Through the Bible - Genesis

Good evening, everybody. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul discusses a variety of events that took place in the Old Testament. In verse 11, he states, "upon whom the end of the age or the end of the world has come." I encourage you to underline that in your Bibles.

If you look around the world today and consider what the Scriptures have to say, you will find that the Bible speaks extensively about the days in which we are living. In several months, as we go through the prophetic books, we will see this more clearly.

When you turn on K-Wave, it seems that nearly every person is discussing the coming of the Lord in the last days. It appears that we are indeed living in those last days. One of the most significant indicators of this is what took place 60 years ago on May 14, 1948. We will celebrate the 60th anniversary of that event next year.

And that was when Israel became a nation once again, a direct fulfillment of the prophecies of Ezekiel, chapters 36 and 37. Looking at these things, we can say we are living in the last days. Paul writes to the church at Corinth, stating that all these things happened to the children of Israel in the Old Testament as examples, and they were written for our instruction, who live in this day and time.

I've met Christians, and I'm sure you have as well, who think that, as New Testament believers, we don't need the Old Testament. I strongly disagree with such people because Paul tells us that all the events that happened to the children of Israel in the Old Testament serve a purpose. God has given us His word so that we would read it, study it, and understand what He desires to communicate to us.

We are going to begin the book of Genesis tonight, so if you want to turn there, you can do so as if you are an authority on Scripture. It's the first book of the Bible, so it's pretty easy to find. I want you to notice the very first three words of this book, which are not just the first words of Genesis but of the entire Bible: "In the beginning."

We know very clearly, by looking at secular magazines, watching secular news shows, and reading various materials, that there is a lot of discussion about how things began. The book of Genesis, or actually the word "Genesis," means beginnings or origins. God tells us how it all started. He does not want us to be ignorant of these things; He wants us to understand them. He made it very clear for us, although it is difficult for man, in his finite mind, to grasp these concepts.

The words "In the beginning" and the very next word, "God," blow the minds of many people, especially secular, unregenerate individuals. Those words, "In the beginning, God," completely astonish mankind. Many cannot comprehend that idea. In our society, we have been indoctrinated under a scientific worldview for several hundred years. Through the course of science, we have been able to investigate the world around us, whether on a microscopic level or a telescopic level, but that is all they can really see: this world around us. When we read, "In the beginning, God," it challenges everything we think we know.

You can't examine that with a microscope or a telescope. You can't. Since man wants to be able to examine with his mind all the physical world, science is the study of the physical world. They use tests, examination, and observation to consider this physical world. You're not going to find God in the physical world because He is separate from His creation. He is outside of and independent of His creation.

There are certain things that we can deduce about God from the creation. The book of Romans, chapter 1, and also the Psalms tell us that the heavens declare the glory of God. The heavens make it clear that there is a God. The creation cries for a Creator. By looking scientifically through observation at this creation, we can come to the understanding that there is a God. That's the first thing we can understand: there is a God. There has to be a Creator. Those who say there is not a Creator, to me, it's absolute foolishness. In fact, the Psalms tell us, "The fool has said in his heart that there is no God." It's foolishness to say there is no God.

Looking at this computer that I have sitting on the desk here, if I told you that I was in the other room this afternoon getting a glass of water in the kitchen, and I heard a massive explosion, then came in here to find that it had just appeared on the table, you would think I was an idiot. You would call me an imbecile. The information that is put into that computer— we have an engineer here— the engineering that went into making this computer, not just the hardware but the software, the coded information that's written in there, can't just happen on its own.

Yet, someone will turn around and say that the DNA molecule, which is vastly more superior in coded information than this computer, just happened by random chance and mutation. My wife has been preparing for nursing, and she has been going through anatomy and physiology this summer. She comes home and talks about the anatomy class that she's in. It all goes over my head; I don't understand any of it. But what I do understand is that it can't just happen by chance.

We had a scientist here a few weeks ago, Dr. Thomas Kandel, who shared with the body on a Wednesday night. There were a lot of people there, and I'm telling you, I think what he said went over all of our heads. But we all learned by the end of that that it just can't happen on its own. Man wants to observe this world.

Because his mind is finite, he can only think within the realm of the world around him. He can't think outside of that. However, he can deduce from the world that there is a creator. The existence of God can be shown in creation.

Another thing we find about God through creation is that this creator has power. To be able to make all the things we see, there is great power bound up in the universe. Consider what happened when we broke an atom apart; it caused a great explosion. Just one small atom, which you can't even see with the naked eye, requires mega electronic microscopes to observe. Yet, when you split that tiny thing, it unleashes power that man can't even begin to grasp. He is fearful of that power. Therefore, the God who created all this must have immense power.

