Old Testament Introduction

“For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he

wrote about Me. “But if you do not believe his writings, how
will you believe My words?” John: 6:45-47

Throughout the centuries many have written

introductions, summaries, and commentaries for the Old
Testament. I also feel a need to express my view of the Old
Testament. Not from a scholarly perspective, but from a
simple focus on what our Lord said the Old Testament is
about. John 5:39-41 states clearly, “You search the
Scriptures because you think that in them you have
eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are
unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.” The
Scriptures testify of Christ and point to Him in a marvelous
way. Currently in the development of God’s eternal plan
the Old Testament was the only true Scripture. Genesis
chapter 1 starts out with Jesus, and then continues to
unveil the person and work of Jesus Christ in elaborate
details, which truly amaze and perplex the human mind.
A foundational statement regarding Jesus’ own viewpoint
of the Old Testament is contained in Luke 24:44-45, Now
He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you
while I was still with you, that all things which are
written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets,
and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Again, the Lord is
confirming that the three major parts of the Old
Testament are about Him. Jesus Christ is the center of the
Old Testament.

Most authors who introduce the Old Testament to us

divide the Old Testament into either 4 or 5 parts, for
simplicities sake we will attempt to address the divisions
according to Jesus’ own words. I am aware of the
divisions that are commonly accepted, and I am in no way
discounting those legitimate divisions as the Pentateuch
which includes Genesis to Deuteronomy, the first five
books of the Old Testament. The Historical books include
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd
Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and
Esther. We also have The Poetic and Wisdom writings
include Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of
Solomon. There also are the so-called Major Prophets
which include Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel,
and Daniel. Then there are the so-called Minor Prophets
which are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah,
Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and
Malachi. Refer to my chart of the timeline of the prophets
of Judah and Israel with their dates of speaking and the
meanings of their names.
Regardless of how we divide the Old Testament up we all
agree with our Lord that the Scriptures are about Him,
the Person a n d w o r k of Jesus Christ. The Old
Testament is like a family album which God gave to Israel
to reveal His son. As we go through the Scriptures, we see
Christ in all His aspects revealed. God’s purpose in
developing the Old Testament was to prepare a people to
recognize His son when He came. We have the account
that some recognized Him and embraced who He was. We
also have others that saw that it was Him and plotted to
murder Him and take His inheritance. There were also
some who didn’t have a clue who Jesus was because of their
own wrong ideas about the Messiah. Acts 13:27-28 states,
“For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers,
recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets
which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by
condemning Him.

In this introduction to the Old Testament, I am going to

highlight some of the places in Scripture where we will be
able to recognize Jesus Christ our Lord and get a glimpse
into the way the Apostles used and applied the Old
Testament. Their view of the Old Testament is a key to
unlocking an accurate and biblical understanding of the
New Testament in our day. Consider reading Beyond
Creation Science by Timothy Martin and Jeffery Vaughn and
apply the principle of Acts 17:11.

Let’s take the apostle Paul’s first usage of Genesis1:3, in 2

Corinthians 4:6, For God, who said, “Light shall shine out
of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give
the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Christ. Genesis chapter 1:3, Then God said, “Let there be
light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was
good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
Paul’s masterful way of handling the beginning of the
Bible is foundational to how we should handle the
Scriptures ourselves. The beginning is talking about a
creation and Paul applies this idea of light shining into the
darkness as the reality of a new creation shining into our
hearts, not my heart alone, but corporately creating a new
creation. Taking this basic principle of looking at the word
of God will enable us to correctly handle the rest of the Holy
Scriptures.

