God Saves His People

Jesus of Nazareth

The glorious days of King David are a faint memory.

During the thousand years following his reign, the people of Israel were conquered several times and endured many hardships. At the start of the first century, Israel found itself without military power or glory, an unimportant province of the Roman Empire. God had promised that an everlasting kingdom would come from Israel, and that the entire world would be blessed through this family of faith. Had God forgotten his promises to his people?

In this time of uncertainty comes a man named Jesus.

He was born to a poor family and raised in Nazareth, a small town in the northern region of Israel called Galilee. There he lived a quiet life as a carpenter. At the age of about thirty, he began to travel throughout the countryside and towns of Israel, preaching a message that attracted people of all walks of life.

The crowds are amazed by his words and actions.

Jesus teaches as no one had ever taught, with a simplicity and a power that touches hearts. He shows great love and compassion to those who are seen as unimportant or without value. Wherever he goes, he performs great miracles. He heals the sick, the blind, and the lame. From those who are possessed, he casts out demons. He even forgives people their sins. On one occasion, after Jesus had shown control over nature, his followers ask, “Who is this, who even the wind and the sea obey?” (Mark 4:41)

His followers slowly begin to understand his true identity.

Jesus reveals himself to them little by little, so that they are not overwhelmed. They gradually come to recognize that he is not an ordinary man. Something completely and utterly unthinkable has happened: God has actually entered into the world and become a human being! Like a warrior storming a castle to rescue his beloved, God had come personally into the world to save his people!

Jesus is the true Son of David, the true King of Israel.

As a descendant of King David, Jesus perfectly fulfills the promises given to David. He is truly the Son of God; he is the King whose kingdom will last forever. The Israelites expected a leader like David who would again make them victorious in battle, but Jesus does something much greater. By his death on the cross and his resurrection, Jesus defeats our greatest foes: sin and death. He allows humanity to once again be reunited to God.

Through Jesus, all peoples and nations are blessed.

Jesus fulfills the third promise to Abraham in a completely unexpected way. His victory was not meant for just the Israelite people, but for all peoples and nations. Through Jesus, the family of faith begun with Abraham expands into a worldwide family of faith, through which all peoples can come to know and to love him. Through his family of faith, Jesus continues to invite all to share in the victory he has won for us.

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A Shepherd Becomes King

The Dynasty of King David

A shepherd takes down a giant.

Under the leadership of Saul, the first king of Israel, the Israelites take to the field of battle against the Philistines. From the enemy’s ranks steps a large warrior named Goliath, who taunts the Israelites and demands a duel. With King Saul’s blessing, a young Israelite shepherd named David confronts the giant with no more than five smooth stones and a sling. Placing his trust in the living Lord, the God of Israel, David slays Goliath with a single stone, causing the Philistines to flee in fear.

An unlikely hero, David becomes a trusted military leader.

The youngest of eight sons, he first came into Saul’s service as the court musician. After the victory over Goliath, Saul makes David an officer in his army. David quickly earns the respect of his soldiers, proving himself an excellent strategist and an inspirational leader. He becomes Saul’s most important and trusted general, helping to conquer many of the surrounding nations.

David becomes King of Israel.

Upon the death of Saul, David is chosen by God to become the new king. He conquers the great mountain stronghold of Jerusalem and makes it the capital of Israel. Under his leadership, the remaining countries around Israel are subdued. In the forty years of his rule, the kingdom of Israel experiences a new era of peace and prosperity.

God promises to make a great line of kings from David.

Through the prophet Nathan, God makes an amazing promise to David. God will raise up David’s son as his successor in the kingdom, and he will look upon this successor as his own son. “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” (2 Samuel 7:16) David rejoices in this promise of an everlasting kingdom; it is a greater promise than anything he could have imagined.

Under David, God’s second promise to Abraham is fulfilled.

A thousand years earlier, God had promised Abraham that his descendants would grow into a great nation. This was fulfilled at Mount Sinai during the time of Moses. God had also promised that he would make Abraham’s name great. In biblical language, this means that from his descendants would come a royal dynasty, in which a king rules over other nations. Through King David, Israel becomes an international dynasty, with nations paying tribute and coming to know God through the Israelite people.

How will God continue to bless his family of faith?

In the centuries that follow, Israel will diminish in power and the line of Davidic kings will become a faded memory. How will God fulfill his promise to David of an everlasting kingdom? And how will God bring about his third promise to Abraham, that all peoples on earth will be blessed through him?

