"With your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation" (Revelation 5:9). To Abraham, the Word of God was spoken: "All peoples on earth will be blessed through you" (Genesis 12:3). In the one hundredth Psalm, we have a call to worship: "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth" (verse …
Continue reading Fron every tribe and nation and people and language
Genesis 5:18-32 In this second part of the list, two names get a special mention - Enoch and Noah (22,24,29). The reference to Enoch is the more memorable of the two. Enoch's life was characterized by grace, faith and obedience. The life-story of so many others could be told without reference to God. Enoch's story …
“It is not in me. God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace” (Genesis 41:16). Can any of us speak the Word of God – and bring blessing to others? – “It is not in me.” Our words will never bring blessing to anyone, unless God is in our words. The real power comes from …
Genesis 2:7 “the breath of life” Everything changes when the Lord breathes His breath of life into us. * Until God comes to us in power, our situation is desperate – “I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry” (Ezekiel 37:2). When He breathes life into …
Genesis 28:10-22 Just another night (11)? No! - this was a night to remember, a night Jacob would never forget. God came to him with His wonderful promise of love: ‘I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you’(15). At Bethel (‘the house of God’), powerfully transformed by the presence …
Continue reading ‘I Will Not Leave You Until I Have Done What I Have Promised You.’
Genesis 40:1-23 In chapter 37 - we read about Joseph's dreams. Here - we read about Joseph interpreting dreams. The dreams did not come from Joseph's own mind. The interpretations did not come from Joseph's own mind. The dreams came from God - and the interpretations came from God. "Don't interpretations come from God?" (8) …
Continue reading Do we long to play our part in what God is doing in our generation?
Genesis 9:8-17 We look at the rainbow. We see the love of God. We look beyond the rainbow. We look to the Cross. There, we see the supreme demonstration of the love of God. There, we see Jesus, suffering for us. His suffering is the suffering of love. It wasn't the nails that held Him …
Continue reading We look at the rainbow. We see the love of God.
Genesis 19:38-38 We read about the beginning of he Moabites and the Ammorites (36-38). It was a shameful beginning - and it's the last we hear of Lot! In Matthew 26:26-30 - there's a better outcome of drinking wine - and it wasn't the end of Jesus! Through faith in Jesus - we look forward …
Continue reading From the failure of Lot to the triumph of Jesus
The flood is over. The time of judgment has come to an end. As I was thinking about the flood and what lay beyond the flood, I found myself thinking of some words from the hymn, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness." Here's a lyric video of the hymn. …
Terrifying: that's what it was like outside of the ark. Reassuring: that's what it was like inside the ark. Outsde and inside the ark: this is the way God said it would be. The word of warning and the word of promise: this is what is saying to us, today. The flood: this is the …
Genesis 3:16-25 Sin has consequences. Human life could never be the same, once sin had entered it. The effects of sin can be seen in the whole of life. The most profound effect of sin is summed up in verse 22. We cannot reach out our hands and take hold of eternal life. There is …
Genesis 2:15-17 We noted, in Genesis 1:1-3, the importance of getting our priorities right - God, God's Word, God's Spirit. Here, we emphasize the importance of these priorities. We are under God. We must remember that He is God (Genesis 2:15). We are to obey God's Word (Genesis 2:16). Here we learn that the act …
These were dark days, but God was still there. There was judgment, but there was, also, salvation. There was the flood, and there was, also, the ark. We live in dark days. Everywhere we look, it seems like there's a 'flood' that's sweeping away everything that stands in its way. Is there any hope, for …
Genesis 2:3 - “holy” When God blesses us, He makes us holy. He has not given to us the forgiveness of our sins and left us just the way we were before we came in faith to Christ. We come to the Saviour – “Just as I am” – but do not remain the same. …
Things are going from bad to worse. Cain kills his brother, Abel. There are times, in life, when we wonder, "Can things get any worse than this?" This was one of these times. When things start going wrong, we start wondering if they're ever going to get any better. Sometimes, things can get a lot …
"Genesis 1" has become a battlefield. People argue about creation and evolution. A battllefield: Is this all that we have in Genesis 1? When we read our Bibles, do we leave Genesis 1 to "the experts" - the people who know what they're talking about? This raises some questions. Who, exactly are the "experts"? What …
