Genesis to Esther Series –
LESSON 4
A Look At The Book
I have as my
subject for this lesson “A
Look At The Book.” We
are going to look at the whole Bible before we get back to Genesis.
We talked about
Bible faith -- faith that is made up of knowledge, believe, and trust.
This study we are looking at today, is still an introduction.
And we are going to have more introductions. In these lessons we are
going to take nothing for granted. We are going to talk about things that are elementary to some, but certainly very necessary.
As I begin, I
want to illustrate this way: When one goes to the Holy land the first time, there is so much to take in, that it is like
looking at a panoramic view. It is when you go on a second and third trip, that you start filling in the details.
Or to give you
another illustration of what Bible study is like -- When you start at Genesis,
you have to connect it with all that is in the Bible -- from Genesis to
Revelation. One must have an overall picture before
looking at the details. I have often said regarding building, “I’ve
never seen anybody who put a roof up first.”
You put up the foundation, then you put up the walls, then you put up the roof.
And so that is what I am trying to do in these
studies.
1 Corinthians 10: 32
This verse is very necessary to our understanding,
even to what is in the book of Genesis.
(32) Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to
the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:
Notice three classifications of people:
The Jews
The Gentiles
And the Church of God
And don’t
forget that Paul wrote Corinthians during our
dispensation of time. The Jews exist, the Gentiles
exist, and the Church of God is here.
1. Genesis 1-3
The Beginning Of The Human Race
1. God Created The First Man And Woman.
1 Corinthians 15: 45
(45) And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a
living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1 Timothy 2: 13
(13) For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
You accept this fact, or you invent
something else. And the men who reject
the Bible, and reject the fact that God created man,
have invented evolution. And as far as a Christian is concerned, he doesn’t
accept that.
You see, there is one scientist who said “When it comes to this doctrine of
evolution, not only is there a link missing, but
the whole chain
is missing.”
Romans 1: 22
(22) Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.
Certain men
professing themselves to be wise, have become fools. I am not going to deal with that part now, because later we will be talking about
creation.
2. The First Man And Woman Fell --- Because Of Sin.
Romans 5: 12
(12) Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned.
3. God Promised A Savior
In these
chapters, God promised a Savior. Genesis 3: 15 is the first prophecy. And the theme
of the whole Bible is the Coming of Christ.
Genesis 3: 15
(15) And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise
his heel.
It is the fact
of Christ, that
is the theme of the Bible
from beginning to end. That is the purpose
of the Book.
Revelation 19: 10
(10b) I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have
the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
2. Genesis 4-11
The Beginning Of The Gentiles
I want to skip
ahead for a moment. By looking at the headlines in this lesson, I want to show
you the connection with the Gentiles,
the Jews, and the church.
Heading #1
(Genesis,
chapters 1-3) gives us the origin, or the beginning
of the human race.
Heading #2
(Genesis,
chapters 4-11) gives us the origin, or
the beginning of the Gentiles.
Heading #3
(Genesis,
chapter 12 to Malachi chapter 4) gives
us the beginning and the history
of the Jews.
Heading #4
(we have
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) where we are introduced
to the Messiah.
Heading #5
Acts to Jude –
All about the Church.
And so I say
again: by looking at the headlines, you can see the connection with the Gentiles,
the Jews, and the Church.
Now going back
1. The Nations
There are four words I want to bring to your attention from the Old
Testament. And once you see this, then you begin to understand as you read other chapters in the Bible.
Joel 3: 2, 9, 12, 17
(2) I will gather all nations
Who
is that talking about?
(9) Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles
Now let me make the statement before we go on. What is
another Bible word for nations? It is Gentiles.
When the Bible talks about Gentiles,
it is talking about nations plural.
(12) Let the heathen be
wakened.
It is the same
identical word. When the Bible says heathen,
it means nations, or Gentiles.
(17) So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling
in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass
through her any more.
There are four words describing the same classification of people. They are different names for the same people.
Mark them and remember them.
# Strangers
# Heathen
# Gentiles
# Nations
Now with that Old Testament knowledge, turn to :
Ephesians 2: 11-12
(11) Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the
flesh
Our text says: Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor
the Gentiles nor to the church of God.
I am trying to
show you that the Bible deals with these three classifications of people. First we are told about the Gentiles.
(11) ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are
called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the
flesh made by hands;
That is talking about the Jewish
people.
