The One Year Chronological Bible: Jan 1-7
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Jan 1: The Trinity Present in Creation
Jan 1: The Trinity Present in Creation
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
The first two are clear and obvious from the text.
The Father:
(v. 1) “In the beginning God…”
The Holy Spirit:
(v. 2) “…the spirit of God was moving over the waters…”
Jesus is not so obvious until you dig a bit deeper, but He is there and once you see it, you cannot unsee it.
The Son:
(v. 3) “Then God said, “Let there be light; and there was light…”
We can see Jesus here in two amazing ways.
First, “The God said…”. The creative word of God is the Word of God, Christ Jesus.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
Literally, everything came to be when God spoke it into existence. God’s word created everything. That is exactly what John says about Jesus. Jesus is the Word that became flesh.
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Second, “Let there be light; and there was light…”
Jesus is there in the light. He where the light came from. How do we know?
23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
In the New Jerusalem, when everything is restored and renewed and things are put back like they were in the Garden of Eden, before sin entered the world, Jesus is the light. There is no sun or moon, but there is light, and it comes from Jesus. This is the same as we see in Genesis 1 because at the time the light comes forth on the 2nd day, the sun had not yet been created. The sun isn’t created until day 4th day.
Jan 2: The Defiance of Cain
Jan 2: The Defiance of Cain
10 He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. 11 “Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 “When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.”
Cain’s curse for killing Abel was two fold.
(v. 11-12a) “Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. “When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you…”
Cain was a farmer by trade.
2 …Cain was a tiller of the ground.
The first part of the curse took his giftedness away from Him. His livelihood was gone. He could no longer provide for himself through farming.
The ground Cain tilled was also where the blood of his brother was recieved. Cain killed Abel in a field, presumably, his own field. A bit of poetic justice here as well.
God took away his skill in farming. With Adam, one of the consequences of sin was that farming would become difficult. For Cain, it was impossible.
“…you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.”
The second part of the curse was that Cain would never have a home. He would be a vagrant and a wanderer. Cain was excommunicated by God and was never find a place to settle down. He was to be a restless Nomad.
How did Cain continue to defy God?
First, he stopped wandering, made a settlement and built a city.
17 Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son.
This was in direct defiance of God.
Second, I don’t think he ever stopped trying to farm. And, I believe the curse, at least in part, fell on his children and their children all the way down to the Tubal-Cain, who was named after his Great-Great-Great-Grandfather, Cain.
Tubal-Cain made tools of bronze and iron, presumably, farming tools.
22 As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.
Was Tubal-Cain making tools, trying to find a way to overcome the curse that Cain had received from the Lord? Most likely. And it is also most likely that Cain was alive at this time, (If you look at the genealogy in Gen 5, assuming similar longevity for Cain, he could have lived to see Tubal-Cain’s children). So, it is even possible these iron and bronze farming tools were made by Tubal-Cain so that Cain could continue to try and defy God’s curse on the ground.
Every indication is that it didn’t work though. The tools most likely became instruments of violence and war. Maybe were even used by Lamech to commit murder.
23 Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, Listen to my voice, You wives of Lamech, Give heed to my speech, For I have killed a man for wounding me; and a boy for striking me…
Jan 3: First mention wine and drunkeness
Jan 3: First mention wine and drunkeness
I would like to say a lot about Nimrod, because I find him to be one of the most interesting characters in the whole Genesis account, but Derek and I did a whole podcast episode about him. So instead, I will focus on this…
20 Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard. 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. 25 So he said, “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers.”
This is the first time wine or any other alcoholic/intoxicating drink is mentioned in the Bible. AND, it didn’t produce a good result. I think that is significant.
First, Noah was a godly and righteous man, and even he was fooled by wine.
1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.
If Noah, the man who was alone found righteous in his generation could be tripped up by alcohol, we are no different. It can be dangerous and destructive.
Notice also that Ham disrespected his father over his drunkeness, but he never would have been put in that situation had Noah never made the wine, taken the first drink, and then continued to drink too much and become drunk. In a very real way, alcohol contributed to the fracturing of this family. Ham was in the wrong, no doubt, but so was Noah, AND, Ham would have never bene in that situation had Noah never become drunk.
