David Pawson - ’Unlocking the Bible’ Podcast

David Pawson Ministry

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Apr 14, 2021 • 41min

Job - part 1 - Unlocking The Bible

Part 28 of the David Pawson 'Unlocking the Bible' Podcast series  David Pawson warns against quoting verses out of context because, in a book such as Job, you may be quoting one of Job’s friends when they were wrong about what they said. God eventually showed that they were wrong. “That’s why it’s so important to know a whole book”, says David. This is an unusual book and David looks at the possibilities of how it came to be recorded. Job is indeed a factual person, known about outside the scriptures and the land of Israel. David believes that the author has taken the true story of Job and written it up in poetic form, bringing out the real issues he was facing. This book presents an answer to some of life’s biggest questions: Why is there pain and suffering? Why do good people endure it, and bad people escape it? Does God care about it? This is one of the books that reveals what is happening in heavenly realms so that we can make sense of what happens on earth. We can learn some valuable lessons from Job. David says, “It’s not finding the answers to your questions, it’s getting to the point in your relationship to God where you don’t need them.”  
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Apr 14, 2021 • 38min

Esther - Unlocking The Bible

Part 27 of the David Pawson 'Unlocking the Bible' Podcast series  David Pawson says there are few books of the Bible set outside the Promised Land, Esther being one.  They tell us how Jews behaved when they were in Gentile society. We can learn from some of them how to interact in non-Christian society without compromise. David looks at Daniel alongside Esther as both record events during the Jewish exile to Babylon. Both rose to positions where they were able to help their people, Esther being queen. The story of Esther is quite a romantic one with all the ingredients of a great drama and archaeology has shown it is a true story. And though God is not overtly mentioned, it is through the prayers and fasting of the Jews when under threat of death that they were rescued by the intervention of Queen Esther. But to do so meant she had to reveal her secret – that she herself was Jewish. Even a dream of the king was involved in the drama. What David brings out is that this drama played out so long ago, had it gone the wrong way, would have meant the annihilation of the Jewish race and meant that Jesus could not have come to earth. This story reveals the strategies of both Satan and God.
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Mar 16, 2021 • 31min

Ezra and Nehemiah - part 2 - Unlocking The Bible

Part 26 of the David Pawson 'Unlocking the Bible' Podcast series  In this talk, David Pawson gives more emphasis to the book of Nehemiah – the story of the man of prayer and faith given permission to return to Jerusalem to organize the rebuilding. Despite opposition, he encouraged the returned exiles to do the work while armed to ward off attack. They completed the repair of ancient Jerusalem’s wall in 52 days because ‘the people had a will to work’. Nehemiah had to deal with internal economic and moral woes as well as external threats and conspiracy. Ezra arranged the public reading of God’s Word so that the people would have an understanding, and had the people renew their Covenant with the Lord. David Pawson compares the two leaders, Ezra and Nehemiah, and says we need both types of men. He says if Ezra was the Bible man, Nehemiah was the prayer man, but he was also practical and didn’t mind putting his hand to cementing. David says he thinks we should be inspired by Scriptural characters, emulating what’s good in them and avoiding their mistakes if we can. Overall, we are looking at the story of God and his people. And God kept his promises to both punish their wrongdoing and to bless their repentance. David reveals the thread of Scripture.
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Mar 16, 2021 • 34min

Ezra and Nehemiah - part 1 - Unlocking The Bible

Part 25 of the David Pawson 'Unlocking the Bible' Podcast series  In looking at Ezra and Nehemiah, David Pawson gives the background of the 3 deportations which Israel had suffered under Assyria and Babylon, and the 3 returns to the land. Years earlier, Isaiah had prophesied that a man named Cyrus would release Israel from their captors and Cyrus, of Babylon, did just that though he did it for his own agenda. Apparently both being written by Ezra, these books record the rebuilding of the social life, of the religious life and of the physical wall and buildings, though the latter suffered threats and interruptions. Zerubbabel, of the Hebrew royal line, led the first return. Now Ezra, a priest, led the second and Nehemiah, a few years later, led the third. Each made an impact on a different aspect of Israeli life. Both books look at how the leaders went about rebuilding the state and reforming the people. The tragedy was that, though the earlier sin of the people had been the catalyst for losing their land, when they got back, they went back into sin. We see that Ezra was a “Bible man” – he studied it, he lived it and he taught it.  What an example.
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Mar 16, 2021 • 41min

1 & 2 Chronicles - Unlocking The Bible

Part 24 of the David Pawson 'Unlocking the Bible' Podcast series  David Pawson explains that, though there is much repetition in the books of Kings and Chronicles, one is viewed as a prophetic book and the other not, by the Jews. Jews have grouped the books of the Old Testament entirely differently from Christians, and thereby we have misunderstood some important matters. And if we skip Chronicles because it seems to be like Kings, we will miss the unique message it brings. As with the Gospels, these books are written from different angles, one from a prophetic viewpoint and the other from a priestly viewpoint. And Chronicles covers a much longer period, omits much included in Samuel and Kings, and is looking at the kings of Judah only. In fact, the writer is concerned only with kings in the royal line of David and their attitudes to two spiritual matters. David Pawson brings clarity to this study on Chronicles. He says that the author is writing for the sake of the Jews returning to the land from a long exile, and wants to give them Roots (that they had a line that God had been controlling all the way down), Royalty (they had their own royal line) and Religion (the purpose for which they existed) again.
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Mar 16, 2021 • 40min