Welcome to the eleventh stage of our journey from Good Friday to Easter Sunday: In Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, we see love, eternal love, the love of God. Genesis 22:1-18 Some time later God tested Abraham; he called to him, “Abraham!” And Abraham answered, “Yes, here I am!” 2 “Take your son,” God said, …
Welcome to the ninth stage of our journey from Good Friday to Easter Sunday: When you see a rainbow, remember there is love, eternal love, the love of God. Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18 The Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat with your whole family; I have found that you are the only one in all the …
Genesis 1:1-2:4a In the beginning, when God created the universe, 2 the earth was formless and desolate. The raging ocean that covered everything was engulfed in total darkness, and the Spirit of God was moving over the water. 3 Then God commanded, “Let there be light”—and light appeared. 4 God was pleased with what he saw. Then he separated the light from …
Genesis 7:1-24 Here, we pick up on the words of verse 16 - ‘the Lord closed the door behind them’. What was going on outside of the ark is contrasted with the haven of salvation inside the ark. What was it that made the ark a place of salvation? - The Lord. What is it …
Continue reading Jesus – The Name That Is Above Every Name, The Name Of Our Salvation
Genesis 3 ended with Adam and Eve being driven out of the Garden of Eden. This was the result of their sin. Genesis 4 has a much more positive ending: "At that time people began to call on the Name of the Lord" (verse 26). This is the sign that God is doing a new …
Genesis 12:1-9 This was a major step for Abraham - and for God. Abraham would never be the same again. For him, this was the beginning of a journey. It was more than a journey into a new land. It was a journey into God's blessing. Notice that Abraham was "75 years old" (Genesis 12:4) …
Continue reading It’s never too late to make a new beginning with God.
"Jacob was left alone" (Genesis 32:24). Was he really alone? No! God was with him. He was in the presence of the Lord. Humanly speaking, he was alone - but he wasn't really alone: he was alone with God. The Lord drew near to Jacob - and he draws near to us. God blessed Jacob …
Genesis 16:1-16 We read about Hagar and Ishmael. We are reminded that the Bible story is not only the story of salvation. It's also the story of sin. We emphasize the greatness of God's salvation. We must not gloss over what God's Word says to us about our sin. If we fail to recognize the …
Continue reading God keeps on pursuing his plan of salvation.
“The Lord appeared to Isaac and said,’Do not go down to Egypt, settle in the land that I shall show you” (Genesis 26:2). Sometimes, God says, “No” – “This is not the way you are to go.” Sometimes, He says, “Yes” – “This is the way you are to go.” The Lord “opens and no …
Genesis19:1-29 We read about Sodom and Gomorrah - "Get out of this place - for the Lord is about to destroy the city!" (14); "Run for your lives! ! Don't look back and don't stop anywhere on the plain! Run for the mountains - or you will be swept away!" (17). Do we still need …
Continue reading Looking back – and giving thanks to God for his salvation
Genesis 4:17-26 Lord, You are always with us - but we are not always with You. There is never a time when You are not there at our side – but there are many times when we don’t realize that You are right there, beside us at every stage in our journey through life. Life …
Genesis 2:25 There was no shame because there was no sin. Everything was about to change. Soon, there would be sin, and there would, also, be shame. Where do sin and shame come from? They come from Satan. God did not create us for sin and shame. It was Satan who brought sin and shame …
Genesis 8:1-22 At the end of the flood, God said to Noah, "Come out of the ship" (15). We are "in Christ". He is the Source of our salvation. God has brought us into Christ (1 Corinthians 1:30). He does not bring us into Christ only for our own benefit. He sends us out into …
"God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20). Sometimes, when we’re going through the mill, it can be difficult to see God in the things that are happening to us – but that doesn’t mean that He isn’t there. It just means that we can’t see Him. We’re looking for Him, but we can’t find Him. …
Genesis 17:1-27 God's covenant is so different from human promises. We don't always keep our word. God never breaks his word. He is faithful. He never fails us. Behind his covenant - there's his love. His covenant is "an everlasting covenant" (7). His love is "an everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3). here are times when we …
Continue reading “Yes” – This is what God says to us. Will we say “Yes” to him?
