that God tells ultimately in the Bible, and that it's a progressive revealed story from chaos to the dawn of new creation. So in the last couple of classes, we looked at the unity of the Bible, unity of the story of God's redemption in the Old Testament. Last week, or the last class, we looked at some of the diversity, particularly looking at the three parts that our Lord gives to us to understand the Old Testament. In summary, as part one, Moses, Part two the prophets and part three the writings and so that's the format we'll use our Lord mentions that specifically in Luke 24 and so we're going to use that as our way of memorizing Part of the Old Testament story Moses prophets and writings. That's what we looked at last time today we're going to look at eschatology and the genres or the different types of different types of ways that God reveals himself in the Bible, different books and different ways of writing those books or telling us the truth. If you noticed on the syllabus that I sent out, the cycle one will begin on October 19th. We'll look at creation and then fall and then redemption and then new creation. So let's look at first Corinthians 10 together. We want to Watch We want to take note as we're going through this class on the Old Testament How the New Testament authors interpret the Old Testament and we want to follow that so if you'll take your Bibles first Corinthians 10 Verses 1 through 11 listen to God's Word For I do not want you to be unaware brethren that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea and And all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. And the rock was Christ. Verse 5. Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Verse 6, now these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. We must not indulge in sexual immorality, as some of them did. And 23,000 fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did. and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now, these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come." This is an appropriate scripture for several reasons when thinking about the Old Testament. There's a few things I want to draw out of here. When we talk about eschatology, which we will today, we want to see that God has always had a purpose. that he desires to reveal in history. And ultimately, that purpose, as we have talked about together, is the person and work of Christ. That Paul can even see by looking at the types and the shadows that are revealed in the Old Testament, he can see in that Christ himself. Because those types and shadows, though Christ had yet to come, those types and shadows pointed the people to Christ through promise, in a figurative way, in a way of picture, that he can say that the rock that followed them was Christ. But a couple of other things I want you to take note of as you're going through this class, because I don't want this class to just be knowledge you're getting in your head just merely for interpretation or to understand your Bibles. I want you to remember that we're doing this to interpret our Bibles in a proper way that will lead us to a deeper relationship with God. And there are two things that you want to note about this passage. First of all, he's writing to the Corinthians, who were primarily Gentiles, and he tells them that the story of Israel is theirs too. He says, our fathers. He's not talking about those who were Jewish ethnically. He's talking about Gentiles. He says, our father. So he's telling us that whether you're Jew or Gentile, whoever you are, whatever your background, the stories in the Old Testament are for you. Isn't that wonderful? So when you think of these stories in the Old Testament, they are indeed historically rooted and directed to Israel first, but they are written for us. And notice verse six, these things took place as examples for us. You see, that's very important biblical truth to remind us of what we're doing when we're studying the Old Testament. We're looking at how these stories can form and shape us, how they apply to our lives too. And verse 11 tells us that they were written down for our instruction. Notice verse 11, they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. The end of the ages being the full revelation of Christ. So as Christ was shadowed and given in picture or type in the Old Testament as a rock that followed the Israelites in the wilderness, so now that the end of the ages has come, he's fully revealed. And so to read the Old Testament now is to read it with a fuller appreciation and love because we have seen the Savior more fully than they did through the Gospels and through the New Testament. So I want to remind you of something. As you're reading these Old Testament stories and we're reading the drama of redemption, we're studying the Old Testament, remember that you're those who are to see Christ in the Old Testament first. And you're to, secondly, see that these stories are written for you, for us. Verses 6 and 11 tell us very clearly they're written for us. So I want you to begin as you, well, not begin, but continue your study of the Old Testament, remembering that 1 Corinthians tells us that the Old Testament is our meta-narrative. You know, we talk about the story of our life, the story of our lives, that which characterizes us, the place where we're from. the people who've had influence on us, the experiences we've had, all of those are part of the stories of our lives that God has orchestrated by his good and kind providence. But ultimately, ultimately, beloved, our ultimate story, which is what metanarrative means, the overarching story that should govern every one of our hearts and lives is that we are