2 Kings - part 2 - Unlocking The Bible

Part 23 of the David Pawson 'Unlocking the Bible' Podcast series David Pawson observes that the book of Kings begins with King Solomon who began well by asking for wisdom, so God gave him everything he didn’t ask for as well: wealth, fame and power. Solomon wanted to share his wisdom. Unfortunately, he only had wisdom for everybody else, none for himself though he wrote three books and did many good things. He built a temple for the Lord with the materials and the plans from his father, David. All the northern kings were evil. In the south, some were good. The south survived a hundred and forty years longer than the north because good kings reigned longer. They had two very good kings called Hezekiah and Josiah, but another, Manasseh, even got into Satan worship. He ordered the death of Isaiah the prophet. We see in the book of Kings the dangers of becoming mixed up in other religions, other ways of life and other moralities. And it’s happening. But the God who is the king of the universe is also our judge and sooner or later we will lose what He’s given to us unless we wake up. That’s the lesson from the book of Kings. The Bible is able to make us ‘wise unto salvation’ and avoid the terrible mistakes that God’s people of old made.
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Mar 16, 2021 • 37min

1 Kings - part 1 - Unlocking The Bible

Part 22 of the David Pawson 'Unlocking the Bible' Podcast series  David Pawson says other history may be interesting, but the history of Israel is vital for the whole of mankind. From the height of success, the times of the kings headed downhill. First the land was split between 10 tribes in the north and 2 in the south and eventually the 10 were deported to Assyria. While there were a few good kings it was not enough to stem the downward trend and the 2 tribes were taken away to Babylon. God had warned them that they would suffer a similar fate, but they disobeyed. David says one of the main reasons for reading the books of Kings is that it can happen to the church as well. Though their descendants returned to the land under priests, they were then occupied by the Egyptians, the Syrians, the Greeks and finally the Romans which was the situation when Jesus was born. For a Hebrew, a kingdom is about authority, not a place. Thus the kingdom of God is not a place but a power. The kings were judged as good or bad according to whether they honoured God or not. This is history from God’s point of view. Understanding history saves us from repeating the mistakes of the past. David says God is still in charge of history. The two significant prophets in Kings are Elijah and Elisha.
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Feb 18, 2021 • 38min

2 Samuel - part 2 - Unlocking The Bible

Part 21 of the David Pawson 'Unlocking the Bible' Podcast series  David Pawson, in this 2nd talk on Samuel, points out that there are 6 different levels at which you can read Bible stories and it’s important that we should choose the right one. They are: 1. Anecdotal, just an interesting story; 2. Devotional, hoping to find a personal word; 3. Character Studies including the character of women, which can be inspirational (Hannah & Abigail for instance); 4. History of Israel – how it developed, and King David’s leadership is worth studying; 5. Critical – and higher critical study sadly has infected the whole world; 6. The Theological – finding out about God. He’s having an influence on history and is the major player in these stories. God is the living God. King David wanted to build a temple for God but was forbidden as he had blood on his hands. Jerusalem means city of peace and Solomon, a man of peace, did the building. But God made a covenant with David that his house (family line) and kingdom would endure forever. A thousand years later, this covenant was fulfilled, and the promise kept, and Jesus was born who was often called “Son of David” and was of his family line.
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Feb 18, 2021 • 40min

1 Samuel - part 1 - Unlocking The Bible

Part 20 of the David Pawson 'Unlocking the Bible' Podcast series  In this first talk by David Pawson on 1 and 2 Samuel, David gives us an overview so that we know the ‘shape’ of the story and how it develops. The two books really belong together as one, but were later divided because of their length. It covers 150 years of history in the form of narrative and includes only what is important and significant to God. This is prophetic history, named after the prophet who dominates the story. This book is set in the last century and a half of the rise of Israel to peace and prosperity. David shows that Israel had been led successively by patriarchs, prophets, kings then priests, each for 500 years. Samuel was the last of the prophets. King David dominates the stories though Saul was the first king. The stories of the book deal with various interesting relationships. David Pawson says whenever Israel disobeyed God an enemy would come and defeat them and whenever they repented they defeated the enemy and got the land back. A difference between Israel’s first and second kings was that David could honour those who succeeded but Saul was jealous of them. But David’s sin heralded the downward slide of Israel from its peak.  
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Feb 6, 2021 • 37min

Judges and Ruth - part 2 - Unlocking The Bible

Part 19 of the David Pawson 'Unlocking the Bible' Podcast series  In the book of Judges, David Pawson observes that God is very prominent even though the people are in a downward spiral. He heard their prayers and sent them someone to rescue. God delivers to evil as well as from evil. A whole generation grew up who did not know the Lord and what He had done for Israel. They weren’t grateful for their salvation.  Because there was no king, there was no continuity of leadership. The people wanted a visible king, not just their heavenly King. God was going to provide a king and the book of Ruth tells us where he was going to come from. The book of Ruth is a romance and is the answer to the book of Judges. Ruth made the right choice at the right time and went down in history as an ancestor of Jesus Christ. She not only chose to stay with Naomi, she chose Naomi’s people and Naomi’s God. Loyalty is a very precious quality to the Lord. Love without loyalty isn’t real love. The family tree of Jesus contains some unlikely people. Individual Christians can learn a great deal from the characters in the book of Judges. We’ve got a King, and if we all did what is right in His eyes, the church would be united tomorrow, but we are following men instead. The marriage of Ruth and Boaz is a perfect picture of Christ and His Gentile bride.  

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