Each book of the Old Testament has a developing theme

that must be grasped to thoroughly understand the
unfolding plan of God. Chapter one of Genesis is an account
of God’ vision to those who are called by Him. The light
comes in and then the separations are very significant in
our relationship with Him until we see that God is all
about making a man in His image and according to His
likeness. The image of God is predicted as being both male
and female. This man that is both male and female is the
reality of the new creation.
We do not see the reality of that until we get to the New
Testament where our Savior, who is the image of the
invisible God, is called the bridegroom. He is looking
throughout creation for a help mate for Him. Then He is put
to sleep on the cross by God, “…no man takes my life, but I
give it freely, that I may take it again.” When He is
awakened, and resurrected, God brings His lovely bride to
His side which is the church, His body, the female image of
God. The first century is when the fulfillment of Genesis
1:26-28 occurred. The blessing of Pentecost empowers her
and together they become fruitful and multiply and fill
the land. The goal is to propagate this glorious life with
Christ and subdue the enemy and bring Satan under their
feet.

So, the first couple are naked. They fail miserably and
never do attain to God’s best intention. Please consider
this statement that Adam and Eve never achieved
spiritual life, or a spiritual relationship, because they are
the natural couple or natural man. They cannot receive
the things of the Spirit of God because they are foolishness
to them and cannot understand, because spiritual things
are spiritually discerned. Adam and Eve never had
anything, and because they were in their child stage under
the Law, they could only miss the mark. God was outside
them, not inside them. The relationship that Adam had
with God was strictly objective. In the New Covenant our
relationship is subjective. We have the indwelling Triune
God, and we enjoy Him personally and spiritually.

In Genesis we have two men that stretch across the fifty

chapters. These two are Adam and Joseph. Adam is naked
and he miscarries and dies and never attains to God’s goal.
Joseph is clothed with a many-colored robe from his father
and comes to the throne over the entire known world. Then
he dies and someone comes into power who does not know
Joseph. In both instances the death that God spoke about
to Adam passed on to all men that man would die in Death,
and this interrupted God’s purpose and prediction. God’s
man was no longer on the throne which is a constant until
the coming of Him who is the IMAGE of the invisible God.
God’s purpose is to have a man in His image who is male and
female that will be blessed, (Spirit filled), fruitful, (Soul
winners), multiply and fill the earth, (in every place), and
subdue everything on the earth (exercise God’s authority).
God’s promise is to bring forth the seed of the woman to
crush the head of the serpent. This prophecy is fulfilled in
Christ, as well as those who are His as His body, the bride
who are in the image of God. God’s prediction is, He who
called us is faithful and He will do it. Christ has been given
the many-colored robe from His father and is on the throne
over all the kings of the earth and will never die, since
death has no power over Him.

Now as we move on to Exodus and those in power did not

know Joseph, just like those in the days of Jesus, they
didn’t know Him, and the people were in bondage. They
were heavy laden and burdened. They were building the
storage cities of the Pharisees and Scribes. They wouldn’t
lift the burden. So, Israel was in bondage in Egypt under
the taskmasters to work and sweat to build for Egypt. In
Revelation 11:8 the place where are Lord was crucified,
Jerusalem is called spiritual Egypt. The Jews are in
bondage in Egypt, and they called on the Lord and He
heard their cry and sent a deliverer to bring them out of
bondage.

Here is where we can see the types and shadows in the Old
Testament. Moses is Christ as the prophet to speak the
word of the Lord, “Let my people go.” The good news that God
wants us to be free is totally New Covenant. How does the
Lord set the Jews free in Egypt? He sets them free from
death by the blood of the Lamb, and the death passes over
them. Now according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 5, Christ is
our Passover. The Hebrew people eat the Lamb and the
Christ in type comes into those under the blood of the Lamb.
The lamb is inside them, and then God’s word guides them
out of Egypt. Remember what Egypt is, “where our Lord was
crucified.” Out of Egypt to the Red Sea and Paul says in 1
Corinthians 10:1-3 “our fathers were all under the cloud and
all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into
Moses in the cloud and in the sea”. Israel moves from
getting the Lamb inside them to now being baptized in the
Red Sea (water baptism), and in the cloud (Spirit baptism),
and into Moses (into Christ). As 1 Cor 12:12-13 states, “For
as the body is one, and has many members, and all the
members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also,
is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body
…” We then have the testing period of forty years (a
generation) according to 1 Corinthians 10:11-12, “Now these
things happened to them as an example, and they were
written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages
have come.” These passages show us how to understand
the Scriptures the same way the apostle Paul understood
them. Exodus was an example to Paul in his day, written
for their instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages had
come (1 Corinthians 10:11). The end of the ages came on Paul
and his contemporaries in the first Century.

