The Books of the Bible Participant's Journal | Page 5
INVITATION TO
C ov ena n t H i story
O
ne continuous story runs through the first quarter of the Bible,
covering all the books from Genesis to Samuel–Kings. It’s the
story of the nation of Israel, told through a progression of covenants
God made with the ancestors and people of Israel over the course of
their history, thus the name of this volume, Covenant History.
To rescue humanity from rebellion and misery, God made his first
covenant with one man, Abraham, promising that through him and
his descendants everyone in the world would be blessed. When those
descendants had grown into the nation of Israel, God brought them out
of Egypt and made a further covenant with them; they were to follow
God’s laws in order to provide a living demonstration of God’s goodness
and wisdom to all the nations around them. Later, God made a covenant
with one of their kings, David, promising that one of his descendants
would always be on the throne of Israel.
Unfortunately, the people didn’t honor their agreements with God.
Consequently, their nation was ultimately destroyed and they were
scattered. At this point, the narrative of the Covenant History stops.
But it’s clear that the story itself hasn’t come to an end. The covenant
promises God made can’t be undone, even by human unfaithfulness.
God will continue to act on behalf of this nation and work through it to
reach all nations. How God does this is related in the books that make
up the rest of the Bible.
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