Ezekiel 36:16-28; Jeremiah 31:31-37 | One Story

Well, I've said about the same thing for 10 months now, if you can believe it or not.

The Bible is not primarily a list of rules to obey, nor is it primarily a list of heroes to emulate, but it's the love story of a God who will rescue his people and bring them back to the flourishing that can only be found in life with him.

Last week, if you recall, we concluded the narrative portion of the Old Testament.

which is no small feat.

And we found there at the very end that we were still wanting, wanting for a new king, wanting for the blessing that was promised to be realized, wanting for the presence of God to fill the temple, and wanting for a solution to our sinful, broken nature.

And the solution has been foreshadowed for us all along.

We're supposed to be wanting it.

We're supposed to be anticipating it.

And the story that we've traced now for the past 10 months has been remarkably cyclical.

Perhaps you've picked up on this.

It repeats itself over and over again until the Bible ends as it began in a garden-like temple in life with God.

The flesh then of the story between the ends, it hangs on what we call covenants.

And covenants are promises that God makes to his people whereby maintaining their relationship.

And so what I want to do very briefly for you is do a very quick, this is due two minutes, two minute recap of the whole Old Testament so that we're all on the same page as we begin this morning, okay? Okay.

Hold me to it.

Okay.

Outside of the garden where humans dwelt with God, humanity immediately spirals downward.

You remember Cain kills Abel.

Every intention of man's heart was only evil continually.

And God judges the wickedness of man and makes a covenant never to destroy the earth again.

Outside the ark, then, humanity immediately spirals downward again.

Instead of submitting to God, they rival God at Babel, and God judges the wickedness of man, scatters them over the face of the earth, and chooses one man with whom he makes a covenant, Abraham.

setting Abraham and his offspring apart to receive a land and a blessing.

This is explicitly an everlasting covenant with the explicit purpose, Genesis 17, so that he will be God to you and to your offspring after you.

But even this chosen people immediately spiral downward again.