(12) That at that time ye
were without Christ, being
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope, and without God in the world:
So we have
three classifications referred to there.
2. Reduced To Three Families
The first three
chapters deal with the beginning of the human
race. Genesis, chapters four through eleven deal
with the beginning of the Gentile nations. The Gentile nations by the flood,
were reduced to three families
Let’s look at
these simple statements that are very elementary,
but so essential.
Genesis 10: 1, 5, 32
(1) Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and
unto them were sons born after the flood.
(5) By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided
in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
In that verse
you have the word Gentiles, and the word Nations. There is the first
mention of Gentiles in the Bible. When the Bible is talking
about Gentiles, it is talking about nations that are separated from the nation of Israel.
(32) These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their
generation, in their nations: and by
these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.
And so, keep in
mind – when you read about the Gentiles, you are
talking about the nations – plural. And the world is still filled with nations.
3. Messiah (Christ) To Come Out
Of Shem
We are told
that our Messiah is going to come out of Shem.
Genesis 9: 26
26) And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and
Canaan shall be his servant.
I am not going to deal with that at the moment. We have a promise of Messiah made in Genesis 3: 15. Then a promise of Messiah in Genesis 9: 26. And he is going to come
out of the family of Shem.
3. Genesis 12 To Malachi 4 --
The Beginning And History Of The
Jews
So Genesis,
chapters 4 to 11 give us the beginning of the Gentile
nations.
Genesis 12
through Malachi 4 gives us the beginning and the history of the Jews.
1. The Background Of Israel
First you have
the background of Israel
Genesis 11: 10, 23-26
(10) These are the generations of Shem (the son of Noah)
Now we skip
down to verse 23
(23) And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years,
and begat sons and daughters.
(24) And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:
(25) And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and
nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.
(26) And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram
Now Abraham comes out of Shem,
as you can see by reading that genealogy. And God made promise that he is going
to bless the world through Abraham and through Shem.
Where did Israel come from? Abraham
came out of Shem. Here is another one of those key verses that, Lord willing, in other lessons, we shall
come back to again.
Genesis 32: 28 The Lord is wrestling with Jacob.
(28) And he said, Thy name shall
be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for a
prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
I am simply
pointing out what I call, some structure, of the
Bible.
Abraham came out of Shem, the son of Noah. And Jacob, (Abraham’s grandson,) became the first Israelite. Now don’t miss that. There were no Israelites in existence before Jacob. This is the background of this history.
2. Genesis
12 to Malachi 4 Present Israel’s:
Y land,
Y people,
Y prophets,
Y priests,
Y kings
Y and
enemies.
From Genesis
Chapter 12, right through to Malachi chapter 4, (the major portion of the Old
Testament) present Israel’s land. It draws out the borders. A land that you
can find, and is in existence
today.
In Genesis,
chapter 12 right through to Malachi 4, there is no question it’s talking about
Israel’s people. So many people miss that when reading the
Bible. It’s talking about the people of Israel.
And in these
chapters the prophets are all Israelites. The priests are all Israelites. And the Kings
are all Israelites.
It has to do with Israel’s land, people,
prophets, priests,
kings, and then their enemies. And you will notice this, without me saying too much
about it, – when you read about the enemies
in the Old Testament, it’s only those nations that meddle with Israel.
Britain isn’t
mentioned in the Bible, because she didn’t exist at that time, and she didn’t
meddle with Israel. But the very nations that meddled
with Israel then, many of them are meddling with Israel today --
as we shall point out as we go on. But keep that in mind. These Old Testament
chapters have to do with Israel’s people.
3. Interwoven – Are Promises Of A Jewish Messiah.
Interwoven in
Old Testament prophesy is the Promise of a Jewish
Messiah. I hope you won’t miss that. A Jewish Messiah is mentioned in Genesis 3, and He is
mentioned in Genesis 9.
But then we go
on in these chapters: In my opinion, Daniel 9: 24-27
is one of the most important prophetic passages
in all the Bible. Let’s start reading a little bit from this passage of Scripture.
I am only concerned about one part of the passage.
Daniel 9: 24
(24) Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon
thy holy city.
Who do these people talk about? Who are Daniel’s people? They are certainly Israelites. And so the passage has to do with Israelites.
(25) Know therefore and understand, that from the going
forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the
Prince (There
you have the Promise of Messiah). shall be seven weeks, and
threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even
in troublous times.
