The Intertestamental Period

Well, I'm done with the Old Testament. Wow. What a crazy trip through. Most of those things, probably the vast majority, were things that I have never read. It is pretty cool to know that I have read it all now. At the same time, I know that I want to read it again. There were a lot of things that I read and I knew that I didn't have the time I wanted to really look into (Daniel for example), and also there were times that I just wasn't awake enough as I read stuff and I knew it. But I do want to go back to a lot of that at some point.

Even in my deficiencies, the illumination of the Holy Spirit was amazing. I understood some things that I have no reason to understand. I remembered things that I don't even remember learning (connections between certain passages and concepts in the New and Old Testaments). I'm sure it will take awhile to really sink in but I have learned so much in the past five months.

Now I am moving on. I'll start Matthew tomorrow morning. And I can't tell you how excited I am. I got giddy with a sentence or two talking about the coming of the Messiah in the prophets. Now I get to read four books in a row that are about Christ through and through. Pray for me as I read. Pray that the Spirit would keep me focused and give me an understanding that is beyond my human mind.

Now a little housekeeping. I'm not sure exactly how I will put up notes on the New Testament books. If I note every little thing I will have twenty pages to put up here for each gospel. I think what I will do is note key themes. I can't give a summary of every parable but maybe a theme in the parables as a whole. The smaller books might come out a bit differently. Honestly, I don't know what exactly will happen. Matthew will tell me a lot about how everything will look in my notes. So just roll with me on this one for awhile.

Thank you for all of the encouragement that all of you have given me over the past several months. It really is encouraging to hear how many of you have been encouraged by my notes on this site. It's also very humbling when I think about how much grace God has shed on me. I don't deserve this. None of this encouragement is from me. It's a gift from God. Amazing. I continue to praise Him for the amazing things that He keeps teaching me through His Word.

All for His glory,

Mitchell

Also just a little note. Don't be afraid to ask me about why I do things. I don't mind at all. I want people to. I know that some people are confused as to why I keep writing Yahweh in place of the LORD. The reason is that in Exodus 3:15, in the story of Moses and the burning bush, my footnotes say that the times when "the LORD" is used it stands for the divine name YHWH, which is connected to the verb "to be" in verse 14. So it is a name. I think a big reason that I depersonalize God is that I see Him just called God or the Lord. Well this is His name. Yahweh. It continually reminds me of that covenant God of Abraham and Moses and David. So that's why I do it. Again, just ask me about anything else. I don't explain things well all the time.