GOD DELIVERS HIS PEOPLE

As we continue to look at God’s Story, we focus attention on that glorious time God delivered His people from involuntary enslavement in Egypt. Four Hundred years before, God initiated a covenant relationship with Abram, who needed only to respond with faith and obedience. Abram’s descendants multiplied in Egypt. Those four centuries began with Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery (Gen. 37) only to see him in a place of keeping others alive (50:20). Famine forced Jacob and his remaining sons to journey into Egypt. Ironically, the brother sold as a slave became by God’s grace the deliverer of Jacob’s family. This movement from enslavement to deliverance is a major theme in God’s Story.

Read Exodus 3:7-10 God Cares

Eventually, Jacob and Joseph died, but their descendants multiplied (Ex. 1:1-14).Feeling threatened, the Egyptians enslaved the people and forced them to work in building programs. When the people cried out (verse 7), God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the patriarchs of the Hebrews (2:24). God called Moses to be His deliverer, identifying Himself as the God of the patriarchs (3:6). Thus, God helped Moses see the connection between the covenant He made with Abraham 400 years earlier and deliverance He was about to bring to the Hebrews. The statement of God to Moses was directly related to the statement about God in 2:24-25. The earlier statement told what God knew and was experiencing in relation to the oppression of the Hebrews. This statement builds upon that and sets forth boldly what God has done and will do in their behalf. “I have come down to deliver them… and to bring them” (v.8) sets forth the divine condescension n and its purpose. God, who has been suffering with His people, is now about to do something about it. So God was about to keep His promise. Moses’ encounter with God, as our encounters today, could not be separated from God’s covenant promises to His people.

The description of the land as “flowing with milk and honey” (v. 8) is typical of the Old Testament’s description of Canaan. Such a land would have been the ideal of an agricultural nation who had to struggle for a harvest. This “land flowing with milk and honey” is the land of Israel and Jordan today. This was poetic word picture expressing the beauty and productivity of the Promised Land. However, this territory of Canaan was occupied by both wandering and settled clams of various racial and national origins. The list in verse 8 is not intended to be exhaustive (Gen. 15:19-21; Ex. 3:17; Num.15:29). The list is considered to be typical of the pre-conquest inhabitants of the land. The listing of these different people indicates that God knew He was giving Moses a difficultly assignment and that Moses would need all of the encouragement that God could give Moses. This is the same type of incident we learned that God did with Abram in last week’s lesson. See how God controls His Story! So this tells us that when we get an assignment from God, He will stay with us and provide encouragement. What does it mean to you that God sees and hears our pain? (That He loves and cares for us! David in his writings of the Psalms gives us great examples of how it feels.)

Read Exodus 12:12-13, 29-31 God Judges

Between God’s call to Moses (chapter 3) and these verses in chapter 12, God’s Story is about how He judged the false gods of Egypt with nine of the ten plaques. Pharaoh had remained hardened and unconvinced of God’s power, through these nine plagues, trusting his gods to deliver him. Now Yahweh decided to act in one last decisive plague. None of “the gods of Egypt” could prevent Yahweh’s onslaught. In God’s Story, He alone can deliver people from bondage. The blood was a sign of God’s protection, of His gift of life. As we think about Jesus’ crucifixion, Abram’s sacrifices, and now the establishment of the Passover, blood has always been God’s sign of life. God promised to “pass over” the houses with the “distinguishing mark” instead of passing through them in judgment. For the first time, whether anyone experienced the plague was not a question of nationality or race, but one of faithful obedience. Whoever did not trust and obey would not be spared.  In this last plague, as it is today, deliverance became a matter of faith.

There was no way of recapturing the devastation of Egypt on the night of death. The dark stillness was suddenly broken by weeping. Forgetting his wrathful pledge that he would never see Moses or Aaron again, Pharaoh sent for them and in his grief he urged them to depart. Not any of the gods of Egypt had been able to protect their first born. Every first born child of the Egyptians died, but the Israelite children were spared because of the blood of the lamb. How appropriate is this fact to us today? So begins the story of redemption, which is the central theme of the Bible. In Old Testament times, God accepted symbolic offerings. Jesus had not yet been sacrificed obviously, so God accepted the life of an animal in place of the life of a sinner. Jesus’ sacrifice made animal sacrifice no longer necessary. We must recognize that if we want to be freed from the deadly consequences of our sins, a tremendous price must be paid. But we don’t have to pay it. Our part is to trust Jesus and accept the gift of eternal life. Our sins have been paid for and the way has been cleared for us to begin a relationship with God (Titus 2:14; Hebrews 9:13-15, 23-26). The Israelites were learning their need to trust God. We must trust God’s Story all the way to the cross of Christ.

Read Exodus 14:5-6, 13-14, 21-26 God Delivers

Think about what our life would be like if God delivered only judgment and not mercy. We are offered God’s mercy just as was the Israelites. As God’s Story continues, the Israelites will experience God’s continued mercy first hand. Because the Pharaoh decided to go to bring Israel back, he experienced God’s judgment. Pharaoh had not only given Israel permission to go but had ordered them to go. As Pharaoh received reports of the lack of progress on the work that the Israelite “slaves” had been doing, he realized that their departure had done away with the major source of cheap labor. The economic consequences began to sink in and both Pharaoh and his people regretted releasing the Hebrews from slavery. Also upon hearing that the Israelites were wandering aimlessly, the Pharaoh saw his opportunity to pursue them. The Pharaoh’s intent was to capture them and bring them back using a fast moving chariotry that could overtake the Hebrews.

