Lesson 1: The Nation of Israel and the Plan of God

Lesson 1: The Nation of Israel and the Plan of God

Passage: Genesis- Malachi

Attribute: Faithful

Doctrine: Humanity: Creation and Purpose

Big Idea: Israel’s Part in God’s plan

GOAL: Where are WE in this story. Why do we care?

BSF kids Song: What is the purpose of my life? My purpose is to love God, know Him, and glorify Him. Psalm 16:11- You have made known to me the path of life.

Aim: Israel’s story matters for believers today.

God used Israel to bring redemption to all who put their faith in Jesus.

If the Goal is restoration—> then there must be redemption for what is broken. —> How do we know what was broken, we go backwards…to look at how it was supposed to be in the first place…to creation.

Creation.

Rebellion.

Restoration

Redemption.

God’s purpose in creation: God created the world so he would be glorified.

And then…God created humanity- humans were unique in that they alone were made in the image of God. Only humans possess the ability to have relationship with God. Only humans possess the ability to reflect God’s character.

Primary purpose: Jesus will forever reign over His redeemed people in a new heaven and a new earth.

Secondary purpose: creation and redemption of humankind—> the means to how God will accomplish the primary

Theme of Bible: Restoration.

I. Introduction: Purpose

Illustration/General opening: Everyone wants to know their purpose?

DOCTRINE: Humanity: Creation and Purpose

God’s purpose has never changed.

Fall of Humanity: Genesis 3 **Need for a plan to carry out purpose established**

Need to read OT with God’s purpose in mind

God’s purpose, was himself- that means that his plan is always to get creation back to…himself. He is the central figure.

AIM: God faithfully carries out his purpose to bring glory to Himself despite humanities failures.

II. Division 1: God’s Plan Revealed (REDEMPTION) Genesis-1 Kings 11

a. From here on out cycle repeats: Plan-> rebellion—> redemption —> leads to restoration

b. To Adam and Eve: Genesis 3:15

Promise of a savior

c. Through establishment of Israel- God’s chosen people (COVENANT)

Abraham: Genesis 12:1-3; 17 –> Promise of Restoration

Isaac

Jacob

12 sons

= 12 tribes

Moses

King David

In revealing his plan, he also reveals himself to his people.

Principle: PURPOSE God reveals himself for the purpose of ___glorify himself_____.

Application: God’s characteristics or attributes tell us about God.

Our purpose should be the same as God’s purpose…

Are you living for yourself and what you want or God’s purposes.

We must read OT with a correct view of God and who he reveals himself to be.

III. Division 2: God’s Plan Sustained/Endures 1 Kings 12- Malachi

a. through a divided kingdom

b. Through exile

c. Reminded through the Prophets

Principle: God is faithful to sustain His people and keeps his promises.

APPLICATION: God’s faithfulness

GOSPEL-> are you redeemed

Just like God was faithful to Israel, he is faithful to you in your life and your situation.

God’s faithfulness to Israel shows us God’s faithfulness to us. God never changes. Through Israel we see the constant theme of God’s faithfulness over and over to a unfaithful people.

GOSPEL

Just like God had a plan and purpose for Israel, he too has a plan and purpose for your life.

Are you submitting to God’s plan for your life? Or are you too busy running after your own?

Do you live as a child of God or one of this world- running after happiness, success, comfort?

Where might God be asking you to surrender to His plan? Is there a place he is asking you to serve that you have resisted because it would take away from your personal time and comfort?

we can look at God’s plan for Israel and be confident that just like he was orchestrated

Application:

We can trust that in the broken places in our life- there is purpose. Everything happens for a reason, there is no such thing as a coincidence.

IV. Conclusion

It’s important for us to know and remember God’s purpose as we begin to read next week. Next week we are going to see God’s people divided

Division 1: Purpose

The answer is: relationship.

God created an elaborate, perfect, and beautiful kingdom for HUMANS and then created them so they could enjoy it- care for it- and as they did so they would continuously give glory and worship to the ONE who created them as they walked in perfect relationship with Him.

He lavished GOOD things on His people. Everything He made was for their good and HIS glory.

