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This is a bold project, some might say foolhardy, but Mark Dever has brilliantly succeeded. This is no mere textbook; it is powerful preaching. We are not only introduced to the sweep and message of each book of the Bible but, above all, confronted by our great God and called to obey his living word.
VAUGHN ROBERTS
Rector, St. Ebbes Church, Oxford, England, Author of Gods Big Picture
In these distinctive overview sermons, Mark Dever manages to bring together around the core issues of each biblical book three concerns that ought to occupy every faithful preacher of Gods Word: theological content, exegetical wisdom, and pastoral application. Here is a walk through the Bible that is well worth taking!
TIMOTHY GEORGE
Dean, Beeson Divinity School
Executive Editor, Christianity Today
Mark Dever has done the Christian community a great service in publishing these sermons. The material is academically informed but presented in a very accessible way with relevant application. With its Christological focus and careful Christian application of the Old Testament, this book enables readers to get into the theological heart of the message of each biblical book.
DAVID PETERSON
Principal, Oak Hill College
Mark Dever has written a needed book and written it well. With a pastors heart, a scholars mind, and the intimacy of a friend, Dever introduces the reader clearly and creatively to a book that has changed the world but to which contemporary culture remains largely unexposed. This book is warm, engaging, straightforward, and profound. It will be a valuable resource for individuals, study groups, churches, unbelievers and believers alike. Dever takes the reader on an unforgettable journey into the most remarkable and moving book ever written.
JOHN SHOUSE
Professor of Christian Theology, Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary
This is a good book, written by a pastor/scholar for people in the pew. Clear, concise, thoroughly readable. Buy two and give one to a friend.
ALISTAIR BEGG
Senior Pastor, Parkside Church, Chagrin Falls, Ohio
For many Christians the Old Testament is daunting and confusing. The books are long and speak about a culture dramatically different from ours. Mark Devers sermons do not substitute for reading the Old Testament, but they do provide a wonderful help in understanding it. Dever unpacks the major themes of each book with remarkable clarity, and the book also shines in conveying the message of the Old Testament for today. Here is a survey to the Old Testament that is accessible and spiritually edifying.
THOMAS R. SCHREINER
Professor of New Testament, Associate Dean of Scripture and Interpretation,
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
The modern Church is biblically illiterate. Her members do not know the basic content of the Bible or the great themes that weave its beautiful tapestry together. This series of sermons by Mark Dever, a superb and faithful expositor, provides a helpful strategy in healing a major malady of the twenty-first-century church. I am delighted to commend this excellent volume to all who love the Word of God and the great truths contained therein.
DANIEL L. AKIN
President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
This book is a landmark in the history of Bible expositiona homiletical tour de force. At the rate of one long sermon per book, Mark Dever has preached his way through the entire Bible. Reading this collection of his messages is an ideal way to get a sweeping overview of the Old Testament, or else to begin preparing to teach or preach any one of its individual books.
PHILIP GRAHAM RYKEN
Senior Minister, Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia
Bible Teacher, Every Last Word
In a day of worrisome biblical illiteracy, even among Christians, there is a pressing need for books that give the big picture and provide surefooted guides for negotiating the Bibles vast and subtle territory. To produce such a book is no easy task, yet that is what Dr. Dever has done. Forged in the furnace of weekly expository preaching and pastoral ministry, this book is a wonderful gift to the church that will, I am sure, be of great help in promoting deeper understanding of the message of the whole Bible, not just those parts with which readers are most familiar or comfortable. Buy two copies: one to keep, one to give to your pastor.
CARL R. TRUEMAN
Professor of Historical Theology and Church History,
Westminster Theological Seminary
Mark Dever does here what all pastors should dopreach the whole Bible patiently and thoroughly. These sermons will help readers see the Bible as a unity inspired by a God who is a unified and coherent person. They focus on God; therefore, they drive readers to worship and obedience.
PAUL R. HOUSE
Associate Dean and Professor of Divinity, Beeson Divinity School
I have long desired a book that would unlock the richness of the Old Testamentassisting both the pastor in the pulpit and Christians in their devotions. This is that book.
C. J. MAHANEY
Sovereign Grace Ministries, Author of The Cross Centered Life
To hear the Bible tell its own story in its own waythis is the obvious but all-too-rare strategy for reading the Book of books. I thank Dr. Mark Dever for showing us how. We are immeasurably enriched.
RAY ORTLUND, JR.
Senior Pastor, Christ Presbyterian Church, Nashville
Mark Devers one-sermon whole-Bible-book overviews are a treasure trove for preachers, Bible teachers, and growing Christians. Dr. Dever has already given us a comprehensive overview of the New Testament, and here he covers the Old. Preachers will recognize these expositions as Greidanus and Goldsworthy applied. That is, Dever preaches the person and work of Christ, from all of Scripture, naturally and exegetically, in a way that does justice to redemptive history. Christians hungry for a spiritual feast in the Word will find here faithful, biblical, rich, meaty, challenging pastoral overviews of Scripture from the heart of a preacher who wants his people to know, love, and live the truth. Dever gives us a model for how to preach didactically, practically, apologetically and evangelistically all at once.
J. LIGON DUNCAN III
Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi
President, Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals
OTHER CROSSWAY BOOKS BY MARK DEVER
Nine Marks of a Healthy Church
(2000, 2004)
The Deliberate Church
(with Paul Alexander, 2005)
The Message of the New Testament
(2005)
THE MESSAGE OF
THE OLD TESTAMENT
PROMISES MADE
MARK DEVER
FOREWORD BY
GRAEME GOLDSWORTHY
CROSSWAY BOOKS
A PUBLISHING MINISTRY OF
GOOD NEWS PUBLISHERS
WHEATON, ILLINOIS
The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made
Copyright 2006 by Mark Dever
Published by Crossway
1300 Crescent Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.
Cover design: Josh Dennis
Cover photo: Getty Images
First printing 2006
Printed in the United States of America
Unless otherwise indicated, references are from
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