Bible Story : Introduction

Introduction

Greetings, friends. This is Johnny Ramsey bringing you a summary of the Old Testament. In this lesson, we’re going to take one verse from each of the 39 books of the Old Testament and let that pave the way for a summary of the Old Testament. In Genesis 22 18, God said to Abraham, In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. I believe the Old Testament can best be summed up in this statement, a preservation of Abraham’s seed, so that Christ can come. And through the meandering, difficult scenes of Old Testament history, God has a difficult time preserving even a remnant of Abraham’s seed from annihilation and extinction because of their own sin. But in Galatians 3 16 in the New Testament, Paul quotes Genesis 22 18 and says, And to Abraham’s seed, which is Christ.

1. The Books of Law Restated

The book of Exodus, coming from the word which means the departure, showing that God’s people had departed from Egyptian bondage, headed toward the promised land given to Abraham’s seed, Genesis chapter 15. When they come to Mount Sinai, Exodus 20, verses 1 to 3 forms the prologue of the Ten Commandments, which God said, I’ve given unto those that are led out of Egypt out of the house of bondage. Thus, this was specifically exclusively given to the Jews to Abraham’s seed. He said, I, Jehovah thy God am a jealous God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And yet, as Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the tables of law, the very first commandment was being violated and broken by Aaron’s golden calf. God had a difficult time with a difficult, rebellious people who were always on their verge back into bondage and captivity.

But he is a jealous God and will brook no rival for his affections. In Leviticus 11 44, we have the thesis of that priestly book of worship. God says, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Had there not been the purification, rights, and that which pointed to the shedding of the blood of Christ, Hebrews 10 1 to 12, there would have been no way for the people of God to be counted holy and pure. In 1 Peter 1 16 in the New Testament, in speaking of God’s holy people, those peculiarly his, his own possession. This verse is quoted, Be ye holy, for I am holy. And certainly a dimension that we must not overlook, even in the church today, is purity of life, holiness of purpose.

In Numbers 32 23, in a book which recaptures for us the wilderness wanderings of God’s people in old testament days, wandering forty years because of the sin of the people, going around in circles on the verge of the promised land. God’s spokesman says, Numbers 32 23, be sure your sin will find you out. Paul says in the New Testament counterpart, God is not mocked, be not deceived, whatsoever man sows, that shall he also reap. Yes, be sure your sin will find you out. And that’s why Abraham’s seed wandered in the wilderness for forty years because of sin. In Deuteronomy 30:15, and the word Deuteronomy means the law one more time, the law restated, a recapitulation, the Pentateuch, the books of law restated, recaptured. God says in Deuteronomy 30 15, see I have set before thee this day, life and good and death and evil.

2. Choose Ye This Day Whom You’ll Serve

Man is a creature of choice, and of his own voluntary will he can decide whether he’ll serve God or man. In Joshua 24 15, at the end of a brilliant career, the valiant unsung hero Joshua at the age of a hundred and ten gives his farewell address, his last will and testament to Abraham’s seed. They’ve been in the land of promise for 50 years in the conquest of Canaan by the powerful leadership of Joshua. And this aged man, in a brilliant speech, perhaps the most wonderful human speech in the Old Testament, says, Choose ye this day whom you’ll serve. But as for me and my house will serve Jehovah. What a valiant leadership Joshua had. But when he died, no one of his stature would arise until Samuel, 300 years later.

In Judges, the book that describes the decline and fall of Abraham’s seed, the weakest period in their existence. In Judges 21 25, we read what the problem was. Every man did that which was right in his own ass. You know, when everybody does his own thing instead of the Lord’s will, Matthew 26 42, the world’s in trouble. That explains the chaotic ruin of America and the nations today. Every man does that which is right in his own ass. Jeremiah 10 23 says, The way of man is not in himself, it is not in man that walketh to direct his own steps. The book of Ruth is a sweet book. It has to do with the genealogy of David and of Christ. And Ruth, the Moabitish woman, one outside of Abraham’s seed, becomes a very wonderful person in the genealogy of our Lord.

Says to Naomi, Entreat me not to leave thee, nor to return from following after thee, for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people and thy God, my God. She wisely chose the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and became a very wonderful part of the strain of Abraham’s seed. In 1 Samuel 15 22, we have the immortal words of Samuel to the disobedient King Saul. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of Rams. And obedience has always been on the top of the list in God’s divine economy. And people who say, I didn’t obey, but I love the Lord, and I don’t believe in all that legalism and obeying commands, ought to remember this statement of 1 Samuel 15 22.

