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Table of Contents Lesson 1 Creation Part 1 ............................................................................................................3 Lesson 2 Creation Part 2 ...................................................................................................... (5) 8 Lesson 3 The Fall of Man .................................................................................................... (8) 12 Lesson 4 Cain, Abel & Enoch ............................................................................................ (11)18 Overlapping of the Patriarchs' Lives Chart …………………………………………...………… (14) 22 22 Lesson 5 The Flood Part Part 1 ............................................................................................... (15) 23 Lesson 6 The Flood Part Part 2 ............................................................................................... (18) 28 Lesson 7 The Tower of Babel ........................................................................................... (21) 32 Lesson 8 Abraham Part 1 ................................................................................................. (25) 37 Lesson 9 Abraham Part 2 ................................................................................................. (28) 41 Lesson 10 Isaac ................................................................................................................. (31) 45 Lesson 11 Jacob ................................................................................................................ (34) 48 Lesson 12 Joseph Joseph Part 1 ................................................................................................... (37) 52 Lesson 13 Joseph Part 2 .................................................................................................... (42) 60 Memory Verses ............................................................................................................... (45) 64 Additional Resources ....................................................................................................... (46) 65
Page numbers for both the study guide and the t he teacher’s edition are given above. The number in parentheses () is the t he page number for the study guide without answers. The final number is the number for this teacher’s t eacher’s edition. Servant Gal Publishing ©2006
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Table of Contents Lesson 1 Creation Part 1 ............................................................................................................3 Lesson 2 Creation Part 2 ...................................................................................................... (5) 8 Lesson 3 The Fall of Man .................................................................................................... (8) 12 Lesson 4 Cain, Abel & Enoch ............................................................................................ (11)18 Overlapping of the Patriarchs' Lives Chart …………………………………………...………… (14) 22 22 Lesson 5 The Flood Part Part 1 ............................................................................................... (15) 23 Lesson 6 The Flood Part Part 2 ............................................................................................... (18) 28 Lesson 7 The Tower of Babel ........................................................................................... (21) 32 Lesson 8 Abraham Part 1 ................................................................................................. (25) 37 Lesson 9 Abraham Part 2 ................................................................................................. (28) 41 Lesson 10 Isaac ................................................................................................................. (31) 45 Lesson 11 Jacob ................................................................................................................ (34) 48 Lesson 12 Joseph Joseph Part 1 ................................................................................................... (37) 52 Lesson 13 Joseph Part 2 .................................................................................................... (42) 60 Memory Verses ............................................................................................................... (45) 64 Additional Resources ....................................................................................................... (46) 65
Page numbers for both the study guide and the t he teacher’s edition are given above. The number in parentheses () is the t he page number for the study guide without answers. The final number is the number for this teacher’s t eacher’s edition. Servant Gal Publishing ©2006
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Lesson 1 – Creation part 1 Genesis 1 – 2:3
1. How did the earth come into existence? God created it. Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created created the heavens and the earth. earth. When we take a literal literal approach to Genesis, Genesis, this answer is simple, even in-your-face. However it is not one that is taken for granted in today’s today’s culture. Our schools are teaching that matter evolved over billions billions of years. Teachers scoff at those who would make this simple claim claim that when Genesis says that “God created” created” that indeed God created. created. So the question here becomes becomes one of worldview, worldview, or of faith. EVERYONE must place their their faith somewhere. somewhere. I would contend that it takes just as much faith to believe that there was an eternally existent matter that one day exploded and ended up with what we see on earth, as it takes to believe that the Bible is true and that when it says that God created the earth that it is i s reasonable to believe that God created the earth. So the question here here is where where is your faith? Are you choosing choosing to place your your faith in science, which by the way changes every once in a while and comes up with yet another new explanation? Or are you choosing choosing to place your faith in the unchanging, unchanging, eternal God presented presented in the Bible? The answer to that question question will lay the foundation foundation for how you understand everything in life. 2. How did God create the earth? He spoke it into i nto existence. Gen 1: 3 Then God said, "Let there there be light"; and there there was light. Gen 1:6 Then God said, “Let “Let there be be a firmament…” Thus God made the firmament Gen 1:9 Then God said “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place…” and it was so Gen 1:11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass …” and it was so. Gen 1:14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament …” and it was so. Gen 1:20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living livi ng creatures, and let birds fly above the earth…” earth…” So God created created … Gen 1:24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind k ind …”and it was so. Gen 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image…” So God created created man in His own image [though this one is expanded later and action is added to the words spoken to form man out of the dust of the earth, and to form woman from the rib of a man, as we’ll see in chapter 2. There is also a possibility that an action was added for the animals too and that they too were formed out of the ground.] I think that it is fascinating that God recorded recorded the detail that the creation was made by a simple word of his mouth. He didn’t need to take matter and create create out of of that matter. He spoke and
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the earth came into being. What amazing power that can cause the entire earth to form with a word! Yet how comforting to know that the God I serve is the same today, and just as powerful to accomplish His will in and through me as He did during the process of creation. 3. How long did it take God to create the earth? Six days, then he rested on the seventh day. Gen 2:2 And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. There are many great debates on this issue. Once again where you stand on this topic comes from where you start. On whom are you placing your faith? This cannot be an issue separated from faith. You either place your faith in the evolutionary scientists or you place your faith in God as presented in the Bible. Personally, it would scare me to have to trust my eternal destiny to fallible men. I find it far more reasonable to choose the all-powerful God who is presented in the pages of the Bible. So, coming from the worldview that the Bible is God’s Word I’m going to take the Genesis account literally (and if you have questions about that, I can certainly recommend other resources – my dear husband teaches a great class on that at church, and James McDonald wrote a very readable book called God Wrote a Book that deals well with the issue of whether the Bible is in fact the Word of God). One more thing to note here. There are those who come from a worldview of placing their faith in the theory of evolution and try to fit the Bible into the confines of that theory. Many of those people would claim that the first 11 chapters of Genesis are merely a poetic rendition of the beginning of the world, and should not be taken literally. To that I would claim that the first 11 chapters of Genesis are of the same writing style as the rest of Genesis, and Exodus for that matter. Even those who claim otherwise would generally concede that the later chapters of Genesis and the book of Exodus were written as books of history. It seems strange to me to take two parts of the same book, which is all written in the same style, and claim that one part is poetry while the other is literal history. I find it far more logical to conclude that the entire book of Genesis was written as literal history, and to take it as such. Certainly there are other places in the Bible that were intended to be interpreted as poetry – still completely true, but written in a different style. In fact, we’ll see some of that beautiful poetry later. But only if you are starting out looking to discredit the beginning of Genesis can you claim that it was intended to be interpreted in a poetic sense. Okay, back to how long it took to create the earth. Because of the prevalence of the theory of evolution, many people laugh at how the entire earth could be created in only six days. However I think that the opposite question is more appropriate. Why so long? If God is all powerful and can do anything, why didn’t he just get it all over with in a single world and create the whole thing in a nanosecond? One of the important principles of Bible study is that we need to interpret the Bible by the Bible. So we look elsewhere for explanation of why six days, and God spells it out very clearly just one book later: (Exo 20:9-11 NASB) "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
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For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.” God tells us that He planned for the structure of creation to govern how we plan our week. Think about it, there is no naturally occurring reason why we have a seven-day week apart from the week of creation. The moon doesn’t have a 7-day cycle. The sun doesn’t affect us on a 7-day cycle. No, we have seven days in a week because that was the pattern that God established in the very beginning. When God created the earth He chose to do it in a deliberate, orderly manner that provided a pattern that could be clearly seen and followed. There is one more issue about how long it took to create the earth that I want to address here. Take a look at the creation account at what is repeated for each day of creation. We have several statements that were repeated. We have already taken note of a couple: “Then God said,” and “it was so.” We can also see that day after day God takes a look at what He has created and declares it to be “good.” I want to take special note of the phrases “evening and morning were the [first/second/…] day.” Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis gives a good explanation of the word translated day, or “yom,” which I’ll summarize (go to http://www.answersingenesis.org/media/audio/answers-daily/volume-066/word-yom-mean to hear Ken Ham explain it himself). He explains that the word yom can be translated as a regular day, or as an age (as in “back in my day”), the daylight portion of the day. Yom is the word used for each of the 6 days of creation in Genesis chapter 1. What we have to figure out is which of the definitions of the word yom is being used in Genesis. The rules of Hebrew grammar make it very easy for us to determine which it is. Whenever the word yom is used with a number, or the word night, or the words evening or morning, it always means an ordinary day. Now, what do we notice in Genesis 1? For each of the six days of creation the word yom is qualified with a number AND the word evening AND the word morning. In other words yom as used here must mean an ordinary 24-hour day. Another issue relating to those who would claim that each of the days was actually an age that took millions of years, is a question that relates back to the passage in Exodus above. If my work is to be patterned after creation, then I have a really hard time getting all excited about spending the next six-million years working so that I can finally have a million years of rest. No, that is not a satisfactory explanation when seen through that context. Patterning my work after creation only makes sense if the days of creation were literal, 24-hour days. 4. In what order did God create everything on the earth? Day 1 – earth, light and darkness, day and night Day 2 – separation of waters, sky Day 3 – separation of water and dry land, plants Day 4 – sun, moon and stars Day 5 – sea creatures and birds Day 6 – land animals and man
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5. Think through what it means that God said he created the sun, moon and stars AFTER the earth, light, dark, water, dry land, and plants. How does this directly contradict the big bang theory of evolution? The big bang theory of evolution requires that the sun come before the earth. The Bible says very clearly that the earth came before the sun. In fact God didn’t even need the sun before He created plants. There was already light, day and night. That is all the plants had to have to thrive. Certainly we see even today that plants do just fine indoors when there is sufficient light from other sources. God created the light, He created all the plant life on the earth, and THEN he created the sun, moon and stars. There is no reasonable way to reconcile the big bang theory with the clear statements of the creation timeline given in the Bible. A literal reading of Genesis can lead only to the conclusion that God created the earth out of nothing, without the use of evolution or any other method to bring the earth and everything on the earth into being. 6. According to the order of creation, and the time line given in the Bible, did men ever see dinosaurs? (dinosaurs were reptiles and of course would have been created on the same day as all other reptiles) Yes. Swimming and flying dinosaurs were created on day 5 with the birds and sea creatures. Land dinosaurs were created on day 6 when the other land animals were created. So did dinosaurs inhabit the earth before man? Yes. Some were on earth one day before man. Some came hours before man. Taking the Bible literally we can be sure that many people saw and interacted with dinosaurs.
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God's Word in my life There are many other places in the Bible that speak of God creating the earth. In Job God Himself uses creation to rebuke Job, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, If you have understanding." (38:4 NJKV) God goes on to describe in vivid pictures the setting of His mighty acts in creation. The power and majesty of God as he created the earth shouts out of His words. The effect of creation seen in this light by Job, a very righteous man, should be the same with us. We must understand how powerful and mighty God is and see ourselves as the sinners we are and humbly repent. "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees you. Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:5 & 6 NKJV) We know that God honors this type of humble repentance, for He said of him to his accusers, "My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has." (42:8b NKJV), and God blessed Job greatly after this. Below are a few of the verses from Psalms that tell of God’s creative acts. Read through the verses paying special attention to the psalmists' response to the fact that God created the earth. Ps. 148:1 & 5 NKJV Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! ... Let them praise the name of the LORD, For He commanded and they were created. Ps. 8:1,3,4 NKJV O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! ... When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? Ps.19:1 NKJV The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Ps. 33:6-9 NKJV By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. Ps. 121:2-3 NKJV My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Ps. 136:3-9 Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords! For His mercy endures forever: To Him who alone does great wonders, For His mercy endures forever; To Him who by wisdom made the heavens, For His mercy endures forever; To Him who laid out the earth above the waters, For His mercy endures forever; To Him who made great lights, For His mercy
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endures forever; The sun to rule by day, For His mercy endures forever; The moon and stars to rule by night, For His mercy endures forever. 1.
What do we learn about the character or attributes of God as we study creation? - God is powerful enough to create everything that is with a simple command - God is in charge of everything by virtue of having created it all - God’s glory is higher than the heavens - God is worthy of awe and fear - The God who is powerful enough to create heaven and earth is certainly powerful enough to help His children when they go through times of trouble. - When we understand the amazing power of God, we understand more clearly how great His mercy is that He would love a sinful man and go so far as to provide a way of salvation for Him. - God was patient as he ordered the world so that it could be used as a pattern for us - God is very creative – it is incredible the amount of diversity that God placed within His creation - He will also RECREATE the Heavens/Earth -- 2 Peter 3
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When we understand how God created the earth, what should our response be? -
We should praise and worship God. We should be in awe of God We should come to Him with humility, realizing that we are nothing compared to Him. We should repent of our sin. We should give thanks to God. We should respond with great joy We should give God credit for the beauty and wonders that we see in creation. We should be good stewards of the creation that God entrusted to us We should SERVE our Creator and fulfill the purpose for which He created us: To bring glory to Him (i.e. to give the right opinion of our God ) and obey Him fully.
3. What difference does it make in your life today that God created the earth and all that is in it? Many answers would work here. For example, “I can trust the God who made everything. He was powerful enough to accomplish his will in creation, and therefore I know that He is powerful to accomplish His will in and through me.”
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Lesson 2 – Creation part 2 Genesis 1:26-30 & Genesis 2:4-25
(Genesis 1 tells the whole account of creation as a straight time line. God evidently wanted to tell us more about the creation of man, so in chapter 2 He went back to that event to give more details) 1. How was man created differently than animals? God created man in His own image. He also placed man from the beginning in a position of ruling over all types of animals. Gen 1:26-27 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Man has a soul that will live forever -- man is 'redeemable' -- i.e. Christ died to set men free from the law. Man has a moral conscience -- instinctively knows right from wrong (Romans 2) 2. What commands did God give just after creating man? 1 – be fruitful and multiply 2 – fill the earth 3 – subdue the earth 4 – rule over fish, birds and all other land animals 5 – eat from any tree (note that God did NOT give permission to eat meat yet) 6 – DON’T eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil Notice that God gave man five positive commands and only one negative command. Gen 1:28 "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Gen 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die." 3. Did God give man work to do before or after sin? Before. Man was given the job of tending the garden (Gen 2:14), ruling over the animals (Gen 1:28), and even of naming every animal that was created (Gen 2:19-20). All of this was in the context of a perfect world. We know therefore that work itself is good. 4. How was Eve created?