By looking at creation, we can learn that there is a God. He does exist, and he has great power. Additionally, we learn that he possesses great intelligence. God must have both great power and great intelligence to take the resources and power he has and put them together into what we see as life. From creation, we can conclude that there is a God, he is powerful, and he is intelligent. Any inquiring mind that approaches creation without bias will arrive at those three conclusions.

To learn more about God, he must reveal himself. All the things in the world are what we call general revelation. If there is a God, as we believe the world declares, then the only way we can know his character and will is if he reveals himself to us. God must reveal himself through special revelation and even personal revelation.

As we go through the Bible, we will see that God does this. In fact, in the very first book of the Bible, God reveals his will. Then, in the second book, when we get into Exodus next week, we will begin to see God revealing his character to Moses. God will first reveal his will to some of his people, those who follow him by faith in the Old Testament. Noah will be one of the first we see, followed by Abraham, but he will continue to reveal his character.

The world only shows us the existence of a God who is powerful and intelligent, but the Bible gives us deeper insight.

Into God's character and His will, if God wants to reveal Himself to man, He has to speak to us. Some people have said that God is way too powerful to be able to speak on our level. Well, that's just foolishness. The man who made these computers is smart enough to write a language that the computer can understand. If God made us with minds that are like these computers, far more superior than these computers, then He can speak to us in our language. He can speak to us on our level. He's that powerful. He's that immense. He's that awesome.

As we come to this book, it gives us the origins. That's why it's called Genesis—the book of origins, the book of beginnings. Many things are given to us, the firsts in this book. We see the beginning of the universe, the beginning of the earth and everything in it, the beginning of man, and the beginning of marriage. God instituted marriage, and it's seen here in the second chapter of the book of Genesis. We see the beginning of sin in Genesis chapter 3, the beginning of the family in Genesis chapter 4, and the beginning of the followers of God in Genesis chapter 5. As you continue through the book, you see many beginnings that are given—many things that we would only know about their origins through this book.

In the beginning, God. Understand that He is the initiator; He is the first cause. There is a study within philosophy and sciences called cosmology, which goes back to what is the first cause. As Bible-believing Christians, we see that the first cause is God. There has to be a first cause; physics tells us that. Those who are evolutionists in the area of physics say that the first cause was the Big Bang. But what caused it to bang? They claim that all this stuff was floating around and came together at a certain point in history and then banged. But where did all that stuff come from? To me, that is so foolish.

They turn back at us and say, "Well, you want us to believe that there was nothing and then there was something because it came from a God who was outside of that something?" It seems far more intelligent to me. Why is that? Because, as we will see next week in Exodus chapter 3, God tells us His name: "I Am." That means He is the ever-existing one; He is outside of space and time. However, this mind, although we like to think that it's pretty powerful—especially when we look at the advances in technology and science—has its limitations.

Especially in the last 50 to 100 years, we think that there's nothing outside of man's grasp. Whatever he imagines, whatever he conceives, he can make it happen. However, there are so many things that are outside of this finite mind that we just can't grasp. One of those things is, "In the beginning, God." The only way you can grasp it is by faith. It's by faith, just as the writer of Hebrews tells us: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

You can't see God through a microscope. You can't see Him through a telescope. You can't see God. You can see the effects of God's power and His intelligence, but you can't see God. No matter how far out into space you send probes, you're never going to find God with science. He can only be found through revelation, which is through this book, the Bible. In part tonight, we will look at the book of Genesis.

In the beginning, God did what? He created. God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light." And there was light.

As we begin to crack this book and look at even the first three verses, one of the things we see, just at the very beginning, on the very lowest level, is something we call the doctrine of the Trinity. We will see, as we go through the Bible, that there is something called progressive revelation, where God begins to reveal more and more as time goes on. Here is the first revelation of this doctrine of the Trinity.

How do we see it? In the beginning, there was God, and the Spirit of God, in verse 2, moved upon the face of the waters. And God what? Said. That's the Word of God. There is a correlating passage to this in Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1. In the beginning was the Word. We find in John 1:14 that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Word is Jesus, and there we see Jesus at the very beginning. Jesus is eternal. He is God. In the beginning, God created, and the Spirit of God was there. Jesus says, "Let there be light." Later on, we see God say, "Let us make man in our image."

Even the Word for God, in the beginning, is the word Elohim in Hebrew. That word Elohim, the last two letters, I-M, are the plural form in Hebrew. Just like if you put an "S" on the end in our language, the I-M is the plural. There is one God, the Scripture tells us, but He exists in three persons. We will study that more as we go through the Bible. We're not going to spend a whole bunch of time on it tonight.

As you look at chapter one, one of the things I would encourage you to do as we go through the Bible together is, during the week, read these books. I have been reading through the book of Genesis this week, and I am currently at chapter 30. I didn't make it through the entire book today. But here's the thing: I challenge you, and I'm taking the same challenge. If you're willing to take it, read the book of Exodus this week, because we will be in Exodus next week.

