(1) January 1: Genesis 1-2 and Matthew 1
Ask God to enable you to understand, trust and obey his word
this year as you commit to this reading plan.
Read Genesis 1-2 & Matthew 1
To discover
Split a piece of paper in two. As you read list on one side what
you learn about God and on the other, what you learn about human beings.
To consider
The Bible doesn’t begin asking whether there is a God, but
what kind of God there is. Genesis 1-2 tell us we cannot fit him to our own
ideas or preferences as many assume today. He is as he is; and it is good news.
He is presented as the personal Creator-King, whose word is mighty, authoritative,
good and life-giving. That means we depend on him for all life and goodness,
and he is worthy to be thanked and obeyed. It also means studying his word this
year is powerfully good and life-giving too.
As our Creator-King he is
interested in everyday things. To worship him goes beyond spiritual exercises. He
made us to serve him by imaging him. This is to reflect his character – and
especially in the way we rule over the world in our work, and conduct our
marriages, raising our children to image him too. It is to fill and subdue,
patterning (even continuing) his work in Genesis 1.
It is God’s same creative Word
that “became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us” (John 1v14). So our response
to God is seen in our response to Jesus. And this is important. It means Jesus brings
God’s goodness and life. He is the second Adam in whom a new humanity is being formed
for a new creation (1 Cor 15:45-55). Israel would have been much encouraged to
read that their God is the true God who established the entire universe for
humans to live in. It meant he was well able to fulfil his promise of giving
them a land. Similarly, it should encourage us about the world to come.
Praying it home
Thank God for every good and perfect gift he gives. Ask him
to help you ‘worship’ him this year in a way that reflects his purposes in
creation. If applicable, pray specifically for your marriage and for your role
in raising children to worship God through Christ with the entirety of their
lives.
Thinking further
The debate about how literally we read these chapters is not
about whether the Bible is trustworthy, but about what style of writing is
being used. For example, did the writer intend us to read the creation as
taking a literal six days or is he using the illustration of a working week to stress
how human beings image God in their work? Whatever our conviction, it seems clear
that Adam and Eve were an historical couple who fell into sin warranting death
for all human beings; and that the world before that was “good” (Luke 3v38,
Romans 5v12-21, 1 Timothy 2v11-15, Romans 8v20-21).
(2) January 2: Genesis 3-5 and Matthew 2
Ask God to open your mind, heart and will to understand,
delight in and obey what you read.
To discover:
As you read, add what you find to the two columns from
yesterday: Jot down the various signs of grace in the God column, and the various
causes of sin in the humanity column (think broadly about what causes sin here).
To ponder:
Here we see why life hurts in so many ways. The fault does
not lie with God, but with human decision. God’s word is doubted and disobeyed,
and so quite justly, the goodness and life his word brings are forfeited.
Adam had been taken from the
wider world, put in the garden paradise, and enabled to live forever. Like the
later temple, Eden was the place of God’s special presence. The sense was that
in caring for it Adam and Eve were like the priests who cared for the temple.
And their descendents were to spread this paradise to the world with their
filling and subduing.
But instead? They forfeit God’s
blessing and are cast out from his presence. Sin and death pass to each
generation and so sin and death fill the world. We’re learning that whatever
hardship we’re currently facing, it finds its root here. Things were not always
as they are now. And if Eden is in some way to be restored, the root of sin must
be dealt with.
But hope remains in the character
of the Creator-King. It is grace upon grace. He promises a serpent crusher,
covers Adam and Eve’s shame, blesses them with children, shows favour to Abel,
mercy to Cain, and saves Enoch from death. Moreover, the suggestion is that what
will now distinguish one person from another is whether they “call on the name
of the LORD” – that is, whether they see their need of God and call on him for
help.
So the shadow of the gospel
stretches to the beginning of human history. God has a plan. Its goal is a son
of Adam who will crush Satan and work salvation (1 Cor 15v20-28) so that
“everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2v21).
Praying it home:
Thank God for his epoch spanning gospel of “repentance and
forgiveness of sins in Christ’s name” (Lk 24:47). Confess any particular sins
of this last year to him. Ask for his forgiveness and for his help to resist any
particular temptations you are facing as this year begins. Ask that he would
keep your need of him constantly before you.
Thinking further:
Hebrew genealogies (lists of names) often recorded only key
individuals. So the lists in Genesis 5 and 11 could have spanned a longer
period. Nevertheless, no satisfactory alternative has been given to reading the
huge life-spans literally. Moreover, the fact that in the two chapters they
gradually decrease towards the sort of life-span known today strongly suggests
they should be read as normal years. The best explanation is that with each
generation the human race is declining further from its immortal state in the
garden of Eden. This should not prove hard to believe for those who await eternal
life.
(3) January 3: Genesis 6-8 and Matthew 3
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
To discover:
As you read, consider what you learn of Noah. Why do you
think these details are recorded?
To ponder:
The flood should shock us. It shows how serious sin is. God
warned Adam and Eve that if they disobeyed they would die. To reject the
creator means rejecting life. So God’s right response is de-creation. He
restores it to the watery chaos of Genesis 1v2. He washes it clean.
But what a legacy for Noah: He
“walked with the Lord.” It’s the language of Eden (3v8) and of ongoing
relationship. It was this that set Noah apart. Being “righteous” and
“blameless” doesn’t imply perfection, but that he sought to obey God and appeared
without fault. These always mark the exemplary man of God (1 Thess 2v10). Noah
knew God, and it was for this reason that God showed favour to him and his
family.
However
Noah was aware that his sin warranted judgement too. His first act on leaving
the ark was to make a guilt offering (8v20, see Lev 1). Sacrifice is a big idea
in the Old Testament. Although the penalty for sin is death, in great mercy God
was prepared to accept the death of animals in the place of people - when
offered in faith. This effected atonement (at-one-ment) with God. Strikingly,
it is on this basis that God committed to never again destroy all life in a
flood.
In describing human nature in general, 6v5
describes us too. The point is that every day of human life warrants another
flood. So the only reason we wake up, breath, live and enjoy what we enjoy is
because of God’s commitment to Noah. Absolutely every good we receive is
therefore a gift of God’s grace – God’s favour freely given to all, even to
those who hate him. However, a more terrible judgement will one day come. On
that day too, only those who walk with the Lord will be saved - but in the ark
of Christ and on account of his sacrifice of himself. Noah’s righteous and
blameless life is therefore one we should seek after (2 Pet 3v3-17).
Praying it home:
List and thank God for the numerous everyday things we take
for granted but that are actually gifts of his grace. Ask him to keep you and
your family in the ark of Christ, walking closely with him and increasingly righteous
and blameless. Be specific about areas you need him to work on.
Thinking further:
Many think the “sons of God” in chapter 6 are angelic
beings. However, their action warrants judgement on humans not angels. So the
phrase may refer to key men or rulers such as those in chapter 5 (as in Ps
82v6-7). The Nephilim shouldn’t be seen as mystical beings. They are just a
noted (and large - Num 13v33) race of men known to the first readers. Scholars
today differ on whether the text requires us to hold that the flood covered the
entire globe, or whether the writer is referring just to the known world of his
day - as in Genesis 11v1 and 41v57. The detail and purpose of chapters 6-8
should help us draw our own conclusion.