Genesis 47:27-48:22 No more fear (46:3). No more pride (47:9). Now, no more doubt - God will bless (15-16, 19-21). Let it be confidence(Philippians 1:6), humility(John 15:5) and faith(Hebrews 11:1; Philippians 3:14). Man's way is set aside - ‘his younger brother shall be greater than he’(19). We are ‘saved by grace’(Ephesians 2:8). There is one …
Continue reading In Christ, We Are Being Led On To ‘A Better Country… A Heavenly One.’
Genesis 11:1-32 Between the list of names in chapter 10 and 11:10-32, there is the story of what happens when we make ourselves the focus of attention rather than God - "Let's make a name for ourselves" (4). What a contrast there is between the tower of Babel, with the human builders trying to make …
“You are the God who sees me, I have now seen the One who sees me.” (Genesis 16:13). God sees the big picture. We only see part of it. To understand what life's all about, we need revelation from the Lord. We need God to shine his light upon us. God shows us who he is, …
Genesis 4:1-26 This chapter tells the story of the progression of humanity, the increase of sin and, in it final sentence, the development of worship. There are interesting snippets of cultural information (20-22). There may be progress in the horizontal dimension - agriculture, music, industry, but history reveals, again and again, that all is not …
Genesis 5:1-17 From the story of Cain - taking God for granted (the opposite of grace), approaching God proudly (the opposite of faith), rebelling against God (the opposite of obedience) - , we come to a list of names and numbers. In this first part of the chapter, there is nothing of any note. Perhaps, …
Continue reading How well we live is more important than how long we live.
Genesis 12:1-20 The blessing promised to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3) takes us right on to the book of Revelation, to "the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven" (Revelation 21:10). The story of Abraham is more than a human story. It is part of God's eternal purpose which will find its ultimate fulfilment in …
Continue reading We read of Abraham, and we look beyond him to Christ.
Genesis 6:5-8 Everything had gone wrong. Could things be turned around? Yes! - but only by the grace of God. It was grace that found Noah - and equipped him for service. By God's grace - let us move forward with God: trusting him and serving him.
Genesis 20:1-21:7 It is difficult to see what we are to take from chapter 20. Perhaps - we should read it along with 20:1-7. We might contrast the weakness of Abraham and the power of God - "My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). This is …
Genesis 9:8-17 We look at the rainbow. We see the love of God. We look beyond the rainbow. We look to the cross. There - we see the supreme demonstration of the love of God. We see Jesus - suffering for us. His suffering is the suffering of love. It wasn't the nails that kept …
Continue reading Jesus’ love for us – that’s what sent him to the cross and kept him on the cross.
Genesis When I was writing these words, I was thinking of some of the stories in the book of Genesis (the book of beginnings). I was thinking about Adam, Abraham and Joseph – and I was thinking about Jesus!___________________________________________ It was the genesis of my life.Things were looking so good.Then, it all went badly wrong.What …
“Gathered to his people” (Genesis 25:8,17) This phrase caught my attention. It brought to mind the words of Jesus – ” … they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will …
Genesis 9:18-28 When we read about this sad and shameful episode in Noah's life - we must remember this - "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord" (6:8). Behind this - there is 'Grace found Noah.' There is sin in our lives - and there is grace. When sin threatens to triumph over …
Genesis 15:1-6 These verses point us beyond the time of Abram. They point us to Jesus. Abram believed what God said to him. The blessing - "righteousness" - was given to him. This is the blessing that comes to us through faith in Jesus.
