Old Testament Survey Week 3 Possessing the Promise of God

Old Testament Survey Week 3 Possessing the Promise of God

Father thank You for your invitation
Lord, we want to do as Moses did when You said,
“Moses come up to this place
and live here and I’m going to show you My heart.
Lord we want to come to that place where we are in Your presence,
experiencing Your heart.
Lord we also believe that Your Word transforms us,
it changes us, it makes us different people.
So, Lord as we forge ahead, as we search diligently,
as we reach inside Your heart Lord, we want to be changed,
we want to be transformed, we want to become different people,
we want to become like Jesus, who is the Word.
Lord we are going to look for Jesus on every page of this here.
Thank You Lord,
that it was in Your heart Father –
Your heart of compassion to create us,
it was the Holy Spirit’s role to activate Your Creation,
and it was the Son, Jesus’ role to manifest what was in Your heart.
So, Lord we want to join that as well,
to have a deposit of Your Kingdom in our hearts this evening.
In Jesus name.
A-Men


The Angel of the Lord that Jacob wrestled with all night:
Opinion – this angel was a Theophany
the appearance of Christ (who is eternal)
before his incarnate birth as a human.

Theophany, from the Ancient Greek (ἡ) Θεοφάνεια - Τheophaneia

[1] (meaning "appearance of God"),

[2] refers to the appearance of a deity to a human, or to a divine disclosure
Examples:

Jacob’s angel fo the Lord
Moses’ the buring bush
Melchizadek

Right after this event Jacob says,

“I have met God face-to-face and lived.”

This is strong evidence that this was Christ.
There are two meanings to this statement:
1- Not only did he survive the encounter ….
2- But face-to-face with Christ he sees ‘true life’

I’ve come face-to-face with God, and now I’m truly alive.
He will never be the same – he has a new perspective.

He put Jacob’s hip out-of-joint,
that’s why even today kosher Jews
will not eat meat from the hip-joint of an animal.

This is a reminder to Jacob (and us as well)
that he can now only live by grace – not self-effort.
He limps from now on, he cannot walk in his own strength.

Query: Does Christ appear today in the same fashion?

There is little evidence in the scriptures that He does…
accept that He appeared to Saul of Tarsus (the Apostle Paul)
on the road to Damascus

He appeared to the disciples on the road to Emmaus.

The fact-of-the-matter is He’s God!
He can do whatever He wants to do.

Query about Noah:

There was a law in Noah’s day,
it was part of the Noahic Covenant.

When God made this covenant
He made the first decree of a law to Noah;
which is partly why
Noah is a very important figure in scripture.

Rest comes through Noah,
and also the law is beginning to be established.

Query:
When Jacob stole Esau’s blessing
why couldn’t Isaac simply restore
the first-born blessing to Esau?

This is a totally different way of thinking…
which is foreign to our culture…
We think, Monday is as good as Tuesday…
but in the Jewish culture it wasn’t…
Monday can’t possibly be as good as Tuesday,
because Monday is Monday
and Tuesday is Tuesday.

Whatever he (Isaac) does on a particular day, it is sealed!…
It can’t be revisited or amended.
It is set in stone…
he only has one first-born blessing to give…
He cannot give it out two times… even if it is given in an illegitimate way, he only has one to give… he can’t do the same thing twice… there are no ‘mulligans’ (do-overs) in first-born blessings.

It should be noted that Jacob not only bought Esau’s birthright…
but he stole the blessing too
(which was a bigger deal than the birthright)
by deceiving his father Isaac
(with his mothers help and encouragement).

In the same way
they were not allowed to prepare food on the Sabbath…
and they were not allowed to prepare food for the Sabbath
on the previous day..
this food was for one day, and that food was for another day.

That’s why Jesus says in His very Jewish way,
don’t worry about tomorrow… why?
Because tomorrow has its own set of issues and problems…
i.e. ‘I only have grace for right now’….

A great writer Francois Fenelon in the 1600’s wrote saying
“Do not deprive tomorrow of its grace.”

What he’s meaning by that is,
“There’s grace for today,
and there’s grace for tomorrow.”
“There’s realities and circumstances today,
and there’s realities and circumstances for tomorrow.”
Let’s not jeopardize tomorrow’s grace by attempting to use it today.

Ed:Fkj
François Fénelon was a seventeenth-century French archbishop
who rose to a position of influence in the court of Louis XIV.
Amid the splendor and decadence of Versailles,
Fénelon became a wise mentor to many members of the king's court.
Later exiled for political reasons,
he set out to improve the lot of peasants of his diocese.
His letters of counsel and spiritual meditations
have found a wide audience for more than three centuries.
Twenty-first century Christians are now discovering
the wisdom of this controversial theologian and spiritual thinker.
Fenelon showed how it was possible
to have devotion and faith in the original Age of Reason.
In many respects, rationality still rules today in religion and culture,
and as a result, Fenelon speaks to modern Christians
wanting deeper faith and a meaningful inner life.

Query about Rachael who stole her father’s household idols when she left with Jacob.

The taking of the idols is simply a trust vs. no trust issue. These were things she was familiar with and they provided some degree of comfort to her as she was leaving her father’s home.
Rachael was pretty much a spoiled princess
in her father’s household, and in Jacob’s eyes as well.
Recall that Jacob’s first choice was Rachael
but he was deceived into marrying Leah first.
Leah is described as having “weak eyes,”
which is a poor translation –

it would be better translated
she had ‘pretty or gentle’ eyes.
Rachael had everything else…
yet she was somewhat of a whiner
Rachael by the way
was buried by the roadside to Ephrath (Bethlehem).
Genesis 48:7

Leah was buried with her husband Jacob…
Through Leah comes the Messiah
Through Rachael came a headache,
she was always whining and complaining about things.

You have to read the books of Genesis and Exodus with different eyes…
They are really very different

Possessing the Promises of God:

1 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land
where you are entering to possess it,
and clears away many nations before you,
the Hittites
and the Girgashites
and the Amorites
and the Canaanites
and the Perizzites
and the Hivites
and the Jebusites,
seven nations greater and stronger than you,
2and when the LORD your God
delivers them before you and you defeat them,
then you shall utterly destroy them
You shall make no covenant with them
and show no favor to them.
3"Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them;
you shall not give your daughters to their sons,
nor shall you take their daughters for your sons.
4"For they will turn your sons away from following Me
to serve other gods;
then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you
and He will quickly destroy you.
5"But thus you shall do to them:
you shall tear down their altars,
and smash their sacred pillars,
and hew down their Asherim,
and burn their graven images with fire.
6"For you are a holy people to the LORD your God;
the LORD your God has chosen you
to be a people for His own possession
out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”
Deuteronomy 7:1-6 NAS

A very important word here chosen…
What does it mean to be chosen?
called, conscript, elect, exclusive, got the nod, named, pegged, pick, picked, popular, preferential, select, selected, tabbed, accept, adopt, appoint, call for, cast, co-opt, commit oneself, crave, cull, decide on, designate, desire, determine, discriminate between, draw lots, elect, embrace, espouse, excerpt, extract, fancy, favor, feel disposed to, finger, fix on, glean, judge, love, make choice, make decision, make up one's mind, name, opt for, predestine, prefer, see fit, separate, set aside, settle upon, sift out, single out, slot, sort, tab, tag, take, take up, tap, want, weigh, will, winnow, wish, wish for, accepted, set apart,

When the Lord looked at the nation of Israel
by extension, He looked at us…
We have to apply this to us.

The nation of Israel is a sort of prototype…
Israel is an example, because He chose the least…
they had not done any great wonders,
there was nothing special about them.

The fact is that He chose them, just as he chose us…
not because of anything we did, but because He loved us.

Think about this… God sees you as choice!
Can you wrap your spirit around that for a minute?

The prophet Isaiah says

you are ‘wholly chosen, beloved of God’
‘Since you are precious in my sight,
and I love you, and honor you’… He says.

He looks at us and chooses us as precious.
He sees us as the best… even if we don’t get that.

Here’s the point…
I don’t have to get it.