Ultimately Exodus shows how the desire of God was to

have a people that would come into His presence as it
states in Exodus 19:6, a kingdom of priests. This is the
picture in Exodus; God says, build a place for Me to dwell
and for us to meet. So, everyone pitches in to participate in
building a tabernacle, a tent of meeting for man and God
to fellowship. This again is the overview of the whole book
of Exodus. We see God’s purpose to bring man out of bondage
and get the Lamb inside him and to get man inside of the
Deliverer by baptizing in water and in the Spirit,
signified by the Sea and the Cloud. It is from this location
that God wants those who are delivered to build a dwelling
place for man to participate in his priesthood, and for God
to speak and reveal Himself and build that relationship
with man. Therefore, we have man in utter slavery and
redeemed and then brought out to dwell in the tabernacle
of God among men. Where God fills that edifice with His
Holy Presence and glory, and then the book of Exodus ends.
Leviticus picks up where God is now speaking out from
His dwelling place among men to instruct and train those
who desire to be priests of God. They will be those who will
both bring men to God, and who will bring God to men. The
meticulous details of all the offerings are types and
shadows of what is acceptable to God, which according to
the New Testament revelation, demonstrates that only
Christ is acceptable to God when offered by faith. That is
why Christ is called the better sacrifices Hebrews 9:23!
Those sacrifices also indicate specific detail on how those
offerings affect our being when ministering unto the Lord
and to one another. It is God speaking from the tent of
meeting that light comes forth to those who are the called
to minister to Him, creating a separation, to bring God to
men and men to God.

Leviticus is truly a book of separations and a setting-apart

of His people from the people of the nations. This is the way
God distinguished His people from the people of the world.
It is here that He makes His people holy, and they become
light and are separated from the nations who are darkness.
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the
Lord (Eph.5:8).

Leviticus defines specific separations that give a

distinctive character to His people that define His people
as a heavenly people. “Speak to the children of Israel:
Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their
garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue
thread in the tassels of the corners. 39 And you shall have
the tassel that you may look upon it and remember all the
commandments of the Lord and do them, and that you
may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and
your own eyes are inclined … Numbers 15:38-40. This blue
tassel is to remind the children of Israel that they are
separate from the nations, unique, and set apart unto the
true and living God. Blue signifies the heavenly aspect of
their calling as a heavenly people, even though their
propensity was to stay earthly and carnal. His leaders
(heads of families, captains, chiefs, those in authority are
the firmament in the midst of the waters (people) that
separate the waters from the waters. This firmament is
called Heaven, those who govern or who are in authority in
God’s kingdom, these typify those who are full of light. I
was concerned at first because I saw waters below
firmament indicating nations that are subdued,
submitted, and conquered and then I saw waters above the
firmament. I looked up this word “above” and noticed
according to certain contexts it can be translated “against”
or “over-against”. These are the governments that are still
hostile to Israel that need to be conquered and subdued.

This now brings us to Numbers. Numbers is the formation

of Israel as God’s instrument of execution against the
ungodliness in the land. His military is for subduing the
earth for God’s glory and kingdom. The emerging of these
armed forces is when we see the land surface out of the
waters below. It is not without form now but is being
trained and disciplined for service to secure the dwelling
place of God and fight off the hostile nations that want
to contaminate and defeat Israel. It is hard for us in the
west to see hunting and fishing as a means of
evangelism, let alone conquering lands as a form of
evangelism. In the Old Testament putting to death the
enemies of the land had a two-fold meaning, termination
in judgment and termination for redemption. Those who
stayed enemies were destroyed, and those who submitted to
death to their way of life were resurrected typically and
brought into the covenant community as those chosen by
God.

