Walk Through the Bible

Passage: Numbers 14:1-12

As you read through Numbers you may find yourself asking: “What’s with all this math!?  What spiritual good is there in knowing there are 46,500 Reubenites?  Who would have thought government census documents could be inspired by the Holy Spirit?”  Before your eyes glaze over, it will help to have a bit of perspective on this book.

As the name of the book suggests Numbers is about numbers.  The most important number in the book of Numbers may be the number two.

Numbers is about two generations of God’s people, the generation that left Egypt yet increased in rebellion and became unbelieving, failing to trust God and paid the price of a lifetime of wandering in the wilderness.

They were followed by a new generation that stood on the brink of entering the Promised Land.  Would they follow the way of their parents and give in to unbelief or would they embrace God’s Word and receive the land God had promised the patriarchs?

Numbers begins and ends with the detail of two censuses, to count the number of fighting men 20 and older who would lead Israel into the conquest of the Promised Land.

Two is also the number of years in the life of God’s people that Numbers focuses on, year 2 at Mt. Sinai and year 40 on the plains of Moab on the eastern border of the Promised Land.

Two is the number of faithful spies who urged the people not to be afraid and trust God to give them the land.  Two is the number of men from the first generation that were allowed to enter the Promised Land with the second generation, Joshua and Caleb.

Passage: Leviticus

Leviticus was the first book Jewish children studied in the synagogue.  Today it is last book Christians take seriously.  It seems incomprehensible and irrelevant to modern man.  What do all these rituals for sacrifice and regulations regarding uncleanness have to do with us?

About the only memorable verse in an otherwise seemingly dull book is Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

So the challenge is laid down, how can I help 21^st century sophisticated post-modern American Christians pay attention to the third book of the Torah, which, remember, is the God-breathed, inspired Word of God and profitable “for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (II Timothy 3:16-17)?

The Book of Leviticus begins with the word “and.”

Passage: Exodus 3:1-12

Exodus is an incredible book, an epic tale of the grandest proportions.  It contains some of the most famous stories in literature, the enslavement of the children of Israel by Pharaoh in Egypt, the rescue of baby Moses, the call of God to Moses out of a burning bush, the ten plagues, the Passover, the exodus of God’s people, the crossing of the Red Sea, the drowning of Pharaoh’s army, the wilderness wanderings with manna and water out of a rock, Mt. Sinai, the golden calf, the Ten Commandments, the building of the tabernacle.

Perhaps most importantly we are shown the birth and founding of the nation of Israel, one of the world’s oldest and most consequential people, who still are central in the world scene.  From this birth we learn the moral meaning of community life, the nature of political leadership and the standards for judging right and wrong and what makes a social order better or worse (LK).

Here we see God’s ways for human life and thriving, as opposed to the ways of Egypt, Mesopotamia or Canaan, a way devoted to decency and dignity, righteousness and holiness (LK).

Above all else, preeminently, Exodus is about God.  God is the central and decisive character.  God delivers His people, leads them, guides them, feeds them, forms a covenant with them, gives them their laws, has a special relationship with Moses, and creates a place for Himself to dwell among them.  Most of all God reveals Himself, YWVH, I am who I am.

To read Exodus is to encounter God, as Moses did at the burning bush.

Passage: Genesis 1:1-4

Genesis is the inspired revelation of God to His people.  As God’s revelation it is authoritative.  We are not dealing with just any document from antiquity.  Perhaps more than any other book in the Bible this one has been maligned and discredited and mocked and completely dismissed by most academic elites.

Genesis was written by Moses around 1500BC to recount the story of God’s people before they go into the Promised Land.  The God who created the universe and all that is in it, is the God who created Israel.  They see what kind of God has created them, called them into existence, how powerful His Word is.

If creation all around us displays the glory of God (Psalm 19), then how much more the account of the origin of that creation in Genesis.

Israel is reminded everything all the pagan nations around them worship, God made.  Sun, moon, stars, animals, rivers, mountains.  And God destroyed all the gods of Egypt and Canaan.  How foolish to worship anyone or anything but God.  God is the creator, sustainer, Lawgiver and redeemer.

Genesis begins with the most profound statement ever written and perhaps the most offensive statement in the Bible, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  This marks the absolute beginning of everything.  This becomes the foundation for understanding everything else in the Bible.  Since everything exists by God, everything exists for Him, for His glory.

Genesis doesn’t begin with Adam and Eve, it begins with God.  Genesis (which means beginnings) begins God’s Story, His Story.  God is the author of creation and of the Bible and He is the hero of every story.

Everything that is, is only because of the sovereign creative act of God.  From beginning to end Genesis emphasizes God’s sovereign majesty and authority over all creation and over all history and over all peoples.  God is the author, the subject, the actor.

 Genesis is the book of beginnings.

Passage: II Peter 1:19-21; I Peter 1:23-25

Tonight we will fly over the whole Bible, or the Bible as a whole.  Then starting next week we will fly over the 66 books of the Bible one at a time.  We will start with the really big picture and then 66 sort of big pictures.

The Bible is an utterly unique book, it really is in a class by itself, there is no other book even remotely close to it.  It is unique for several different reasons.

First of all it is a collection of 66 different books of all kinds of genres of literature.  It is made up of histories, poetry, law, proverbs, prophecies, Gospels, personal letters, and apocalyptic literature.

It is written by 40 authors of different cultures, backgrounds, education, occupations including kings, peasants, shepherds, doctors, fishermen, tax collectors, scholars, all writing in a vast variety of locations including wilderness, dungeon, palace, prison, wilderness, dungeon, palace, prison, wilderness, dungeon, palace, prison, in exile, at home, in exile on an island.

It is written over a period of 1600 years, from 1500 BC by Moses to 100 AD by John.  It is written in three languages Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic; on three continents, Europe, Asia and Africa.

It is written in different times: war, peace, poverty, prosperity, freedom and slavery, reflecting a wide range of moods and emotions from the heights of joy to the depths of despair

What would you expect from a book written by such a diverse group of people in such a diverse set of circumstances over so long a period of time?  So if someone claims there is one single theme in the Bible, would you believe it?  How could such a thing be possible?

Don’t people say the Bible is filled with contradictions?  Isn’t the God of the OT different from the God of the NT?  How can you reconcile all the differences, the terrible wars and atrocities of the OT with the message of Jesus and His love in the NT?

Can there be any hope of finding unity in the whole Bible?