The
Story of
An
Introduction to the
Introduction
Hi!
So you decided that you want to read and know more about and the Old Testament.
Great! The Old Testament tells us a lot about Who God is, who we are, and
how God has reached out to us from the very beginning. Many of the saints
have said it is impossible to understand Who Jesus is without first understanding
what led up to His Incarnation. So if you want to know more about your Faith,
you’ve started in the right place!
Whenever
we are in unexplored territory (which this is for many of you), we need a
map to help us find our way. This series of short introductions to the Bible
provides readers with background information about the general content of
the Bible. Each introduction either provides a summary of the themes and important
persons and events of several books, or a survey of a section of one book
of the Bible.
This
packet introduces the major themes of the Old Testament Story of Salvation
from the Beginning of the World (as told in the Book of Genesis) to the time
of the Prophets who proclaimed to God’s People the coming of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
Note:
The purpose of this readers’ guide is to help someone who has not read a lot
of the Bible understand the basic themes of the Old Testament. It is NOT meant
as a replacement for reading the entire text.
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Format |
Following
each introduction are readings taken primarily from the Old Testament books.
Some are short, often one or two Psalms or small chapters related to the theme.
Others are long, often several chapters or longer. Don’t think you need to
read these longer sections in one sitting. Try to read a little each day and
spread it over several days in a week.
For
those of you who aren’t familiar with how references are given to the Bible,
the format is as follows:
Book
Name
Chapter # : Verse
numbers
Genesis
1:
1-10
When
things are separated by a semicolon, it means the next thing listed is another
chapter. For example Genesis
1:1-10; 2:4 means the book of Genesis chapter 1, verses 1 thru 10, and
chapter 2 verse four.
Questions
are provided with the readings to help you think about the meaning of these
passages for your life and faith. Space is provided for you to make a few
notes, or you may prefer to use a small journal to write down your thoughts
or any questions that you might ask of a priest, teacher, or friend.
The
Period of Pre-history – The Beginning of Time Itself
God
created the world and man. He created the world out of nothing but His love.
Before the world ever existed, there was God in three Persons: God the Father,
God’s Son (Word), and God’s Spirit (Breath), Who abided together in an ever-existing
Love. There was never a time when (the three Persons of God were not fully
united together in a perfect unity of love.
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As
an Orthodox Christian, the Old Testament is not just a book. It
is your history with God. These are your stories, your ancestors, your scriptures. |
Love is something that is freely shared. Love is always giving. It is something
that flows outward to other things. God decided to create something and someone
beyond Himself in order to share His Love. God created all matter —
light and darkness, the land and the seas, animals and humans. God’s
Love created life! God created everything that exists, and He looked at
His world and said “it is good!”
God
created every human person in His image. He placed us in His world to love
Him and all of His creation. We are in called to care for it in the way He
intended. As God’s own images, we are created to be free —
free to accept God and all His gifts. We are free to choose to live
in communion with God, and fulfill His will. But freedom also means that we
can choose to deny God, to reject His love and His gift of creation. Free
choice, however, also implies that we are ready to accept the consequences.
In
the book of Genesis (which means birth or origins, i.e., “beginnings”), the
symbol of our acceptance or rejection of God’s will and love is represented
in a story. In this story, God gives us one condition for life and eternal
communion with Him (Genesis 1:1 - 2::25).
It was God’s way of giving us freedom
_
the freedom to choose to do God’s will or to reject it. The story reminds
us that choosing to disobey God is the choice to reject life—God’s Life—itself.
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Readings |
Genesis
1:1 to 2:4
What
does this passage’s message say about my place in this world?
Genesis 2:
4-25
How does this world compare
to the world I live in?
Psalm 104
According to this passage,
is God distant or close to His Creation?
How
can I respond to Him?
When I reflect on all of God’s creation like the author of the
psalm, I ...
What
can I learn from inanimate things (trees, stars, etc.) about praising God?
John
1:1-5
What
is one way I can connect more with God today?
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Going
Our Own Way |
Sin
and Death vs. Communion and Life
When
we accept God’s life (and do so freely), we enter into communion with Him
and enjoy life forever. When we reject God’s will, we reject the life He gives
us. When we separate ourselves from God, we separate ourselves from the very
source of life¼and the result is death. God is
the only source and breath of life. There is no life apart from Him.