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God took a rib from Adam and formed Eve from that rib. Gen 2:21-22 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place. And the LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.
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5. What was the conclusion that God makes in verse 24 of the fact that woman was taken out of man? 24 For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. One thing to note here. God talked about a man leaving his father and mother. Now, Adam and Eve didn’t have a father and mother to leave. So we know that God said this not as a reference to the literal one-flesh relationship between Adam and Eve, but for all married couples to follow who DO need to leave their father and mother and cleave to each other as they become one flesh. God's Word in My Life Jesus gives further interpretation of this passage: Matthew 19:1-9 And it came about that when Jesus had finished these words, He departed from Galilee, and came into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan; and great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there. And some Pharisees came to Him, testing Him, and saying, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause at all?" And He answered and said, "Have you not read, that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, and said, 'FOR THIS CAUSE A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, AND SHALL CLEAVE TO HIS WIFE; AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH'? Consequently they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY?" He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery." Marriage was instituted by God here at the very beginning of Genesis. That means that marriage is not merely a social institution. God created Eve from the rib of Adam. In a very literal way Adam and Eve were one flesh. It was not only these first two people however that are made one flesh in marriage. Jesus was clearly not speaking only of Adam and Eve when he said that they are no longer two, but one flesh. "From the beginning" Jesus said, God planned for a man and a woman to leave family and all the controlling influences of family and become one flesh for life with their spouse. There is no other earthly relationship that compares to that experienced in marriage. The importance of this idea of a husband and wife being one flesh, and its origin in Genesis at the very creation of man is underscored in 1 Corinthians and Ephesians.
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1 Cor 6:15-17 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? May it never be! Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? For He says, "THE TWO WILL BECOME ONE FLESH." But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Eph 5:22-31 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her; that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. FOR THIS CAUSE A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, AND SHALL CLEAVE TO HIS WIFE; AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. 1. If you are married, is your marriage a picture to the world around you of the intimate relationship between Christ and the church as described in this Ephesians passage? Write 5 specific steps can you take this week to grow in your marriage so that your marriage and the one-flesh unity in your marriage is a compelling picture of Christ to the unsaved world around you. [answers will vary, but some possibilities are: ] Pray for my husband daily Ask my husband what priorities he has for my time today Speak highly of my husband to others – compliment him to others Be part of his life - - talk about things that he finds interesting, do things he likes to do, get involved as much as he would like in his work and ministry Don’t complain about my husband Say encouraging words to my husband Put off my selfish thoughts about him Make time for him in my schedule – PLAN him into my schedule Initiate sex and participate wholeheartedly Show him that I take his requests seriously • • • •
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2. If you are not married, how does understanding the one flesh principle of marriage help you to effectively serve with and minister to others who are married? [answers will vary, but some possibilities are: ] Protect the marriage of others •
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Help other women speak well of their husband Understand that marriage takes time and work, and allow my married friends to spend less time with me in order to put the necessary time into their marriage, without making them feel guilty or giving in to my own self-pity because I feel they are “neglecting” me. Keep myself pure and holy for my future spouse Don’t make myself available to husbands of other women – be above reproach in protecting and honoring the marriages of others Understand that when I speak with married women that I am with only ½ of a unit, and that plans and schedules need to be run by their husbands before anything is finalized. Understand that when I share things with my married friend that unless there is a very good reason not to, that it is okay for her to also share it with her husband because of their one flesh relationship, and that because my friend’s husband is her priest of the home and #1 counselor, that if my friend has a question or problem that she will and should discuss it first with her husband even if the issue involves helping me with my problem.
3. Colossians 3:23 tells us, "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men." Having already seen from Genesis that God gave work as part of a perfect world, how should this affect the way you view your daily work? I should take joy in my work, knowing that it is God’s best for me today. I also know that if God gave work in a perfect world, then He will do so again in the new earth. Work is not something to be escaped, but a means for personal growth and a way for me to bring glory to God. Yes, work is now cursed, and the curse is bad. But the work itself is good. 4. What are three things you can do today (or tomorrow if you are reading this in the evening) to have a mindset to do your work for the Lord? [answers will vary, but some possibilities are: ] Pray about my work first. Ask God to help and guide and bless my work. Thank God for the many blessings He has given me that result in this work Fill my mind with good things as I work: Christian music, good preaching, Christian radio, silence that allows me to communicate with God. Continue to talk to God through the day as I work, and purposefully thank Him for the work that He gives and the help he gives in my work. Sing praises as I work Choose joy and thankfullness •
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Lesson 3 – the Fall of Man Genesis 3
1. Which parts of what the Serpent (the devil in disguise) said was true? Which parts of what the Serpent said was a lie? True Lie (Gen 3:5 NASB) "For God knows that in "You surely shall not die! the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, Satan also left out some important details knowing good and evil." about the truth contained in the statement: That knowing good and evil, they would be enslaved to evil and their Satan's temptation did not come in the knowledge of good would over time form of an open assault. He did not say, become corrupted by the evil. Though "you don't need to obey God, just do what their eyes would be opened to see evil, they you want." Rather, he questioned God's would be closed to see God in the ways motives and the interpretation of God's they had seen Him up to that point. words. "Did God really say..." "God knows that " In effect Satan said, "is it true that He has restricted you from the delights of this place? This is not like one who is truly good and kind. There must be some mistake." He insinuated doubt as to her understanding of God's will, appearing as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14) to lead her to the supposed true interpretation. 2. If some of what he said was true, and some was a lie, what does that say about how seriously God takes half-truths told in order to deceive another? A half-truth is just a wrong as and usually more deceitful and thus often more severely treated than an outright lie. 3. What did Eve do? Where was Adam when she did this? What did he do? Eve - Eve gave in to temptation. John MacArthur "She received him without fear or surprise, but as some credible messenger from heaven with the true understanding, because of his cunning.” Eve trusted her own senses (saw that it was good ... pleasant to the eyes ... desirable to make one wise) more than she trusted God's word. This is pride. Adam - "she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate." Evidently Adam was standing right there but he did nothing to stop her, and then went right along with the sin and ate after she did.
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The Bible says that Eve was deceived, but it says nothing about Adam being deceived. By God's silence it is reasonable to assume that Adam sinned with full knowledge of what he was doing. It was outright defiance on his part. Adam was watching Eve. I wonder if he saw that she didn’t keel over and die immediately and so chose to deliberately disobey God’s command. Then both Adam and Eve “hid.” Of course God knew everything, and His question of where they were was not because He didn’t see them. Rather it was a question to reveal the deceit in their own hearts that drove them to hide from God. 4. When God asked Adam a straightforward question, what kind of answer did Adam give? And Eve? He blamed "the woman You gave me" -- i.e. You are the one to blame, God, you gave me this woman that made me sin. Eve also passed the blame, "the serpent deceived me, and I ate." 5. What judgment did God give the Serpent? 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." 6. What judgment did God give man? (actually this question should come after question #7) 17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return." Adam was given work to do before the fall, but that work became more unpleasant afterwards because of the thorns, and thistles and other difficulties brought on by the curse. He would now also return to dust as one day he would die completely. 7. What judgment did God give woman? (should come before #6) To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you." The pain during childbirth is a constant reminder that a woman gave birth to sin in the human race and passes it on to all her children (Rom 3:23).
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The second part of the curse also goes back to the sin itself. Eve sinned because she acted independently of her husband, disdaining his leadership, counsel, and protection. The man sinned because he abandoned his leadership and followed the wishes of his wife. In both cases, God's intended roles were reversed. (MacArthur) Thus the curse for the rest of time is that women will struggle with God's ordained roles of husband and wife. Submission, rather than being a place of protection, comfort and joy, becomes a place of struggle where the wife's pride and selfishness move her to try to control her husband. She resists his leadership, manipulates, connives, talks behind his back, and does whatever seems most effective for her to gain control of the marriage relationship. However, even in the curse God reminds Eve that though her desires will change, his roles in marriage are the same. The husband is still given by God the authority as head of the house. This is reiterated in Ephesians 5:22-24 "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." 8. The major judgment on both Adam and Eve, and consequently to all living on the earth for all time, was that because of their sin they would die. Did they die? In what way did they die immediately? In what way did they begin dying, but that would not finish up with actual death for more than 900 years? 1. They died immediately as they were put out of God's presence. Spiritually they were dead even though their bodies lived. 2. They began dying physically from the moment of the curse. Their bodies which before had been perfect and would have remained perfect for all time, now began the process of dying where gradually body systems develop more and more difficulties. We generally talk about the aging process, but it is really a dying process and the longer we live the more our bodies begin to die. 3. Their dying was complete more than 900 years later when their physical bodies were finally completely dead. Ken Ham often rephrases it something like, "And dying they died and continued dying until they were dead." 11. Why was it that even though it was Eve who first took the fruit, Adam got the blame? It was Eve who first took the fruit, but God's Word makes it clear that Adam was blamed for what happened. For example, Paul tells us in Romans and Corinthians that it was Adam's sin that brought the judgment of death. Now think about this. If Adam received the blame, then he must have been responsible. Why?
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When one reads Genesis--it was Adam who was given the specific instruction not to eat the fruit of the tree. Adam was created first, and God had ordained that he was to be head of his family. He then told Adam what was expected of him. Adam, of course, would have told Eve because she was really under his headship. Therefore, when Eve took the fruit, Adam shouldn't have joined her. He should have gone directly to God and asked Him for a solution. Instead he joined his wife and brought sin and death into the world. Why was Adam blamed for sin? He was created to have a headship role, and thus he was responsible for the rules God had given him. 12. What promise was given immediately after the first sin that told of God’s plan to save mankind from sin? 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." "Your seed" refers to Satan and his followers, who are called "children of the Devil" in John 8:44. Her seed looks forward to the coming of Jesus Christ, fully God yet fully man who as man was from the line of Eve. This passage teaches that Satan will "bruise (Christ's) heel," which he did when Christ was put to death on the cross. But because Jesus didn't stay dead, but rose again from the dead and lives even today, he had the ultimate victory over Satan, thus he "bruised (Satan's) head." Hurting the heel may be painful, but it is easily overcome. Hurting the head can be (and in this case was indeed) fatal. So we see that from the moment of sin, God's love and plan for the salvation of mankind was in place. God's desire is to have fellowship with man. This was the reason for which man was created. This is the reason for Christ's coming to earth, living a sinless life, dying to take the punishment for our sin and rising again from the dead to prove that his payment was accepted. Since we are all sinners (Rom. 3:23), and thus are all under the curse of threefold death, we are all without any hope apart from God's own intervention. We must undergo the second and third types of death regardless, but we need not be dead spiritually (or separated from God eternally). One other interesting thing to note – we need to understand this promise of the seed from the perspective of those living at the time in order to better understand the rest of the events related in Genesis. We look at the promise of the “seed” that would crush Satan’s head, and we know that the seed is the incarnate God Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ. Adam and Eve certainly didn’t know this. They would have been looking for the seed to come at any time. It is likely that Adam gave Eve her name, which means “life” or “living”, because he was expecting that one of the children she would bear would be the seed God promised which would bring the restoration of the broken spiritual relationship between them and God. As we look ahead we see after Abel is murdered and Cain banished, that Adam and Eve name their son Seth, or “Appointed.” Were they thinking that Seth was the seed that
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God had appointed to redeem this evil they had just experienced? This dichotomy between the seed of God that is expected, and those who choose God and are in som e way part of the line of that seed, and the seed of Satan – the people who choose to reject God and His commands -- is evident all through Genesis. Keep this perspective in mind as you continue reading the rest of the history in Genesis. Notice just how important the promise of a seed is to Abraham. Any time God spoke of a seed, those hearing His promises would have remembered the earlier promise of 3:15 of the seed that would crush Satan’s head, and would have certainly been wondering, “Is this the one?”, “When will the seed come?”. God's Word in My Life We often have the same temptation presented to Eve. We are tempted to believe that we are smart enough and have the authority to determine truth. Eve was created perfect. She knew what she should and what she shouldn't do. She tells Satan as much. She knew what God expected of her. Yet when Satan proposed a different truth, instead of realizing that anything contrary to God's command was wrong, she believed she was smart enough and had the authority to determine whether God's commands were true or whether Satan's words were true. She chose wrongly. Think about this: our minds themselves are sin cursed as a result of the fall. Over time the effect of the curse on the mind becomes greater as the gene pool continues to lose information, and mankind drifts continually further from the perfect mind and body God created in Adam. When we see ourselves as we should it becomes almost laughable for us to think that on our own we are capable of using logic with a cursed mind to end up with truth. No, the only reliable test of truth is for one that is outside the curse to tell us what is true. That is exactly what God has done with His Word. God, the perfect Creator of this world, has told us the true account of man, sin and how we can once again return to a place of right relationship with God. It is only as we apply this perfect truth as a test to all other claims of truth that we can rightly use the mind we have and determine whether our opinions or actions are right. Our minds are cursed, but praise God! We do not need to stay in a fog where truth is relative and absolutes are obscured. As Christians we must use God's holy Word as a test of every claim. Anything that agrees with a correct interpretation of the Bible can be accepted. Anything that goes against the Bible must be discarded. Many at this point would loudly protest that I'm being narrowminded. I would submit that I am only as narrow as the Bible itself. My mind is cursed too. If there is a God who created the world (and I believe there is), and that God revealed Himself and the truth about the world (which I believe He did in the Bible), then I can rely on what He said. I'm not talking about being a mindless robot. Paul himself tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 to "Test all things; hold fast what is good." We also see the Bereans being commended in Acts 17:10-11 because they "received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so." We are to use the minds God has given us, but we must use that mind in ways consistent with the perfect, absolutely true
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standard of God's revealed Word. Every other use of the mind falls short and leads only to deception and wrong living. The second part of the curse on Eve also goes back to the sin itself. Eve sinned because she acted independently of her husband, disdaining his leadership, counsel, and protection. The man sinned because he abandoned his leadership and followed the wishes of his wife. In both cases, God's intended roles were reversed. 1 Thus the curse for the rest of time is that women will struggle with God's ordained roles of husband and wife. Submission, rather than being a place of protection, comfort and joy, becomes a place of struggle where the wife's pride and selfishness move her to try to control her husband. She resists his leadership, manipulates, connives, talks behind his back, and does whatever seems most effective for her to gain control of the marriage relationship. However, even in the curse God reminds Eve that though her desires will change, God’s intended roles in marriage are the same. The husband is still given by God the authority as head of the house. This is reiterated in Ephesians 5:22-24 "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." 1. What are some generally accepted beliefs of the world around you that are contrary to what God has revealed in the Bible? (i.e. evolution, man is basically good …) -
evolution man is basically good truth is relative there are no absolutes all roads lead to God we deserve material things financial success is all important good self esteem is paramount for our kids
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greater learning makes for greater good divorce is a valid option if we don’t “love” each other women need to be independent – feminism men are stupid and rude (just watch any sitcom) if God is loving then He wouldn’t …
2. If you are to live as God's child (if in fact you have accepted Christ's offer of forgiveness, on His terms), then what are things you should do to apply the Bible as a filter to the items you listed in question 1? Pray about all of life, and develop a truly close and personal relationship with God Study the Bible to understand the truth presented there Understand that the world is blind and will usually lead me in the wrong way Ask questions of a pastor, or someone who is a true student of the Bible when I don’t understand something - Use the following truths as a filter for some of the things listed above: o God created the earth o Man is born in sin o We deserve hell and receive good only as a gift of God’s grace -
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o o
o o
Knowledge puffs up, but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom Divorce was granted in the case of adultery because of man’s hardness of heart, but from the beginning it was not so … what therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder. Wives be submissive to your own husbands as unto the Lord Wives give honor to your husbands
3. If you are married, what is an area for you as a wife to submit today to your husband as unto the Lord; or for you as a husband to love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her? [Answers will vary. Some ideas would be: Ask for my husband’s input before just going and doing what I want. Don’t say I told you so after submitting to a decision with which I disagreed – trust that God is big enough to use even bad decisions for my good and His glory, and that God will reward my obedience to Him. …]
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Study notes for Genesis 3:17 in the MacArthur Study Bible by John MacArthur, Word Publishing, 1997.