Upon learning the Egyptians were in hot pursuit, the Hebrews were losing faith. Moses showed strong leadership when the Israelites complained against him about leading the out of Egypt. Some had convinced themselves they were better off serving the Egyptians. However, Moses calmed the people by assuring them they would “never see again” the Egyptians and told them they that the “Lord will fight” for them. Moses was introducing the Hebrews to the concept of holy war- the idea that Yahweh, the Lord of all the earth, would intervene on behalf of His people to deliver them from oppression of heathen armies. The “salvation” of which Moses spoke was used in the sense of military victory. The biblical concept of salvation moves forward from this early meaning to the latter one of spiritual deliverance from sin and death. So Moses confidently predicate that God was going to win a mighty victory over Pharaoh and that after this, Egypt would no longer be a problem to Israel.

Why do we sometimes miss “the seas God parts for us”? First, what do you think this means? (It points to the help or solutions that God provides for us.)There was apparently no way of escape, but the Lord opened up a dry path through the sea. Sometimes we find ourselves caught in a problem and see no way out. This story tells us not to panic; God can open up a way. The God who created the earth and water performed a mighty miracle at exactly the right time to demonstrate His great power and love for His people.  The God of Israel (our own true God) had defeated the gods of Egypt. God delivered the Israelites and deliverance is an important feature of God’s Story. So God is showing His care for His people, His judgment on those who oppressed His people, and His deliverance of His people. This vital relationship between God and His people serves as the central core of God’s Story, which continues as we enter into this vital relationship of faith.

GOD CHOOSES A PEOPLE

In last week’s lesson we examined God’s good creation and Adam and Eve’s sin. As we continue to look at God’s Story, we turn our attention to God’s plan to address human sin and the death and devastation it brought. Genesis 4-11 contains several stories demonstrating how sin continued to worsen and spread in the generations following Adam and Eve. The Lord reached a moment of regret for making humans when He observed their corrupted thoughts and unbridled sin (Gen 6:5-6). The pinnacle of human depravity surfaced in the tower of Babel (11:1-9). People thought they could obtain community, security, and identity by their own initiatives without God. God confounded their language and scattered them across the face of the earth.

This study skips the events surrounding Noah and the flood. It also skips the details concerning the tower of Babel (where people tried to build that tower to the heavens to reach God on their own), which occurred after the flood. So God had to deal with the sinful people that lead to the flood and then again with those who built the tower. How would God bring salvation to lost, scattered humanity? God could have rescued people from sin any way He wanted, but He chose to work with one man, Abram and his descendants. God decided to choose a people for Himself who would do His work of evangelism in the world. So our story of God’s plan for that one man begins in Genesis 12.

Read Genesis 12:1-3 A Plan of Blessing

God’s Story is one of divine provision for human need and people’s response to that provision. Our greatest need is to be restored to a vibrant relationship with God. This lesson can help us decide whether we are fully willing to trust and obey God. Abram, later to be renamed Abraham, had the same choice. When God called him, Abram moved out in faith from UR to Haran and finally to Canaan. God then established a covenant with Abram, telling him that he would found a great nation. Not only would this nation be blessed, God said, but the other nations of the earth would be blessed through Abram’s descendants. Israel, the nation that would come from Abram, was to follow God and influence those with whom it came in contact. Through Abram’s family tree, Jesus Christ was born to save humanity. Through Christ, people can have a personal relationship with God and be blessed beyond measure.

The concept of covenant was not new. God made a covenant with Noah before the flood, If he would trust God and come into the ark, then God would preserve his family through the flood (6:18). God made another covenant after the flood: He would never again destroy the earth and life upon it by a flood (9:11). In the first instance the covenant was conditional upon the people sharing in it. The second was an unconditional promise. God’s covenant with Abram had a new and distinctive dimension. God was seeking a faithful people through whom He could do a redemptive work in the world. God promised to bless Abram but God had one condition: Abram had to do what God wanted him to do. This meant leaving his home and friends and traveling to a new land where God promised to build a great nation from Abram’s family. At our ages, how would we respond to these conditions? (We would be very reluctant at best! It would certainly take a lot of faith.) Abram obeyed, walking away from his home for God’s promise of even greater blessings in the future.

God may be trying to lead us to a place of greater service and usefulness for Him. The challenge for anyone faced with that type of decision is to not let the comfort and security of one’s present position make one miss God’s plan for them. So God called Abram to enter into covenant with Him and to become the originator and ancestor of a nation of people who would live in covenant with God. Note that the word covenant does not appear in these verses that record the call of Abram. In Genesis 15:18, however, the relationship between God and Abram is described as a covenant relationship, and the concept of covenant became central in the Hebrew conviction about their relationship with God. The Hebrews became the “covenant people”, which was especially crucial for the Hebrews. It became a focus for their development as a people and for all their subsequent national history. God’s gifts bless most richly not when we are “possessed” but when they are permitted to flow through life like a stream of living water.

Read Genesis 12:4-7 A Response of Obedience

“So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him”.  We are told Abram was 75 when he obeyed God’s call and he lived until he was 175 (25:7). Abram’s way of life in Canaan was the way of a semi-nomad, but it was not a mere migration. Abram was on a mission! God planned to develop a nation of people He would call His own. He called Abram from the godless, self-centered city of UR to a fertile region of Canaan, where a God-centered, moral nation could be established. Though small in dimension, the land of Canaan was the focal point for most of the history of Israel as well as for the rise of Christianity. This small land given to one man, Abram, has had a tremendous impact on world history. Abram did not go alone or travel empty-handed when he left the community, security, and identity he had known in Haran. We are told Abram took Sarai, Lot and all the possessions they had accumulated with him. How are we confronted daily with the choice to trust God or ourselves to provide life’s necessities? (Choices of where we go, what we eat, on what to spend money, to read the Bible, what to watch on TV, what book to read, etc.)

