Having spent the past few chapters responding to some in the church questioning his authority, Paul now turns the tables on them and urges them to examine their own lives. The imperatives,“examine yourselves” and “test yourselves” (2 Cor 13:5) to the Christians in the Corinthian church apply to us today as well.
Jeremiah was a prophet who received and spoke God’s word to Judah. In Jeremiah 17, he spoke on self-examination from the perspective of a whole nation. Looking closely at this chapter in the Old Testament will give us insight into the self-examination that Paul is urging in 2 Corinthians.
We’ll wrap up our OT overview with this study on the prophetic books, the major and minor prophets. These books are so termed not because of their importance, but because of their length. However, before we examine them more closely, it will be good to examine the historical context of these books and their place in the Old Testament, which we surveyed so far in the past few weeks.
In this session, we carry on with our survey of the Old Testament, looking at the period of exile. The timeline has shifted forward, and the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel are located in this time period. We will see in this overview of the exile that God does plan to restore His kingdom, even by using pagan, non-Jewish kings to accomplish His purposes. And as we approach this study, it will be important to remember that these studies of the Old Testament serve ultimately to reveal how God accomplishes his redemptive purposes in Christ Jesus.
When we read any novel or book, where do we begin? Of course at the beginning, you'd say. It's a no brainer. And the Bible is no different really. I don't know about you, but sometimes I do struggle with reading the Bible. Certain chapters don't make sense. Narratives are easier, but when it comes to law and poetry, sometimes things seem complicated. Is it just for the intellectual few? No!
In this new series, we'll consider what the Bible's storyline is all about. Sometimes we think we know these things and assume that we've understood everything, but it really is worth pausing and reconsidering what the Bible says about itself, about God and about us. Ready? Let's begin right at the beginning, in Genesis to consider who God is and what is God's initial plan for you and me.
