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GENESIS
Tweeting Through Genesis

 

Introduction: The word “Genesis” means “beginnings.” Not only is Genesis the beginning book of the Bible, but it is also the Bible’s book of beginnings. It tells of the beginning of creation, of the human race, of God’s chosen people, and of God’s plan of salvation for fallen humanity.

 

Genesis 1:1aThe most incredible book ever written begins with the most incredible statement ever uttered: In the beginning God! God is eternally self-existent; He's always been and always will be. No one or nothing is indispensable to Him, but He is indispensable to everyone and everything.

 

An infinite God, bound by neither space nor time, is incomprehensible to a finite mind, bound by both. Although many balk at a God bigger than their understanding, I bow before Him, believing that a god no bigger than my reason is unworthy of my reverence. After all, if God was small enough for us to understand, He would be no bigger than we are.

 

Genesis 1:1bThe universe did not evolve from nothing, as evolutionary science preposterously proposes, but was created from nothing by God, as Scripture plainly proclaims.

 

"The faith of the evolutionist...is a splendid faith indeed, a faith not dependent on anything so mundane as evidence or logic, but rather a faith strong in its childlike trust, relying wholly on omniscient Chance and omnipotent Matter to produce the complex systems and mighty energies of the universe. The evolutionist's faith is not dependent on evidence, but is pure faith—absolute credulity." (Henry Morris)

 

Genesis 1:2-3 — The earth was shrouded in darkness, as well as meaningless and empty, until the Spirit of God moved upon it and God spoke His command within it: "Let there be light."

 

Like our world, God's Word is shrouded in darkness, as well as meaningless and empty to us, until God's Spirit moves upon it and God speaks His command in our hearts: "Let there be light." (2 Corinthians 4:3-6) 

 

Genesis 1:3 — God said, "Let it be." What comforting words. Nothing can be, neither in our world nor in our lives, if God doesn't let it be.(Genesis 1:6, 14)

 

Nothing can happen in our lives nor in our world outside of the permission of divine providence! 

 

Genesis 1:4 — God divides the light from the darkness, because only He is capable of doing so and because it must be done, since the two are mutually exclusive and completely incompatible. (2 Corinthians 6:14)

 

Since darkness is the absence of light, it must be totally devoid of it, lest it be dispelled by the least little flicker of it. 

 

"We must enhance the light, not fight the darkness." (A. D. Gordon)

 

Genesis 1:5The "morning" and "evening" of the "first day" of creation, as well as of the other five days of creation, debunk any notion that they represent eons—indefinite periods of time—rather than literal days—twenty-four-hour periods of time. (Genesis 1:8, 13, 19, 23, 31)

 

The Bible need not be tailored to fit contemporary scientific theory. Instead, contemporary scientific theory ought to be tested as to whether or not it fits with the Bible.

 

READ: WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT THE AGE OF THE EARTH

 

Genesis 1:-6-8 — The sky, created initially as an expanse above the primordial earth, to separate the canopy of water above it from the waters contained upon it, is the canvass of the Creator today upon which He masterfully paints His mutable masterpieces!

 

 ”I cannot imagine anyone looking at the sky and denying God.” (Abraham Lincoln)

 

Genesis 1:9-10 — The Creator raised up the continents and reigned in the deep, then, He, who has dominion over them, dubbed them—“Earth” and “Seas.”  

 

To stand at the seaside is to see the invisible hand of God, holding back the swells of the sea from the sands of the shore. 

 

Genesis 1:11-13 The Creator’s divine design that all things reproduce “after their kind,” which is stated no less than 10 times in Genesis 1, is scientifically proven by DNA, which precludes the evolution of one kind into another. As always, true science confirms the truth of Scripture.

 

"If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.." (Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species)

 

Genesis 1:14-19 — God’s command, “Let there be light,” preceded His creation of the heavenly “lights,” which attributes the source of all light to the Heavenly Father—the “Father of lights”—not to the heavenly bodies. (Genesis 1:3; James 1:17) 

 

Not only is God light, in whom there is no darkness at all, but there is also no possibility of any light at all, apart from God. (1 John 1:5)

 

Since God is light and the only good, neither darkness nor evil can be attributed to God, since both are the natural consequences of the absence of God; that is, of humanity's choice to live independently of the divine. (James 1:17; Mark 10:18)

 

Genesis 1:20-25The infinite capacity of the Creator's craft is clearly seen from mammoth whales to wee minnows, from fast-flying falcons to fleet-footed ostriches, and from industrious ants to indolent sloths.

 

"All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all." (Cecil Frances Alexander)

 

Genesis 1:26 — Man was not made first to help God in His work of creation, but last as the crowning work of God’s creation. For more than anything else God made, man most manifested God’s glory.  

  1. Man was made in the image of God, to be an extension of God’s person—to look like God. 
  2. Man was made in the likeness of God, to be an expression of God’s character—to act like God.
  3.  Man was made to have dominion like God, to be an exhibition of God’s power—to reign with God.

Genesis 1:27 — A triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—created man in His image by creating man triune—body, soul, and spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

 

Genesis 1:27 — God, who is a Spirit, created man in His image by creating man a spiritual being with a body, not a physical being with a spirit. (John 4:24

 

Genesis 1:28 — God’s first command to man, following his creation, was to be fruitful and multiply. Likewise, Christ’s first command to redeemed men, following their recreation, was to be fruitful and multiply. (Matthew 28:18-20) 

 

Genesis 1:29-30 — Only an omniscient and omnipotent Creator could have so carefully crafted creation for the conservation of every created creature. 

 

All of creation, which subsist on God’s created bounty, was created for God’s exclusive glory. (Isaiah 43:7; Romans 11:36) 

 

Genesis 1:31 — The six "goods" of Genesis chapter 1 conclude with a "very good," for man, more than anything else God created, best mirrors and reflects God, who is the only good! (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25; Mark 10:18)

 

Genesis 2:1Contrary to the claim of the cockamamie theory of evolution, the heavens, the earth and everything in them did not naturally evolve over eons by mere chance, but were supernaturally created and completed by the Almighty Creator.

 

While evolutionists demand that the religious prove God to them, they are incapable of disproving God to the religious. Therefore, they, to their own chagrin, are just like the religious, in that they too live by faith. Whereas the religious believe in God, the evolutionist believes there is no God. Both have a belief about God that neither can prove to the other. Consequently, evolution is actually a faith; it’s more religion than science.

 

Genesis 2:2-3 — The Creator rested on the seventh day, not because He was fatigued, but because creation was finished. 