(26) And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut
off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall
destroy the city and the sanctuary;
As an
introduction, I may say so little that I will confuse you much, but I am going to have to say it this way: There is a time period involved in this portion from the commandment to
restore Jerusalem. If you know your history that
has to do with the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, when the Jews went back to rebuild Jerusalem,
and then unto the destruction of Jerusalem
which is in AD70.
This passage is
so very important because it puts a border-line and says this: Messiah cannot come before the Jews go
back to rebuild Jerusalem. And He cannot
come after Jerusalem
is destroyed
again. In other words, Jesus the Messiah, to
qualify, had to come after Nehemiah, but He had to come before AD70.
That isn’t
saying enough to make it plain to you, but this passage in Daniel tells us
exactly when Messiah had to come. Any man who came before Cyrus could not
be Messiah. And any man who has come since
Titus or AD70 could not be Messiah. And incidentally, that is one reason why I can’t be a Mohammedan. I cannot accept
Mohammedanism because their Messiah came out of date, and my Messiah had to come in this
period. So Daniel tells us when He would be born.
Isaiah 7: 14 tells
us how He would be born
(14) Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign;
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,
and shall call his name Immanuel.
He is going to
be born of a virgin. This one is going to be born in a specific time of history. He is going to be born of a virgin.
Micah 5: 2 tells
us where He would be born
(2) But thou, Bethlehem
Ephratah, though thou be a little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee
shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth
have been from of old, from everlasting.
Micah said He
would be born in Bethlehem of Judea. And Zechariah tells us what He would do
when he came. He would ride on a donkey
into Jerusalem.
Zechariah 9: 9
(9) Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter
of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having
salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and
upon a colt the foal of an ass.
The prophecies
are so specific that the more
one studies the Bible, the more he is convinced that Jesus is the true
Messiah.
4. These Chapters Cried “Behold”
These chapters –
that is ,these chapters from Genesis to Malachi
-- cry out “behold.” I want to direct you to four passages. As
we read them, I want you to notice that each one of these portions include the
word “behold.” The word behold means stop and pay attention.
All of these Hebrew readers should
have done that, but they didn’t.
And that is why they missed this.
Jeremiah 23: 5
(5) Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise
unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall
reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. He says a Branch
is going to come and He is going to be a King.
Zechariah 3: 8
(8) Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy
fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will
bring forth my servant the BRANCH.
The whole word is capitalized
there. You should pay attention
when something is standing out like that.
Now here is the Branch who is a Servant Now go to the sixth chapter.
Zechariah 6: 12
(12) And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of
hosts, saying, Behold the man whose
name is The BRANCH.
In this case the Branch
is a man. First the Branch
is a King. Then the Branch
is a Servant. And now, the Branch is a Man.
Jeremiah 33: 14-16
(14) Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will
perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to
the house of Judah.
Notice the Promise is made to Israel
and to Judah.
(15) In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of Righteousness to grow
up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
(16) In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and
this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness.
Now looking back.
In
Jeremiah 23– Behold the King.
In
Zechariah 3 – Behold the Servant.
In
Zechariah 6 – Behold the Man.
In
Jeremiah 23 – Behold the Branch who is the Lord.
Now why is that so important?
4. Matthew, Mark, Luke & John
I’m outlining
the whole Bible
Genesis 1 to 11
– the beginning of the Gentiles.
Genesis 12 to
Malachi 4 – the beginning of the Jews
with Promises of a Jewish
Messiah.
1. Matthew Introduces Jesus As Messiah
What do you
have in the New Testament? What does
Matthew begin with? –
Matthew 1: 1
(1) The book of the generation of
Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2. Matthew, Mark, Luke & John Says:
Matthew says: Behold your King O Israel.
Mark says: Behold
your Servant O Israel.
Luke says: Behold
the Man O Israel.
John says: Behold
your God, O Israel.
And so the
passages of the New Testament are linked with the Old
Testament.
3. Jesus Introduced The Church
Now
furthermore, it was Jesus, who is introduced in the New Testament,
who said he would build a Church.
1 Corinthians 10: 32
(32) Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to
the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:
Matthew 16: 18
(18) (the words of Jesus) I will build my
church;
I want you to
notice those words in Matthew. Without Jesus
Christ, the Church would never
have come into existence. Jesus is the builder
of the Church, and Jesus
is the possessor of the Church.