In the first chapter of Genesis, the words "and God" are repeated over and over again. "And God." "And God said." "And God saw." God is the supreme character of Genesis chapter one. He is the one who made it all. In Genesis chapter two, we see the Lord God. Not just God, this all-powerful being.

Back in the 1700s, during the times of those great awakenings, there was a group of people that spun off from theology into this whole thing of deism. Maybe you've heard that word, deism, before. They said, "Yes, we believe there is a God, but He just wound up creation like a clock and has left it. He wants nothing to do with it." That's the God view of Genesis chapter one. However, Genesis chapter two brings us the Lord God, who is intimately involved in the things of creation.

In Genesis chapter three, we see that He actually walks with man in the garden. He cares and is intimately involved in the things that are going on here on earth. When we get to Exodus, we will see that not only does He want to dwell in the midst of His people, but He also calls them to build a tabernacle. But that's for next week.

The major theme that we see in this book is the inadequacy of man without God. Man is completely inadequate without God. We see that in every single one of the key characters of this book. Tonight, we will briefly look at this theme.

We are going to look at five key characters in this book: Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. This book reveals to us, even at the very beginning in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, that God has a redemptive plan for man. Genesis chapter 3 shows us the fall of man. Remember, God said, "Of all the trees that are in the garden, you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden, you shall not eat of it. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die." Did Adam and the first woman, Eve, eat of that tree? Yes, they did. They surely died—spiritually first, and then it started in motion a physical death.

But they died there, and God came and spoke to them as He pronounced a curse on the earth and to the enemy, Satan, the serpent. As God spoke this curse, He tells us in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, of a redemptive plan that God is going to destroy that serpent. This redemptive plan is seen again in this book as you continue through it, especially as we come to chapter 5.

Turn to Genesis chapter 5, and we will look at something briefly here. In Genesis chapter 5, man begins to procreate. He begins to fill the earth and subdue it, as God told him to do. There is a list of people given to us in this passage—a genealogy in Genesis chapter 5. As you read through this genealogy of the line of Seth, it says in chapter 5, verse 1, "This is the book of the generations or the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created him, in the likeness of God made He him. Male and female created them and blessed them and called their name Adam."

In the day when they were created, Adam lived 135 years and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth. The days of Adam, after he had begotten Seth, were 800 years. They lived quite a bit longer than we do. He begot sons and daughters, and all the days of Adam that he lived were 930 years, and he died. Seth lived 105 years and begot Enosh. Seth lived after he begot Enosh 807 years and begot sons and daughters.

And all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died. As you continue through this genealogy, you will notice that all we read about these people is that they were born, they had children, and they died. It is simply a list of the men who called upon the name of the Lord during those days. There were other people being born at this time, but God focuses His light, His spotlight, on just a group of people—the group that followed Him.

It was in the days of Seth, when he was born, that men began to call on the name of the Lord. They began to follow the Lord once again. Thus, we have this godly line of people through Noah and his son Seth, continuing down through all these different names: Adam, Seth, Enosh, Canaan, Mahalal, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah. Many of you have heard some of these names. You know the name Noah. Have you heard of that one? Some of you have probably also heard the name Enoch. What special thing did Enoch do? He walked with God for 300 years, and he was not, as the Scripture tells us, because God took him.

As you read through this genealogy, you will see the pattern: they were born, they had children, and they died. But when you begin to look at this in the original language and examine the definitions of the names of these people, you will find that names are important in the Bible. Names are very important to God.

For instance, Adam means "man," and Seth means "appointed." Seth's son, Enosh, means "mortal." The next name, Canaan, means "sorrow," while Mahalal means "the blessed God." Jared means "shall come down," and Enoch means "teaching." Methuselah means "his death shall bring," Lamech means "the despairing," and Noah means "rest."

What does all of this mean? When you put it together in a sentence, we read: "Man appointed to mortal sorrow, the blessed God shall come down teaching that His death shall bring the despairing rest." What does that sound like? That's the gospel. That's the redemptive plan that God provided. Remember, He told Adam and Eve, and even that serpent, that Eve would ultimately bring forth a child, and you shall bruise His heel, but He shall crush your head. This is the redemptive plan of God. See, God didn't make a mistake at the beginning. Some Christians think...

God created man and gave them the law: "You shall not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil." God thought they would be able to keep that law. When man didn't keep it, God was left scratching His head, wondering, "Goodness, what am I going to do?" So, He decided to offer a sacrifice. He made this sacrifice, clothed them with skin, and then told them, "You have to follow me." They tried to follow God for a while, but they didn't do a very good job.

As you know, by the time we get to Genesis chapter 10, they built the Tower of Babel, trying to reach God with a tower. That didn't work. God came down and destroyed the whole thing because it was a faulty system. Finally, God called Abraham and said, "Come, follow me." However, Abraham didn't do it all that great; he was kind of ambiguous.