 

The sanctification of the Sabbath speaks to us of the fact that God, who is never tired, can always be trusted, for His finished work, either in creation or salvation, is sufficient for us, so much so that we can enter into His rest by our total reliance upon Him.

 

READ: THE SABBATH

 

Genesis 2:4-6 — Here we have a summary of God’s creation of every sprig and scrub, which shows God as the source and sustainer of all plant life. Although God uses rain to water and man to weed, the wonder of it all is attributable to God alone.

 

The canopy of water vapor, which once surrounded the whole earth, as taught in Genesis 1:6-7, would have created a giant greenhouse effect. This means the whole earth, as science has discovered, would have once had a tropical climate, According to the Bible, it did not rain upon the earth until the flood (Genesis 2:5-6), when the canopy of water vapor dissipated and evaporated, falling on the earth in the form of precipitation, which along with the breaking up of the great foundations of the great deep caused the flood. Therefore, the rain that fell on the roof of Noah’s Ark, was the first rain that ever fell upon the earth.

 

Genesis 2:7 — To deny the Genesis account of creation is to reduce man to a breathless clod, but to believe it raises man to a sublime being, since we know God does not waste His breath. 

 

In the work of creation, the Creator breathed His life into man, making man a living soul. In the work of salvation, Christ breathes His resurrected life—the Holy Spirit—into the Christian, making the Christian a new creation in Christ. (John 20:22; 2 Corinthians 5:17)

 

Genesis 2:8 — Only God can plant a paradise in which to put man, as has been empirically proven by the hell on earth repeatedly planted by umpteen utopians throughout the annals of human history. 

 

Every time man tries to create his own heaven on earth, it turns into hell on earth. 

 

The doctrine of original sin is a doctrine of the Christian faith empirically verified by all of human history. No matter how many times fallen man attempts to plant for himself a Garden of Eden, he always ends up in a garden of Evil. 

 

Genesis 2:9 — The tree of life, which was once in the midst of paradise lost, is now in the midst of the paradise of God, where the river of life flows around it on both sides down the middle of the street of the heavenly and holy New Jerusalem. (Revelation 2:7; 22:2)

 

As man was created to live on earth by the tree of life—God’s Word and divine revelation—not by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—man’s wit and human reason—so shall men live forevermore in Heaven.

 

"Jesus took the tree of death so you could have the tree of life." (Timothy Keller)

 

Genesis 2:9 — To eat of the tree of life was to choose to live forever by God’s Word rather than man’s wit, as God created man to live. (Matthew 4:4)

 

Genesis 2:9 — To eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was to choose to forfeit eternal life, in order to live by man’s wit rather than God’s Word. (Proverbs 14:12)

 

Genesis 2:10-14 — Before the Fall of Man, Adam was in paradise at the Tigris and Euphrates; after the Fall of Man, Israel was in prison at the Tigris and Euphrates. (Psalm 137:1-4)

 

Whether it is Adam and Eve’s eventual exile from Eden, by the Tigris and Euphrates, or exiled Israel in Babylon, on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, the moral of the story is obvious. There is no paradise for man apart from obedience to God. 

 

An atheist once asked a little boy, “Where do you want to go when you die?” The little boy answered, “To Heaven!” The atheist then asked the boy, “Why do you want to go to Heaven,” to which the boy replied, “Because Jesus is there!” Finally, the atheist asked the little boy, “Suppose Jesus is in Hell, then, where would you want to go?” The boy quickly quipped, “There ain’t no Hell where Jesus is!”

 

Genesis 2:15 — The Garden of Eden, which God made for man, God commissioned man to maintain for God.

 

God, who created the world and sustains it, has committed its care to us, so we should certainly care for it.

 

The Biblical doctrine of man’s stewardship over the earth is apolitical. It is therefore not to be used by power-hungry politicians to usurp lordship over our planet and its populace.

 

Genesis 2:15 — Man, whose salvation would eventually be achieved on a tree, was assigned in creation the care of the trees. (Galatians 3:13)

 

Genesis 2:16-17 — Forsaking God's Word and divine revelation for the forbidden fruit of man's wit and human reason is what brought death, both physical and spiritual, into the world.

 

To eat the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil meant for man to usurp the place of God in his life. It meant that man would not live forever by God’s Word, as he was created to live (Matthew 4:4), but would forfeit eternal life, in order to live by his own wit. Rather than living by what God taught, man would live by what he thought. He wouldn’t take God’s Word for what was good and evil and right and wrong; instead, he would decide for himself what was good and evil and right and wrong.

 

To disbelieve and disobey God's Word is to be guilty of self-deification!

 

Genesis 2:18 — The one "not good" of creation is transformed into a "very good" with the consummation of man by the Creator's creation of woman. (Genesis 1:26-31) 

 

Woman was created to compliment man; that is, to complete him. However, the Biblical doctrine of complementarianism cuts both ways. It teaches that God created both man (masculinity) and woman (femininity) to complement and complete each other. When both fulfill their God ordained roles, not only are both made whole, but the home, the church, and society as well.

 

A society that can no longer differentiate between men and women is a doomed society!

 

Genesis 2:19-20Although the animals got their handle (name) from Adam, no helpmate for Adam was found among the animals.

 

Having Adam name the animals, after declaring Adam’s need of a helpmate, proves that God has a sense of humor. Adam had to wonder, when it came to each animal to whom he gave a handle, which included the aardvark and orangutan, if it might turn out to be his helpmate. 

 

Genesis 2:21-22 — The first surgery was performed by the Great Physician, who removed man’s rib to make man whole. 

 

“The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.” (Matthew Henry)

 

 

Genesis 2:23-24 — If God is in the equation, one fellow + one female = "one flesh."

 

Leaving and cleaving is the Biblical formula for a successful marriage. Husbands and wives are to leave their parents and to cleave to one another. It is only when husbands and wives are committed to cleaving to one another for a lifetime that they are made inseparable and the intimacy of oneness is made possible between them! 

 

The ideal marriage does not call for a forfeiture of individuality, but for unity in duality.

 

Genesis 2:25 — Before sin, which produced self-consciousness, man was not ashamed of his nakedness, because he was not self-conscious, but God-conscious and other-conscious.

 

Sin is “I” trouble. It is nearsightedness, the inability to see beyond oneself.

 

In their innocence, Adam and Eve had no inhibitions about their nakedness. They were not afraid of being exposed, being assured that they would be viewed flawlessly by both God and one another.  After the Fall, however, everything changed. They were self-conscious of their nakedness and afraid of being exposed, knowing that they were flawed and seen as such by both God and one another.

 

Genesis 3:1a — Satan slithers his way into our lives subtly disguised, never appearing appalling, but always appealing.

