6 Man is saved by faith, not by works Israel was sovereignly chosen to be God’s channel of the redemptive message to the world All history will culminate at the throne of the sovereign God Read this list again and observe, your present acquaintance with the Testament, how each truth is also a doctrine of the New Testament Also how the following comparisons3 represented in the list: OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY foreshadow fulfillment promise performance problem solution commencement consummation B POUR HUNDRED SILENT YEARS from New vital note are Around 400 B.C God ceased speaking to His people and the world through any new portions of the written Word For four hundred years the prophets’ pens would be dry, hence the designation “four hundred silent years.” But prophets would still preach, and God would still speak by His Spirit to a continuing remnant of saints who were studying the Bible that they had (Old Testament) and watching for their Messiah’s coming And God would always remain the sovereign mover of history on the local and world-wide scene God knew when He would be sending His Son to the world, and He used the four hundred silent years to prepare the world for that coming Four hundred years made a vast di erence in the setting of Judaism Compare, for example, the ending of the Old Testament and the opening of the New Testament The last historical events of the Old Testament are the returns, under Ezra and Nehemiah, of the exiled Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem.4 The rst pages of the New Testament record the birth of Jesus Christ The accompanying chart lists some other changes in that four hundred-year picture Many factors — historical, political, religious, cultural — brought on the changes of those four centuries In the following pages the highlights of the changes will be surveyed, for the purpose of visualizing and feeling the setting of the New Testament Basically, there were three backgrounds in whose shadows Christ moved, the church was born, and the New Testament books w e r e written Those backgrounds are Hebrew, Greek, and Roman As you study these, try to relate to them parts of the New Testament with which you are already familiar ... example, the ending of the Old Testament and the opening of the New Testament The last historical events of the Old Testament are the returns, under Ezra and Nehemiah, of the exiled Jews from Babylon... brought on the changes of those four centuries In the following pages the highlights of the changes will be surveyed, for the purpose of visualizing and feeling the setting of the New Testament. .. continuing remnant of saints who were studying the Bible that they had (Old Testament) and watching for their Messiah’s coming And God would always remain the sovereign mover of history on the local and