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Lesson 4 – Cain, Abel & Enoch Genesis 4
1. What did Cain do that did not please God? Why was this important? He offered grain rather than the best of the flock. It was important because we see that God did not accept his offering. "Abel's offering was acceptable not just because it was an animal, nor just because it was the very best of what he had, nor even that it was the culmination of a zealous heart for God; but because it was in every way obediently given according to what God must have revealed (though not recorded in Genesis). We learn more about Able in Hebrews: (Heb 11:4 NKJV) "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks." Cain, disdaining the divine instruction, just brought what he wanted to bring: some of his crop" (John MacArthur notes on Gen 4:4,5) How many times am I like Cain? How often do I Offer sacrifices to God on my own terms instead of obeying fully out of a heart of faith? It’s not like Cain turned to God and said, “I don’t want to offer any sacrifices to You!”. No, he offered a sacrifice. He went through the motions. He did the deed outwardly. But God doesn’t look on the outward appearances, He sees the heart. God knew that what Cain offered was not full obedience in faith, and so his outward acts of sacrifice were rejected. We Christians can look down our noses at Cain and dismiss out of hand his sin. But I think it is worth our time to consider just how much like Cain we can be when we serve God. Am I trying to serve just enough so that I look good to others, without giving my heart to God? Would God accept my sacrifices any more than He accepted Cain’s? 2. Did God immediately punish Cain? How did God give Cain a second chance to make it right? Did Cain take this second chance to obey? No. God wanted Cain to choose to do right and gave him another chance to change his attitude and obey: 6 So the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." God was showing Cain great mercy even after he had murdered his brother. But Cain refused to accept God’s mercy and instead went out and killed Able. 8 “Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.” 3. What was the punishment God gave Cain? God drove him away from his family to wander the earth as a fugitive and vagabond, and cursed the earth even further, something that certainly must have been a big blow to Cain since we know from 4:2 that Cain’s main occupation was as a farmer (“…Cain was a tiller of the ground”).:
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11 "So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 "When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth." 4. How was God merciful to Cain? 1 – We already saw how God gave Cain a second chance right away. He reached out to Cain, asking him to do what is right so that He could accept Cain. Cain rejected this first offer of mercy. 2 - God made sure that nobody else would seek to avenge Abel's death by killing Cain when God placed a mark on him and promised "whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." 5. Where did Cain get his wife? (hint: see Genesis 5:4) She would have been one of his sisters (or possibly a niece if Cain waited to get married, though less likely). Adam and Eve had many children. (Gen. 5:4 "After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters.") God chose to mention only three because of their significance in history. But they took God's command to be fruitful and multiply seriously we know by the population explosion that occurred between creation and the flood. There was no prohibition against marrying a close relative until later. (Lev. 18:6-17) Since people were still closer to creation, their minds and bodies were still less deteriorated and had less disease, mutations, etc. than would come later as sin's effects multiplied. Therefore there would not have been any physical or mental problems resulting from these close relatives intermarrying. We know that Adam and Eve had borne many children by the time that God cursed Cain because of what Cain responded to God at the end of verse 14: “…it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.” If there were no other children, and Cain had just killed his only brother, than that “anyone” could only mean his mom and dad. Would Cain really have been so afraid that his own parents would kill him? No, he was concerned about his other brothers and sisters, and possibly even their children and grandchildren who would be so mad that he had killed Abel that they would seek revenge and want to kill Cain. If we look down into chapter 5 we see that Adam was 130 years old by the time that Seth was born. Based on Eve’s response to the birth of Seth, it would appear that Seth was the first male child born after Abel’s death. Naturally we don’t know how many girls would have been before him, if any, but Adam could have easily been more than 100 years old at the time when Cain killed Able. Just think about how many children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. could have been born in 100 years to people who had been commanded by God to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 6. What important fact about the family of Seth is given in verse 26?
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Then men began to call on the name of the LORD. Notice what Eve says about naming Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.” I understand that other versions would translate that verse with “offspring” instead of seed. But I prefer seed. Remember what God promised just after the fall. He said that He would provide for them a “seed” that would crush the head of Satan. Adam and Eve thought that their firstborn, the righteous Abel was that seed. But he’s dead now. So where’s the seed? Certainly that was in their thoughts as Eve gave birth to another boy. Ah, maybe HE is the seed that God has appointed to redeem us all. And in a way, they would have been right. It is through the line of Seth that God provided the seed through Christ. You could even say that Seth took part in that seed promise as he led his family to call on the name of God. Genesis 5 1. Obviously this genealogy does not give every member of every family (vs. 4). Why would God have singled out a specific line of the family of Seth to trace the genealogy? Because Seth was Noah's ancestor, who is the next significant character in history, and eventually Jesus himself would come through Seth's line. 2. In the middle of names and ages, God makes reference to Enoch in vs. 22-24 that is unlike any other. In what way (or ways) is his mention different? 22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. 1 - Enoch was singled out as having walked with God. Evidently he had a much closer relationship with God than the others of his line since the fall. 2 – He didn’t die, but was taken directly to heaven 3. We read more about Enoch in the New Testament: (Heb 11:5 NASB) By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. (Jude 1:14-15 NASB) And about these also Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have
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done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” What do we learn about Enoch from Hebrews and Jude? Enoch was said to be “pleasing to God.” Noah was the only other man said to have enjoyed the intimacy of relationship of “walking with God” after the fall of man (of course Adam and Eve had this type of relationship, but even better, before the fall). And the first part of the verse gives us insight into why Enoch was pleasing to God. It was “by faith” that he was “taken up” by God. Evidently Enoch was a man of great faith. Jude lets us know that this faith was not a silent faith. He was out preaching and prophesying to the people of his day. As his great-grandson, Noah, preached warnings to all who would listen of the judgment sure to come on sinners, so Enoch warned people around him. God’s Word in My Life What a study in contrasts we have here. First we see Cain who murdered his brother, then Lamech who boasted about killing two men. Then we find Enoch, the prophet with such great faith that God took him straight to heaven without him suffering death. I think about God’s mercy with Cain and marvel at his patience with the sinfulness of man, even when Cain deliberately rebelled against God’s counsel. I am amazed at God’s gentleness with Cain as He gives him the truth and how to make right his earlier wrong choices. In 4:7 God tells Cain, “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” God is giving one of the first counseling sessions here on earth. Cain is angry and depressed (vs. 6) and God’s remedy for his mental condition is simple – DO RIGHT. Then after he has done the right actions God tells him that he will be accepted and he will begin to have good feelings (“countenance be lifted up”). What wonderfully simple truth. So many times I am all worked up over some issue and instead of listening to God’s advice to Cain, I think that it will be much easier to do the right actions when I feel better, so right now I’ll have my own little pity party. When I do that I am wrong, just as Cain was wrong to reject God’s solution to his problem. What is the result of wallowing in feelings instead of doing right despite whatever feelings may be going on? God tells Cain, “And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Oh if only I would always see the danger of the sin crouching at the door of my life. When we see the reality of the danger and its imminent risk, we take it seriously and take the steps to “master it.” We then would do the right actions prescribed by God in order to avoid being overtaken by that great danger. For when we ignore it we risk the same fate as Cain – falling into sin and then into God’s righteous judgment. After Cain we see that sin then continue to spiral downward through succeeding generations, from Lamech’s proud boast of murder to the evil before the flood that brought on the great wrath of God to destroy the earth and every living creature except Noah and his family.
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Another interesting character in our passage is Methuselah. I find it intriguing that the oldest man to have ever lived died the same year as the flood. Of course there is no way for us to know, but it is possible that Methuselah perished in the flood along with all the others who would not heed God’s warnings through Noah. Whether he perished in the flood or not, we do know that he was a wicked man. Why? Because we read in Genesis 6:5 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” In verse 8 only Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. That means that all others living at that time fit into the category of the wickedness that so grieved God. We know Methuselah was alive at the time. Therefore he had to have been a wicked man. So length of life does not mean a better life. Age alone does not bring wisdom. As I ponder the lives of the men in these two chapters I am left with a probing question. Am I living a life of faith with my eyes on eternity like Enoch or a selfish life, looking for what I can get out of it like Cain, Lamech and Methuselah? 1. When are times that you are tempted to live by your feelings instead of obeying God? [answers will vary, but could include things like: ] When I’m sick or in pain When I’m busy When I’m distracted When I’m simply unfocused When I’m tired When I choose to dwell on negative thoughts When I don’t spend time with God in prayer and Bible study When others don’t do what I want or expect • • • • • • • •
2. What are three specific steps you can take this week to move towards being a more faithful servant of God like Enoch? [answers will vary, but could include things like: ] Deliberately seek God’s direction Set priorities Do those things that are highest priorities before doing other things • • •
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The Overlapping of the Patriarchs’ Lives Taken from Genesis 5, 11:10-26, 21:5, 25:7, 25:26, 35:28, & 47:28
0
300
600
900
1200
1500
1800
2100
2253 Adam Seth Enosh Cainan Mahalalel
930 130 |(930) 912 (130)| 105 | (1042) 905 (235)| 90 | (1145) 910 (325)|70 |(1235) 895 (395)|65 |(1290) 962 (460)| Jared 162 |(1422) 365 |*(987) *did not die, but was translated straight Enoch (622)|65 to heaven 969 Methuselah (687)|187 |*(1656) 777 Lamech (874)|182 |(1651) Noah (1056)|500 * 950 |(2006) 600 Shem (1556)| *100 |(2156) Arphaxad (1656)|35 438 |(2094) 433 Salah (1691)|30 |(2124) Eeber (1721)|34 464 |(2185) Peleg (1755)|30 239 |(1994) Reu (1785)|32 239 |(2024) Serug (1817)|30 230 |(2047) Nahor (1847)|29 148 |(1995) Terah (1876)|70 205 |(2081) Abram (1946)|100 175|(2121) Isaac (2046)|60 180|(2226) 147 Jacob | (2253) * - 1656 year of the flood (year) – year of birth and death dated from creation age – age at which son in genealogy was born age – age at death
This chronology is taken from the Genesis texts as translated in the New King James version, taking literally the dates and ages given and assuming no gaps. It should be noted that there is dispute even among young earth creationists in the exact dates for some of the lesser known men in this genealogy (i.e. Cainan, Terah) 1.
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These differences could account for as much as 100 years time. However for our purposes those years would not affect the application or usefulness of the chart above. 1"
Some Remarks Preliminary to a Biblical Chronology," by Pete Williams. First published in: Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal 12(1):98–106, 1998
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Lesson 5 – The Flood part 1 Genesis 6-7
1. What had people become like by the time of Noah? vs. 5 – Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 2. What did God decide to do in response? vs. 7 – So the Lord said, "I will destroy man from the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." sorry – saddened by man's sin – a time of mourning. God was saddened greatly by the choices that men were making, and by the consequences that He knew would follow as a result of their sin. This statement does not mean that God was in any way surprised by man's sin, or that he was up in heaven wringing his hands thinking that he had made a mistake in creating man. 3. Who was the exception? Why? (vs 9) Noah – vs. 8-9 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. As we saw previously with Enoch, this term “walked with God” is one of great intimacy. In fact we see it only with Enoch and Noah. That designation is even more amazing when you stop to consider what everybody else was like around Noah. He chose to walk with God when everybody else was only evil continually. Talk about being different from those around you! 4. Had Noah ever seen rain before God told him to build an ark? (2:5-6) Why is that important? No – vs. 5-6 Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth; and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. This is important because when God told Noah that he would destroy the earth with a flood, Noah had never before seen anything that could have brought enough water to cause a flood. Yet Noah obeyed anyway. 5. How long did it take Noah to finish building and equipping this ark? 120 years - 6:3 " Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." God gave mankind
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120 years to repent before His full wrath would be poured out in judgment. That is certainly longsuffering. He had every right to immediately wipe out the entire population. But God in his great mercy gave man another 120 years to change. 6. Think about being told by God to build something to save you from something you have never before seen, and then having to complete the task with no other instruction for 120 years. What would most people do in this situation? How does that set Noah apart? Most would laugh it off and go about their business. Or start strong but gradually give up as no other encouragement or instruction was given that we are told about – especially over 120 years! Noah's response was one of amazing faith. He believed God so completely that he was willing to obey even when time dragged on and people around mocked his work. Not only that but 2 Peter 2:5 tells us that Noah was a "preacher of righteousness." He did more than ignore the mocking of those around him, he preached righteousness to them. 7. Hebrews 11:7 says, “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” How does the story of Noah help us understand how God defines faith? We see here that Noah's faith was one of obedience in response to God's warning. He had a holy fear of God and God's judgment, and was motivated to complete the task even though he had never before seen rain or floods, and even though it took over a century to complete. This is an instance where believing led to seeing. Once he obeyed God completely Noah then experienced the protection of the Lord through the devastation of the flood. Naturally that brings me to the question, what does my faith look like? 8. Were dinosaurs on the ark? (vs. 14-15) Yes. "every beast after its kind" The average size of a dinosaur was the size of a sheep. Being reptiles, dinosaurs were the type of animal that continued to grow as long as they lived. Thus the older the dinosaur, the bigger it was. Since God's purpose in saving animals was that they would reproduce after the flood, He certainly would not have wanted Noah to take the oldest (and thus biggest) dinosaurs. They would have been past their prime for reproduction. Therefore the younger dinosaurs who would have been the right age to have good health and reproduce well would NOT have been the enormous beasts that we generally think of when we picture dinosaurs. See paragraph #2 in the “God’s Word in My Life” section for more discussion about the enormous size of the ark. There are a couple other interesting things to note in this section about the animals coming to the ark. Notice who brought the animals to the ark. It was God. Noah didn’t spend his last day rounding up the animals. No, he went into the ark and God brought the animals to him.