 

The devil will never appear to you in a red suit, with horns, pitchfork, and a pointed tail. Instead, he will always appear to you disguised as something alluring, such as a beautiful temptress, a neurotic numbing narcotic, or a irresistible ill-gotten gain.

 

Satan is a master masquerader, whose many masquerades have been the means to many a man's demise!

 

Genesis 3:1b — The serpent not only subtly insinuates divine injustice, but also suggest that God’s Word is suspect, by both stretching it and questioning it. 

 

The Bible begins with the Serpent stretching God’s Word further than God ever intended for it to go; and it ends by warning us to never do what the Serpent did (Revelation 22:18-19). While God has given us the choice to reject or receive His Word, He has not given us the choice to revise or edit it.

 

The devil's diabolical design for our destruction begins with doubt, getting us to doubt whether God is just and His Word is true.

 

Genesis 3:2-3 — When God’s Word is distorted by the devil, muddled in our minds, and misquoted by our mouths, sin is crouching at the door.

 

Notice, Satan’s distortion of God’s Word—turning its prohibition against eating the fruit of a single tree in the garden into a prohibition against eating the fruit of “every tree in the garden”—resulted in Eve distorting God’s Word as well, by turning its simple prohibition against eating of the forbidden tree into a prohibition against even touching it as well. 

 

As Peter teaches in the New Testament, the Tempter has tricked many a person into twisting the Scripture to their own destruction.

 

Genesis 3:4 — Having slyly disguised himself, as well as having subtly distorted God’s Word and sown doubts about it, Satan subsequently and straightforwardly denied God’s Word, successfully seducing Adam and Eve to sinfully disbelieve and disobey it.

 

Since initially used in the shade beneath the forbidden tree of the Garden of Eden, Satan’s strategy has been steadily employed with extraordinary success. 

 

Satan's strategy is as old as the Garden, but still as guilefully operable as it was in the shade beneath the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

 

Genesis 3:5 — This is the Scripture's most succinct summation of original sin and the ongoing source of all sorrow and suffering in this fallen world. It is simply man's usurpation of God's place in his life as the final arbiter of good and evil.

 

Man, who was created in the likeness of God (Genesis 1:26), did not become like God in the Fall, but lost his divine similitude by being deceived into self-deification. In other words, by being deceived by the devil into substituting himself for God as the final arbiter of right and wrong, man not only separated himself from God, but also subjected himself, as well as all of God’s creation, to corruption.

 

The Tempter often tempts us, as he did Eve, to disobey God by dangling before us something that God has already given us.

 

Genesis 3:6 — Sin entered into the world when Eve decided to live by her sight rather than by what God says. Sin is simply living by your own wits rather than by God’s Word and by human reason rather than by divine revelation. 

 

We are to live by faith—by believing God’s Word; that is, by believing what God says. We are not to live by sight—by our own wits; that is, by our personal perceptions. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

 

Right judgments are never reached by adhering to mere appearances, but only by adhering to divine assessments. (John 7:24)

 

Genesis 3:7-8 — Before the Fall, man in his innocence, was unclothed and unashamed (Genesis 2:25), but afterward, in his sin, he clothed himself and hid himself, having become self-conscious rather than God-conscious and other-conscious.  

 

The Fall made man both clothe himself with fig leaves, in a futile attempt to conceal his sinful faults and flaws from others, and hide himself among the trees of the garden, in a foolish attempt to hide his sinful faults and flaws from God.

 

There is only one tree behind which man can hide his sin from God. It is the cross of Calvary!

 

Genesis 3:9 — This is arguably the saddest question in the Bible: “Adam, where are you?” It was not asked because Adam had successfully concealed his sin from God, but because Adam needed to confess his sin to God. 

 

God was not unaware of Adam’s whereabouts, but was admonishing Adam to acknowledge his wrongdoing.

 

As it was with Adam, so it has been with every sinner ever since, it is God who seeks the sinner, never the sinner who seeks God. (Luke 19:10; Romans 3:11)

 

Genesis 3:10 — Fig leaves were a futile covering for the Fall, which turned man’s former fellowship with God into a frightening fear of God, since man no longer walked with God, but was now under the wrath of God.

 

Although man, in his innocence, had no qualms about his nakedness, being absolutely assured of God’s acceptance, he was both ashamed and afraid to be unclothed in his sin, because he knew he was no longer acceptable to God, but alienated from God.

 

Genesis 3:11-12 — Again, God asked a rhetorical question (Genesis 3:9), not to obtain information from Adam, which an omniscient God did not need, but a confession from Adam, which a forgiving God requires. However, Adam attempted to acquit himself by accusing others.

 

Ever since Adam alibied his sin by passing the buck to others rather than blaming himself, his sinful descendants have followed suit, even to the point of placing their guilt, as Adam ultimately did, at the feet of God.

 

The popular present-day argument that homosexuals' natural proclivity to sexual perversions in not only innate, but God-ordained, makes God to blame for homosexuality and homosexuals out to be blameless. It is also a lie as old as the Garden of Eden, where Adam diverted the blame for his sin to God, by blaming it on the woman whom God had given him.

 

Genesis 3:13 — As Adam blamed his sin directly on Eve and indirectly on God, Eve blamed her sin on the serpent; after all, the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on.

 

Unfortunately, many a sinner, like their mother Eve, and the late comedian, Flip Wilson, commercially claim: “The devil made me do it,”

 

Genesis 3:14 — The serpent, symbolizing Satan, who was the first to fall, was fittingly the first to be cursed. His curse was most fitting as well, symbolizing how far he had fallen, from aspiring to usurp the throne of God, to crawling in the dust of the earth. 

 

The greater sin’s foremost aspirations, the greater the sinner’s final degradation.  

 

All self-deification ends in dust eating degradation! 

 

Genesis 3:15 — This is not just the first, but one of the foremost Messianic prophesies in the Bible, predicting Christ's virgin birth—the promised seed of the woman—the crucifixion—the serpent bruising Christ's heel—and the resurrection—Christ's fatal blow to the serpent's head.

 

This verse is known as the protoevangelium—the first preaching of the Gospel or of the Good News in all of Scripture. From this point forward the whole Bible is employed in expounding upon this extraordinary promise and its eventual fulfillment in the coming of Christ. For this reason, this verse is known as “the Bible in embryo,” as the “sum of history (His Story), and as “the germ of all prophecy that unfolds into the perfect, fragrant bloom of the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley.”

 

READ: THE ENMITY BETWEEN THE SEED OF THE WOMAN AND THE SEED OF THE SERPENT

 

Genesis 3:16 — Having coaxed man to sin, woman is cursed by God and put under man’s control, which has caused contention between the sexes throughout the centuries.