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Let My People Go!

The Israelites Become a Nation

Centuries have passed since the days of Jacob.

Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, had received from God the new name Israel. In a time of famine, his twelve sons had moved to Egypt with their families. For four hundred years, they and their descendants remained in Egypt and flourished. They had now grown into twelve tribes, each numbering tens of thousands of people and each named after the son from whom they descended.

Seen as a threat by the Egyptians, the Israelites are enslaved.

Seeing how numerous the Israelites had grown, a new Pharaoh perceived them to be a threat to his rule. He ordered them all to be made slaves and forced them to do hard labor. In order to reduce the Israelite population, he ordered that when Israelite women give birth, only the baby girls be allowed to live. The Israelites cried out to God in their slavery and misfortune. (Exodus 1)

In the midst of these dark times, Moses is born.

A woman of the tribe of Levi gave birth to a boy, who was spared at birth and adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter. She named him Moses and raised him in the royal household. As an adult, Moses witnesses an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Israelites, and he kills the Egyptian in a moment of passion. Now in fear for his own life, he flees Egypt and takes up the life of a shepherd. (Exodus 2)

God reveals himself to Moses in the burning bush.

One day while tending his flock, Moses sees a strange sight: a bush is on fire on a nearby mountainside, but it is not burning up. When he goes to investigate, God reveals, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” (Ex 3:6) He has heard the cries of his people, and now, “I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” (3:10)

With God’s help, Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt.

After God causes many disasters to befall Egypt, Pharaoh finally gives in to the cry of Moses, “Let my people go!” The twelve tribes of Israel are allowed to leave Egypt with all of their possessions. Escaping through the Red Sea, God leads them to Mount Sinai, where Moses had encountered God in the burning bush.

At Mount Sinai, God calls the Israelites to be his people.

He gives them a special calling: “Out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession… a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Ex 19:5-6) They will be his special people, through which all the other nations will come to know him. By following God’s commandments and worshipping him with love, the Israelites will be a light in the darkness helping others to know the true God. They descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob wholeheartedly agree.

The first promise to Abraham is fulfilled.

They had left Egypt as twelve tribes of people with a common ancestor. At Sinai, these twelve tribes are formed into a nation, the nation of Israel. God has fulfilled his first promise to Abraham: “I will make of you a great nation!” (Gen 12:2)

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Wrestling With God

God’s Family Expands

God’s family grows through Abraham’s mischievous grandson.

Jacob was the son of Isaac, the baby miraculously conceived by Abraham and Sarah in their old age. Jacob was a clever schemer in his youth, even tricking his father so that he received the inheritance instead of his older brother, Esau. After this, he left his father and mother and went off to make his own fortune, growing in his relationship with God along the way.

Jacob is greatly blessed by God.

In an age when children were recognized as the greatest gift a family could receive, Jacob was blessed with a daughter and twelve sons. In chapters 28 and 35 of Genesis, God solemnly renews the promises he made to Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham. Jacob and his descendants would receive the promised land of Canaan, becoming a nation and eventually a kingdom. Through Jacob’s descendants, all the nations would be blessed.

God changes Jacob’s name to Israel.

In Genesis 32, Jacob finds himself in a physical struggle against a strange man. He holds his own in the ensuing wrestling match, and afterwards the stranger reveals himself to be an angel sent by God. Speaking through the angel, God changes Jacob’s name to Israel, which means, “He who struggles with God.” Throughout the rest of Scripture, both names are often used interchangeably; but it is due to this new name that his descendants are known as the Israelites.

There is discord among Israel’s twelve sons.

Israel was especially fond of his second youngest son, Joseph, born to him in his old age. Seeing their father’s preference for Joseph, the other brothers are filled with jealousy. One day when they are far away from home pasturing the flocks, they decide to kill their younger brother. At the last moment, they see an opportunity to sell him into slavery instead, and their brother is taken by traders to be sold in Egypt. (Genesis 37)

God allows his goodness to shine through Joseph in Egypt.

When Joseph arrives in Egypt, he is sold to one of the court officials. He shows himself very capable, and by God’s providence, Joseph is eventually made the second-in-command under the Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt. Under Joseph’s leadership, the Egyptians are the only people prepared when a great famine strikes the Middle East.

God reunites the twelve sons of Israel in Egypt.