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(4) January 4: Genesis 9-11 and Matthew 4
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
To discover:
As you read consider what the point of the genealogies is?
To ponder:
The big idea here is covenant. Like marriage, it’s a formal
agreement between two parties, including promises and provisos. Here the
proviso is that human life is not taken. This ‘Noahic’ covenant is like a
railway embankment. On its guarantee of continual life on earth God will lay
the track upon which the gospel train will run.
It all
feels like a new start. Evil seems eradicated. A new world appears as the
waters recede just as in chapter 1. The commission to fill and subdue is
repeated. You might wonder whether things will now go well. But there is
difference: Creatures will fear man. Violence is anticipated. Even Noah and
sons fall into wrongdoing. So despite all the potential of politics and
education, sin needs an internal solution. Human nature needs changing if evil
is to be no more.
God so governs even the declarations
of the patriarchs that their blessings and curses reflect what he will do in
subsequent history. 9v24-27 look to the subjection of the land of Canaan to
Israel and even the gathering to God’s people of the Gentile nations descended
from Japheth. Chapter 10 then records the populating of the known world in
Israel’s day (our Middle East and North Africa). This sets the stage for
Israel’s coming scenes.
The
notorious Babylon first takes this stage. It feels so contemporary: Men should
seek God’s greatness and fill the earth. Instead they gather together, and with
their God-imaging creativity seek a name for themselves. God confuses their
languages in mercy - to restrain what might be achieved. This should breed
caution today as the limits of language break down.
Throughout
we learn that salvation must come through judgement. Evil must be eradicated if
a good world is ever to be. Judgement day must precede the new creation (Rev
20-21). More than that, Christ must change the very nature of those he calls if
the new creation is not then to be corrupted (Heb 12v23). This all begins at
Pentecost: The disunity of Babel is overcome. All nations are called to the
tent of Shem’s greatest descendent, and the Spirit starts his work with them
(Acts 2).
Praying it home:
Praise God for how perfectly he will bring about the perfect
and incorruptible world to come. Pray he would keep you and your children aware
of the limits of politics and education and so of the world’s need of the
gospel.
Thinking further:
Under inspiration, Bible writers sometimes rearrange events
in order to make a theological point. So the gathering of all peoples in
chapter 11 must have actually occurred before their spreading out as recorded
in chapter 10. 9v3 is intriguing. In the fertile pre-fall world the diet was to
be predominantly vegetarian (1v29-30). Now however, with growing crops from the
land so toilsome and edible vegetation more scarce (3v17-19), God kindly affirms
the appropriateness of eating meat. The qualification of v4 would have been
understood to forbid eating meat if the blood had not been drained (Lev 19v26).
This might have been to highlight the later theological importance of blood, or
just maintain a respect for animal life.
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(5) January 5: Genesis 12-14 and Matthew 5v1-26
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
To discover:
As you read consider the different ways Abram’s faith in
God’s promise would have cost him.
To ponder:
In our youth obsessed culture it’s encouraging to see God
working with someone of 75! Finally there is hope: From five curses (chapters
3-11) to five blessings (12v1-3). And these are words of grace. Abram lived
around 2100 BC. He probably worshipped the moon God of Ur and Haran (Jos 24v2).
Yet God chose him.
At Babel
humanity sought to be a great people with a great name. But these things come
only by God’s action and purpose (12v2). He will grant joy and protection to
Abram, and the whole earth is somehow to be blessed “through” him. All this is
going to be worked out in a “land” – Canaan, promised to his offspring (v7).
9v26 is being fulfilled.
History to
this point has proved the world deserves curse not blessing. So this promise
implies God will provide a way for his justice to be satisfied and for sinners
to be counted acceptable to him. Paul tells us Christ is the “offspring” of v7.
When (like Abram) those of all nations trust God’s promise fulfilled in this
offspring, they receive blessing that has therefore come “through” Abram. They
then become God’s means of bringing that blessing to others (Gal 3v6-18).
However
Abram is fickle of faith. Despite the huge cost he obeys God, persevering where
Terah didn’t (11v31-32, Acts 7v2-4). But when famine hits he leaves the land
and lies about Sarai out of fear for his own safety. He should have trusted
God’s provision and protection. But consider God’s grace. He blesses Abram
nevertheless – protecting him and Sarai, and providing them with wealth from
Pharoah’s coffers! 12v7-20 pattern God’s later deliverance of Israel, reminding
them this fulfilled his promise too.
Abram seems
to learn the lesson. In what follows he trusts God’s provision enough to offer
Lot the best of the land and God’s protection enough to rescue Lot from
captivity. He even refuses booty so that God alone will be glorified for his
wealth. Crowning this, he is mysteriously blessed by the Priest-King of Salem
(Jerusalem) – a pattern of the one to come.
In Christ
God calls us, whatever the cost, to journey to the “land” he has promised,
serving his purposes and not giving up (Heb 11v8-16). And we need not fear or
compromise, for God will meet all our needs “according to his glorious riches
in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4v19).
Praying it home:
Thank God that he continues to bless us despite our sin and
often fickle faith. Ask him to strengthen your faith so that you will honour,
obey, and take risks for him, and especially in order to bring the blessings of
the gospel to others. Pray that you would be able to do this no matter what the
cost, trusting him to provide and protect.
Thinking further:
It seems unfair for Pharoah and his household to be
inflicted with diseases when Abram is the one who has done wrong. We should
remember the Egyptians were not without sin, and that this would have brought
home to them Abram’s importance and the reality of his God. However, the truth
is that grace often seems unfair because it is not dispensed according to
merit. We receive much when so many don’t. Yet to those who are given much,
much will be asked.
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(6) January 6: Genesis 15-17 and Matthew 5v27-48
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
To discover:
As you read note the detail of God’s promises to Abram.
To ponder:
Abram’s fickle faith is again on show. Twice he seeks to
shortcut God’s promise: by adopting a servant so his offspring would be counted
as Abram’s and sleeping with a maidservant to have a child by that means. Serving
God’s purposes never justifies sin. Chapter 16 gives particular warning: Like
Adam, Abraham gives into his wife’s suggestions when he should have challenged
them, and jealousy and abuse follow. Sin almost always leads to sin, and with
it despair.
But grace
is near. Where Abraham compromises, God covenants. He confirms his promise from
chapter 12 (15v4-21), then develops it (17v1-27). This ‘Abrahamic’ covenant is
the track on which God’s people will travel right through to the Eternal City. It
is the backbone of Bible history. All that God will do links to it. So I hope
you can take in what follows.
Adam had to obey perfectly to
live forever. This is often called the ‘covenant of works.’ By contrast, Abraham’s
is the ‘covenant of grace.’ 15v9-21 describes a known covenant-making ceremony
(Jer 34:18). Both parties walk between dead carcasses. This stresses that if
one breaks their commitment they should suffer like the animal. Yet here only
God walks the walk. So he will ensure this covenant is fulfilled despite
Abram’s sin. We have seen how: Abram responds with obedient faith - and it is
“credited as righteousness” (15v6). This means God treats him as if he has perfectly
met his requirements even though he so clearly hasn’t. Circumcision reflects
this. It is a sign that God’s promise is held out to each generation, pledging
its blessings to those of obedient faith seen in a desire to ‘cut off’ the sin
inherited from Adam (Deut 10v12-20, Rom 4v11).
