The book of Genesis is all about
beginnings. God called all things into being by the word of his power. It tells
us about the beginning, man, sin and the saviour. In Chapter 1 we see the
creation and then it goes on as man sinned against his master and a saviour promised
to cleanse sin from man. Here Satan is exposed as the enemy of God and deceiver
of human race. First humans were created sinless, but became sinners by the
offensive act against the Lord. They were tested under the most favourable circumstances.
So expect testing at current worldly circumstances.
After the fall, people began to
offer sacrifices unto the Lord for their redemption from sin. Then we see about
the children of Adam and Eve, where Abel got killed by Cain. Why it happened?
God was pleased with Abel’s sacrifice and Cain became jealous of it. While Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden,
but still in Eden, Cain was then driven farther away out of Eden.
God gave another son to Adam and
Eve, Seth. We see civilization starting. Men started working and doing valuable
things with the talents God gave them. Lamech made tents, Jubal played harp and
organ and Zillah did things with Irons and brass. In Chapter 5 we go through
the genealogy from Adam to Noah. In between we see a man called Enoch who
walked with God. Since God liked him, he took Enoch.
In Chapter 6 we read about the
flood. Because of Noah’s faith, God saved him from destruction. We find the
picture of salvation here. Here we see sons of God (fallen Angels) coming and
taking daughters of men and have children with them. Obviously the children
will become wicked. God choses Noah and his family and protected them inside an
Arc along with the selected animals and other species. Humans were originally created
to live hundreds of years. From this new beginning at the time of Flood, the lifespan
became 120 years.
After the First Nations of the
new world from Noah’s sons, we see the infamous tower of Babel. In this modern
century the tallest building is 829.8m (Burj Khalifa), not even the measurement
of 1 km. But the people at that age planned and almost build a tower which
reached heaven. We can think about the skills and intelligence they had in
building a tower of many Kilometres. God scattered their skills and
intelligence by changing their languages.
In spite of wickedness of human
heart, God wanted to show his grace, He wanted a chosen people. We now read
about Abraham, the man of faith, called by God. Wherever he went, he built an
alter to God. Even though he was childless, at the old age he had faith that
God will provide him a Child and God did gave him a child. We see faith by the
same man as God asks him to give his son as sacrifice. As we consider him our father
of faith, you should analyse your life on how much faith we have in God at the
time of testing. God blessed Abraham that his descendants will become a great
nation and through them all nations will be blessed. God repeated these
promises to Isaac and Jacob. Today’s world we can see the helpful inventions
are mostly done by Jewish people.
In between we see God rescuing
Lot as the nation he chosen to live in was living in sin. In this century
people give hype on Homosexuality. But this sin was there centuries ago and
God destroyed the people by burning them entirely.
We see Isaac’s sons Esau and
Jacob, where Esau lost his birth right because of being slipping to temptation.
We should think and repent about the blessings we lost because of falling to
temptations and sin. Jacob, the Graber took hold of the opportunity and
blessings before God changed him at Bethel. Here we see the saying, “what goes
around comes around”. As Jacob cheated his brother, his father-in-law cheated
him. But since he walked in faith, God helped him come out of the problems. God
blessed him and changed his name to Israel.
Next we see about the life of
Joseph. He is one of the outstanding noble characters in Old Testament. God
gave him dream and fulfilled it in the middle of hard struggles and slavery. We
see how Joseph kept himself pure before God when the big temptation of lust
came. He was sold as a slave at 17 and at 30 he became ruler of Egypt, second to
Pharaoh. 10 years later his father Jacob entered Egypt. Finally in the end we
see Jacob blessing Israel and prophesying about them.
Genesis gives us answers of
- The eternity of God
- · Where we came from?
- · How sin came?
- · How can sinful people get back to God (Abel’s sacrifice)?
- · How can we please God (Abraham’s faith)?
- · How can we have the power with God and People (Jacob’s surrender)?
As the book of Genesis ends,
Israel were only 12 families and in Egypt. Some names we can remember from this
Book are God, Adam, Satan, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Some
places of importance from this book are Eden, Ararat, Babel, Ur, Canaan and Egypt.
How to read the Bible?
As you read verse by verse, you
should ask the question, “What does it say? What does it mean? What does it
mean to me?” Even if there is only one interpretation, there can be a thousand
applications. You might feel strongly about a verse or passage that applies your
life. Always remember that God speaks to us through his word, and for that you
need to be prayerfully approach his word.
May God reveal his secrets to you
through thy word as you read it prayerfully.
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