After a few hundred years, about 400 years later, God called Moses and gave the law to the children of Israel, hoping that maybe this would work. Some Christians think that God made a mistake and tried to remedy His mistake with the sacrifices and then with the law. Finally, when it didn't work after 4,000 years of history, they believe God said, "All right, Jesus, you're going to have to go down there and clean up the mess. Last resort."

No, that's not what happened. God's plan was in place before the creation of the world. Revelation, the last book of the Bible, 13:8, says Jesus is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. God had the plan before He ever said, "Let there be light." He knew man would fall, and He knew what He would do when man fell. He had a redemptive plan.

He told Eve that one day a man would come from a woman, and he would crush the serpent's head. God speaks through the genealogy given to us of the godly line, the people who followed God by faith. We read there that man is appointed to mortal sorrow, but the blessed God shall come down. He is not just going to send an angel; the blessed God shall come down, and He shall teach that His death shall bring the despairing rest.

The gospel is seen in the very first book of the Bible because God had a plan, and God's plan was always by grace through faith. Some people teach and think that people in the Old Testament were saved by the law. That's not what the scripture says. The law was given for a purpose. Paul tells us this in Galatians: the purpose is to point us to Jesus. It was to show us...

That man could not live by the law was to prove to man that there was no way, in his own efforts, even by God's perfect plan through His law, that man could ever get to God. By the law shall no flesh be justified. God gave His law for the purpose of bringing man to the point of realizing that he needed a Savior. But salvation has always been by grace, and that brings us to our first character that we're going to consider here in the book of Genesis, in Genesis chapter 6.

In Genesis chapter 6, we read of a man named Noah, whose name means "rest." It came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, and they took unto them wives which they chose. The Lord said, "My spirit shall not always strive with man, for he is also flesh; yet his day shall be a hundred and twenty years." There were giants in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men.

They bore children to them, and the same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown. God saw the wickedness of man, that it was great. One of the other things that the book of Genesis shows us is that man is not inherently good. In fact, God reveals to us through this story of the flood that every imagination of man's heart is only wicked continually. God saw the wickedness of man that it was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

It repented the Lord, or displeased the Lord, that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. The Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repents me that I have made them, or it displeases me that I have made them."

But notice this, in verse 8: "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Grace is unmerited, undeserved favor. God looked upon all the men that lived upon the earth at that point in time, and there were very likely millions, if not billions, of people already living there. They lived a very long time and had a lot of children during the long time that they lived. In fact, the oldest man mentioned in the Bible, Methuselah, lived 969 years.

But here's a little riddle for you, something to consider for later: the oldest man that ever lived died before his father did. The oldest man that ever lived died before his father did. Something to consider for later.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and these are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect. Notice that he found grace in the eyes of the Lord before God said he was just and he was perfect. It is grace that brings that position of just righteousness, justified and righteous.

In the life of Noah, as you follow his story from Genesis chapter 6 to Genesis chapter 9, you find that he was not perfect. He obtained grace, unmerited and undeserved favor from God. He received grace from God. In his life, we see the first key thing to the book of Genesis. We have five key characters that we're looking at, and we see the first key thing of the book of Genesis in Noah. His life gives us regeneration—the rebirth, the new birth, regeneration.

How so? Well, what did he live through? The flood, right? The flood that destroyed all mankind and everything that God had created, except for the eight people that lived on the ark and all the animals that they brought in with them. The only reason that happened is because Noah obeyed God. By faith, he obeyed God.

God came to him and said, "I want you to build an ark." At that point in time, as we read the scriptures, just looking at what the Bible gives us in the first six chapters of Genesis, there had never been rain, and there was never a boat. God came to him and told him, "I want you to build a boat because it's going to rain." And he thought, "What? What are you talking about? I don't know what this is. Build a boat? Don't worry, I'll tell you."

So Noah took a hundred years, and by faith, he built this boat. He built this boat, a huge boat. We're not talking about a little hobie cat; no, we're talking about a big boat to house two of every kind of the animals that live and breathe on the earth, and then more of the clean animals.

Hebrews chapter 11, when it speaks of men and women of faith, says he believed God to the saving of his soul and his household. And he was carried through.

The death and destruction in the world serve as a backdrop for understanding regeneration. This brings us to the next character in Genesis chapter 12: Abraham. After the flood and the destruction of the Tower of Babel, God introduces us to this significant figure. We read about him in Genesis chapter 12, verse 1, which states, "Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, 'Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curses thee, and in thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.'"

Notice verse 4: "So Abraham did what?" Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken unto him. He believed and obeyed. Just as Noah believed God when told to build an ark because a flood was coming, Abraham also believed and obeyed. He is a picture of one who came through death, being born again on the other side of the flood. Abraham exemplifies justification by faith. He departed because he believed God, as we see in Genesis chapter 15, the key verse of Abraham's life. Genesis chapter 15, verse 6 states, "Abraham believed the Lord, and it was accounted unto him as righteousness."

