20.5.3p - Genesis - The Explanation

What is God’s plan for you? We are beginning a new section in our 66 Gospels study, where I plan to go through the Old Testament story. I thought about breaking this up, but it seems wrong to break up a good story. So I plan to work on these books of the Bible through 2 Chronicles.

Tonight we will look at the first book of the Bible, Genesis. This is a book about the beginning of everything. It begins with God, who creates everything and establishes everything for all future generations of men and women to enjoy. However, the man and woman failed to obey God's rule. The consequences of this failure, we still feel today. As things get old and as people die, we are faced with the reality that Genesis describes to us. We do not live in a utopian world where we continually dwell in God's presence like it was at the beginning. All of that has gone away, and God wants us to understand some things as we read this book.

1. That world did exist for us to enjoy. We all long to enjoy this world for eternity deep down in our hearts because it is how God made it at first.

2. We are the reason we do not enjoy that utopia any longer. It is not because God wanted us to fall but because our freedom to choose led to sinful desires and rebellion, which God cannot tolerate and maintain his justice.

3. God has a plan to reconcile mankind to himself. This makes up the majority of this book, and it is repeatedly implied rather than directly stated.

The First Generations (1-11)

There is a significant divide in the book between the first eleven chapters and those that follow. The first eleven chapters contain a detailed introduction and a zoomed-out perspective of mankind while tracking a specific ancestry. The last 38 chapters zoom in to God's work in the life of one man, Abram, and his family.

Created In His Image (1-2)

The first two chapters describe something that is beyond our ability to understand. Everything we know was created by the words God spoke. He simply spoke everything into existence. Many people try to figure out the details of this, but we are trying to understand something too high for us. One aspect of his creation sticks out from the rest.

Genesis 1:26--27 (ESV) --- 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Here we read that God decided to make man and woman in his own image. They would bear the image of their creator as a kind of self-portrait. Man and woman were created to be monuments of the glory of God on all the earth as they were given dominion over all animal kind. He desired that they be fruitful and multiply while enjoying everything God wanted to bless them with. He created everything and said it was "very good" in his sight.

Falling From Glory (3-5)

But in Chapter 3, we read about the serpent coming and deceiving the woman so that she and her husband rebel against God. They eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and God kicks them out of the garden he made for them. God did not kill them for their sin, but he could no longer be around them because they had become unholy. Their sins cannot defile him. So he kicks them out, and he gives several curses to the serpent, the woman, and the man. The most interesting curse is made to the serpent.

Genesis 3:15 (ESV) --- 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

This seems to indicate that the offspring of the woman would gain an advantage over the serpent so that the tempter would not be able to tempt anymore.

That promise does not come about through Eve's immediate offspring, as one of Eve's sons, Cain, falls to the temptation to murder the other, Abel, and is cast out. This is the beginning of many generations falling prey to their own sinful desires and finding no hope of reconciliation with God as he continues to give us a list of descendants. However, there is a spark of hope. Seventh from Adam, we read about a man named Enoch who "walked with God, and he was not, for God took him" (Gen 5:24). We don't know any details about this man, but what is said here shocks us and makes us wonder, "How?"

Judgment and Salvation in Noah (6-7)

When mankind reaches a considerable multitude, estimated to be higher than a billion people over at least 1600 years, God said that he would judge mankind for their continual rebellion. It is here that we learn of another man who descended from Enoch, Noah. Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord, and God had him build an ark to avoid a coming judgment. Through this judgment, God would wipe out everyone on the face of the earth and completely transform the environment in which the eight survivors lived.

God's Covenant and Intervention (8-11)

After the flood, God made a covenant with mankind that he would never flood the earth again. He set a rainbow in the clouds as a sign of the covenant. This time, he would do things differently. In Chapter 9, we see that God helped Noah institute rules and regulations regarding the murder of another man. Then, he cursed one of Noah's sons for sexual immorality and perversion. God began to set a standard of judgment that would be added to in the coming generations, and he started to show mankind how to live upright.

In Chapter 11, we read about the nations coming together to build the tower of Babel. But God breaks them up to help them stay humble and keep them from growing to a higher level of immorality.

This sets us up for the next section of the book. God goes from interacting in some very broad ways to maintain some level of order for mankind, to a very specific interaction. In the second section of the book, we see that God has something very different in mind.

God Chooses Abraham (12-50)

The second section of Genesis is totally unlike the first. Throughout the second section, we find a narrative that details the life of one man and his descendants. Why the sudden change? The first words from God explain.

Genesis 12:1--3 (ESV) --- 1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God wants to bless all of the nations of the earth. Isn't it amazing that he wants to do that? With this fresh new population growing, God chooses one man to bless with a future purpose of creating a nation that will bless all mankind. This promise from God sets the stage for the rest of the book and the rest of the Bible. There is no way to overstate the importance of this event because, in this interaction with Abraham, we find our hope.

As we read about Abraham, we find that he was willing to listen to God and become a sojourner, living in tents for all his life. He is not perfect. He tries to force God's promises to happen by having a child through Sarai's handmaid, Hagar. But, over time, he learns of God's provisions as he deals with famine, war, judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah, immoral people, and doubt. God protects and provides for Abraham all along the way, and he eventually gives Abraham a son through Sarai. But he lets Abram wait 25 years before that happens. At 100 years old, he has Isaac, the son of promise. One can't help but wonder why God took so long to fulfill that promise. In Chapter 22, it gets even more strange as God commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac to him on the altar. This event shows the ultimate faith of Abraham that makes him stand out among all characters in the Bible. (This is the primary characteristic that is essential in the New Testament) This is what God wanted Abraham to develop while waiting 25 years for the promised son. God does not let him go through with it, but he uses this event to show us how devoted Abraham was to God's commands. He would even give up his son of promise because he trusted in God's ability to fulfill his promise even with his son dead.