From the very beginning we see a GOOD God who loves to give good gifts for his people- everything he does is in pursuit of being in perfect relationship with the ones he loves.

Now last week I told you that the God of OT is the same God of the NT and the same God that is living and active in our lives today.

That means if God was good here, in the beginning, then God is still good….If he was working for the good of his people them, he is still working for the good of his people now.

As we move through our study this year- it is going to be important for you to hold fast to who God is as described in His word. We will frequently talk about God’s attributes, which is just another name for his characteristics. His attributes are who He is. As you read the scriptures this year- take a highlighter in a designated color and highlight every time you see an attribute of God mentioned. Challenge yourself to look for who He is as revealed in scripture- not who you think he is based off of your own experiences and reasoning.

How often do you hear the phrase… “I could never believe in a good who _________.”

Sometimes things in our lives happen for God to get our attention- it’s meant to be a wake up call- to draw us back to him- an instead, we shout- how dare you, you must not love me…

One of my daughters was recently frustrated by a consequence she had received after she disobeyed.

She quickly got angry- telling me that it was my fault she had disobeyed in the 1st place and that when I talk to her that way- meaning, when I give her a consequence- that she feels like I don’t love her.

I will be honest- I was pretty infuriated that she had somehow come to that conclusion, because nothing could be farther from the truth. I was so frustrated in the moment because I didn’t know which comment to address first- the fact that she blamed me for her disobedience or the fact that she had concluded I didn’t love her because I gave her a consequence.

As I was sitting there trying to figure out what to say next- I realized something- this is EXACTLY how I respond to God- all. the. Time. I rebel, I sin, the consequence of my actions frustrate me and then I blame God for not being good when all he wants is for me to obey so we can be in perfect relationship- because THAT is what is GOOD for me. But I spend so much time convinced that I know what is good and he doesn’t.

Rebellion—>Redemption—>Restoration.

Over and over again we see God’s people rebel, God redeem and then he restores....and all of this leads us to an ultimate restoration.

INTRODUCTION

PURPOSE/Illustration:

CREATION:

If you open up your Bible to the 1st page…you will find yourself in the book of Genesis- the 1st book of the Bible.

Here we read how God created the world….before creation, there was nothing and there was God..and then God- who always was and always will be literally spoke the world into creation…but why? Why did God create?

The Bible over and over again answers this question..

Psalm 19:1 says: “The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the works of his hands.”

Isaiah 6:3 “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Why did God create…to declare his Glory.

God created…to reveal himself…everything God created was purposeful in that it pointed back to Him.

God created humans with the purpose of glorifying Him..to magnify his name...

Humans were also unique in God’s creation b/c we were created in God’s image.

This means that as humans, we have characteristics and attributes that mirror, or image, God himself.

Nothing else in creation images God.

Now, God has powers, characteristics, and attributes that we do not possess- we are to mirror God…not be God....but somehow, this imaging got messed up..

Adam and Eve— the 1st humans lived in perfect relationship with God- they walked with Him and were given a beautiful world where God lavished good gifts on them- they had more than they could ever want or imagine.

However, in Genesis 3, they began to believe a lie that God was holding back on them- that there was something more to be desired than life within God’s care.

So they chose to sin. They chose to do the one thing God had asked them not to do.

God did not created robots- He wanted them to want Him- to look around at all he had given- to look at themselves in the mirror and see and give glory to him as their creator.

He gave them a choice…and they chose to break the perfect relationship with God and since that moment, all of humanity is living with what is known as “the fallen nature”… a sin nature...

When given the choice, instead of looking in the mirror and imaging God- they looked in the mirror and wanted to be God.

When Adam and Eve broke relationship with God…God did not go, welp, that didn’t work- let’s pitch that idea and start over....

God is a creator- he did not mess up when he created us. He did not mess up when he created the world.

It goes against who He is. He is perfect and all his ways are right-which includes the creation of the world.

His creation may have rebelled against him, but God didn’t throw us out-we weren’t a mistake and there wasn’t a flaw in his creation.