part of God's story in Christ and that story of redemption. So when you think of creation, and fall and redemption and new creation. Think of it as that is your primary identity. That is your primary story that you want to at all times keep in mind. Now, you have other stories, lesser stories, lesser identities, but your most important identity, the most important story for you that's written down is the story of God's redemption in Jesus Christ. All right. So what do we see? In that passage alone, beloved, what we see is that with every application of the Old Testament, we're to first look for Christ, and then we're to look for what it means for us. Never let your application be first to you. It is for you. It is for us. We're told that. But it's first to reveal something about Jesus Christ. So there's a priority on that. So let it be an application, Christ first, how this reveals Christ and the book, the book by, help me, what's that? Yes, My Gold's Worthy. I almost said Golden Gay. He's another Old Testament scholar. The book My Gold's Worthy is very helpful in saying more about this. And you'll read that, perhaps you already have, or when you get there. But the Gold's Worthy book will help us to lay out more of this. But for application, there's Christ. And then, if you will, the second level is Christ in us, or Christ for us. All right? So let's think about that together. When you're studying the Old Testament, you're studying the drama of redemption, you're looking for how Christ is revealed as your Savior in the person and work, and then you're looking for how that particularly applies for you. A story, perhaps, about David. And David shows you that there's a king and a king who rules over his people righteously. And then you see Christ and then you see David and you see a man after God's own heart. And so secondarily, you say, you know, Lord, I want to be a man after your own heart. I want to be that kind of man. But both of them must be together. And Christ revelation must have priority. It's his story first. OK, let's pray as we begin. Our Father and our God, we're grateful for this time to come together and we pray that your Holy Spirit would come and help us and guide us and aid us in the understanding and the learning of your scriptures. We know that you've revealed this glorious story for us so that we'd see your great kindness and mercy in Christ Jesus. And we know also that you've revealed this story so that this story would be our overarching ultimate story that defines who we are. That we'd be those who are loved by you, who are ruled by you, who are your subjects, who are those who you have redeemed in Christ. and those you have prepared a city that we look forward to. And so we pray, oh Lord, that today as we do our studies together, that you will be glorified in our lives and you'll help us to better understand the scripture so that we can more fully relate to you and know your love you have for us in Christ. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. So that's something to keep in mind with verse Corinthians. So what are we going to do today? Well, the title of the class is Eschatology and Genres. So the first thing we're going to do is we're going to look at the revelation of God in the Old Testament. And when we say revelation of God, It just means how God reveals himself, okay? So it means how God reveals himself not just in content, not in just the truths that we get from how God reveals himself about himself or the theology we draw from it, but it's how God reveals himself even in form. That there are different forms he uses that we call genres. There are different ways that God teaches us. The first thing we want to note is eschatology and eschatological. When we hear that word, we usually break it apart as we should in the two Greek words that it's based upon. And it's based upon last, eschatos, and then logos, which is strictly speaking, word or study of something. So when we look at eschatology, we usually think the study of last things, and there's nothing wrong with thinking of it that way. That is the broader definition of it. When we think of eschatology or eschatological, we're thinking usually of the last judgment, the judgment seat of Christ, the millennium, issues having to do with the second coming, that sort of thing. And that's true. That's what eschatology is, broadly speaking. But the very important definition that we're going to use for the study of the Old Testament is that it means this, that God has both a purpose and a progressive plan. God has a purpose and a progressive plan to bring about his redemption. A purpose and a progressive plan. And so in two parts, what we want to understand when we see eschatology or eschatologically is that God has a purpose for history and he progressively reveals himself. So in the sense that we're talking about for this class, okay, for this class, we are assured that eschatology is about last things, as we mentioned, very important. But for this class, in the way that we're seeing things, we're wanting to understand that eschatology or eschatological means that there's a purpose to God's history. There's a progressive revelation of it. Let me say it like this. When God created by the word of his power in the space of six days, he had a purpose. That is, he had an ending. So he had a plan. Even before the creation of the world, he had a plan. The Bible talks about him making a covenant between the persons of the Godhead, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, there's an eternal covenant. There was an election that happened before the foundation of the world for a godly people to be redeemed by Christ. But everything