In a beautiful scene of forgiveness, Joseph forgives his brothers and reunites with them. He invites them to come with their families and settle in Egypt, where there is plenty of food. There they and their descendants will stay for the next four hundred years. Over those centuries, the families of these twelve sons of Israel will grow numerous and become the twelve tribes of Israel, setting the stage for the next chapter in the story of God’s divine rescue mission.

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The Family Begins

God’s Promises to Abraham

About 4000 years ago, God began his divine rescue mission.

Rather than choosing someone powerful or famous to begin his family of faith, God calls an ordinary man living in the ancient city of Haran, in modern-day Turkey. Abraham and his wife Sarah have enough means to live comfortably, but they had never been blessed with a child, and now they are far past childbearing years.

At age 75, Abraham receives a special mission from God.

God tells him, “Go forth from your land, your relatives, and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.” (Gen 12:1) This new land would be Canaan, hundreds of miles away to the south. God then makes Abraham three amazing promises.

First, from Abraham will come a nation.

God promises, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you.” (Gen 12:2) By this, Abraham understands that God is promising that he and Sarah would conceive in their old age, and that their descendants would be so numerous that they would one day form an entire nation. Since every nation needs its own land, God promises Canaan to Abraham and his descendants.

Second, from Abraham will come a dynasty.

God promises, “I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” (Gen 12:2) In biblical terminology, this is not just a promise to have a famous name or be greatly esteemed by others. Rather, it means a dynasty will come from Abraham’s descendants, a line of kings who will rule over other nations.

Third, from Abraham will come a worldwide blessing.

God promises, “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Gen 12:2) This means that the blessings poured out upon Abraham will not only benefit Abraham and his descendants. Rather, somehow God will bless the entire world through the family begun by Abraham and Sarah.

Abraham has faith and trusts God.

He leaves his homeland with Sarah, his relatives, and all those in his household, and together they begin the long journey south. God helps Abraham through different trials, and after many years he gives Abraham and Sarah the miraculous blessing of a son, Isaac. On various occasions, God tests Abraham’s faith and then solemnly reaffirms his promises to Abraham. Abraham and his descendants were meant to be a special people chosen by God.

With the “yes” of one faithful man, God begins his family of faith.

The entire rest of the Bible is the story of God gradually fulfilling the three promises he made to Abraham in Genesis 12. We will see Abraham’s family slowly grow into a family comprised of twelve tribes. Under Moses, these twelve tribes will become a nation. Under King David, the nation will become a dynasty. And centuries later, Abraham’s family will become a blessing for all the nations.

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Harmony Lost

Sin Enters the Human Family

Adam and Eve had a life we can only dream about.

They had a perfect harmony within themselves. Their intellects and wills were aligned perfectly to goodness and truth, as were their imaginations, feelings, and physical desires. A life of goodness and truth came naturally to them. They enjoyed a perfect union with God and a complete trust in one another as husband and wife.

Into this harmony of the garden, Satan enters.

Like us, the angels were created with free will and called to freely love God. Satan was one of the greatest of the angels, and in his pride he chose not to love and serve God. This separation from God causes him untold misery, and he sees in Adam and Eve a way to strike back at God by turning them away from the love of their creator. He enters the garden to tempt Adam and Eve. (Genesis 3)

Can Adam and Eve really trust God?

God had clearly commanded that our original parents must not eat from one of the trees in the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan enters into conversation with Eve and creates doubt in her mind, telling her that when she eats from it, “You will be like God!” (Gen 3:5) She and Adam give in to this temptation.

This is more than just the eating of a fruit.

Instead of trusting God and his desire for their happiness, Adam and Eve have chosen to disobey God and separate themselves from him. For the first time, they have sinned.

Sin greatly damages Adam and Eve’s inner harmony.

They find that their souls have become like a broken mirror, damaged in every way by sin. Their intellects are now easily deceived; it is difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood. Their wills have been weakened; it no longer comes naturally to love selflessly and to do what is good. Their imaginations, feelings, and physical desires are often at odds with goodness and truth.

Their harmony with God and with each other is also lost.

Adam and Eve experience shame and feel a need to cover their nakedness in front of each other. When God comes, they hide from him. These details show how their harmony with each other has been wounded, as has their perfect union with God. They will now experience suffering and physical death, but the most serious consequence is their spiritual separation from God.

The wounds of sin affect the entire human race.