It echoes the sentiment in the New Testament of 1 John 5 3. This is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous. 2 Samuel is a book that tells of the decline of David. And yet in 2 Samuel 24 24, we have the wonderful, challenging words of David, I will not give unto the Lord that which cost me nothing. He would not allow another man to supply his sacrifice before God. David wanted to serve God himself personally, sacrificially.

And though David made many blunders, sinned grievously. He was so penitent, as Psalm 51 says, and once God called him a man after my own heart, 1 Samuel 13. In 1 Kings 18, 21, from the bristling brow of Mount Carmel, we have the utterance of Elijah the prophet who has just defeated 450 prophets of Baal and the one who sent them as emissaries, Queen Jezebel. How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, then follow him, but if Baal, then follow him. Absolute commitment to God has always been the cry, the earmark of godly service. The idea of sitting on the fence, hesitating, procrastinating, waiting to make up our minds, is not Bible talk. We need to decide for God or man now.

In 2 Kings 20, verse 1, the brilliant prophet Isaiah said to the king Hezekiah, set your house in order, for ye shall die and not live. And though Hezekiah was given fifteen years of extended life, he misused the years God gave him. He needed to set his house in order, for he would die and not live, and all of us as parents need to do the same thing. We need to be sure that we train our beloved children in the way they should go, Proverbs 22 6. For children are an heritage of the Lord, Psalm 127 3. Set your house in order, for ye shall die and not live. Reminds us of our responsibility to be the parents that we ought to be in this old wicked world.

The book of 1 Chronicles is a must much abused and maligned book. People say all it has is a bunch of names, genealogy records, land records, family trees. What value is that book? Well, first of all, it gave the records that God’s people needed when they came back out of Babylonian captivity for Abraham’s seed to be re-established in the promised land to keep the world out so that Christ could come. But first Chronicles 16 29 has one of the most beautiful verses in the whole Bible in it. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. First Chronicles 16 29 reminds us that Jesus said, Worship God in spirit and in truth. John 4, verse 24. Psalm 89 7 says God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.

But 2 Chronicles has three major points in it. 2 Chronicles 36, the last chapter, tells us of the overthrow of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army. And they were taken into captivity for 70 years because of their sin. God had said in the days of Moses, Go down to Egypt and let my people go, deliver them from bondage. But in the days of Jeremiah, he said, Take them into captivity in Babylon and let my people stay for seven decades because of their own sin. In 2 Chronicles 13 12, they were reminded, fight not against the Lord God of Israel, for ye shall not prosper. We certainly do not want to be found fighting against God, Acts 5 39. But 2 Chronicles 7.14 is the beauty spot in this book.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways. Then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. In Ezra 7 10, and this goes to the period after Babylonian captivity and the restoration of God’s people back to the promised land. Ezra 7.10 says, Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. And so the great purpose of Ezra was to restore the reading of the law and adherence to it, and tears flowed gutter deep when the people realized for the first time in years that God’s word had spoken to them and they had transgressed it.

Nehemiah’s great work was to rebuild the walls of the city, to keep Abraham’s seed and the world out, so that Christ. And in Nehemiah 4 6, we have one of the brilliant verses of cooperation in the history of the world. Nehemiah said, So built we the wall, for the people had a mind to work. He didn’t say, I built the wall. A few of us built it. He said the people did it. And we’ll never accomplish anything for God when just a handful is busy. We all need to be at work building the walls that God once built that we might serve Him properly. The book of Esther is a quaint and rich book. It tells us of the immutable decree of the Persian ruler. He had signed a decree that on such and such a day, God’s people, Abraham’s seed would be annihilated.

3. Trust in the Lord With All Thine Heart

But in Genesis 22 18, as we have previously studied, God promised Abraham’s seed would exist until the Savior would come. In Esther 4 14, Mordecai says to Esther, Who knows but what you have come into the kingdom for such a time as this? The importance of this one great woman in helping at a strategic time to deliver God’s people. She had been influenced by our kinsmen, faithful, unbending Mordecai, and together by the providence of God, Abraham’s seed was spared. In Job 13, 15, the ancient patriarch said, Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. There is no book so rich on the providence of God and the utter dependence of man upon Jehovah than the book of Job. The crucible of suffering, the furnace of affliction.