The first stop Abram made in Canaan was at Shechem (means “shoulder” because it rests on the shoulders of two mountains where Joshua would later perform a covenant renewal ceremony –Josh. 24:1-25). Shechem was in the center of Canaan, where the “oak of Moreh” was located. “Moreh” means teaching and apparently this was a Canaanite religious center. More importantly than the place, is the act of worship there. Abram built an altar to the Lord who appeared to Abram and declared that this land would be given to Abram’s descendants. This promise had two significant meanings. First, it identified the land of Canaan as the land God had promised to the people of Abram for a national homeland. Second, it indicated that a new religious day was dawning. At the center of pagan religion God was declaring His sovereignty. Altars were used in many places for sacrifices but for God’s people altars symbolized communion with God and commemorated notable encounters with Him. Abram was reminded by altars that God was the center of his life. Regular worship helps us remember what God desires and motivates us to obey Him.

Read Genesis 15:5-8, 13-17 A Relationship of Faith

God called Abram and his descendants and had given them good land. The missing piece of the puzzle was God’s motivation which was “relationship”. God sought (and still does) a relationship with His people, even though they (and us) had distanced themselves from Him by sinning. The relationship God established with Abram was a major key in God’s Story. What God did, described in verse 5, calmed Abram’s fears about how Abram’s foreign-born house slave would become his heir because he had no son by Sarai (15:2-4). God said to look at the sky and “count the stars”—“your off-springs will be that numerous.”  Maybe we need reminders of our own journey of faith with God. What could we establish as physical reminders of our journey with God? (Maybe we could look to the sky, maybe we need to look at the beauty of nature, maybe we need to see our families grow, maybe we must be at church regularly!) Abram wasn’t promised wealth or fame; he already had that. Instead, God promised descendants like the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore (22:17 too numerous to count. When God said “if you are able to count them”, God was indicating the enormous task He had given Abram and indicating that Abram needs to get away from distractions. There are times when that is true for us as well! What Abram did not yet fully understand was that God was planning all along to give him a son by Sarai. God’s blessings are beyond imagination!

Although Abram had been demonstrating his faith through his actions, it was his belief in the Lord, not his actions that made Abram right with God (Romans 4:1-5). We, too, can have a right relationship with God by trusting Him. Our outward actions- church attendance, prayer, good deeds- will not by themselves make us right with God. A right relationship is based on faith- the heartfelt inner confidence that God is who He says He is and does what He says He will do. Right actions will follow naturally as by-products.

Then God gave Abram some insight to the future. Possession of the land by the Israelites would not take place for 400 years. During this time Abram’s descendants would be enslaved and oppressed in a land that did not belong to them. God gave Abram yet another promise in this prophecy- God would judge the nations they served (meaning Babylon, Assysia, etc.) While verse 17 seems difficult to understand, it put the seal of God’s commitment upon the covenant. In the darkness at the end of the day, Abram saw “a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch” pass between the divided part of the covenant sacrifice. God affirmed His covenant with Abram by giving Abram a sign. The fire and smoke suggest God’s holiness, His zeal for righteousness, and His judgment on all the nations. God took the initiative, gave the confirmation, and followed through on His promise. God’s passing through the pieces was a visible assurance to Abram that the covenant God had made was real. Unity would come again across the face of the earth. The tragic fragmenting effects of Babel would be overcome at last. God had a purpose for Abram descendants greater than their most expanded imaginations could conceive. God’s thoughts are indeed higher than our thoughts (Isa. 55:9). He would finally make the world one again and He is always ahead of mankind in His wise and gracious purpose. As in the days of Abram, God continues to choose a people to be His witness in this world—to continue God’s Story.

GOD BEGINS THE STORY

This study helps us to understand how all the different parts of the Bible fit together. I am sure at some time in your life, as I have, you have wondered how all this “stuff” in the old Testaments is relevant for Christians. The next 13 weeks we are going on a journey, a pilgrimage to discover God’s Story in the Bible.  We will examine each part carefully to see how they all interlock with each other to provide the total picture of God’s Story. (If this study turns out to be as complete as it promises, you may want to keep all the lessons in a folder for sharing with those who do not really understand God’s Complete Story.) After all, the Bible is God’s Story. The biblical narratives relating God’s Story are accurate and trustworthy accounts of actual historical events. The first lesson sets the stage to develop full confidence in the veracity of God’s Word, from this opening scene of God’s creation in Genesis to the final curtain in Revelation. We need to understand where “we” have been to know where “we” are going.

Read Genesis 1:2, 26-27 God Creates

God’s Story begins by summarizing the relationship between God and everyone and everything else. In this first verse of the entire Bible we are told a vital, amazing, and critically important fact that the vast majority of people on earth fail completely to understand and believe. We could reduce this verse to its shortest form to read “God created”. The verb translated means “to bring into existence”; it didn’t just happen, only God creates. From the opening statement in the Bible, we learn that God is the main subject of the entire Bible and He is uniquely set above all else including people, plants, animals and things. The phrase “the heavens and the earth” encompasses everything and everyone that is not God- Himself. This story does not begin “once upon a time”. It begins “in the beginning” and is not a fairy tale. What are some of the ways you have heard about -how the earth was formed and how people came to be? (We have heard the story of evolution or that everything just happened. We may have heard that we came from another galaxy. We also have many who believe that the earth is millions of years old and on and on.) It would take more faith to believe in one of these theories, than to believe it was created by God.

