From Creation to Consummation:  An Overview of Holy Scripture

Now I made a point in our last session together that I don't know if you caught.  I talked about the power of God's Word in my life before I talked about the way that God has faithfully preserved His Bible in the Canon of Scripture.  Why is that so important?  It's important for this reason.  Although my main objection to Scripture was that I did not think that God had preserved the Bible, my objection wasn't overturned by learning how God had preserved His Word.  My objection was overturned by the Scriptures themselves.  Now of course, you see that now I understand how the power of God has been preserved by God in preserving His Scripture and I have even more assurance that God's Word is true.  But I labor this point for two reasons. 

First, almost no one is saved by hearing the history of God's providence of His Word.  They are saved through the Word itself.  One of my college professors used this illustration for this point.  Suppose a thief broke into your house.  But he wasn't a good thief, and you were awakened and able to go get your gun.  Now what if our thief is really a philosophical thief?  He looks at the gun pointed at him and says, "I don't believe in the power of guns.  It can't hurt me."  Now at this point, what is the best way to prove to the thief that there is power in the gun?  BANG, right?  Fire the gun.  My professor's point was this:  If people don't believe in the power of Scripture, fire Scripture at them and God's work shall be done.  Either they will be saved or hardened.  But God's work always changes people. 

The second reason I brought up the point that I believe in the power of the Word primarily, is because I'm afraid I'm going to give off a bad impression with both the last session and this session.  In the last session I didn't even ask anyone to open their Bible.  And this session, I'm just going to ask you to open to the contents of the Bible.  So I admit that could cause a couple of doubts about my view of the power of Scripture.  I don't believe that you have to have a seminary's worth of knowledge in order to read the Bible.  I don't believe any of this is necessary for the power of God's Word to work in your life.  All I'm trying to do in this series is give support to the work that I trust God has already established in your lives.  And we will get to the text, Lord Willing. 

Who, When, Why, How, What?

So when you open to the contents page of your Bible, you will notice that there's 39 books in the Old Testament.  It's, as you notice, almost four times as big as the New Testament.  Written by somewhere around 28 authors, over 1,000 years in the making, the Old Testament was a huge undertaking.  From Egypt to the Promised Land, from Israel to captivity again, and then back again, the Old Testament was a huge work in many nations.  Just think of trying to manage something on the scale of 50 generations, through multiple government styles, and nations. Can you imagine that?  It's hard enough to manage something on a small scale of parents to children.  Or think of it this way:  We have a complete Bible.  We are able to look back, name the name of Christ, and look forward to His return.  Think of the countless generations who didn't even have a complete Old Testament.  So when was the Old Testament we know canonized?  When was it formed?   

Old Testament Canon

When we talk about the Canon of Scripture, I don't want to frustrate anyone who hasn't heard this word referred to in regards to Scripture.  The Canon is simply "those writings which constitute the inspired rule of faith and life" (Young, Edward J.  An Introduction to the Old Testament.  Eerdmans, 1989:  31).  Now we are, of course, talking in terms of what is Christian.  Christians affirm that there are 66 books that are inspired by God, written by God and man.  These books and these books alone are the books which God has included everything that is needed in this life, for knowledge of Him, for salvation, and for godliness.  In passing, I will mention one strong difference between Catholics and Protestants on this point.  In the Catholic Old Testament they have an extra 14 books (along with about 7 extra chapters of Esther) that Protestants call the Apocrypha, or hidden books.  There are good reasons why Protestants don't include these books along with the inspired writings, although they may be called inspiring.  There are some very convincing reasons for not accepting the Apocrypha as canonical.  First, those who were entrusted with the oracles of God (Romans 3.2), Israel, did not accept the writings as canonical; but accepted the canon of Old Testament Scripture which we accept.  Second, Christ never cited the books as canonical and did not seem to include them in His sweeping statement of Luke 24:44, "Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled ”" (ESV); nor were they cited by His apostles.  Third, the Christian church did not accept the writings when they affirmed the New Testament writings as canonical; for we accept the same books.  Fourth, the writers of the books of the Apocrypha were neither prophets nor inspired men, and were indeed writing after Malachi.  Fifth, both the style, content, and themes reveal that they are of human origin, not divine.  Sixth, whereas the Hebrew writings were written in Hebrew and Aramaic, the Apocrypha was written in Greek.  But the best reason, and the only reason that I will mention today, is because Christ did not mention them in either Luke 24:44, when "he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled”" (ESV); nor Luke 11.51.   