Instead, from the second sin entered the world- God already had a plan to bring people back to Him- to restore what was broken.

And in the Bible- we see that plan and in the process we get to see the heart of our God, a God who loves his creation and who goes to great lengths to invite humanity back into relationship with Him.

In the OT, God introduces us to his plan, and he uses people to accomplish his plan…specifically the nation of Israel. The OT focuses primarily on the nation of Israel and the part that they play in redemption.

I told you last week that sometimes we would approach scripture from an airplane view- looking at the bigger picture, and other times we would be on the ground.

Today- we are in an airplane…doing a world wide tour…We are going to do a quick big picture view of the entire OT to see how God’s plan to redeem and restore was carried out through the nation of Israel.

We can’t just jump into the middle of the OT and start studying unless we know where we have been and where we are going.

The goal today is to orient you to the OT…To see how the nation of Israel fits into God’s plan and what that means for our lives today.

If you don’t like flying- sit back and hang tight- today we will fly over once, then next week, we are going to land the plane and go a little deeper.

As we look at this overview of the OT we will see that AIM: Israel’s story matters for us today.

God faithfully sustains His purpose to bring glory to Himself.

We are going to split the OT in two sections today:

1. God’s Plan Revealed: Genesis- 1 Kings 11

2. God’s Plan Sustained: 1 Kings 12-Malachi

DIVISION 1: God’s Plan Revealed

In Genesis 3, right after sin entered the world, God reveals his plan for redemption.

His very 1st action after the fall was to MOVE TOWARD fallen humanity.

Adam and Eve were hiding in the garden, and God sought them out-

They rebelled…God pursued..

Get used to hearing this because this year you are going to see it over and over again. God’s people will continuously rebel against him and God will continuously move towards them.

in Genesis 3:15, before God does anything else…he promises a savior…a redeemer…one who would come and save them from their sin..

In Genesis 3:15 God is actually talking to Satan- he says “He (meaning the deliverer) will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

What God is saying is that Satan is going to reek havoc on God’s world and it is going to look like he is winning- but really, it will just be a bruise, a strike on the heel.

I don’t know if you have ever been struck on the heel- but I have...there is a grocery store I shop at occasionally that has little carts for kids to use- I have been nailed in the heal many, many times, and I can assure you that you feel like you are going down. In fact, on one occasion I remember practically limping out of the store. But I was not crushed- the blow- while painful- was not longterm.

God here promises that while Satan may throw some painful blows that cause us to walk with a limp- there is one who is coming who is going to crush the head of the Serpant- who will have ultimate victory.

And since we get the full picture of the Bible…we know that that promised savior- the one who will crush the head of Satan, is Jesus. And see Adam and Eve did not know who the promised deliverer would be…they did not know that God would one day send his ONE and ONLY son to pay the price of sin...

But they looked forward to the coming deliverer.

Throughout the OT, God continuously reveals more and more of his plan.

In Genesis 12- God reveals more of his plan to a man named Abram- who will later have his name changed to Abraham.

God gives Abraham a promise..he promises him 4 specific things:

1. He would be a great nation

2. His name would be great

3. He would be Blessed by God

4. All people on earth would be blessed through him.

Promise known as the “Abrahamic Covenant”- most fundamental covenant in the bible

Abraham is honored today as the Father of Israel.....

and through the line of Abraham, God will bring His Messiah-

CONCLUSION:

If you flip your Bible to the last two or so pages, you will find yourself in Revelation 21 and 22. If you read this closely, you will read about a future and coming world- a world in which Revelation 21:4 tells us will have no pain, no tears, no death. A world, that looks very similar to the one we read about in Genesis 1 and 2. The 1st two chapters of Genesis and the last two chapters of Revelation are bookends

And in between- we get to see God’s plan of how he plans to take this world from broken…to restored.

So God’s purpose in creating the world was to bring glory to himself, but his purpose in giving us the Bible is redemption which leads ultimately to restoration.

Understanding God’s purpose in creation is crucial for understanding our own purpose in life.

If everything in creation was created with the purpose of bringing God glory- then as created beings- we too should live life with the purpose of bringing God glory.