Psalm 29:1 reminds us “The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the Lord”. At the same time, we need to remember God is above creation, both eternal and awe-inspiring. Here is a comment that we may not have thought about: “Creation is subordinate to the Creator”. So creation is finite, limited, and the object of God’s intentions. He did not need to create the universe, He chose to create it. God saved His best creation for last. Only people were created in the “image” and “likeness” of God, terms that speak to people’s capacity to relate to God in a personal way. Notice the plural in verse 26 “let us make man…”; likely a reference to the Trinity. God created people for fellowship with Him. Additionally, only people were given the high responsibility and privilege of ruling over the rest of creation (Gen. 1:26, 28). Specifically, people were to “rule the fish of the sea”, the birds of the sky, the livestock and the creatures of the earth”. In this assignment, God declared people’s privileged status before Him, a status of superiority over the rest of creation, but inferiority to God.

To understand God’s Story, we must grasp this privileged status of humankind. What does the phrase “the image of God say to us? (It refers to people’s wisdom, logic, intelligence and even people having souls. However,, the pronounced aspect of the image of God is the people’s capacity to relate to God in a special way not available to any other creature.) God’s Word is described as the instrument of His creative activity. The creation and development of the universe were the result of the personal will of God. This record of creation reflects the marvel of inspiration. Then in the sixth day came an entirely new dimension of creation. It is as though all that had gone before was in preparation for the crowning act- human life. God’s stated objective was to make a creative like Himself, one superior enough to have a place of authority and control over other creatures God had made.

Read Genesis 2:15-17; 3:6-7 Humanity Rebels

THE CURSE OF SIN

Besides main characters and a theme, every story includes a conflict. Conflict emerged fairly quickly in God’s Story (how soon is not said). This could be considered a second account of creation. Beginning in Genesis 2:4 through 2:25, the focus is on the creation of the first man and woman. God took special care in forming man out of dust from the ground. Then God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life (Gen. 2:7). So this says, apart from God, people have no life. God also took great care in providing the first man a suitable home, the Garden of Eden, and a suitable vocation, to work and to watch over the garden. Let’s think about all of this. We are told that Jesus is preparing more than a suitable home for us. Then in Isaiah and Revelations we are told we will share in the Lord’s glory after He returns again and will help Him in cleansing the earth. So what God did for Adam and eventually for Eve, He has promised for all of us who become true believers. God then provided Adam with “a helper as his complement” (v.18). With the creation of Eve, the human race had begun in earnest.

God gave Adam and Eve full access to everything but the fruit from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. Why do you think God gave the couple this one prohibition? (God sought to spare people from the bitterness of knowing evil. Secondly, without the will of choice, people cannot express love- to God or to others.) People would still learn about good things through their relationship with God. All loving parents want to shelter their children from evil- which is what God wanted to do, Every time Adam and Eve passed by the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they had to make a conscious choice of whether to obey God and not eat or to disobey God and eat. The advantage of not eating was a close relationship with God. People could express their love and respect for God by freely choosing to obey His command. Jesus expressed a similar connection between love and obedience in John 14:15. “If you love Me, you will keep My commands”. Then in 1 John 5:3, “For this is what love for God is; to keep His commands. Now His commands are not a burden.”

Though surrounded by His abundance the woman and then the man freely chose to disobey God. The serpent who deceived Eve is later identified as the Devil and Satan in Revelation 12:9 and 20:2. The temptation had three characteristics: good for food (appeal to the appetite), delightful to look (appeal to the eyes), and desirable for obtaining wisdom (appeal to the intellect). The close affinity of these three characteristics to the Devil’s temptation of Jesus (Luke 4:1-13) and John’s observation that these three things belong to the world (1John 2:16) show the overarching unity of God’s Story. We are told that Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened to sin, which is necessary for all of us. In the case of Adam’s sin, God already had a plan in motion to overcome the effects of the rebellion. The entire Bible is the story of how that plan unfolds, ultimately leading to God’s own visit to earth through His Son- and then to the new heaven and the new earth when the Father comes back to earth. Among the unanswered questions from this part of the story is why didn’t Adam intervene between Eve and the serpent? (Maybe Adam wanted to see if what the serpent had said was true. Maybe it was because God again was giving Adam the freedom of choice, or maybe this was God letting Adam say nothing because Eve’s sin had already set in motion the “curse” of sin.)

Read Genesis 3:14-19, 23-24 Sin Has Consequences

The immediate effects of sin became readily apparent. The death process introduced by sin included alienation from God. Adam and Eve had themselves from God and blamed someone or something else. God began His judgment of sin by confronting the serpent. Then 3:15 has been called the “first gospel”, the first promise in the Scripture of the coming Redeemer. The verse predicts the clash between the seed of the woman, Jesus, and the serpent or Devil. This Scripture also promised the serpent’s defeat. Thus from the beginning of God’s Story, He had the end of the Story in view. Jesus would defeat the serpent (Devil) – (Rev. 20:2, 10).

Significantly, the word “curse” does not occur in God’s comments to Eve (3:16). However, Adam is told the ground is cursed because he listened “to the woman”. The ground will produce thorns and thistle for Adam and he will have to work until he returns to dust. Adam was banned from his paradise (Eden) and God used the cherubim to guard the garden. God also gave a new affirmation of the worth of life by a two-fold gift of grace. First, God provided animal skins and helped them overcome the reasons for their shame. God took the initiative to begin the redemptive work for those who had sinned against Him. This redemptive love of God came to fullest measure when Jesus died for sinners.

GOD DISCIPLINES HIS PEOPLE

Good parents teach responsibility by giving their children tasks to do, holding the kids accountable by making sure the jobs are done correctly. They give their kids several chances to get it right because the learning process requires patience. What happens when a child refuses to do what is expected? What can loving parents do when their young person fails to meet expectations or deliberately does shameful or harmful things to themselves or to others? Some parents have to make the hardest decision of their lives concerning their children. They chose to apply strong discipline in order to save their kids life because previous warnings had gone unheeded. I’m sure you know where this is leading. This was the situation that faced God.

