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God has honored this generation as He has never honored a generation before. He has thrown dazzling opportunities before it. He has flung wide open for it the doors of access to all parts of His world and has laid at its feet every possible advantage and facility." — J. Lovell Murray

"Ah, prayer turns trembling saints into great victors! There is no such thing as surrender, or even discouragement, to a man who dwells in the secret place of the Most High and abides under the shadow of the Almighty." — Henry W. Frost

"I have seen many men work without praying, though I have never seen any good come out of it; but I have never seen a man pray without working." — James Hudson Taylor

"The men that will change the colleges and seminaries here represented are the men that will spend the most time alone with God�It takes time for the fires to burn. It takes time for God to draw near and for us to know that He is there. It takes time to assimilate His truth. You ask me, How much time? I do not know. I know it means time enough to forget time." — John R. Mott

"I am convinced that nothing less than a mighty Holy Ghost revival will awaken us to a sense of our great privilege and responsibility with regard to the missionary challenge and world evangelization." — Clifford Filer

"You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore spend and be spent in this work. And go not only to those that need you, but to those that need you most�It is not your business to preach so many times, and to take care of this or that society; but to save as many souls as you can; to bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance." — John Wesley

"And we ourselves are 'saved to save'-we are made to give-to let everything go if only we may have more to give. The pebble takes in all the rays of light that fall on it, but the diamond flashes them out again; every little facet is a means, not simply of drinking more in, but of giving more out." — Lillias Trotter

"Yes, there lies before us a beautiful possible life-one that shall have a passion for giving: that shall be pored forth to God-spent out for man: that shall be consecrated for the hardest work and the darkest sinners." — Lillias Trotter

"Let Christians remember, that in a season of revival as well as in a season of coldness, the evidence of piety is to be sought in the fruits of the Spirit. And let sinners remember that no degree of attendance on means, no degree of fervor, can be substituted for repentance of sin and faith in the Savior..." — William B. Sprague

"I am born for God only. Christ is nearer to me than father, or mother, or sister - a near relation, a more affectionate Friend; and I rejoice to follow Him, and to love Him. Blessed Jesus! Thou art all I want -a forerunner to me in all I ever shall go through as a Christian, a minister, or a missionary." — Henry Martyn

"If your heart takes more pleasure in reading novels, or watching TV, or going to the movies, or talking to friends, rather than just sitting alone with God and embracing Him, sharing His cares and His burdens, weeping and rejoicing with Him, then how are you going to handle forever and ever in His presence...? You'd be bored to tears in heaven, if you're not ecstatic about God now!" — Keith Green

"Does it grieve you my friends, that the name of God is being taken in vain and desecrated? Does it grieve you that we are living in a godless age...But, we are living in such an age and the main reason we should be praying about revival is that we are anxious to see God's name vindicated and His glory manifested. We should be anxious to see something happening that will arrest the nations, all the peoples, and cause them to stop and to think again." — Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"Oh! men and brethren, what would this heart feel if I could but believe that there were some among you who would go home and pray for a revival - men whose faith is large enough, and their love fiery enough to lead them from this moment to exercise unceasing intercessions that God would appear among us and do wondrous things here, as in the times of former generations." — C. H. Spurgeon

"Revivals begin with God's own people; the Holy Spirit touches their heart anew, and gives them new fervor and compassion, and zeal, new light and life, and when He has thus come to you, He next goes forth to the valley of dry bones�Oh, what responsibility this lays on the Church of God! If you grieve Him away from yourselves, or hinder His visit, then the poor perishing world suffers sorely!" — Andrew A. Bonar

"In the Irish Revival of 1859, people became so weak that they could not get back to their homes. Men and women would fall by the wayside and would be found hours later pleading with God to save their souls. They felt that they were slipping into hell and that nothing else in life mattered but to get right with God... To them eternity meant everything. Nothing else was of any consequence. They felt that if God did not have mercy on them and save them, they were doomed for all time to come." — Oswald J. Smith

THE OLD TESTAMENT

THE NEW TESTAMENT

  Overview

Of

Old Testament

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   God has given us a library of 66 books. The Latin word biblia translated as ‘bible, literally means ‘books. The 39 Old Testament books, which cover over 2,000 years, are written by a variety of authors and include many types of literature. It is no surprise, therefore, that many people come to the Bible wondering how it all fits together.

