Genesis
An old preacher used to say….instead of giving new converts the gospel of John to read….we should have them read Genesis.
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
Here is where we meet God…in power and glory…as Creator. Here we see Him deal the seeming defeat of His Purpose…when Adam sins….and all the human race is lost.
Isaiah 45:18 “For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He that established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else.”
Here we see the first promise of a Redeemer….and His ultimate Victory…
Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.”
Here we see the effects of sin….death. Gen. 5 if you read it, this one died, and that one died….all through the chapter.
Here we also see God dealing in judgment on His responsible creatures…who continue to turn from Him…and sin (Romans 1:19-23 describes this descent into gross sin).
And He deals in judgment…both by flood. (here is the first time grace is used in connection with Noah)
…and in the tower of Babel.
Here we see God laying aside for a time the masses of nations….to deal with one man….Abraham.
He was as bad as everyone else…:an idolator….yet God appeared to him and called him….to come away from idolatry to believe in Him ….and follow Him.
Genesis 15:6 “And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness.”
And Abraham did follow….becoming the friend of God. (James 2:23)
(how much we learn from this….God deals with individuals….calling them to Himself…away from the old life…to the new life with Him.)
Here we see Abraham’s call to sacrifice his son…ending in a ram given in exchange for Isaac (Genesis 22:1-14)…..”And Abraham said, My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering:…”
….which is a picture of God’s sacrifice of His Beloved Son….for us. (John 3:16-17)
Here we see Isaac, the son of promise….never leaving the land of Canaan….receiving everything through his father….(Abraham even sends a servant to bring Rebekah as a wife for Isaac)…
….yet in his old age…he begins to take everything for granted….he becomes presumptuous…and…his eyes become dim….
….(this is the only feebleness which is spoken of…because the “dim” eyes are spiritual as well as physical. He gives up fellowship with God and sits around only wanting the “savory meat” from Esau. One preacher says…”Isaac rusted out…the fine metal being eaten away, slowly”)
Here we see Jacob…the schemer who after many years of the Lord dealing with him….though He never leaves him….becoming Israel.
Here is the first place God promises…”I will not leave thee…” (Genesis 28:15).
Here is the battle between the Lord (the Angel of the Lord) and Jacob at Peniel …a picture of the Lord’s victory over us.
For like Jacob, we have many schemes and plans that must be surrendered to God…and that only way they are…is for us to be defeated in our self-rule….and for us to become love-slaves of Christ.
Here we see Joseph….beloved of his father….yet hated of his brothers (as Christ was hated by His own John 1:11). Mistreated again and again…..
…..yet God delivers him…and exalts him.
And when Joseph could have gotten revenge on his brothers….he forgives them and cares for them….seeing God’s hand in all that happened to him (as we should. Romans 12:19-21 “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” verse 21)
Genesis is a book of creation….emotion,….deliverances, and judgements….of altars and the promises of God to come in Christ.
Genesis shows God…who He is and what He will do….for any who will believe and follow Him.
And in the end….God is looked to…to fulfill HIs promises….through the people He has chosen.
Not that there were not failures…..there were….grand ones. But that God never wavered from His Purpose.
Isaiah 46:9-10 “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:”
Genesis is a book of beginnings….In the beginning, God….
….and that is where each of us must come. We must see that He is God….beginning, middle, end.
Here is …the beginning of the earth, the beginning of time (”and God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night…”, the first Sabbath or day of rest unto the Lord,…
…. the beginning of man, the beginning of family, the first place to worship God, the first murder, the first natural death, the beginning of Israel..the chosen nation,…and God’s covenant of grace with Abraham…
…and all along the way…
….God shows His Will and Purpose will not be defeated…for He is God…and there is none else.
Genesis is a book that shows that God is not mocked….by sin. For sin is always dealt with….either by correction and chastening….
…who can forget God called to Adam, after he had sinned, that he might come and confess.
…that He told Cain how to become accepted, after he had failed to bring a right sacrifice (Hebrews 9:22).
…that He gave those who saw Noah build the ark…one hundred years under his preaching to repent.
…that He would have spared Sodom and Gomorrah if ten righteous people had been there.
This book also shows so many deliverances that God does for His own.
God will see HIs Will done….
…let us learn from the beginning of HIs Word….and follow Him…for…
Hebrews 13:5-6 “….for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 