Unlocking the Bible
David Pawson presents a unique overview of both the Old and New Testaments.Unlocking the Bible opens up the word of God in a fresh and powerful way, explaining the sweep of biblical history and its implications for our lives.David Pawson, widely respected as an international writer and speaker, brings a lifetime’s worth of insights into the meaning of the Bible. Explaining the culture, historical background and spiritual significance of all the important events, Unlocking the Bible is a fantastic opportunity to get to grips with the Bible as a whole.This comprehensive edition includes:Old Testament:• The Maker’s Instructions – The five books of law• A Land and A Kingdom – Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1&2 Samuel, 1&2 Kings• Poems of Worship and Wisdom – Psalms, Song of Solomon, proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job• Decline and Fall of an Empire – Isaiah, Jeremiah and other prophets• The Struggle to Survive – Chronicles and prophets of exileNew Testament:• The Hinge of History – Mathew, Mark, Luke, John and acts• The Thirteenth Apostle – Paul and his letters• Through Suffering to Glory – Revelation, Hebrews, and the letters of James, Peter and Jude
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J. David Pawson, M.A., B.Sc
with Andy Peck
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
I The Old Testament
The Maker’s Instructions
1. Overview of the Old Testament
2. Genesis
3. Exodus
4. Leviticus
5. Numbers
6. Deutronomy
A Land and A Kingdom
7. Joshua
8. Judges and Ruth
9. 1 and 2 Samuel
10. 1 and 2 Kings
Poems of Worship and Wisdom
11. Introduction to Hebrew poetry
12. Psalms
13. Song of Songs
14. Proverbs
15. Ecclesiastes
16. Job
Decline and Fall of an Empire
17. Introduction to prophecy
18. Jonah
19. Joel
20. Amos and Hosea
21. Isaiah
22. Micah
23. Nahum
24. Zephaniah
25. Habakkuk
26. Jeremiah and Lamentations
27. Obadiah
The Struggle to Survive
28. Ezekiel
29. Daniel
30. Esther
31. Ezra and Nehemiah
32. 1 and 2 Chronicles
33. Haggai
34. Zechariah
35. Malachi
II The New Testament
The Hinge of History
36. The Gospels
37. Mark
38. Matthew
39. Luke and Acts
40. Luke
41. Acts
42. John
The Thirteenth Apostle
43. Paul and his letters
44. 1 and 2 Thessalonians
45. 1 and 2 Corinthians
46. Galatians
47. Romans
48. Colossians
49. Ephesians
50. Philippians
51. Philemon
52. 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus
Through Suffering to Glory
53. Hebrews
54. James
55. 1 and 2 Peter
56. Jude
57. 1, 2 and 3 John
58. Revelation
59. The Millennium
About the Publisher
Copyright
Collins is a division of
HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF
First published in separate volumes in Great Britain in 1999–2001 by HarperCollinsPublishers
The edition published in Great Britain in 2003 by HarperCollinsPublishers
David Pawson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9780007166664
Unlocking the Bible. Copyright © David Pawson. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Ebook Edition © JUNE 2012 ISBN: 9780007378920
Version: 2018-12-06
I suppose this all started in Arabia, in 1957. I was then a chaplain in the Royal Air Force, looking after the spiritual welfare of all those who were not C.E. (Church of England) or R.C. (Roman Catholic) but O.D. (other denominations – Methodist to Salvationist, Buddhist to atheist). I was responsible for a string of stations from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf. In most there was not even a congregation to call a ‘church’, never mind a building.
In civilian life I had been a Methodist minister working anywhere from the Shetland Islands to the Thames Valley. In that denomination it was only necessary to prepare a few sermons each quarter, which were hawked around a ‘circuit’ of chapels. Mine had mostly been of the ‘text’ type (talking about a single verse) or the ‘topic’ type (talking about a single subject with many verses from all over the Bible). In both I was as guilty as any of taking texts out of context before I realized that chapter and verse numbers were neither inspired nor intended by God and had done immense damage to Scripture, not least by changing the meaning of ‘text’ from a whole book to a single sentence. The Bible had become a compendium of ‘proof-texts’, picked out at will and used to support almost anything a preacher wanted to say.
With a pocketful of sermons based on this questionable technique, I found myself in uniform, facing very different congregations – all male instead of the lifeboat-style gatherings I had been used to: women and children first. My meagre stock of messages soon ran out. Some of them had gone down like a lead balloon, especially in compulsory parade services in England before I was posted overseas.
So here I was in Aden, virtually starting a church from scratch, from the Permanent Staff and temporary National Servicemen of Her Majesty’s youngest armed service. How could I get these men interested in the Christian faith and then committed to it?
Something (I would now say: Someone) prompted me to announce that I would give a series of talks over a few months, which would take us right through the Bible (‘from Generation to Revolution’!).
It was to prove a voyage of discovery for all of us. The Bible became a new book when seen as a whole. To use a well-worn cliché, we had failed to see the wood for the trees. Now God’s plan and purpose were unfolding in a fresh way. The men were getting something big enough to sink their teeth into. The thought of being part of a cosmic rescue was a powerful motivation. The Bible story was seen as both real and relevant.
Of course, my ‘overview’ was at that time quite simple, even naive. I felt like that American tourist who ‘did’ the British Museum in 20 minutes – and could have done it in 10 if he’d had his running shoes! We raced through the centuries, giving some books of the Bible little more than a passing glance.