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I also find it interesting that God gave Noah a 7-day warning in 7:4. He told Noah specifically that His judgment would start in 7 days. We know from Peter that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. Can you imagine the intensity of that preaching after this final warning from God – “You only have 7 days to repent” – “There’s only 6 days left, please repent and join me in the ark” – “The judgment will come tomorrow!” Of course we don’t really know what he said, but whatever the preaching was at that time, we know that not one person responded outside of Noah’s immediate family. 9. Who completed the last act of sealing up the ark? God did 16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the LORD closed it behind him. Once again we see the mercy of God in this act of Him shutting Noah and his family into the ark and sealing the door behind them. Think about what it must have been like when the rain began to fall. Don’t you think that the people would have all of a sudden had a thought that maybe this ark thing was a good idea after all. As the floods rose up and people panicked I can imagine that there were many who would have been pounding on the door and screaming for Noah to let him in. But God mercifully took that out of Noah’s hands. Noah didn’t have to take on the task of shutting out the rest of his family and friends. Noah didn’t face the temptation to re-open the door to let some in once the floods began to rise. No. Though Noah probably wept as he heard the cries of desperation, God took away from him the one thing that could have caused him to feel guilty when God Himself shut that door, and in so doing God pronounced a fatal judgment upon every person and creature living at the time, except for those within the ark. 10. Did God keep his promise to destroy the entire earth with water? Yes 21 And all flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; 22 of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. 23 Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. If you count the words “all”, “every” and “only” you find 7 in 2 sentences. I think God wanted us to be very sure that there was not a person or land creature left alive other than those on the ark. 11. How high did the water get? At this height, could there have been any land anywhere on the earth that was above the water?
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The waters covered all the "high hills" and the "mountains" to a point that the ark floated freely above them. That would mean that the highest mountains would have been covered enough to allow the large hulk of the ark to easily go over it – probably over 22 feet (MacArthur). The highest peak in the area is Mt. Ararat where Noah landed as the waters subsided. That peak is about 17,000 feet high. At that depth there is no doubt that the flood must have covered the entire earth as the Bible says. There is no way that water could reach that height and remain a local flood as so many try to claim these days. God's Word in My Life Growing up in American churches today, we have often seen the cute pictures of Noah's ark. Generally these pictures show Noah smiling as animals stick heads out of portholes and crowd the top decks of a rather small boat. Having those images imprinted in our minds at such an early age, it is easy to understand why so many people have difficulty believing that all the necessary animals could have actually fit on the ark described in the Bible. This in turn gives rise to all sorts of doubts relating to the reliability of the Bible. There is a simple way to answer those doubts -- the truth. Let's take a look at what the Bible actually says about the ark that Noah built. The ark measured 300 x 50 x 30 cubits (Genesis 6:15). That is about 450 x 75 x 45 feet. Ken Ham in his The Revised & Expanded Answers Book makes these comments about the capacity of the ark: "To put this in perspective, this is the equivalent volume of 522 standard railroad stock cars, each of which can hold 240 sheep." The average size of all animals, including dinosaurs is roughly the size of a sheep. He then explains that there would have been about 16,000 animals which would have taken up space equivalent to 14.4 railroad cars. If insects were in cages too they would take another 12 cars. "This would leave room for five trains of 99 cars each for food, Noah's family, "range" for the animals, and air space." When we understand the facts, it is easy to understand how all the animals fit on the ark. This passage is one that gives me cause for sober reflection. I am awestruck at both God's loving patience and God's terrible wrath. We see a society where other than Noah, man's "every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (6:5). That is strong language. God tells us that EVERY intent was ONLY evil CONTINUALLY. We are often cautioned about using 100% words. So I looked up those three words in my concordance. 1 Here's what I found. "Every" means the whole, all, each one, completely, continually, entirely ... Basically I did not see one definition to that Hebrew word "kol" that was anything less than every. Now what about "only"? It comes from the Hebrew word "raq" meaning thin, only, altogether, surely, alone... Obviously the "thin" definition doesn't fit here, but the rest clearly show exclusiveness in their meaning. Finally, "continually" is the same word "kol" that is earlier translated as "every." In the Bible we often see that when God wants to make an emphatic point the
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original text will repeat the important word. So it is actually even stronger language in the original text than that which we see before us today. God wanted us to know how utterly and completely wicked the people of Noah's day had become. Now, thinking through the wickedness of the people, take a moment to look back at the chronology chart. Notice how long Adam lived. He died only 126 years before Noah's birth, and Seth only 14 years before Noah's birth. That means that most of the generation above Noah would have been alive at the same time as Adam, since people in those days lived around 900 years and started having children at roughly 100 years of age. These people could have had opportunity to talk to the only man to have lived in a perfect world with perfect fellowship with God. They could have heard straight from his mouth the consequence of sin. Not only that, but Enoch the great preacher of righteousness was taken to heaven only 69 years before Noah's birth. Again, Noah's parents' generation would have had opportunity to hear Enoch proclaim the judgment of God on sin. Yet those people were part of the group that God said had EVERY intent ONLY on evil CONTINUALLY. Thinking through the wickedness of those people who had such incredible resources available to them makes me look at my own life and that of my children in a new light. Am I living in a way that is humbly obedient to Christ as Noah did, or am I more concerned about my own agendas and doing what is right in my own eyes? How am I training my children? Do I make it easy for them to follow Christ, or do I permissively allow them to do what is right in their own eyes? When I look in my own life I see so many ways that I fall short. If this were the only picture it would be a rather bleak one. But immediately I am comforted by remembering God's amazing patience and mercy. God didn't expect people to be perfect or make all the changes immediately. He gave them 120 years to make their decision, and gave them two great preachers of righteousness to spur them on to choosing God. I have the same choice today. Though I am nowhere near perfect, I have chosen God. I will say with Joshua, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15). What about you? Will you right now drive a stake in the ground and choose a God and his loving mercy? 1. What are some ways that you have been doing what is right in your own eyes? [Spending time doing my pet hobbies when I know that I have not spent time studying God’s Word or praying today. Choosing to eat in a gluttonous way. Reacting in verbal anger to a small sin that I should be letting love cover. Etc.] 2. What do you need to do to put off those ways and obey God? [Set up a plan for when and where I will study the Bible and have a time of systematic prayer, and keeping those times as if they were a set appointment on my calendar. Eating in a way that honors God with my body. Remembering how much God has forgiven me and let love cover the small stuff. Etc.]
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3. Will you do it? YES!!!!!
1
New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1981, Lockman Foundation.
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Lesson 6 – The Flood part 2 Genesis 8 – 9:17
1. Where did all the water come from? (vs. 2) [hint, there was more than one source] It came both from the fountains of the deep (most likely the largest source of water), and the "windows of heaven" were also opened to pour water down as torrents of rain. Interesting to think about: As God opened up the fountains of the deep the movements of the earth's crust began for the first time. This would have caused amazing shifts of land masses which unless covered by water to provide insulation would have probably scorched the earth with the heat it generated. In fact, the movements of the earth that we see today we would believe are these same movements started about 4,000 years ago but continuing on in ever slowing degrees as the enormous momentum of the earth's crust continues in the directions God moved it for the flood. The later periods of volcanic activity and ice would be a direct result of this explosive movement of the earth's crust during the flood. All the heat produced under the water by the opening of the crust would have served to heat the oceans to a temperature that would then precipitate a full-scale ice age. [The Answers magazine, vol. 3 no. 4, Oct.-Dec. 2008 has several great articles on this topic and others related to how the earth has changed from creation to now – you can read the part about the flood model online (at least at the time I’m writing this) at: http://www.answersingenesis.org/contents/379/pp_36-38.pdf . There’s also an interesting video on how the Biblical flood would have caused the ice age. To watch this video, go to: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n4/ice-age . To read other great articles from the Answers magazine, go to the archives directory at: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/archive . ] 2. Adding up all the time spans given in these chapters, we know that Noah and his family were in the ark 371 days. Did all the animals survive the trip? (vs. 19) Yes. 8:19 EVERY beast, EVERY creeping thing, and EVERY bird, EVERYTHING that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark. 3. Why had God commanded that 7 of some animals be brought on the ark when all the other animals came only in pairs? (vs. 20-21) So that there would be enough of the clean animals for Noah to use as sacrifices after the flood without wiping out an entire species. 8:20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
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4. What promises did God give Noah after the flood? 8:21 And the LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, (1) "I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; (2) and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. 22 (3) "While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease." 9:11 "And I establish My covenant with you; and (4) all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth." 12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; 13 I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. 5. Why is it significant that only after the flood did God give humans permission to eat any animals? If animals were not afraid of people, and people were not afraid of animals before this time, and people had not been given permission to kill animals in order to eat them prior to this time, do you think that any animals (including dinosaurs, lions, etc) ever killed other animals or people before this time? How does that help explain how an arkful of animals could make it for 371 days without any of them being killed? That way there were no animals eaten on the ark. No, animals would have been vegetarians just as God first created them to be and just as people were up to that point. It is possible that animals would have scavenged other dead animals. That could have certainly been a provision of God after the fall to help keep the earth clean once animals started dying. However there wouldn’t need to be fear of man put into the animals if all they were eating were those who were already dead. It would not have even been a temptation for one animal to kill another since it had not been done before. 6. God gave a rainbow as a sign of what? Who does God say would always be reminded of the promise every time there is a rainbow? It is a sign of the covenant between God and Noah that He would never again destroy the entire earth with a flood. God said that HE would be reminded every time HE saw a rainbow. Think about it, every time it rains there is a rainbow somewhere. From the vantage point of the earth we don't always see the rainbow, but God does. So every single rain that falls on the earth serves as a reminder to God Himself of this covenant He made with Noah just after the flood. God's Word in My Life
36 We begin chapter 8 with the entire world under water. Every living thing on the earth that was not in the ark or able to swim in the water (and survive the underwater changes) was dead. It's a pretty bleak picture. "But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark" (8:1). I am so thankful that when life is at its worst God has not forgotten what He has set out to accomplish in the world and in the lives of His people. Then we watch as God stops the waters and causes them to recede. We might expect that since God "remembered" Noah and the animals on the ark that He would have immediately dried things up and let them get off the ark. That wasn't what God chose to do, although He of course had the power to do so. In fact months went by as the water slowly receded. Noah sent out a bird four different times before the last one found enough dry land and vegetation to stay away from the ark. I don't know about you, but I would have been tempted to despair about the time the second bird came back with no sign of anything that would signal everybody getting out of the ark. I would have pulled out my pencil and paper to start drawing up plans to set up life in a swamp. Yet Noah did not despair. He didn't try to do things on his own time table. Genesis tells us that he removed the covering of the ark and saw that the land was dry. Still he waited. Not until God told him to get out of the ark did he make any attempt to leave the place God had told him to be. What was the very first thing he did after finally getting off the ark? Verse 20 says "Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar." That shows so clearly where Noah's heart was. This was no small token offering. Noah recognized how merciful God had been to him and all those on the ark. He offered EVERY clean animal and bird to God. Noah had trusted God in the building of the boat and preaching to the wicked. He trusted God during the torrents of rain and water from the deep. He trusted God during the time of waiting while the land dried up. He trusted God when the land was dry and was willing to wait for God to tell him to get off the boat. And he trusted God to do what needed to be done to multiply the animals, and sacrificed at least one of each kind of the extra clean animals (remember he took 7 of each of the clean animals and birds on the ark). He may have offered as many as 5 each of the clean animals. We don't know. But we do know that God considered his offerings a "soothing aroma" (vs. 21). One of the other parts that amazes me from this passage is in verses 21-22 "and the LORD said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease." Notice that the Lord said these things to Himself. Here is a newly cleansed world. God has just accepted Noah's sacrifice. Yet He is already making plans for what He will choose to do when men reject Him once again. He knows that man is bent towards sin. So He makes a choice not to destroy every living thing again as He did in the flood. Noah and the succeeding generation really had no part in God's declaration here. It wasn't for Noah's righteousness that God made this commitment. Nor was it for the future generations who would reject God. God made a commitment to Himself, for Himself. And then God put a rainbow in the sky so that HE would be reminded of His commitment. Think about it. Wherever there is rain and sunshine, there is a rainbow. Now, from our perspective we may not always see the rainbow. But God is not just limited to what we see from the earth. He sees what is going on in
37 the middle of the clouds and above the clouds. Because of how light and water work together, with every rain there should be a rainbow somewhere even if we can't see it from our perspective. How many places on the earth do you think would be getting rain in any particular day? Dozens? Hundreds? And with each rainbow God sees, he reminds Himself of the commitment He made to Himself just after the flood. Wow! I tell you what, if you ever want to know how to keep a commitment, here is an incredible example to follow. I can only imagine the impact on marriages if we would each make this type of commitment to ourselves that no matter how good or evil our spouse is we will remember our promise to stay married, and we will even do something to remind ourselves of that promise on a daily basis. Divorce would become a thing of the past if we would make commitments the way God makes a commitment. Will you take a moment right now and pray through the commitments God has called you to make. Then answer the questions to help you remember them. 1. When are times you are tempted to despair, give up, or figure out your own plan to get things done apart from God?
