The Story of the Bible in the Old Testament with Dr. Jay Sklar
On today’s episode of the Journeywomen podcast, we’re talking about the Old Testament with Dr. Jay Sklar. This conversation is going to help you see how the whole Bible points to Jesus! Dr. Jay Sklar is Professor of Old Testament and VP of Academics at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis. His doctoral research was completed under Professor Gordon Wenham and focused on the theology of sacrifice. He recently published a commentary on Leviticus in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary series. Here you can find further resources he has put together on Leviticus, including suggestions on how to teach or preach on the book. Originally from Canada, Dr. Sklar met his wife, Ski, in the library at seminary, and to this day encourages any student wanting to be married to study hard.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Many people have an idea of the various stories that are in the Old Testament but they often struggle to get their hands around the big picture of the Old Testament. Why is that?
What tool do you use to help people get a handle on the big picture of the Bible?
Tell us about the “C” of CASKET.
If God’s purpose for humanity is that we’re to reflect his character, to fill the earth, and for this whole world to reflect his goodness, justice, mercy and love, why does the world not look like that?
Tell us about the “A” of CASKET.
What are the main takeaways from the “A” of CASKET?
As Genesis ends, we see Abraham becoming a people, but they have no land. In fact, at the end of Genesis the Israelites are in Egypt! Where does the story go next?
So in Joshua, Israel is generally faithful and obedient. The same is not true in Judges! It seems that when we read that book, the nation has gone back to its old ways again.
Tell us about the “K” of CASKET. This part of the Old Testament can get especially confusing to many because the kingdom eventually divides and you have the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom and the story switches back and forth between them. So walk us through this; what are the key points and how do we keep everything straight?
Both kingdoms eventually go into exile, which is the “E” of CASKET. Tell us about the “E” of CASKET.
Tell us about the “T” of CASKET.
Can you identify a few ways we see Jesus fulfilling some of the Old Testament images and pictures we’ve seen?
NOTEWORTHY QUOTES
“Sometimes in the Reformed world we have a deep love for truth, but we tend to use theology either very defensively or somewhat offensively, where it becomes a weapon.”
“The Gospel is good news. We should be able to talk about it with a smile on our face.”
“CASKET EMPTY - Creation, Abraham, Sinai to Settlement, Kings, Exile, Second Temple, Expectations (time in between the Old and New Testament), Miracles (the Gospels), Preaching (Acts), Teaching (Epistles), Yet to Come (Revelation). This is supposed to point to the central tenet of our faith, which is Jesus is risen from the dead.”
“Creation, here are some of the main points that come out of this portion of Scripture. The first is that humanity is created in God’s image (Gen. 1:27)...This is exactly what you would expect to find [that male and female are created equally in his image] if God valued women as highly as he does men, but it’s not what you would expect to find if God thought women were second-class citizens.”
“Resemblance and Representation. In some way we resemble God - in our moral sense, our aesthetic sense, our use of language, etc. - we’re like a mirror. But there’s another aspect of this. We’re made to resemble him so that in some way we can reflect him in our lives.”
“To represent the Lord - to rule as he would rule - means you’re living out righteousness, you're living out justice, you're living our steadfast love and faithfulness (Psalm 89:14). That’s what a good ruler does.”
“When we’re created in God’s image, we resemble him in some way so that we might reflect into the world his goodness, his justice, his mercy, and his love.”
“What does he want this world to do? It’s to be a place where there are little mirrors of him all across the globe reflecting goodness and justice and mercy and love. That’s God’s purpose for creation, and as we go through the story we’ll see he never ever ever forgets or leaves that original purpose for his creation.”
“This world is a fallen, broken place, but it’s more than just that. What we’re looking at in Genesis 3 is high treason. This is full-scale rebellion at work.”
“We’re not simply broken, we’re also rebellious.”
“This rebellion leads to the ruining of three relationships. The relationship between God and humanity. The relationship between humanity and one another. And the relationship between humanity and creation.”
“We tend to think that God is a kill-joy when he says ‘don’t get involved in sin.’ But actually he’s a loving Father, because he just knows the ruin that it causes.”
“As we continue to go through the story, we must not miss the impact that sin has on the Lord himself, and that is that it grieves him (Gen. 6:5-7).”
“I have to ask myself, ‘Does sin grieve me in the same kind of way?’”
“When we take our sin lightly we take the cross lightly.”