had a purpose. And so when we're talking about eschatology, thinking about this Old Testament class or the study of Old Testament classes is that everything in Moses The prophets and the writings have a purpose to point us forward and upward to Jesus Christ and the plan that God had from before the foundation of the world. to exalt His Son and to redeem a people. Okay, so there's a purpose. It means that, again, looking back at how we've already learned, but it means that in every passage of Scripture, you should always be looking around circumspectively, you should look back retroactively, and you should always be looking forward proactively. or prospectively, I should say, prospectively. So, circumspectively, looking around you, looking behind you retroactively, and always looking forward prospectively. That's the reason is because there's a purpose that God has that he's revealing so that in each part of the Old Testament, there's an ultimate purpose he's getting to. One of the examples that comes to mind that we will see throughout the study is Zion, is the land, and particularly Jerusalem or Zion. When the land and Jerusalem are taken, it's not the end purpose ultimately. The end purpose is that the people of God might look forward to a city that is to come. whose builder and whose foundations is God. That's Hebrews 11. So there's a purpose, even from the beginning, that God has for history. History always has a purpose. And that tells us a lot about God's story. Redemptive history is not just a theological history, it is that, but it is a history, a real history in time and space that has a purpose and that is progressively revealed. Yes, sir, Tom? Absolutely. That's right. He's looking to... Hebrews 11 actually takes that and tells us that Moses was confident because he was looking at him who was invisible. That is, he was looking at Christ as Christ and his city were revealed by faith in types. The land of Israel, Canaan, was a type that the Old Testament saints would look through to see God's purpose for an ultimate Zion, an ultimate city that was to come. And that was God's goal or purpose from the very beginning. The second thing is to be understood, the progressive revelation when we're talking about eschatology or eschatological. Again, remembering the movement of thinking about whether you're in Moses or the prophets or the writings. you're looking around you in the context, you're looking back retroactively to see what's come before, and you're looking forward. You understand that God's story is just that, it's a story. And so as good stories go, it has a plot line, and it's progressive. There are parts of redemptive history that are revealed at once. I think of Moses being given the law at once as a revelation. There's the instructions for the tabernacle given also to Moses all at once. But the story of God is given progressively so that what Moses knows is good enough for his faith where he is in redemptive history to point him ultimately to God's end purpose. But he doesn't know as much as we know because the story is progressively revealed. So you see the privilege we have of living on the end of the ages? That's what Paul says. He describes us as 1 Corinthians 10 11 that the Old Testament is written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come. So we live at the end of the ages where the purposes of God are becoming much clearer in Jesus Christ. So his purposes are becoming much clearer for what he determined for his kingdom in Genesis is much clearer now with the coming of Jesus Christ and with the teaching that we have from the Apostle Paul, is it not? much clearer. And with progressive revelation, we see the way the kingdom has advanced. And part of what we'll do in the first cycle and the second is we'll look at how the kingdom is advanced progressively through covenant. The kingdom's advanced through covenant. Covenants are the backbone of the entire scriptures, the glue that holds the story together, if you will. All right. So that's coming up. But just to say now, it's very important, when you hear the word eschatology and eschatological, it can mean just simply the study of last things. But what we're using it for in the interpretation of the Bible, and particularly looking at the Old Testament, is that there's a purpose to everything God reveals. And it's pointing forward and upward. And there's a progressive revelation of it. Just like a story, look at the title of our class again. the drama of redemption, that tells us it's a story. Creation, fall, redemption, new creation, that's how we're memorizing it. Or Moses, the prophets and the writings, that's how we're remembering. From chaos to the dawn of new creation, that gives us the progress, the progressive aspect. So it's from chaos to the dawn of a new creation. That shows both purpose and progressive revelation. One author described redemption as it unfolds as an organism, a living organism of revelation that can be illustrated by using a plant. You know, we have trees, seed to a full tree, right? We have from Genesis to Revelation a bud that becomes a blossom, a bud to an ear to a blossom, A bud, the first Adam would be the bud. The last Adam, Jesus Christ, would be the blossom. That when God created, and we're going to plug this in as we go. This is just by way of introduction now as we put ourselves forward. But as Paul, the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, for instance, that there's a first Adam and there's a second Adam. And that the first Adam was one who was always pointing forward to a second Adam. So that shows purpose and it shows progressive revelation. of how we get there. So that's why