When we choose to “go our own
way” and live “our own life” apart from God we are choosing death, as did
Adam and Eve. We cannot live without God’s life in us. Only God can breathe
into us the breath of life. Turning away from God is like turning away from
the power that gives us life. Just as an electrical appliance goes dead when
its cord is pulled from the socket in the wall, we also lose our life as we
wander far from God.
The
consequences of this sin against God’s love and life affect all of creation.
The whole world, therefore, suffers from sin and death and is in need of salvation
– the restoration of its communion with God, the only source of life. We only
need to look around us at the world in which we live to see the effects of
sin and the destruction of the world God made.
God loves who and what He created
and does not abandon us. As with Adam and Eve, whom He clothed with garments,
God continually reaches out to save and protect His people (e.g., Cain, Noah,
and others). God truly wants all of His children to live forever with Him,
but He does not and will not force us to accept Him. This means we can only
accept God freely out of love, showing our love for Him by loving others and
all of His creation.
Evil and sin bring destruction
and death to the world and to the people God created in love. Only our love
and communion with Christ and others can bring us back into life and communion
with God. Having lost our immortality, we know we shall inevitably die. We
have no way to return to God, except by the help of God Himself. God chooses
others to help prepare the way (Genesis 3-11).
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Baptism
- When we are baptized and chrismated, we actually become attached
to Jesus and become part of the Body of Christ, meaning the
Church. By “putting on Christ” God restores our relationship with
Him. |
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Blessing Objects - When we bless things such as water, fruit, flowers, food, etc. the Church restores these parts of creation to their original relationship with God. |
As
you read these passages think about the ways we turn away from God every day.
How do we compare with the people in these stories and the other stories throughout
the Bible? How can we “turn around” (i.e., repent) and help make the world
the kind of place God intended it to be?
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Readings |
Genesis
3:1-24
What
are some of my big temptations — times when I want my way vs. God’s way?
Genesis
4:1-16
When
do I do the right thing but with the wrong spirit?
Genesis 6:1-13;
7:6-10
“...
for the earth is full of violence with them...”
Do
I ever think that the world has gotten so bad that God should start over?
Genesis
8:1-22
What
would it be like to be one of a few people who got a fresh start, like Noah
and his family?
Psalm
1
What
are the pros and cons of not “walking in the counsel of the wicked?
Psalm
50/51
How
can I use my feelings of guilt in a positive way?
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Making
a Covenant of Faithfulness to God |
The
Time of God’s Promise of Salvation
At
the time when history began to be recorded, God chose a people to carry His
message of salvation to the rest of the world. God called Abraham to
be the father of a new nation, a nation of people that would be faithful to
God. Abraham trusted God and was faithful to him, so God sent Abraham to a
new country and gave him a promise. God said He would bless Abraham and make
of his descendants a great nation. In blessing Abraham – the ancestor of Mary,
the Mother of God and, therefore, the ancestor of Jesus – God promises that
all Christians shall be blessed. (Gen. 12:1-3).
God
made a covenant (agreement) with Abraham and promised to give him a
son, Isaac. One day, God tested Abraham’s faith (Gen. 17-18; 21-23),
foreshadowing when God will allow His Son to be sacrificed in order to save
the world. Abraham passed the test and serves as an example of faith for all
Christians. We become “children of Abraham” by having faith in God like he
did.
The
covenant between Abraham and God was later renewed again by Isaac, and by
Isaac’s son Jacob. God blessed Jacob and changed his name to Israel.
Israel’s sons and descendants became the leaders of the 12 Tribes of Israel.
The period beginning with Abraham is that of these Old Testament Patriarchs.
Each of the patriarchs were faithful to God and made a covenant or agreement
with Him. They believed and worshiped Him as the One true God. God is referred
to in the Bible as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
– the God of Israel.
The period ends when eleven of
Jacob’s sons sell their brother Joseph into slavery, leading the way for all
of Isreal to reside in Egypt. (Gen. 17-18; 21-23)
Eventually, the Egyptians enslave the people of Israel, setting the
stage for the Exodus.
The time of Abraham and the Old
Testament Patriarchs is a time of promise. Through the covenants God made
with His people, He promised to free the people of Israel and bring them back
to their own land. But this promise is to all of us. It is a promise to restore
all people to a new relationship with God – the way God meant it to be – to
make all of us God’s Holy People.
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Readings |
Genesis
12:1-3
Because of God’s promise, Abraham left everything
and everyone he knew to go somewhere
totally unknown.
Could
I have that kind of faith?
Based upon Abraham’s
example, how would I describe faith?
What can I learn from Joseph about dealing
with people who want to harm me?