Was Abraham perfect? No. In fact, if you read through the story of his life in Genesis, you will find at least eight major failures of faith as he followed God. He followed God for a long period, from the time he was 75 until his death at 175, a span of one hundred years. Yet, he still experienced failures in his faith. Imagine having every one of your major failures written down in a book for all generations to read. Why were they written down? As stated in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 11, "And so he believed God, and it was accounted unto him as righteousness."

God gave him righteousness because he believed. This is the very same way that you and I obtain a right standing with God in these New Testament days. We believe God, and God gives us righteousness. Why? Well, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21 tells us, "He who knew no sin," that's Jesus, "became sin for us that we might be the righteousness of God in Christ." You see, we receive His righteousness as we believe in Him.

Abraham received the righteousness of God, although he was not perfect and failed in his faith many times. Did anybody identify with that? You may remember the story in Genesis chapter 12. After he begins to follow God by faith, he starts to go south, as the scripture says, and ends up in Egypt. Right when he's getting into Egypt, he tells his wife, "Listen, I know you're beautiful," which is quite a statement because at that point in time, she is 65 years old. He says, "You are so beautiful that they're going to steal you from me and kill me for you." So, he wants her to tell them that she's his sister. How would you like that, ladies?

Well, he gets busted and kicked out of Egypt. It is a sad thing when the king of the world has to rebuke a Christian or a follower of God, and he does. But you know what? Abraham dealt with that very same issue years later when he started to head down south towards Egypt again. He ended up in the land of Gerar, near Egypt, and went to the king there, Abimelech. He says, "Oh no, she's not my wife, she's my sister." He got busted for it again.

You see, he fails in his faith in the same things over and over again, and yet God says, "You're my friend." Abraham is called the friend of God because he had faith. He believed God even though he failed. He is a picture for us of justification by faith.

In Noah, we see regeneration, the rebirth coming through death. In Abraham, we see justification by faith alone. This brings us to our next character, his son Isaac. Isaac is a picture for us of the blessed son, the sonship. The interesting thing is that as you read the New Testament, which correlates with the book of Genesis, all these things were written for our instruction and admonition. As you read the New Testament, you find that we are born again by faith, justification by faith. We are born again like Noah through justification.

By faith, like Abraham, and through justification by faith, we receive what? Sonship. We are adopted into the family of God. Just like Isaac, he is the blessed son whom his father loved, the son of the promise, to whom his father gave everything—his entire inheritance. Although Abraham had other children, everything was given to the son Isaac. We find that just before his death, in Genesis chapter 25, the entire promise, the entire inheritance was bestowed upon Isaac, and he is the blessed son.

Well, not only regeneration and justification by faith, but that brings us also to the next character in the book of Genesis. And boy, is he a character—Jacob. His name means heel catcher, supplanter, deceiver. He got that name because he was a twin. His brother, Esau, was named Esau because his name means hairy. He came out very hairy, and they said, "Oh, Esau, he's hairy." As Esau was being born, Jacob was holding on to his heel. So they said, "Oh, he's a heel catcher. We'll call him Jacob." His name fit his character because this guy was quite the deceiver.

When you follow his life, you see that he wanted the birthright. One day, his brother Esau came in from the field. Esau was a hunter, and he came in tired and famished. He saw his brother Jacob, who was described as a dweller in tents. Now, we don't really know what that means, but it would seem like he was a good homely guy, someone who liked to cook.

Esau, being tired and hungry, said, "Oh man, you're making that great lentil soup. That's my favorite. Give me some of it." Jacob replied, "Well, you want it so bad, sell me your birthright." Just a good Jew, he knew how to wheel and deal. Esau said, "Oh, I'm about to die. If I die, what is my birthright to me?" Jacob pressed, "Go ahead. You can have it. Is it a deal?" Esau agreed, "Yeah, it's a deal. You take the birthright." Jacob then handed him the bowl of beans. Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of beans.

But with the birthright came the blessing of leading the family and the blessing of the double portion.

The scripture tells us that Esau, although he was the firstborn, despised his birthright. It didn't mean anything to him until another day when his brother deceived him. Their father, Isaac, called Esau to himself and said, "Oh, you know, Isaac's going blind at this point in time. Listen, Esau, my son, I love that great meat that you catch out in the fields. Go catch me some venison, bring it back, and cook it for me." Esau agreed, saying he would go. Isaac continued, "When you do, I'm going to bless you. I'm going to bestow the blessing. I'm going to hand down the blessing of the family."

Well, Jacob caught wind of this through his mother. She said, "Listen, go out, get one of the kids of the goats, and we'll prepare it for your father. You'll go in to him. He won't know because he's blind, and he'll bless you instead." Jacob deceived his brother once again and went in to his father. Isaac asked him, "Who are you?" It was the voice of Jacob, but he replied, "No, it's me, Esau." They had put the skin of the goats on Jacob's arms because Esau was a very hairy man. Isaac said, "Come close to me so I can feel you," since he couldn't see. He felt Jacob and said, "Well, the voice is Jacob's, but yeah, that's the skin of Esau."

