Our Fathers Faith, Review

We are developing the thread of Redemption in this survey.  There are other approaches that could be done but I think that the wonderful theme of redemption will give us a fresh look at the Old Testament.

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance^[1] and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.    Romans 15:4, NIV

Study of the Old Testament scriptures are greatly beneficial to the disciple of Christ.  There are three words that pertain to our relationship to the Old Testament particularly.  Teaching, Endurance, and Encouragement.

Teaching.  It is God's design for the disciple that he learn - not from his own experience from life but to learn from the instruction of the scriptures.  Our problem is that, if left to our own "devices" we will draw the wrong lessons from life - witness the myriad of philosophies that have been developed from great men down through the centuries.

Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.[8] "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. [9] "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.    Isaiah 55:7-9, NIV

The whole purpose of listening to the LORD through His Word is that the believer deal with his bent for sin in his life.  Beyond that but certainly not exclusively from that is that the disciple learn how to think like the LORD.  Paul   reflected that concept in 2 Cor. 10:4-6.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. [5] We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. [6] And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.    NIV.

Endurance, ... Encouragement.^[1]  If God's Word does not impact our daily living It truly is not a reality in our lives.  Throughout the Pauline Epistles, and of course the other writers of scriptures, the whole emphasis is application of God's Word to our daily life.  "Endurance"   here implies the call of the LORD to stay under both our circumstances and the authority of God's Word over our lives.  "Encouragement" has a wonderful picture of His Word calling to us so that we might sit down beside It - Actually Christ's thoughts and learn, much as the original disciples did during Christ's ministry on earth.  What a wonderful thought!

Finally, if we can derive an important thought from our passage in 2 Corinthians - it is this:  if we do not allow the call of the scriptures to woo us - we will replace God's thoughts with ours - there will not be a vacuum - only the emptiness of our "vain" thoughts which, of course are powerless to help us in our spiritual growth and in our intimacy with Christ.  Let's take a look at where we have been so far.  I would like to just cover the general theme to each book as it relates to God's plan of Redemption and point out some key verses from each book.

Genesis

Key verses are as follows:

Genesis 1:1, KJV
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 3:15, KJV
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Genesis 15:6, NIV
Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 50:20, NIV
"And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.

The theme of Genesis is, of course, the beginning of things - particularly I wish to focus on the beginning of God revealing His redemptive plan.

Exodus

Key verses:

Exodus 3:8-10k KJV
And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. [9] Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. [10] Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

Exodus 12:1-7, NIV
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, [2] "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. [3] Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. [4] If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. [5] The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. [6] Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. [7] Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.

Exodus 14:29-31
But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. [30] That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. [31] And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

Exodus 15:26
He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you."

The theme is the development of the doctrine of redemption comes to light in Exodus - but beyond that the importance of obedience to the Lord comes with the result of redemption in the sinner's life.  We developed the concept of stepping out in faith - even thought we might not see the results of that faith immediately in our life.  The theme of obedience in light of the redemptive act of the Lord is developed.

Leviticus

Key verses:

Leviticus 19:2, NIV  (particularly the whole chapter is devoted to God's people being holy and set apart).
"Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: 'Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

For further explanation of the Levites who are a type of today's disciple we must refer to other books:

Numbers 8:11-14
Aaron is to present the Levites before the LORD as a wave offering from the Israelites, so that they may be ready to do the work of the LORD. [12] "After the Levites lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, use the one for a sin offering to the LORD and the other for a burnt offering, to make atonement for the Levites. [13] Have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons and then present them as a wave offering to the LORD. [14] In this way you are to set the Levites apart from the other Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.

Study also Exod 32:26, 29; Num 1:49-53.

The theme of Leviticus may be found by reading Romans 12:1, 2.

Numbers

Theme:  The first and second numbering of the men and their families of Israel point to first, the responsibility of God's people and, in the case of the first numbering the consequences of failure to obey God.^[2]  Secondly, the second numbering of God's people points to the faithfulness of God to His people and the rewards of obeying Him.

Compare Numbers 1:2-16 with Ephes 6:10 - 13.  The idea of personal responsibility is balanced with the fact that the Lord is the God of the second chance but eventually will punish disobedience.

Deuteronomy

Deut. 7:6-9
For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. [7] The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: [8] But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. [9] Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

Deut. 6:5
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Deut. 11:1
Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.

Deut. 30:6
And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

Deut. 30:16
In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

Deut. 30:20
That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

The theme of Deuteronomy is more than the second giving of the law.   It is an account of God's faithfulness in fulfilling His promises to His people and has a dual theme - first, the fact that He has set His people apart as a holy people and second, that He expects his people to love and obey Him in return.

So then, we see that the LORD is not going to give up on His people.  He lovingly provided in eternity past for every contingency in face of the failure of His people but not willing to force redemption on every man, waits patiently for everyone to respond to His Love.  Upon response, He will save man and bless him - indeed, shower him with every blessing unimaginable.  Redemption is more than escaping the fires of hell.   It is the restoration of man in fellowship with the Lord and the infusion of God's grace in man's life.

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1.  Endurance = hupomone, cognate of hupomeno = to remain under - the concept of patience, of staying behind as a soldier in a military exercise on patrol would stay behind to cover for the safety of others in his patrol.   The temptation during difficult times would be to flee and certainly desert God's Word in favor of our own answers to the difficulty.  Encouragement = paraklesis, cognate of the verb, parakleo.  The noun points to the call of the scriptures to aid the disciple in his difficulty - in his quest to learn of God's thoughts - and particularly to lean of His redemption so that he can present to others the call to repentance.