2. What commitments has God called you to make to yourself. (If you are married, your marriage is absolutely one of them.)
3. What is something you can do to remind yourself daily of those commitments? Will you do it?
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Lesson 7 – The Tower of Babel Genesis 11:1-9
[Genesis 10 is a chapter of genealogy, important in tracing the line of Jesus back to Adam, but we’ll skip it for now] 1. How many languages and races were on the earth after the flood? (vs. 1) One! 11:1 Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. 2. How was the desire NOT to be scattered all over the earth a direct violation of God’s command both to Adam in 1:28, and to Noah in 9:1 to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth?” In order to fill the earth they would have to move away from the rest of the population as their numbers grew. But their intent was the opposite: 2 And it came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly." And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. 4 And they said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name ; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." 3. How did God force the people to obey Him? By confusing their languages. 7 "Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Once again we see God’s mercy. He gave the people a consequence for their sin, yes. But he also helped them to obey and did it in a way that stopped their idolatrous building project. 4. If a family all of a sudden could no longer communicate with other families, and then left the other families to live only with those they would understand, how could this explain the “races” we see today? If all people came from Adam, and then started over again with Noah’s family, are there really any race distinctions according to family lineage and God’s creation? Whenever a group is segregated from all other groups, the gene pool is diminished. The offspring of this group could only have those characteristics of the parents who had come apart from the rest of the population. People before the language confusion would have had absolutely no
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barriers in who they would marry and had they all stayed together there would have continued to be a good mix of offspring resulting from the free marriages between all the people of the land. However with the separation and the decreased gene pool came distinct pockets of people, together because they spoke the same language. As their descendents continued to intermarry, the possible combinations of genes would have continued to decrease, resulting in distinct characteristics in different people groups. Those characteristics would include such things as skin color, hair color, eye color, face shape, body shape, eye shape, etc. There are therefore NO race distinctions according to family lineage and God's creation. Really, the main differences between people are the cultures that have resulted from the separation from other people groups. The differing characteristics have served only as a way of identifying people of different cultures. Man in his sin nature has sinfully used these differing characteristics among his own race to promote himself and his own proud ways. Dr. Donald Chittick writes, “At Babel, the language barrier caused family groups to split from each other. Each group took with them certain genetic characteristics (e.g. genes for the production of more or less melanin (skincoloring pigment)), which eventually gave rise to the socalled ‘racial differences’ between various people groups (these ‘differences’ are actually very minor—the genetic difference between any two people is .2%, while the differences attributable to what we think of as ‘racial’ variation are only 6% of that, i.e. .012%. The differences between the mean of any two ‘races’ is less than the differences within any one ‘race’!” See Answers article “Babel Explains Our Differences” at http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n2/babel-explains-differences , and video at http://www.answersingenesis.org/media/video/am/v3-n2/rebellion-at-babel . God's Word in My Life Man has misused technology from the very beginning. Here with the tower of Babel we see several uses of technology in ways that directly violate God's commands to them to multiply and fill the earth. These people were not like what the secular society would have us believe early man to be. Think about it. Adam and Eve were perfect as God created them. Their minds were perfect. We are told these days that people only use about ten percent of their brains. If Adam and Eve were perfect it is reasonable to assume that they used all one hundred percent of their brains. As we look at length of life and some of the technologies developed in a relatively short amount of time we see that the curse of sin came gradually in the way it affected the human body. Generations closer to Adam and Eve had more perfect use of their bodies and minds than each successive generation. Far from being cavemen grunting "Ugh," I'm sure these early people would put to shame the great minds of our time. Even if these people had the same mental capabilities that we do today (and I would believe they would have far more because they were closer to creation), the mere fact that they lived 700, 800, even 900 years would argue for amazing abilities to create. Just think about what our world was like 900 years ago, and all of the technology we have created in that amount of time. What if each person had that same amount of time to create, and build upon his own learned knowledge. And you multiply that by all the people living on the earth at the time. Even without giving them the advantages of living
40 closer to creation, the simple fact that they lived so long and could continue to learn from their own mistakes would argue for them being able to develop fairly sophisticated tools and methods. It's time now to go back to a couple of the genealogies we skipped earlier to see from the Biblical record some of the technology that had already been created by this time. Let's first go back before the flood. In Genesis 4:20-22 we read about some pretty sophisticated technological advances, certainly nothing like the stereotypical "cave man." "And Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. And his brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah." In this passage we see advances in three different areas. First in husbandry. Jabal had livestock, which indicates that he knew something about the keeping of and care for animals. Of course that is really no surprise since Abel also was a "keeper of the sheep" and Cain was a "tiller of the ground" (4:2). Then we see Jubal and his instruments. Instrument making and playing is considered today to be a mark of a more sophisticated society. And these weren't just simple beating together of sticks, but a lyre with strings placed in order so as to make different notes and more subtle music, and a pipe. Dr. Donald Chittick gives some more perspective on the archeological findings that might give a picture of what the Bible talks about here. "Although we cannot be certain about exact dates, archaeologists have uncovered musical instruments from very ancient times. Some of these ancient instruments are not crude or "primitive," but are highly crafted. Even with our modern technology we do not know how these ancient instruments might be improved to make 1 better music." Finally in Genesis 4:22 we find Tubal-Cain who forged both bronze and iron. Again Dr. Chittick gives some helpful insight, "While metallic copper may sometimes be mined directly as from deposits of native copper, metallic iron must be smelted. For iron the smelting process requires fairly complex chemical knowledge. If these early people could smelt iron from its ore, they most certainly could also smelt copper from its ore because it is easier to smelt copper than iron. 1 The production and forging of iron requires fairly sophisticated technical skills." So certainly we see that before the flood the technology developed was fairly advanced. Of course all of the pre-flood technology was wiped out in the flood. So why bring that up in a discussion of the tower of Babel? It is important simply because Noah, his sons and their wives lived before the flood. That means that even if the technology itself was wiped out, the memory of it was not. It is one thing to discover a new technology. It is quite another to re-make what was already discovered and perfected. After the flood they had only to apply the knowledge already gained, not re-invent or re-discover all of the technology. Let’s get back to the tower of Babel. In Genesis 10:8 we read about Nimrod. Look at how the Bible describes this man. He was a mighty one, a mighty hunter who set up a kingdom which began at Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh. He then went from that land into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah and Resen. Nimrod was therefore the first recorded ruler over other people. He was no slouch either. He set up quite a kingdom. Now put these records into the context of chapter 11. We know that mighty Nimrod set up his kingdom in Babel (and the
41 other 3 cities). We also know that at some point he left Babel and went into Assyria to set up a new kingdom with new great cities. Why would Nimrod leave a successful kingdom to begin again in a new place? The answer is obvious from the events of chapter 11. Genesis records that the people of Babel said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." (verse 4) Nimrod was the ruler of Babel. Therefore if “people” were saying that everyone needed to work together to build the city and tower, it is a reasonable assumption that the ruler of those people is behind it all. And why not? Nimrod stood to gain greatly if these people disobeyed God and stayed in one place. It is always easier for a ruler to control people who are nearby than those who are scattered over the face of the earth. So Nimrod set up an enormous public works project to keep all the people together. There is reasonable evidence from archeology to suggest that not only was the tower an enormous undertaking to keep people together, but that it also represented a way to worship false gods. Dr. John Whitcomb explains: “Were these Mesopotamians who descended from Noah’s family actually attempting to build “a tower whose top [would] reach into heaven” (11:4)? The clear answer is “No!” The NASB puts the words will reach in italics, which means that they are not in the original Hebrew text, but were added in an effort to make sense out of the wording. (The KJV italicizes may reach.) But what happens when the Hebrew wording is translated literally? We then have “a tower whose top [is] into heaven.” (cf. NKJV). And this is exactly what ancient Mesopotamian ziggurat temple-towers were for! The top compartment represented heaven. The inner walls, in all probability, were decorated with blue glazed tile, with the sun, the moon, and the five known planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) lined up along the plane of the zodiac. In the center of the room would be their “god” seated upon a throne! Nebuchadnezzar later rebuilt such a tower in Babylon, which the Sumerians had called E-TEMEN-AN-KI (“the building of the foundation-platform of heaven and earth”). (See J. D. Douglas, ed., The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Part 1, Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Pub., 1980, p. 155.) The pyramids of Egypt and, much later, the great Mayan temples of Central America, reflected the design and function of the original Tower of Babel. This was not an innocent, scientifically naive, primitive effort to reach the highest heavens! It was, instead, a brilliant but blasphemous effort to dismiss forever the God who had commanded Noah and his three sons after the Flood to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Gen. 9:1). Instead of honoring His name (i.e., His character and attributes), they said, “Let us build for ourselves a city . . . and let us make for ourselves a name; lest we be 2 scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth” (v. 4)."
We saw earlier how advanced the technology of the time truly was. These were more than simpletons trying to stack up their building blocks. They clearly had the technology to build bricks and mortar. Nimrod and the people under him were deliberate in their rebellion. They used their intelligence and their technology in ways that God never intended them to be used. Bricks and mortar are good in themselves. But to use them to rebel against God is wrong.
42 Before we look down our noses at these men of Babel, what about our own lives? We have amazing technology available to us. We have computers that can do things that were unthinkable just a generation ago. The internet has literally opened up the entire world at the click of a mouse. Yes, we can go see some amazing sights because of this, but we also have the opportunity to visit pornography, gambling and other awful sites with little to no accountability. The technology is not the problem it is our sinful hearts. 1. What are some ways that people use technology today that directly contradicts God's Word? [many possible answers. Some would include:] Time wasted on the computer / tv / video games / etc. • Pornography • Gambling • Scams / schemes • Filling our mind with godless music • 2. What are ways that you use technology that tempt you to sin or keep you from growing a closer relationship with God? 3. What do you need to change in your use of technology? 4. Will you change?
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1-
The Puzzle of Ancient Man, By Dr. Donald Chittick, Creation Compass (1998)
2 – See also: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n2/search-for-babel
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Lesson 8 – Abraham part 1 Genesis 11:27 – 17
1.
What did God ask Abram to do? (12:1) What did God promise Abram if he obeyed? How would God someday fulfill the last part of the blessing to bless all the families of the earth through Abram? God asked Abram to leave his country and his family. (Note that Lot was family – so Abram, though he obeyed God in every other part of this command, actually disobeyed in this one aspect. And we’ll see that God waited until Abram separated from Lot later in chapter 13 before He gives Abram the full covenant promise). God promised to:
1 - make Abram a great nation 2 – bless Abram 3 – make Abram’s name great 4 – bless those who bless Abram and curse those who curse him 5 – bless all the families of the earth through Abram
God would one day bless all the families of the earth through Abraham’s descendent, Jesus Christ. (take time to go through the gospel briefly again if there is the possibility that any in the Bible study are not saved). 2.
How did Abram respond to God’s command? He left for the land God had indicated, even though he had great possessions where he was, and his family was all there. When God appeared to him again in verse 7, Abraham’s response was to build an alter and worship God. He obeyed in everything except that he took Lot along.
3.
Abram and Sarai went to Egypt because of a famine in the land. What did Abram tell Sarai to do? Why? What was the result? First, Abram didn’t trust God as fully as he should have done, and at the first sign of real trouble when a famine came into the land, Abram took it upon himself to flee into Egypt. Once on the way to Egypt, Abram told Sarai to say that she was his sister. He was afraid that the Egyptians seeing Sarai’s beauty would kill Abram in order to have her. Sarai was taken into Pharaoh’s household. God then plagued Pharaoh and his house with “great plagues.” Abram and Sarai were sent away by Pharaoh.
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Abram’s testimony was now marred in Egypt. Here was the man through whom God said He would bless the entire earth, and yet because of Abram’s deceit why would the pharaoh or anyone from his house want to have anything to do with Abram or his God? 4.
What was significant about Abram and Lot parting ways? What actions indicate to us that Lot was not following God as Abram was? God had originally told Abram to leave his family. By taking Lot along Abram was not completely obeying God's command. When Lot left Abram, God was able to tell Abram His plan and bless him. Lot chose land selfishly. During a time when elders were revered, Lot should have offered the better land to Abram. Instead he took it for himself. But he did not stay in that land but rather ended up living right in Sodom, a city known for its vile sins (homosexuality is now known as sodomy, after the widespread homosexual practices of the city)
5.
Melchizedek becomes more significant as we read other passages in the Bible. Please read Hebrews 4:14-5:11 and 6:13-7:28. From both Genesis and Hebrews, why is it important to note that Melchizedek was a priest of the one true God even though he was not from Abraham's line (i.e. a Jew, and specifically a descendent of Aaron)? Why is it important that Jesus is called a "priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek"? Abraham gave a tithe to and accepted a blessing from Melchizedek who by his words made clear that he did not worship the pagan Cananite gods, but the one true God. By so doing, Abraham showed that he recognized that Melchizedek was superior to him, even though it was to Abraham that God gave his covenant and through whom God was going to bless the entire world. Melchizedek was not a Jew, and therefore all of the Old Testament laws pertaining to the priesthood would not have applied to him. Yet God still gave to him (through Abraham, and validated again in Hebrews) the title of priest. By saying that Christ's priesthood is in the order of Melchizedek, the writer of Hebrews is saying that Christ's priesthood is superior to the Levitical priesthood of the Jews. It emphasizes that the Old Testament laws were fulfilled in Christ, and a new superior system is now in place. Jesus did away with the old law by fulfilling it and providing the perfection which the law could never accomplish.
6.
In what way is it significant that Abram gave to Melchizedek a tithe of the spoils of the battle (remember, the Old Testament laws concerning tithing were not given until several generations later)? How does that relate to the way Christians today give to God? Like Abram, we today are not under the Old Testament laws. Therefore having Abram offering a tenth of all his spoils to Melchizedek, acting as God's representative on earth, is an
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example that the church today, which is also not under the law, should follow. It is our great blessing to give of our money to God, and it is right that we should do so. Many ask how much to give. This passage gives us a great starting point. Abram gave a tenth. This is really where the modern-day church gets its position on tithing.
7.