And still Job was willing to say, I now know thee and abhor myself and repent in sackcloth and ashes. For God blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. The book of Psalms is the rich meditation point in the Old Testament. And Psalm 95, verses 6 and 7 form the crux of the wonderful book of Psalms. Oh come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For we’re the sheep of His hand and the people of His pasture. How we need to worship God in the beauty of holiness. And the book of Psalm teaches us how. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Come before his courts with singing. Psalm 100. In Proverbs 3, 5 to 7 we read that we’re not to lean to our own understanding.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. These short, straightforward, pungent comments in the book of Proverbs tell us that we’re to trust God explicitly, lean upon Him always, and never stand in our own power in our own might. But to have the wisdom to seek His will and to know His teaching, that we might walk before Him properly. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not to thine own understanding, and all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy path. That famous utterance of Proverbs 3 is the epitome of the entire book. Ecclesiastes, the preacher’s book, the last will and testament, the soliloquy of Solomon, closes by saying, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. And we need to understand that the grand finale of all is to do God’s will, and everything else pales into insignificance and nothingness in the light of God’s sacred teaching. To have the wisdom to obey that is what we ought to do. The book Song of Solomon is the quaintest book of all, and I suppose the one that is less read the less of any of it. In the book Song of Solomon, we look we read that the love of God is stronger than death. We also read that little sins will finally break us down.

Our vines have tender grapes. We need to understand then that we’re to trust in God, and I believe the book Song of Solomon teaches us that God is the one we’re to serve, and the prophet of God was the one they were to hear. In the book, we have a great play concerning this beautiful maiden who has who is wooed by the king in all of his splendor and all the glory of his palace, and yet her love remains with the poor shepherd boy out in the fields. I believe that shepherd represents the prophet of God, who is often aloof from the majesty and glory of the court of the king. The king represents the kings of Israel, who were not God’s true spokesman, and oftentimes greatly disobedient to his will.

4. The Books of the Prophets, Isaiah Through Daniel

And the maiden represents Israel, often through the Bible. That’s God’s bride, sometimes unfaithful bride. And Israel is wooed with the king, but her affection truly remains with the prophet. Love is stronger than death. And when the love for the word of God was strong, Israel prospered. When it wasn’t, Israel declined. Now to the books of the prophets, for one major point from each of the seventeen books, Isaiah through Malachat. Isaiah 118, in concert with the 53 53rd chapter, which tells us Jehovah laid on Christ the iniquity of us all. Says, Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. And through the fountain for cleansing and for sin, the blood of Christ, man had opportunity to be redeemed.

The book of Jeremiah has so many rich verses in it. It is difficult to choose just one. But I believe a representative verse is Jeremiah 232, where God says to his bride Judah, Can a maiden forget her ornaments or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forsaken me, days without number. One of the saddest books in the Bible, the book of Jeremiah. No wonder he was the weeping prophet. He had a lot to cry about. God’s people had forgotten, had forsaken Jehovah, had committed spiritual adultery, had turned their back upon things divine and sublime and precious and eternal. And this is a representative book of the prophets. Jeremiah weeps over the disobedience and belligerence of God’s bride. In Lamentation 340, as Jeremiah laments over the fall of Jerusalem, though he had predicted its ruin, he did not gloat over it and say, I told you so.

He wept over Jerusalem as it went up in smoke, as the temple was destroyed, burned, sacked. He cries in Lamentation 340, let us search and try our ways and turn again to Jehovah. I would recommend that everyone read the Book of Lamentations out loud today, for its rich, vibrant tones that warm the heart, thrill the soul, and yet break our hearts over the wickedness of the people. In Ezekiel 36, verses 21 to 24, God tells us why he delivered his people from captivity. He said, You profane my name among the heathen where you’ve gone, but I’m going to clear it. For my holy name’s sake, because a remnant of Abraham’s seed proved faithful and penitent, I’m going to restore you to your homeland for my holy name’s sake.

And then follows the beautiful valley of dry bones. Ezekiel sees a valley full of dry bones. They come to life. They’re revived. God says, My people who were as good as dead shall be restored for my holy name’s sake. In Daniel 4 25, we read, as the statesman of God speaks, God rules in the kingdoms of men. In Daniel 7, 13 and 14, we have the extravagantly beautiful passage that tells of the Son of Man passing through the clouds unto the ancient of days and receiving blessing and honor and glory and power and dominion and majesty forever and ever. And when Christ ascended from Mount Olivet, Acts 1 11, he passed through the clouds unto the ancient of days, the everlasting doors of glory open wide to receive the King of glory home, Psalm 24, verses 9 and 10.