You see we try always to figure it out,
but we don’t have to figure it out,
we just need to accept it,
and live in that place.

Most of the people we see all day long
could really be spared a lot of unnecessary pain
if they just believed they were choice.

People just need to understand who they were in Christ
and in the Father’s heart.

We are as much Second Adam as we are the first Adam.

Christ is not some external thing (far away)
He is right here (in our hearts)

Isn’t that what Paul said in Colossians 1:27
27to whom God willed to make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,

which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Colossians 1:27 NAS

26-27 times in the book of Ephesians
it reminds us that we are “in Christ.

In the Gospel of John He says
He has come to make His home in you

We often perceive God as some separate thing …
but He has by choice deposited Himself in us.

We can no more deny the Christ part of us…
than the first Adam part of us.

When we are talking about this whole aspect of possession,
we must live with the spiritual reality that He possesses us.

1 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land
where you are entering to possess it,
Deuteronomy 7:1a NAS

This passage of scripture
is a very important passage in Deuteronomy 7
it is concerning the Doctrine of Election in the Old Testament.

It is the Doctrine of Election
because we have been chosen by God

There was an election in heaven
and we won by a landslide.

The scripture says we are to possess the land…

We are talking about something that must be possessed.

We are chosen, but what are we chosen for?

According to this scripture
it seems we are chosen to possess something.

Possess means to take into your hand…
To control, manage, claim as your own.

Possession - yarash

- yarash

Ya is a shortened from of Yahweh

rash means first, or the head

So if we are going to possess something then literally
God must be first!

The secret of possessing

is not wars of conquest
not having the right prayer formula
not having the right doctrine
but it is putting God first in your life.

The whole purpose of Christ
is that He might have first place in all things, Paul says…

18He is also head of the body, the church;
and He is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
so that He Himself will come
to have first place in everything.
Colossians 1:18 NAS

Possessing things is not what possession is all about…
possessing is about putting God first

When God is talking about possessing the land
He is talking about a place where He wants to live with them.

To fulfill the calling of God
to be a holy nation there had to be
a people,

a law,

and a land

Possession has two components:
1-taking hold
2-dispossessing the inhabitants.

We have to take hold of that which God gives us…
but we also have to rid ourselves
of things that have no business being there.

If people (or things) still occupy the land God has called us to possess…

then we don’t truly possess it.

Most of the problems that the nation of Israel had,
came because the people did not fully obey God.


2 Kings chapter 17, talks about the seven reasons why
Israel fell into the place of exile.

Often people take the view
that the dispossession of the land was not fair.

Fair is not up to us…

First of all the land that the nation of Israel will possess in time,
that land was given to Abraham years before…
but he didn’t enter into the fulfillment of the promise…

Yet it was in the heart of God
to fulfill His covenant promise
that His people should enter in
and take possession of the land

We are called to possess,
but we are also called to be God’s possession…

We have to allow Him to take hold of us

Again, possession has two aspects:
To take hold of something
To get rid of the stuff that doesn’t belong there.

God wants to possess us…
That means He desires to take hold of us…
But also, that
He wants to remove that which doesn’t belong in us.

The problem with the nation of Israel was
they didn’t get rid of the junk that didn’t belong…

They feared the Lord,
but they didn’t get rid of their own idols.

They simply didn’t trust God deeply enough… tragic…

4"Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!
5"You shall love the LORD your God
with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your might.
6"These words, which I am commanding you today,
shall be on your heart.
Deuteronomy 6:4-6 NAS

Love the Lord…
with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your might, strength, flesh

Look at the order here in Deuteronomy 6
which is called the Shemah
which means to hear

hear oh Israel

Recall that Jesus said this was the greatest commandment of all…

The heart = your being... who you are
who I am as a spirit being….

Soul = the mind, will and emotions
that’s our persona, our “person-ness” or personality

Might, strength = the physical body our flesh, carnality

I am a spirit…. I have a soul…. I live in a body…

12Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.
Psalm 33:12 NAS

Inheritance means

destiny,

passed down,

valued possession,

The Lord is calling us His inheritance
because we are a valued possession…

29"When the LORD your God
cuts off before you the nations
which you are going in to possess,
and you dispossess them and dwell in their land,
30beware that you are not ensnared to follow them,
after they are destroyed before you,
and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying,
'How do these nations serve their gods,
that I also may do likewise?'
Deuteronomy 12:29-30 NAS

Dispossession in part of inheritance

That means they (the enemy)
thinks it’s theirs
and we need to dispossess them
to take hold of our inheritance.

30beware that you are not ensnared to follow them,
after they are destroyed before you,
and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying,
'How do these nations serve their gods,
that I also may do likewise?'

We get ensnared
when we begin to loose trust and focus on the Lord.

We begin to trust in other things… Jesus plus something…

The scripture says in Psalm 24

3Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?
And who may stand in His holy place?
4He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood (idols)
And has not sworn deceitfully.
5He shall receive a blessing from the LORD
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6This is the generation of those who seek Him,
Who seek Your face--even Jacob. Selah.

Whose going to live in the presence of God:
He who has clean hands
Clean in Hebrew comes from naqah
meaning to be empty or bare

nâqıy nâqıy' (naw-kee')
From H5352; innocent: - blameless, clean, clear, exempted, free, guiltless, innocent, quit.
From:H5352
nâqâh (naw-kaw')
A primitive root; to be (or make) clean (literally or figuratively); by implication (in an adverse sense) to be bare, that is, extirpated: - acquit X at all, X altogether, be blameless, cleanse, (be) clear (-ing), cut off, be desolate, be free, be (hold) guiltless, be (hold) innocent, X by no means, be quit, be (leave) unpunished, X utterly, X wholly.

The problem is we try to hold on to stuff…
we try to bring other stuff to the table

We need to have a radical understanding of Grace…
The whole Old Testament is an explanation of the grace of God
He is profoundly filled with grace…
how many times does the nation of Israel blow it…
they blow it, and blow it and blow it!

2 Chronicles 7:14 NAS
14if My people who are called by My name
humble themselves
and pray
and seek My face
and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven,
will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

God requires us to humble ourselves…
it is the entry requirement for entering into His grace.

God says,
‘Look, if you are going to go to that place (the Promised Land)
you have to understand
that there are going to be influences that you need to avoid…
that’s why I am telling you to get rid of them.’

In the New Testament we see the same message…

12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body
so that you obey its lusts,
Romans 6:12 NAS

He’s talking about the same thing…
things that are going to take us from the presence of God

God’s purpose for these people was one thing….
to take possession of the land…

We need to remember that –
Ed:fkj-
(we are still called to take possession of the seven mountains of cultural influence – the church, the home, the government, the workplace, the arts, the media and education)

God’s saying “look, I’ve chosen you…
you are my valued possession…
take the Land I’ve chosen for you…

He said it to Israel…
He says it to us today…

Just as Israel followed after idols of their day –
the idols of the peoples in the land that they failed to dispossess…
we have contemporary idols in our land today:
money, our will, convenience, pleasure, fame, success,
self-indulgences, control, position, sports, power…


Anything we trust in or seek after other than the Lord…
anything that possesses us becomes an idol…

The Lord says
we are to possess His promises,
this place (our Promised Land),
this intimate relationship with Him…

He says that He wants us
to be His treasured possession.

We are not to be possessed by other things, other than Him.

This is why the whole “Prosperity Doctrine”
falls flat on its face… it is a bunch of rubbish.

The fact is this false doctrine
has created more idolatry
in the church than holiness.

It’s about us (having material things)… not about God.

Look what the scripture says:

7'I will give them a heart to know Me,
for I am the LORD; and they will be My people,
and I will be their God,
for they will return to Me with their whole heart.
Jeremiah 24:7 NAS

A whole heart as opposed to a divided heart
How do our hearts become divided?
By following after other things… other than God!

We relegate God to our Sunday morning box…
He says no! I want the whole thing…
the whole enchilada!