God’s covenant strapline reoccurs
throughout scripture: “I will be your God and you will be my people” (17v7-8). Knowing
God, not the descendents or land, is the ultimate promise, because from him all
else comes.
In Christ this covenant is our
covenant too (Lk 1v67-79). He is not just Abraham’s greatest offspring, but the
greatest King to come from him. He inherits not just what was Canaan, but the
world, eventually driving all who do evil from it and making it new. United to
him, all who believe God’s promises become Abraham’s descendents - the great
nation. And they too are counted righteous. So they receive life in this greater
“land” forever.
Praying it home:
Thank God that he has given himself to us through Christ and
so every spiritual blessing is secured for us. Ask God to reveal any areas
where you may be sinning in order to achieve his purposes, rather than just
trusting him. Seek his forgiveness and strength to rectify this.
Thinking further:
(1) The idea that Abraham’s descendents get to drive out the
inhabitants of Canaan feels harsh. But note 15v16: This will not happen until
the sin of the inhabitants warrants it. God always acts justly. The conquering
of Canaan is at the same time God blessing Israel and punishing those living
there. We’ll think more on this when reaching the book of Joshua. (2) The Old
Testament can’t be dismissed as anti-women or racist towards non-Jews. God
comes personally to the Egyptian Hagar, urges her back to the protection of
Abram’s home, promises blessing to her child and allows her to name him - the
only instance of a person naming God in the Bible!
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(7) January 7: Genesis 18-19 and Matthew 6
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
To discover:
As you read note the attitudes to God being displayed.
To ponder:
Our God keeps his promises; and this is no laughing matter.
He visits Abraham in the guise of a man (some think the pre-incarnate Son of
God). Sarah is in her mid-sixties. Her laugh betrays her unbelief. But God is
well able to keep his promises. Today too, many laugh at his promise of eternal
life. We needn’t be rocked by such scepticism. “Nothing is to hard for the
LORD.” Let that fuel your prayers today.
God’s
judgement is laughed at too (19v14). Yet these chapters affirm God will do what
is just (18v25). He hears the cries of even the non-Christian oppressed, and
will act accordingly (19v13). This may mean judgement against cities or nations
today (though we are not told when this is the case as we are here). But justice
will come to all on the last day. However God will not punish the righteous – ie.
those who seek to obey him through faith.
The depths
of human depravity are also seen in Lot and his daughters. In engaging real
life the Bible is sometimes X-rated. Lot is deemed righteous (2 Pet 2v7). But what
a lapse! He displays a right concern (19v6-7), but acts upon it appallingly
(v8).
Nevertheless,
his example challenges us too: Like the LORD and his two friends visiting
Sodom, we know Jesus sees all. We know he will soon come with justice. We’ve
heard his call to warn others and flee. Like Lot we must speak even if people
laugh. Like Lot we must run and not look back.
There are minor
themes here as well: Abraham’s hospitality is made a model for the Christian
attitude to strangers. We too may entertain angels (Heb 13v2)! But consider his
call as a father (Gen 18v19). This verse would challenge Hebrew fathers to do
the same so that God would fulfil his promises to Israel - to their benefit. If
we desire the same for our family, this instruction is too important to be
crowded out by busyness or ducked because it might mean conflict.
Praying it home:
Thank God that he is just and does not overlook sin. Thank
him also for warning you so that you and your family might be saved. Ask for
courage to warn others, and the determination and wisdom to direct your family
to keep the way of the Lord. Why not jot down how you are going to do that.
Thinking further:
As we’ll see elsewhere, God often works through the natural
order. The miracle isn’t in what happened (volcanic eruption?) but in its
circumstances (on these wicked cities and timed just after the conversation
with Abraham and the escape of Lot ). It is possible the
description of Lot’s wife turning to salt describes her being covered with the
salt and other substances there are much of in the region. But it may be more super-natural.
Nothing is impossible with the LORD.
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(8) January 8: Genesis 20-22 and Matthew 7
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
To discover:
As you read note how God continues to fulfil his promises to
Abraham.
To ponder:
About to reach the summit of his faith, Abraham stumbles.
Like us he repeats his sin. Abimelech’s character (a Philistine) contrasts
those in Sodom and Gomorrah. 20v4 echos Abraham’s plea in chapter 18. God will
not destroy these people. However, they are still reliant on the man he has
chosen. The events point them to God if they are to have mercy, and to Abraham
as his representative. And again, despite his sin, Abraham is blessed with
wealth.
21v1
reminds us why: This couple are under grace. Finally then, God fulfils his
promise in pregnancy. “At the very time” stresses it is no coincidence, and
Isaac’s circumcision shows Abraham’s continuing disposition of true (and
therefore obedient) faith. Patterning our faith in resurrection Abraham
believed that God could bring the life of this birth from the death of he and Sarah’s
aged bodies (Rom 4v19-25). With that faith proved justified, Sarah’s laughter
is no longer unbelieving.
It is
Christ we appeal to when facing the anger of God. And it is he who prays for us
to receive mercy (Heb 7v25). Yet through him, we can intercede for unbelievers
too. When mercy comes and God gives spiritual life to the dead, Sarah’s delight
should be our own.
Ishmael
displays the animosity often directed to those God chooses by those he doesn’t (21v9).
It highlights a wider divide in humanity (Gal 4v21-31). Nevertheless, again God
cares for Hagar. He is not just the one who sees (16v13), but who hears
(21v17). And for Abraham’s sake Ishmael is also blessed.
Chapter 22
is the high point for Abraham. He is “tested” - as we are whenever called to costly
faith. His example challenges us: His obedience is immediate (v3) and full of
faith in God to provide (v8). God has promised offspring through Isaac. So Abraham
knows Isaac will not die. He therefore assumes God would raise him from the
dead (Heb 11v17-19). But God provided a substitute. And because of Abraham’s
obedient faith gives the most solemn oath to bless him. This same oath guarantees
all we await from his covenant (Heb 6v17).
The event
rightly shocks us. But it brings home the wonder that God would do what he
didn’t require of Abraham in the end. Millenia later, his Son carried wood,
arguably to the very same spot, and to become our substitute. God did not
hesitate to send him. How much we should be prepared to offer our bodies to him
as living sacrifices (Rom 12v1-2).
Praying it home:
Praise God with joy (even laughter?) for the utter certainty
of what he has promised - because he has sworn by himself. Praise him for his
great love in giving his one and only Son. Pray for non-Christians you know,
and for an opportunity to tell them you have been praying for them.
Thinking further:
None today. This will only be included where an issue needs
further explanation. Instead, if you haven’t yet done it, browse the links in
the footer of the website: bible2014.blogspot.co.uk
You will find Bible maps annotated according to whatever passage you are
reading, introductions to each book of the Bible and much more.
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(9) January 9: Genesis 23-24 and Matthew 8
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
To discover:
As you read note the different ways trust in God is displayed.
