PLAY ILLUMINATING BUMPER VIDEO,

right before I get up to speak.

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It is in the shared Google Drive Folder (HCC Sunday AMz/Technology Sunday AM-z)

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Be sure it is NOT on loop and the sound is up at the start.

THANKS

Sometimes you have to climb on top of a mountain in order to see the big picture.

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I’m going to ask you to climb with me today

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We are in our 2025 Sermon Series called Illuminating: Humbly Exegeting, Interpreting, and Applying the Christian Scriptures.

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We are doing this series because I want to equip you with the mindset, the tools, and the skills to make your way through and around the Bible as more of a native instead of a foreigner.

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The last several weeks, we have been trying to understand what the Bible is.

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We talked about the OT being first called the Jewish Scriptures, a collection of ancient oral teaching and eventually writings that covered 1000 years.

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They have a different order than what our OT has. Same books.

Torah

Nevi’im

Ketuvim

“Teachings”

“Prophets”

“Writings”

Genesis

• “Beginnings”

Exodus

• “Names”

Leviticus

• “And He called”

Numbers

• “In the Wilderness”

Deuteronomy

• “Words”

TaNaKh

The Hebrew Scriptures

Joshua

Judges

Samuel

Kings

Isaiah

Jeremiah

Ezekiel

The Twelve

• All written on a single scroll and regarded as one book

Psalms, Proverbs, Job

Song of Songs

Ruth

Lamentations

Ecclesiastes

Esther

Daniel

Ezra/Nehemiah

Chronicles

Former

Prophets

Latter

Prophets

The oral and written teachings of these Jewish Scriptures, or what we call our Old Testament, were most likely collected into a canon or collection during a period that is known as 2nd temple Judaism, even though the oral teaching of the OT went back centuries.

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Tabernacle (1500 BC)

Solomon’s Temple (1000 BC)

First Temple destroyed (586 BC)

2nd Temple Rebuilt (538 BC)

2nd Temple Destroyed (AD 70)

2nd Temple Judaism

This second Temple period in Judaism leads into what has been called the 400 years of silence, but as we explored, it was anything but silent, because there was a lot of Jewish writing and activity.

It wasn’t really silent. There was a lot going on.

This includes what we believe to be the very first major translation of any kind in all of history, a book from one language to another, in this case the Jewish Scriptures written in Hebrew translated into the Greek language and called the Septuagint and simply referred to as LXX, because of the nearly 70 translators in Alexandria Egypt.

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And it was this Greek translated OT that were the only Scriptures of the greek speaking Jewish people.

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In fact, the Septuagint was the Bible that NT writers read from.

The Septuagint is the Greek Translation of the Hebrew Bible.

This is an important side point: So when we read IN THE NT this passage from 2 Timothy…

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:14-17

How do we interpret the word Scriptures here?

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The OT and the NT?

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Nope, the NT was NOT a part of the Bible of the early Christians.

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There wasn’t a New Testament canon or a formal collection of 27 books.

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And that brings us to today. But I couldn’t do it in one sermon so this is What is the Bible, part 4: The New Testament, part A.

What is the Bible? Part 4

The NT - The Kingdom

First of all, on the surface, at first glance, our ta biblia or Bible, a collection of documents has 39 books in the first part, called the OT

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And 27 books in the second part, called the New Testament which is made up of

• 4 Gospels, or biographies of the life and teachings of Jesus
• 1 History book, Acts, the sequel by Dr. Luke to his Gospel of Luke.
• 13 books traditionally attributed to Paul, although some of those may not be.
• 8 books by authors besides Paul (like Hebrews, James, 2 books by Peter, 3 postcards by John, Jude, and then
• 1 Apocalyptic book, Revelation, also attributed to John, and probably the last of all the New Testament writings.

By the time we got our first Bibles they were chaptered and versed, section headed, red-lettered for where Jesus spoke, color mapped, cross-referenced and wrapped all together in a nice, neat package, often leather bound with gold edges on the pages and our names embossed on the front.