If we are only half His…
then we are not His possession

Whole hearted means that we are possessed fully,
taken up by God

A whole heart as opposed to a heart ….
which is wounded
which is broken
which is sick

As we come to God with all our heart
there is a healing that takes place in our heart

When the children of Israel

had their backs to the Red Sea

and were being pursued by Pharaoh’s army…

Moses said, “Stand and see the salvation of God.”

Actually that word salvation is the word Yeshua

Moses was literally saying “stand and see Yeshua - Jesus!”
This is another place
that we see Jesus referred to in the Old Testament.

We cannot possess what God has for us
(Intimacy with God and all those things),
unless we are first possessed by Him

We must become His possession, to gain possession

Here’s a couple of scriptures:

8"I will give to you and to your descendants after you,
the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan,
for an everlasting possession;
and I will be their God."
Genesis 17:8 NAS

Remember Abraham was promised this
as a possession a long time ago.

I will be there God –

This is a constant theme all through scripture…
I will be there God
They will be My people
And I will dwell among them.

4'You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians,
and how I bore you on eagles' wings,
and brought you to Myself.
5'Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice
and keep My covenant,
then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples,
for all the earth is Mine;
6and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests
and a holy nation.'
These are the words that you shall speak
to the sons of Israel."
Exodus 19:4-6 NAS

What do priests do?
They minister to God…
a priest is associated with the presence of God

God is saying here that He is possessing them
to bring them into His presence.

A kingdom of priests….
a kingdom implies that there is a King!

Living intentionally in that place where He is present!
Focused on Him… we are His and He is ours.

A holy nation:
set apart, chosen, something that is different from everything else…
reserved for God!

As we enter in God desires to “clear away” all distractions

“clears away many nations before you,
the Hittites
and the Girgashites
and the Amorites
and the Canaanites
and the Perizzites
and the Hivites
and the Jebusites,
seven nations greater and stronger than you,”
Deuteronomy 7:1a NAS

If we look are what these names mean
and study the nature of these peoples
we will come to a spiritual understanding
of what these peoples represent
that can cause us to be distracted
from fully entering in to our Promised Land.

Example:
the Hittites were a fierce and warlike people
There were two Hittite nations,
but both of them were terrorist nations.

Hittite comes from the Hebrew word
that means to “tremble in fear” or “terror”

So if we are going to enter in
and take possession
and be My possession,
you can’t live in fear.

You are going to have to get rid of that influence in your life.

These are things that prevent us from knowing the heart of God…
and being possessed by Him…
so that we be His possession
and receive that possession from Him.

The kingdom of God
is made up of those who are possessed by the Lord.

All of these ‘ites’ were
descendants of Canaan. Genesis 10

They are mentioned in God’s covenant with Abraham. Genesis 15

Restated to Moses. Exodus 3

Hittites - Fear
Girgashites - Rejection
Amorites - Worthlessness
Canaanites - Shame
Perizzites - Insecurity
Hivites - Defilement
Jebusites - Hopelessness

Another example is the Hivites,

who are mentioned only a couple of times in scripture.

Hivite comes from the Hebrew word that means carnal-like.

Every time they are mentioned

they are raping or ambushing someone.

Because the Israelites did not deal with the influences
the influences stayed upon Israel
for hundreds and thousands of years.

Look at what God’s injunction was:

55 But if you fail to drive out the people who live in the land,
those who remain will be like
splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides.
They will harass you in the land where you live.
56 And I will do to you what I had planned to do to them.”
Numbers 33:55-56 NLT

This talks to the whole understanding of Holiness
we need to be holy
if we are to get rid of stuff in us
that offends the heart of God.

We need to have a healed heart and a whole heart.

We cant live in the past – regrets
We can’t live in the future – worry

We need to live in the present –
in the presence of God

If we don’t get rid of these things they will be a real problem to us

The Holy Spirit brings conviction (not condemnation)
He is trying to bring us to the place
where we can fully be a possession of God!

Israel did not remove the ungodly influences.

28It came about when Israel became strong,
that they put the Canaanites to forced labor,
but they did not drive them out completely.
Judges 1:28 NAS

2 But you have not obeyed Me; what is this you have done?
3"Therefore I also said, 'I will not drive them out before you;
but they will become as thorns in your sides
and their gods will be a snare to you.'"
4When the angel of the LORD spoke these words
to all the sons of Israel,
the people lifted up their voices and wept.
5So they named that place Bochim;
and there they sacrificed to the LORD.
Judges 2:3-5 NAS

Because they did not drive out the influences
the people lived apart from the holy presence of God.

10 All that generation also were gathered to their fathers;
and there arose another generation after them
who did not know the LORD,
nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.
Judges 2:10 NAS

The church is relevant
because we are the possession of God

30-

Old Testament Survey Week 2

Old Testament Survey Week 2

Father thank You for the time we have together in Your Word.
Thank You Lord that You are going to open it up to us
in a way that is life giving,
a way that draws us into Your presence,
a way that makes us present with You Father.
I thank You for all the ways
You’ve shared Your heart with us,
and we are looking forward tonight
to just being in Your presence together in Your Word.
In Jesus name, A-Men

Query:
Why did God set a rainbow in the sky as a sign following the flood?

In the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation there is a constant theme
from the very beginning God creates Light
the last thing in Revelation 22 tells us
that there will be no need for sun or lamps
for God will illuminate the heavens with His light.
So I believe, this is my opinion, that the rainbow set in the sky as covenant sign is simply a refraction of light… a refraction of God, another type of Christ.

Query:
What is the significance of God’s changing of Abram’s name to Abraham?

“Ab” is father as in Abba Father … “ram” is exalted or lifted up

so Abram means exalted father

Abraham means father of nations… but there is another interesting thing about this…

Look at the difference between Abram and Abraham,
and Sarai and Sarah

What was added to their names …. “h”

The sound of Hhhhhhhh.

What is happening here is
that God is breathing His Spirit into their names.
God is taking that which is flesh
and He is breathing His Spirit into it.

In Genesis when it says that God creates man

in His own image and likeness… how does He do it?

He breathes… Here is actually what happens…
Man was not created out of dirt or clay…
he was created when God took dust from the ground
and breathed His breath of life into it.

Dust is like baby powder, if you blow on it, it will scatter…
Dust is anhydrous it has no moisture to hold it together.

It was the very condensation of God’s breath

that held it together and the breath of God’s life

that brought the creation to life.
Breath into your hands and make that sound…

what happens?

Spirit and breath are the same Hebrew word.

It is the mixture of the condensation of God’s breath

and dust that forms man.

Why would something like mercy come about…
because God remembers His breath!

If we want to know how precious we are to God…

we have His breath.
What could be more precious than His breath?

Think about when we praise Him…
what word is used universally to bring praise to God….

hallelujah …
say it slowly hhhhall elujahhhh…

The sound at the beginning and end of hallelujah is an ‘h’
representing the very breath of God.

Our worship is simply returning
the breath of God that was breathed into us
back to Him.

Worship is our exhalation
For His exaltation.

God breathes His Spirit into each and every human
at the point of conception.

Joke from a student:

These scientists say to God,
“Well we have come a long way
and we can make humans better than You”…
So they have this little competition.
The scientists get this pile of dirt and get ready…
and God says, “No, no, get your own dirt.”

Let’s just dig in to tonight’s lesson:

We are going to spent the next couple of weeks talking about covenant.

What is a covenant… what are some other words for a covenant?
promise agreement contracts

In a covenant, two or more people come together
and they agree about something.

A covenant is a solemn agreement
entered into by two or more willing parties
where promises are made
and conditions are agreed upon
in the presence of witnesses.
As the conditions are fulfilled
promised benefits are bestowed.

The thing that is really big there is the term willing parties…
You don’t enter into a covenant if you’re not willing.
That’s not a covenant, that’s a conquest.

God is a covenant God
who brings us into covenant
through His own means
for the purpose of bringing us close to Himself

What was the main image we had last week in our class?
The Table

When God establishes a covenant
He is bringing us to the Table

Covenants were often commemorated
through a covenant meal… at the table.

