In short, the Bible is a story of the Kingdom of God. After God creates a perfect world, humans chose to trust their own judgment over and above God’s. This brought sin into the world. The following chapters of Genesis show that this sin is like a virus that infects all humans. Without an intervention from God, there is little hope for humanity.

Part 1 of the Bible showed us that when left to themselves, humans do not choose God. So what does God do? He intervenes and chooses to bring salvation to the world despite human sinfulness. He chooses an imperfect man, not because of any righteousness, but because he has faith.

This part begins with the descendants of Israel becoming numerous, yet being enslaved by Egypt. God intervenes, and miraculously delivers Israel from slavery. God instructs His people to have faith in Him, and live lives that reflect His holiness. Unfortunately, that generation failed in this, and could not inherit the Promised Land, leaving that job to the next generation.

When the Israelites look to God as their King, He shows Himself to be faithful. When God’s people trust His words, and are obedient to Him — even when it seems impossible — then great things happen.

When obedient people don’t train their children in the ways of the Lord, sin quickly replaces holiness. When obedience is compromised, it is a mutiny against God as king. However, when they repent, God is quick to forgive and raises up deliverers, called judges.

Israelites rejected God as king, and instead wanted a physical king in order to be like the other nations. God gave them the superficial, self-serving king they asked for in Saul. After him God gave them the king He wanted in king David. He would lead the nation in obedience to their True King: God.

Because of king Solomon’s disobedience, the kingdom of Israel was divided in two. The northern kingdom of Israel created idols to represent God, which led them astray. All 19 kings of Israel were evil. In the southern kingdom of Judah, they also had 19 kings, 8 of which were good. Both kingdoms ultimately rebelled and were exiled.

After the exile in 586BC, there was only a remnant of Israel left. There was a small community of Judeans (Jews), but they were now living in Babylon. They repented from their sin, and in 538BC, God restored some to their land to rebuild. God used the prophets Haggai & Zechariah to encourage them to rebuild the temple, though there is no account of the return of God’s glory.

Though they didn’t go back to idolatry, worship of God had grown stale and lethargic. They were no longer an independent nation with their own king, but were subject to Persia. Through the reformations of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi the people turned back to God, and gained a renewed focus on the coming Messiah.

The Intertestamental time was a difficult time. The Persian Empire fell to the Greeks, who brought some intense religious persecution against Jews. The Maccabean revolt led to their independence for about 100 years, though that was not a time of religious purity. By the time they were taken over by Rome, many devout Jews were looking intently for the coming of their Messiah for deliverance.

When Jesus came on the scene, Rome was the ruling power and was seen as their enemy. Many Jews were expecting two different messiahs. One would be a priestly messiah who would bring religious reforms to the people. The other would be a conquering king that would defeat the Romans and re-establish the physical nation of Israel. Few understood that it would be one Messiah who would come and bring forgiveness of sins, the defeat of the Enemy, and establish the spiritual Kingdom of God.

As God’s call to Abraham was for him to “go”, so is Jesus’ call to His followers. Whereas in the Old Covenant God dwelled WITH His people, in the New Covenant God now dwells IN His people. His Kingdom will continue to grow until Jesus returns again in victory!