A little tangent for clarification will help us to see why

Crusaders and many in church history confused the
warfare we fight under the New Covenant, as they
resorted to fleshly or carnal weapons. Under the New
Covenant the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but
mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds
and casting down imaginations (image of the nations) and
bringing every thought captive to the obedience of the
Christ. The fighting in the Old Testament is a type and
shadow of our spiritual warfare because we do not struggle
against flesh and blood. Jeremiah 16:16, states, “Behold, I
will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall
fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they
shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill,
and out of the holes of the rocks.” Jeremiah’s prophetic
example will help us see the usage of fishing and hunting
as a means of judgment on a land or people. Fishing is the
way to take dominion, to secure the fish and become one
with them. Hunting is the way to destroy, and may be a
way to save also, and become one with them.

Here are some New Testament examples to validate such

thinking. When our Lord called Peter and Andrew, He
said, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.”
Winning souls is catching fish! Likewise, when Peter was
praying on the roof of Simon the tanner’s house, in his
vision, “The heavens opened, and an object like a great
sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground,
and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and
crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. A voice
came to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!” Acts 10:11-14. This
phrase rise, kill, and eat is quite profound. Rise means rise above
your earthly mindset and mentality and live in resurrection. Kill is
preaching the cross to the unbelievers to disconnect them from
their natural and fleshly life and follow Christ. Eat is to become one
with those we win to Christ, we are part of them, and they are part
of us. This is marvelous. The Lord told Peter to go hunting. In
this case it meant evangelizing and winning souls, thus
Cornelius and his whole household came to a living faith in
Christ, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter ate
Cornelius and those with him, spiritually speaking and
became one with them. In the same way a hunter would
slay an animal and eat that animal and the animal, and
the hunter become one. This is not a far-fetched notion but
consider these things in a spiritual way and we will get
insight in the way evangelism is experienced in the New
Testament.

Back to Numbers we see an army raised up to secure the

land for God’s kingdom, for the building and establishing of
God’s house, for a holy priesthood to offer up to God
sacrifices acceptable to Him. These things are to be
maintained in order not to lose those things that God had
entrusted to Israel. They were to stay in the light and
maintain the separations and distinctions and keep
emerging among the nations to shine as light to those on
the earth. Israel was to exercise dominion under the
blessing and to be fruitful and multiply so they could rule
over the birds of the air, fish of the sea, over all the beasts
of the field, and over every creeping thing. If they were
faithful, they would not be cursed, but blessed above all
nations on the earth.

Deuteronomy is about blessings and curses. It is God’s

refresher to Israel to keep His word. Israel must obey to
keep everything entrusted to her. Now we come full circle
from Genesis to Deuteronomy. Adam is placed in the
garden land and given everything to eat from all the trees
of the field, except the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil.
Also amid the garden is the Tree of Life. Two trees, one Life
and one Death, one blesses, and one curses. This is
Deuteronomy! Israel is now Adam in corporate form and
placed in the pleasant land, good land, the enlarged
garden if you will permit me some liberty. Israel is set
before two trees that have become mountains. The
mountain of blessings and the mountain of curses are set
before Israel. If they choose wrong and disobey, they will
be thrust out of the garden, the garden-land will vomit
them out, and they will be destroyed. Leviticus 18:28;
Revelation 3:16. These five books are quite wonderful when
you see the five main themes that the Lord was doing to
bring forth His plan and purpose on the earth.

Learning these five themes is grasping the revelation of the

Son, the house of God, the city of God, the mountain of God,
and ultimately the throne of God ruling over the land.
These five themes are revealed throughout the Old
Testament in type and shadow. These five themes are
realized in the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, and
the seed of David, which are predicted regarding Christ
and His body. The body is the serpent crusher, which
crushes the head, the schemes, and plans of the devil. This
was part of the purpose; the Son of God was manifested to
destroy the works of the devil. The Son of Abraham the
father is to inherit the land and according to Paul in
Romans 4:13, the son inherits the world (cosmos). Then the
son of David inherits the throne. These three promise-
predictions lead us to the main points of the Bible, and
these are interwoven in all Scripture in which we see
redemption, victory, and the gaining of the ground, which
is the realm of the Spirit to build a habitation of God in
spirit. It is from the habitation of God that the boundaries
are set for the emerging of the city of God. That is where
the throne of God is, as Mount Zion is the joy of the whole
earth. God reigns over all the earth from this established
house and city of God.