when we're studying the three parts, Moses, the prophets, and the writings, we're always asking ourselves, where are we? And help me to look around at the context. If we're here, we're saying, where have we been? Looking retrospectively in the past. I think I said retroactively. I'm missing those words. Circumspectively. So say we're reading the prophets, all right? Say we're reading Isaiah. In Isaiah, what we would do, is we would ask retrospectively what came before, you see? Because we know there's been progress from Moses to the prophets, all right? But at the same time, we'd look around the context of Isaiah very carefully to see the outline of Isaiah, to see Isaiah's main purpose of preaching, which most would argue it's the king and his kingdom and the glory of his kingdom. You would look at the shape and the form of Isaiah's prophecy, but you'd always be remembering that Isaiah's dependent on what came before, and you should know that too. And then, as he's writing, you're also, as he's helping you too, you're looking forward. You're trying to look forward, especially as one on whom the end of the ages has come. You have the New Testament in a way Isaiah did not. So you're looking prospectively, you're looking forward to see how Isaiah's prophecy will come true. For instance, at the end of Isaiah 65 and 66, those last two chapters tell of a new creation, a place where there is no sin, a place where misery is gone, a place where there is this feast for all of God's beloved. And we see forward with the coming of Christ, Christ teaching us a lot of this in the parables. We see a lot of this revealed more fully in Revelation. It's not that it's come to pass yet, all of it, but it is indeed that we know more about it than Isaiah did. So you see the importance of that movement everywhere you are? So you're in Isaiah, you're retrospectively, circumspectively, retrospectively, prospectively, okay? Another thing that I would just mention about thinking about Moses, the prophets, and the writings as we are using as a helpful, I think, outline or guide that our Lord uses in Luke 24, is remembering that in each of these stages of revelation, there is a progress being made up until the end of Chronicles, where Chronicles tells of Cyrus, the king of Persia, who tells the people to go up. So there's this hope that ends the Old Testament canon. There's a hope that looks forward to a restoration of all things. and the redemption that Moses and the prophets spoke of, and the writings also spoke of. So Moses, prophets, and the writings. So that's what we mean when we're talking about eschatology. And one teacher, William Dumbrill, I highly recommend him if you can get some of his books when you have the time. William Dumbrill is a fantastic author on Old Testament redemptive history. He's in your syllabus and for further reading. He's available on Kindle. Some of his books are hard to find because they're so good. But Dumbrow wrote, eschatology is the key to understanding the entire Bible. That's true. There's always a forward-looking element from the opening of the pages of Genesis. And if you're not doing that, then you're not reading it as you should. You're not going to get as much out of it as you should. You're not going to know it as deeply. So that's why I want to emphasize it for all of us. It's so important to keep in mind. Scripture is structured in such a way that it's always moving toward the end. And that's what we mean by eschatology or eschatological, that there's an end purpose or goal that God has in mind. Here's what another teacher wrote that I recommend thinking about. He wrote, in the beginning, in Genesis 1-1, marks an inauguration. But it also anticipates the end. In this eschatological light, now you know what he means when he says eschatological light, using it there as an adjective, scripture should be read as a text with a beginning, an end, and a developing story in between that moves toward a divine goal. So that's why, remember the two Ps, purpose and progressive revelation. And in that, remember the circumspectively, retrospectively, and prospectively. And I think that will help us. All right. There's a diversity of authors in the Old Testament, and we want to look at a basic timeline now for redemptive history. So what we're going to do, since we're using our Lord's form or the canon he mentions in Luke 24 as Moses, the prophet of the writings, these three volumes that are awaiting a fourth volume, which is our New Testament. We want to plug them in on a historical timeline that that may be helpful for us. Now, we're doing approximate dates here just so they're perhaps easier to memorize. But this is to emphasize that there is a purpose that's being progressively revealed. But it's good to have an understanding of some of the basic timeline. So let's do that. So what we would do with 2,000, and again, this is approximate, what we would do with 2,000 would be Abraham to Jacob to Israel in Egypt. So we'll just do between, what I'm writing here is between 2,000 and 14, 1400 BC, 2,000 BC And so this time period, again, it's approximate, but it's accurate enough to get a picture of what's going on in real history. And I think that's important because, again, eschatology or eschatological, the purpose of progress doesn't mean it's just a story as if it takes place out of space and time, as if it's just merely a theological story. It is a theological story, but it's one that takes place in real time and space, in real history. asserted. So when we're thinking about Abraham, Jacob, Egypt, we're thinking about Moses. OK, so we're getting an idea of the writings of Moses, the first five