The Table is:
A place of oneness
A place of unity
A place of agreement


The Hebrew word for covenant is beriyth
which literally means to cut through
(cut through the covenant sacrifice)

The Greek word for covenant is diatheke
Which also means to cut through.

Covenant carries the images of both

cutting and connecting…

This is why we have the term
“Let’s cut a deal.”

How about a deal where all the terms are not obvious…
That kind of deal that’s shady

or “under the table.”

A covenant is an agreement by two or more people by blood.

A book I would recommend that you get is called
The Miracle of the Scarlet Thread
By Richard Booker
If you want to understand what covenant is about
his is probably the best little book on covenant I’ve ever read.

He looks at covenant is a very systematic way.
The scarlet thread is the blood of Christ
that goes through all of scripture.

For instance, when the children come into the Promised Land
the first city they came to was Jericho…

Remember Rahab…
what was the sign established that it was safe to enter into the town?
A scarlet thread (literally in Hebrew) hung from her window.

That’s a type of the blood of Christ,

that says only by the blood of Christ
will we enter into the Promised Land.

Elements of the Covenant
In Biblical covenants
you will see
some or all of these things fulfilled

Exchange of robes or clothing…
connected with honor and identity
Represents the giving of oneself

Example
In a public healing session an older woman came up
she happened to be a Messianic Jewish woman
she had suffered with terrible rejection issues as a child
her mother had tried to abort her and it failed…
she was now in her early seventies
so she had obviously survived a botched abortion
The Lord just met her and did a powerful healing in her.

Then another woman came up for ministry
who just happened also to be a Messianic Jewish woman,
a much younger woman in her mid-thirties.
She also had severe rejection issues..
She had gone from church to church to church
after coming our of Judaism, but she was basically not accepted… but the Lord came again and did a powerful healing in her life.

Then in one of the most powerful demonstrations
I have ever seen,
the older woman came up.
She was wearing a blue sweater…
and in front of all these people,
it was quite a touching thing;
she came up publicly to the younger woman and said,
“Before, you were wandering around –
and you didn’t belong,
but now I’m giving you this sweater,
and I’m going to put it on you
so that you know you belong to us.”

This was a symbolic move that gave her identity

In a covenant when people exchange clothing
the are symbolically exchanging
security, identity, acceptance…
what they are saying is “You belong to me.”

That’s what happens in the marriage covenant

when people get married they are saying

“You belong to me and I belong to you.”

Take off the belt
Security - the place where weapons were kept…

they are laying down their arms,

they are pledging security for one another…
Sometimes they would exchange weapons.
That happened between David and Jonathan –
they exchanged weapons

Cutting the covenant Rights
That of course was done in the cutting of the sacrifice
but is was also sometimes done in their own flesh.
An exchange of blood –
symbolizing the surrendering of your self –
before you were two people and not you become one person
You used to have a separate identity
but now you are commingled

Mingling of blood
Life being exchanged…
In Leviticus it says the “life is in the blood.”

Exchanging names
Identity
This also means that
anybody that one party is in covenant to,
now the parties of this new covenant are also joined to them.

If I’m in covenant with ABC
and now you join covenant with me
then you are also now in covenant with ABC

Making a scar to remind
A sign of covenant
Often scars were made on the arms to show numerous covenants
When one raised their arms in greetings
it also showed their covenant relationships…
mess with me, you mess with them!

There are 613 precepts in the Torah
The fact is, all of those things
are going to lead us back in some form or another
to covenant and to the table.

The precepts are not simply laws and requirements to follow
they are not just check lists,
there is always a reason
for why God does absolutely everything.

Solomon says there is a purpose for everything under the Sun…
there is also a reason for everything in the Torah
(even if we don’t fully comprehend the reason).

We don’t understand it all,
even after studying scripture for years
there are still mysteries…
things God has hidden for us to search out.

Covenant conditions
The exchange of names and signs
The exchange of covenant possessions
as a gift to mark the occasion
like a gold watch is given today at retirement
It also says that everything that is mine is yours
and what is yours is mine.


This is like the Book of Acts
when believers shared all things in common…
there was no need amongst them that wasn’t met
because they were in covenant together

Memorial meal
An act of unity, fellowship and oneness
Plant a memorial
A sign for future generations to remember the covenant.
Inheritance

The promises are insured by the blood (again which is life).
If either party violates the agreement
then their blood is shed.
That is the symbolism is…
if you violate this covenant then your blood will be shed.

Some Covenants in the Bible
Adam and Eve
Noah and his family
Abraham and his descendants
Moses and the Israelites
David and the Kingdom of Israel
Jesus and the Church

Remember that covenants have conditions and signs.

The Covenant with Adam
Adam was the covenant mediator
(the mediator is the person overseeing the covenant)
in his role as husband
God promises blessings
That their union would be fruitful
and their offspring would fill the earth
and rule over it.

God establishes a sign
The Sabbath, the seventh day of rest.

There are times in our relationship with God
that the greatest thing that is missing is God.

We can have right belief
and right practice, signs and wonders, healings….
everything but God.

This word for Sabbath or rest is shabath which means
that God stops, ceases to work, He takes a break,
but it is actually

God stepping back to see
what he has done. Selah
It says, He saw all that He had created and it was good…

That’s what we need to do,
to come to a place where

we step back and say… “Yeah!, God is good!

Sabbath is a place of rest and trust in the heart of God.

shâbath shaw-bath'
A primitive root; to repose, that is, desist from exertion; used in many implied relations (causatively, figuratively or specifically): - (cause to, let, make to) cease, celebrate, cause (make) to fail, keep (sabbath), suffer to be lacking, leave, put away (down), (make to) rest, rid, still, take away.

God imposes one condition:
They must not eat from
the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
God attaches a curse to any disobedience to this requirement.

God made the Adamic covenant before Adam did anything.
He said if you keep this covenant great blessing will result.
But if you don’t keep the terms of the covenant,
there’s going to be some problems.
Genesis 1:26 – 2:3

The Covenant with Noah

An interesting thing about this is that

Noah’s name is the next word for covenant in the Bible

Noach the Hebrew word for Noah means rest, and covenant.

It says in Genesis that in him his people will find rest.
When you think of Noah
the first thing that comes to mind is the ark.

Noah rested in the ark.
The ark represents Christ…

the only place we can find true rest is in Christ.

Literally rest, noach, is in Christ!

The word covenant is used as God promises
never again to destroy the world by flood.
The covenant is made with all of mankind,
through the mediator Noah, in his role as head of his family.

If we look at Genesis Chapter ten,
called the table of nations
you will see the son’s of Noah; Shem Ham and Japheth…

they represent different races and tribes of peoples.

Shem is the father of Semites –
Jews, Arabs, nations of the Middle-East;

Ham is the father of most of the African people,
one of his descendants is Cush, and from those come the Africanic peoples.

Japheth is the European peoples.

The covenant includes blessings to Noah
and his family and conditions that must be obeyed:
Not to drink the blood of any animal
Not to shed human blood.
The sign of the covenant is the rainbow.
Genesis 9:8-17

The Covenant with Abraham

This covenant is unfolded several times in scripture
Genesis 12:1-3; 17:1-14; 22:16-18

This covenant which God says is unconditional
has conditions… a seeming oxymoron

God promises to give Abraham
1. a great land
2. and a great multitude of descendants
who will become a mighty nation.
God makes the covenant with the mediator Abraham
God promises to bless all the nations of the earth
through Abraham’s descendents (Christ).
The sign and condition of the covenant is circumcision.
1Now the LORD said to Abram,
"Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father's house,
To the land which I will show you;
2And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
3And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."
Genesis 12:1-3 NAS

Genesis 12:1-3; 17:1-14; 22:16-18

Here is what happens when we make covenant…

Imagine this..
We take the animal (the covenant sacrifice)
and the animal is killed and then cut in half… if I am entering into that covenant with you, we walk through those pieces of the slain animal in a figure eight pattern… as we walk through the pieces we are literally walking on the shed blood of the covenant sacrifice. This is symbolic of our lives being joined together (again the life is in the blood).
Later on in Genesis fifteen, beginning with verse nine…

9So He said to him,
"Bring Me a three year old heifer,
and a three year old female goat,
and a three year old ram,
and a turtledove, and a young pigeon."
10Then he brought all these to Him
and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other;
but he did not cut the birds.