I want us to look for a moment at the passage in Luke 11.51.  Christ says, "Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation" (Luke 11:49-51 ESV).  Now what book was Abel killed in?  Genesis.  A harder question:  what book was Zechariah killed in?  2 Chronicles.  For those of you who don't know, I want to explain what Jesus has just done in this verse 11, He's just included all of the Old Testament.  He has just defined what He included in the Old Testament (i.e. all of the books of the Old Testament).  Let me explain, first by reading the passage that Christ was referring to in Luke 11.  It's found in 2 Chronicles 24.  " Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God, ‘Why do you break the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’ ” But they conspired against him, and by command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, had shown him, but killed his son. And when he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see and avenge!” At the end of the year the army of the Syrians came up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus. Though the army of the Syrians had come with few men, the Lord delivered into their hand a very great army, because Judah had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. Thus they executed judgment on Joash " (2 Chronicles 24:20-24 ESV).  So when Jesus says " from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah," He is sweeping from the first book in the Hebrew Bible (Genesis) to the last book of the Hebrew Bible (2 Chronicles).  Now as we already mentioned briefly, the Christian Old Testament includes all of the books that are included in the Hebrew Bible, just in a different order.  Let's take a look at the divisions and placement of books in the Hebrew Bible so that you see what Jesus was doing.

Divisions

Now if you don't have your Hebrew Bible handy, it's okay.  I brought mine.  I know you all are good students and meant to bring yours, so we'll overlook it this time.  Conservatives hold that the Hebrew Bible, the way we have it now (books and order), was completed ca.180 B.C.  But "unlike most contemporary English versions of the Old Testament, the Hebrew canon was originally divided into three parts:  the Law, Prophets, and Writings" (Eerdmans Bible Dictionary, 147).  Let's notice the differences.  For the first five books of the Law, the Pentateuch, there's no change.  The first five for the Hebrew Bible are the same for ours.  But in regards to the Prophets, the Hebrews had two classes:  former and latter.  The former prophets included Joshua, Judges, 1-2 Samuel, and 1-2 Kings.  The latter were Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Hosea through Malachi.  Then rounding out the Hebrew Bible were the Writings.  Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, Daniel, Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1-2 Chronicles were all including under Writings.  We divide our Old Testament into four parts:  The Law (Genesis-Deuteronomy), History (Joshua-Esther), Poetry (Psalms-Song of Solomon), and the Prophets Major (Isaiah-Daniel) and the Prophets Minor (Hosea-Malachi).  So we see that we have the same Bible as that which Christ considered as Scriptural, but we have ours in a different order. 

Why is it called the Old Testament?

The word Testament is from the Latin testamentum, which means covenant.  The influence of Latin into the realm of the Canon came in the form of the Latin Vulgate.  "In 382, Jerome, the most capable biblical scholar of his day, was commissioned by Pope Damasus to produce a standard Latin version based on the Old Latin and original language manuscripts.  he issued the four gospels in 384; the rest of the New Testament, whether revised by Jerome or one of his disciples, appeared in 405.  In 386 Jerome moved to Bethlehem and spent the next twenty years working on the Old Testament.  He began by translating from the LXX, considered by many to the be the 'inspired' word of God, but soon decided to work directly from the Hebrew.  He completed his task in 405" ( Eerdmans Bible Dictionary, 1042).  So when we speak of the Old Testament, we really mean the Old Covenant.  This is the way Paul spoke in 2 Corinthian 3.14, "But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away" (ESV).

What is a Covenant?