books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. So we're getting an idea of the Pentateuch or the five books of Moses. And so 2,000 is a good time period to use for that. 1,400 would be the Exodus through Joshua, 1,400 to 1,200, that is, which now you have Moses and the prophets, or the beginning of the prophets, right? OK? From 1400 to 1200, again, approximately, you have Exodus to Joshua, the books of Exodus to Joshua, which are included Moses and the prophets. Remember, Joshua is the first book of the prophets, what's called often the former prophets. You remember that distinction between the former prophets and the latter prophets? I have my back to you. You can just say yea or nay. All right, do you remember that somewhat, sometimes, a little bit? So we have that. So 1,200, here we would have judges to Samuel. This is the time between 1,200 and 1,000. So here we have the prophets. All right, so 1,200 to 1,000 judges to Samuel, prophets, and 1,000, Give or take a few days. David and Solomon. This is the real glory days of Israel. Okay. So, David and Solomon. And here you have prophets and what other category of our three? Writings. For instance, what writings? Proverbs. Very good. Psalms, good, good. 931, you have the divided kingdom. So at this point, Israel and Judah divide because of sin. So what was the glory that was happening here at the height of this progressive story, it didn't fully manifest itself. There was a need for another. And so the kingdom's divided because of sin. 722 is called the Assyrian captivity. Often called the Assyrian also captivity or exile. We're still in this section of prophets and writings. All right? So we have the 722 Assyrian captivity or exile. This is both...well, I'll hold that. The next one, you have the Babylonian captivity or exile. These both are God's fatherly discipline for Israel's sins. And the prophets interpret these events as deaths. In fact, the prophet Ezekiel, remember in Ezekiel 37, tells us that when the graves are open, he tells us that Israel will live again, that Israel will rise from the dead. So it's a really powerful sermon that Ezekiel has in chapter 37 on the resurrection of Israel. And this would happen not only spiritually, but physically. that Israel would rise from the dead. And that's why it's so important, I think, to end the canon with 2 Chronicles, or what we call 2 Chronicles with Chronicles, because go up is the last word. Let them go up, which points to resurrection, which reminds us of Jesus saying that starting with Moses and the prophets, he told them everything that pointed to him and told them that, wasn't it, O foolish ones, and so to understand what the prophets have written, that the Messiah, the Christ, had to die and suffer. He had to suffer and die and on the third day be raised. And so he taught them about death and resurrection, which is all in the prophets. Now, there is a spiritual resurrection, don't get me wrong, you know, by the Holy Spirit that's fully revealed for all believers that we're regenerated. But we want to understand that when they're talking in the exile, when Ezekiel's talking of the graves open, he's not only talking spiritual, he's talking about Israel being raised back to flourishing in the presence of God. So that's resurrection language. And then 538 is the return from exile or the beginning of the restoration, the return from exile. or the beginning of the restoration of Israel. And this sets the historical context for the coming of the King, for the coming of Messiah, for the coming of the Lord. So taking what we've learned, and seeing that Moses, the prophets, and the writings are three parts of a four-volume set of God's story of redemption, and the fourth volume being the New Testament. The culmination, the end purpose that's fully revealed. The book that was written at the end of the ages. Isn't that a cool way to put it? First Corinthians 10, 11. The book that was written at the end of the ages. That's a really cool way to put it, right? It'd probably attract a lot more people, right? We put a red cover on it and put the book of the end of the ages. You know, people, ooh, that's neat. But that's what should stir our imagination as well. It is the book written at the end of the ages. And so it is the final interpretation of everything before, and thus the return or the restoration is that final note that is the hope that happens at the end of Chronicles. Let them go up. So we have Moses, the prophets, and the writings, and then we have this time period from 2000 roughly to 538. And then there are, this time period of the return would include prophets and writings. Okay? All the way to the end of Chronicles. Now, let me share something with you, if I may, before we move to to genre because I think it's helpful using what we have to think of the storyline now that we've memorized. Okay, I assumed. Have we memorized, do you know what I mean when I say creation, fall, redemption, new creation? Okay, what do I mean? The story of redemption, the meta-narrative, the big story, the big outline. Do you know what I mean when I say Moses, prophets, and writings? Can I use that now? Everybody knows what I'm talking about. Summary of the Old Testament, three-part volume of the story of God. Everybody good on that? Now, with that said, I think this is what's helpful for understanding, and I encourage you to write this down. Under Moses, you have the five books. You have Genesis through Deuteronomy, right? OK. This is the primary storyline of both Moses, of the Torah, and the prophets. Primary storyline, all right? So put that down. Because it's creation to exile. It starts with a genealogy, and it goes to exile. So this is the, so