   God did not arrange the Bible topically so that we could study themes individually: he arranged it so that we could read a book at a time. The Bible is God’s truth about himself and how we should relate to him, set in the context of history. It tells how people, principally the nation of Israel, came to experience God for themselves and respond to his Word. Far from being a dry theological textbook, it is the vibrant story of God’s redeeming work in the lives of his people.

   Many fail to grasp the overall message because they have an insufficient understanding of the background to the Bible. This chapter aims to provide an overview of the Old Testament so that any particular portion of Scripture can be given its correct context.

        Geography

It we are to understand the Old Testament there are two maps we need to appreciate first of all: those of the Promised Land and the Middle East.

   The key area in the map of the Middle East is what geographers call the Fertile Crescent the band of fertile land which stretches from the River Nile in Egypt in the west, north east through the land of Israel and then south and south east to the plains surrounding the rivers Tigris and Euphrates in what used to be called Mesopotamia  (which means the middle of the rivers, meso middle and potamia rivers).  This fertile area comprised the centres of power in the ancient world, with Egypt located in the west and Assyria and later Babylon in the east. Israel was wedged between these two and much of the Old Testament is written with the struggles between these world powers in the background. There are also significant times when their threats or activities impinge directly on Israel.

   Israel’s geographical position made it significant as a trade route. The Syrian Desert to the east of Israel meant that traders and armies from the orient needed to cross Israel’s border as they moved between Asia, Africa and Europe. A mountainous area of basalt rock to the south west of the Sea of Galilee funnelled the travellers through Jezreel and on through to Megiddo. A great trunk road entered Palestine through the Syrian Gate, running through Damascus, across the Bridge of Jacobs Daughters and over a basalt dam to the Lake of Galilee. It then ran southwest via the Plains of Megiddo to the Coast Plain, through Lydda and Gaza to Egypt. Israel was a narrow corridor to the east was the rift valley, which ran north to south down to the Dead Sea, and to the west was the Mediterranean Sea.

   Israel, therefore, was at the crossroads of the world, with trade routes arriving from all directions and Megiddo he place where they all met. Overlooking this crossroads was the village of Nazareth, and doubtless Jesus would have sat on the hill there and watched the world go by.

   This location has spiritual significance. God was planting a people at a crossroads where they could be a model of the kingdom of heaven on earth. The whole world could see the blessing that comes to people living under Gods rule and the curse that comes when they disobey. Israel’s unique position is no accident.

   Turing to the internal geography of the Promised Land, the northern part containing the crossroads of the world was called Galilee, or Galilee of the Nations because of its international and isolated from the rest of the world, encouraging a more distinctively Jewish culture with the capital of Jerusalem at its centre.

   The Promised Land is about the same size as Wales, but it includes every kind of climate and scenery. Wherever you live, there is somewhere in Israel that is just like home. The place most like England is just south of Tel Aviv. Carmel in the north is known as Little Switzerland. Just 10 minutes from Carmel you can sit down among palm trees. Prominent in the land is the River Jordan, which rises on Mount Hermon and runs north to south within the rift valley mentioned earlier, through the Sea of Galilee and down to the Dead Sea. A fertile plain surrounds its course.

   All the flora and fauna of Europe, Africa and Asia can be found in Israel. Scots pine trees grow next to palm trees from the Sahara. In biblical times the wild animals in the country included lions, bears, crocodiles and camels. It seems as if the whole world was somehow squeezed  into one small country.

History

   Having made ourselves familiar with the general geography of the Old Testament world, we now to consider an outline of the history of the Old Testament. It may sound daunting to have to cover 2,000 years or more, but a simple chart will help us to grasp the basics.