Read 2 Kings 17:7-11 God’s People Sinned

After Solomon’s death around 931 BC, his kingdom divided into two smaller kingdoms: Israel (Northern Kingdom) and Judah (Southern Kingdom). This lesson focuses on Israel, with the pattern of sin, warning, and judgment. Judah outlasted Israel by 136 years, but it too often sinned, heard God’s warning through prophets, and faced God’s discipline. Both kingdoms suffered similar fates. As a loving Father, God submitted His rebellious children to severe discipline in order to correct their ways. In 722 BC, after a three-year siege, the Assyrians overthrew Samaria, capital of Israel (2 Kings 17:6-7). The Northern Kingdom was no more. The same scenario played out 136 years later when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, capital of Judah. The Jewish people learned the hard way: God disciplines His people. God’s Story is replete with examples of people who brought judgment upon themselves due to sin.

God’s Story also has many examples of people who repented and turned back to God, experiencing His acceptance and rich blessing as a result. These people gave God reasons for wanting to forgive and restore as many of Jewish people as possible. Why do parents discipline their children? (Out of love because they want them to change and live better lives.) Sometimes following God is difficult and painful, but consider the alternative. We can live for God or die for ourselves. Determine to be God’s person and do what He says regardless the cost. What God thinks of us is infinitely more important than what those around us think (Romans 12:1, 2; 1 John 2:15-17). However, the people of Israel got caught up in wanting to be like and blend in with the surrounding nations and their pagan customs and worshipping of false gods. So the Lord had to discipline and judge the people for their actions. Those who create their own religion tend to live selfishly. And to live for one’s self, as Israel learned, brings serious consequences from God.

Ruin came upon Israel for their public sins and their secret sins.  Not only did they condone wickedness and idolatry in public, but they committed even worse sins in private. Secret sins are the ones we don’t want others to know about because they are embarrassing or incriminating.  Sins done in private are not secret to God, and secret defiance of Him is just as damaging as open rebellion. God’s people “missed the mark” He had set for them for covenant loyalty and obedience. God wants us to live by His principles. When we fall short, we have only to repent and to turn back to God in order for Him to forgive and to restore us.

Read 2 Kings 17:12-15 God’s People Were Warned

Two realities made the Northern Kingdom’s demise particularly tragic. First, God clearly had stated His expectations from the beginning. Second, He often warned His people along the way to repent whenever they had sinned. Thus the writer of 2 Kings (possible Jeremiah) succinctly stated “They served idols, although the Lord had told them, ‘You must not do this” (v.12). The verb “served” is translated as “worship” on some occasions (Ex. 20:5). Clearly God never intended for people, made in His image and likeness, to humble themselves before man-made idols. The Lord did not arbitrarily judge Israel, but rather He exacted upon them the judgment their sin deserved according to the command He had given from the beginning of their covenant together. God would often use prophets to warn the Israelites about appearing godly but lacking depth and devotion- a result of picking and choosing the command they wanted to follow. God’s Word is not a buffet where people can choose meat and desserts and ignore the vegetables (so that is why vegetables are so good for us). God sent His terms for relationship and His warning to repent through His “servants the prophets”. That God referred to them as “my servants” is indicative of their loyalty to His Word and Will. So who were these prophets?

2 Kings was the concluding section of a longer history cataloging God’s people from their entrance into the land under Joshua to the fall of both Israel and Judah. During the course of Israel’s time in the promise land, God had sent many prophets to confront and to guide His people. He used Samuel, who anointed both Saul and David to be kings over God’s people. He used Nathan and Gad to confront David in his sins (2 Sam. 12; 24). He used Ahijah to inform Jeroboam of the intent to divide Solomon’s kingdom (1 Kings 11). When King Baasha sinned, God confronted him through the prophet Jehr Ben Hanani (1 Kings 16). What about the great ministries of the prophets Elijah and Elisha? We need not forget how the shepherd Amos traveled from Judah to confront the sin of Israel at Bethel or how God used Hosea’s broken marriage as an analogy of His relationship with Israel. Additionally God empowered Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and other prophets to confront His people’s sins, warning them to repent. So how do we hear God’s messages and warnings – and who is our “prophet” today? (Read the Bible, Prayer, “Listen” to the Holy Spirit. Listen to the Pastor’s messages, worship together, and studying together.)

God’s patience and mercy are beyond our ability to understand. He will pursue us until we either respond to Him or, by our own choice and hardness of heart, make ourselves unreachable. Then God’s judgment is swift and sure. The only safe course is to turn to God before our stubbornness puts us out of His reach. Think about all of the Jewish people throughout the ages that can’t understand that Jesus is the Messiah. Everything points to Jesus and all of the specific prophecies that have been fulfilled by Jesus exactly as predicted. By the way 2 Kings 25:25 refers to the Israelites, the Hebrews, and the Judeans all a “Jews” (NASB).

Read 2 Kings 17:18-20 God’s People Were Disciplined

Discipline is not pleasant, but it is beneficial and needed. We can even learn from others’ mistakes and turn back to God. However, it seems the Israelites could not learn. In verse 18, the phrase “he removed them from His presence” means God removed His control and protection from their lives. We can remove God’s control from our lives through our attitudes and actions. The people continued to abuse the long-suffering God and to excite His anger with their sins until He finally removed them forever as a nation. Only Judah remained of the twelve tribes of Israel to whom God had given the Promised Land. However, the author of the Books of Kings, who lived after the destruction of Jerusalem, anticipated in verses 190-20 the rejection of all of Israel, including Judah, for their sin. In Dr. David Jeremiah’s book “What in the World is Going On” (10 Prophetic clues you cannot afford to ignore), chapter 5 deals with the Rapture and what occurs to position the event in relation to Tribulation. Dr. Jeremiah also draws a parallel to what happened to Israel and Judah to the United States’ moral decay and loss of dependence on God, in chapter 6. Thus he reasons these are among the thoughts that the Bible is silent on the future of America.