The Psalms reveal the same five themes in all its five books
starting with the first Psalm. Blessed is the man can only
mean one man, and that man is Christ. He is the tree
planted by the waters of the Spirit and everything He
puts His hand will prosper. He is the man who does not
live by bread alone by but by every word that proceeds from
the Father. He is the only mediator between God and man,
the MAN Christ Jesus! On the cross it is stated, “Behold
the MAN.” So, Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns
and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”
John 19:5. It proceeds in Psalm two and the warning is, “Kiss
the son, unless He be angry, and you perish from the way,
when suddenly His wrath blazes. How blessed are all who
take refuge in Him. Ps 2:12.” The first book of the Psalms is
a revelation of the SON which is Christ and His perfect
work. The first division is Psalm 1 – 41 and is traditionally
called Book I. All throughout Book 1 we see Jesus, and even
in Psalm 23, the Father and the Son as Shepherd and sheep,
and ultimately led to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Book I is the beginning or Genesis of the revelation of the
Son and leading to the exodus into the dwelling place of
God, the tabernacle of God, the house of God. These themes
build on one another repeatedly. We see the house of God,
and then the city of God, and the mountain of God
strategically placed in different Psalms reminding us to
love what God loves and be committed to what He is
persistently committed to with all His heart.

Starting at Psalm 42 unto Psalm 72 we see in Book II,

the first Psalm pictures the bondage of Israel in Egypt;
like dying of thirst and being ridiculed by their captors
saying, “Where is your God.” So, the sons of Korah say, …
“like a deer panting for the water brooks so our soul longs
for the living God.” Tears were their food day and night but,
these I remember, and pour out my soul in me, For I pass
over into the booth, I go softly with them unto the house
of God, With the voice of singing and confession, The
multitude keeping feast! Ps 42:4. This is marvelous when
pointed out that it is an exodus into the booth, worshipping
throng unto the house of God. Their longing for God
caused the Lord to act as deep calls unto deep and the Lord
is revealed as deliverer and savior. How blessed is the one
whom You choose and bring near to You To dwell in Your
courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your
house, Your holy temple Ps 65:4. Throughout the second
book of the Psalms the centrality of the House of God is
magnificent. It is the joy of His people because this is
where God’s presence is signified and ultimately points to
Him. Our Lord Jesus who is greater than the temple and
practically His body, the church the real temple of God not
made with hands, or by man or the sound of a hammer.
Book III starts in Psalm 73 and reaches to Psalm 89. In
this first Psalm it is from the sanctuary that God’s
wisdom is imparted to see life regarding the things of
human success and suffering, as well as the destiny of the
evil and the righteous. Even though we see that the five
main themes of the Bible are interwoven and overlap in
all parts of the Old Testament, we point out the
noteworthy times these five themes are interspersed. Out
from the sanctuary we go to the city which is a paramount
theme all the way to the end of the Bible. Glorious things
are spoken of you, O city of God. Selah. “I shall mention
Rahab and Babylon among those who know Me; Behold,
Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia: ‘This one was born
there.’” But of Zion it shall be said, “This one and that one
was born in her”; And the Most High Himself will establish
her. The Lord will count when He registers the peoples,
“This one was born there.” Selah. Psalm 87:3-6. This Psalm
is wonderful as it predicts the birth of Christ as the Son of
God. It also predicts us being born in her, mother of us all.
Galatians 4:26. The city of God is the expression of God’s
kingdom in His people as Zion. Zion is mentioned many
times in book three as the city of God.

