about playing with fire.
[29:18] That's the ultimate. That's precisely what the Pharisees did. And he charged them with blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
[29:28] Ezekiel is a tremendous book. That's the, that's where, that's where Ezekiel is given the vision of the valley of dry bones. Think of that. What a vision.
[29:40] What a vision. He looks out over this whole valley and all he sees, thousands and thousands and thousands of skeletons lying all over the ground, sun bleached, dried out.
[29:53] Just a bunch of skeletons. And the voice comes to him as he sees that vision, says, Son of man, can these bones live? The implication is, man, I don't see how.
[30:06] I don't see any way how they could live. Those bones are going to be made to rise again through Jesus Christ, who is the vehicle of redemption.
[30:18] You know, the old black spiritual shin bone connected to the knee bone, the knee bone, thigh bone. That's where it came from. The vision of the valley of dry bones. And Christ is the one, prophetically, who is going to make those bones live.
[30:32] Daniel, he is, he is, the one who should come. He is, the Messiah who will be cut off, but not for himself of Daniel chapter 9 and at the end of the 69th week.
[30:46] And I'm not going to belabor all of the minor prophets, but suffice it to say that in virtually every one of them, Christ is foreshadowed in type, in symbol, or in prophecy. Let me, while we're looking at these charts, relate something to you that I think would be helpful, perhaps.
[31:08] Let's look at the unfolding drama of redemption. Let's take this one first. This is God's answer to man's cry.
[31:23] And let me share with you, as you look at that, some of the comments that Dr. Scroggie has made here. This is God's answer to man's cry. Man's cry is what's set forth in the Old Testament.
[31:36] It is the dilemma of humanity. And God's answer is what is provided in the New Testament. Man, the sinner, needs someone who will redemptively represent him.
[31:48] He needs someone who will reveal God to him. And he needs someone who with authority and effect will rule over him. In other words, man needs a priest, a prophet, and a king.
[32:04] A priest to represent him before God, a prophet to reveal God to him, and a king to take control of and to rule in and over the kingdom of his life.
[32:15] In vain will man find such a one among his fallen fellows. Now, you know, all three of these offices are established and recognized in the Old Testament, but none of them were vested in more than one person.
[32:28] In other words, if a man was called to be a priest, he could not be a king. If he was called to be a king, he could not function as a prophet. Now, the reason for that is quite simple.
[32:39] These were all fallen human beings, and any of these offices represented a considerable amount of power. And the problem with the possession of power is the potential to abuse it.
[32:51] Therefore, no one was vested with the power of any more than one office. We have the same thing today in the government of the United States. Our founding fathers wisely realized that if you give too much power to any particular person or group of persons, the potential for abuse of that power is great.
[33:09] So what did they do? You remember this from eighth grade civics. They devised a government to consist of three branches. The legislative, the judicial, and the executive.
[33:22] And the idea is that each could provide a check and a balance for the others. The president has executive power and he can veto legislation that the Congress sends up.
[33:34] And he's only one man. But the Congress can override his veto if they get enough votes they can carry it. However, the Supreme Court has the authority of rendering something unconstitutional and they can come in and do so.
[33:48] So each one keeps the others from becoming too powerful because the truth of the matter is, folks, we can't trust any segment of government with too much authority. Man is not capable of handling it.
[34:00] and that is exactly what we have here with prophet, priest, and king. However, in the New Testament, God has provided the answer to the cry of man in the Old Testament.
[34:18] The cry of man, the answer of God. The offices are the same. Christ is the anti-type. Here we have the writings, the gospels, the acts, and the epistles, and the revelation. And here is, as you would expect, Christ, who functions in all of these capacities, he is installed as prophet, priest, and king.
[34:41] He can handle all three offices. And we don't have to worry about him abusing the power or taking advantage of the position because of his integrity, his moral character, because of the fact that he is indeed God.