There is a symbolism behind every kind of sacrifice:
Animal Sacrifices:
3 year old heifer
3 year old female goat
3 year old ram
a turtledove
a pigeon
Five animal sacrifices…

Now, think of the Book of Ephesians chapter 4…
11And He gave some as apostles,
and some as prophets, and some as evangelists,
and some as pastors and teachers,

apostles
prophets
evangelists
pastors
teachers

This is an illusion to this the animal sacrifices…
There is a five-fold sacrifice

Just as there were five types of animals sacrificed
there are five offices called to lay down their lives
for the church in ministry

These animals were sacrificed and cut in half…
then God caused Abraham to fall into a deep sleep…
then a smoking pot and flaming torch passed between the pieces…
that flaming light was Christ

Abraham was in a deep sleep…
he had absolutely nothing to do with that…

in this sense the covenant of God is unconditional…

it is His work the keeping of the covenant is all on Him…
He is the Creator…
The Provider…
The Mediator…

Read the Book of Hebrews…

it talks over and over and over again about

Christ being the fulfillment of the covenant.

The smoking pot and flaming torch

represents the presence of God…

just as His presence was leading them through the wilderness

by a cloud by day and a fire by night.

In ancient times the cloud

represented something that was not known… a mystery.

God is often this kind of cloud…

a mystery, but one you can count on.

Christians often think they have to have everything figured out.

We will never have it all figured out.
8"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD.
9"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9 NAS

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing:
but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.
Proverbs 25:2NAS

It’s not about mastering the data…
God has a message, He’s bringing us to the Table…

He’s the one who has provided the sacrifice…
He’s the one who has walked through the pieces of the sacrifice…
He’s the Guarantor
He’s the Mediator
He’s the Instigator…
He’s all of it!

This is how something can be conditional yet unconditional.

Although some may have not kept their end of the covenant
and didn’t walk fully in the blessings of it…

the covenant is ultimately guaranteed
through the fulfillment of it in Christ Jesus…

UNCONDITIONALLY

The fact is that we are fallen people…

Notice, in the Adamic covenant
there was no necessity of blood before the fall.

There was no need because they had not fallen away,
so there was no necessity for blood sacrifice.

After the fall
God clothed “their nakedness” in animal skins
which required Him killing an animal sacrifice…
the shedding of blood.

Again we see this with Cain and Abel…

Abel’s sacrifice was acceptable
because it involved the shedding of blood…

Cain’s sacrifice was rejected because it did not involve blood sacrifice.

All of these were prototypes of the blood sacrifice of Christ.

The blood is needed because we are fallen…
It says in the Psalms that we were “born in sin.”

There has to be a Mediator,
there has to be a Redeemer,
someone who rescues us from sin.

Because we are fallen there is still the necessity of blood to be shed…

that’s the conditional part of our covenant…

the unconditional part is that Christ did it all.

Jews do not shed blood today because there is no Temple
Jews today believe that they present the sacrifice
by devoting themselves to the study of the Torah.

This took place in history in 72 AD
And the final destruction of the Temple in 132 AD
Under a false Messiah by the name of Bar kokhva

Destroyed by Emperor Titus of Rome,

Jerusalem had become a wasteland,

the Second Temple no more than a heap of stones.

Out of this post-apocalyptic landscape

rose the charismatic war leader Bar Kokhva,

a towering figure that many regarded as the messiah.

Enraged by the destruction of the Second Temple

and the religious oppression of Emperor Hadrian,

Bar Kokhva pitted his guerilla armies

against the might of Rome—with disastrous results.

But before he fell, Bar Kokhva was to stage a final stand in Jerusalem,

a city that had been shorn of its defensive walls.

And by the end, he had forced

grudging respect from the battle-hardened legions of Rome.

The Romans came in and were destroying all that was sacred.

What they did was they had a Rabbi pretend to be dead.

The Romans were very superstitious about the dead.

The smuggled many of the sacred scriptures

and some artifacts, out with that Rabbi in a coffin.

Talmudic Period – after the Temple Falls –

the Diaspora = the scattered nation of Israel

The term diaspora (in Greek, διασπορά – "a scattering [of seeds]")

refers to the movement of any population sharing common ethnic identity.

While refugees may or may not ultimately settle in a new geographic location,

the term diaspora refers to a permanently displaced and relocated collective.

The Temple (Church) is not the house of God
but the household of God.

It is not about buildings
but about relationship and intimacy.
We are now the temple of God Christ in us.

The only thing missing in the Church of Jesus Christ
is Jesus Christ
and His Lordship.

God sets the table for Abram when he meets Melchizedek, at the very least, a type of Christ at the table for communion. (I actually think it was Christ.
18And Melchizedek king of Salem
brought out bread and wine;
now he was a priest of God Most High.
19He blessed him and said,
"Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
20And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand."
He gave him a tenth of all.

Ed fkj:
I have heard it suggested that Melchizedek was Shem the son of Noah.

If we allow scripture to interpret scripture,

this is clearly not a realistic choice.

In these verses alone, Melchizedek is identified as:
1. The king of Salem (complete and perfect peace)
Salem was the early name for Jerusalem
2. priest of God Most High
3. one who blesses…
4. Melchizedek means “king of justice”

Melchizedek is further described in Hebrews chapter 7,

1 This Melchizedek was king of the city of Salem
and also a priest of God Most High.
When Abraham was returning home
after winning a great battle against the kings,
Melchizedek met him and blessed him.
2 Then Abraham took a tenth of all he had captured in battle
and gave it to Melchizedek.
The name Melchizedek means “king of justice,”

(justice – dikaiosune – [dik ah yos oo nay] = equity, justice, righteousness)

and king of Salem means “king of peace.”
(eirene – [I rah nay] = peace and prosperity)

3 There is no record of his father or mother
or any of his ancestors—
no beginning or end to his life.
He remains a priest forever,
resembling the Son of God.

Here we find that Melchizedek:
5. had no record of a mother or father
6. no record of ancestors
7. had no beginning or end to his life
8. remains a priest forever
9. resembles the Son of God

I don’t believe there is any doubt that Melchizedek
was indeed, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
That concluded, we find in these verses the heart of God
demonstrated in Melchizedek’s nature.
Note that:
1. He brought bread and wine to Abram (communion)
2. He blessed Abram
3. He blessed God Most High
4. He gave God the glory for Abram’s victory
5. He received the tithe of ten percent of all that was captured during the battle.

The bread and wine symbolic of the New Covenant in Christ Jesus
The blessings show the hearts attitude of our God.
The victory symbolic of our victory in Christ Jesus.

Ed fkj

melek in Hebrew means King
zedek in Hebrew means righteousness

Bread and wine symbolic of covenant meal or communion.

The covenant with Abraham
is the basis for all future dealing with the family of Abraham
which will become the nation of Israel
and will include all people
who enter the covenant by faith alone.

God Insured the Covenant Himself
12Now when the sun was going down,
a deep sleep fell upon Abram;
and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him.
13God said to Abram,
"Know for certain that your descendants
will be strangers in a land that is not theirs,
where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.
14"But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve,
and afterward they will come out with many possessions.
15"As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace;
you will be buried at a good old age.
16"Then in the fourth generation they will return here,
for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete."
17It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark,
and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch
which passed between these pieces.
18On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying,
"To your descendants I have given this land,
From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:
Genesis 15:12-18 NAS

Abraham is called in the New Testament the “friend of God”
Jesus said the same thing about His disciples:
“I no longer call you servants, but friends.”

Servants don’t know what their master is up to

but friends know all the intimate details of each others lives.

hey share everything.

The root of the root of the root of friend is “love”.

It seems like Abraham has everything all straightened out
They have handled the Ishmael problem and now they have a son Isaac
It seems like everything is right, going along just as God had promised.
Then chapter 22 starts with a big word,
“Now… which is not then, but now!

