Well, thank you very much for coming tonight. It's nice to see such a tightly packed crowd. The purpose of our gathering this week and the next three weeks is to try to get a grasp of the full suite of the scriptures. What is the Bible all about? That's a very big, big task. And I'm glad to say that you are up for the task. There are some reasons why the Bible is difficult. name them. We don't need to discuss them very long. This book is very old. The latest document in the book was written about 2,000 years ago. That's a long time ago. The earliest document would have been written at least 3,000 years ago. So it's distant from us in time. It's very, very old. Another reason why it's difficult for us is because it was written in the Middle East, which is a culture that's very, very different from the Western world, the European world. They do things very differently there, as all you do is read a newspaper to see how different Middle Easterners are, the way they live their lives. So, we're reading a very ancient book that's written in the Middle East, and we're trying to read it in modern America. It's not easy. Another reason why it's difficult is, well, it's a big book. It's a pretty fat book with lots and lots and lots of pages. Even if this book was written last month in America, at this length, we would have difficulty with it. Because it's very easy to get lost in the minutiae get lost in all of the trees and you miss the big picture, the forest. So we have, we've got a task in front of us. But it's a task that we're motivated to do and to do well. Because what this book is, is God speaking to his people so that they can know what he's doing in the world. How many other books are there in this world in which God speaks to us to tell us what he's doing so that we can get involved in his program and his purposes and participate in those things. This is the only book. So it's worth our while to dig in and work hard and try to understand it. I'm glad to see that you're all here and ready up for this task. What I'm going to do tonight is take you through the whole thing and reveal to you the basic structure of this book. So that you kind of know where you are whenever you are reading it. You pick it up, you open it up and you find yourself reading somewhere. You at least know where you are in this long story. And how this part fits in to the bigger picture. So I want to go actually from Genesis to Revelation tonight. And then next week, what I want to do is take kind of the major theme, the major topic of the Bible and then trace that through from Genesis to Revelation. But first of all, we need to get the story down. So that's what we're going to do today. Now, hopefully everybody has two handouts. There were a couple of late comers, weren't there? OK. How about if I just. In the handout, I'm hoping that you have pens that you're able to write because you need to fill this out. I didn't do the whole thing. Yeah, I'm going to help you with that. That's why I wanted to wait. Now, the first handout is called The First for the Old Covenant. So that's where we're going to start. But before I do that, I do want to read just a couple of passages. OK, so everybody's got. OK, I don't I don't have. All right. Oh, maybe we ran out. All right. When you're reading a book that may be somewhat difficult, maybe it's a murder mystery or something like that. You can always cheat. and just go to the end and find out who did it. What is this all about? So that's what I'm going to do. I'm just going to cheat to start with, so that we have some direction, we know where we're going. So I want to read from Revelation chapter 21, first few verses. John says, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them And they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. He also said, write this down for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage. And I will be his God and he will be my son. I want to stop there. It's a lovely picture. It's a picture of God dwelling with humanity now forevermore. This is where history is headed. All of God's acts in time and in history are directed towards this point. Where he lives with his people. Redwells with them. He wipes away the tears from our eyes. He removes sin and evil and corruption. So there'll be no more death, no more pain, no more mourning. We live with God forever. That's his intention. That's his goal. That's his purpose in acting in history. So that's where we're going. When we start in Genesis, That's where we're heading. That's kind of the great theme that runs right through this whole thing. And the question then becomes, how is God going to accomplish this plan? How does he fulfill this purpose? Because in many ways, as you look around this world, you wonder, could it really be true that that's what's going to happen? What kind of evidence, what kind of proof might there be for us to have assurance that yes indeed God will bring about that end? Those are the kind of questions that are probably going on in your mind right now. How can we know? Well that's where we're headed. Now I want to read another passage that tells us a little bit about how we're going to move from Genesis to Revelation. This is from Hebrews chapter 8. Now, before I read Hebrews 8, I just want to mention a couple of very important phrases in Revelation 21. I ended with the phrase, I will be his God, he will be my son. That actually occurred a couple of times in Revelation and that is a hugely important phrase. We find it also in Hebrews, right in the middle, if you've got Hebrews 8 open, and look at the end