we'll put Genesis, through Deuteronomy, the primary storyline. Okay? So, that's why it's so important. Genesis 1, the foundation of creation. God the King. the fall, chapter 3 of Genesis, chapter 4 through 11, the table of the nations, the genealogies, the nations that are all over the world, and then the beginning, 12 of Genesis, the call of Abraham, the beginning, the very clear beginning of redemptive history when God begins to form a people through Abraham and his seed and through promise. So when you think of Moses, think of that as the primary storyline from Genesis Deuteronomy as the primary storyline from creation to exile. And it's primarily a historical narrative. It's primarily a historical narrative. We're going to look at John Wren in just a moment. Then for prophecy, notice that the primary storyline of the former prophets, I'm sorry, so the primary storyline, okay, all right. I'm trying to get this down in the clearest way possible. Okay, what we're trying to look at right now, what I'm trying to make clear is that from creation to exile, that's the primary storyline. You find that primary storyline in Genesis through Deuteronomy as also in the former prophets. So the primary storyline, this is going to make sense in a second, just bear with me. The former prophets being, remember, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings. So your primary storyline from creation to exile is found in five books of Moses and the former prophets. Is that clear? All right. Just want to make sure I'm making sense. So the primary storyline is found in Moses and then the former prophets. the primary storyline of the latter prophets and part one of the writings, there is this poetic commentary, a poetic commentary on Genesis through Kings. So in the latter, in what we call, in the latter prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, twelve minor prophets as we call them, or Book of the Twelve. In this part one, in the latter prophets, you have what is an interpretation, a poetic interpretation of these events, a poetic interpretation of the events that came before. Again, just to plug it in, what they're doing is they are looking back retrospectively. You see? and telling you what came before. When they're interpreting the creation exile, they're telling the people of God, for instance, it's your sins that got you here. That your greatest king sinned and failed his family. And though he was a man after God's own heart, he wasn't the ideal perfect king. And though you had a Solomon who was above all in wisdom, he was still a sinful man and fell into idolatry. And so you were put into exile. So these former prophets do this in poetry. They do it in a poetic way, what we call prophecy. They speak and interpret what's gone before them. Israel, Israel, repent and believe. You must do what Moses has taught. You must do what the law says. You must live according to the law. Does that make sense? All right. And so then this poetry or this prophecy interpretation says two things. It tells the people what happened to bring them into this death state of exile. What happened that caused them for the promises of God not to be realized? And the second thing, it tells them how can they bring the past into their present situation and learn from it? It's precisely what Paul does in 1 Corinthians 10. And so they tell them what happened to them, all right? And they tell them how they can learn from the mistakes of their fathers. Now in the writings, what happens is the storyline then is continued. So the storyline in the writings is continued It picks up from exile and it gives hope for the future. Hope and preparation. All right, so the storyline continues in the writings. Where the storyline continues, for instance, Daniel. The reason why Daniel isn't in the prophets is because Daniel picks up and tells the story and points the people to the future. The reason Ezra and Nehemiah are in the writings is because they continue the storyline after the exile and point the people in the future. And the reason Chronicles is there that makes it distinct from Kings is that Chronicles is particularly a book to remind Israel that they are still God's people with a promise given to Abraham that they're to believe and there's still hope for them in the future. And that's why it ends that way. The hope is still open for all who believe. So the primary storyline, creation to exile, and then the storyline continues with Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles. Any questions about that so far? It really helps you read your Bible well, I think, because when you get to the writings, you realize that the, or when you get to the prophets, for instance, you realize that a lot of what is said over and over in the book of the 12 is Israel, Moses said to do this, and you didn't do it. And thus your sins, you know, have caused you to not realize God's blessings. And then the 12 will say over and over, repent and return to God. It will remind Israel of their former days, of his love for them, and how he redeemed them from Egypt, how he redeemed them from slavery, and that they're to see his love, as Hosea will do, as a bridegroom to a bride, that I betrothed myself to you. Or as Ezekiel says to the people, where he says that you were one who had been discarded, like a little baby that's just left in the field. in your blood and I took you and I raised you and you became my glorious bride." They're all looking back to say, what happened and how can you learn from it? Okay. Yes, ma'am. Of course, of course. For the writings, what we want, let's see, let's do it on the back. All right. So for Moses, We've got Genesis through