After all of this, we can more clearly see why the remnant of Jews who were finally returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple from Persia by Cyrus was vital. This led directly to establishing the base and set the stage for Jesus. Prior to this small remnant (see Ezra 1-8 for the estimates) being blessed by God, the Israelites engaged in forms of witchcraft, fortune-telling and black-magic – all of which were forbidden by God (Deut. 18:9-14). They were wrong because they sought power and guidance totally apart from God, His law and His Word. Isaiah echoed this law and prophesied of the complete destruction of these occult practices would bring to those who participated in them (Isa. 8:19-22). God is the same today as He has always been and He will preserve His people and His kingdom. We need only to read God’s Story to discover God disciplines His people for the good of His people.

GOD ESTABLISHES A KINGDOM FOR HIS PEOPLE

We all have heard a version of the old adage “The road to Hades is paved with good intentions”. Sometimes this prods procrastinators to quit merely stating good intentions and get started actually doing what they claim they will do. Others may even think that good intentions are the problem if they really pave that road- as unlikely that may seem. We all have put off worthwhile things or had the best intentions to begin a plan only to experience unforeseen negative circumstances or consequences. In God’s Story, we have a primary example of a man who had the very best of intentions concerning expressing his love for God. In his case, God opted not to take him up on his plan, but posed a counter plan with far-reaching implications. This man was David. As king, he intended to build God a house or temple. Early encouragement from Nathan, the prophet, soon gave way to God’s rejection of David’s plan. However, David’s good intentions pleased God, so He decided to make a covenant with David regarding an eternal kingdom. David’s greatest descendant, Jesus, established the kingdom that lasts forever. We all have plans and goals for our lives; but this lesson shows us that we need to continually surrender our plans to God!

Read 2 Samuel 7:8-11a Establishing a Place

In our efforts to develop God’s Story over 13 weeks, we cannot nor do we need to expand on all the significant issues or stories in the Bible. However, it is good to touch on certain events to help our over-all understanding. Much has happened in God’s Story since our previous lesson, namely, the wilderness wanderings, the conquest of the promise land by Joshua, the period of judges, and the establishment of the monarchy. A period of several hundred years separated Moses from David (1450 BC to 1000 BC). David, the victorious youth, had become king over Judah for 7.5 years in Hebron before moving his capital to Jerusalem, where he served as king over all Israel for an additional 33 years. God had blessed David with victories over all of David’s opposing forces.

As we get to 2 Samuel 7, we see David has settled into his palace precisely because “the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies” (2 Sam. 7:1b). David shared with Nathan, his court prophet, his observation about how his was “living in a cedar house while the ark of God sits inside tent curtains” (v. 2). David loved the Lord so he wanted to build a “home” for the ark of God, which was the visible symbol of God’s presence. This was David’s plan and even Nathan encouraged David. However, in God’s Story, God is in charge and directs the course of human events. Like David, we often have good intentions. However, we need continually to surrender our plans to God. God’s plans are always better. Think about from where you were as a teenager to where you are today.  How does that remembrance lead you to trust God with future plans? (He worked His greater purpose in times of heartache and failure- as well as in the good times. So God will continue to lead us in the future if we trust Him!) We might not understand every aspect of God’s magnificent plan nor even in every facet of God’s Story, but we can trust faithfully in His grace and benevolence. He wants to establish His people today no less than He did in David’s day.

David’s request was good, but God said no. This does not mean that God rejected David. In fact, God was planning to do something even greater in David’s life than allowing Him the prestige of building the Temple. However, God did not abruptly tell David no. God reminded David of all that He had done for David over the years and that God will continue to be with David by planning to do something even greater in David’s life. God promised to continue the dynasty of David forever. God said to David, “I will make a name for you like that of the greatest in the land” (v. 9). David’s earthly dynasty ended four centuries later, but Jesus Christ, a direct descendant of David was the ultimate fulfillment of this promise (Acts 2:22-36). Christ will reign for eternity- now in His spiritual kingdom in heaven and later on earth in the new Jerusalem (Luke 1:30-33); Revelations 21). Accepting God’s “no” requires as great a faith as carrying our His “yes”.

Read 2 Samuel 7:11b-17 Establishing an Eternal Kingdom

In a reversal to what David wanted to do for the Lord, the Lord, in these verses, promises “will make a house for you (David)” (v. 11b). Of course the word “house”, in this case, refers to David’s dynasty. This continues God’s covenant He had made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and all His people who had been part of the covenant community in the past. David was not perfect (as we are Not), but he was loyal to God (1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22). The ancient promise to the patriarchs was to find their fulfillment in David. But a new element appears here too. Nathan, from the Lord, promised that David would have that which Saul wanted desperately (1 Sam. 20:31) but did not achieve- a succession of descendants on his throne, a dynasty (2 Sam. 7:11). This promise to David is a promise from which all Christians benefit today and until Christ’s return.

