| Now that we have completed our sermon series through the Apostles’ Creed, we’ll begin an extended sermon series through the book of Judges. The book of Judges covers the period of time beginning with the death of Joshua and ending with the beginning of a centralized government under King Saul. This is about a 300-year period of time in which twelve different “judges” provided leadership for Israel.
While providing a history of God’s people, the book of Judges focuses on the cyclical nature of sin. When God’s people fell into sin, the Lord brought discipline upon them. This would drive God’s people to repentance in which, God being ever so faithful, would send a “judge” to act as their deliverer. Enjoying deliverance and a time of peace with God, the people of Israel would slowly fall back into life of sin and rebellion.
This cycle of “sin-discipline-repentance-deliverance” occurs seven times in the book of Judges and characterizes the book’s major theme. Chapter 2:19 explains it very clearly:
This Sunday we’ll begin our series through the book of Judges by recognizing it’s place within the story of God’s redemption. We’ll cover the first 20 verses of chapter 1.
In order to have a proper perspective on this opening chapter of Judges, it would be helpful for everyone to read the last two chapters of Joshua. Please set aside the time to read Joshua 23-24 prior to this Sunday.
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