1Now it came about after these things,
that God tested Abraham, and said to him,
"Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
2He said, "Take now your son, your only son,
whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah,
and offer him there as a burnt offering
on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."
3So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey,
and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son;
and he split wood for the burnt offering,
and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
4 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes
and saw the place from a distance.
5Abraham said to his young men,
"Stay here with the donkey,
and I and the lad will go over there;
and we will worship and return to you."
6Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering
and laid it on Isaac his son,
and he took in his hand the fire and the knife.
So the two of them walked on together.
7Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said,
"My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son."
And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood,
but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
8Abraham said,
"God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering,
my son." So the two of them walked on together.
9Then they came to the place of which God had told him;
and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood,
and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10Abraham stretched out his hand
and took the knife to slay his son.
11But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven
and said, "Abraham, Abraham!"
And he said, "Here I am."
12He said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad,
and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God,
since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."
13Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked,
and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns;
and Abraham went and took the ram
and offered him up for a burnt offering
in the place of his son.
14Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide,
as it is said to this day,
"In the mount of the LORD it will be provided."
Genesis 22:1-14 (my emphasis bold)

Just as everything seems to be working out right

God decides to test Abraham.

He calls out to him and Abraham answers
“Here I am”

here I am = Hebrew :hinnêh hin-nay'
Prolonged for H2005; lo!: - behold, lo, see, behold, here I am

Abraham is saying:
‘here is the place where he is now,
in the promises of God,
his understanding of God,
his faith in God;
this is where I am right now.’

2He said, "Take now your son, your only son,
whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah,
and offer him there as a burnt offering
on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."

This is a big powerful word…
this was just a little unsettling for Abraham.

Just as Abraham thinks he has God all figured out,
God stretches his understanding and faith…

God comes along and says,
O.K., all the stuff that you think is important,
and all the stuff you think you understand,
I want you to take all that
and I want you to offer it back to Me as a burnt offering.

And then we see one of the most important words in the Bible…
Verse 3… So

3So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey,
and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son;
and he split wood for the burnt offering,
and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

So is a big word…
Abraham rose up and did it…
So, means I trust God!
I hear God…
here’s where I am right now,
in my understanding and my revelation of God…
but when God speaks to me
(even when it is beyond my understanding…
so, I begin to act on it.

4 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes
and saw the place from a distance.
5Abraham said to his young men,
"Stay here with the donkey,
and I and the lad will go over there;

(literally I and my son, my prodigy
must go a little farther)

and we will worship and return to you."

Remember at the very beginning Abraham says “Here I am”
But when the voice of God comes to him he says
I and my son must go a little farther…

I must go a little further now

(beyond my understanding)
to the mountain of Moriah

This is the same mountain where Golgotha was…
the same place where another only begotten son
Christ Jesus was going to be crucified…

Here’s what happens…
6Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering

burnt offering = the place where God is seen or revealed

and laid it on Isaac his son,
and he took in his hand the fire and the knife.
So the two of them walked on together.
7Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said,
"My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son."

Here I am now…
I started over here…
Then the word of the Lord came to me…
And He said I had to go farther…
now here’s a place I’ve come to…
here I am right now in a new place…

now am I really willing to do this!?

And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood,
but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
8Abraham said,
"God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering,
my son." So the two of them walked on together.

God will provide Himself…
all things are God’s provision to us…
but here God is providing for Himself the lamb…

as He would some two thousand years later
provide the Lamb of God

So they go to the place where God called them…
He builds an alter there
He binds his son Isaac… and places him on the alter.

10Abraham stretched out his hand
and took the knife to slay his son.

Then in verse eleven,
we have to understand

the way in which this is worded in the Hebrew…

it’s like the knife is coming down…
he is literally about to slay Isaac…

Abraham has gone from the place
of his first understanding of God…
to the place where he heard the word of God
and knew he had to go a little farther…

where he has to explain to his son…
this is where I am now “here I am now”…

and the knife is poised to kill him… it is coming down!
He is about to kill his son… his only son…
who was God’s promise as an heir to build a great nation…

11But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven
and said, "Abraham, Abraham!"

But…
I get to the place of the end of my own understanding…
my own effort… and a big but comes in there…

But God intervenes…
an angel of the Lord…
the presence of the Lord
calls to him from heaven and says Abraham… Abraham!

And he said, "Here I am."

Abraham says again… “Here I am”…

I’ve now come to the place
where I am ready to withhold nothing from God…

because I realize that everything I have…
including my only son and heir
came from You…
I will withhold nothing, it all belongs to You!
Here I am…
Here I am – I’m going a little farther…
Here I am – On the alter, I’m ready to give my all for You.

The angel of the Lord says,
12He said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad,
and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God,
since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."

He’s saying that Abraham has withheld nothing from God!

13Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked,
and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns;
and Abraham went and took the ram
and offered him up for a burnt offering
in the place of his son.

Then Abraham calls the place Jehovah-jireh –
the place of God’s provision…

but it also means God is seen.

yehôvâh yir'eh (yeh-ho-vaw' yir-eh')
From H3068 and H7200; Jehovah will see (to it); Jehovah-Jireh, a symbolical name for Mt. Moriah: - Jehovah-jireh.

3068
yehôvâh (yeh-ho-vaw')
From H1961; (the) self Existent or eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God: - Jehovah, the Lord. Compare H3050, H3069.
H7200
râ'âh (raw-aw')
A primitive root; to see,

Thus God is seen in this place…

The whole point of this chapter is…
God is not going to be seen
unless we are willing to go a little farther…

It is anti- complacency…
It is saying everything I have:
Belongs to the Lord…
Came from the Lord…
Will go back to the Lord…

This place where Mt. Moriah is
Is also the place
where later on David (who is a type of Jesus)
is going to purchase a threshing floor…
and later Solomon will build the Temple there…

This is the specific place
were the sacrifices would later be made
in the Temple of God

Today, we are the temple of God
and sacrifices must be made
to come into God’s presence…

David said that he will not purchase something
to present to God
that doesn’t cost him something…

24However, the king said to Araunah,
"No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price,
for I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God
which cost me nothing "
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen
for fifty shekels of silver.
25David built there an altar to the LORD
and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
Thus the LORD was moved by prayer for the land,
and the plague was held back from Israel.
2 Samuel 24:24-25 NAS

God is not going to be seen in our lives…
unless we are willing to go farther with Him…
to purchase gold and silver with our obedience to His Word.

God told them… “On this mountain shall you worship Me.”
True worship is reflected in obedience to God’s Word
and sacrifice of our own wants and desires
that we might do His will.

30

Old Testament Survey Week 1

Old Testament Survey Week 1

Lord we establish this time and this place
in our hearts as holy ground
purchased by the precious blood of Jesus
Lord We make no provision for the flesh or mere carnal thinking,
but we instead, invite You to speak to us and through us… Lord.
Holy Spirit we give you free reign in this place.
We ask You Lord, to teach us, to lead us and to guide us
into all truth Lord.
We just thank You for what You are going to speak here this evening Lord, give us open hearts, open minds to be able to hear
what Your Spirit is saying too us
In Jesus Name, A-Men

Welcome to the Old Testament Survey.

Review of Syllabus

The purpose of the Old Testament Survey is to give us a greater knowledge of the Hebrew portion of the Bible
and therefore a greater and more intimate
knowledge of the Father’s heart.
The Father’s heart is expressed very largely
in the Hebrew Scriptures.

In fact the entirety of the scriptures Old and New Testaments, really bear witness to and lead to the presentation of Christ. So when we are talking about the Hebrew Scriptures or the Old Testament, we are talking about books that are going to reveal the Father’s heart; but also are going to manifest Christ.

Christ comes to manifest and fulfill all of the things that are spoken throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, given over a long long period of time.



So we are going to talk about the Hebrew Scriptures,
and also be talking about the covenant hear of God.

Hopefully by the end of this you
are going to have some knowledge of,
not just where the books are, not just what they are about…
but my goal is to somehow give you a sense
of God’s heart in the middle of it.