By this time these events were written, this promise had become fact. Thus these verses were recorded to explain how the dynasty came to be- and why it should be viewed as divinely ordained. The prophecy did not specify which son would follow David, but the Historian writer knew that Solomon was that person. Solomon was authorized to build the house for God that was denied David (v. 13), because David had shed so much blood and waged great wars (1 Chon. 22:6-16). So in these verses God repeated His promise to David to establish his son’s kingdom forever, using the phrase “the throne of his kingdom”. Three of Jesus’ claims about Himself alluded to verse13. First, Jesus said He would build a temple (John 2:19-22).  Second, Jesus told Pilate His kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36). Finally, Jesus said His kingdom was eternal (Luke 22:29-30). So this glimpse into God’s greater purpose was a major turning point in God’s Story. In what ways does this affect one’s personal walk with God? (First, when God repeats something (as He did here), He means it and we need to listen. Then this was a clear promise that God would be with us all the way to eternity, especially since we have Jesus’ words.)

Read 2 Samuel 7:22-24 Establishing A Divine Purpose

In this moving, heartfelt prayer, David uses the phrase “O Lord God” (KJV) to express his close intimacy with his God. Then David follows this with “There is no one like you” and “there is no God beside you”- all in verse 22. All of this shows how overwhelmed David was by what Nathan had passed long from God. David expressed in his prayer the same humility that he exhibited as a youth before Saul (v. 18; 1 Sam.18:23). The king praised God for His past acts for Israel: the redemption of Israel; the driving out of Israel’s enemies; the making of a covenant that established Israel as the people of God forever (2 Sam. 7:23-24). God’s goodness is seen by David as proof of His greatness, and David sees it displayed, not only in his dealing with himself, but also in the past history of the Israel nation. There is in this a depth of evangelic piety. As an unconverted heart would see the greatness of God in the majority of creation, or in severe dealing with impenitent (those not repenting). However, David saw it in acts of mercy and kindness. We look upon Elijah as the type of sternness, yet he too recognized the presence of God is in “the still small voice” of gentleness and love (1 Kings 19:13).

David was acknowledging God’s greater purpose of establishing Israel to be His “own people forever” and for the Lord to “become their God” (v. 24). David concluded his prayer accepting God’s will for his life and asked the Lord to fulfill His promise –to give him a confirmation (v. 25). David knew God’s word to him was sure and true. As a result, David’s house would be blessed forever (vv. 26-29). Like David, we can express our praise and thanksgiving to God for His greatness and His faithfulness to keep His promises. The eternal plans and purposes God began to unfold to David are still in place. We can choose the love and peace of Jesus with others in caring ways to bring them to Christ since God still establishes His people.

GOD COMPLETES THE STORY

Living the Christian life is like taking a long journey. We encounter delaying interruptions and hardships all along the way. Often we grow weary of life in this sin-laden world. God encourages us to press on because He already has revealed the completion of His Story. He wants the promise of Christ’s return and of heaven to encourage us. We need not live in fear of the end time because God has a home for us where we can be renewed. Have you read a book, watched a movie, or recorded a sporting event a second time when you know the end of the story before you start? Knowing the ending of a story takes the anxiety and fear out of it. This is actually what God has done for us.

Read John 14:1-3 The Plan

We are to live in joyful anticipation of Christ’s return and spending eternity in heaven with Jesus. John 14:1-3 is part of Jesus’ farewell discourse, extending from 13:1 to 17:26. Jesus was preparing His disciples for life after His ascension. The disciples were troubled by Jesus’

announcement of His imminent departure (13:36). Jesus was trying to comfort His anxious disciples because they did not know nor understand the end of God’s Story at that point. Instead of being “troubled”, Jesus called His disciples to “believe”. “Believe” occurs twice in the verse. The particular verb form can either make a statement or issue a command. It could be Jesus was doing both. It is likely Jesus was telling the disciples to “believe in God” as a statement but to “believe also in Me” as a command. By trusting in Jesus as they already trusted in God, their hearts would be comforted. This is what Jesus is telling us also.

This 13-week study has been much more than just a patchwork quilt of Bible stories; it has been many stories that all fit together to tell one story of God’s redemption. Verses 2 and 3 are a marvelous promise or covenant of how God completes His story. This was more than a reservation for the disciples in heaven; Jesus was expecting them to show up there. Jesus’ comments indicated there would be room enough and space for all to have an abiding place in the Father’s house. This is a promise that the believer will live in the roominess of the Father’s house with perfect fellowship forever. On the other hand, it is a present promise that Jesus calms the troubled heart with the assurance that He has prepared both the place and the way and will always be present with His believers to strengthen and guide them. The result would be a shared relationship for all eternity (v.3). How could we use John 14:1-3 to help someone who always worries about the future?

Read Revelation 21:1-54; 22:1-5 The Place

As Revelation 21 begins, Satan and unbelievers have been judged and banished eternally. All should read the description of Jesus’ return in Rev. 19:11-16. It says we (all believers in heaven) will follow Him to earth and stay on earth. This description is vastly different than 1 Thes. 4:14-17, which says believers will be caught up in the cloud to go to heaven at the sight of Jesus (Rapture). Chapter 19 describes Jesus return with us and cleansed the earth of the three evil leaders (Satan, the Beast, and the Anti-Christ) and all unbelievers, when their judgment occurs. Chapter 20 describes the Millennium, but not in any real detail. However, we are told that Satan is in chains during this period, only to be released for a brief period. (While I can explain some reasons for this brief release of Satan at this time, only God knows why for sure.) Nevertheless, God sends Satan and any unbelievers to the Lake of Fire for the rest of eternity before Chapter 20 ends.

Basically, the Bible begins in a garden and ends in a garden. Yet between the two gardens a great deal of action, both sacred and secular, takes place. The sacred mainly concerns God’s redemptive efforts, and secular concerns mankind’s sin, rebellion, and puny self-efforts to realize their true destiny. The overall story is about paradise lost and paradise regained. Because people sinned, the material world somehow suffered from mankind’s fall (Gen. 3:17-18) and also will share in His redemption (Rom. 8:22-23). Although the prophet Isaiah was probably the first to envision as ideal society in which people “shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks” (Isa. 2:4), others at different times also have dreamed of a perfect society. The biblical term for the ideal society is the kingdom of God.

