The Old Testament begins with the sentence, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Then it goes on to tell the magnificent story of how God created the entire universe, just by speaking it into place.
Read More
When God spoke most of the universe into place, it took five days (See here and here for more details). It was an abundance of creation: light and darkness, the sun, moon, and stars, the boundaries of land and ocean, the flourishing of plant life, the birds winged in flight, the flashing of the fish in the sea…
Read More
The first pages of the biblical text give us God’s account of how He created the universe. We learn that from the immensity of His greatness and power, He simply spoke it all into existence out of nothing.
Read More
God had made the first man and woman in His image, and now that sweet relationship was broken. The mother and father of the human race had joined the enemy of God in a mutinous rebellion in His Garden Temple.
Read More
The chapter of Genesis that comes after the flood is fascinating. It is called the Table of Nations. It tells of the people on earth that came from Noah’s three sons.
Read MoreShem was the son of Noah’s greatest blessings. His children and their descendants were chosen by God in a special way. He had five sons whose families grew to become great nations.
Read More
After the Great Flood, all the humans really stuck together. They spoke the language of Noah. They traveled the land together as nomads. They lived in tents that could easily be picked up and moved. They herded their animals along with them as they wandered from place to place seeking good water supplies and plenty of grassland for their animals.
Read More
God saw all that was happening with the people he created. He watched as they moved eastward, and he watched as they boasted and built their mighty tower. And then God came down. Imagine this! The Almighty Lord reigns in glory on his exalted throne in Heaven.
Read MoreAbram’s life was in shambles. He was seventy-five years old when his father had died. He was living in Haran, far from the land of Canaan, the place where his father Terah had hoped to go. His beloved wife remained barren, which brought deep shame to her from everyone in their society.
Read More
For three days, Abraham did not waver in his faith. God had commanded him to do the unthinkable...to offer his own son as a sacrifice...the very son that God had promised him as a gift so many years before.
Read More
The Lord guided him to a beautiful young virgin named Rebekah as she took water from the village well. He knew she was the one for Isaac, and so he gave her bracelets of precious gold and asked to be taken back to her home. She ran ahead and told her mother everything that had happened during her time at the well.
Read More
What a sad and distorted picture of a family. Isaac, Esau, Rebekah, and Jacob each worked out of their own selfish ambition, competing over the powerful and potent blessing of the firstborn son. What great blessings and harmony they could have shared together if they had all submitted to the will of their faithful God.
Read More
In those early days of his marriages, Jacob’s family had grown to eleven boys and a girl! For fourteen years, he worked as the chief shepherd for Laban so that he could marry Rachel and Leah. He had worked very hard, often in harsh weather and for long hours.
Read More
Jacob had escaped from his uncle with all of his wives and children, their servants, flocks, and tents. Ten days into their journey back to the Promised Land, Laban and the men of his household caught up with them.
Read More
Jacob and his clan settled on land that he had purchased near the town of Shechem. They could see its buildings off in the distance from their home. This was the place that Abraham had built his first altar in the Promised Land.
Read More
Shechem had grown up in the brutal town that shared his name. It was a world where manipulation and corruption were the name of the game. And when it came to how a man should treat a woman, it was even more brutal still.
Read More
The children of Abraham had earned a new kind of reputation. Abraham was a man of peace, venturing into war only to protect and defend. His military might had restored his neighbors from slavery and abject poverty.
Read More
Joseph, the beloved son of Rachel and Jacob, grew up quite alone in the household of his father. The sons of Leah and the maidservants were very jealous of this boy who was so clearly the favorite of their father. He wore the lavish coat that their father had made just for him, and he told them of dreams where they would bow down at his feet.
Read More
The family of Jacob became more distant and broken. Judah moved away from the clan and married a Canaanite woman. Their first two sons were so wicked that God shortened their lives so they could sin no more. Tamar was the wife of Judah’s oldest son, and now she was left alone and vulnerable.
Read More
Joseph was living in Egypt as a slave in the house of Potiphar. The Bible says that God was with Joseph, which means he was present with him to bless him. Even though he was a slave and far from the Land of Promise, God’s protection and care had not changed.
Read More