Zion is God’s city, and it is the mountain of the Lord, in

contrast to Mount Sinai. It represents two covenants; one
being the Old Covenant in Mount Sinai and the picture of
the New Covenant in Mount Zion, as stated in Hebrews.
Now book IV of the Psalms is the city of God as Zion, the
mountain of God, which towers over the nations. The
crowning point in history of this attainment is in the time
of Solomon, the son of David, king over all Israel and
influencer of the nations. Now Solomon ruled over all the
kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines and
to the border of Egypt; they brought tribute and served
Solomon all the days of his life. 1 Ki 4:21. Zion is a great
theme of book IV. The Lord is great in Zion; He is exalted
above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awe-
inspiring name. He is holy. The mighty King loves justice.
You have established fairness; You have administered
justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the LORD our
God; bow in worship at His footstool. He is holy. Ps 99:2-5
and … so that they might declare the name of the Lord
in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem, when peoples and
kingdoms are assembled to serve the Lord Ps 102:21-22.
The change in metaphor of Zion from city to mountain is
key in understanding that the city of God is a kingdom
since mountains in Scripture often depict kingdoms.
This helps us understand another aspect of God’s purpose
in realizing the outworking of His purpose in our lives and
into the whole earth.

Book V of the Psalms is about the throne of God ruling over

the whole earth. This is the supreme goal of God’s eternal
purpose. He will have a MAN on the throne who is the
image of the invisible God, and that image will be both
male and female. Christ and His Church fulfill this goal
and complete the promises and predictions. The Lord has
sworn in truth to David; He will not turn from it: “I will set
upon your throne the fruit of your body Ps 132:11. This is
truly a reference to the true son of David, our Lord Jesus.
This corresponds with 2 Samuel 7:14, but it also has a
reference to us as well when we put Psalm 132: If thy
children keep my covenant, and my testimonies which I
will teach them, their children also for evermore shall sit
upon thy throne. For Jehovah hath chosen Zion, he hath
desired it for his dwelling: This is my rest for ever; here will
I dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her
provision; I will satisfy her needy ones with bread; And I
will clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints shall
shout aloud for joy. Ps 132:12-16. In this Psalm we see the
capstone of all five items mentioned in all their glory. We
see the true Son in verse 11, and in verses 12-15 we see God’s
dwelling place, His city, and His mountain in Zion. Lastly,
we see in verse 12 His throne. At the end of this Psalm, we
see the mission accomplished, all His enemies are put to
shame, confusion, and humiliation. This is a great victory!
Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of
rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round
about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace
and quietness unto Israel in his days. He shall build a
house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be
his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom
over Israel forever 1 Ch 22:9-10. Again, we see these items
in the peak of Israel’s history. These five books of the
Psalms are what Moses five books are called. We may call
the Psalms the Pentateuch of Psalmists. The prophetic
books seem to have these same themes.

This last section of the Old Testament will be

comparable to the first two sections. As the Pentateuch of
Moses and what we are calling the Pentateuch of
Psalmists, I want to call this last section the Pentateuch
of the Prophets. This section will include Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the Book of the Twelve or
Book of the Prophets.

In my study of the prophets in the last few years I have

come to understand that the so-called minor- prophets
were historically considered one book or scroll. Then God
turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as
it is written in the book of the Prophets: ‘Did you offer Me
slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in
the wilderness, Oh house of Israel? Acts 7:42. Stephen
testifies of the so-called minor-prophets being one book
with one message that if Israel didn’t heed the Lord’s voice
(prophets) they would lose everything that was given to
them by God.