To ponder:
The rapid pace of story and concepts now slows. Again
Abraham’s experience patterns ours. He has not yet received the land. Previously
he was living outside amongst the Philistines (21v34). Now in the land, he is still
an “alien and stranger” (23v4). The discomfort, even loneliness, of not
belonging in this world should not surprise us (1 Pet 1v1). Emulating Jesus we
live by faith not sight, not settling here, not adopting the ways of those
around us, but looking forward to a “better country” (Heb 11v13-16).
The site of
Sarah’s tomb is given space because it is a key burial place for future
characters (49v30-32, 50v13). Abraham’s ownership is stressed as it is the only
part of the land he comes to own. This is why Abraham refused to be given it.
It was to be God’s gift – bought with the wealth God had given him.
Finding a
wife for Isaac reflected confidence in God’s promise too. There could be no
descendents without one! But she mustn’t be from the Canaanites as God promised
Abraham’s descendents would usurp them (9v25-27).
God’s ongoing blessing in
providing the right wife pervades chapter 24 (v1, 27, 31). Abraham has
faithfully taught his household (18v19). So his servant also walks with God. His
prayer is wise: Any woman who offers to water the camels displays a kind and
serving heart. God’s faithfulness to Abraham is stressed by Rebeka’s immediate
appearance, and her being one of his relatives (v27). Moreover, her beauty,
purity (v16) and submissiveness (v55-58) are signs that she is God’s blessing to
him and Isaac. Verse 60 is important: Rebeka’s relatives bless her prophetically,
reflecting her destiny in God’s purposes.
Marriage was not decided amongst
these sparse populations with the niceties we enjoy today. But the story ends
with romance (v63-67). Believers can appreciate beauty and enjoy romance as
God’s gifts. However the great encouragement is to our prayers. Through Christ God
is our God too. He can provide because he governs all things. And experiencing
this should cause us to bow before him in humble awe just as Abraham’s servant did
(v52).
Praying it home:
Make 24v27 your own prayer of praise, listing how God has
been faithful to you. Pray he would keep you humbly reliant on him as Abraham’s
servant was.
Thinking further:
24v40 is not the first mention of angels. To read something
brief on angels from Jim Packer’s excellent ‘Concise Theology’ click here.
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(10) January 10: Genesis 25-26 and Matthew 9v1-17
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
To discover:
As you read note the ways God is active in choosing those he
is going to work through.
To ponder:
Throughout the Lord does things his way. God’s promise will
be fulfilled through Isaac. So Abraham leaves everything to him, and sends his
other sons away, ensuring Isaac alone remains in the land. And although God
fulfils his promise to make Ishmael a nation (twelve tribes), from this point
we hear no more of him.
God’s
answer of Isaac’s prayer for children challenges us husbands to be praying for our
wives. But as with Sarah, the point of Rebeka’s barrenness is to show her
children are specially from the Lord. God reveals that he has ordained what
will be for her sons – two nations: Edom and Israel. God’s reversal of the
usual order which favours the eldest again shows that things will progress as he
determines. Esau is not innocent in losing his birthright (25v30, 34), but
God’s choice of Jacob is one of grace. From the start, by name and action he is
deceiving. Nothing in him could warrant God’s favour.
Paul makes
much of these twins in teaching that we too are included in God’s purposes not
because of anything in ourselves, but simply by God’s choice – and so grace
(Rom 9v1-13). Indeed, just as God granted life to his chosen Jacob from
Rebeka’s barren body, so he gives us life when we are born again, not by human
decision, but by God (John 1v13). We should be deeply thankful.
God’s prior
choice of Isaac for the fulfilment of his promise is displayed in what follows.
Repetition highlights what is most important. So much feels familiar: God urges
Isaac to stay in the land, twice now repeating his promise to him. Isaac lies
about his wife before Abimelech just as Abraham did, showing Abimelech to be
the more upright. Yet again, because of his promise and choice, it is Isaac not
Abimelech who is blessed, making the Philistines envious (26v3, 12-13, 22, 29).
They later make a treaty with Isaac because the Lord is with him. Presumably
they recognise Isaac will therefore succeed come what may (26v28-29).
Election is
a contentious topic. But we raise it because it is perhaps the main point of
these chapters. Indeed, it pervades the Bible: Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Joseph are all chosen for their roles whilst evidently far from righteous. It
is only having chosen them that the Lord then shapes them into the people of
faith and obedience he wants them to be – just as we saw with Abraham (26v5).
“For those God foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his
Son” (Rom 8v29). And God just continues to bless. In “all things” he works for
our good (Rom 8v28). Indeed, having given us Christ he will give us “all
things.” So no-one can condemn us, and nothing can separate us from his love
(Rom 8v31-39).
Praying it home:
Thank God for the faith he has given you, and the gracious
blessings he showers on you despite your sin. Pray for his help to accept the
difficult doctrine of election even though it is hard to understand. We will
never fully fathom God’s ways.
Thinking further:
It is commonly said that Arabs descended from Ishmael,
locating the tension between Muslims and Jews is the story of Ishmael and
Isaac. 25v13-18 lists Ishmael’s sons. The reality is that they settled in the
North of the Arabian Peninsular. Such clear descent to modern Arabs is
therefore extremely unlikely. To read Jim Packer on predestination click here.
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(11) January 11: Genesis 27-28 and Matthew 9v18-38
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
To discover:
As you read note the elements of the promise now reiterated
to Jacob.
To ponder:
More deception, yet more blessing. We’ll see again and again
that God so governs even evil that it serves his purposes. And so he brings his
blessing to the younger over the older through the favouritism and persistent lying
of a mother and a son who take advantage of a blind and weak old man (27v35)! This
is the God who so governs the responsible decisions of men that he brings us
blessing through the execution of his own Son. Herod and Pilate did what his “power
and will had decided beforehand should happen” (Acts 4v27-28).
Again, the
blessings quoted are prophetic. Jacob’s descendents are given supremacy over Esau’s,
and it is clear Isaac gives the blessing in order to pass the baton of God’s
promise on (v29b, compare 12v3, also 28v3-4). Esau is left resentful, his
thoughts echoing those of Cain (v41). At times we will be treated appallingly
by others – even family. But we must guard our hearts.
As with
Isaac, Jacob is to gain a wife from Abraham’s people not the Canaanites. Esau
marries Ishmael’s daughter uniting the two lines that are outside the promise.
The
subsequent story of Jacob begins with God confirming his promise in a dream
just as he did to Abraham (15v12-19). He is even seen in heaven. Jacob’s naming
of the place “Bethel” (gate of heaven) declares the significance of the land
for the future. Bethel contrasts Babel. There people sought to climb to heaven.
Here heaven reaches down to earth. The pillar and oil are a memorial, to mark
what had happened.
It wasn’t
necessarily commendable for Jacob to say he would follow God “if” God watches
over him. God had already promised to. So a hint perhaps of a lack of faith.
Nevertheless, Jacob’s commitment patterns that of his descendents: to have God
as his God, to worship him (the idea of “house” refers to a place of worship -
later the temple), and the offering of a tithe.
It was in
this same land that Jesus walked and said that “on him” angels would ascend and
descend (John 1v51). As the perfect descendent of Jacob he inherits and so
embodies the land. He, not modern Israel, is where we must go for access to God
and to worship (John 4v21-26). In him, God has become our God and we gladly
offer our all in return.