Isaac Is Blessed (24-28:5)

After Sarai dies, the focus briefly shifts to Isaac, who shows similar faith as his father and finds all of the same provisions as God protects him from the immoral people around him and gives him a child after twenty years of praying for one. But God gives him two children, Esau and Jacob.

Jacob Is Blessed (28:6-50:14)

These two children end up fighting with each other and causing a lot of pain to their parents. But through it all, Esau proves unworthy of the promised blessings, and Jacob goes through a period of exile in Haran to escape from Esau (who wants to kill him), live with relatives, and meet a future wife. On the way, Jacob has a dream where God promises him the same blessings as Abraham and Isaac (28:10-17). Once again, we see God providing for Jacob as he sojourns. He becomes immensely wealthy, marries two sisters, and ends up with twelve sons through them and their handmaids.

Eventually, Jacob comes back into the land of Canaan as God commanded him, and he reconciles with his brother Esau. When the immoral nations rise up against him, God scares away his enemies and protects Jacob's family. Then, God promises Jacob the blessings of Abraham and Isaac. (35:9-13).

A Story of Redemption (37-47:28)

Chapter 36 describes the descendants of Esau, and Chapter 37 begins a series of stories that indirectly reveal God's plan of redemption. Jacob's family situation is not ideal. He shows extreme favoritism to one of his twelve sons, Joseph. To make matters worse, Joseph has two dreams about everyone else bowing down to him. This causes ten of the other sons to agree to sell him off to Ishmaelite traders to be a slave in Egypt. The leader of this evil was Judah. He leads the other sons to lie to their father and tell him a wild animal had eaten Joseph. Joseph ends up prospering in Egypt with God taking care of him along the way. Eventually, God puts Joseph in the right place at the right time to save everyone from a horrible famine.

The whole story of Joseph is fantastic. He has everything working against him the entire time, but in the end, God exalts him to the right hand of Pharaoh so he can save his people and many others. Joseph's family is safely brought down to Egypt to endure the famine. He is reconciled to his father in one of the most excellent scenes in scriptures (45:25-28, 46:28-30). But the best part is that he gets to see the transformed heart of his brothers. Judah, above all, was radically humbled by all that he experienced and the guilt he felt inside for sending his brother away.

Final Requests of Faith (47:29-50:26)

At the end of the book, we have a series of events that seem familiar to us. Jacob blesses Joseph's sons, but not as we would expect. Then, Jacob prophesies about the type of people each of his twelve sons will become. He closes with a request to be taken back to the land of Canaan because that is the land God promised to his people. Joseph also believes that his body will one day return to the land of Canaan, just as God promised.

What Do We Learn?

There is so much more detail to this book than I have time to cover, but the whole book serves as a solid description of who God is and how he interacts with men.

The first section shows God's holiness, his divine knowledge, power, and eternal nature. He keeps living while generations are dying off. Then, we get to the judgment, and we see that God was willing to destroy most of his creation for their sin. But he was also compassionate and merciful enough to save some of his creation and start again.

In the second section, we get more insight as God is so patient and generous with Abraham. He is the great teacher throughout this section as he interacts with all of the main characters. He is also extremely faithful to his word. He was faithful to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was also faithful to Joseph and all of the sons of Jacob, even though they were exceedingly wicked. I wonder what Jacob was thinking throughout the years of not knowing why Joseph had died. Did he doubt God's goodness? In the end, God showed him, and us, that he has a much bigger purpose of salvation in mind that man could never conceive.

Joseph becomes this prototype of Christ. His brothers betrayed him, but he returns to save all who come to him from calamity. He seems to be fulfilling the promised blessing of Abraham. All the nations of the earth are being blessed through him. But he is just a type of the one who is to come in the future. We are left wondering how he will fulfill all of those promises to Abraham.

If we read the rest of the Bible with the understanding that God never changes, we can see that God blesses an imperfect people by showing them mercy, multiplying them, and protecting them over and over again. But the promises are not really finalized. The people come into the land, they possess it for a while, but then they lose it. David rises up and seems to be a blessing to the nations, but then he falls short. When we near the end of the nation of Israel in 2 Kings/2 Chronicles, we will see that faith disappears, and God's people will disappear from being a nation. But the faithfulness of God does not disappear.

2 Chronicles 36:15--16 (ESV) --- 15 The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

He destroys most of his people in judgment, but he brings them back to establish a new covenant and fulfill all the promises through Jesus.

2 Corinthians 1:20 (ESV) --- 20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

Jesus makes it to where all the nations can have a special relationship with God like Abraham. Galatians talks extensively about that relationship.

Galatians 3:29 (ESV) --- 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the story of Genesis is about the fall of mankind and revealing God’s plan to recreate man to be image bearers once again through faith. Enoch and Noah start to give us a glimpse of God’s favor toward man. Abraham is the clearest example for us, but we also see that Isaac, Jacob, and even Judah go through a transformation that gives us hope for a brighter future. As we choose to show faith in God and live for him, we find that life is offered to us even though we have not become what we ought to be. The only question is, will we accept his blessing and undergo this transformation ourselves?