There are themes that run through the entirety of all the scripture. The theme that you are going to see over and over again, probably because I am maniacally fixated on it, is the table.

I could pretty much teach, and will teach
the Old Testament from the standpoint of three simple things

First of all understand that the image we are going to see
very, very, very often is the image of a table.

As we see this image of the table in the scriptures, we are going to see a couple of simple things about it.

First of all… God is a table God.
In other word’s He is a covenant God.
He lives at, actually a table within Himself.
Tables and covenant are the same thing.

Also there is an invitation.
That’s the second thing…

The first thing is that God is a table God.
The second thing, is that there is an invitation to us.
The invitation is for us to come to the table.

We are invited to come to the table
to find the very nature and revelation of the Father’s heart.


The history of Israel
is that God invites them to the table,
and they come to the table,
but then they walk away from the table.

When they walk away from the table, God responds by
inviting them back to the table.

He sends an invitation, a reminder…
He calls them back to the table again.

So the first thing again:
God is a table God
Secondly, there is
an invitation for us to come to the table.
Thirdly, there is going to be
a re-invitation to come back to the table.

We need to have an understanding
not just of the scripture,
but of the feel of it.

The scripture is written out of a cultural context,
the Jewish cultural context.

We need to understand something about that,
if we are really going to understand
what is actually happening in the scriptures.

Psalm 91

Psalm 91 says the one who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty…

This is a picture of the Mercy Seat

This Psalm was not written by David,
it is a Mosaic Psalm written by Moses.


It’s a picture of Moses looking at the Mercy Seat

Think about Moses who obeys all the instructions of God and God says, ‘here’s how to build the sanctuary’,
the tabernacle, the so-called tabernacle of Moses.
When it is all done, the last thing that is put in place
is the ‘aron’, the ark of the covenant, with the Mercy Seat on it
'ârôn 'ârôn aw-rone', aw-rone'
From H717 (in the sense of gathering); a box: - ark, chest, coffin.
The very first thing that God gives instructions to make (for the tabernacle) is guess what?... the mercy seat.
So at the very beginning in Exodus 25, God says to make the Mercy Seat, and the very last thing to be put in place is the Mercy Seat.
That’s the beginning and the end…
or the Alpha and Omega…
or the First and the Last…

The word mercy-seat
There is a Greek translation of the Old Testament called the Septuagint
The word for mercy-seat is the word hilasterion
That word in the New Testament, in Hebrews and in Romans
Where it says that Christ has been set forth as a propitiation
(Romans 3:25; Hebrews 2:17; I John 2:2, 4:10)
which is a covering, which in the Greek New Testament is hilasterion
hilastērion (hil-as-tay'-ree-on)
Neuter of a derivative of G2433; an expiatory (place or thing), that is, (concretely) an atoning victim, or (specifically) the lid of the Ark (in the Temple): - mercyseat, propitiation.

Thus Christ Beginning and the End
He is the Mercy Seat, the propitiation or covering

There is a seamless connection between the Hebrew Scriptures and the Greek Scriptures, between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

It is an amazing connection

It is difficult to separate one from the other.
Jesus is absolutely everywhere in our Old Testament.
He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.
All the promises of God are “yes and A-men,”
In Christ Jesus…

Meditating on Psalm 91 where it says He who dwells in the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty… that’s a picture of the mercy Seat.

What would that be like to ‘live there?’
The Wings and the shadow
are from the shadow of the cherubim
who’s wings cover the Mercy Seat.
This is a great place to think about living.

We have to allow scripture to interpret itself.
As we meditate on the scripture
the Holy Spirit will give us images and show us

Here are the First few lines of the Torah
Genesis 1:1-4
1 בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃
2 וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְהֹ֑ום וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃
3 וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י אֹ֑ור וַֽיְהִי־אֹֽור׃
4 וַיַּ֧רְא אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הָאֹ֖ור כִּי־טֹ֑וב וַיַּבְדֵּ֣ל אֱלֹהִ֔ים בֵּ֥ין הָאֹ֖ור וּבֵ֥ין הַחֹֽשֶׁךְ׃

1In the beginning God created (carved out) the heavens and the earth.
2The earth was formless and void,
and darkness was over the surface of the deep,
and the Spirit of God was moving (vibrated) over the surface of the waters.
3Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.
4God saw that the light was good;
and God separated the light from the darkness.

We are looking for a theme in these first few lines
for the entirety of all scripture.

God carved out the heavens and the earth.
The Spirit of God vibrated over the formless and void earth.
Then God says, “Let there be Light… and there was light.
This Light is Jesus Christ.

At the very beginning Elohiym is the Father
When you see the word Elohiym in the scripture you see
1- the creative aspect of God,
2- the Father heart of God

Elohiym happens to be written in the plural form.
Implying the Trinity.

In the Hebrew language
there are three numbers meaning single or plural

In English there are only two, singular or plural

In Hebrew there’s:
A singular – meaning one
A duo - meaning two
A plural- meaning three or more




In the first lines of Scripture
we are learning that God’s nature is a Trinity – He’s three!

Elohiym the Father has it in His heart to multiply (create)
Then the Spirit of God begins to activate (vibrate)
what is in the heart of the Father.
Then comes the Light, Jesus Christ…
He is the manifestation of what is in the Father’s heart.

We have the basic nature of community (communion - covenant)
right here in the first few lines of scripture.

God reveals His nature and His intention

The word for create (carve out)
in the Hebrew comes from the same root word for covenant.
create: bârâ' (baw-raw')
A primitive root; (absolutely) to create; (qualified) to cut down (a wood), select, feed (as formative processes): - choose, create (creator), cut down, dispatch, do, make (fat).
covenant: berı̂yth (ber-eeth') from 1262 - bârâh (baw-raw')
From H1262 (in the sense of cutting (like H1254)); a compact (because made by passing between pieces of flesh): - confederacy, [con-]feder[-ate], covenant, league.

So from the very beginning
we see that God, is a covenant God.

A covenant is:
A promise A binding contract
A compact A relationship between people
A confederacy An agreement


God’s primary relationship is with Himself!

There’s a very fancy word perichoresis
which means “circle dance”

This was the first word used to describe the nature of God…
God is in a perichoresis
which literally means He is three ‘dancing within Himself.’

Perichoresis is a Greek term used to describe the triune relationship between each person of the Godhead. It can be defined as co-indwelling, co-inhering, and mutual interpenetration. Alister McGrath writes that it "allows the individuality of the persons to be maintained, while insisting that each person shares in the life of the other two. An image often used to express this idea is that of a 'community of being,' in which each person, while maintaining its distinctive identity, penetrates the others and is penetrated by them."

If you study sub-atomic particles under an electron microscope,
you will see the action of the electrons circling the nucleus –
they are in motion.
All of God’s creation is in motion!

God is in motion.


In fact He never stops.
He is in a ‘circle dance’ within Himself.
This is a picture of the Trinity…

What is God doing?
He wants to re-create…
He wants to multiply…
who and what He is throughout all of creation.

Covenant has to do with the table and intimacy.
God is a covenant God within Himself.
His very nature displays his heart and His intentions.

The Father Elohiym is the Creator
The Spirit of God
activates the heart of the Creator or the Father
The Light, is the Son of God
expressing all that is in the Father’s heart

John 17: I and the Father – we are the same thing…
I want them to be one, just as You and I are One.

God wants to bring us in to his very nature.
He wants to multiply Himself, to see Himself expressed in all of the things He has created (after His own kind)

If you are familiar with The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien…
He wrote another book
published following his death called The Silmarillian.
The Silmarillion is actually Tolkien's first book and also his last.
In origin it precedes even The Hobbit,
and is the story of the First Age of Tolkien's Middle Earth.
It shows us the ancient history
to which characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, talk, rhyme and sing about.
Tolkien worked on it, changed it, and enlarged it throughout his entire life.
It was edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien,
with the assistance of fantasy fiction writer Guy Gavriel Kay
to reconstruct some major parts.
Tolkien regarded The Silmarillion as the most important of his work, seeing in its tales not only the genesis of Middle-earth and later events as told in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but the entire core of his legendarium. He continued to work on them over the next several decades, revising and reworking his ideas, right up until his death in 1973.