 The Old Testament covers over 2,000 years of history before the time of Christ. Genesis 1-11 covers the prehistoric part the creation of the universe, the Fall of man in the Garden of Eden, the Flood and the Tower of Babel. The focus here is on humankind in general, though including a godly line. But we can chart the history of Israel itself from 2000 BC, when God calls Abraham (though it would be centuries before the nation was formed).

   The Old Testament period can be divided into four equal parts of roughly 500 years each. Each period has a key event, a prominent person and a type of leadership.

   In the first period the patriarchs led Israel: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. In the second period Israel was led by prophets, from Moses to Samuel. In the third period they were led by princes (kings), from Saul to Zedekiah. The fourth period saw the priests take the lead, from Joshua (a priest who returned to Judah from exile under Zerubbabels rule) to Caiaphas in the time of Christ.

   None of the leader types was ideal and each individual brought his own flaws to the task. The nation needed a leader who was prophet, priest and king, and they found him in Jesus. Each stage, therefore, was a foreshadowing of the ideal leader who was to come.

   This time is broken by two 400 years gaps. The first comes between the patriarchs and the prophets around 1500 BC and the second after the priests at 400 BC. During these two sets of 400 years God said nothing and did nothing, so there is nothing in the Bible from those two periods. There were some Jewish books written in the second of these two periods, known collectively as the Apocrypha, but they are not part of the Bible proper because they do not cover the time when God was speaking and acting. Malachi is therefore the last book in the Old Testament of our standard English Bibles, then there is a 400 year gap before Matthews Gospel.

   It is especially interesting to note the events in world history which took place during these two gaps. The Egyptian, Indian and Chinese cultures developed during the first gap, while in the second Greek philosophy developed through Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Other great figures of this time include Buddha, Confucius, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. So much happened which historians regard as important, but it was of little relevance to God. It was his history with his people which really mattered.

A brief overview of the books

   Genesis 12-50 covers the first period of Israel s history when the nation was led by the patriarchs. It is possible that the book of Job was written at this time, since there are parallels with the sort of life the patriarchs would have lived.

   Relatively few books cover the next quarter. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy were all written by Moses. The books of Joshua, and Ruth continue the history of the period.

   There are more books associated with the third quarter: Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, plus the poetic books: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. During this third quarter and after Solomon’s time there was a civil war when the 12 tribes divided into two parts, the 10 tribes in the north calling themselves Israel, the two in the south Judah. This is the end of the united nation. There were prophets during that time Elijah and Elisha but they were non book prophets.

   Finally there are a large number of prophetic books associated with the Exile (the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians, then the tribes in the southern kingdom of Judah were forced into exile by the Babylonians). Some contain prophecies from before the Exile, some during it, some after, and some have a mixture because the prophet overlaps more than one phase. This tells us something of the importance of this event to Israel s history. It meant the loss of the land God had promised them and struck at the heart of their identity as a nation.

   Prophets warned the people that they were going to lose the land and prophets (sometimes the same ones) comforted them when they did lose the land. There were prophets urging them to rebuild the temple when they returned to Judah after 70 years away. The books of Daniel and Esther are written from Babylon itself. The prophets Ezra and Nehemiah helped to rebuild Jerusalem and renew the people once they had returned.

   This brief outline is enough to demonstrate that the books of the Old Testament are not always in chronological order. The history books are fairly accurately arranged, but the prophets are organized according to size not chronology.

   Hence it can be confusing to know who was speaking when.

The rise and fall of a nation

   There is another aspect of the chart given, which is worth underlining. The chart shows a dotted line representing the fortunes of the nation, which reach their height under David and Solomon. The lines gentle rise indicates the progress up to this point, with a sharp drop once the peak is reached. It was the golden age. They look for a son of David to restore their prosperity.

   The last question the disciples asked Jesus before he ascended to heaven was about when he would restore the kingdom to Israel. They are asking the same question 2,000 years later.