 

The curse of Genesis 3:16 is no more reversed by Women’s Lib than the pain of childbirth is by Lamaze classes.

 

“The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian makes me a different kind of woman.” (Elizabeth Elliot) 

 

Genesis 3:17-19 — The Fall not only subjected fallen earthlings to corruption, but a fallen earth as well, resulting in man, who sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, being forced to work for his future food by the sweat of his face. 

 

We have our trespasses to thank for our thorns and thistles.

 

The thorns and thistles of fallen man’s toil and trouble keep him from being overly taken with this fallen terrestrial orb.

 

Genesis 3:20 — Although Adam initially called his helpmate “woman,” which means “out of man,” he now calls her “Eve,” which means “life,” since he understood that out of her would come the Promised Seed who would restore eternal life to all whose sin had doomed them to return to dust.

 

It is a tremendous testimony to the grace of God in the Garden of Eden that though Eve sinned, God’s plan of salvation for her descendants was for a Savior to ultimately come through her progeny.

 

Genesis 3:21 — Adam and Eve’s fig leave finery, just like the filthy rags of our own righteousness (Isaiah 64:6), were inadequate to cover their sin and shame. Therefore, God had to provide covering for their sin, by arraying them in animal skins from animal sacrifices.

 

From the very first sin, God made it abundantly clear that there is no forgiveness for sin apart from the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). If life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11) and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), then, the only way a sinner can be saved is for a substitute’s life to be poured out and their blood shed in the sinner’s stead. 

 

It’s foolish to take pride in fashion, since our clothes, whether manmade of sackcloth or silk, are merely futile attempts at covering our sin and shame.

 

Genesis 3:22-24 — Having separated himself from God by sinning against God, man was no longer fit to share the life of God and to live with God forever, so God exiled him from Eden and prohibited him from partaking of Tree of Life in the midst of the paradisiacal Garden.

 

Eden’s exiles were exiled for the following evils: (1) They usurped the place of God in their lives by making themselves the final arbiters of good and evil and right and wrong (2) They opted to live by their wit and reason rather than by God’s Word and divine revelation (3) They opted to live in self-reliance and independent of God rather than in reliance and dependence upon God (4) They opted to live in their own strength rather than God’s Spirit (5) They opted to live in their flesh rather than in faith (6) They opted to go their own way and do whatever they wanted to do rather than fulfill God’s will and do what He wanted them to do, and (7) They opted to live for themselves and their own glory rather than for God and His glory.

 

God placed Cherubim at the gate of Eden, as He did on the veil of the tabernacle and later the temple (Exodus 26:31-33), as a sign to sinners of the inaccessibility of God. It was not until Christ’s flesh was torn on the cross of Calvary for the sin of the world that the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom and access to God was regained for all who believe in Christ (Matthew 27:50-51).

 

Genesis 4:1-6 — Cain's sacrifice was rejected, because he offered God the produce of his own hands, but Abel's sacrifice was received, because he offered God a propitiation from his own flock.

 

Self-righteous religionists are always irate and irked over God's disregard of their religious liturgy and reputable labors.

 

Genesis 4:7 — Sin is always crouching at the door, not only to gain entrance into our lives, but to gain control over our lives.

 

The arms of the Lord are thrown open to all who come to Him on His terms, like Abel, but the door of our lives is thrown open to sin if we insist upon coming to God on our own terms, like Cain.

 

Genesis 4:8 — Like Cain, many today practice cutthroat religion, attempting to do in God's accepted Abels—Christians—who refuse to countenance all man-made religions.

 

"There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions." (G. K. Chesterton)

 

Genesis 4:9-10 — Cain, who was his brother's killer, denied being his brother's keeper, for to callously violate the sanctity of human life is to be void of any real concern or sympathy for all of humanity.

 

Those guilty of inhumanity are easily detected by their insolence toward divinity.

 

Genesis 4:17 — This is the atheist's favorite Bible verse, because it poses the atheist's favorite Bible question: "Where did Cain get his wife?" However, far from being a silver bullet shot through the heart of Scripture, it's just another misfired blank cartridge from the popgun of pagan unbelief.

 

Instead of shooting blanks at the Bible with the pistol of unbelief, you ought to try believing it. You’ll be eternally grateful you did!

 

READ THE BOOKLET: WHERE DID CAIN GET HIS WIFE?

 

Genesis 5:24 - Everyone who walks with God will eventually be taken by God and end up eternally with God.

 

The closer you walk with God the less chance there is of anything coming between you and God, and the longer you walk with God the closer you’ll be to His place than to yours.

 

Genesis 5:25-27 — Methuselah is not just the longest living man in the Bible, but a Biblical testimony to the long-suffering of God toward sinful man, since his name means, “when he dies, it [the flood] shall come.” 

 

Methuselah lived so long, because God is so long-suffering (2 Peter 3:5-9). His unusual moniker was meant to underscore God’s undeserved mercy

 

READ: METHUSELAH AND THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

 

Genesis 6:3 — God’s Spirit shall not always strive with man, neither when it comes to convicting the sinner of sin nor compelling the saint to service. Therefore, we must not procrastinate when it comes to God’s window of grace or to our door of opportunity. 

 

God’s patience is not inexhaustible nor His Spirit irresistible. Man can resist God’s Spirit and consequently be given over by God to a reprobate mind. (Romans 1:24, 26, 28) 

 

READ: THE UNPARDONABLE SIN

 

Genesis 6:5-8  "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." We should all be extremely grateful for this "But," because if it wasn't in the Bible, none of us would be here today!

 

Like Noah, the only way we will escape God’s upcoming judgment of the world is for us too to find grace in the eyes of the Lord.

 

Genesis 6:22 —There’s no faith in God nor salvation from God apart from obedience to God. As Noah could not have entered the ark of God, unless he had obeyed the commandments of God, neither can you enter the kingdom of God, unless you do the will God. (Matthew 7:21)

 

The ark-building Noah could never have been saved by a faith that didn’t work. Likewise, you can never be saved by a faith that doesn’t work. (James 2:20)

 

Genesis 7:5 —There’s no faith in God nor salvation from God apart from obedience to God. As Noah could not have entered the ark of God, unless he had obeyed the commandments of God, neither can you enter the kingdom of God, unless you do the will God. (Matthew 7:21)

 

The ark-building Noah could never have been saved by a faith that didn’t work. Likewise, you can never be saved by a faith that doesn’t work. (James 2:20)

 

Genesis 9:6  Here we have the divine ordination of human government, for the express purpose of executing murderers. The Bible clearly teaches capital punishment, in order to prevent murderers from becoming repeat offenders.