Praying it home:
Thank God that by his Spirit we can worship through Christ
anytime and anywhere. Pray for a greater readiness to give our all in response.
Pray also for your attitude to any people you feel resentful towards at the
moment.
Thinking further:
It is dangerous to come to the Old Testament primarily for
moral lessons. We’ve seen how mixed the example of Bible characters can be. God
uses them and blesses them, but it doesn’t mean he condones their actions. The
nature of narrative is that it often doesn’t tell us how we should view what
these people do. But this is far more engaging for us as readers. We are
expected to bring our wider knowledge of God’s word to assess what we read. As
we do, of course we find ourselves wanting to emulate what is good and learn
from what is bad. However, the main point of the stories is rarely the moral
one. As has been seen, it is usually about God and his great purposes.
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(12) January 12: Genesis 29-30 and Matthew 10v1-23
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
Read Genesis
29-30 & Matthew
10v1-23
To discover:
As you read note the different ways God seems to rectify
injustice.
To ponder:
The space given to these events reflects the importance of
the family. The heads of the twelve tribes of Israel are born. Yet as the
deceiver is deceived (v25), God seems to be righting wrongs.
The search
for a wife echoes the search for a wife for Isaac. However, Jacob doesn’t
display the godly prayerfulness that Abraham’s servant did. Nor are things as
smooth. God leads him to his relatives. But whereas Jacob wants Rachel, he must
first marry Leah. With irony, the one who swindled a place above his older
brother is conned into first marrying the older sister before the younger. And
again, the one who bought his birthright with a stew finds his wives bartering
for him with mandrakes!
The practice
of having children for one wife by marrying her servant was a common cultural
practice (remember Hagar). But because a culture may consider something
acceptable, it doesn’t make it so. God tolerates polygamy in the Old Testament.
He doesn’t condone it. In Genesis 2v24 we see his intent was for men to have
one wife. And polygamy is almost always portrayed as ending in family strife.
Here we see favouritism from the husband, and envy, rivalry and boasting
between Leah and Rachel. Reflecting God’s concern for justice, he blesses the
unloved sister with the many children, only “remembering” Rebecca when the
scales between the two sisters seem a little more in balance. Something of
Christ’s own concern for the outcast is revealed here.
We hear
again and again that each son is from God. He is building the nation he
promised Abraham. And he is providing for that nation-family too. The
competition between Jacob and Laban over the flocks seems bizarre. Both seek to
swindle the other: Laban by removing the speckled animals he promised as wages
to Jacob; Jacob by breeding more from the strongest. Throughout God oversees it
in a way that brings the blessing he pledged (30v27, 30, 43).
Praying it home:
Praise God that he is concerned for the unloved and lifts up
the lowly. Pray for harmony in your marriage or those of your wider family.
Pray also that the church would uphold what God deems right, and not define
right and wrong by the conventions of our culture.
Thinking further:
We do not see polygamy in our culture. But what we might
call serial monogamy would seem to be the norm. By having to marry the servants
Jacob was at least forced to be responsible for them - committing to care and
provide for them and any children that were born. We are right to object to
polygamy. But the challenge is to be as serious in how we view today’s practice
of having multiple sexual relationships, causing immense hurt to those rejected
along the way, and often leaving children with an absent parent.
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(13) January 13: Genesis 31-32 and Matthew 10v24-42
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
Read Genesis
31-32 & Matthew
10v24-42
To discover:
As you read note how Jacob demonstrates reliance on God.
To ponder:
It’s all pretty tense. Just as the Philistines had envied
Isaac’s wealth, so Laban’s family envy Jacob. The danger is exacerbated by
Rachel stealing the household gods. This may have been for religious reasons,
or because having them strengthened a claim to inherit from Laban. Whatever the
case, Laban is furious. However, throughout it is emphasized that God provided
for Jacob whilst with Laban – in part because of the way Laban treated him. As
he promised Abraham: Whoever cursed him (or his descendents) God would curse.
Moreover, it is also stressed that God would protect Jacob now. It was the LORD
who warned him to go (31v3, 13), and it was the LORD who warns Laban against taking
action (31v24, 29). As with Isaac and Abimelech, the tension is relieved by
Jacob making a covenant of peace with Laban. Another crisis and potential
threat to the continuance of Abraham’s line is averted. Reading this we cannot
doubt God’s commitment to bring his promises to fruition or care for us his
people.
There seems
a change in Jacob. God reminds him of the memorial at Bethel and Jacob’s vow to
make the LORD his God if God cared for him (v13, 28v20-21). And throughout Jacob
seems more conscious of the LORD. He credits him for all he has received. He
offers a sacrifice after covenanting with Laban (31v54). And he offers a
heartfelt prayer for help when, no doubt remembering Esau’s desire to kill him,
he faces his brother and four hundred men (32v9-12). Jacob is becoming a man of
faith. Indeed, his prayer is a model of how to humbly appeal to God on the
basis of his promises.
Heavenly
encounters begin and end chapter 32. It takes place as Jacob re-enters the
promised land. This may hint at the land being a new Eden, guarded as it was by
angels. The wrestling match marks the change in Jacob. It is a parable of his
life. “Israel” means “God strives,” but here implies Jacob striving with God – represented
by his angel in the form of a man. Jacob fought against everyone, and even
fought for his blessing. He got it. But because he refused to yield God had to break
him along the way (32v25). Likewise Israel, the nation that would come from
him, fought against God and had to be humbled by exile before Christ could
come. And if we refuse to submit? God may need to put us through hardship too
if that’s what it takes.
Praying it home:
Praise God for his protection of us on account of Christ. Dare
to pray that the Lord would mould you into someone who readily submits to him.
Thinking further:
If you haven’t yet done so, have a read of the NIV Study
Bible’s introduction to the book of Genesis, just click here.
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(14) January 14: Genesis 33-35 and Matthew 11
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
Read Genesis
33-35 & Matthew
11
To discover:
As you read note how God’s protection of Jacob is seen.
To ponder:
Esau acts gloriously. As always Jacob makes plans for his
family’s protection (v1-7). Yet, again, God already had things in hand. He had
changed Esau’s heart, and even blessed him too – presumably because he was also
Isaac’s son. As with Jacob’s covenants with Abimelech and Laban, Esau attitude commends
peace with God’s people.
Sechem’s
response is very different. Jacob had promised to follow Esau to Seir so may
have been wrong to settle here, prompting what followed (33v14). Nevertheless
his naming of his camp “the God of Israel” stresses his family are to be
distinct from the Canaanites in worshipping the true God. The threat throughout
chapter 34 is of losing this distinctiveness (33v16, 22). After Dinah’s rape
the Canaanites urge intermarriage (34v9). Deceptively, Jacob’s sons require
them to be circumcised – the very sign that was to set Israel apart. The threat
is eradicated by Simeon and Levi. Their concern for Dinah’s honour was surely
right (34v31), but their response was terribly wrong. Indeed, it meant their privileges
as sons 2 and 3 were forfeited (49v6-7). Moreover, in eradicating the first
threat it created a second (34v30).