[34:54] This is God's answer to man's cry. Dr. Scroggie has suggested that we consider the unfolding drama of redemption as though it were a two-act play.
[35:26] And I think that's a pretty neat way of looking at it. It helps to give you a perspective for the whole. And this is really what we're trying for. In this particular session, we are going to take the whole of the Old Testament.
[35:38] Interestingly enough, we're not even going to look at any of the portions in the Old Testament, but we're going to look at one new to substantiate the Old. That may seem a little peculiar to you, but that seems to be the better way for wisdom to go.
[35:49] Here is a two-act play. The prologue is set forth, and this revelation here, by the way, is not the book of Revelation. That's down here. Revelation simply means the principle of God having revealed His Word.
[36:01] And it is incorporated in Genesis 1-1 through 11-9. That's the setting of the stage. And in this passage, you have, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Then you have the fall of man.
[36:14] Then you have God providing for man's fall through the animal skins and the prefiguring of Christ who is to come. Then the amalgamation of the Sethites and the Cainites and the deterioration of the human race till it gets to the place of where God decides to destroy all of humanity.
[36:34] And He does that in the flood of Noah. Then after the eight souls have survived the flood of Noah and begin repopulating the earth, lo and behold, you get no further than chapter 11 and you find the erection of the Tower of Babel and man is right back to his same old tricks again.
[36:51] The human race is on a downhill slide and it is culminated in the Tower of Babel, the activities of Nimrod, the punishment by God whereby He confuses the languages and scatters the nations throughout all over the earth.
[37:05] That is the prologue and that establishes, sets the scene for Act 1. Act 1, the curtain opens. It comprises Genesis 11, 10 through Malachi 4.
[37:18] And the reason that it starts there is because that's where God's remedy for this great plan comes into focus. And the remedy is Shem.
[37:31] Shem? That's right. Shem? Shem, one of the sons of Noah. Because through Shem, redemption will be accomplished.
[37:44] Shem is going to be the parent of Arpachshad. Arpachshad is going to be a parent of Terah. Terah is going to be the parent of Abraham.
[37:57] Abraham. Abraham will father Isaac, who will father Jacob, who will father Judah, and Levi, and Issachar, and Zebulun, and all of the twelve tribes.
[38:10] And the tribe of Judah will be the one through whom the Redeemer, Yahshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah, will come. He is the main actor in the scheme of redemption.
[38:25] Genesis 1 opens, everything is wonderful. Genesis 3, everything is in chaos. From Genesis 3 on to Revelation is what God is doing to bring it back to its original state.
[38:38] Redemption is the theme. It is the restoration of all things. It is returning things to the way they were originally. That's what God is about. That's where history is going.
[38:49] It is moving toward that culmination. And Revelation will see it concluded. This is an unmistakable thread that goes all through Scripture. You know, I am told that in the British Navy, there is in every piece or every length of rope that is issued to the British Navy.
[39:13] And this goes clear back to the times when they had the old sailing vessels that plied the seas and fought with the Spaniards and so on. Every piece of British rope has a colored thread in it that runs all the way through it.
[39:29] And you can determine at what dockyard that rope was made by simply knowing the color of the thread. And if you're in the British Navy, you can pick up any piece of issue rope and look at the end of it and there is a thread, a colored thread in that rope.
[39:44] That is precisely what we have in the Bible and it is woven through all 66 books is this colored thread called redemption.
[39:55] It is the essence of every book of the Bible in one way or another, Old Testament or new. It provides a cohesiveness, a unity, an undeniable togetherness.
[40:10] And it was put together over 1,500 years. That's remarkable. In fact, humanly speaking, that's impossible. And anybody who has studied that knows the possibility of the Bible being recorded as it has maintaining its continuity and unity by nothing more than mere coincidence, the odds constitute an astronomical number so large that you could not even pronounce it.
[40:44] there is a progression of doctrine. The redeeming purpose is the overall theme. There is a progression of doctrine that moves through the Old and New Testament.