 

Contrary to popular opinion, there is no contradiction between the Christian’s support of capital punishment and the Christian’s opposition to abortion, since both are based on the sanctity of human life; that is, on protecting innocent lives.

 

If you want to know why the Bible clearly teaches capital punishment, this will explain it for you! The vast majority of violent crimes in America are committed by repeat offenders, who make up a very small percentage of our overall population.

 

Genesis 9:8-17 — The symbol of the Noahic Covenant was the rainbow. After the flood, God's bow in the clouds was seen as unthreatening, upturned, and unstrung. It served as a sure sign that God would never again destroy the world by a flood. 

 

Although the world will once again become like it was in the days of Noah, at the coming of the Son of Man, God will not judge and destroy it again by a flood, but next time by fire. (Matthew 24:37; 2 Peter 3:3-7)

 

The confiscation of the rainbow by the LGBTQ community is a sacrilege, which serves as a guarantee of God's judgment, not a safeguard against it. 

 

Genesis 10:8-10  Nimrod, whose name means, "let us rebel," was earth's earliest post-flood rebel. He began his mutiny against Deity in Babel, the site of fallen man's initial attempt to defiantly build his own heaven on earth and his own way into Heaven independently of God.

 

Here, at Babel, we find the first mention of an earthly kingdom in the Bible. Henceforth, Babel, and subsequently Babylon, become the symbol of the kingdom of this world, which is the scriptural nemesis of the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

READ BABYLON

 

Genesis 10:19 — As the notorious border towns of Sodom and Gomorrah prove, living on the ledge of sin’s slippery slop always leads to sliding into the slough of licentiousness. 

 

To cozy up to and become comfortable with sin is to inevitably be conquered and controlled by it

 

Evil is a monster of such awful mein 

That to be hated needs but to be seen

But seen to often, as to become familiar with its face

We first endure, then pity, and finally embrace. (Alexander Pope)

 

Genesis 10:25 — True science and scriptural truth are never in contradiction. For instance, this verse chronicles and confirms the continental drift theory, science’s contention that the continents were once a solitary land mass that was divided and drifted apart.

 

The divine built-in divider of different languages, imposed upon humanity at Babel, was expanded upon in the days of Peleg by different continents and the ensuing additional build-in dividers of different colors (races), clans (ethnicities), countries, customs, and cultures.

 

While the world celebrates our diversity as a means of unanimity, it’s really a divine means of divisibility, to prevent humanity from unspeakable villainy!

 

READ: THE BABEL EFFECT

 

Genesis 11:1-9 — The Tower of Babel was this fallen world’s first attempt to come together and make a name for itself by creating its own heaven on earth, through a forged one world government, and its own way to heaven, through a false one world religion. 

 

The individual sin Adam and Eve committed in the dark shade beneath the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evilthe sin of man personally usurping the place of God in his own lifebecame the collective sin of all humanity at the Tower of Babel—the sin of mankind corporately usurping the place of God on this fallen planet.

 

READ: THE TOWER OF BABEL

READ: THE BABEL EFFECT

 

Genesis 11:1-9 — I fear many contemporary churches are little Towers of Babel, places where the carnal gather together to make a name for themselves rather than places where Christians gather together to magnify the name of Christ.

 

"Promoting self under the guise of promoting Christ is currently so common as to excite little notice." (A. W. Tozer) 

 

Genesis 11:1-9 — Human government should never usurp the place of God, lest government be mistaken for God and us made into government drudges. 

 

"The truth is that it is only by believing in God that we can ever criticize the government. Once you abolish God, government becomes God." (G. K. Chesterton)

 

Genesis 12:7 — Abraham built an altar where God appeared to him, for without personal acquaintance with God there can be no presentable oblation to God nor proper adoration of God.

 

The prerequisite to the proper adoration of God is a personal acquaintance with God. You can’t worship God if you don’t know Him, but if you know Him, you can’t help but worship Him.

 

“To worship God in truth is to recognize Him for being who He is, and to recognize ourselves for who we are.” (Brother Lawerence)

 

Genesis 13:12-13  As proven by Lot, who tagged along on his Uncle Abram’s spiritual pilgrimage, all spiritual tagalongs end up pitching their tents toward Sodom. (Genesis 12:4; 13:1)

 

It's not enough for you to tag along with someone else on their personal spiritual pilgrimage. Instead, you need a personal spiritual pilgrimage of your own, lest you become tired of the trip and end up pitching your tent toward some sinful Sodom.

 

Genesis 14:22-23 — A true man of God wants others mindful of the fact that all of his means are attributable to the blessing of the Almighty, not to the benevolence of some human benefactor.

 

“It is a shameful thing to profess trust in God and yet play the role of a pauper, disclosing one's needs and provoking others to pity.” (Watchman Nee)

 

Genesis 15:1 — The solution to incapacitating fear is to see God as our invincible shield and inevitable reward, as Abraham was clearly instructed to do in the initial “fear not” of the Bible.

 

To be assured of God’s present defense of us and our eternal destiny with Him is a more impregnable fortress against fear than the protection of all of the world’s troops and the possession of all of the world’s treasures.

 

Genesis 15:6  The dividend of righteousness is credited to everyone who, like Abram, invests their life and deposits their faith in God. (Galatians 3:6-14)

 

The Doctrine of Imputation: God imputed our sin to Christ on the cross, so that He can impute Christ's righteousness to all Christians who believe in Christ!

 

Genesis 16:1-6 — It is a tragic mistake to try to help God fulfill His promises. Not only does God need no help producing His promised Issacs, but we'll suffer serious consequences from all of our produced Ishmaels.

 

Abraham and Sarah’s plot to help God produce His promised Issac, only produced their problematic Ishmael, which resulted in the age-old conflict between the descendants of Ishmael—the Arabs—and the descendants of Issac—the Jews. The fact that the Middle-East is presently inflamed is a direct consequence of the past effort of Abraham and Sarah to help God fulfill His promise.

 

Genesis 16:11-12 — This prophecy of the pugnacious Ishmael has come tragically true in today's Religion of the Sword, Islam, which teaches that all Muslims are fighting a holy war against the rest of the world, until all infidels are forced to bow before Allah, the god of Islam.

 

There are 123 verses in the Koran that teach fighting and killing for the cause of Allah; in fact, the words “fight” and “kill” appear more often in the Koran than the word “prayer.” According to the Prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam: “The sword is the key to heaven and hell; a day of blood shed in the cause of Allah, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months of fasting and prayer.”