A covenant is in essence simply a sovereignly given promise (usually with stipulations), much like a contract or marriage.  Let's see if we can under gird what I mean by that.  There are three observations to the covenants which God makes with us in the Bible.  First , God is always the initiator and the sovereign over the covenant.  A covenant is not a agreement between equals. It is God stepping forth and making his demands first.  Man does not negotiate with God concerning the covenants.  Against the backdrop of man's sin, God says here's what I promise.  A covenant is an act of grace where God promises to do something.  Second, God requires a response from the other person in order for God to bear the cost of the promise.  There is no covenant without a human response.  Third, a covenant is God's way of proving his immutable grace to us.  If we believe his promise, we know where He stands.  By promising to never leave us or forsake us, God has provided for us the very stability which is needed in such an unstable world. 

What Does a Covenant Have to Do with the Gospel?

Perhaps you have already seen something foundational with the idea of the covenant which shows why that's important and why the Old Testament, or Old Covenant, is important.  Let me take those three aspects that we just addressed and put them in more Gospel-like terms.  One, there is a promise.  Christ Jesus came to save sinners.  Man did not negotiate the terms for Christ's coming.  God initiated it.  Second, there is a human response.  Place your trust in Christ as the sacrifice for your sins.  Have faith in Jesus Christ to atone for your sins.  See a covenant here?  Third, the stability of God's promise in Christ brings assurance.  Assurance is what is needed to live a life of stability in an unstable world.

Why Do We as Christians Have an Old Testament?

Now I could sympathize with someone who would say, all of that covenant stuff is fine with me.  I kinda understand it, but isn't God's Old Covenant with the nation of Israel.  What does that have to do with me.  Moreover, why do we even have the Old Covenant in our New Covenant Bibles.  I'll try to handle that response in a few different ways.  The overwhelming reason why we as Christians, have both an Old Testament and New Testament in our Bibles, is because of the weight which Jesus gave to the Old Testament.  We read statements from Jesus like, " “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’ " (Matthew 4:4 ESV).  We are to live on EVERY word that comes from the mouth of God and Jesus overwhelmingly showed that He believed that the Old Testament came from the mouth of God.  The second reason I would briefly mention is that the New Testament wouldn't be complete without the Old Covenant.  We would be stuck asking questions like:  Where did the universe come from?  How did sin come in the world?  Who is this Adam that Paul keeps talking about?  What is the law?  Who are all of these people in Hebrews 12?"  See how vital the Old Testament is to our understanding of the New Testament?  More than all of this, we was Christians partake of the covenant which was made to Abraham.  We wouldn't even know who Abraham is if not for the Old Testament record.

Old Testament God versus New Testament God?

Before we finish this session for today, I would to confront a misunderstanding which seems to be thriving in unbelief.  I have heard many people speak as though there were a God of the Old Testament and a God of the New Testament.  There seems to be an idea that the Old Testament God was one of judgment, whilst the New Testament God is One of love.  It's so destructive to believe something like that!  But I want you to notice that the God of the Old Testament was a God of love.  "“ For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other." (Deuteronomy 4:32-39 ESV)

And the New Testament is full of Judgment, "but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead" (1 Peter 4:5 ESV). And the New Testament is like the Old Testament in that the world will be destroyed, but not by water.  "But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly" (2 Peter 3:7 ESV).  The New Testament shows that the Son is to judge, "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him" (John 5:22-23 ESV).  Or to show that Jesus is concerned with repentance, "There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:1-5 ESV)  So when we consider the God of the Bible, we find that He is not divided in intentions.  He bestows His love on those who by faith are joined to the covenant He made with Abraham, and He bestows wrath on those who refuse to love His Son and submit to His sovereignty.  So we find, that

"The great want of our church, at the present day, is a clear comprehension of the meaning of the Old Testament, in its fullness and purity, in order that the God of Israel may again by universally recognized as the eternal God, whose faithfulness is unchangeable, the one living and true God, who performed all that he did to Israel for our instruction and salvation, having chosen Abraham and his seed to be his people, to preserve his revelations, that from him the whole world might receive salvation, in him all the families of the earth be blessed." (Young, Edward J.  An Introduction to the Old Testament.  Eerdmans: 1989, 10)