THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD

Notes on a series of sermons on the Old Testament, the before-Jesus part of the Bible. Some of the aims of the series were:

to get an idea of the overall story line, in which we see how God was at work with his peopleto see it as a story of real people in real situations, and therefore relevant to usto see what God says to us today as we read this part of the Bible

What follows is a summary of the 8 sermons.

1.The creation (Genesis 1-2)

The opening chapters of the Bible are two vivid stories about God making the world. (There is of course no clash between these chapters and what science tells us - science explores how things work; Genesis tells of who was behind it and explores what it all means). In particular we see God’s delight in his creation, and the way he made us “in his own image” and has given us a role of huge responsibility within his world.

2.The fall (Genesis 3)

After that wonderful start, the next chapter is the story of Adam and Eve - not to be dismissed as a primitive tale of two naked people in a garden with a talking snake, but a penetrating description of the way we human beings break away from God’s purposes, and the mess that results. Adam and Eve are not just characters in a story of long ago; they are you and me, and their story is what we read every day in the newspapers. It is the story of sin and its consequences.

3.The call of Abraham (Genesis 12)

Here the story of God’s work among us human beings really gets going, starting with the call of one individual. Abraham responded to God’s call with faith, and became the pattern for all who respond to God through Jesus in faith, and so are saved.

In particular, God gave Abraham promises of being the father of a great nation, of a promised land, and of being a source of blessing for all the world - something that is fulfilled in the way the good news of Jesus, who is of course a descendant of Abraham, has spread through all the world.

4.Moses and the exodus (Book of Exodus)

Abraham’s great-grandson Joseph brought the people of Israel to Egypt, but several centuries later they were seen as a threat by the Egyptians and a programme of near genocide started.

In that situation God provided Moses as the leader to bring his people out of slavery and lead them towards the promised land, fulfilling some of the promises to Abraham. (For those interested in dates, this is probably around 1250 BC).

The Exodus is seen by Christians and Jews as a picture of God’s salvation, showing how God wants to bring deliverance from all that is harmful, including the guilt of sin. So the crossing of the Red Sea, (or Reed Sea) when God took his people through the water to safety, points ahead to Christian baptism.

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