[40:56] And we are right now, today, we are living here between Matthew and Jude. We are living between Matthew and Jude.
[41:08] And we'll see in a more pronounced way a little later on. We can target this even closer. We are not living in the Gospels. And this is where a lot of people get a lot of confusion.
[41:21] Oh, my. It is amazing how people insist on putting the Gospels in the wrong place because they have a sentimental attachment to the Gospels because the Gospels are what speaks of Jesus so much.
[41:34] And they completely overlook the most important thing about Jesus. And that is the interpretation that is given of Him. You do not know the significance of what happens in the Gospels.
[41:46] I submit. Now, let me restate this. I want you to be thinking about it because next week we're going to open this up and it will be the first session on the Gospels. And that is from reading the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you cannot, you cannot really tell nor understand exactly what happened in the death of Jesus Christ from reading the Gospels.
[42:11] You cannot. It isn't there. It just isn't. That's where it happened. Historically, that's where it happened. That's where it was crucified. But it doesn't explain why.
[42:22] And it doesn't explain what it's got to do with you. The epistles do that. And people who get back and saturate themselves with the Gospels ignoring the epistles because this is the part about Jesus completely miss the whole boat.
[42:36] I mean, they are really cheating themselves. It's incredible, but it goes on all the time. Consider this, if you will.
[42:55] Here is the prologue. Act I constitutes the Old Testament. It is preparative. It is anticipative. It is looking forward to that which is to come.
[43:06] It is based on the covenant of law. It is the law that God gave to Moses. It is embodied in the history and literature of the Semitic race. And this principally involves the Jew.
[43:18] Another thing that is very important here, I can't spend a lot of time on it, but I want to make the point at least, and that is this. The law of Moses that we generally think of in Exodus 20 repeated in Deuteronomy 5 that incorporates the Ten Commandments and not only that but a whole lot else.
[43:39] The law of Moses was given to the Jew. It was never given to anybody else. Never. God's law was never given to the Egyptians.
[43:52] It was never given to the Assyrians. It was never given to the Babylonians. They didn't know it. They were ignorant of it. They didn't want it. They could have cared less. They said, Israel's got their law.
[44:03] Their own God gave it to them. Well, we have our God and He gives us our laws and so on. It's important to understand that. It was given specifically, exclusively, totally to the nation Israel.
[44:14] And it's made crystal clear right there in the giving of the law in black and white but it's amazing how everybody wants to assign the law to everybody else. Never given to everybody else. And another point that needs to be made, I don't want to confuse this unduly but I take some exception to Dr. Scroggie although I have in respect to him I have incorporated the breakdown that he has given and he includes Genesis under the law, under the covenant of the law but technically it really isn't.
[44:44] I know Moses wrote it, at least part of it. I personally, and this is a wise man opinion, watch out for it, I personally believe that Adam wrote some of the Old Testament, some of Genesis.
[44:59] I personally believe that Noah wrote some of Genesis. I personally believe that Shem may have written some of Genesis. Now those are just personal opinions and Moses certainly, well you see, Moses didn't even come on the picture until the book of Exodus.
[45:17] He wasn't born or didn't live until some 400 plus years after Abraham died in the Old Testament. So technically speaking, the Genesis is not part of the law because the law was not given until Israel was formalized as a nation and God brought them as a nation with their national integrity intact out of the land of Egypt.
[45:39] and when they arrived at Sinai, there Moses went into the mount and then God revealed the law to him. So Genesis really kind of stands alone. It's not operating under a law, it is pre-law.
[45:51] Between the Testaments, this is the Old and New Testament and we'll call this the interlude. Very, very important time. Not from the standpoint of Revelation because there wasn't any revelation.
[46:03] Heaven was silent. God wasn't saying anything for 400 years after Malachi put down his pen, nothing was coming forth. But a lot was happening. This was during the time of Judas Maccabeus and the Maccabean revolt under the Jews.