of verse 10, I will be their God, they will be my people. Now, that little phrase is called the covenant formula. A formula is just a brief phrase that packs in a whole lot of information. So that every time you hear that phrase, all of that information is unpacked in your head. We have technical terms. Professionals use technical terms so that they don't have to speak a whole paragraph. They can just say, their technical term, and then if somebody knows what they're talking about, all that stuff comes out. Well this little phrase, I will be your God, they will be my people, is one of these pregnant phrases. It actually summarizes the whole of the covenant. So we have to talk about covenant. So if God's intention, God's purpose, God's goal, is that he will be our God and we will be his people, and we will dwell together forever and ever and ever, we have to understand this covenant which is what brings that all about so now let me read Hebrews 8 I'll just start in verse 6 but as it is Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better since it is enacted on better promises For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. But he finds fault when he says, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, for they did not continue in my covenant. And so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they shall not teach each one his neighbor, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me. from the least to the greatest for I will be merciful towards their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more and speaking of a new covenant he makes the first one obsolete and what is becoming obsolete and is growing old is ready to vanish away that was kind of a long passage but what the author here is saying is that the way we can understand what God is doing in this and his activity in becoming God and us, his people, is he's working through covenants. And this passage tells us that there was an old covenant, which is obsolete and passing away, and there's a new covenant that is now taken over. Old covenant, new covenant. Old testament, new testament. That's why You have a bible in front of you, you've got an old testament and a new testament. Testament is just another word for covenant really. So you can think of yourselves as holding the old covenant and the new covenant. So what we're going to do tonight is look at how God works through these two covenants, the old one and the new one, in order to bring about this promise of living together forever. and overcoming and defeating sin, and evil, and corruption. That's where we are going now. Put on your seat belts. Here we go. So it's all about covenants, old and new. I should tell you a little bit about covenants. Covenant is just a fancy word. It's not a familiar word. We don't use the word all that much in our daily discussion with people. So I probably should spend a little bit of time explaining it. It's a fairly simple word though. Basically a covenant is a means of bringing two people or two groups of people into a relationship with one another. So marriage is a great example of a covenant. Two individuals decide they're going to live together, dwell together, be together. That's where we're heading with God. God makes a covenant with us so that we can live with him. But it's bigger. God's covenant is bigger than that. Because in God's covenant He enters into a relationship with us in order to change us, in order to transform us, in order to make us the people that he always intended us to become. We are not what he wants us to be. We are not what he intends us to be. But by entering into a relationship with us, he is going to transform us. he's going to clean us up and enable us to become what we will one day be so that we can live in his presence so that we can enjoy holiness and righteousness so that we don't have to fear that kind of perfection so a covenant then is a relationship but it's a relationship that changes us and transforms us It's also a relationship that comes about because of love. Because He loves us. He draws us into this relationship. So, you will find the term covenant used in the Ancient Near East, in the Middle East. Often times in terms of treaties, two nations will make a covenant. The covenant will be If you don't throw bombs at us, we won't throw bombs at you. OK? We'll live in peace. So that's kind of a treaty kind of a covenant. But it doesn't involve love. And it doesn't involve the transformation of the other. It's just a way of being reconciled. So God's covenant is much bigger and more profound than those kinds of covenants. The biblical covenants are really quite unique. They're as profound as love. that they're intended to transform and to bring about a glorious relationship with the Pope. So that's the covenant. Now, here we go into the old covenant and the new covenant. This is really quite simple. Those diagrams that you have in front of you, let me see if I can explain them. Alright, let's start it here on this board. OK, so you see I've got a box, and then I've got three boxes, and I've got a big post dividing my second and my third box over here. This is all about the covenant. This box right here, this is where the covenant is made, or established, or created. That is the beginning of the covenant relationship. this box here, that goes right across here, that is going to be the historical outworking of that covenant relationship that God made right here. Do you understand that? Does that make sense? So that's what we're going to do right now. This right here, this is Genesis This is Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. So you can see there's actually four boxes in here. So Genesis, we start really big and wide and we narrow our focus till we get to the Israelites. And then we're just going to talk about the Israelites for all the rest. I'm going to go over this a number of times. So this is called the Pentateuch, the first five books. Now, these three boxes I've got here, that's the rest of the Old Testament. Wow, we're going fast. This is fantastic, isn't it? This is just the historical outworking of this relationship that God created right in here. And basically, this history is divided into three periods of time. The first period of time is before the kingdom. So I call it free. And there are three books that make up this period. So this is free. OK. You can actually open your Bibles to your table of contents if you want to. But the next three books after the Pentateuch, where are the next three books? Joshua, Judges, and Luke. Those books are pre-Kingdom books. Then the next three books are the Kingdom books. Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Okay, so on the 20th or 9th, there's actually a 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 6th, so there's actually six, but that's okay. Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. This is the way you can remember this. It's all about the kingdom of Israel, all over the history of the kings. But when you get to the end of Chronicles, you come to the end of Israel's history. They have been so bad that God has had to kick them out of the land. The Babylonians have come and taken them captive. So now they're outside the land. So this big pillar here is a break in history. This is the time when Israel is sent into exile to live outside the land in Babylon. Then the next three books. The last three books of the Old Testament. Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. This is when Israel is now coming back into the land to rebuild the temple and the wall. So they're restoring their history. So that's all post-kingdom. So we got pre-kingdom, kingdom, and post-kingdom. 3-3-3. Joshua judges Ruth, Samuel kings and chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. Fantastic, you're doing great. So we'll go over that again. You'll get it. You'll get it. That's just the first time. Now, let me start at the beginning. Genesis. I said this is Genesis. And the reason I've drawn it like this is because when Genesis opens, we are looking at absolutely everything God creates The whole cosmos. The sun and the moon and the stars. The heavens and the earth. And all of the animals. Everything he creates. But now, this book, the Bible, is not about absolutely everything. This is not a study of astronomy. It's not a study of botany. Or zoology. So very quickly after God creates everything, we narrow our focus to what is more important, or most important. So we narrow our focus down towards humanity. What's most important to God? It's not the animals, and it's not the plants, and it's not the sun and the moon and the stars, it's people! That's what God is concerned about. And so we narrow our focus to humanity. And the rest of the story is going to be about humanity and God's relationship with humanity. We'll spend more time the following week about Adam and Eve and their rebellion against God. But for now, you know that's what happened. Humanity, Adam and Eve, rebelled against God. They brought about sin and death. and corruption and horrors and well every evil thing that occurs because of Adam and Eve's rebellion which we just follow in line with what Adam and Eve started for us. And as a result of that evil and horror God judged humanity with the flood and started all over again. with Noah and his three sons. And then in Genesis chapter 10 we get the story of the re-peopling of the earth through the sons of Noah. And we have the history of all of the nations. All the nations and where they live around the Mediterranean world. And then in chapter 11 of Genesis You see humanity continuing their rebellion against God, building a tower to reach into heaven to say, we are like God. We can know everything. We can do what we want. We can accomplish anything we want. And humanity is still in rebellion against God. The first 11 chapters of Genesis are pretty depressing. And you see, this is humanity, this is what we're all about. Rebellion against God. Bringing about sin, corruption, evil, death. Good God. Genesis doesn't end here, thankfully. That's just the first portion. Genesis chapters 1 through 11 is humanity in rebellion against God. But Genesis 12 to 50, the rest of the book of Genesis is all about God in pursuit of humanity. To overwhelm their sin and corruption and death. And the way that he is doing this is Genesis chapter 12 we're introduced to Abraham. God chooses Abraham And he enters into a relationship with Abraham and he tells Abraham, you are going to become the father of a great nation. And your seed is going to bless all the other nations. All of humanity will be blessed through you, Abraham. I'm choosing you in order to deal with humanity's rebellion, humanity's sin sickness, all that evil. Abraham, you're my man, we are going to work together to overcome that. He enters into a relationship with Abraham, a covenant relationship. This is the beginning of what we see ultimately in Revelation chapter 21 and 22. It all starts when God enters into a covenant relationship with Abraham. You will bless all the nations. Your seed will bless all the nations. So, then what we get in the rest of the book of Genesis is a repeated