Cited in sermons
William J. Dumbrell
6 sermons · All people cited
Introduction to the Book of Exodus
The book of Exodus, whose Hebrew title derives from its opening words ('these are the names'), sets forth the foundational redemptive act of the Old Testament — God's deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage in fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant promise of Genesis 15. This session surveys the book's structure, authorship, and theological themes, including the threefold division of the law (moral, judicial, and ceremonial), the typological relationship between Moses and Christ, and the Baptist confessional distinction that identifies the Mosaic covenant as a covenant of works rather than an administration of the covenant of grace. The study closes by tracing how Exodus functions as a foundational template for redemptive history across both Testaments, climaxing in the antitypical work of the Lord Jesus Christ as the true Passover lamb and covenant mediator.
Introduction to the Book of Exodus
The book of Exodus is not a standalone document but the second movement of the Pentateuch, continuing the story of the covenant people from Genesis through to their deliverance from Egypt, the giving of the law at Sinai, and the construction of the tabernacle. This introductory study surveys the book's structure through three themes — deliverance, demand, and dwelling — and traces how each anticipates Christ: Moses as covenant mediator prefiguring the greater Mediator, the Passover lamb pointing to the sacrifice of Christ, and the tabernacle foreshadowing the incarnation. The threefold division of God's law (moral, judicial, ceremonial) is explained with reference to the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, with particular attention to why the moral law remains perpetually binding while the judicial and ceremonial laws have expired. The study closes by applying the Immanuel principle — that God redeems his people in order to commune with them — to the corporate worship of the New Covenant church.
The Olivet Discourse, Part 10
Matthew 24:32–35 presents the parable of the fig tree and Christ's solemn declaration that 'this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.' This sermon argues the preterist interpretation: the parable is not a prophecy about the 1948 rebirth of Israel but a sign given to first-century disciples that the judgment on Jerusalem in AD 70 was near, confirming that Christ is presently enthroned at the Father's right hand. The phrase 'this generation' carries the same lexical and contextual meaning it holds throughout Matthew's Gospel — the contemporaries of Jesus — and Christ staked His prophetic integrity on the fulfilment of every detail within that generation. Hearers are urged to let the text drive their eschatology, and ultimately to flee not to the mountains of Judea but to Christ, the only refuge from divine judgment.
The Olivet Discourse, Part 1
The Olivet Discourse opens with a decisive act: Jesus departs the temple he has just pronounced desolate, and his disciples — grasping the covenantal weight of that moment — point to its magnificence even as he foretells its total destruction. This sermon establishes the interpretive framework for Matthew 24–25, arguing from the immediate context of chapters 21–23, the parallel witness of the Old Testament prophets (Ezekiel, Micah, Jeremiah), and the time-texts of the discourse itself that Jesus addresses first-century Israel, not a distant eschatological future. The Preterist reading on offer holds that AD 70 was the exhaustion of the covenant curses of Deuteronomy 28 upon apostate Old Covenant Israel, that the church — not ethnic Israel — is now the covenant people of God, and that this understanding guards against both anti-Semitism and Christian Zionism.
Introduction to Judges
The book of Judges is not primarily a dark catalogue of human failure but a sustained testimony to the deliverance God works on behalf of a sinful, covenant-breaking people. This introductory study of Judges 2 surveys the book's date, authorship, literary structure, and governing cycle of sin, oppression, and deliverance, arguing that the judges themselves are typological pointers to the Lord Jesus Christ — the one deliverer who is without blemish and who executes the demands of the covenant through perfect obedience. The study draws out three dimensions of Israel's sin (failure to obey Deuteronomy 7, failure to transmit the faith of Deuteronomy 6, and outright rejection of Yahweh for Baal), and closes with the charge that the character of God displayed in Judges — patient, initiating, long-suffering — is the same grace that saves sinners through Christ today.
The Call of Abraham
Genesis 12:1–8 presents the call of Abram as the sovereign, gracious divine reply to the cascading ruin of Genesis 3–11: the fall, the flood, and the scattering at Babel. God's initiative toward a barren man from an idolatrous household is pure grace — the Old Testament's 'But God' — not anything merited by Abram or his line. The sermon traces four movements: the amazing grace behind the call, the demanding and costly nature of discipleship it inaugurates, the world-changing redemptive program it sets in motion (land, seed, blessing, honor, and protection), and Abram's paradigmatic response of obedience and worship. The Abrahamic covenant finds its fulfilment not merely in ethnic Israel or Canaanite geography but in Christ and all who are united to him by faith, as Paul demonstrates in Galatians 3 and Romans 4.