The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah with Lamentations, in

collaboration with the other prophets begin to predict the
doom of Israel because they have a heart to break the
covenant, and no heart for the nations; to be a light to
them. Israel has no desire to rule them. Literally shepherd
them and feed them with the words of God. Isaiah starts
with saying the creation is sick from head to toe. This type
of language is saying that the heavens; the leadership of
every kind, is sick, and the earth; the congregation is sick
also. He compares them to Sodom and Gomorrah.
According to J.B. Jackson in his Dictionary of Proper
Names he says, Sodom means ‘fettered’ and Gomorrah means
‘bondage.’ It is also graphic that homosexuality is a
picture of only building a relationship with your own
kind. Israel didn’t want anything to do with the opposite
of them. Israel’s mindset was we are clean, and the
nations are unclean. This attitude eventually exposed
them as being unclean. The phrase in Isaiah 1 where he
is describing the sores of Israel’s sickness, he uses the
word for putrefying as the writer of the Judges described
the jawbone of an ass that Samson used to defeat the
Philistines. An ass is an animal that chews the cud but
does not have a cloven hoof and can be accepted by God in
sacrifice only if its neck is broken. This portrays Israel as
a stubborn ass. For her to be accepted, she must be
redeemed with a lamb. If not, her neck must be broken.
Israel had the right words signified by chewing the cud,
but as to their practice there was no discernment,
separation, proper division between good and evil, or clean
and unclean. He says the faithful city has become a harlot.
But the firstborn of an ass you shall redeem with a lamb.
And if you will not redeem him, then you shall break his
neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. “And
none shall appear before Me empty-handed Ex 34:20.
There are two things happening in the last five books of
the Prophets. On the one hand the prophets are predicting
the loss of a MAN on the throne, the destruction of the
temple by the Babylonians. The destruction of the City of
God, Jerusalem and the Mount Zion plowed and leveled.
Ultimately, the throne is taken away and instead of
being the head, Israel becomes the tail. She becomes a
slave, instead of a master in the land. ‘Thus says the
LORD of hosts: “Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem
shall become heaps of ruins, And the mountain of the
temple, like the bare hills of the forest”’ Jer. 26:18.
Jeremiah predicts the loss of these things. Micah is a
contemporary of Jeremiah and says the exact same thing in
Micah 3:12. Conversely, we see in some cases the same
prophets predict God restoring a MAN on the throne. Alas!
For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the
time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.

‘For it shall come to pass in that day,’ Says the LORD of

hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from your neck and will
burst your bonds; Foreigners shall no longer enslave them.
But they shall serve the LORD their God, And David their
king, whom I will raise up for them. Jer. 30:7-9. The phrase
in Scripture “that day” is significantly related to the 1st
century fulfillment of all Scripture as Luke under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit said that in the “days of
vengeance all things that are written will be fulfilled”
Luke 21:22. The Pentateuch of the Prophets alternate with
these items being removed and the promise to restore
them. We see them being restored in type with Ezra and
Nehemiah and the prophets Zechariah and Haggai. God
raises up Cyrus the King of Persia during the Medo-
Persian Empire and Isaiah calls him the Messiah or
anointed that would rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
This was predicted 150 years before Cyrus, or the Medo-
Persian Empire emerged on the scene of history. “It is I
who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd! And he will
perform all My desire. And he declares of Jerusalem, ‘She
will be built,’ And of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be
laid.’ “Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, Whom I
have taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before
him … Isa 44:28-45:1. These things were done under the
oversight of Ezra the priest, Nehemiah, Zerubbabel, and
Joshua the High priest. Death keeps coming into the
purpose of God, even though physical death is just a type of
the kind of death the halts the progress of God’s purpose. It
is eternal life that is persistent and consistent to continue
the outworking of all that is in God’s heart. The breakdown
in human energy versus divine energy or what Zechariah
so aptly puts: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel:
‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD
of hosts. ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel
you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the
capstone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” Moreover, the
word of the LORD came to me, saying: “The hands of
Zerubbabel Have laid the foundation of this temple; His
hands shall also finish it. Then you will know That the
LORD of hosts has sent Me to you. For who has despised the
day of small things? Zech. 4:6-10. This is a type of Christ;
being the true Zerubbabel, and the removing of the Old
Covenant Mountain of Sinai. In addition, bringing in the
gospel of grace, and building the new temple, which temple
we are. The Old Testament closes with the theme that
under self-effort, law-works, and self-righteousness, that
God’s eternal purpose cannot be fulfilled. It can only be
fulfilled in Christ and by Christ. Therefore, Malachi
rebukes the priests, the heavens and predicts that God will
send a messenger that will prepare the way of the Lord.
He will purify those who are separated unto Him, and that
when He comes, He will leave no root or branch of the
wicked, those in Israel who are not given to Him with all
their hearts. The prophecy of the new birth contrasts with
the total removing and desolation of the land and Old
Covenant items. “But for you who fear My name, the sun
of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and
you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.
“You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes
under the soles of your feet on the day which I am
preparing,” says the LORD of hosts. Mal. 4:2-3. Those who
are healed and born anew like the calves skipping from the
stall will tread down the wicked and they will subdue
everything; including the birds of the air, fish of the sea,
beasts of the field and every creeping thing that creeps on
the earth. Four realms of kingdom authority are reached
by the New Covenant fulfillment. The birds of the air refer
to the demonic realm, and the fish of the sea refer to
humans in the matter of winning the lost. Beasts of the
field refer to nations where the gospel has dominated, and
the nations have been discipled by preaching and teaching,
not by force or flesh, but by the power of the gospel changing
minds and hearts. Lastly, the creeping things that creep
upon the earth are troublesome things in human nature,
like idiosyncrasies, habits, addictions, generational
defects. These four realms can be conquered by Christ and
the Church by the Holy Spirit and grace. The name of
Jesus, the blood of Jesus, and the word of God are our
weapons to bring in the crown rights of Jesus Christ.