narrowing so that Abraham has two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. and God says it'll be through Isaac that this blessing comes. Ishmael's history is pushed aside. Not that Ishmael is unimportant or unloved, but the blessing will come through Isaac, so we concentrate on him. Isaac then has two sons, Jacob and Esau. And we narrow our focus to one of those sons, Jacob. because it will be through Jacob that the blessing will come. The blessing to all the nations. So Genesis then, just through the whole book, we're continually narrowing until we get to Jacob and his twelve sons. And those twelve sons become the nation of Israel. The last story in the book of Genesis is the story of one of those sons. His name was Joseph. His brothers didn't like him because he seemed a little bit arrogant. He told them of his dreams in which they would all bow down to him. That's not very nice. What do you think, you're more important than us? Please, Joseph, let's get rid of this guy. So they sell him to a Midianite who sells him to an Egyptian and Joseph ends up in Egypt. Then there's a famine. and his brothers need to go down to Egypt to find grain for bread. Just so happens Joseph is now second in charge in Egypt. This brings the Israelites down into Egypt. Now the rest of the Old Testament is going to be the story of these twelve sons of Jacob, known as the Israelites. and what God does through them to bring about the blessing to all nations that he made promise with Abraham. So how is God going to accomplish this with this bunch of rascals? That's the story. So that's Genesis. So Genesis is, we begin as big as we can be. We narrow down to the Israelites. They're stuck in Egypt. At this point, Now, the book of Exodus, which is our next book here, Exodus. Wow. It's quarter after seven, and I'm only... We have gone through once. Sorry. Exodus, now, as the name of the book suggests, is the exiting of the Israelites from Egypt. God hears their cries. He hears and sees them in bondage and slavery, working long, hard hours, slogging away, making bricks. He hears them. And he says, OK, now the time has come for me to raise up a leader to bring these people out of Egypt, put them into their own land, where we can live together, dwell together. So that's the plan now, the plan in action. He chooses Moses. Then he begins to deal with Pharaoh, sending the plagues. Finally, the Israelites leave Egypt, they cross the Red Sea, and they begin a bit of travel. So that's the book of Exodus. But you will know the book of Exodus because it's the first time that you get the Ten Commandments. Exodus chapter 20. This relationship that God is entering into with these Israelites requires them to live in a certain way. They have certain obligations to fulfill. And God has obligations that he will fulfill as well. The essence of Israel's obligations are contained in the Ten Commandments. So we get that in the Book of Exodus. We've taken you out of Egypt, now here we are together at Sinai. This is what I expect from you. Don't do this, don't do that, no adultery, no stealing. That is the basic requirement that they have. But he in turn makes promises to them. You will be a blessing to all nations. In fact, you will be my treasured possession. You will be a kingdom of priests. A holy nation, you tell me. A kingdom of priests. That's the kind of relationship that we're going to have. You are going to be my priests. What is a priest? A priest is a person who stands in between God and other people to speak to God for those people. So he kind of is a substitute for those people, a representative for those people. The nation of Israel, this people that he's just brought out of Egypt, he's going to put them in their own homeland. They're going to be a kingdom of priests. They will be the substitute for the rest of humanity. They will appear in the presence of God for humanity. They will offer to God sacrifices and offerings on behalf of humanity. They stand in between God and humanity. That's their role. That's their task. If God is going to bless all nations, is going to need a priestly people. In Israel, you are that people. You will be a kingdom of priests. And a holy nation. Holy nation means that they will be a different kind of nation than any other nation. Holy means set apart, means different, means unique, unlike any other nation. So Israel You're not to go imitating all of these other nations around, the Midianites and the Amorites and the Egyptians and the Essenes. You're not going to be like them. You're going to be different, unique. Because I expect something different and unique from you. You are their representative. You're their substitute. You will suffer for them. This is what the book of Exodus is about. It's establishing this covenant relationship with the Israelites. And if you do that, well, blessings. You need food to live, right? I'll make sure there's plenty of rain for you. I'll make sure that your crops grow in abundance. I will keep your borders protected from armies who want to come and steal your food. I will bless you if you obey. But Israel, if you rebel against me, if you turn your back on me and go after other gods and worship those gods and expect those gods to bless you, I'm not going to bless you. I'm going to have to teach you a lesson that those gods will not bless. They can't do anything for you. So what I'm going to do It's going to stop the rain from coming so that your food crops doesn't grow. And I will open your borders so that enemy armies come and attack you. And if you still don't listen to me, well, I'm