Are the Gentile nations still in the world? – Yes. Are the Jews
still in the world? – Yes. Is the Church
still in the world? --- Yes. Why is the Church here? The Church is here because of Jesus
Christ.
5. Acts To Jude – All About The Church
Looking very
quickly at what follows: From Acts to Jude, these books are all to do with the Church.
So we are introduced first to the Gentiles,
then we are introduced to the Jews. And now we are
introduced to the Church.
1. The Founding Of The Church – In Acts
You have the founding of the Church in the book of Acts.
Acts 2: 47 Notice
what it says in keeping with Matthew.
(47) Praising God, and having favour with all the people.
And the Lord added to the
church daily such as should be saved.
Who is going to build the Church? – the Lord.
Who is it that adds
to the Church? – the Lord.
Why is the Church in existence? – because of the
Lord. And if you
are in the Church, don’t forget – it is the Lord
who has added you to the Church. It is only the Lord who can build
the Church.
In the book of
Acts you have the founding of the Church. It begins in Jerusalem. And in Acts 28, it ends in the city of Rome.
2. The Floundering Of The Church – The Epistles
The Epistles – (the book of Romans, to
the book of Jude) have to do with the floundering of the Church. Some
people don’t like that word, but I’m sorry that I have to say it on one hand, and on the other hand, I am glad that I have to say
it. You hear people say “wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had things like they had
it in the early Church!” My answer to that is “We have.”
In the early Church they had people. And what have we got in the Church today? – people. In the early Church they had problems. Why did they have
problems? They had problems because they had people just like we are. And what is the
book of Romans written for? Why did Paul write Corinthians? Why did Paul write Thessalonians? Why did Paul write
Colossians? He wrote those books because they had problems in the early Church. And don’t
forget, the epistles prove that, as long as you have people, you are going to have problems. And so they have
to do with Church problems. Some people I think, have the idea that the Church ends in the second chapter
of the book of Acts. That is just not true. The second chapter of the book
of Acts is not all the early Church. All of the epistles are the early Church.
3. The Church Will Be Visibly Perfect When The Lord Comes
The Church will
be visibly perfect when the Lord
comes. I cannot talk about that too often in these days. There are people who
are trying to visibly perfect
the Church before the Lord comes. May I quote again:I will continue to use this verse over and over again, because it is
so valuable.
1 John 3: 2
(2) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we
shall be: but we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him; for we
shall see him as he is.
Now analyze the
verse. What does it tell you? The Church will not be perfected
until the Lord comes. I am glad that’s in the Bible, because
there are times when I feel my lack so very much,
that I would wonder at times if I had really been saved. Now I said that for your sake. Don’t you have those problems with yourself? But Praise the
Lord, He is not finished
with us yet. When He is finished with us, then we will be perfect.
And until the Lord comes, there will not be a perfect Church. What
am I telling you? The Bible begins with the foundation
– the beginning of the nations,
then the beginning of the Jews,
and then the beginning of the Church.
4. The Revelation – The Consummation
What is the
book of Revelation about?
The book of Revelation has to do with the consummation:
1. First for the Church
2. Then for the Jew
3. Then for the Gentiles
4. Then All
Things New
Ephesians 2: 7
(7) That in the ages to come he
might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 3: 21
(21) Unto him be glory in the church by
Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world
without end. Amen
You can only understand
the book of Revelation in the light of what has gone before. Never forget
you will not appreciate the Bible if you do not see that part
of it was written directly to the Gentiles.
Part of it was written directly to the Jews. And part of it was
written directly to the Church. And if only we could keep that in mind,
then the Bible starts to make sense. But if you don’t keep that in mind, the Bible will not make sense. And so that’s what Paul means when he says “rightly
dividing the word of truth.”
Now the book of
Revelation is the Consummation.
I’m not studying the book of Revelation with you now, but you can check me on this, and read the first
three chapters of Revelation. In these chapters you will find the Church mentioned over
and over again. But when you get to chapter four, right through to chapter nineteen, you will never
find the word Church again. In my opinion, the Church is not mentioned in Revelation chapter 4 through
19, for the simple reason that the first three chapters give the consummation of the Church on earth.
Then Revelation
4 through 19 tells us about God’s final
dealings, first with the Jew. The seventh chapter of Revelation talks about the
144 thousand. I had a question asked me, regarding the 144 thousand, and
I’m going to answer that right now. In
Revelation, chapter seven, you come back to Jewish
ground again.
