Glimpses 01

Introduction

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The Bible as you may or may not know is the story of God dealing with His creation. From the earth's beginnings there is a story portrayed in the Bible of the interaction between God and people.  The Bible is broken into two sections: the Old Testament which contains 39 books and the New Testament which contains 27 books.  The God of the Old Testament is the same God as that in the New Testament. It may surprise some people, but Jesus never actually makes an appearance in the Old Testament!

However, there is the concept of some sort of saviour or messianic figure throughout. As Christians, we believe that this Messiah or Saviour is Jesus Christ. In this series, we will glimpse at the story of God's interaction with people from the beginnings to the end - the entire history of the world - beginning to end. 

I think one of the best ways to summarise the Old Testament in 7 quick studies, is to look at the covenants or promises that God made with certain people through history. Then we will go to look at the four Gospels or writings about Jesus Christ before doing the majority of this series, looking at the man Jesus Christ. How and why He is the man of all history! What were or are Covenants in a biblical sense?

Covenants were common in all kinds of life, and not just between God and humanity.  For instance where a powerful nation had taken over a weaker nation, a covenant was in place to give benefits from the powerful nation to the weaker nation, such as protection as well as sanctions if the weaker nation rebelled.  There were covenants between equal partners in deals similar to contracts of law today.  The Covenants we shall look at from the Old Testament, regarding the relationship between God and humanity, had several things about them.

• God always took the initiative - sometimes by surprise as in with Abraham or in Noah's case, through his obedience.
• God has promised certain commitments and has given His solemn promise to fulfil His end of the bargain.
• God waits for a response from humanity. God does not coerce or force but waits for humanity to take the responsibility of replying and acquiescing to God's covenantal promises.

Through all these Covenants we see a God who is willing to interact with His creation and bless it. When first century Christians such as Paul, Peter and John checked all the events surrounding the life of Jesus, they searched their Scriptures (our Old Testament).  It was as the Holy Spirit illuminated their minds, that they wrote down and passed on the whole gamut of Old Testament promise which was fulfilled in God's Messiah and the world's hope: Jesus Christ and Him alone.  That is why it is important for us as twenty-first century Christian Disciples to read our Old Testament as well as the New Testament.  For by reading the Old Testament, new light may be shed on our own understanding of the New Testament. So starting tomorrow, we look at the Edenic Covenant from Genesis 2v15-17!

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