Yesterday I gave you the following nutshell summary of the Old Testament.
- God made a good world.
- Mankind messed it up through sinful rebellion, bringing God’s judgment on himself.
- In love, God initiated a three phase plan of salvation so we wouldn’t have to die for our sins.
- The Old Testament covers phases 1 and 2 of this plan.
Today I want to build on that outline. Here we go.
1. God made a good world.
Genesis 1-2 tells us is that God created a good world. It’s mentioned here seven times that the world God created was good.
- Genesis 1:10, God made the land and sea and saw that it was good
- Genesis 1:12, God made plants and trees and saw that it was good
- Genesis 1:18, God made the sun, moon and stars and saw that it was good
- Genesis 1:21, God made the fish in the sea and the birds in the air and saw that it was good.
- Genesis 1:25, God made wild animals and livestock and saw that it was good.
- Genesis 1:31, Then God made us and saw that it was very good.
2. Mankind messed up the good world God created through sinful rebellion, bringing God’s judgment on himself.
When we look at the world today we don’t see good, rather evil. The question begs therefore: What happened to the good world God created? Well, Genesis 3-11 tells us the answer to this question, informing us that mankind messed up the good world that God created through sinful rebellion.
- In Genesis 3:6 Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden
- In Genesis 4:8 Cain attacks his brother Abel and kills him, committing the first murder
- In Genesis 6:5-6 we read that the wickedness of the human race had become so bad that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart were only evil all the time (which is why God sent a flood).
- In Genesis 11:1-4 we see the inhabitants of earth rebelling against God’s command to fill the earth and subdue it. Instead of obeying God and spreading out, all the people just gathered to one place (so God gave them all different languages so they would have to break up and spread out like he originally wanted).
Genesis 3 then explains the consequences of man’s rebellion against God.
- God told Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:3, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.”
- This is the consequence of sin – the death penalty. As Romans 6:23 puts it “The wages of sin is death…” This speaks of physical death as well as eternal separation from God in hell.
3. In love, God initiated a three phase plan of salvation so we wouldn’t have to die for our sins.
In Genesis 12 God chooses a man named Abram and basically tells him: A Savior is coming and you’re going to be instrumental in his arrival. God goes on to explain to Abram the three phases of his plan:
- Phase 1: God would turn Abram (a single man) into a great nation (Genesis 12:2).
- Phase 2: God would give this great nation a great big chunk of land to live in (Genesis 12:7).
- Phase 3: God would bring forth from the nation and out of the land the promised Savior (Genesis 12:3), who would deal with the problem of sin.
4. The Old Testament covers phases 1 and 2 of this plan.
The Bible has two major divisions. It’s broken up into two testaments. The first 39 books of the Bible are referred to as the Old Testament and the next 27 books are referred to as the New Testament. Why is the Bible divided into two sections? Well, the climax of the Bible is the coming of the promised Savior. So there’s one section (the Old Testament) that shows everything that God had to do to get the world ready for the arrival of his promised Savior. And then there’s another section (the New Testament) that records the Savior’s actual arrival. In other words, the Old Testament records how God executed phases 1 and 2 of his plan, while the New Testament records how God executed phase 3 of his plan. So when you read the first part of the Bible (the Old Testament) you’re looking to see how God executed phases 1 and 2 and when you read the New Testament you’re looking to see how God executed phase 3.
We’ll get to how God fulfilled phase 3 in the New Testament in a future post, but for now let me show you how God executed phases 1 and 2 in the Old Testament.
If you remember Phase 1: was to Turn Abram into a great nation (Genesis 12 – Exodus 1). Well Genesis 12 through Exodus 1 records how God made this happen. This section of Scripture tells:
- how Abraham had Isaac (Genesis 15:1-4, 18:1-14, 21:1-3).
- how Isaac had Jacob (Genesis 25:21-26).
- how Jacob had twelve sons (Genesis 29:31-30:24, 35:16-18) who became the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel (Genesis 35:9-11).
- how the fledgling nation left Canaan and moved to Egypt (Genesis 45:1-11, 46:1-7).
- and how in Egypt God turned 70 people into a great nation (Exodus 1:1-7). Exodus 1:7 records of the Israelites while living in Egypt “…the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.” Bam! God accomplished phase 1 of his plan! Abram has become a great nation (the nation of Israel). Now lets look at Phase 2.
If you remember Phase 2: was to Give the great nation a great big chunk of land (Exodus 2 – Joshua 24). Well Exodus 2 through Joshua 24 records how God got them their land. There’s a lot recorded in this section of Scripture, but here’s the summary:
- God raises up a spiritual leader named Moses (Exodus 2:1-3:10) who leads the people out of Egypt (Exodus 12:29-32).
- God then uses a military leader named Joshua who leads the people into the Promised Land (Joshua 1-12).
- That’s the flow. God uses Moses to get the nation out of Egypt and then uses Joshua to get the people into the Promised Land.
- Bam! God accomplishes phase 2 of his plan. God has brought the great nation (the nation of Israel) into a great big chunk of land (the Promised Land).
Now do yourself a favor and re-read this post at least once more. Understanding this outline is essential to understanding the Old Testament (and even the entire Bible) so it’s so worth the time!!!