Deuteronomy. For the prophets, we have the former and the latter, and then the writings. For the former prophets, we have Joshua through Kings. For the latter, we have Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Book of the Twelve. And the Book of the Twelve are the minor prophets, as we call them, okay? And then the writings, okay? Psalms, Proverbs, Ruth, Esther, Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. I'm probably going to miss something here. Ezra Nehemiah, Chronicles. Oh, Miss Daniel. That's what I missed. Daniel. Chronicles. All right. Is that helpful? OK. And Lamentations. Thank you. Thank you. That's what I'm missing. Thank you, sir. And Lamentations. We missed Lamentations. Thank you, sir. Very well done. And Lamentations. Look, we made a place for it right here. Well done. All right. Those are the three. I mean, those are the three books and the contents of each of them. All right. Let's go into genre now, and it shouldn't take long, I don't imagine, but I want to talk about what genre is. Does everyone have this written down, and I'll flip back over? All right. All right. Does anyone have any questions or thoughts about eschatology? Yep. We'll have that for next year's class. Yep. We will for the New Testament class. I got all kinds of I got a hold up Hold on. I had a hold up. I guess save up all the goodies for then. All right. Yeah, but we'll find out how those that The end of the ages was inaugurated with the coming of Christ and will be fully revealed with his second coming. So We'll do that. All right Okay, I'm going to wait on those three circles there until another time, and we're gonna go right to genres in the Old Testament, okay? A genre is a group of texts that bear one or more traits in common with others. That's what my professor and a very excellent Old Testament professor, Tremper Longman, that's how he puts it. A genre is a group of texts that bear one or more traits in common with another, all right? So a genre is basically a type. you know, a type of something that's like a, there's a poem and there's prose. Poetry and prose. In fact, the two primary genres that we have in the scriptures would be stories and prose. And so, as you're reading through Moses' Prophets and the Writings, you want to ask yourself, is this a story? Is this prose? that most of the time that is revealed in historical narrative. That's what it's called, historical narrative. But to remember stories and prose, I think, is quite helpful for just remembering that there's primarily two different genres that have other sub-genres. But stories and prose. The second category would be songs and poems. Songs and poems. All right? And you see, let's reflect for a moment on how gracious God is to accommodate to us in so many different ways. Not only to tell a captivating story, to capture our imagination by his grace, and to help us to see ourselves on this storyline and in this story of redemption, but to give it to us in so many different ways. Not to just drop it out of heaven one day, but to progressively reveal it as we're awaiting the end in history, and in different ways. That some of the stories we read as a narrative, as a history book, and some of them we sing, and some, like poetry, we sing. or we appreciate as poetry that's full of imagery. So there are different kinds of stories. I'm going to read different subgenres. I'm going to give you different subgenres now, subtypes that are found between Moses, the prophets, and the writings. And you tell me whether they're fall in the category of stories or songs or both. All right. You ready? It's a lot of fun. So we have law, Torah, or instruction. We have law. Torah or instruction. Law is given, particularly in Exodus, right? And in Deuteronomy. We have law books. Stories or songs? Would that fall into prose or poem? Very good. Excellent. Stories. It's told in historical narrative as the main category, but the subcategory is law. Okay. All right. How about prophecy or oracles? Prophecies. Stories? or songs? Could be both. Most of the time, prophecy is in song. Most of the time, prophecies are poems. Isaiah is in poetry. But there is historical narrative that is also used. So there's prose and there's poetry. There's stories and songs. But I would say prophecy is primarily poetry, primarily songs. The characteristics of the third is history. History is historical narratives, and so they're under the category of what? Stories or prose. So those are three subcategories that we see in the Bible. And there's characteristics we want to keep in mind that you've probably been taught, but it's worth keeping in mind, especially when you're dealing with history or story, is to remember there's plot. There's a plot development. And the reason I tell you this is because sometimes you get into a story and the end of the chapter happens. And so you're just in the chapter because the end of the chapter's there. But remember, that's not inspired the way the chapter the divisions are made, that's helpful. But your story may continue and you want to keep up with the plot. So whether you're looking at an overview of redemptive history, creation, fall, redemption, new creation, you're always remembering there's a plot line, a big plot line and a more specific plot line to what you're reading. Remember there's characters and the characters are very important. to do at least two things. Characters are to give us first either a pointing to Christ or a contrast with Christ, a pointing to Christ or a contrast to Christ, and also to teach us about ourselves. So it goes with the first thing about the application that we learn from 1 Corinthians 10 is that there's Always a pointing to