5. It Is Time to Seek the Lord

He sat down with the Father, and a covenant of peace existed between the Father and the Son. Zechariah 6.13. He is the one mediator between God and men, himself, man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2 5. He ever lives to make intercession for us. Hebrews 7 25. And Revelation 5 says, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world to receive blessing and honor and glory and power and dominion and majesty forever and ever. Daniel 7 found its consummation in the coronation of Christ in glory as King of kings and Lord of Lords. Revelation 17 14. Hosea 10 12 reminds us it is time to seek the Lord. Hosea speaks of God’s gadding, unfaithful immoral bride, and how he yearns for her return, and how he makes provisions for her return, how he would redeem and ransom her from the world and from the nations.

But he said, It is time to seek the Lord. In other words, you’re just about to reap the sad dividends of an improper choice. And unless you come back to me and come back to me now, it is time to seek the Lord. You’ll be forever overthrown. Break up your fallow ground, your uncultivated ground. So to yourself in tears, reap in mercy. Those that sow in tears shall reap one day in joy. Psalm 126, 5. But Hosea’s cry, it is time to seek the Lord. Reminds us of 2 Corinthians 6 and Hebrews 3 and the New Testament. Today is the day of salvation. Today, if you’ll hear his voice, harden not your heart. Procrastination has caused many a person to be lost, and millions will be overthrown the day of judgment, because they delayed obedience, which they full well knew they must engage in.

In Joel, the prophet of Pentecost. Since Joel 2 28 is fulfilled on the day of Pentecost Acts 2, Peter said, This is that which was spoken of by the Prophet Joel. We find in Joel 3 14 the magnificent reminder, multitudes and multitudes in the valley of decision. And that’s where people stand right now in the valley of decision, because Christ has come, the church was established, the gospel has been preached, and the judgment will ensue. Multitudes in the valley of decision. But too many are making the wrong choice. In Amos 6:1, this unrelenting prophet of doom from Judah comes to the northern kingdom of Israel and taunts them with his preaching. He says, Woe unto them who are at ease in Zion. He said, Your worship that you call worship is just noise in God’s ears.

You’re so ungodly, so improper. Woe unto those who are at ease in Zion. I wonder what he would say at the magnificent panoply of materialism and worldliness that overwhelms us today. Woe unto those who are at ease in Zion, who do not take seriously the things of God. Amos 6, verse 1. In Obadiah, the only one chapter book in the Old Testament, we have the statement in verse 3 the pride of your heart has deceived you. He speaks of the descendants of Esau, the Edomites, who live in Idumeah and have a rock-ribbed, impregnable fortress of Mount Seir. No one can cast us down, they had boasted for years, and no earthly rule could. God said, Though you soar as eagle’s wings, though your nest is on high, I’ll cast you down, for the pride of your heart has deceived you.

The profane, secular, shallow, worldly, mundane emphasis of Esau, their forebearer, existed in the lives of his descendants in the days of Obadiah. God said, The pride of your heart has deceived you. Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before fall. Proverbs 1618. The book of Jonah has many fascinating verses in it. But I like the statement in chapter 1 that tells us Jonah paid his own fare when he boarded the ship going in the wrong direction. If he had gone where God told him, God would have taken care of the matter. He would have provided a way, access for it. But when Jonah decided to do his will, the devil’s service instead of God’s will, obedience to the Father, he paid his own fare. And every sinner always pays his own fare.

When we turn our back upon God, God doesn’t provide for us to do evil. We have to pay our own way in iniquity. And the wages of sin is death. Romans 6 23. Jonah paid his own fare. The book of Micah, Micah 6 finds the people saying, Can I offer the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Shall I pass my children through the fires of Molech, like Manasseh, the evil ruler did? No, he said, Here is what you must do. He has showed the old man what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God. But at the end of Micah chapter 7, we have the most beautiful verse of all.

God said, I will cast their sins into the depths of the sea. God doesn’t want to remember sin, he wants to forever forget it. Repent and turn again that your sins may be blotted out. Acts 3 19. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Hebrews 8 12 and 13. He will cast sins into the depths of the sea, but they have to be covered by the blood of Christ, Matthew 26 28. Blessed is the man whose sin is covered. Psalm 32 1. In Nahum 1, verse 3. Though we read in verse 7, he is slow to wrath and merciful to the righteous. Nahum 1 3 says, God will in no wise clear the guilty. And in an age when only the criminals seem to have any rights anymore, it is refreshing to read in the Bible, God will in no wise clear the guilty.

The justice of God must meet its demands. We read of his mercy, his grace, his love, his peace, but the Bible also speaks of the wrath of God and the justice of God. And God is not a man that he should lie. Numbers 23, 19. And when God says the wicked shall be punished, the wicked shall be punished. He will in no wise clear the guilty. There is still a place called hell, and we can’t rip that out of the Bible anymore than we can take heaven out of the Bible. These shall go away in everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Matthew 25, verse 41 to 46. The book of Habakkuk has the statement in it: the knowledge of God shall cover the world as the waters cover the sea.