 

Although the majority of Muslims today are not Arabs, direct descendants of Ishmael, Islam is an Arab religion, which teaches that Arabs are the “most honorable among the people.” In fact, Mohammed said, “Love the Arabs for three reasons: Because I am an Arab, the Koran is in Arabic, and the language of paradise is Arabic.”

 

Genesis 17:1  Here, for the first time in Scripture, God identifies Himself as EL SHADDAI—the Almighty who is more than enough. God is not only more than enough help, but He is also more than we can handle.

 

Although we can always trust the Almighty, we should never trifle with Him.

 

Genesis 17:3 — Sometimes God doesn’t speak up until we fall facedown.

 

No man can strut into an audience with the Almighty!

 

Genesis 17:15-21 — Too many laugh at God’s miraculous Isaacs and merely ask God to bless their self-made Ishmaels. 

 

While our self-produced Ishmaels may be temporarily blessed, it is only upon God-given Isaacs that eternal covenants are forever built.

 

While we may find the seemingly unimaginable promises of God laughable, God will have the last laugh when He performs the utterly impossible.

 

Genesis 17:23 — “Selfsame day” obedience is true obedience; delayed obedience is disobedience.

 

Our Heavenly Father, like all good parents, knows that a child’s put off obedience is just a subtle way to put over parental defiance.

 

Genesis 18:9-15 — God confirms and carries out His certain promises. Although men oftentimes find them hilarious, God never finds them hard to fulfill.

 

Genuine faith is always based on a divine promise, never on human presumption. It’s based on what God has actually said He will do, never on what we selfishly assume He will do.

 

The promises of God are no laughing matter.

 

Genesis 18:14  The Lord does not do the impossible at our insistence, but only according to His intentions. He does not do it immediately at our demand, but only at His appointed time.

 

The Positive Confession Movement makes God into a universal bellhop who serves at our beck and call. Therefore, it is not just heresy, but blasphemy! 

 

Genesis 18:20-33  To be an intercessor, one must draw close to God, appeal to the character of God, and know when to conclude a prayer to God.

 

Intercessors must be intimate with God, intercede on the basis of the integrity of God, not their impulses, and intrinsically know when intercession has become ineffective.

 

"Intercession is the truly universal work for the Christian. No place is closed to intercessory prayer: no continent, no nation, no city, no organization, no office. No power on earth can keep intercession out." (Richard Halverson)

 

Genesis 19:13  Although asserted by modern-day sodomites, sodomy is not innate, as is attested to by the divine annihilation of ancient Sodom. 

 

According to the Bible, God’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire and brimstone is a warning of the punishment of “eternal fire” that awaits all who are guilty of sexual perversion. (Jude 1:7)

 

The word “sodomy,” which originally meant unnatural sexual relations with a member of the same sex, was derived from the homosexual proclivities of the men of Sodom, whom the Bible describes as “sinners before the Lord exceedingly” (Genesis 13:13). According to Genesis 18:16-33, God determined to destroy the Sodomites because their sin [was so] grievous. It was after an attempt by the city’s male inhabitants to forcefully have sex with a pair of angels that God destroyed Sodom with “fire and brimstone…out of Heaven” (Genesis 19:1-28).

 

Genesis 19:15-22 — Like Lot, too many of today's divinely delivered souls seek short pilgrimages and small places rather than mountain peaks and higher ground.

 

Praying too small is a problem that is pandemic among today’s divinely delivered Zoar dwellers.

 

Genesis 19:23-26 — Lot's wife is the epitome of false repentance. Instead of truly turning away from sinful Sodom and being forever delivered, she succumbed to the temptation to turn back and was forthwith destroyed.

 

True repentance is never repented of; that is, it is a brokenhearted turning from sin and a wholehearted turning to the Savior that will never be turned from. (2 Corinthians 7:8-11)

 

One of Scripture’s most solemn warnings is found in one of its shortest verses. In Luke 17:32, our Lord said, “Remember Lot’s wife.” As she clearly illustrates and our Lord clearly instructs, no one who turns back is fit for the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:62).

 

Whereas the New Testament church had pillars of the church (Galatians 2:9), the contemporary church has more pillars of salt (Genesis 19:26).

 

Genesis 21:1-7 — The name “Isaac” means “laughter,” for the initial and contemptuous laughter of the elderly and barren Sarah at the fantastic promise of God immediately became celebratory laughter when Isaac was born in miraculous fulfillment of God’s promise.

 

Make no mistake about it; God has the last laugh on all who laugh at His promises!

 

The promises of God are no laughing matter.

 

Genesis 21:9  Ishmael, the son of the slave woman, who represents the flesh, will always mock Issac, the son of the free woman, who represents the Spirit, for there is always animosity between the haughty flesh of man and the Holy Spirit of God. (Galatians 4:22-31; 5:17)

 

What the flesh manually produces will always refuse to play second fiddle to what the Spirit miraculously performs, despite the fact that the promises of God can only be inherited through the work of the Spirit and never through the work of the flesh. 

 

Genesis 22:1-12 — You will know your faith in God has become the premier thing in your life when you are willing to obey God by offering to Him that which is most prized, priceless and precious in your life!

 

God did not ask anything of Abraham on Mount Moriah that God was not willing to do Himself, for God did sacrifice His Son for us on a mountain called Calvary.

 

THE SIMILARITIES OF ABRAHAM OFFERING HIS SON ISAAC ON MOUNT MORIAH AND GOD OFFERING HIS SON JESUS ON MOUNT CALVARY

  1. Each son is the father’s beloved son.
  2. The birth of both sons were promised and miraculous.
  3. Both sacrifices were on a mountain.
  4. Both sons carried the wood upon which they were to be sacrificed.
  5. Both sons asked questions of their father.
  6. Both sons were submissive to the will of their father.
  7. Both sacrifices involved thorns, a ram caught in the thorns in one and a crown of thorns in the other.
  8. Both sons were resurrected, one figuratively the other literally.
  9. And the whole world was blessed by both sons, since God’s  promised seed came through one and God’s promised salvation through the other.

Genesis 22:14 — Abraham praised God as JEHOVAH-JIREH—the Lord provides—for providing a substitutionary lamb for his son Isaac’s salvation. How much more should we praise God as JEHOVAH-JIREH for providing His Son, Jesus Christ, as a substitutionary Lamb for our salvation? 

 

God’s name JEHOVAH-JIREH—“the Lord will provide”—guarantees us His promised provision for our every need.

 

Genesis 24:26-27 — The appropriate response to your success is not to praise your good fortune, but to praise the good Lord. It is not to get up on your high horse and credit yourself, but to bow down before God and give the glory to Him.