The entire human family has inherited Adam and Eve’s state of spiritual brokenness; we all experience their lack of internal harmony and their attraction to sin. God created us to be united with him, but unless he repairs the separation caused by sin, we will never be able to enjoy union with him here or in heaven. How will he save us and restore the human family to union with him?

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In the Beginning

A Family of Love

God saves the best for last.

In the opening chapters of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, we read about the creation of the universe. There is one God, not many gods. He is all-powerful, and he freely chooses to create the universe out of nothing. He lovingly creates the stars, the earth, and all the living creatures in it. Once all has been prepared, he creates the first humans, Adam and Eve, as his masterpiece.

Human beings are created to share in God’s love.

Out of all the earthly creatures God created, humans are unique. “God created mankind in his own image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1:27) This means that they are persons, beings with the capacity to know and to love, created for eternal union with him. This capacity to give of oneself in love is what makes us most like God.

Adam has a close friendship with God, yet he is “alone.”

In the garden, Adam is depicted as walking and conversing with God like we would talk with a friend. Despite this intimacy, God says, “It is not good for man to be alone.” (Gen 2:18) As Adam names the animals, he recognizes that they are not his equal; they are not persons with an intellect and free will. God has placed in Adam a yearning to give of himself in selfless love, but Adam has not yet found an earthly companion with whom he can share such a love.

God creates Eve to be Adam’s wife.

When Adam sees Eve, he rejoices that he has at last found an equal. She too is a person made in God’s image and likeness, someone who is worthy of his love and who can love him in return. Their love can even bear fruit in a child, another person created for eternal union with God. As a family, Adam and Eve will grow in their love for each other and deepen their love for God as well.

Adam and Eve are united perfectly with God and each other.

Scripture describes Adam and Eve as being “naked without shame.” (Gen 2:25) This indicates that they enjoy a perfect unity, trusting one another fully. They know and love each other completely, without any selfishness or brokenness, and they also know and love God in the same way. They are happy because they are living out the call God placed in their hearts, to give of themselves in love.

This shows us God’s plan for the whole human race.

From the very beginning, God intended humanity to know and love him perfectly. He did not intend for us to grow in our relationship with him as isolated individuals, however, but as members of a family united by love. Adam was not expected to grow in his relationship with God all by himself, but with the help of Eve and their children. God’s plan was always that humanity would come to know and love him through the love and support of a family of faith.

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The Adventure Begins

The Big Picture of the Bible

The knight bravely storms the enemy castle.

Out of love for his kidnapped bride, he overcomes every foe. No one can stop his determined climb up the tower stairs. Vanquishing his final enemy, he bursts into the room where his beloved has been kept prisoner. “I am here,” he exclaims, “I have come for you!” He sets her free and, at long last, the two embrace with great joy.

Does God have such a love for us?

In our previous faith messages, we examined some of the reasons for faith in God. One can come to important insights by reflecting on the physical universe and on our experience of human nature. But these insights can only scratch the surface of the mysteries of God. If we are to know him in a deeper way, God has to choose to reveal himself to us. He has to come into the castle, so to speak, and make himself known.

God has indeed made himself known to us!

He did not simply set the universe in motion and leave us on our own without another thought. Rather, since our first days on earth, he has interacted with the human race and revealed himself to be a faithful, loving Father. As God revealed himself to his people over the centuries, he inspired many individuals to write down the stories of his words and deeds.

This is the amazing story recounted in the Bible.

In its pages, we find the greatest adventure ever told: how God patiently prepared the way for the most amazing rescue mission of all time. This adventure is recounted by many authors and through various types of literature, such as histories, poems, and letters. For this reason, the Bible is not like a typical novel, but more like a library of small books collected under one cover.

To understand the Bible, we need to see the big picture.

At its heart, the Bible is the adventure of God gradually forming a family of faith, the Israelites. With great patience, he helped them to love and trust him, calling them to be the light by which all the other nations would come to know him. If we can understand the broad outlines of this family history, then the other pieces of the Bible begin to fall into place. The Psalms, for example, are the family songs of the Israelite people, while Proverbs is a collection of their wise sayings.

God comes to save us!

In this message series, we will share the big picture from Genesis to Jesus. We will see that God created humanity to enjoy perfect union with him, and that we lost this union due to sin. We will watch as God begins his family of faith with the “yes” of one faithful man, Abraham, and follow this family as it grows into the nation of Israel. We will see how God prepares the way for a gift of himself beyond our imagining, a mighty warrior coming to save his beloved.

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