I believe this is a warning god gives us to be careful about how we interact with alcohol. It should not be lost on us that the firs time it is mentioned it makes a fool out of a godly man and fractures his family forever, leading the generations of ungodliness and evil at the hands of the Canaanites, and countless deaths and wars as a result.
Jan 4: Babylon
Jan 4: Babylon
2 It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.
The Tower of Babel is the origin of Babylon. Babylon was a real nation, with real people, that caused real pain and suffering for God’s people and many other peoples. But Babylon is also a symbol of collective sin and rebellion against God.
We first see it here in Genesis 11 and it comes up again in the book of Revelation many times. Babylon is a great enemy of God and represents the enemies of God in prophecy. Notice how it begins and why it is the symbol of collective sin and rebellion.
(v. 3) The people do not want to be scattered, yet, God told them to go and fill the earth.
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
7 “As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”
That requires scattering. So, the people, collectively, rebel against God and refuse to obey his command.
Who led this rebellion? Nimrod of course!
8 Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.
Notice Nimrod had a kingdom, making him the first king mentioned in the Bible.
Notice also, that his kingdom began at Babel AND was located in the land of Shinar.
The Tower of Babel, in the land of Shinar, was Nimrod’s tower. Josephus confirms.
The Tower of Babel is the beginning of Babylon. And it began as an act of sinful defiance and rebellion in the face of God. (Btw, that’s what the Hebrew means in Genesis 10:9. It literally means, “in the face of” not “before”).
This is why God scattered the people and confused their language. They were rebelling against the Lord, refusing to follow what God had told them to do. God forced them to obey His command, to be fruitful, multiple, and fill the earth, and from then on, Babylon represented collective sin and rebellion.
Jan 5: God’s Covenant with Abram
Jan 5: God’s Covenant with Abram
10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. 11 The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. 12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 “Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” 17 It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: 19 the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite 20 and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim
I love this. God made a covenant with Abram. Covenants are a two way street. Both parties must do their part. But this covenant was all God.
Usually, for this type of covenant to be binding, both parties had to pass between the cut pieces of animals. Each is committing to doing what they promised upon the pain of death. But Abram was asleep here AND God passed between the pieces all by Himself.
Why does this matter?
It meant the promise of the covenant was 100% dependent on God. Abram only had to have faith in what God had promised.
6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
It is an awesome picture of the new covenant we have in Christ.
25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
Jesus went to the cross. We are saved by grace, through faith. He did the work. The covenant isn’t dependent on us and what we do but on Him and what He did.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Jan 6: Nothing really
Jan 6: Nothing really
Nothing major stuck out to me here. I am always shocked at how terrible of a father and leader Lot was, even though Peter calls him “righteous”.
There is also all kinds of sexual perversion here in this reading (Sodomy / homosexuality and incest). All of the sexual perversion leads to horrible consequences.
I am also always reminded that hesitating to obey the Lord is dangerous.
Jan 7: A Picture of Jesus
Jan 7: A Picture of Jesus
8 Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” 13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. 14 Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”
Whenever you see “the Angel of the Lord” in the Old Testament, it is almost always the preincarnate Christ. Here that is clear. When the angel of the Lord speaks to Abraham in (v. 12), he said “you have not withheld you son, your only son, from Me”. So the “angel” is clearly saying He is the one that Abraham was told to sacrifice the child to, and we know God is who he was going to sacrifice Isaac to.
1 Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
And this whole thing is a clear picture of Jesus being our substitute. He took our place, just as the ram (a male sheep) takes Isaac’s place.
Notice also that this Lamb that takes Isaac’s place is caught in a “thicket” (v. 13) by the horns. The Hebrew word for “thicket” here can me a thick wood or a clump of shrubs or bushes, but it can also mean a thicket of thorns. And it could have been all of these. In fact, the Twisted Acacia Tree is very common in Israel AND it has thorns on its branches as well as thorny leaves. AND, get this, the wild sheep and goats LOVE it. I have been to Israel a couple times and seen the sheep and goats literally climbing in the trees.
Why does this matter?
Thorns are one aspect of the curse of sin.
18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field;
And Jesus wore a crown of thorns, symbolizing the curse of sin.
2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him; 3 and they began to come up to Him and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him slaps in the face. 4 Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.” 5 Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!”
And this Ram here, has his head caught in a thicket of thorns…a crown of thorns.
It all points to Jesus as our substitute and Him being the cure for the curse of sin.