It also tells us the just shall live by faith, that men had sinned against their own soul. But then the most fascinating verse is Habakkuk 2 20. Jehovah is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him. We need to be quiet and let God talk to us. We need not to bow down to the shrines of idolatry, the vivid imaginations of our wicked hearts. We need to be quiet and let God through his word speak to us and direct our paths. And that’s what reverential law will do. We need to let God do the talking. Jehovah’s in His holy temple. Psalm 11 4 says His holy temple is the heavens itself. And we need to bow in submission to what he teaches and never argue with him.

Zephaniah 1 18 tells us, neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of God’s wrath. A day of wrath, of mourning, of doom, the day of the Lord, the judgment of God upon nations and individuals. And ultimately the final judgment day, Revelation 20, verses 11 to 15, shall befall man. And our silver and gold, our idols, our materialism will not deliver us in the day of God’s wrath. Riches profit not in the day of God’s wrath. Proverbs 11:4. In Haggai 1 6, we read that when we earn wages to build up treasures on earth, when we turn our back upon God, we put our wealth in a bag full of holes. Nothing is there. Thus we need to consider our ways, turn again to God, and from the moment we do and maintain that pace, God says, I will bless you.

The book of Haggai tells of the rebuilding of the temple that had been gutted by fire. Read 2 Kings 25 9. And how instead of using this wood paneling to restructure the temple that had been depleted and burned, they used that material selfishly for their own luxuriously finished paneled houses. They did not put God first, Matthew 6 33, and thus they were not blessed. The book of Zechariah, Zechariah 13 1 says, A fountain for cleansing and for sin would be opened outside Jerusalem. It also tells us of the triumphal entry of Jesus, Zechariah chapter 9, which was fulfilled in Mark 11, when they strode palm branches in the wake of Christ, said Hosanna in the language of Psalm 118, meaning save us, we pray. They meant save us from the dreaded Romans, deliver us from the captivity of these evil men instead of deliver us from our sins.

And when Jesus let it be known he couldn’t care less who ruled in a temporal way, he had come to deliver them from sin and usher them into the kingdom of God’s dear son, they hate him even more, because theirs was a temporal hope of an earthly rule that would give them physical, carnal benefits. Zechariah predicts the death of our Lord, the piercing of his hands, his crucifixion. It also tells of the one who would cast the thirty pieces of silver down, Judas. It is truly history written before it happened. And it tells us it is not by our might, our strength, our power, but by the power of God we stand. Zechariah 4. And then the book of Malachi. Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me.

How they ask if we rob thee. By not giving to me what you should and what you purposed and what I command. As 2 Kings 12 4 says, they did not give anything out of a heart of love. He said, Until you do, I cannot open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that you will not even be able to receive. In the book of Malachi, we read of people who had not obeyed God, who had been delivered from bondage, and one hundred years later were just as despicable and wicked and indifferent as they had been before they went into captivity. The human nature of mankind does not change. God continued to extend his love. He said, If you will do my will, I’ll write your name in my book of remembrance.

Conclusion

You’ll be in the crown of jewels that I make up for glory. But if you fail to, you’ll be tread upon in doom as those who have oppressed the righteous and have not done God’s will. But he says, One will come in the power and spirit of Elijah to pave the way for the Lord, and suddenly the Lord will come to his temple. And Malachi, which means the messenger of God, tells us of John the immerser, who would bring the brilliant message, Christ is coming in fulfillment to all that the prophet said. Let us now just briefly sum up the Old Testament. Christ is coming, born of a virgin, Genesis 3.15. From Abraham’s seed, Genesis 22 18. From the tribe of Judah, Genesis 49.10. And it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, Hebrews 7.14.

He is the lion of the tribe of Judah, Revelation 5 5. But Abraham’s seed was in captivity, in bondage. God delivered them through Moses. Go down to Egypt and let my people go. They were led out into the wilderness, headed toward the promised land, but because of sin, they wandered in circles for forty years. And then finally, Joshua led them into the promised land of Canaan. Later, in the period of the judges and the period of the kings, they declined and went back into Babylonian captivity. God delivered them by the message of the prophets in their own penitence. And as the Old Testament closes, Esther and Mordecai save them from annihilation at the hands of the Persians. Daniel and his friends defeat the overwhelming thrust of the Babylonians.

And at the end of the Old Testament, the prophets say again, Christ is coming. And that’s the message of the Old Testament.