 

Any note you blow on your own horn will be a sour note in the ears of God.

 

Genesis 25:8 — Rather than death prying life from his cold hands, Abraham gave up the ghost, being full of years and having lived a fulfilling life to a calm and contended conclusion.

 

The last words of Queen Elizabeth I: “All of my possessions for a moment of time.”

 

Genesis 25:29-34 — In the greatest spiritual shortchange in all of Scripture, Esau swapped his birthright to his brother Jacob for a bowl of beans, preferring something for his stomach over salvation for his soul.

 

Tragically, there is no shortage of spiritually shortchanged Esaus in our world today, men and women who swap the salvation of their eternal souls for the satisfying of their earthly appetites.

 

Genesis 26:1-5 — As God kept His oath to Issac, the offspring of God’s obedient servant Abraham, He will keep all of His oaths to the obedient offspring of His obedient servants today.

 

God is under no self-imposed obligation to keep His oaths to the obstinate nor to their obdurate offspring.

 

Genesis 26:22 — Rehoboath means “room enough.” Wherever the Lord makes room for us will be found to be room enough. 

 

All of God's people should be fruitful in the place where God plants them.

 

Genesis 26:34-35  Marriages not made in Heaven can be hell on earth, not only for ourselves, but for our parents and siblings as well.

 

Many a close-knit family has been unraveled by the addition of an ill-chosen spouse in an ill-conceived and ill-fated marriage. 

 

Genesis 27:1-4 — Like the blind Isaac, many a shortsighted soul tries to thwart the plans and purposes of God with their preferential prayers. (Genesis 25:23; Romans 9:10-13)

 

It is far more important that our children be blessed by God for doing His bidding than blessed by us for doing ours!

 

Genesis 27:5-23 — There is no better illustration in the Bible of the trouble with trusting one’s feelings than Issac being fooled by his feeling of Jacob’s fleece.

 

Faith must be the engine of our Christian life and feelings but the caboose. While feelings may follow, they must never be followed, lest we be spiritually derailed!

 

Genesis 27:24-29 — Jacob means "supplanter" or “trickster” (Genesis 27:36), but he had one redeemable quality, for which God loved him. He knew he needed a Savior and would do anything to secure the birthright and the blessing to make sure his Savior would come! 

 

God loves Jacobs, who desperately believe His Son is indispensable and their salvation imperative, but He hates Esaus, who defiantly believe neither. (Romans 9:13)

 

Genesis 27:30-38 — Esau did not weep over losing the birthright, but only over losing the blessing. Although he could not have cared less about Christ, he cried over the consequences and cost of his rejection of Christ.

 

Esau was tearfully sorry for the consequences of his sin, but never truly repentant of the sin he committed. (Hebrews 12:16-17)

 

Genesis 28:12 — Jacob’s ladder is Jesus, as Christ Himself confirmed. Our Lord alone is the lone ladder from earth to Heaven. (John 1:51)

 

Christ, in His Incarnation, descended Jacob’s ladder from Heaven to earth, so that Christians, thanks to their salvation, can ascend Jacob’s ladder from earth to Heaven!

 

Genesis 28:16-17 — God should always be in the place, when it comes to a house of God. After all, if it's not dwelled in and inhabited by God, it's definitely not God's house.

 

Every true house of God is a gate to Heaven. If you can’t get to Heaven from it, then, it certainly is no house of God! 

 

Genesis 30:1-6  Many times we lack the patience to wait on God to work, so we work things out ourselves, passing our work off as God's work and what we've given birth to as God's blessing. 

 

Much of what passes for the work of God today is nothing more than our flesh on parade.

 

Genesis 30:14-18  Many a time the results of our bartering is mistaken for God’s blessing. We mistake what we get for mandrakes for a miracle we've gotten from God.

 

There’s more human exploration in many a supposed miracle of God today than there is any hint of extraordinary divine might.

 

Genesis 31:16  Everyone needs a spouse who will say to them, “Do whatever God says to do!” Unfortunately, most spouses today say, “Do as I say, not what God says,” which explains why the majority of marriages today end in divorce.

 

Rather that lording it over one another, husbands and wives should make Jesus alone Lord over their home. A home that Jesus is not in and over is a home that will eventually go under. 

 

Genesis 31:24  There are times when God wants us to keep our mouth shut. Unfortunately, few of us can do it, since most of us are too enamored with the sound of our own voice and empathic about the soundness of our own opinion.

 

Somethings are left better unsaid, which I usually realize right after I say them. Any home Jesus is not in and over is a home that will eventually go under.

 

Genesis 31:30  If your gods need guarding, lest they be stolen, then, your gods are not gods at all.

 

If you have to worry about what you worship being whisked away, it's certainly not worthy of your worship.

 

Genesis 32:24-32 — To be a prince with God, who has power with God in prayer, one must prevail in prayer. For only those who prevail with God in prayer will be entrusted by God with the enormous power of prayer.

 

Not only will a prince with God, who has power with God and prevails with God in prayer, have a changed walk in life, but he will also leave a lasting legacy to posterity.

 

A visitor to a monastery, whose monks were devoted to prayer, asked about the prayer warriors' wrestlings with principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12). Surprisingly, the monks answered that their far greater wrestlings in prayer were with God, not the devil.

 

Genesis 33:10  Others can see God in us when we are gracious to them, forgiving of them, and willing to accept them.

 

Christians, like Christ, must accept sinners without approving of sin, for Christ's grace cannot be preached by professed Christians who do not practice it themselves.

 

Genesis 35:1-15  Jacob did not go back to Bethel to once again bargain for God's favors by offering God a tithe, but to seek God's face by offering himself to God in total commitment! (Genesis 28:16-22)

 

Jacob's name, which meant "trickster" or "supplanter," was changed to Israel, which meant "prince," when he came back to Bethel to make the maximum commitment, not the minimum one, and to acquaint himself personally with God, not to acquire the blessings of God.

 

Genesis 36:43 — Esau was the father of the Edomites, who were the frequent foe of the Israelites, whose father was Jacob. Thus, the feud between the twin brothers was perpetuated by their posterity.

 

The Prophet Obadiah prophesied against Edom, not only for gloating over the Babylonians’ defeat of Judah and destruction of Jerusalem, but also for looting Jerusalem and handing over its Jewish captives to their Chaldean conquerers. (Obadiah 1:1-14)

 

Although the Edomites rejoiced over the destruction of Solomon’s temple by the Babylonians in 587 BC, it would be an Edomite king of Israel, Herod the Great, who would refurbish and extend a rebuilt Jewish temple around 20 BC, which explains why the temple in Jerusalem was called “Herod’s Temple” in Jesus’ day. 