The Lord of the rings is about “Middle Earth”
The Silmarillian was about the genesis of “Middle Earth”
Here is a picture presented in this work:
It describes this “creative force” Aluvitar
Who symbolizes God…
A creative thing in the middle
The nucleus of all there was
Aluvitar sings… he sings, and he sings, and he sings…
He sings about himself
Then he decides he want to have someone else sing
So he creates these angels called the orinai,
and he sings to them and they begin to sing about him.
After a long time they begin to harmonizes with each other.
So there is this picture of a myriad of angels
all harmonizing about the nature of Aluvitar
as they hover around this nucleus of His presence.
They are all singing in harmony with him
the author of creation.
He then sends them out,
so all of the void will be filled with the Song of Aluvitar.
So that everything that ever would be
would be a reflection
of that song about the nature of Aluvitar.

God is singing within Himself – that’s what creation is all about…
There is a song in Him – there is a nature in Him…
There is this incredible thing; the scripture says that God is Love…
That’s His name, that’s His nature

Love has to have an object!
God first loves Himself
If He didn’t, it would be ridiculous!
This is why there has to be at least three…
Love has to be shared…

There is this love song that God sings within Himself

He also puts that song in us.
The scripture says that He has placed eternity in our hearts.

God has put His song in us.
We then carry His song to the outermost parts of the world.

He calls us out to the darkness to the table…
He is a covenant God

He’s in covenant with Himself
And He calls us out of the darkness

Imagine there is a table
on it is the Hebrew Scriptures and an oil lamp

The closer we get to the table the greater the Light
The farther away we get from the table the less Light… it is dimmer.

God calls us out of the darkness and into the Light
He calls us not just to the light of knowledge,
but to the table,
to Himself,
into His presence

This is the whole story of the Old Testament…
It is the story of Creation

He wants us to be close to Him and close to the Light.

The scripture says;
If we say that we have fellowship with Him,
and yet walk in darkness…
then we lie, we don’t practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light, as He Himself is in the light…
if we come close to Him at the table…
then we have fellowship with one another
and the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:6-8

The closer we are to the table the closer we are to the Light
The closer we are to the Light, the closer we are to Him.

From the very first line of scripture we see the Light of God
the very presence of Jesus Christ

The Old Testament is not
just about a whole bunch of Jewish fables…

The Old Testament is about the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The very last image of the New Testament in the Book of Revelation we see the wedding supper of the Lamb of God taking place at the Table.

It says, they are not going to need a Sun or Moon, because the Light of God, Jesus Christ will illuminate them… He will be the light!

From the very beginning of scripture He is the Light
To the very end of scripture he will be the Light.

From the Beginning to the End
He is the Alpha and the Omega
The First and the Last…
He is the One who was,
the One who is,
and who is to come…

That is who He is all the way through the Bible

He is the same today,
yesterday and forever…
He is not going to change.

He says “I am the Lord your God,
I change not therefore thou art not consumed, O Jacob.”

For I am the LORD, I change not;
therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Malachi 3:6 KJV

It’s a good thing He doesn’t change.
We can count on that.

God is love and that love must have an object

The truth is that the object is God Himself

God loves, and wants His glory
to be shed abroad through us
who were created in His image.

The purpose of all creation is to glorify God,
to return and reflect His own nature
and image to Himself.

Everyone who is called by My name,
and whom I have created for My glory,
whom I have formed, even whom I have made.
Isaiah 43:7

We are of His same nature… although we are one, we are three?
Body
Soul
Spirit



1In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2He was in the beginning with God.
3All things came into being through Him,
and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
4In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
5The Light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not comprehend (conquer, overcome) it.
1 John 1:1-5 NAS

Everything was created by Christ
Everything was created for Christ

The greatest amount of darkness
is overcome by the smallest amount of light.

Christ is the light
and He is at the middle of the Table.

God is calling us to Himself,
to come closer to Him
to live in that place of Light and fellowship with Him

2in these last days has spoken to us in His Son,
whom He appointed heir of all things,
through whom also He made the world.
3And He is the radiance of His glory
and the exact representation of His nature,
and upholds all things by the word of His power
When He had made purification of sins,
He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Hebrews 1:2-3

God is a table God
The nation of Israel walked away from the table
So God invites them to come back to the table.
He is a God of reconciliation.

19namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,
not counting their trespasses against them,
and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:19 NAS

God says to us, “look, I’m a Table God
and the world is lost,
it has walked away from the table,
but I’m putting in you My Light,
the message of reconciliation,
for you to take to the world.”

As we are obedient to be in the Word and in His presence,
we are acquiring Light.

We acquire not just content and knowledge,
but the very nature of God.

The Old Testament is a powerful, powerful writing.

It has everything in it…
Some of it is so steamy it is X rated
Some of it is so violent you can hardly look at it…
Some of it is so filled with love and tenderness
that it just blows your mind.

The Divisions in the Hebrew Scriptures

The Hebrew scriptures are presented in three parts:
The Law Torah – The Teachings from orah - light
The Prophets Nebiym - bubbles over
The Writings Kotvim – to write
Tanak = Torah + Nebiym

The Law/ Torah reveals the righteousness
and heart of God for fellowship


Old Testament Themes:
Light
Covenant
Table
Invitation

Through the prophets God sends
His invitation to come back to the table
They really never bring you any new information
All they do is reveal and remind you
what the Father has already said.

If contemporary prophets
“come with new information” they are mission God.

The role of the prophet is not to give new information,
the role of the prophet is to remind people
of the Fathering heart of God


The writings glorify God’s heart
and invitation through intimate worship

Through the Torah we have God saying “Here is who I am.”
The Torah is like a character study…
Here is who I am ,
and this is what I want.

Through the Prophets,
they are calling people into that relationship…
or back to that relationship

Through the writings,
We are talking about worship, we are talking about intimacy…




Christ is the Light, the expression, the means of covenant
And the goal that all of the scriptures are aimed at.

Jesus Himself said,

You search the Scriptures
because you think that in them you have eternal life;
it is these that testify about Me;
John 5:39 NAS

The Pharisees were missing the heart of the Word..
They thought the Bible was like the owners manual to a lawn mover

The Bible is not just a how-to book
The Bible is not just a history book
(although it does have a lot of useful how-to and historical facts)

We are looking at the Bible as a revelation of the Father’s heart…
as an invitation to the Father’s heart
and as a way to worship the Father’s heart.

It is these that testify of Me… Jesus’ own words.

Disciples on the Road to Emmaus

The disciples are dejected and disappointed
with their perception of what has taken place,
they are so caught up it this
that they fail to recognize the Lord
as he walks along with them.

The word says that Jesus joined them –
translates to “he was with them”

it means that Jesus was with them the whole time as they talked to one another.


They are walking along, but they don’t recognize Him

He says,
“O foolish men and slow of heart to believe…”

He is not insulting them…
He is just saying they are slow to catch on

They missed the point that
the prophets were calling the people back to the table

25And He said to them,
"O foolish men and slow of heart to believe
in all that the prophets have spoken!
26"Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things
and to enter into His glory?"
27Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets,
He explained to them the things concerning Himself
in all the Scriptures.
Luke 24:25-27 NAS

He went back to the Hebrew Scriptures
and showed them how it revealed Him

In the very beginning the Father wanted to create…
He had a song to sing…

Then the Holy Spirit began to vibrate… and shake things up

And they He said “Let there be Light”
And here comes Jesus

At the very beginning I was at a table with Myself
Then I set the table and invited a whole nation…
They came for a while, but then they left the table…

Something had to happen to allow them to come back
They weren’t going to get there by their own means…

They needed an intervention… they needed Christ.
So Christ came to fulfill all of the promises of the Old Testament
The Law and the Prophets and the Writings were all fulfilled in Him