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Who had your name embossed on it? What color? GOLD!!!! Fancy smancy.

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It sort of made it feel that the Bible just fell out of heaven as one complete book.

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But that is far from the truth.

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But the Bible didn’t fall from the sky as a book with the OT and NT all nicely bound together.

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God didn’t drop it down from “headquarters.”

The way we got our personal Bibles

is very different from

the way WE got THE Bible.

How the writings of the New Testament were added to the Hebrew Bible into one collection of 66 books is a whole lot messier.

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I don’t have time to go into all of the details today so I am just going to get us started. Buckle up. Rather than the NT emerging as a set of texts written in isolation and slapped on the end of the Jewish Scriptures, we have to understand that the bigger picture that is going on.

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This is the history of mankind and the Bible in 6 acts. The first 3 acts are talked about in the Jewish Scriptures, or our Old Testament. Act 4 is when Jesus walked the earth. And there was NO new testament. The NT didn’t start to come together until well into the 5th act.

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Act 1 – Creation - God is Creator and Sustainer of all things and gives everything order and purpose.

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Act 2 – Conflict - Human disobedience corrupts God’s good creation.

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Act 3 – Covenant - God reaches out to humanity with a promise.

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Act 4 – Christ - Christ completes the redemptive work of God.

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Act 5 – Church - God empowers the Church to be agents of reconciliation.

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Act 6 – Consummation - God will decisively restore the goodness of original creation.

Six Acts of the Gospel Worldview

From William Jessup University

One way to understand big picture of the NT is to look at Scot McKnight’s version of God’s Metanarrative in 3 stages.

McKnight’s ABA’

Grand Narrative in

Kingdom Conspiracy

28-30

McKnight’s ABA’

Grand Narrative in

Kingdom Conspiracy

28-30

Plan A is that God is King.

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But man rebels.

Plan B is God allowing the people to be ruled by a human King.

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That first king was Saul, followed by David.

McKnight’s ABA’

Grand Narrative in

Kingdom Conspiracy

Even though God allowed Plan B to happen with earthly King, it was God’s intention to reestablish Plan A with the coming of Jesus.

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In this final phase, Plan A revisited, the true kingship is restored—not through a man-made institution but through the person of Jesus Christ. Here, Jesus becomes the embodiment of God’s intended rule. He redefines what it means to be kingdom people who are a part of a new covenant and form a new community (the church) that lives under the rule of King Jesus.

McKnight’s ABA’

Grand Narrative in

Kingdom Conspiracy

Like we said last week, during that 400 years of silence, there was a lot going on in preparation for this new kingdom, which included a new covenant or a new relationship between God and humans, and ultimately the New Testament.

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God used the unfolding of history to his advantage.

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It wasn’t really silent. There was a lot going on.

Alexander the Great, conquered the known world, spreading the Greek Culture and was eventually followed by Pompey of Rome who created peace through power. In addition their mighty army produced great roads which eventually allowed the good news of the kingdom of Jesus to spread over all the world

Pompey of Rome

63 BC

Alex the Great

332 BC

Political

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The Pax Romana (Roman Peace), established by the Roman Empire, created stability across a vast territory. Roman roads and governance facilitated travel and communication, enabling the rapid spread of the gospel.

Cultural

The influence of Hellenistic (Greek) culture, brought by Alexander the Great and continued under Roman rule, provided a shared language (Koine Greek) and cultural framework. This common language helped the early church spread the message of Christ throughout the empire.

Religious

The Jewish diaspora (dispersing) had established synagogues across the Roman Empire, providing a network of communities familiar with the Scriptures and awaiting the Messiah. Additionally, the moral and spiritual emptiness of Greco-Roman paganism left many longing for a deeper truth, creating a ripe environment for the Good News that the Angels would soon proclaim.

The time was ripe for the Messiah. But what did that mean?

�The Jews had only encountered God through a burning bush, in blessings and provision like Manna, through judgments and exiles which were captured in the oral teachings and eventually the writings of their Jewish Scriptures as they longed for the promised Messiah — but what the Jews got instead was the God of the Old Testament who incarnated himself or became flesh, becoming human, in the person of Jesus to establish this final Kingdom of God.