 

Genesis 37:1-11 — Not all of our God-given dreams are meant to be publicized and advertised. Sometimes they are better kept internalized, lest others be mystified and antagonized. 

 

Every dreamer of heavenly dreams will have earthly detractors and detesters.

 

Genesis 37:23-27  It was Judah, whose name means "praise," who persuaded his brothers to pull Joseph out of the pit.

 

There is no quicker way out of the pits of life than to praise the Lord!

 

Genesis 39:1-6, 21-23  Contrary to popular opinion, flourishing in the most favorable circumstances is not the sure sign of God's favor. As we learn from Joseph, one can flourish under God’s favor in the most unfavorable of circumstances.

 

On can be smack-dab in the center of God's will in every misfortune, just as much as one can be out of God's will in every stroke of good fortune.

 

Genesis 40:8 — Interpretations of dreams belong to God, not to fallible oneirocritics and Freudian psychologists. Likewise, the interpretation of Scripture belongs to God, not to fallible scholars and profane skeptics.

 

The Holy Spirit, who inspired Scripture, is Himself the Interpreter of Scripture. He alone can provide the correct commentary. This does not mean, however, that He cannot provide it to us personally through others to whom He has graciously granted it previously.

 

Genesis 41:15-16  We should give God the glory for our God-given gifts, lest men attribute our abilities to us rather than to God and sing our praises rather than His.

 

You have nothing God has not given you nor will God share His glory with you for anything you’ve been given. (1 Corinthians 4:7; Isaiah 42:8)

 

Genesis 41:38  It is the indwelling Spirit of God that should distinguish the children of God. 

 

It is the Spirit of God that makes the people of God stand out for God. However, if the Spirit of God is imperceptible in our lives, we're inconspicuous in this world.

 

Genesis 41:38-43 — God lifted Joseph from an extended imprisonment to Egypt’s premiership. Thankfully, as the story of Joseph proves, divine providence has a passkey to all our prison cells, as well as a divine plan for our every imprisoned moment.

 

As the story of Joseph teaches us, you should take heart and never lose heart in all of your trials and tribulations, because they just might be the means by which God is making all your dreams come true.

 

The story of Joseph serves as Scriptural proof positive of the good purposes of divine providence even in life's most difficult problems and dangerous perils. 

 

Genesis 41:52  All of God’s people should be “Ephraims,” those whom God has made fruitful in the land of their affliction.

 

The true sign of God's favor in this fallen world is not the absence of afflictions and the abundance of good fortune, but fruitful service in the midst of its many afflictions.

 

Genesis 42:1-9 — The next time you find yourself in a pit, sold out by others, falsely accused, or suffering injustice, just remember Joseph and realize that God may be using it all to make your dreams come true!

 

Joseph’s rough reception for his brothers was not motivated by resentment nor a means of revenge, but meant to reconcile them to himself by moving them to repentance.

 

Genesis 43:13 (HCSB) — In dire and desperate straits, we must go back to the Man at once, taking our brothers with us.

 

A resort is a place of rest. Why, then, do we make prayer our last resort rather than are first resort? How much want and worry we would spare ourselves from if we only went to God in prayer at once.

 

Genesis 45:7-8 — Just as Joseph was sent down by God into Egypt to become its lord and savior, Jesus was sent down by God into the world to become its Lord and Savior.

 

Joseph, who is arguably the Old Testament’s best type of Christ, was, like Christ, humbled to be a servant to be exalted to be a sovereign so that he could be a savior to his brethren.

 

Genesis 45:25-28 — Jacob, who had been living as though Joseph was dead, came to believe that he was still alive after he heard the words Joseph had spoken and saw the wagons Joseph had sent.

 

Unbelievers, who live as though Jesus is dead, will only come to believe that He is yet alive when they hear what He has spoken and see what He has wrought!

 

Genesis 46:3 — As God made physical Israel into a great nation in Egypt, He is making His church, spiritual Israel, into a holy nation in this world. (Romans 9:6-8; Galatians 6:15-16; 1 Peter 2:9)

 

God sees His people according to their destiny, not according to their history or present deficiency.

 

Genesis 46:30 — As Jacob could die in peace, once he knew Joseph was alive, so can the Christian who knows Jesus is alive.

 

It is Christians’ confidence in the ever-living resurrected Christ that makes them confident of their own resurrection into everlasting life.

 

Genesis 49:10 — The prophecy of the scepter never departing from Judah commenced with the crowning of King David and will conclude with the coming of Shiloh—the promised seed of Abraham and rightful heir to David's throne, who will reign forever over the people of God. 

 

In the past, Kings or Queens of England were crowned by Archbishops of Canterbury with these words, “I give you this crown, until He to whom it rightfully belongs returns again to claim it.” 

 

Genesis 49:33 — No father should die with his instructions to his children incomplete. Nor should any father ever forget that his example will leave a more lasting impression upon his children than his advice.

 

“Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work.” (C. S. Lewis)

 

My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, “You’re tearing up the grass.” Dad would reply, “We’re not raising grass, we’re raising boys.” (Harmon Killebrew)

 

 

Genesis 50:19 — We should never usurp the place of God, who alone is the judge of all the earth. (Genesis 18:25)

 

Has God deserted Heaven,

And left it up to you

To judge if this or that is right

And what each one should do?

No, I think He’s still in business

And knows when to wield the rod,

So when you’re judging others,

Just remember, you ain’t God!

 

Genesis 50:20 — When looked at across one’s shoulder with 20/20 hindsight, as well as through the prism of divine providence, past evils can be seen as providential goods.

 

Others’ bad intentions toward us are turned by God into our good fortune, for God is always working out everything in our lives for our ultimate good and His ultimate glory! (Romans 8:28)

 

"Abandonment is being satisfied with the present moment, no matter what that moment contains. You are satisfied because you know that whatever that moment has, it contains, in that instant, God's eternal plan for you." (Madame Guyon)

 

Genesis 50:24-25 — These dying words of Joseph are singled out in Scripture as an example of great faith, for they show his confidence in his people's coming exodus from Egypt and entrance into Canaan, where they would finally possess all the promises of God. (Hebrews 11:22)

 

No one minds to die with Heaven on their mind!

 

Genesis 50:26 — After his death, all who saw Joseph’s unburied coffin in Egypt, would be told not only of his undying faith in God, but also of his undying faith in God’s unfailing promises.

 

Like Joseph, we too should continue to testify to others from our coffins of our undying faith in God and God’s unfailing promises.

 

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