I haven’t forgotten the poetic book or the books of wisdom

that are also quite important to our scenario through the
Old Testament. The bride of Christ is a major theme that
I haven’t ignored, just only saved the best for last. We see
the book of Ruth and Esther as excellent illustrations of
how the church is brought into the picture of relating to
God’s purpose. Ruth is brought from the Gentile world or
nations and wonderfully redeemed by Boaz and richly
listed in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. This extraordinary
story depicts the reality in the New Testament as the Lord
includes the Gentiles into the covenant community, the
commonwealth of Israel.

Esther illustrates how the church rises to the top during

the times of the Gentiles and changes history by
exercising God’s authority in the kingdom. The Jews
become victorious over their enemies and prosper in the
place where they are planted. The enlargement of God’s
sovereignty is seen at the end of the Old Covenant period.
All things working after the counsel of His will.

This is an overview of the three major parts of the Old

Testament, and when we move into the Gospels, we can see
plainly God’s eternal purpose being unfolded, not in type or
shadow, but in the reality and total fulfillment of His
heart’s longing.

The Gospels reveal the SON as God with us, as the Son of
MAN, the Son of David, and the Son of Abraham, and
uniquely as the seed of the woman. We can readily move
into the Acts and the Epistles and see the temple of God, the
spiritual house, and Christ predicting in the gospel of
Matthew, “I will build MY church”. He says, “The gates of
Hades will not prevail against it!” We also see the promised
land as a heavenly country, as heavenly places in Christ.
We also see the church as the army of God in Ephesians,
and then a glorious bride too. When we get to the
consummation of the New Testament, all five themes are
united in the book of Revelation. The revelation of Jesus
Christ, the tabernacle of God, Temple of God - His dwelling
place, the army of God riding on white horses, following
Him who is the Word of God, waging war against all those
of the nations.

We rule or shepherd the nations with a rod of iron and a

sharp two-edged sword that comes out of Christ’s mouth.
Then we come to the City of God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
the bride of Christ, the Lamb’s wife. Rev. 21:9-10. In the
middle of the city is the throne of God and the Lamb, and
the nations are walking in the light of the city. Praise the
Lord! We are in the fulfillment of this spiritual reality.
W e c a n only experience this corporately. So, we diligently
preserve, guard, and keep the unity of the faith and the
unity of the Spirit. Let us walk together in this Reality that
the Lord Jesus has established. May He be glorified in all
that we say and do! Amen.

Terry Kashian
May 13, 2016 © TKB