just going to have to kick you out of the land, out of my presence, until you learn. That I'm the only God who can provide you with what you need. So don't rebel. Don't become idolaters. Blessings and curses. Blessings and curses. For covenant obedience, for disobedience. That's the covenant that God is making with Israel. In order to bring about this fulfillment, this promise that He's going to live with humanity in blessedness. for all of eternity. That's Exodus. So, if God is going to live with the Israelites in this piece of land, then they're going to have to live in a different way, because the Creator God, the Holy God, is actually living in their midst. He's going to be living in a temple or a tabernacle. They're simple. They're not holy. So even the Israelites are going to need substitutes. Mediators. To stand in the presence of God for them in the land. So God creates a special class of priests. Levites. They will be priests of the priests, because the whole nation is priests, substitution for the whole world, but now there's going to be a specific class within Israel that will stand in the very presence of God, they will work in the tabernacle, in the temple where God's presence is so that the rest of the Israelites don't have to be confronted with that holiness all the time. So the book of Leviticus, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, the third book, Leviticus is all about this priestly tribe of Levites and how they are to stand in the presence of God and serve God in the tabernacle and later in the temple. So this is how you will give your offerings, your burnt offerings, your sin offerings, your peace offerings, all the different kinds of offerings that you're giving for the people, this is how you do it. And this is, by the way, this is what it means to be holy, you priests. I expect you to live in this way. Now, I told you you're a holy nation. You're different, you're unique. So I don't want you to eat certain foods. Don't ask me why you can't eat that food. I just want you to be different, unique. The fact that this is wrong for you, but it's okay for other people, simply points out that you're different. You're unique. You're not like the other nations. So you don't eat exactly the same way they eat. You don't wear clothes the way they wear clothes. You're different, and I want people to see that you're different. So the book of Leviticus is full of these kind of odd laws and requirements for holiness to point out the difference, the uniqueness of Israel as they stand in the place of humanity. Leviticus numbers. The Book of Numbers, like its name suggests, is a time when the tribes of Israel, these 12 sons of Jacob, these 12 tribes, they are numbered in preparation for marching towards the promised land, the land where they will live with God. So they've all got numbered up. This tribe has so many people. This tribe has so many people. There's a word. OK, are we ready to march? Let's go. We begin our march. head off from Sinai. They're heading to Kadesh Farnia. They get near the promised land. They sell them twelve spies in to look out at the land. The twelve spies return with glorious reports. You should have seen the grapes! They were huge! It's a fantastic land, flowing with milk and honey! Can't wait to get there! There are people living there, though. They're pretty big. He will come strong. Oh, we can take them. We're sure. Wait a minute. Big and strong people? I'm not sure I'm up for that. And the Israelites, they hear the report of the twelve spies, and they become fearful, and they kind of fall apart. And they rebel against God, we're not doing this, we're not going into that promised land, God made a promise to it, but I'm not sticking my neck out for the rest of these people. They rebel against God, so they end up wandering all over this wilderness for 40 years, until that generation of rebels is dead. So, the end of the book of Numbers, we get Aaron, Moses' brother, dying, Mariam, his sister, grinding and 40 years is now up. We're ready to go into the land. So we go up to the plains of Moab. You can look out over the Jordan River and see the promised land. At this point Moses dies. Moses himself is not allowed to go into the promised land. But the last thing that Moses does is remind them of their covenant obligations. Remind them that they have a covenant with God, that they are in a relationship with God. And this relationship requires certain things in them. So Moses gives the law a second time. It's the same law that we had in the book of Exodus, but he simply reiterates it. So we get the second time the Ten Commandments are given. This is the Book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 2nd Normos Law. So Deuteronomy is really just the general laws of the Ten Commandments and the application of the Ten Commandments when you get into the land. This is how you apply this commandment. This is how you apply that commandment. You get into the land. You want to know how to do Sabbath? This is how you do it. He gives all sorts of very specific laws. Deuteronomy is filled with all of those things, reminding them of their obligations. This, then, is making the covenant with Israel. something a little bit longer. I didn't quite get to Revelation 1. That was a thing. OK. I still have a minute. So now we're... God has entered into a relationship, a covenant relationship with the Israelites. What's the point of it? What's the purpose of it? It is so that the nations will be blessed. That's what he spoke to Abraham about. Your seed is going to bless all the nations. We see that