In chapter 15 as God is making a covenant with Abram, why does verse 6 say Abram was counted as righteous? How can we today be made righteous (see Romans 3:21-26 and Romans 4:1-5)? Is there anything that either Abram or Christians today can do to gain righteousness? Abram believed the Lord that God would give him descendents even though he did not yet have any children. God gives us Christ's righteousness when we place our faith in Him. But even our faith comes from God. So there is absolutely nothing we can do apart from God to become righteous. One important aspect about this covenant is that it was the custom for two parties when ratifying a solemn covenant to cut animals in half and place them on either side of the path. Then both parties walked between the two halves, in essence saying “may it be done to me as it has been done to these animals if I break this covenant.” But note the difference in this passage. Abram does NOT walk through the animals. God passes through them alone. God is making a commitment that He will keep His covenant even when Abram and his descendants break it. WOW! This is such an amazing picture of the loving mercy and grace of God, as He promises blessing to those He knows will never be able to deserve the blessing.
8.
Abram had earlier tried to manipulate the fulfillment of God's covenant to by trying to appoint his servant Eliezer as his heir (15:2), but God told him that his heir would come from his own body (15:4). In the very next chapter Abraham and Sarai again try to manipulate their situation by resorting to the custom of the day by which a barren wife could get a child through one of her own maidservants. Was this the solution that God had spoken of in his covenant to Abram? The child, Ishmael, became the father of the Arab nations. How do we see God's mercy to Hagar and to Abram in Ishmael? How do we see God's judgment through natural consequences of sin in Ishmael? This was not the solution. God kept Ishmael safe, and He did make Ishmael's descendents a great nation. Ishmael's descendents became what is now the Arab nations. Through history, continuing through present day there is great hatred and much suffering for the Jews at the hands of the descendents of Ishmael.
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9.
What is the meaning behind what has become the custom of circumcision? It is a sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham.
10.
What was Abraham's (formerly Abram) reaction to God's reiteration of the covenant that a son would come from Abraham and Sarah (formerly Sarai)? How do we again see God's mercy to Abraham in the face of his disbelief? Abraham said, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!" God was patient with Abraham, and even with his disbelief still established His covenant with Abraham through Isaac. He also listened to Abraham's plea for Ishmael and promised to make him a great nation also for Abraham's sake.
God's Word in My Life As we read about Abraham we hear a lot about the covenant. But if we look at the Jews they do not occupy all of the land that God promised to Abraham. Did God fail to keep his promise? No! God always keeps his promise. As we look through Scripture we find a staggering amount of promises fulfilled. This one is no exception, and though parts of the promise have been accomplished through the ages, we know that in the time of the millennial kingdom of Christ that the Jews will possess ALL of the land promised to Abraham. We see in 2 Peter 3:9 one of the reasons that God does not immediately fulfill every promise: "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." God's desire is to have a close, intimate relationship with you. He is even willing to delay some of the fulfillment of His promises so that more people will come to repentance. All I can say is, Wow! What an amazing God! I think there is another aspect of Abraham's life that is incredibly encouraging to us in our relationship with God. We generally think of Abraham as the father of the Israelite nation. We look up to him and give him honor. That is right. But we so often forget that he was a sinner like us. Think about it, this man of God followed God's leading away from Ur and into a new land, but at the first really big problem – a nation-wide famine – he takes off for Egypt (12:10). Now, there's nothing wrong with Egypt, but that's not where God had sent him. And to make matters worse, once he gets to Egypt he gets his wife to lie for him to save his own skin (12:13). What problems come from all that! What about Abraham’s reaction to God's promise of a son? He laughs at God (17:17). He tries to manipulate the situation to make it work in a way that he can figure out (17:18). What is so comforting to me about Abraham's life is that God was still able to use him in mighty ways. Here is a man who messed up big time on several occasions. Certainly God cannot ignore sin for He is holy and no sin can be in His presence. That makes it all the more wonderful that God took Abraham where he was, forgave his sins based on his faith in God’s plans for the future Messiah, and used him in great ways. He even called Abraham a man of great faith. I look at my own life and see so many ways where I fall just like Abraham did. I come to a time of trial and try to manipulate the situation in ways I can understand, even though God has clearly directed in his Word that I need to be doing something else (perhaps silently submitting to my husband). I follow God and grow in my relationship with Him, and then just as I'm finally
47 getting to where I need to be a trial comes and I hightail it back into something that looks safe. How wonderful to realize that God is merciful in the midst of my shortcomings and failures. No, I don't want to keep doing those same things. I need to be growing in Christ and putting off those sinful ways. But I will continue to sin until the day I die or Christ comes back to take me home. What a comfort to look into the life of Abraham and see a God who is merciful and gracious; a God who can take my failures and turn them into something useful for Himself. As we think through Abraham's life, let's take a look at our own lives and ask God to show us how we can become more faithful. Then when we fail, let's come back to God, ask His forgiveness and allow Him to rebuild our lives in ways that only He can. 1.
What are areas of your life where you know you need to grow in faithfulness (if you can’t think of any, ask your spouse, family member or a close friend)?
2.
What are two specific steps you can take this week to grow towards being more faithful in one of the areas above?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Additional Resources:
The Covenant of Abraham – sermon by John Piper http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1981/316_The_Covena nt_of_Abraham/
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Lesson 9 - Abraham part 2 Genesis 18 – 23
1. What sins of Sodom do we read about in the text? How did God show mercy? How did God judge that sin? 19:4-5 Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally." - homosexuality – so depraved that people of all ages and locations came to demand sex with the visiting men -- these were extremely perverse and wicked people and God certainly judged them for their sin. - God showed mercy by keeping the mob from molesting the visitors, and also from keeping them from taking and molesting Lot's daughters as Job himself offered in place of the visitors. - God showed mercy by taking Lot, his wife and 2 daughters and forcing them to leave the city so that they would not perish in the judgment He was about to bring upon Sodom (19:16 And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.) - God showed mercy by allowing Lot and his family to escape to the city of Zoar as Lot begged rather than to the mountains where God had first directed. - God's judgment was severe on not only the people of Sodom but even the ground itself. God also judged Lot's wife for disobeying the command not to look behind them (vs 17) 19:24-26 Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 2.
Again, we see God giving us not only the highlights of the history of His people, but also the sin and often that sin's consequences. The sons born to Lot's daughters by incest became the fathers of two great peoples, the Moabites and the Ammonites. We find later in Scripture that these people became long-time enemies of Israel. Abraham also sinned. What was his sin? Why should he have known better? How did God once again show mercy to Abraham in spite of his sin? - Abraham lied once again, saying that Sarah was his sister. - He should have known better not only because he was a follower of God, but also because he did this exact same thing earlier and suffered the consequences which followed. (chapter
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12 when they went to Egypt. Sarai was taken into Pharaoh's household. God then plagued Pharaoh and his house with "great plagues." Abram and Sarai were sent away by Pharaoh.) We find that God had also closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah. - God once again showed mercy by protecting Sarah from Abimelech by telling him in a dream (20:3) "Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife." God restored Sarah to Abraham. God healed Abimelech - God had already told Abraham that He would give him a child within the next year. He should have trusted God and therefore his deception was an evidence of pride 3.
Why was the birth of Isaac so amazing? What happened to Ishmael? How does God show mercy once again? - Abraham was 100 years old (21:5) and Sarah was 90 years old (17:17). At this point in history, people no longer lived several hundred years. So Abraham and Sarah would have been considered far beyond childbearing years. - Sarah drove out Hagar and Ishmael. - God provided water when they were at a point of dying of thirst. God protected Ishmael and allowed him to grow up and become the promised father of many nations as Abraham had earlier requested.
4.
How is Abraham's faith in God confirmed through his actions in chapter 22? See also Hebrews 11:17-19. From that passage in Hebrews, what did Abraham believe would happen if he killed Isaac in order that the covenant of God would be fulfilled? - God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son. Abraham, with no apparent delay or questioning went to obey God, though on the surface it would seem that he would be killing the only possibility of God's continuing covenant. Heb. 11:17-19 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called," concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
5.
God did not require that Abraham sacrifice his only son but instead provided a ram as a substitute sacrifice. God Himself did what he did not require of Abraham (John 3:16). In what ways can we see a small foreshadowing picture of what Christ would later do, through this story of Abraham and Isaac in chapter 22?
Only begotten son
John 3:16
Heb. 11:17 (MacArthur – Isaac was not the only son of Abraham – there was also Ishmael through Hagar. The term refers to someone who is unique, one of a kind. Isaac was the only son born
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according to God's promise and was the only heir of that promise.) They were both offered up willingly Substitutionary Atonement
Christ was the final sacrifice for the sin of the world, one that God alone could provide. God provided a substitutionary sacrifice – a ram instead of Isaac.
God's Word in My Heart We started this lesson at Sodom and Gomorrah. I want to take a minute to think a bit more about that. God certainly judged Sodom and Gomorrah for their sins. We must remember that there was another way that God deals with sins, and specifically in this context the sin of homosexuality. It is true that God judges it severely and is very clear in many places in the Bible that He abhors the sin of homosexuality (cf. Lev. 18:22, Rom. 1:26-27, 1 Cor. 6:9, 1 Tim. 1:10) . But the most severe judgment ever given for that sin, and every sin, was placed on Christ as He hung on the cross. God is righteous and holy and no sin can be in His presence. But praise God! He is also loving, gracious and merciful. He took upon Himself the full weight of His wrath so that each person who will call on His name, asking forgiveness and accepting the work Christ did on the cross, can enter into His presence forgiven. As I look at the severity of the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah and realize the righteousness and justice of God, and then take a look at the cross I can do nothing but cry, Hallelujah! What a savior! As was mentioned earlier in the questions, the story of Abraham offering Isaac as a sacrifice is a small picture of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for our sins. As I look at God’s mercy on Abraham as he stopped his hand and spared Isaac’s life, my mind then goes to the scene on the cross. God did not stay His hand that time. Jesus, in complete agony physically, mentally and emotionally cries out “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). What God would not do to Abraham’s son He did to His own. He did this to pay for the sin of mankind. God proved that He accepted this payment for sins when Christ was raised from the dead. We saw back in Genesis 3 how Adam and Eve sinned. We learned that the curse of sin was death, both physical death and a spiritual separation from God. We see in Abraham’s life that a sacrifice was required to cover sin. Then it was an imperfect sacrifice of a ram. Other sacrifices would have to be offered throughout a person’s lifetime. Christ’s sacrifice was final. Hebrews 7:26-27 says of Jesus, “For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.” I must pause here to ask if you have ever personally accepted Christ’s perfect sacrifice as payment for your sins. This is not a simple history lesson. This is truth that demands a response. Adam’s sin has passed down through the generations to you. You were born separated from God, lost in your sin. Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Romans 6:23 tells, “For the wages of sin is death.” The death here is like the death we studied in Genesis 3. Yes, the body will one day die but that is neither all nor the worst news. Far more terrible
51 than physical death is spiritual death where one spends all of eternity separated from God, living in the very real judgment of a terrible place called hell. Just as sin resulted in Adam’s and Eve’s banishment from the perfect Garden of Eden, so our sin will keep us out of God’s perfect kingdom of heaven. I’m so thankful that the story doesn’t end there. Romans 6:23 continues, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The sacrifice Jesus made on the cross was enough to pay for the sin of every person who will accept this gift and make it his or her own. Romans 5:18-19 tells us, “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.” Christ paid for your sin. The gift is yours to take. The big question is, have you taken the gift and made it your own, or is God still holding it out to you? God will not force you to accept his sacrifice on your behalf. You have the option to pay for your own sin through all of eternity. There is nothing you can do to make yourself good enough for God. God gives only one way, the way of faith. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9) How do you accept this gift of salvation? Romans 10:9-13 tells us. “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” 1.
If you have not accepted Christ’s sacrifice as payment for your sins, will you do so today? Then please tell others what you have done. The benefits of the gift do not stop at salvation. God has a wonderful plan for your life. Talk with your pastor or another godly Christian who can help you learn to serve this great and merciful God.
2.
If you have already given your life to Christ, I am so glad! My question for you is what are you doing with the faith God has granted you? Are you telling others of the free gift of salvation? Are you living a life of faith as Abraham did?
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Lesson 10 – Isaac Genesis 24-26
1.
How did God provide a bride for Isaac when he was living in the middle of people who did not believe in God? Abraham told his servant (probably Eliezer mentioned earlier as the heir to Abraham's estate if he had not had any children) to go back to Abraham's family and choose a wife for Isaac from among them. It was normal and apparently even customary in those days to marry a cousin. God lead Eliezer to Rebekah, the daughter of Abraham's brother, and allowed her to willingly travel back to marry Isaac.
2.
How did the servant display faith in the God of his master, Abraham? 1.
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 3.
He left and traveled all the way back to Abraham's home land to find this bride for Isaac. Before leaving his questions were not ones of arguing with Abraham’s authority, but rather thoughtful questions of what he should do if the girl he finds wouldn’t come. Then armed with the knowledge that God would be the one preparing the way for him, Eliezer went in faith. When he arrived in the land the first thing he did was spend time praying, asking God to bring the woman to him in a very obvious way (24:12-14) When he heard that Rebekah was Isaac's cousin, the first thing he did was to bow his head and worship God (24:26-28) He was careful to give credit to God for the blessings Abraham enjoyed (24:35) and in the narration of the events bringing him there (24:40-48) When he was given permission to take Rebekah back to Isaac he bowed himself to the earth and worshipped God (24:52) Acknowledged that it was God who had given him success in his mission (24:56)
What did God tell Rebekah about her sons? "Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger." (25:23)
4.
How are Jacob and Esau described? [Note: A birthright was a double portion of the inheritance and the right to be the family chief and priest. Esau’s relatively quick dismissal of his birthright for a simple pot of stew showed how little he cared for God or the ways of his family. Hebrews 12:16 calls Esau a "profane" person, or an irreligious person.] Jacob ("Supplanter" or "Deceitful," "heel grabber"): grabbed Esau's heel at birth, a mild man, dwelling in tents, loved by Rebekah,
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Esau ("hairy"): red, hairy, skillful hunter, a man of the field, loved by Isaac, despised his birthright, took 2 pagan wives at 40 yrs of age (26:34). 5.
Same song, third verse. Isaac followed his father, Abraham's lead in telling Abimelech that Rebekah was his sister. How was God merciful to Isaac even with this lie? What price did Isaac end up paying at the hands of the Philistines? (Note from MacArthur study notes: Abimelech was most probably a Philistine dynastic title, with this being a different king from the one who had met Abraham (chap. 20).) God was merciful to Isaac by allowing Abimelech to find out that Rebekah was Isaac's wife before any other sin was committed. God was merciful with Abimelech's order to his people (26:11) that "He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death." God was merciful in that Isaac was allowed to stay in the land and reap 100 times what he sowed the first year (vs. 12). God blessed him to such a degree that we read in verse 13, "The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous." The Philistines stopped up all the wells which had been dug in Abraham's time. Eventually Abimelech told Isaac to, "Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we." (vs 16). Isaac had to move twice before he could have an uncontested water source.