Christ wisely commends shrewdness
and innocence in interacting with the world (Matt 10v16). But we must consider
the call to distinctiveness too. This is the reason the New Testament affirms Christians
should marry only those “in the Lord” (1 Cor 7v39). It is to keep us faithful
and protect our children’s upbringing because God continues to bring his
promises to fruition through godly families (Mal 2v15).
Again God intervenes to protect
Jacob, urging him to return to Bethel and ensuring the Canaanites don’t attack
(35v1, 5). The two Bethel visits bracket (and so highlight) the chapters in
which God blesses Jacob with wealth and offspring.
Returning to this special place,
Jacob ensures his family turn from their idols. As Abraham did (and we should),
he starts to direct his family in the ways of the LORD. But verses 11-13 are
most key, echoing the commission of Adam and Eve (Gen 1v28) and reiterating
God’s promises. Israel
are to be like a new humanity. And through them, God’s plan to reverse the
curse and fulfil his purpose for creation will be fulfilled.
The rest of the chapter sees the
mother of the nation buried at the very place the one through whom all this
would be achieved would be born (35v19)! Reuben, the eldest son sins in a way
that loses his privilege in blessing (49v4) - leaving Judah (son 4) as first. Finally
Isaac dies at an age that reflects God’s favour.
Praying it home:
Thank God for moving you to join his people rather than
oppose them. Pray for God’s strength and help for those seeking to raise their
children in the faith, and especially for those who are married to
non-Christians. Pray those who are single would see the wisdom of not marrying
non-Christians.
Thinking further:
Throughout God’s blessing has been seen in offspring, wealth
and long life. This looked towards his promise of these things to Israel in the
land - if the Israelites remained faithful. On this basis advocates of the so
called “prosperity gospel” today promise these same things to those of faith.
However, we should note that in building a nation God had a particular purpose
in granting such things to the patriarchs and to Israel. Moreover, the New
Testament sees the promises of the land as fulfilled in the new creation when
these things will certainly be ours in some form (Hebrews 4v1-11). For now we
are told the gospel will mean suffering on the model of Jesus (Phil 1v29,
3v10-11), which may include sickness (Phil 26-20) and poverty (Phil 4v12-13) in
even the most faithful. These are part of God’s means of shaping us into the
likeness of his son, building an appreciation for what will be (Rom 5v1-5),
proving our faith to be genuine, and through this bring non-Christians to
glorify God (1 Pet 1v6-7).
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(15) January 15: Genesis 36-37 and Matthew 12v1-21
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
Read Genesis
36-37 & Matthew
12v1-21
To discover:
As you read consider the purpose the list of names serves.
To ponder:
The account of Esau explains the source of the peoples
Israel would encounter in her later history. It also records the ongoing
fulfilment of God’s promise to bless and bring nations and kings from Abraham’s
offspring (36v31). Moreover, we see Esau’s descendents moving East, leaving
Jacob’s in the promised land (36v7-8). Striking too, is how the account affirms
the Bible authors’ careful recording of facts.
37v2 records
the final time the phrase “this is the account of” is used. Previously it has marked
out the creation (2v4), then Adam, Noah, Shem, Terah, Ishmael, Isaac, Esau and
now Jacob. It tells us the book to date has been explaining the origins of the
nation of Israel – the twelve tribes that would be born from Jacob’s twelve
sons.
They form yet another
dysfunctional family – and so much like Isaac’s. Favouritism, ensuing jealousy,
hatred and murderous intent are seen once more. Jacob, the one who deceived his
father is deceived by his sons. And Joseph himself is not without fault. He
shares his dreams in a boastful and quite insensitive way. To share two dreams
is to imply the matter is firmly decided by God (41v32).
There is warning here, not just
with respect to our biological families, but our church family too. God calls
messy people. We also can be prone to jealousy and hatred of those who seem
favoured or more gifted than we are. But the rejection of Christ by the Jews is
patterned here as well. He was the one God destined would be bowed down to by his
brothers. Yet instead they plotted and brought about his own death. They even
gave him up for money as Joseph’s brothers did.
By contrast, after his sin in
35v22 Reuben displays better character. He stands apart from his brothers and
seeks Joseph’s protection. Likewise, our calling is to be ready to stand apart
for Christ. The focus is also on Judah who, moved by a sense of brotherliness, was
the one who suggested selling rather than killing Joseph (37v27).
Praying it home:
Thank God for the gift of our church family. Pray Christians
would bear with one-another in love, and be ready to stand apart from the crowd
in doing so.
Thinking further:
Although God reveals the future to Joseph in dreams, with
the beginning of the account of Jacob we find a certain lack of God actually
appearing or speaking to individuals as he had done previously - until he
speaks to Jacob in chapter 46. Although such things would occur at other times,
they seem in some sense a special mark of the time of the patriarchs, with God
speaking even to the Philistine Abimelech (20v3). We do have some idea of what these
experiences entailed: Sometimes God appeared or spoke by a vision or dream in
which it was as if things were actually seen or heard (15v1, 31v11). At other
times it was by a more face to face appearance of the angel of the LORD (16v9).
The consistency of these explanations makes it likely that when we simply read
conversations individuals had with the LORD, it was by one of these means. For
example, in 35v1 we’re just told God speaks to Jacob. However in 35v9 we read
“he appeared to him again,” implying v1 was an appearance too. The detail given
as to what God says certainly implies he was actually heard.
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(16) January 16: Genesis 38-40 and Matthew 12v22-50
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
Read Genesis
38-40 & Matthew
12v22-50
To discover:
As you read consider what words you would use to describe
Judah and then Joseph.
To ponder:
One lesson is about the corruptibility of the world. After
the threat of chapter 37 Judah marries a Canaanite after all. Mixed marriages
make the raising of godly offspring harder. This may be implied in the
wickedness of the two sons. Their deaths are matter of fact, suggesting the
LORD may still end the life of the wicked early.
Within
Israel, where offspring were so central to God’s promise, it was accepted that
the next brother should marry the widow to ensure his brother’s line continues
(Ruth 4v5f). So Onan and Judah display a lack of concern for God’s purposes in
failing to ensure this. Judah’s ungodliness is confirmed by his readiness to
visit a prostitute, and his terrifying hypocrisy (38v24).
Tamar’s
actions are presented as at least more commendable. And through them the LORD
ensures that Judah’s line continues so his promise will be fulfilled: The son
that resulted was Jesus’ ancestor (Matt 1v3)!!
Once more
we see that human action can never really jeopardise God’s purposes. Rather, he
“works out everything according to the purpose of his will” (Eph 1v11). As so
evident in the cross, even evil acts, for which God holds us to account, are
somehow mysteriously part of his plan - a big theme in the Joseph story.
Again and
again we read the LORD was with Joseph in Egypt. His commitment is to Abraham’s
descendents even out of the land. And just as God promised the world would be
blessed through them, so Potiphar is blessed through Joseph. Might our
employers experience the same?
Like Judah,
Joseph is tempted to sleep with a non-Israelite. But what a contrast: He
refuses. He does so out of concern for others, yet supremely for God (v9). He
won’t even put himself near temptation (v10); and when it comes, he runs (v12).
It’s a model for us to follow in all temptation, whether sexual or not.