blessing in Revelation 21. We know how it's going to end, but at this point, we have to do the running. We're really still wondering, how is he going to pull this off? The rest of the Old Testament is the historical outworking of this covenant relationship. We walk with Israel through this relationship that they have with God. We see them at their high points. We see them at their low points. I guess I'm going to have to just continue this next week. But you may have noticed that I missed out a few books. There are a few. I got the history. But what have I missed? The wisdom books. which are Proverbs, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and Job, five wisdom books. Who wrote the psalms? David, right? Mostly David. We can have some other psalmists. But the bulk of the book is really David. Who wrote Proverbs? Solomon. Yeah, we do have some that aren't Solomon. But Solomon is really the Harvard writer. Who wrote Ecclesiastes? Solomon. Who wrote Song of Solomon? Solomon. OK, that's a good one. Joe? Well, that's anybody's guess. Maybe Joe. That's a big mystery. But, so what we're looking at is the wisdom books is written basically by David and Solomon. So this all happens right in here. That's the reason for that little footfall. That's where the wisdom literature is found. And the reason for the wisdom literature is because here Israel is in this relationship with God. And we need to know how to best live in this relationship. Bad things happen in life. It's tough. Life is rough and tumble. So have you got any advice as to how to pull this relationship off? So we get proverbs. Proverbs are practical wisdom for everyday life. The book of Psalms is like spiritual wisdom for maintaining your relationship with God. When you want to yell at God and scream, You've done wrong God! You haven't treated me right! The psalmist takes us through these emotions and helps us to deal with them so that we can maintain a right relationship with God and still express ourselves truly. Life is tough. Bad things happen. Evil. The book of Job is one book that helps us to deal with specific evil that happens in our life. How are we to understand? God, it seems like you hate me. You killed this person, you killed that person. What are you doing? The book of Job provides wisdom when evil strikes in your life. Sometimes life is just a mess, a muddle. It isn't necessarily evil. Maybe it's just boring. Maybe it seems like it's worthless, pointless. The book of Ecclesiastes is written to help us understand that, yeah, life does seem mundane. It seems like we're going nowhere. Just season after season comes and goes. It doesn't seem like I'm accomplishing anything in my life, God. Yes, that's the way life seems in the under the sun stance that you live in. But if you could go beyond the sun and see things from God's perspective, it would look different. But you're stuck under the sun. And that's why it looks so mundane and so boring and so worthless. Ecclesiastes provides us with the philosophy of life. So these wisdom books help us to live out Our relationship with God. Our covenant relationship with God. That's the wisdom. That's why that's there. Okay, what other books did I miss? Anything? I missed the prophets. That's a big one. So what are these prophets? You probably have guessed by now that the big circle, that's where the prophets fit in. The role of the prophet was to speak directly for God. He was kind of the opposite of the priest. Similar to the priest but in an opposite way. If the priest mediates between humanity and God, and he speaks to God for the people, Here's an offering. Their story for their sin. They're offering you this. The priest is in the other direction. God is behind him and he's speaking to the people and he's saying, God is saying this to you! You numbskull! You have violated the covenant! You have failed in your obligations! And if you keep this up, you know what's going to happen? Do you remember? Curses? That's what's coming! So wake up! purpose really the prophets is to interpret life for the people so the people are just living their life and the prophet looks at them and he says hey we're going in the wrong direction here that that you're doing that's called sin that's a violation of your covenant obligation if you keep going that way who's going to judge he said he would shut off the rain he said he would open our borders so don't turn around repent go the other way or if he sees the people going in the right way he says you can expect blessing you are going in the right way God is going to do great things for you are you ok? I'm ok so we have prophets all dotted throughout this historical period. Now, as we get closer to exile, the prophets are really pumping up the volume, warning the people, we're heading the wrong way. God is going to judge if we keep going this way. And ultimately, they don't listen and we get to exile. Then we have some prophets in exile. Remember Daniel in Babylon? Ezekiel as well. Then we get some post-exilic prophets. These are the prophets that Israel has now returned to the land. They started rebuilding their walls, started rebuilding their temple, but they get tired. Now, do we really have to do this? Is it all that important? Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi say, yes, it is important. We have to restore this nation. How else is a messiah to come? If there is no law, if there is no temple, we can't have a messiah. We can't have blessing for all the nations. So get to work. So we have poets. OK, there's your old testament. I told you a little bit over. Thank you.