[46:18] This is during the time, these 400 years, of the rise of Alexander the Great to power and his Grecianizing the whole of the Mediterranean world at that time.
[46:30] And the most significant thing he did was to solidify these peoples and to give them the common language which was the Greek language and that is going to become a key instrument in the giving of the New Testament.
[46:42] Also, during that 400 silent years, we have the introduction of the Roman Empire coming into the fore and being in the driver's seat as it were when the Gospels opened.
[46:53] Then in Acts chapter 2, it is no longer just preparative or looking forward to, it is effective. Christ comes in the Gospels, he accomplishes the work of redemption, the covenant of grace is established, and the covenant of grace is embodied in the history and literature of the Christian church, which is the body of Christ as opposed to the history and literature of the Semitic race.
[47:17] And it incorporates generally Matthew to Jude and Revelation is the epilogue that of course is yet to be fulfilled. Now I'd like you in closing to go to Hebrews chapter 8.
[47:28] I have other references but I'm just going to give them to you and you can copy them down if you like.
[47:41] We'll not take the time to look at them. But you've got to see this. Hebrews chapter 8. And I'm just going to jump in with verse 7.
[47:53] He's talking about the superiority of Christ and how that he is the mediator of a better covenant. A better covenant than Moses. Verse 8. For finding fault with them, he says, now this in my Bible is all in caps which indicates that it is a quote from the Old Testament and indeed it is.
[48:09] It is from Jeremiah 31. Finding fault with them, he says, behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant. Now this is first found in Jeremiah.
[48:20] Keep that in mind. And God is promising the nation Israel a new covenant. And the reason is they blew the first one. So he's saying I'm going to establish a new covenant and the means through which it will be established is Jesus Christ the mediator.
[48:36] When I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah not like the covenant which I made with their fathers. What was wrong with it? It was a conditional covenant.
[48:48] What was wrong with it meant that the covenant was no better than the ability of the people to whom it was given to keep it. And it wasn't very great. The covenant, the old covenant God said, the Old Testament, old covenant if you will, God said to the children of Israel this is what you're supposed to do.
[49:07] This is what I require. They blew it. I mean time after time after time. They blew it. You know what he's going to do? He says I'm going to I'm going to give you a covenant that you can't blow.
[49:19] Well, the only way you could give me a covenant that I can't blow is that if it's just impossible for me to blow it and the possibility is completely taken out of my hands.
[49:30] God said that's right. That's the way it's going to be. That's called grace. No strings attached. No conditions. Just a promise. What do I have to do?
[49:41] You don't have to do anything. Wow. Well, well, why should God do everything and I don't have to do anything? Grace. Grace. It's the only answer.
[49:57] Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt for they did not continue in my covenant. Do you know what they said?
[50:08] When Moses came down and gave them the law you know what they said? What their response was? All that the Lord hath said we will do. Sure you will.
[50:19] Sure you will. Mm-hmm. Turned right around and made a golden calf. Fell down and worshipped it. Moses came on and said I can't believe you people. You are incredibly fickle. You are unbelievably stupid.
[50:31] And you're totally unreliable. That's the likes that God had to work with. What's wrong with the law? Nothing's wrong with the law. But when you give the law to people that's where the breakdown is.
[50:47] For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. Christ did. So that I can't mess it up.
[50:59] He did it. Fantastic. That's the only way it could be done so that I couldn't mess it up. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days says the Lord I will put my laws into their minds and I will write them upon their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people.
[51:22] This has never been true. Not of Israel. They've never come to this. They will. They will. They've never received the new covenant. They don't even acknowledge that there is a new covenant.
[51:36] They're still back there fumbling along in the dark of the old covenant. Still messing it up just like all their ancestors did. The time is coming when the Jew as a nation will be converted and will be recipients of the new covenant and God will put his laws in their minds and write them in their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people and they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen and everyone his brother saying know the Lord for all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them for I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.