What
can I learn about my relationship with God during those times?
Psalm 105
How would I
describe God - the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - to someone?
Luke
1:26-56
Mary,
the Theotokos, was a child of Abraham.
What
can I learn from her about having faith in God?
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God
Frees and Prepares His
People |
The
Time of Preparation for the Coming of the Messiah
The
First Passover (Pascha), Kings and Prophets
God
chose Moses to lead his people from slavery in Egypt to freedom in
the Promised Land of Canaan, where Abraham had lived. After years of slavery
in a foreign land, God helped Moses to oppose
the Pharaoh and to insist that he “Let my people go!”
The
Exodus from Egypt took place after the first Passover (see Exodus 12).
During 40 years of wandering in the desert, God gave to Moses the commandments
of the Law, which his people carried in an ark into the land beyond the Jordan
River, and directions for how to worship God. Moses died before the people
crossed over the Jordan, but he saw the land that God had given to his people.
Joshua led the people and the ark into the land that God had shown them (Exodus
and Deuteronomy). This is where the Tribes of Israel settled.
God
raised up Kings and Prophets to serve Him in this new land. David the King
was a great leader, known for the psalms he wrote and his repentance to God
for his sins. His son Solomon built the great Temple in Jerusalem and was
known for his wisdom.
When
God’s people turned away from God, they were conquered and sent into exile
in Babylon. Several times, the Temple was destroyed. God’s prophets called
the people to repent, to turn from sin, to act rightly and justly, and to
renew their covenant with God for, as the prophets warned, the Day of Judgment,
the Day of the Lord is coming!
The
prophet Jeremiah spoke of a new covenant with God, and the prophet Isaiah
proclaimed the coming of the Emmanuel–God with Us, the One who would
inaugurate this new time. According to Isaiah, He will have many wonderful
titles describing His greatness.(Isaiah 9:6) But Isaiah also calls him a Suffering
Servant who gives his own life as an eternal covenant that brings new life
mankind. (Isaiah 53) This One would be the Lord God of Israel, the Messiah
(meaning the anointed One – see the Old Testament books of history
and prophets). Through the prophets, God prepared His people for the coming
of the Messiah, the very Son of God and Savior of the world – God with
Us!
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Exodus
13:20-15:1 |
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During the Vespers and Divine Liturgy on Holy Saturday we remember the story of the Exodus as one of the central stories that define who we are as Christians. This is the 6th Old Testament reading which concludes with everyone singing the refrain “For gloriously has He been glorified” as the reader chants the Song of Miriam. |
As
you read these passage reflect on how they helped prepare the people in the
story to receive God’s Son and how they also help prepare us.
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Readings |
Psalm
106
What
about this passage most impresses me?
Exodus
1-4
In
what ways can I relate to the way Moses responds to God’s calling?
Exodus
11-12
How
do I react to the fact that the Passover is part of my history?
Exodus
13:17-15:21
What
does this passage say about me?
How does it relate to what I believe about God?
Isaiah
7:10-17; 9:1-7; 53
How
do these passages relate to what I know about Jesus?
How
has God acted in my life to prepare me to be part of His Holy Nation and one
of His children?
What
can I do today to show my love and deepen my commitment to Him?
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Some
Final Thoughts |
How
has my understanding of God been affected by completing this Readers’ Guide?
What have I learned?
Based
upon what I have read and prayed about, what do I want for my life?
In
what ways could I change my life to accomplish this?
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This readers’ guide has introduced you to some of the major
people, stories and themes of the Bible. In these four short introductions,
we have looked at the four major themes of the Old Testament. The
Old Testament comprises about two-thirds of the contents of the
Bible.
In
the chart below, you can identify these Old Testament Themes in
the first four columns. They include the themes of the Creation,
the Fall (sin) of Mankind, the Promise of Salvation, and the Preparation
of God’s People for the Coming of the Messiah.
The
decisive turning point between the Old and the New Testaments is
when God Himself takes upon human flesh and comes to dwell on earth.
Mary, the Mother of God (Theotokos) accepts, on behalf of all humankind,
to give birth to God’s own Son, Jesus Christ. All generations bless
her, for through the birth of her Son, we can make our return to
God and receive the blessing of new life in Christ.
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Creation |
Fall |
Promise |
Preparation |
Incarnation |
Redemption |
Church |
Kingdom |
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Life |
Death |
Covenant |
Law/Prophets |
Son of God |
Death & Resurrection |
New Life |
Salvation |
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God Creates the World |
Sin |