 The line continues its descent until Israel is exiled by Assyria in 721 BC and then Judah by Babylon in 587 BC.

   Following the 400 year gap John the Baptist arrives, the first prophet for a long time. Then comes the life and ministry of Jesus. The New Testament covers 100 years compared to the 2,000 plus years of the Old Testament.

The order of the books

   We have noted already that the chronology of Old Testament history is different from the order in which the books appear. There is also a big difference in the order of books as included in the English Old Testament compared with the Hebrew Bible.  The English Bible is arranged in terms of history: Genesis to Esther, then poetry: Job to Song of Solomon, then prophecy: Isaiah to Malachi. The prophets are further split into the major prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, and the minor prophets: Hosea to Malachi. However, the descriptions major and minor are given because of the size of the book and nothing else. These divisions are generally highlighted in the contents page, if at all, so most readers are unaware of the change of category when they move from one section to the next.

   The Hebrew Scriptures have three clear divisions. The first five books are not regarded as history but as law, and are known by the first words read as the scroll was unrolled. The next section goes under the title of prophets, a surprising title because it includes a number of books listed in the English Bible as history. Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings are called the former prophets, with the major and minor prophets (as they are called in the English Bible) listed as latter prophets. This is because the Jews see the history books as prophetic history-history according to how God perceived what was happening and what was important. All history is based on the principle of selection and connection what is included and why it is included. The Bible s history is no exception, except that it is the prophets under God s inspiration who make the selection.

   Ruth and the books of Chronicles are history within the English Bible but are not regarded as prophetic history within the Hebrew Bible. Indeed, there is no direct action of God mentioned in the book of Ruth, although the people in the story refer to him for blessings, and so on. Instead these books form part of the writings, the third and last division in the Hebrew Scriptures. There are more surprises here, for the poetry books are included, and Daniel, who we might expect to be included among the prophetic books.

   This division may seem odd, but it is the division that Jesus refers to when he appears to the two on the road to Emmaus and the ten disciples, following his death and resurrection. We read about how he took them through the law, the prophets and the writings, and showed them everything concerning himself. This was the Old Testament division Jesus knew and accepted and I believe we could find it helpful too.

There are other Jewish history books, which are not part of the Bible. The books of the Apocrypha are mostly history, although some contain other types of literature. They include fascinating stories, offering insights into the life of the Maccabees in their rebellion against the Greeks who occupied the land in the centuries before Christ. But these books were not judged to be records inspired by God and so were not included when the Old Testament canon was finally agreed. They have been incorporated into Roman Catholic Bibles.

The law: the foundation of the Old Testament

   If we are to grasp fully the message of the Old Testament and of the whole Bible, it is vital that we read and understand the first five books, Genesis to Deuteronomy, known variously as the Law, the Torah, or the Pentateuch. They are foundational for all that follows. They explain how the nation of Israel started and developed, and why the people behaved as they did. They are the basis of the prophetic messages towards the end of the Old Testament, as the prophets urge the people to return to their covenant obligations outlined in the law.

   The books of the law create an interesting pattern:

·        Genesis is concerned with the whole race.

·        Exodus is the beginning of Israel s national life.

·        Leviticus is concerned with one tribe, the Levites.

·        Numbers is concerned with national life (as in Exodus).

·        Deuteronomy looks again to the history of the whole world (as in Genesis).

Furthermore, we can see a similar pattern with the time each book covers:

·        Genesis covers centuries.

·        Exodus covers 300 years.

·        Leviticus covers just one month.

·        Numbers covers 40 long years (Israel wandering in the desert).

·        Deuteronomy covers centuries again (looking ahead to Israel s future).

It is an amazing pattern when you see it all put together.

Conclusion

   The Old Testament may seem confusing at first sight, but I hope this overview will help you to navigate successfully through its pages. There is no substitute, of course, for reading and re-reading the text itself. The exercise need not be academic. God has inspired the writing of the Old Testament and will meet with you through its pages. You only have to ask.

                                                                                                                                           (Bob Stone)