“There’s a comfort that comes in knowing that the Lord is grieved by sin, because in our suffering it helps to know that he is there alongside us and grieves with us and the wrongs done to us.”
“Again and again humanity is rebelling, and again and again the story of Genesis 1-11, the story of the Bible for that matter, is God coming down and showing mercy, that he might draw people to himself.”
“What we read in the story of Babel is the treason of humanity continuing.”
“When humanity in their rebellion thinks they’re going to make their own name great, the Lord comes down to say ‘I am the one who determines whose name is great, and when I make someone’s name great, I’m going to do it for the sake of the nation...and that’s what leads us to Abraham.”
“What the Lord did in miniature in Eden, now you see in large in the promised land. In Eden you had people in this lush garden, who are walking with God, God tells them to be fruitful and enjoy blessing with him. Then you get to Abraham and the same things happen. ‘Go to the land I will show you, I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you.’ The reason he’s doing this is to bring blessing to all peoples on the earth. Which means, once again, God hasn’t forgotten his purpose in Genesis 1.”
“Sinai to Settlement (Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth): You can think of this in terms of three different ‘S’ titles - Salvation (the Exodus), Sin, Subdue & Settle.”
“In terms of how we see the Lord interacting, the comfort is knowing that when we come back to him he again shows mercy. God’s love is not based on Israel being good. He loves you… because he loves you.”
“The Lord is not looking at your giftedness, he’s looking at your faithfulness.”
“King: What’s happening here, is that God is bringing his purposes about through an anointed king. The Hebrew for anointed here is ‘mashach’ from which we get the word Messiah, who is God’s son, and who will lead the people in reflecting God’s glory. Does this sound like we’re looking forward to anyone here?”
“The reason for the exile is their sin. They had a veneer of religiosity that hadn’t penetrated down to their hearts… Jesus has the same critique of many of the religious Pharisees in his day.”
“It doesn’t matter how many religious things we do if God doesn’t have our hearts.”
“Jesus spends 40 days in the wilderness and rejects the devil’s temptation of food. Like Adam he faced a food temptation, except Jesus acts righteously.”
“Jesus is the king in whom all the nations will be blessed.”
“‘Out of Egypt I called my son’ (Hosea 11:1). In Hosea, God is referring to Israel. But here it gets applied to Jesus because he’s the new Israel, the firstborn son who is perfectly doing the Father’s business.”
“When Jesus gives the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5), he goes up on a mountain and gives God’s laws. Does that sound familiar? He’s now the second Moses, the great prophet who not only perfectly teaches God’s laws but perfectly follows God’s laws.”
“Jesus is God in the flesh. In the middle of the Israelite camp they had the tabernacle. What you read in John 1:14 is that the Word became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) among us, and we saw his glory. Where is the last time we saw a tabernacle and glory? It’s in Exodus 40 where the tabernacle is built and the glory of God descends. That’s what we’re seeing in Jesus. He’s tabernacling among us and he reflects fully and beautifully and perfectly the glory of God.”
“Jesus is the lamb of God (John 1). Atonement is the central aspect in the Old Testament of getting right with God, and it happens through a spotless, blameless lamb, and Jesus is that lamb of God.”
“Matthew 3: ‘This is my son whom I love and with whom I am well-pleased.’ There is this anointing and being called son. Where is the last place we read about an anointing and someone being called ‘God’s son’? It was David. This is the inauguration of the Davidic King, the Messiah, the anointed one in Israel. What’s significant is that Jesus, never losing God’s purpose in Genesis 1, then gives us God’s mission (Matt. 28:16-20).
“We don’t serve God in our own strength, we don’t do great things for God because we’re great, we can do great things for God because he is great and he is with us and he will never leave us or forsake us.”
“Long-haul faithfulness can make such a difference in your kids’ lives.”
RESOURCES
List of resources related to Leviticus including a Bible study on Leviticus, suggestions for a preaching series on Leviticus, a commentary on Leviticus, and audio lectures on Leviticus.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What is the importance of understanding what the Old Testament is communicating and what it is pointing us towards?
What are some of the ways we see Jesus fulfilling Old Testament images, pictures, and prophecies?
What is the benefit of understanding the metanarrative of Scripture, or the big story of the Bible?
What did you learn about the character of God as you listened to this week’s episode?
What are you going to do or implement as a result of what you’ve learned this week?
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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