Yet as with
Jesus, faithfulness to the LORD doesn’t always mean an easy life. God may have
higher ends in mind. For Joseph as for many Christians today, it meant a loss
of job and even prison. Nevertheless, even when all seemed lost, Joseph never
failed to glorify God (40v8). And God remained with him - as always, working out
his purposes.
Praying it home:
Thank God that even the bad decisions we’ve made do not
hinder his purposes, but are somehow part of them. Pray for God’s help for you
and your family to resist temptation as Joseph did, even if the consequences of
doing so may be hard.
Thinking further:
Chapter 41 suggests Joseph interpreted the dreams with
wisdom and discernment the Holy Spirit gave him (41v38-39). To read more on how
God governs all things by his ‘providence,’ read
RC Sproul here; or more in depth, Jim Packer
here.
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(17) January 17: Genesis 41 and Matthew 13v1-32
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
Read Genesis
41 & Matthew
13v1-32
To discover:
As you read consider how Joseph’s experience patterns that
of Christ.
To ponder:
Joseph has been in prison a further two years. However God’s
timing is perfect. The cupbearer remembers just when it would advance Joseph to
the position the LORD had for him. It’s a reminder to trust God's timing in our
own hardships or witness.
Egypt was
the superpower of the day and Pharoah thought to be divine. Yet he and his
magicians and wise men are impotent, and subject to God’s rule (v8). Moreover,
where Joseph may have been tempted to credit himself with his interpretations
to gain favour from Pharoah, he still credits only God at every opportunity
(v16, 25, 28, 32). This could have provoked Pharoah’s wrath. But “the king's
heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he
pleases” (Prov 21v1). So God moves Pharoah to exalt Joseph to the highest
position in the world of that day – second only to Pharoah himself (v40-41). What
achievement: In just three generations God’s ability to fulfil his promise is
spectacularly proved. And he blesses the world through Joseph (v57, 12v3). All
peoples receive life through the one God raised up from the most lowly
position.
Much then
is patterned here. Joseph is to Pharoah what Adam might have been before God:
He is wise, obedient, given a wife, and given the role of vice-regent over the
world. To Israel the story therefore speaks of what they might be if faithful
to the LORD – a light in the darkness to which the nations look for wisdom and
life (Is 60v1-3). The names of Joseph’s sons would have reminded them that such
a glorious future would enable them to forget their own rocky past and
sufferings in Egypt ,
as they enjoy fruitfulness in the promised land (41v51-52).
For us of course, we cannot but
think of Christ, leaving his home, being betrayed by his brothers and then exalted
through suffering to reign on his Father’s behalf and dispense blessing and
life to the world. Yet in him, the church reigns too. We are the body of Christ
through whom his blessing and life is dispensed. And this great privilege in
some way enables us to forget our prior troubles (v51-52). It certainly will
when the church is exalted in the kingdom to come.
Praying it home:
Thank God for the blessing and life he gives us in Christ,
and how this causes past trials to fade. Pray for the speedy fulfilment of the worldwide
mission of the church - that Christians would “shine like stars as they hold
out the word of life” (Phil 2v15-16).
Thinking further:
Jesus taught that the whole Old Testament looks forward to
him (Lk 24v44-49, Jn 5v39-40). A key way we see this is through what are termed
“types.” These are people, events or institutions that God has shaped in such a
way that they pattern or are like Christ and our redemption in him. Romans 5v14
speaks of Adam in this way. The idea of “shadow” expresses the same idea (Col
2v17, Heb 8v5, 10v1). A shadow patterns the thing it shadows. As such, it gives
us the shape of something coming that we can look out for; and by contrasting
it, it highlights how much more glorious the reality it points to is. Because
God does not change, it is no surprise that his interaction with his people in
one era in some way patterns his interaction with his people in another. It is
for this reason that the Old Testament can teach us (1 Cor 10v1-13, Rom 15v4).
Indeed, because this was God’s intent for the Old Testament, we will see how
often he shapes history so that it does indeed point us forward to Jesus,
whilst stressing how much more glorious God’s work in him is.
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(18) January 18: Genesis 42-43 and Matthew 13v33-58
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
Read Genesis
42-43 & Matthew
13v33-58
To discover:
As you read note the signs the brothers may be feeling guilt
over their treatment of Joseph.
To ponder:
Again the promise seems under threat: Will Jacob and sons live
or die in the famine (42v2)? Jacob’s rebuke to the brothers for not taking
action (v1) affirms that our decisions are at the same time God’s means of
working out his purposes. We need to seek their fulfilment.
Throughout
we see the loss of Joseph behind the events. It is for this reason Jacob is
concerned about harm coming to Benjamin (42v36-38). Yet we also see God’s
purpose in Joseph’s hardships being fulfilled. As the brothers bow down his
dreams comes to pass (v6, 9). But Joseph is not going to make it easy. His
apparent scheming doesn’t seem to flow from vengeance. He fears God (v18) and
on reflection softens his requirements of the brothers (v16-20). Moreover, he
is deeply moved when seeing Benjamin (43v30). Rather, his focus on Benjamin
seems an attempt to test the rest – to see if their attitude has changed.
It seems it
has: The brothers are deeply aware of their prior guilt, seeing what happens as
an accounting (42v21-23). Moreover, the focus is on the two brothers who were
mentioned when Joseph was sold. Reuben is still prepared to step up; although
he blames the others (42v22) and makes an obviously rash promise (42v37). Judah,
however, has come on: Having previously suggested selling Joseph, he offers to
take Benjamin and guarantees his safety (43v8-10). Perhaps aware of the blame
he already carries, he says he will bear the blame “all my life” if anything
happens to him.
What also starts
to be hinted at, is that despite their guilt, the brothers are being protected
by God’s grace. This is represented by Joseph freely giving them the grain,
Jacob’s (Israel’s) prayer that God would show mercy to them (43v14), the
declaration by Joseph’s servant that “the God of your father” had given them
the treasure that was returned to them (43v23), and Joseph’s blessing of “God
be gracious” to Benjamin (43v29).
Past
wickedness doesn’t exclude us from present grace. Just consider the apostle Paul.
And that grace is not just saving grace but transforming grace. Our guilt is
atoned for through Christ’s death and our hearts are changed by his Spirit. God
had been shaping the brothers. His concern is for “a people that are his very
own, eager to do what is good” (Tit 2v14).
Praying it home:
Thank God for the marks of saving and transforming grace in
your life. Pray that work would continue and that you would be prepared to
serve the fulfilment of God’s purposes.
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(19) January 19: Genesis 44-45 and Matthew 14v1-21
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
Read Genesis
44-45 & Matthew
14v1-21
To discover:
As you read note the different ways God’s blessing is
displayed.
To ponder:
Joseph’s “game” continues, and with it similar themes. A cup
is hidden in Benjamin’s sack so that he may be charged with evil. This time,
confident of their innocence, the brothers together make a rash promise – death
for the perpetrator and slavery for the rest.
Because
they know they are innocent, verse 16 suggests they see God as uncovering their
guilt for how they treated Joseph. Without his grace, we can all be sure he
will call our sin to account.