Genesis 19:1-29 In Genesis 3, we read of humanity’s fall into sin. Here, we see the awfulness of human sin and the awesomeness of divine judgment. We must take God with the utmost seriousness. If we refuse to take Him seriously, He will continue to take us seriously - in His judgment! Sin leads to …
“God sent me before you to preserve life” (Genesis 45:5). We are to bring life. That’s why God has sent us. We are to bring the Saviour. We are to bring the Scriptures. We are to bring the Spirit. People coming to the Saviour, people learning from the Scriptures, people walking in the Spirit – …
Genesis 16:1-16 Lord, living for You isn’t easy – Satan makes sure of that! We try to escape his evil clutches – but he’s always there, and he’s up to no good! Satan is such a determined enemy. Help us to remind him that he’s a defeated enemy. We’re often tempted – and we feel …
“The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau” (Genesis 27:22). Be real! What we are and what we appear to be can be two very different things. God is calling us out of hypocrisy and into holiness. There can be no real holiness if we’re only trying to keep up …
Genesis 21:8-34 In these verses, we read about Hagar and Ishmael, and we read about Abimelech, but we don't focus attention on them. We focus attention on Abraham. More importantly, we focus attention on Abraham's God, "the Lord, the everlasting God" (33). Abraham worshipped "the Lord- the everlasting God" (33). Following these words, in verse …
"“We both had dreams,” they (the butler and the baker) answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”" (Genesis 40:8). The interpretation of their dreams didn't come from Joseph. It was given to Joseph by God. There's an important …
"Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time, and Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines in Gerar. The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a …
Genesis 16:1-16 From salvation and the assurance of salvation, we turn to Satan and the activity of Satan. Sarai came with temptation (1). Abraham yielded to temptation (2). Temptation becomes sin when we yield to it. In Abraham, we see the conflict between ‘the old man’ that he was and ‘the new man’ God was …
Continue reading ‘Sin Shall Not Have Dominion. Grace Is Victorious.’
Genesis 35:1-14 "Go to Bethel" (1) - the place of blessing. On their way to Bethel - Jacob and his family were protected by the Lord (5). At Bethel - Jacob was blessed by the Lord (9). Jacob's name was changed to Israel (10). The name - "Jacob" - pointed to the past: what Jacob …
We go back to Genesis 3:1, back to "the serpent", and on, from there, to Revelation 12:9, "that ancient serpent, called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray." Satan begins by questioning God's Word: "Did God really say?" - but he does not stop there. He goes on from questioning God's Word …
Genesis 35:16-36:43 Here - there are many names. We focus attention on the difference between the two brothers - Jacob and Esau. "Esau went to a land far away from his brother Jacob" (6). The explanation for Esau's move away from Canaan is given in verse 7 - "For their possessions were too many for …
Continue reading There is a great difference between the people of God and worldly people!
Genesis 30:25-31:55 We read about Jacob and Laban. Jacob says that he wants to return to his homeland: "Send me on my way so that I can return to my homeland" (30:25). Laban persuades Jacob to "stay" (30:27). As time passed - it became clear that things weren't working out well. Jacob and Laban weren't …
Genesis 32:1-33:20 Between preparing for meeting Esau (32:1-23) and meeting Esau (33:1-20) - there is the mysterious incident of Jacob wrestling with an angel (32:24-32). This is the section on which we focus our attention We emphasize Jacob's words - "I will not let you go unless you bless me" (26). What was the blessing …
Genesis 9:1-19 Lord, we thank You for the rainbow – It tells us that You love us! Sometimes, we see a rainbow. Do we wonder about it? Does it have a message for us? We look at the rainbow. Help us to look beyond the rainbow – to the Cross. There’s a great children’s song …
Continue reading Lord, we thank You for the rainbow – It tells us that You love us!
Genesis 46:1-34 Jacob goes to Egypt. There were three factors in Jacob’s guidance: Inner desire - He wanted to see Joseph; Circumstances - Joseph wanted to see him and his sons were going to take him; God’s Word - God told him to go. With God’s command, there was also His promise - ‘I will …
Genesis 34:1-35:29; Matthew 12:46-13:17; Psalm 10:1-11 We have read about two times of blessing in Jacob’s life (Genesis 28:10-22; Genesis 32:22-32). Here’s a third time when the Lord blessed him (Genesis 35:9-12). The Lord’s blessing doesn’t come only once. He blesses His people again and again. He leads us on to a closer walk with Himself. …
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But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31
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