Christ, and then there's a pointing to Christ in us or Christ for us, which is application for us. Remember that there's not only plot character, there's setting. There's a setting that's important to take into consideration where something happens. The story that comes to mind is when Lot looks with Abraham over the land that Abraham magnanimously offers him. And he looks, and it looks like Eden to him. And so it looks like he's almost coveting the land. And then we're told the setting is, it was very close to Sodom. So we're told that that setting should go, wow, as you're reading the story carefully and prayerfully, you go, there's going to be some trouble. We've got to think about this setting here. The setting is told often with a reason behind it. Then there's a point of view. You want to ask what point of view is taking place. Is it an inspired writer looking and interpreting these events? Is it seeing through the eyes of one of the characters? What should he be doing? What would I do? The point of view is very helpful. All right. So that gives us time to think about then what we're going to do next, where we're going next. Are there any questions about eschatology or genres? I think it's very simple to remember that what you're looking at as the major two categories are stories or prose or songs or poems, and then to remember that there are subcategories like historical narrative, like law, like prophecy. Say something about hymns, all kinds of other subcategories. But does everyone get the gist of what I'm saying? Is that clear what we're talking about here? Any comments or thoughts? Yes, Tom? That's right. Right, right, right. Yes. Good. Good. Good, good, good. Excellent. Yeah, Goldsworthy does a wonderful job of steering us clear of literalism and allegory. while teaching us how to properly understand typology. And that book is, I think, a very clear and helpful textbook. And it will hopefully, by God's grace, it's going to complement what we're learning in class, all right? So it'll say more about what we're looking at, hopefully. That's the design. And if it doesn't, tell me, all right? And I'll try to fix that. So any other questions or thoughts? Good. Yes? I just had another one. Yes, please. Cool. Excellent. Excellent. That's a wonderful segue into these final thoughts. Since we're not meeting next Friday, thank you for that, I want us to remember a few things. I want us to meditate on creation, fall, redemption, new creation. Because our next part, our first cycle of going through the scriptures will be to look at creation. to look at how creation is given progressively throughout Scripture, how the first things point us to the last things. We're going to look at the fall and how sin the theme of sin or topic of sin that we see throughout the scriptures. We're going to look at redemption and how redemption is revealed throughout scriptures, and then we're going to end with new creation or eschatology. So I want us to take that next week to think about that overview, to think about Moses, the prophets, and the writings, to think about circumspectively, retrospectively, and prospectively. I want us to remember that there are many ways that we can lay out this class, but the direction in which we'll be going will be the next four classes will be topical theological creation, fall, redemption, new creation. And then we'll do thematic, which will give us a better understanding of the covenants, and how the covenants give us that glue to hold the storyline together, how it gives us a picture of progressive revelation to help us to memorize. And then in January, Lord willing, we'll look at a survey of Moses, the prophets, and the writings. of those 24 volumes, or 24 books in the three volumes. And we'll look further at the theme, the primary theme of those books, certain passages from them, and how each of them continue the story until we get to the dawn of the new creation. Okay? All right. Any questions of where we've been, or today, or where we're going? Have the instructions for the expectations of the outside assignments been clear to you? Have there been any questions there? Because I think anybody who has those questions, usually there's a question that others might have. One of the things I just want to remind you of is when you're looking at that passage where you're prayerfully asking and journaling, and I have a list of several questions for you, That's to do in your journal as you're reading through the Bible, as we're going through it. And then the cards, remember I gave you the idea of the cards? The cards can just be how you take that information that you've journaled and summarize it so that you just have a review card. So you just have a card that has the basics on it for your future memory and review. So that's what those were about. Any other questions or comments? All right, shall we close? All right. Our Father and our God, we're grateful and thankful for all of your love for us. And we pray that you would help us to digest these materials that you've taught us today. Help us, Lord, as we study our Bibles, that we would know your story better, that we would know how we fit into your glorious story in Christ, and that we'd grow in our relationship with you, our knowledge of you, your love for us. And we pray that each of the students today, Lord, would take this and meditate on it and think about it, and that you would help us to get a deeper, better understanding of your story and how we are a part of it. We pray that you'd bless each student and teacher today as they go about their day. We pray that you would be glorified and that you'd be much enjoyed as we do our work. In Jesus' name, amen.