But how different
the brothers now are. Their grief over the implications for Benjamin mirrors
the grief of Jacob’s love when losing Joseph (44v13, 37v24). They now care. And
Judah displayed no concern for his father (or his beloved son) when Joseph was
sold. But now he pleads with Joseph for his father’s sake. It culminates in offering
himself as a substitute for his brother. More than that, he offers himself to
redeem his brother from the slavery due him for stealing the cup. The nobility
of acting like Christ is to sacrifice ourselves for the good of others in just
this way.
Seeing how
his brothers have changed, Joseph cannot contain his emotion (45v2). He reveals
himself and the purpose of the wrong done him: Again and again he stresses “God
sent me” (45v5, 7, 8, 9). The repetition makes the main point clear. God did it
to save lives, and particularly those of Jacob’s family – ie. Israel
(v7). Because of this Joseph is able to display the most astonishing
forgiveness, embracing his brothers with tears, and Benjamin with no hint of
envy (45v14-15). He even urges his brothers not to be distressed or angry with
themselves (45v5). Perhaps understanding God has purpose when others treat us
badly may help us forgive.
The result
of all this is of course God’s blessing. Joseph will provide for the family during
the famine. Pharoah even promises them the best of the land, granting them
carts, supplies and money. One can’t help think of how Pharoah gave Abraham
wealth when he left Egypt, and how the Egyptians would provide for Israel as
she left too. Again, God is able to deliver his people no matter how severe
their predicament. He can move the greatest of Kings to act kindly towards them.
And through Christ, they will even inherit the earth.
Praying it home:
Think of good God has brought from suffering in your life.
Thank him for it. Pray that in the light of this you will be able to forgive
those who have wronged you.
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(20) January 20: Genesis 46-48 and Matthew 14v22-36
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
Read Genesis
46-48 & Matthew
14v22-36
To discover:
As you read note how the fulfilment of God's promise to
Abraham is affirmed.
To ponder:
Genesis begins its conclusion with the great theme of the
book. It can’t be laboured enough: God is fulfilling his promise to Abraham.
The great nation is nicely on its way.
Previously,
leaving the land has shown a lack of faith. So as Jacob (now Israel )
offers sacrifices (perhaps to express thanks), God reassures him of his
presence even in Egypt ,
and of the great nation he would form there (46v2-4). With Abraham’s dream
(15v1-14), this vision makes clear Israel’s hardships in Egypt were a step
towards the fulfilment of his promises. As the family set out, we see Judah
taking the lead, hinting at his future role (46v28).
In counting seventy persons, we remember
the seventy nations covering the earth in Genesis 10. This extended family is an
embryo of a new nation – in some senses a new humanity. God is providing the
best for them in Goshen. In Egypt, it is stressed the mighty Pharoah is blessed
(see again, 12v3). There the Egyptians end up in bondage through Joseph. And
there, with echoes of creation we read they are “fruitful and increase in
number” (47v27, 1v26-28).
By
achieving this God reassures us. We live out of our promised land, having
temporary residence in this world. Yet whilst here, Christ continues to form
his great nation, the new Israel, ready for the world to come. Through us this world
is blessed. But in the end, those who are not God’s people will find themselves
humbled as the new Israel is exalted.
Jacob’s
death is important. He regards his life as relatively short, perhaps seeing
this as the result of how he treated his father (Deut 5v16). Nevertheless, he shows
faith in God’s promise by wanting to be buried in Canaan, still looking for the
better country (Heb 11v16, 21). He may have assumed he would be raised to enjoy
the land when all is fulfilled.
The blessing of Joseph’s sons
explains why later Israel included tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh as well as
the eleven other brothers. (This made thirteen. But it remained twelve because Levi
were put in charge of worship and so given no land). Jacob is in no doubt who
the angel he had engaged with was, and is confident his God will be with his
offspring. His blessing affirms God’s choice again by placing the younger over
the older. It also reiterates God’s purpose (48v16).
Praying it home:
Thank God that he continues to build his church, and that
the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Pray for elderly Christians you
know, that like Jacob, they would have strong faith in God’s promise of
resurrection and new creation.
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(21) January 21: Genesis 49-50 & Matthew 15v1-20
[If you are benefiting from
these notes, could you commend them to some friends today by email, text or
facebook? Tomorrow we start Exodus, so it would be a great time for them to
start. They could then read Genesis at the end of the year. Send them a link
to: bible2014.blogspot.co.uk]
Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
To discover:
As you read note the different things predicted.
To ponder:
Genesis began explaining humanity’s loss of paradise and
blessing. It ends with us confident God will restore it.
Jacob’s gathering of his sons
raises our interest. He speaks prophetically of what the later Old Testament
confirms. Perhaps God revealed these things in another vision.
Reuben, Simeon and Levi all miss
out because of the sin we saw them commit. Reuben’s example offers particular
warning: He started well, yet fell into sexual sin. Simeon and Levi are denied
a share in the land. So Simeon’s tribe is barely heard of after the land is
taken; and Levi forfeit their share because of the priestly role they are given.
Contrast Judah: He will conquer
like the lion enjoying his prey. He will always rule, and not just over the
other tribes, but over the nations – when “the one comes to whom” his sceptre
belongs (v8, 10)! Verses 11-12 are then filled with the language of prosperity,
joy and health. We should not be surprised that Jesus, the lion of Judah (Rev
5v5), stemmed from Judah’s line. Nor that his kingdom is described with similar
images (Rev 7v14-17). Jacob’s words are fulfilled in him.
Joseph is exalted as well. He is a
“prince” among his brothers, and blessings are showered on him (v25-26). The
death of both Jacob and Joseph display their enduring faith in God’s promise.
Jacob is determined that he is buried in the tomb Abraham bought in the land
(49v29-33). In death he is said to have been “gathered to his people” –
primarily those in v31. The sense is of them together awaiting the day when
they will be brought to enjoy God’s promise.
Jacob’s significance is affirmed
by the honour ascribed him: 70 and 7 days of mourning – where seven symbolises
completion or fullness, and ten symbolises many. The Egyptians going to the
land with the embryonic Israel may hint at God’s intention eventually to
include Gentiles in his promise.
With Jacob dead the brothers did
not need to worry about Joseph’s attitude to them. He weeps, shows kindness,
and reaffirms what we’ve been learning: God was acting through their evil acts
– a truth the Bible applies to evil more generally too (Eph 1v11). Yet God is
not charged with evil because his intention is good (Rom 8v28-30).
By
faith Joseph is confident that God will come to his family’s aid and take them
from Egypt to Canaan. He therefore asks that his bones go too so that he also is
laid to rest in the inheritance (Heb 11v22). We finish then, ready for the book
of Exodus.
Praying it home:
List the key things you’ve learnt about God in Genesis, and
praise him for them. Pray that you would be able to rejoice in all we have in
Christ.
Thinking further:
The kingdom of Israel splits in the 8th century
BC. Judah’s pre-eminence explains why the southern kingdom is often then called
Judah. Joseph’s explains why the northern is often called Ephraim.
We have now
finished our first book. We have seen Israel take to the stage of human
history. Through his promise to Abraham God is going to bless the very earth that
he had cursed after Adam. And he has begun to do it. Within just a few
generations Abraham has become a great nation. God has shaped that nation and
protected it. But now settled in Goshen, we see it needs the land he promised.
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