God's Big Story - The Old Testament

Here we are going to cover God's Big Story from Genesis 11 all the way through to the end of the Old Testament - and hopefully see how God is guiding history to His will and plan.

In Genesis 11 we are at a point where humanity has fallen once again. But here God introduces a new hope through a single man.

A New Dawn - Genesis 12 ?

God promised to bless Abraham in the opening verses of this chapter. And as God blesses Abraham the whole world is going to be blessed through him.

Adam's failure is promised to be undone by the line of Abraham.

Genesis

This can be seen as we follow Abraham's descendants. Eventually, we reach Joseph and the nations are blessed through him as he saves the region from famine.

Exodus

Things take a turn here. The descendants of Abraham - God's people - are enslaved and subject to Genocide.

Enter Moses. God used Moses to once again save His people and lead them to freedom.

The rest of the Torah follows the life of the people as they are nomads in the wilderness.

Joshua

Joshua brings out a change in history. Here God's people settle in a new land with new successes and victories. But things quickly change.

Judges

Things go wrong and is very messy. Judges chronicles this mess and the chosen who lead Israel back to God time and time again.

Samuel

Samuel is the final judge and a prophet. The people under him wanted a King. Not for good reasons, but they get one anyway.

Kings

Eventually comes David in the books of Kings. He is not perfect but has God's heart. It is promised that David's line will bring God's ultimate blessing. And so the waiting starts.

Following David is Solomon, where as a result of his misdeeds the kingdom is split and things decline. Lots of kings follow most of whom are bad.

The Prophets

In the absence of Godly kings come the prophets to bring the people back to God.

They are mostly ignored, and as a result the temple is destroyed and the people are exiled.

Daniel

In exile the people are searching for their purpose, their identity. Who are they? The promise still brings hope.

Ezra/Nehemiah

These books involve the people slowly returning to their promised land. Things seem to be returning to the right place. Yet there is something missing. There seems to be no blessing any more. There is silence from God at the end of the OT.

There is a longing for someone like Moses. Someone who knows God and has God's power and wisdom. A king who is both Moses and David - alike yet who can bring everlasting blessing.