6.
How do we know that God is continuing His covenant in Isaac, just as He promised Abraham? God gave Isaac much the same promise that He had given to Abraham: 26:2-5 "Then the Lord appeared to him and said: "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws." -- Promise of land, great numbers of descendants, and a seed through which the whole earth will be blessed (Christ)
God's Word in My Life For our application of this lesson I’d like to focus on the prayer and worship of Abraham’s servant in chapter 24. This servant that was sent by Abraham to choose a bride for Isaac was obviously a very trusted servant in the household. Most likely he was Eliezer who had stood to inherit all of Abraham’s wealth if there had been no heir (15:2). Now many decades later he is called upon to find a wife for that heir. This servant is of no great importance in the history of the Bible. He is certainly not listed in any of the many genealogies. We really know very little
54 of his life. Yet I am struck by the way we see him humbly follow Abraham’s directions and trust God to lead him and make his way successful. His faith was not some mindless servitude to his master Abraham though. In 24:5 after Abraham had asked him to make this commitment to find a wife for Isaac from among Abraham’s relatives, Eliezer asks a thoughtful question. What if she will not come back? Should he then take Isaac there? Once Abraham answers his questions, he is free to make his commitment. Once the commitment is made he sets off to do what Abraham had requested. Notice the number of times through chapter 24 that Eliezer either prays to God, worships God, or gives God credit for his success. This is a rather short account but we find three different times where Eliezer stops to pray about the situation. This old servant of Abraham’s knew very well that it was God alone who could provide him with the right wife for Isaac. He humbly acknowledged his dependence on God, and asked for help. First he asked God to help him find the right woman. Then the moment the prayer had begun to be answered he bowed down to worship God in prayer. Finally when he knew that God had fully answered his prayer, he again bowed himself down to worship God. And in between these times of prayer and worship we find him telling his story, being careful to give God full credit for working out the circumstances. As I think through Eliezer’s pattern of prayer and worship in this short passage I must stop to consider my own prayer life. Obviously today we are in a different position than Eliezer. All he could hope for from God was a sign to confirm his prayer. We should not expect to receive signs of that type in our lives. Our confirmation is more sure since we have the complete account of God’s revelation to man in the Bible. However I must ask myself if my attitude of dependence on God for the tasks He has given me is similar to Eliezer’s. Do I go first to God for direction or do I first ask a friend, or read a popular magazine, or go to some other source? Do I humbly place my actions and my future in God’s hands or do I proudly think that I can figure it out better on my own. I wish I could say that I was more like Eliezer. But I can think of too many times when I have come to a decision or a task and have tried to do it without thought of God. Even as I write this lesson I must repeatedly remind myself that my mind too is fallen, and I cannot trust myself apart from God’s Word. The most difficult part of these lessons is not in the writing, but in preparing myself before I even sit down to the computer. My wise father once told me that one of the most important parts of Bible study is spending time in prayer before opening the Bible, asking God for wisdom and discernment in the study of each passage. It is GOD’s Word we hold in our hands. If we ever expect to understand and apply it, we must come to God humbly asking for help, just as Eliezer did so long ago. Eliezer didn’t stop with asking for help. Twice we see him worshiping God for answers to his earlier prayer. Again, what about me? Sometimes I find it can be easy to call on God for help with a problem arises. But then I forget to acknowledge God when He answers my prayer. What did Eliezer do? He worshiped God at the first sign of an answer to prayer. As soon as Rebecca fit his test he gave thanks to God. He then worshiped God through his narration of the accounts to Rebecca’s family. Finally he worshiped God when he saw that God had granted him success. At every step of the process Eliezer worshiped God. If something had gone wrong and Rebecca had not ended up going home with him, he would have already worshiped God twice. Once more I ask, what about my worship? How many times do I praise God as soon as a
55 possible answer to prayer is in view? Do I tell others about all that God has done in the situation, even before I know the final outcome? I wish I could say that I did. But I am proud, and far too often withhold praise and worship from God. It breaks my heart when I see how many times I have had opportunity to draw attention to the Creator of the universe, and have kept silent. Praise God that He is willing to take us where we are today and move us to a better place. Will you, with me, commit to growing in your reliance on God in prayer and worship? 1. Have you spent time today praying? If not, please stop right now and spend some time with God. 2. Take a moment and write down some ways that God has answered prayers recently. Then spend time worshiping and praising God for what He is doing in your life.
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Lesson 11 – Jacob Genesis 27-36
1.
Briefly give an outline of Jacob's life up to the point he left for Laban's house. - Born the youngest twin, but with God's prophecy that one day the older would serve the younger. - Bought Esau's birthright for some stew. - Tricked his father, Isaac (with the help of his mother, Rebekah), into giving him the blessing of the firstborn – Rebekah cooked a goat for Isaac, Jacob wore Esau's clothes, and Rebekah put on his hands and neck the goat skin. He took the food into Isaac, and lied saying that he was Esau. - Jacob, afraid for his life at the hands of Esau, fled the country. Rebekah prepared the way for him by convincing Isaac that Jacob should be sent back to her family to take a wife (unlike Esau who had married Cananite women - 26:34).
2.
On the way to Laban's house Jacob had an important dream of angels going to and from heaven, and of God speaking to him. Compare what God tells Jacob in this dream as well as later in 35:11-12 with what God had earlier told Abraham and Isaac. Abraham 12:2-3 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 13:14-17 And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, "Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you." 15:5 And He took him outside and said, "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." Isaac 26: 2-5 And the LORD appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. And I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven , and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws."
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1 – Promise of land to him and his descendents (28:13) 2 – Promise of innumerable descendants (28:14) 3 – Promise of a seed from which all families of the earth will be blessed (Jesus) (28:14)
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3. In our sin-cursed minds, it may not seem fair that God offers this devious trickster the same blessing given to Abraham. Yet, Jacob was part of God's plan of redemption. We continue to see throughout Old Testament history that God chooses imperfect people to use to bring about His plan. In the line of Christ we see several people like Rahab the prostitute, Judah (you'll read about his relations with Tamar next lesson), and David the adulterer and murderer, as well as Jacob the deceiver. What does this teach us about God's grace and mercy? How can this give us hope in our own lives? - It is certainly a reminder that God's ways are not the same as ours. (Is. 55:8-9 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.") - God's mercy and grace are given to men because he has chosen to give mercy and grace. (Rom. 9:10-16) We cannot earn mercy. We cannot deserve grace. We can only humbly thank God for the boundless mercy that He pours out upon our lives daily, and earnestly seek to share with others the greatest act of mercy and grace ever shown – the coming of Jesus Christ to earth to take the form of a man, to live as a sinless servant, freely give his life as a sacrifice on the cross, rise from the dead three days later, and then offer to all who will come the gift of eternal life with Him. Rom. 9:10-16 And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, "THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER." Just as it is written, "JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED." What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION." So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. - One clear lesson for my own life is that I must humbly submit myself to God who has shown such mercy to a sinner like me; and thankfully serve Him all of my days. There is nothing I can do to earn God's mercy and grace. There is also nothing I have done that is so terrible that God's mercy and grace are insufficient to make me new when I have given Him my life. 4.
Upon reaching Laban's house, Jacob the trickster becomes the one who is tricked. List 2 ways that Jacob is deceived by Laban. - Jacob is given Leah in marriage when he was promised Rachel. (29:23) - Even those animals of the flock which were eaten by the beasts or stolen, Jacob bore the financial losses, because Laban, the owner of the flocks who should have been financially responsible for such losses required it of Jacob. (29:39)
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- Through the time that Jacob worked for Laban after the first seven years, Laban changed Jacob's wages 10 times (29:41) God's Word in My Life One of the most evident life principles in Jacob’s life is the law of the harvest. We learn about this law of reaping what you sow in Galatians 6:7-9: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.” Let’s take a look at Jacob’s life to examine what he sowed and reaped. We saw several instances of deceit and trickery as Jacob took Esau’s birthright and blessing. He sowed deceit. What did he reap? Deceit. He was tricked into marrying the wrong daughter, and then having to work an extra seven years to get the right one. Laban changed his wages 10 times. The world would look at that and say that Jacob got what was coming to him. The Bible would say that Jacob reaped what he sowed. Another area where we see the law of the harvest played out in Jacob’s life is in his passivity. Instead of being the godly leader that he should have been, Jacob often stood back and did nothing when his family was sinning. He allowed his wives to scheme and bicker over whether or not they bore him sons – even to the point of taking two of their servants as his third and fourth wives. He was passive in the rape of Dinah. First he did nothing about the rape, then he did nothing about the murderous revenge taken by his sons (chapter 34). Jacob allowed his wives and family to continue worshiping idols they brought from Laban's house (35:4). He did nothing about Reuben having sex with Jacob's concubine, Bilhah until he was on his deathbed (49:3). He showed great favoritism among first his wives, and then his sons. He did nothing about the hatred and fighting among his sons, just as he had not done earlier among his wives. Jacob was a very passive man in ways that were very wrong. As a consequence of his passivity, Jacob lost the joy that should have come with his blessing. There was fighting and disharmony in his family his entire life. Jacob did not have the peace in his life that God surely would have wanted him to enjoy. In showing favoritism and allowing his sons to fight, Jacob ended up losing Joseph for many years. His oldest son was defiled and Jacob was not able to pass on the blessing to Reuben. Yes, God did bless Jacob. God gave him great wealth and multiplied his family. God graciously extended the Abrahamic covenant to Jacob and his descendents. Yet it is so sad to note that this man who was blessed by God allowed his family to be in such a state of sin that instead of joy and harmony he lived a life full of bickering and disrespect. I want to stop here in our discussion about reaping and sowing to talk briefly about passivity. I think that many in the church wrongly believe that just because they are not involved in any obvious sin, that they are pleasing to God. However we read in James 4:17 “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin.” As I look at Jacob’s life I see several lessons for me about passivity. First of all I see that doing nothing is a choice. That passive choice then keeps me from enjoying the blessings I could have had if I had been actively
60 pursuing God and obedience to His Word. I also see that passivity has consequences. I don't avoid those by not choosing. Those consequences in Jacob’s life affected his children greatly. I am reminded of all the sin, pain and heartache that comes with letting my children get what they want all the time, and of a parent showing favoritism. As I train my children I must be actively engaged in nurturing and admonishing them in the ways of the Lord. Favoritism among my children is wrong, and I must actively guard against it. (For further study on God’s way to train children, see also Deut. 6:4-7, Eph. 6:1-4, Col. 3:21, Prov. 13:24, Prov. 22:15, Prov. 23:13-14, Prov. 29:15, Prov. 29:17, Heb. 12:5-11, 1 Sam 3:1-18). 1.
Take a moment and think through the last few days. What have you been sowing in your life?
2.
Now think through to the end results of that sowing. What will you reap from that way of living?
3.
Are there ways you need to change? Will you do them?
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Lesson 12 – Joseph part 1 Genesis 37 – 41
[for additional study on the life of Joseph, see Pastor Viars'Joseph series sermon notes on www.fbclafayette.org] 1.
Joseph finds himself in a very dysfunctional family where there are 4 wives, his mother is the favorite and therefore his father, Jacob, shows great favoritism towards Joseph. How do his 10 brothers by the other three wives respond to these circumstances? How did Joseph respond to his circumstances? - The 10 brothers respond with jealousy and hatred (37:8,11), to the point that they plot to kill Joseph (37:18). Though Reuben intercedes (37:21) to save his life, the rest decide (upon Judah's suggestion) to sell him to slave traders (37:27-28). They then deceive their father, Jacob, showing him Joseph's coat which they had smeared with goat's blood in order to make it appear that Joseph had been eaten by a wild animal (37:31-32). - Joseph continued to obey. He knew his brothers disliked him. When he reached Shechem and found that his brothers weren't where they were supposed to be (37:16), he could have returned to his father and given a report that he couldn't find his brothers. Instead he went searching for his brothers until he found them. We see later in his responses to trials and the blessings of God in these trials that Joseph maintains an unshakable faith in God, and continues to serve Him and obey Him regardless of the circumstances. We also see a willingness to forgive and love these brothers who have treated him so spitefully.
2.
Joseph is thrown in a pit, sold to slave traders and then sold in Egypt to be a slave to Potiphar. How does Joseph respond to his difficult circumstances? How are we tempted to sinfully react when we have trials come into our lives? - We read that "The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man ... And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight and served him..." (39:2-4) Joseph's response was to serve God faithfully, serve his master faithfully, and give God the credit for any blessings he received. - Our temptation is to do the opposite. Rather than being faithful to serve God, we make excuses – "I'm too tired to serve...Life is too hard, I need another day to sleep in...Other people in the church have more time/don't have so many obstacles/can do the job better/etc. so let them do it instead of me...." Rather than faithfully serving at work and bringing God the glory, we decide that because our circumstances are so difficult that we are justified in doing a mediocre job in our work (whether that work be at the office, at home, at church, with children, etc.). Rather than giving God the credit for any blessings we receive, we complain or become bitter about the trials, and then take personal credit for the good that we see as simply "our due."
