Who was God primarily dealing with from Genesis 1 to the conversion of Saul of Tarsus?
From Genesis 1 through the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, God was predominantly dealing with the nation of Israel. After Saul's conversion, Paul became the Apostle of the Gentiles and God's spokesman. This distinction matters because most of the Bible was written for Israel, not directly for us.
Les teaches that everything from Genesis 1 up until the conversion of Saul of Tarsus is predominantly God dealing with Israel, and that this is obvious. After Israel continued to reject the crucifixion of Christ, God raised up Paul as the Apostle of the Gentiles and spokesman for God during this period. Les notes that many people miss this, insisting they will go by what Jesus says rather than what Paul says, but he points out that not everything the Bible says is for us; most of it was written for the nation of Israel. What is for us, he says, is confined to Romans through Philemon, since even Hebrews is written primarily to Jews. He illustrates with Leviticus chapter 5, showing you cannot do everything the Bible says all the time.