Think about that—how hairy was this guy? That's something else. Jacob received the blessing from Isaac. When Esau found out about this, he wept and asked, "Is there not another blessing?" Isaac replied, "There's no other blessing." Esau then said, "All right, when you get old, when our father passes on, I'm going to kill you, Jacob." As a result, Jacob was sent into a faraway country, into the homeland of his forefathers, to find a wife.

When he got there, he met Rachel, who was beautiful. She had an older sister named Leah, and it says that her eyes were weak. Some translators or interpreters have said that she was hurtful to the eyes, but we don't know what that means. Rachel was very fair, being the younger sister, and Jacob loved her. He established with her father, Laban, that he would work for seven years for Rachel. One of the most beautiful verses in Jacob's life states that the time he worked those seven years felt like just a moment because of the love he had for Rachel.

However, there was a big switcheroo on the night of the wedding. Laban, who was also a deceiver, deceived Jacob. Instead of Rachel, he gave him Leah. Jacob woke up in the morning after the wedding night and exclaimed, "Whoa, what's going on here? This is the wrong person!"

And he goes to his uncle and says, "You've deceived me." His uncle responds with something very interesting: "Listen, in our country, it's not right to give the younger before the older. We have this birthright issue." I guarantee you that rang in the ears of Jacob at that moment. It was one of those little darts of truth that just struck him. He knew the birthright was significant. So, he says, "All right, I'll work another seven years for Rachel." He works another seven years for her. This guy was a deceptive person; he was a deceiver.

However, there came a point in time, which I believe is in Genesis chapter 32, where God finally tracks this guy down. The scripture tells us that Jacob, the deceiver, wrestled with God all night long. He wrestles with what I believe is Jesus before the incarnation. You have to remember, Jesus is eternal; He can show up at any time, any place, anywhere in history. And there He shows up and wrestles with Jacob. Jacob must have been a pretty tough guy because he wrestled with Him all night long.

As dawn breaks, this being, this Jesus, this angel of the Lord, says, "Let me go." Jacob responds, "I'm not going to let you go until you bless me." This angel had touched his hip and caused it to go out of place. The scriptures tell us in the minor prophets that Jacob is lying there on the ground, crying, "I'm not going to let you go until you bless me." This man, who was a deceiver, was able to deceive people out of blessings, but now he couldn't get it from this being.

God asks him, "What's your name?" I guarantee you that spoke to him because the last time someone had asked him that in scripture, he had said, "My name is Esau." He had lied to his own father. Now, this being asks him again, "What's your name?" He replies, "I'm Jacob." He doesn't say, "I'm Jacob, the husband of four wives, the father of twelve sons. I have many cattle and sheep and all these things. I'm the greatest in the land of the east, and my father is the greatest in the land of the west." He doesn't say anything like that. He simply says, "I'm Jacob," almost like a confession that this is who he is.

God responds, "No longer shall you be called Jacob. Your name shall be called Israel," which means "governed of God." Jacob's life is a picture of sanctification. You see, after you have been born again, like Noah coming through the flood, and after you've believed and followed God by faith, like Abraham, you become a child of God. The next phase of our lives as Christians is that of sanctification because the fact is...

Even though we don't like to admit it, we're all a bunch of deceivers. We're all wicked at heart, aren't we? But the book of Genesis shows us how God will pursue and catch you, and He will deal with that area of sin in our lives. He has the power and the authority to say, "You are no longer that; now you're governed by God." See, God won that day. Even though the Scriptures say that you have struggled with God and with man and have prevailed, the man walked with a limp for the rest of his life.

This was a man who ran from everything. He would deceive people and run. He was on his way, running away from his father-in-law after he tricked him. Now God says, "Not anymore." He touched his hip, and the man could not run anymore. He walked with a limp for the rest of his life because God was doing a sanctifying work. Sometimes God has to cripple our flesh to clean our hearts. He crippled this man in his flesh so that he would have a new nature, a new name: Israel, governed by God.

Well, that brings us to the last character of the book of Genesis, who finishes out the story for us. A man by the name of Joseph, the eleventh son of Jacob, of Israel. This Joseph is an awesome character, a beautiful character in the Bible. To strive to have a life, a nature like Joseph would not be a bad thing. This was a man who loved his father and his mother. He sought God, received visions from the Lord, and was able to interpret those dreams.

