Welcome to a new study here on the podcast. In these next weeks, we're going to be tracing the theme of the wilderness through the story of the Bible.

Wilderness, as we're going to see, its primary meaning is about the absence of life. It's a dangerous and hostile place. It's where humans

don't live and can't really make an existence because both the environment, there's no water,

and there's creatures out there that'll kill you. Famously, Israel wanders through the wilderness

for 40 years. But pay attention, and you'll notice that almost all the key characters in the Bible go through the wilderness.

Wilderness moments don't appear on every page, but they appear that key moments in the stories of Abraham,

Jacob, Moses, the story of Israel, very importantly in the story of David.

In fact, we're going to find that the wilderness is the setting from which the the story of Israel, very importantly in the story of David. In fact, we're going to find that

the wilderness is the setting from which the entire story of the Bible begins. The seven-day

creation narrative and the Eden narrative both begin with the wilderness state. By the time you get

to the New Testament, the importance of the wilderness as a biblical theme is fully baked. And it's taken for

granted. So we see Jesus baptized in the wilderness. He's tempted in the wilderness. And he feeds

crowds in the wilderness. And then in the letters of the apostles, the author to the Hebrews

and Paul both describe the present moment of followers

of Jesus as being a time of following the divine presence that is Jesus through the wilderness.

What we learn from all of these stories in the Bible is that while God didn't design humanity

for the wilderness, he will meet us there, and he can transform the wilderness.

What they get in the wilderness is Eden.

The wilderness becomes like a little oasis refuge in the land of death.

Today, Tim Mackey and I begin a new theme study on the wilderness.

Thanks for joining us. Here we go. Hey, Tim.

John Collins. Hello. Hello. We're starting a new project today. Yes. New theme study.

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