[52:08] How is that possible? Because Christ died for their sins. He's made the way of grace possible. He exacted the penalty and God is free to act in grace. God is free to establish a new covenant.
[52:22] Now do you see? Somewhat I trust a connection between the old and new covenant. How intricately intertwined they are. A couple of more references we won't turn to them but if you're writing down notes you need these.
[52:34] Galatians 3 verses 15 through 29 and a tremendous passage in 2 Corinthians 3 verses 12 through 16 talks about how the law of the old covenant was done away by the new.
[52:53] in 2 Corinthians 3 also Colossians 2 Romans 5 verses 12 through 15 tremendous tremendous concepts there.
[53:06] This is all involving the progress of revelation because you see dear friends the Bible is a book that is on the move it is not static it is as Dr. Graham Scroggie said it is the unfolding drama of redemption it is ongoing it is true the Bible is a completed revelation and it is finished but all that it is addressing and talking about is not completed it isn't finished we are still living in New Testament times we are right now dwelling in the sphere of time that is referred to by the epistles we are not living in the gospels boy it is really hard to get that out of the minds of people they want to go back to the gospels and I will see how I will show you in our next session how utterly impossible it is if you are going to do that you have got to start circumcising
[54:08] Jesus was circumcised we are going to follow the Lord in baptism well you ought to follow him in circumcision too and you ought to keep the sabbath and you ought to keep the feast days and you ought to do all the things that he did and you ought to tithe and on and on and on it goes Jesus Christ lived under functioned under operated under the Old Testament see that oh wait a minute wait a minute that's not right Mark because in my Bible where Jesus comes on the scene is Matthew Mark Luke and John and you see that's New Testament well that's where it's located in your Bible and canonically that's where it belongs but theologically and doctrinally Jesus Christ lived under the Old Testament economy if you do not understand that principle you'll never get a handle on the
[55:10] New Testament not ever and I want to tell you something most people don't have and I want to tell you something else that does not make me proud neither do most preachers neither do most preachers I know what I'm talking about I did without this information and tried to function as a Bible teacher for 15 years before I learned this and when I learned it you talk about a flood of light all I could do was walk around my chair and say of course how could I be so stupid how could I have not seen it no wonder I couldn't make these things fit they're not supposed to fit but I'm pushing and squeezing and shoving and excusing and allowing for and emphasizing and deemphasizing because you've got to make those Gospels fit the epistles you can't have contradictions in the word of God well friends there is no way in the world that you can make them fit because they're not supposed to fit each addresses a specific distinct time each has to be understood in light of its own time and purpose for writing and so on and I'm telling you
[56:37] I came into an appreciation of the Bible that I never knew existed when I got these few simple things straight and I so much want you to have that same appreciation that's the series that we've just begun this is just the Old Testament next two sessions we're going to deal with all four Gospels and I'll show you what I'm talking about and I trust when I do your response will be the same as mine of course it has to be that way well then that explains yeah it sure does well then this no longer is a problem that's right oh so that's why yes oh my it just starts falling in place it is breathtakingly beautiful you know what I'd like to do but I'm not
[57:39] I'd like to just keep right on going into those Gospels but may we stand please oh my when I get to heaven I'm going to preach in four hour blocks problem is then everybody will already know what I intend to tell them loving father you have blessed us and honored us so greatly even by giving us this beautiful revelation your precious and holy word we marvel and we thank you and bless you for the tremendous way that you've put it together and preserved it and provided it for us oh how desperately we want to be a people of the book we pray that what we have learned in this hour will serve to whet our appetites and make us excited about really understanding this word in such a way as to have a working knowledge of it we acknowledge the theme of redemption and we gratefully acknowledge the wonderful person the redeemer who is the mediator of the new covenant and the one through whom all your redemption is accomplished we ascribe all praise and honor and majesty and worth to him in his name amen we