But you know what? His brothers kind of didn't like him. It caused some problems, the dreams that this guy was having. He would say, "I had this dream last night about these twelve stars. They all bowed down to me, and that's you guys, my brothers. You're all going to bow down to me." They responded, "Oh man, just you wait, buddy." He would say, "Oh, we were out in the field, and I had this dream where you were binding up all the wheat stalks, and all those stalks fell down before me. The stalk that grew up was me, and all those that fell down and bowed down were you guys." And they would say, "Oh man, who do you think you are? You're almost the youngest." His father even had to tell him...

Listen, kind of keep this down, huh? I know that you have visions, and that's great, but you probably shouldn't talk about this around your brothers. His brothers didn't like him so much, as you may remember from the story. He goes out to see his brothers while they're tending the sheep, and they take him, bind him up, and cast him down into a pit, down into a cistern. They are trying to figure out what to do. Why don't we just kill him? They decide to take his coat of many colors that their father made for him, rip it up, and pour goat's blood on it. They bring it to their father and say, "Oh, it looks like a beast got him." Instead, they sell him into slavery in Egypt.

He ends up in Egypt as a slave, first in the house of Potiphar. We see that he was a man of great integrity and character. The wife of Potiphar kept trying to entice him to lie with her sexually, but he wouldn't do it. He said, "Your husband has given everything into my hands, and the only thing he hasn't given to me is you. There's no way that I could do this." When she presses him and tries to make him do it, he runs away from her and leaves his coat with her. This guy's coat caused him problems a lot. But he fled; he ran away. She called to the rest of the servants in the household and said, "Joseph tried to rape me. See, he's left his cloak with me." So they cast him into prison.

He became great in prison. The prison guard, the one who oversaw the prison, gave everything into the hands of Joseph because it was like everything he touched turned to gold. But there came a day when there was a plot against Pharaoh in Egypt. Two of the people suspected of plotting to kill Pharaoh were cast into the same prison that Joseph was in: the butler and the baker. I know you're thinking of a song, but we're not going to go there.

Anyways, they cast these guys into prison, and both of them have dreams. Joseph is able to interpret dreams, so he speaks to them about their dreams. He says to the baker, "It's not looking good, buddy. They're going to separate your head from your body. They determine that you, the baker, are the bad guy." The butler, however, hears that his dream says he will be restored to his position. Joseph tells him, "When you are, remember me. I'm not supposed to be here. My father is one of the greatest in all the land of Canaan, and I'm here falsely." The butler got released, and the baker...

He got released and separated in another way, but the butler forgot. However, there came another day a couple of years later when Pharaoh had a dream that vexed him. It caused him great trouble, so he asked all his different advisors to tell him about the dream and what it was all about, but none of them could.

Then the butler, who you could also call the cupbearer, remembered. He said, "Oh no, I forgot. There's this guy in prison who helped me when I was there. I had this dream, and he interpreted it for me. Go get him; he'll interpret your dream." So they brought Joseph in, and he interpreted the dream, revealing that there would be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine in all the world, not just in Egypt but everywhere.

Pharaoh was impressed and said, "Man, I'm going to make you number two. No one in my kingdom is as wise or as smart as you." Thus, Joseph was brought up from the ash heap, from the prison, and exalted to number two in the house of the king. He serves as a picture for us of glorification.

After we have been redeemed, we have been brought through death like Noah. We have followed God by faith as Abraham, and He has made us children of God like Isaac. He continues to sanctify us like Jacob, and there is coming a day when He will raise us up from this ash heap, from this prison, from these fleshly bodies, which we all groan to be free from. He will catch us up and bring us into heaven, seating us in heavenly places to rule and reign with Him over all His creation.

The book of Genesis presents the entire story of redemption in the pages of its 50 chapters. There is a lot we didn't delve into tonight, including the beautiful allusions to the Savior in Genesis chapter 22, when the son Isaac is taken by the father to be sacrificed as an offering. There are amazing details as you pick through the passages of Genesis and see what God reveals to us.

One of the questions that often arises is, how did we get this book? Where did it come from? For us who believe in God, the scripture tells us in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16, that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It is God-breathed. God spoke these things to holy men of God, who were stirred by the Holy Spirit to write these things.

But who's the author of this great book? Well, most good Bible interpreters believe that Moses wrote not just this book but the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. There is a portion in Deuteronomy that could not have been written by Moses because it speaks of his death. However, most Bible teachers and scholars believe that Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy were written by Moses. There are some wacky ideas out there from higher critics, but they don't know what they're talking about.

Interestingly, while I was in Germany, I noticed that in the German Bible, the first five books of the Bible are called Moses 1, Moses 2, Moses 3, Moses 4, and Moses 5. It's very straightforward in German. Sometimes we probably wish we had easy names like that. But Moses doesn't appear until the book of Exodus, which is 2,500 years after Adam. So, how did the story of Genesis come about?

I would say the best explanation is that prior to the writing of these things down, they didn't really start to write things until about the time of Moses. You may remember from your middle school days that the Egyptians were the first to create a form of paper called papyrus, and they began to write upon it. It wasn't until the Egyptian empires around the time of Moses that they started to document things.

