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Questions for Today |
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If this is the New Testament, then what is the Old Testament?
The Old Testament is God´s record of his dealings with people throughout a certain time in history. It can be told in three acts: The Creation, the Fall, and Israel.
Act I: Creation
The drama begins with God already on the stage, already at work. It doesn´t attempt to convince you that God exists. Given that the Biblical authors claim God as its direct inspiration, it presupposes that he exists. Whether you believe it or not, the Bible´s message is understood best through this lens.
The curtain rises with God creating a world. He makes a man, Adam, out of the ground (adamah is the word for ground in the original Hebrew language, in which this part of the Bible was written) and places him in the Garden of Eden to work in it and take care of it. The earth is created to be the man´s home. God´s intention is for humanity to be in close, intimate relationship with him and in harmony with the rest of creation around them. God is described in these early chapters of the Bible as dwelling in the garden together with the first human beings, Adam and Eve. At the end of the first chapter of Genesis, God gives his own assessment of his work: God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
Later on in the story, God´s people celebrated God´s creative work: "Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you" (Nehemiah 9).
Act I reveals God´s desire for humans and provides the setting for all the action that follows.
Act II: the Fall
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