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And it was just at the right time in history … God came down. John writes of this incarnation of God, or God coming to earth in the flesh

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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it….

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John 1:1-5, 14

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:1-5, 14

Paul describes Jesus being both Human and Divine when he wrote to the Philippians.

Christ Jesus:

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6 Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

7 rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

8 And being found in appearance as a man,

Phil 1:5-8

The Hebrew writer explains it this way

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

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• Spoken not written

Heb 1:1

This is how Mark frames God’s Plan A’ revisited or God establishing his kingdom with King Jesus and begins his biography of Jesus explaining the kingdom of God coming to earth.

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This is a key to understanding the New Testament.

The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

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“I will send my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way”—

“a voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for him.’”

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Mark 1:1-15

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And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

Mark 1:1-15

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[After Jesus was baptized, he was tempted by the devil for 40 days in the wilderness.]

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After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

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• The Good News that Plan A’ revisited was coming. King Jesus has arrived.

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Mark 1:1-15

There is no better understanding the will of God for the Kingdom of God than when King Jesus talked about prayer in the sermon on the mount in Matt 6

“This, then, is how you should pray:

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“‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:9-10

And for 3 years, Jesus walked among the people, teaching, healing, and transforming lives. Those first disciples gathering at the feet of Jesus and witnessed miracles that defied ordinary explanation, heard parables that challenged the conventional wisdom of the day, and experienced a transformative love that reoriented their entire lives. In that moment, they encountered the incarnate God, a teacher who walked and talked among them.

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And the entire time, the entire 3 years, the disciples thought that the kingdom of God was visible, earthly slaughtering of Rome kind of kingdom. And they missed it.

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Recall they are still asking for a Political Kingdom after Jesus rose from the dead. Dr. Luke records it.

Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

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Acts 1:6

But Jesus proclaimed a different kind of Kingdom of God, a kingdom where we ALL live as ambassadors and living representatives of His Kingdom, and we all serve as priests in his temple of life.

Listen to John in the last book of our Bible. Chapter 1

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

Revelation 1:5-6

The New Testament documents capture the beginning reign of King Jesus when he unleashed a revolution and invite all peoples to live as a part of his ekklesia, his church, as a part of his invisible, Global, Multi-ethnic Upside down Kingdom

We are a part of God’s Global, Multi-ethnic Upside down Kingdom

But let me make this very important point.

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In first-century Palestine the world was not defined by pages and print but by the spoken word. Reading literacy was not the norm; instead, the people were part of an oral dominate culture where words were meant to be heard, remembered, and passed from heart to heart In the synagogues and marketplaces, in homes and along dusty roads, teachers and prophets spoke the Word of God—and their listeners committed those words to memory.

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Jesus’ earliest followers didn’t even consider to writing anything down. They listened. They followed. They experienced him.

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And it wasn’t for at least another 20 years after Jesus’ ascension that anyone first wrote anything about the life of Jesus in a gospel or about the beginning of the church in a book of history called Acts or in a letter to individual gatherings of disciples. And when they did, they sure didn’t think that they were writing the NT that would eventually become the 2nd part of the Jewish Scriptures.

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Therefore, the NT is not to be Pharisaically treated like the Jewish Scriptures not as a collection of written doctrines to be legalistically obeyed but as a living, breathing reality to experience and to follow.

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The New Testament is

the preserved writings of the new covenant people, disciples of Jesus trying to figure out how to live their eternal lives in Jesus’ upside down kingdom.

And, it’s easy for us hold our beautifully designed Bibles and think that the New Testament is JUST a bunch of written documents obeyed and adhered to like the Jewish Scriptures were. Oh, it’s so much more, and we’ll talk about THAT in the next sermon in… our Illuminating series.

Jesus, the incarnate God of the Universe, invites you to follow up as his apprentice in His kingdom.

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Talk to me about that.

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Let’s pray.

PREACHED THIS SERMON

• Feb 9, 2025