So, how were these stories passed down? They were transmitted orally. Oral tradition was spoken down through the generations. However, when people hear that, especially critics of the Bible, they often respond with skepticism. They might say, "Listen, we've all played telephone before. We know that doesn't work." If I started a story tonight and whispered it in Brian's ear, and then he whispered it to Carol, and then to my grandmother, by the time it gets around the room, it would be a totally different story, wouldn't it? Details get dropped, and the narrative changes.

But here's the interesting thing: remember that I mentioned that prior to the flood, people lived a very long time? Methuselah lived 969 years. I want to show you something. I have a little slide that I put together because I think it illustrates the concept of oral transmission for us. This is one of the things that people, including your co-workers, may say, "Oh, come on, Genesis and oral transmission? That can't be possible."

I want to show you something I think is pretty amazing about the Bible and the whole concept of oral transmission. God knows what He is doing when it comes to these things.

We looked at a few genealogies in Genesis, especially that pre-flood genealogy. You remember the story given in the names of these individuals. All these names are listed, and they lived a pretty long time. In fact, Adam lived 930 years. Look how long he lived in the timeline of these individuals. He didn't die until just before Noah was born, so he could tell the story of all the events that happened to Noah's father exactly as they occurred. It didn't get passed down through one, two, or ten generations, one at a time, getting altered, twisted, and changed. No, Adam was able to tell Noah's father exactly what happened about the fall and how God walked with them in the cool of the day. He was able to convey God's nature and character.

What about after the flood? Notice that Shem was 56 years old when Adam died. After the flood, we have a list of people: Noah, Shem, Arphaxed, Seth, and so on. Noah's son Shem represents the godly line from which the Hebrew people would ultimately come, through which Abraham, or Abram, would descend. Shem lived a long time; in fact, he outlived Abraham by 35 years. Shem was still alive when Isaac was preparing to have Esau and Jacob. He was present when Esau and Jacob were born. Jacob was the one who ultimately went down into Egypt with his family.

This brings us to the end of the book of Genesis, which concludes in a very interesting way. The book of Genesis began with creation, right? Notice this in Genesis chapter 50, verse 26. We end with Joseph in Egypt. Joseph and his father had come down to Egypt as well.

Israel. Notice verse 26 of Genesis 50: "So Joseph died being 110 years old, and they embalmed him and put him in a coffin in Egypt." It begins with creation and ends with a coffin. This brings us back to our theme. The major theme of this book is the insufficiency of man, the inadequacy of man without God. Man without God—where does it end? It simply ends in death.

Next week, we will get into the book of Exodus, which has the major theme of redemption. Without God intervening, we all just end up in a coffin and in spiritual death. It began with God doing a great work, creating everything that you and I see, even the things that we can't see on a microscopic or telescopic level. However, because of the work of man, the wickedness of man, and the sin of man, it ends with death. It ends with a coffin.

But there is the redemption of God spoken of, isn't there? God promises to man, the first man and his wife, that redemption is coming. There is a Messiah, a Redeemer coming. He gives us the entire story laid out in kind of coded language in the definitions of the names of the first men that followed God. God's plan of salvation, God's plan of redemption, is throughout the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, and we will see it as we go through.

We will understand what it is that God was trying to reveal about His nature and His character, His character and His will. Here, we see God reveal His will to Abraham. He says, "Come, follow me. I want you to follow me by faith." This is God's will, God's plan. Next week, we will consider God's nature as He reveals it, His character to Moses and to the children of Israel—the beautiful character of God.

I think that this book should be read by everybody, but sadly, man looks upon it and says, "Oh, it's just a bunch of archaic stories." Those things aren't real. The higher critics of the Bible in these days have tried to say that the whole Genesis account of the flood is not credible.

And of Adam and all that stuff, those are just fables. There are some good things that you can learn from them. In fact, there are churches in our area today that teach that there are some good moral stories to learn from it, but it's not real. No, these things are real. These things are true. God recorded them so that we would know and understand how it all happened, how it all got started.

And you know what? He also tells us exactly how it's going to end. As we'll see in 65 weeks when we get to the book of Revelation. Amen?

Let's stand together and let's pray. God, we do thank you for your Word. We thank you for your truth. I pray, Lord, that as we journey through your Word line upon line, you would speak to us and give us understanding. I pray that even tonight we've gained a little bit more insight and understanding into the work that you did at the very beginning.

We thank you that you have created us to have a relationship with you, Lord, that you have brought us through death, that we can follow you by faith, be adopted as your children, be sanctified and cleansed. Ultimately, Lord, we look forward to the day when we're glorified in your presence, seated on the throne with the King.

We praise you, Jesus, that you have brought our life out of the coffin. You've redeemed us, and I pray, Lord, that you would ready our hearts to consider that redemption next week as we get into Exodus, for we do ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.