Following Isaiah’s lead (65:17), John wrote: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more” (Rev. 21:1). Peter also wrote of “new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13). Heaven as well as earth will enjoy the newness that accompanies each life which began when the believer trusted Christ as Savior and Lord (2 Cor. 5:17). IN the new creation, there will be no “sea”. As noted in other Scripture, the sea represented danger, turmoil, restless masses of people, and separation. The first beast came up out of the sea (Rev. 13:1). John saw a sea before God’s throne (4:6), symbolizing HHHis moral transcendence or holiness. On the isle of Patmos, the sea separated John from those he dearly loved. Now in heaven there is no more sea, thus no more separation. Believers will enjoy God’s presence in the fullest sense and have sweet fellowship around His throne. Since the redeemed will be saved even from the presence of sin, there will be no residue of sin to prevent them from enjoying intimate fellowship with God. Revelation seems to depict mankind’s perfect environment as fulfilled in heaven, not during the millennium.

The new Jerusalem is where God lives among His people. Instead of our going up to meet Him, He comes down to be with us, just as God became man in Jesus Christ and lived among us (John 1:14). Wherever God reigns, there is peace, security and love. The “holy city, the new Jerusalem” is described as the place where God will remove all sorrows. Forevermore, there will be no death, sorrow, crying, or pain. What a wonderful truth!! No matter what you are going through, it’s not the last word- God has written the final chapter, and it is about true fulfillment and eternal joy for those who love Him. We do not know as much as we would like, but it is enough to know that eternity with God will be more wonderful than we could ever imagine. The heavenly scene is both spectacular and beautiful. Instead of a sea before God’s throne (as in 4:6), now there is a river flowing from it right through the middle of heaven’s main street. (This is just one of the indications that there is a Present Heaven, as John describes scenes and events prior to Revelation 21, which is vastly different from when the new heaven and new earth come down.)  The water of life is a symbol of eternal life. Jesus used this same image with the Samaritan woman (John 4:7-14). It pictures the fullness of life with God and the eternal blessings that come when we believe in Him and allow Him to satisfy our spiritual thirst (Rev. 22:17).

“Also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (v.2b). Ezekiel’s description of the temple with a river flowing from it (47:1), also added “And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing” (47:12). This tree of life is like the tree of life in the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:9). We know Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat from this tree. When they did, it caused the curse of sin. But because of the forgiveness of sin through the blood of Jesus, there will be no evil or sin in this city. We will be able to eat freely from the tree of life when sin’s control over us is destroyed and our eternity with God is secure.

So why would the nations need to be healed if all evil is gone? There is not an obvious answer here. We must look deeper! John in quoting from Ezekiel (as mentioned above), is not implying that there will be illness in the new earth, he is emphasizing that the water of life produces health and strength where it goes. So that is why we will be able to eat freely from the tree of life in the new earth. Does this indicate we must eat from it? This may be one of those questions you will want to ask Jesus or God in-person.

Verse 22:3 “There will no longer be any curse.” means that nothing accursed will be in God’s presence. This fulfills Zechariah’s prophecy (14:11). Then the rest of verse 3 stresses the centrality of the Heavenly Father and Son and suggest that worship will be the main activity in the heavenly city, but not the only activity. We observed earlier that the most faithful of God’s servants on earth could not see God in His fullness. As John wrote in his Gospel, “no one has ever seen God” (1:18)! Now John could write, “they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads” (v.4). (maybe we all get tattoos after all!) This passage assures intimate fellowship eternally, with complete security, for those who are God’s very own people.  Then verse 5 reiterates the truth expressed in 21:25 concerning the absence of night, which symbolizes sin and danger. This verse also repeats 21:23 that “they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light”. Notice it does not say there will be no sun, just no need for it. Then John adds icing to our eternal cake by asserting “and they shall reign for ever and ever”.

What do you look forward to finding out about heaven?

Read Revelation 22:12-14 The Promise

When Jesus said He was “coming quickly”, it refers to “how” He will come not to “when” He will come. No one knows when Jesus will come, but God. David Jeremiah in his book says that unless your name is “no one” you will not know when Jesus will come. Jesus will come too quickly for people to change their allegiances. So Jesus was challenging His disciples to live by faith, doing His work every day, for no one knows the hour of His coming. He also promised rewards to those He found working when He returns (Matt. 24:44-46). The rewards will be matched to what each person, who already believes and serves Him (2 Cor. 5:10), “has done” for Christ.

Then Jesus said “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, beginning and the end.” The same words, earlier applied to the Father (1:8, 21:6), apply fully to the Son. Verse 14 contains the seventh and final Beatitude in Revelation. Those who “Blessed” (happy) “who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates”! The figure of washing their robes is equivalent to trusting Christ concerning His sacrificial death on their behalf. Those who wash their robes are those who seek to purify themselves from a sinful way of life. They strive daily to remain faithful and ready and ready for Christ’s return. In the final analysis, the real entrance to the heavenly city is through Him who said “I am the door; if any one enters by Me, he will be saved” (John 10:9).

God’s entire Story focuses on His desire or fellowship with those whom He created in His image. Sin broke the fellowship; faith in Jesus restores it. God revealed the completion of His Story by promising Christ’s return. Jesus is preparing a place in His Father’s house for all believers and will come to take them to be with Him forever. The curse of Genesis 3:14-19 is replaced with the blessing of Revelation 22:14. We must get ready for Jesus’ return, knowing what we do in this life has eternal consequences. God’s people living in God’s house for all eternity provides the perfect conclusion to God’s Story.