Revelation 7: 4-8
(4) And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and
there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of
the children of Israel.
You see, when
you get to the 7th chapter of the book of Revelation, you are no longer on Church
ground. When you get to the 7th chapter, you are back dealing with
the nation of Israel. The twelve
tribes of Israel.
(5) Of the tribe of Judah were
sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
(6) Of the tribe of Aser were
sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.
(7) Of the tribe of Simeon were
sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.
(8) Of the tribe of Zabulon were
sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
Now the
question was something like this: “How can this be interpreted literally, when the line-up of these tribes is not identical to other portions?
If I were to
read from Ezekiel 48, I
could read about the tribes. If I were to read from Genesis 49, I could read about the tribes. But there is something in here that is rather significant. Levi is not
mentioned in the Old Testament list of tribes as being numbered with the
twelve. For Levi was separated
from the twelve. Levi was the priestly tribe. If you have studied your Bible, you know that
the priests came out of Levi. They didn’t come out of these other tribes.
But here, when
I come to this passage of Scripture, Levi is named and there is one tribe that is not named. And somebody says “if the tribes are not identical, then the only way to interpret Revelation
is to say that you can’t interpret it literally.”
That is not
the answer. I don’t know how anything could be more literal than what we have here.
I start in
Revelation chapter 1, and I read about seven
churches. How do you interpret seven? Don’t you think that seven
means seven?
-- Or does seven mean ten? I’ve never seen anything more literal than a number.
If I went to a black board and wrote seven,
you wouldn’t think I meant seventy. Seven
means seven.
I read about seven churches – it means exactly that.
I come into the
beginning of the 7th chapter, and I read about four angels. I don’t
think that four means forty. I think four means four. And here I come and read about one- hundred and
forty-four thousand – I believe it means exactly
that – no more – no less. Now why do I believe that? I’m going to show you in the next
lesson, Lord willing, that the only way to
interpret the New Testament is in the light of the Old Testament. And if people knew the Old Testament better,
they would understand the New
Testament better.
Now back in the
Old Testament, in the days of Elijah. Elijah was very discouraged one day and he sat down
under a Juniper tree and requested for himself that he might die.
Do you know why? He said “Lord, I’m the only one that is left. There isn’t anybody else
that is serving you, and so you might as well take me home.” Now listen, when you think that you are the only one who is Spiritual,
it’s time for you to die
too. Will you remember that?
Elijah thought
he was the only Spiritual
individual. And God said to Elijah, “I have seven
thousand that I have reserved, that have not
bowed the knee to Baal. The thing that is so significant
about it – Elijah couldn’t find
even one of them, and yet there were seven
thousand. When you read history, and you read about seven thousand Jews who had been set apart by God in the days
of Elijah, do you believe that seven thousand means seven thousand? Or does it mean more or less. I believe
it means exactly what it says. God can count. And God says there were seven thousand. Now I bring that to
the New Testament, and God says he is going to set aside one-hundred and forty-four thousand Jews
of the tribes of Israel.
It cannot be anything but literal.
Now why is one tribe
missing? Secondly, what
tribe is missing? -- the tribe of Dan.
Do you know what these 144 thousand are?
They are going to be those who are going to be rewarded
in the tribes, and they are going to be severed
out to be the Evangelists during
a period of time that is yet to be on this earth – called the Tribulation. The reason Dan is omitted
is because Dan introduced idolatry
into Israel. And because they brought idolatry into Israel, Dan is not
named in the book of Revelation.
And so, you
see, when you are studying the Bible, when you come to the book of Revelation, you need the Old Testament. When you come to the book of Matthew, you need the Old Testament. When you come to the book of John , you need
the Old Testament. Jesus said in Matthew 22: 29
and I conclude this lesson with that Scripture.
Matthew 22: 29
(29) Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the
scriptures
That verse is
so important. When Jesus said Scriptures, there wasn’t any New Testament. He wasn’t talking about the New Testament. When Jesus said Scriptures – He was referring to the Old Testament. And He said: You do error, not knowing
Old Testament
Scripture. I have lived long enough to come to this
conclusion – that all error,
(I care not where it is,) all error is built on ignorance of the Old
Testament.
That’s why we are going to study in detail Genesis to Esther. We are going to study
the Old Testament because you cannot understand the New
Testament unless you understand the Old.