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** Teaching Interlude – So, what’s the deal with Judah and Tamar? Why is this narrative that seems so unconnected with the rest of the story included in the middle of the teaching on Joseph? **
That actually is a very important question to ask at this point. To answer it, we need to step back from the current story at look again at the big picture. What did God promise Adam and Eve right after they first sinned? He promised to provide a “seed” that would crush Satan’s head. From that time on everyone was looking to find out, “who is the seed going to be?”. Eve thought that Seth would be the seed, but she was wrong. Was Enoch the seed? No. Was Noah the seed? No, but the seed would come through him. God brought up the seed once again to Abraham. Was Isaac the seed? It certainly could have seemed that way to Abraham and Sarah, but he was not. But God again spoke, this time promising Isaac that the seed would come through him. So was the seed Jacob? Rebecca probably thought so. But the answer was no. Again, God promised Jacob that the seed would come through him. Was the seed Joseph, his favorite who served God and walked closely with Him? Maybe Jacob thought so. But again, the answer is no. Remember that Moses wrote the account of Genesis and related it to the Israelites after they had left Egypt. These people knew that the seed would come through the line of Judah. JUDAH?!!!! WHAT?!!!! How could that be? What about Joseph? Wasn’t he the good guy that God kept using and blessing? Wasn’t Joseph the righteous one among his brothers? So why wasn’t Joseph in the line of this allimportant seed?????? Again, my heart begs, WHAT?!!!! I’ve spent a lot of time pondering that question. I have come up with a couple of flimsy explanations. But in the end I need to understand that God chooses whom He chooses because He chooses. And it’s okay if I don’t understand it all. He’s God, and His ways are infinitely higher than my ways. Now, that takes us back to the story of Judah and Tamar. The people in Moses’ day understood that Judah was designated to be in the line of the coming “Seed.” So naturally their interest in Judah would have been great. Think about what we have learned about Judah to this point. He was ready to murder Joseph. When that plan was thwarted by Reuben, it was Judah who suggested and led the way for the brothers to sell Joseph into slavery. Clearly at this point Judah was a very wicked man. Now we need to flip ahead in the story to the time when Joseph’s brothers need to return Egypt to buy grain. Judah is talking with his father about bringing Benjamin with them. In 43:8-9 Judah tells his father, “… Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.” Again as they speak in desperation to Joseph we see Judah stepping forward to defend his little brother. “Then Judah came near to him and said: ‘O my lord …Now therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad
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is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad’s life, it will happen, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die. So your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father with sorrow to the grave. For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father forever.’ Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would come upon my father?” Wow! What happened? First he wants to murder Joseph, and when that fails he sells him and turns a cold heart to Joseph’s pleading. Then he is willing to give his own life in order to save Joseph’s only full brother, Benjamin. Where did the change take place? This brings us to the story of Judah and Tamar. It is this little narrative that shows us the why behind the drastic change in Judah’s heart. It also shows clearly that between the two scenes genuine repentance had taken place in Judah’s heart. By the end he was the real deal. But it didn’t come without great cost. So, what happens of significance in this story. Well, Judah marries a Cannanite woman. Bad choice. He has three sons by this woman. The first marries Tamar but is so wicked that God strikes him dead. Ouch. Then the second marries Tamar, but is so selfish that he “emitted on the ground” in order to not give Tamar a child which would not be considered his. God was so displeased with this second son that He killed this son as well. Now Judah is scared and puts off (rather indefinitely) Tamar’s marriage to his third son, because he’s scared of him being killed like his brothers. Years go by and after Judah’s wife dies he ends up committing adultery with Tamar, thinking she is a temple prostitute, and gives her things as a pledge. Later he learns that Tamar is pregnant and in self-righteous, hypocritical anger he plans to have her put to death. She then produces the pledge and he realizes his sin. He repents at that point and then does what is right. Judah now understands the pain of losing a son. He lost two. Judah now sees his own sin. He deceived his daughter-in-law, he committed adultery, and he was caught. Judah has repented of his sin. Ahhhhhhhhh. Now the change at the end of the book makes sense. Judah already reaped what he sowed. God grabbed his heart in a big way. Through his own trials Judah was humbled. God did in Judah’s life what Judah would not do. And then God chose for His “Seed” to come from the line of the adulterous and incestuous relationship between Judah and Tamar. This passage isn’t in any way incidental to the story of Joseph. In fact it is a pivotal story to understand correctly the salvation that God is going to bring through Christ. And it is a story that should bring us great hope. If God could take wicked Judah, bring him to genuine repentance, and then choose him to be part of his royal line, then there is nobody who is too far gone for God to use in a big way. God can take me and all my faults, and when I repent of my sin, God can change the world through my broken life. WOW!!!!!!! Talk about hope!
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And it is with that background of repentance, change and real hope that we then can understand the rest of the story of Joseph. 3.
When people face tough trials many will question "where is God." Joseph did not. How do we see God involved in Joseph's life even in the trials? What does this teach about God's mercy and grace? - God blessed Joseph as he served God and his master well (39:2-6). Because of his faithful service and the obvious blessing of God, Joseph received increasing freedom and responsibility. Note that the freedom and increased position came AFTER the faithful service, both at Potiphar's house and in the jail. - Even in the middle of trials God is not only with us, sustaining us, but also is ready to pour out blessing on us. It is not that we deserve blessing because of the hard times we've endured. God simply chooses to show mercy and grace because He chooses. We have great hope in every circumstance because we can rest in God and trust Him to work out the circumstances. As we do so, we find the abundant blessings of God.
4.
God blessed Joseph there in Egypt, and blessed Potiphar's household because of Joseph. We know that Joseph was not grumbling, complaining, being angry or bitter about his situation by both this blessing, and by Potiphar’s promotion of him. What does the passage tell us about Joseph's testimony to Potiphar and his household? - "The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man ... And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight and served him..." (39:2-4) It was obvious to Potiphar that Joseph's success came from the Lord. God doesn't give us any details about Joseph's words or conduct in Potiphar's presence, but we know from this passage that everything he did was so excellent that Potiphar was convinced to give great power to Joseph. Potiphar also knew clearly that it was the Lord that made all that Joseph do to prosper. It is reasonable to assume that Joseph had given verbal testimony of his God to Potiphar. People who do not have a relationship with God themselves don't just automatically assume that God is the source of blessing. There had to be a time (or many times) when Joseph explained to Potiphar that everything good that came to Potiphar through him was from the Lord.
5.
When Potiphar's wife tried to seduce him, Joseph resisted the temptation. What reasons did he give her for his refusal? - 39:8-9 But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge. There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil, and sin against God?"
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- Joseph remembered his responsibilities and charge given to him by Potiphar. - Joseph remembered God and that this was sin against God. He did not try to sugar coat it with pleasant euphemisms, or rationalize anything away. He called sin, sin. 6.
Genesis 39:10 says that Potiphar's wife tried to seduce Joseph "day by day" and he "did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her." Often the most difficult temptations are the ones that come day after day and gradually wear down our resistance. Finally the day came when she forced the issue, and he literally fled from the house, leaving his coat behind. She then used that coat to lie about him to Potiphar and send Joseph to prison. What does 39:21 tell us about where God was in this hard trial? What was Joseph's attitude in prison? -39: 21 "But the LORD was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer." - 39:22-23 "And the chief jailer committed to Joseph's charge all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it. The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph's charge because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made to prosper." - Once again we see Joseph serving faithfully. He certainly would not have been put in charge of the entire prison when he was a prisoner himself unless he had over a long period of time proved himself to be honest, hard working, and trustworthy. We also know from 40:8 that Joseph was still committed to God even in the middle of this trial..
7.
When Joseph had opportunity to interpret dreams for the butler and baker and later for the Pharaoh, how did he give testimony to God? - To the butler and baker he said in 40:8 "Then Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God?..." He was careful to give credit to God even though he was in a situation when it would have been very easy not to. - To Pharaoh: (41:16) Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, "It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer." Again, it would have been a temptation for many to take credit themselves to win the favor of the one person who had the power to set him free from prison. But instead he trusted himself to God and presented himself to Pharaoh as a humble servant of the Lord.
8.
How did God bless Joseph after interpreting Pharaoh's dream? - Pharaoh not only released Joseph from prison, but placed him in the second highest position of power in the land. (41:42-45) "Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen, and put the gold necklace around his neck. And he had him ride in his second chariot; and they proclaimed before him, "Bow the knee!" And he set him over all the land of Egypt.
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Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Though I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." Then Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, as his wife. And Joseph went forth over the land of Egypt." Joseph received material blessings from God at the hand of Pharaoh unlike any that he could have dreamed of receiving while living with his father. [Go on to the next page for the chart]
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9.
Complete the chart below.
Trial Sold into slavery by his own brothers
Tempted day by day to commit adultery with Potiphar's wife Thrown in prison because of a lie
Forgotten for two years when the butler promised to remember him to Pharaoh
Joseph's response God's working - served God - God moved Joseph to - served Potiphar Egypt where he would need - gave God the to be in order to save the credit lives of all of God's chosen - was not angry or people. bitter - God protected His “Seed” as a direct result of the trials of Joseph - God was with Joseph and blessed Joseph greatly. - reminded himself - God was with Joseph and and her of the true gave him the strength to nature of the sin resist and eventually to flee - fled from sin from this great temptation. - served God - God was still with Joseph - served the jailer and blessed him even in jail. - gave God the credit - served God - served the jailer - waited patiently
Outcome of trial - God blessed Joseph and Potiphar because of Joseph. Joseph was put into a position of great responsibility.
- oseph was thrown into jail unjustly.
- oseph was in a position to interpret the dreams of the butler and baker, paving the way for his later release. - God gave dreams to - oseph was in the right Pharaoh that he allowed place when the time nobody but Joseph to be able finally came for him to to interpret. interpret Pharaoh's - God caused the butler to dreams. He was then remember Joseph. promoted to a position of - God gave Joseph the incredible responsibility correct interpretation of the and power. dreams, and the wisdom to know what should be done about them. - God brought Joseph’s entire family to Egypt. This not only protected his “Seed,” but it also kept them from continuing to intermarry with the Canaanites and placed them in a land where the Egyptians didn’t want anything to do with them. God physically set them
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apart in order to keep them spiritually set apart. This was of GREAT importance in the plan that God was unfolding in the nation of Israel.
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10. List three ways the story of Joseph teaches us by example how we should handle trials when they enter our lives. - Trust God – even when the circumstances seem hopeless - Continue serving God faithfully - Serve faithfully in whatever work we have to do at the present - Wait patiently - Give God the credit for all good things that are in our lives - Openly share with others about how God has blessed us and the answers He has for their problems. - Be ready to forgive others when they sin against us - Be content in our present circumstances, whatever they may be – no moaning, complaining, worrying, or proudly trying to work around God to get things back to "my way." - God blesses obedience - Resist and flee temptation - God is never surprised by our circumstances, even when we are God's Word in My Life In the questions above we have spent time thinking through how Joseph handled trials, and how we can handle trials in our own lives. I want to take a moment now and change the focus to handling temptation. We saw that Joseph was tempted greatly by Potiphar’s wife as she daily tried to seduce him. He gives us a wonderful example of how to handle temptation. First he resisted the temptation. Read again Genesis 39:7-9 “And it came about after these events that his master's wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, "Lie with me." But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge. There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil, and sin against God?"” I think many miss that Joseph said this at the beginning of the temptations. This was not the time that she grabbed his coat. Joseph at this point refused, and went on with his daily tasks. However this temptation came daily, and grew to the point of her grabbing him when they were alone. His only option at that point to successfully resist the temptation was to run out of there as fast as he could. We also face temptations of various types that we must resist. We may not have someone trying to daily seduce us into adultery, but we certainly all face daily temptations. Read through the following verses that give further instruction on how Christians should handle temptation. Romans 13:14 “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” James 1:13-18 “Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from
70 the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow. In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among His creatures.” Matthew 4:1-11 “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'" Then the devil took Him into the holy city; and he had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God throw Yourself down; for it is written, 'HE WILL GIVE HIS ANGELS CHARGE CONCERNING YOU'; and 'ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, LEST YOU STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'" Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'" Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory; and he said to Him, "All these things will I give You, if You fall down and worship me." Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'" Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him. 1. According to the passage in James, how are we tempted? - But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust . 2. What does the Romans passage tell us to do in order to prepare against temptation? - “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” - See also Ephesians 6:10-19 where Paul talks about putting on the armor of God in order to fight against the wiles of the devil. 3. What did Jesus do to resist temptation? - Quoted scripture 4. What temptations are you facing on a regular basis?
5. What can you do today to prepare yourself to successfully resist those temptations?
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Lesson 13 – Joseph part 2 Genesis 42 – 50
[for additional study on the life of Joseph, see Pastor Viars'Joseph series sermon notes on www.fbclafayette.org] 1.
When Joseph's brothers came to Egypt Joseph did not reveal himself to them right away. We know from his statement in 50:20 that he was not bitter about what they had done or trying to get some type of revenge. Why then would he have not only kept his identity a secret, but also accuse them of being spies, keep one brother in prison, and later put a silver cup in Benjamin's sack? - Joseph is obviously watching his brothers closely. We know from his words that he is concerned about Benjamin. Very likely he wanted to see if his brothers have treated Benjamin in the same fashion as they had treated him. Since Benjamin was not there, Joseph could not be sure that he was safe unless they were afraid enough of the consequences to do exactly as Joseph told them. Keeping his identity secret, the brothers would certainly have had greater fear of the Egyptian ruler than of their little brother. And keeping Simeon (the second eldest – or the oldest brother who conspired against Joseph, since Reuben the eldest had tried to save him) would have been another level of assurance that they would indeed return. The cup in Benjamin's sack would have then given an excuse to keep Benjamin with him where he could care for him if he decided that Benjamin was in danger living with the other brothers.
2.
How do we see God's mercy and grace towards Jacob and his family through Joseph? Why was it important for Joseph to be in Egypt in the position he held at that precise time? - God in His mercy and grace provided food and good land for Jacob and his family. - God kept his “Seed” set apart, and it was very important that they were in Egypt instead of Canaan at that time (see next question). - We are told that the famine was severe in all the land. By God taking Joseph out of his father's house and moving him through all the trials to the point of being the second in command over Egypt, and in charge of all the food storage and distribution, God provided food for Jacob's entire family and kept them alive and safe through a devastating famine.
3.
When Jacob and all his family came to Egypt Joseph gave specific instructions of what to say to Pharaoh so that they would be allowed to live in the land of Goshen, away from the main Egyptian population. Why would it be important for Jacob's family to live apart from the Egyptians? - The Egyptians did not worship God. Though of course Joseph had remained true to God even in the midst of all of the Egyptian paganism, this was not the best situation for the rest
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of the family to stay faithful to God. God had wanted them to be separate, not to intermarry with those who didn't believe in God, and not to worship any of their gods. Staying separate spiritually was aided by a physical separation. - We saw that Judah had married a Canaanite woman, and read about the sin issues that came as he intermingled with the Canaanites. In order to keep the line of the promised Seed pure, God physically moved His people away from the idolatrous Canaanites. No, the Egyptians weren’t any godlier, but they detested shepherds. Jacob’s family were shepherds, and therefore the Egyptians left them alone. 4.
As Jacob is dying he speaks about each of his children. First he gives a double portion to Joseph by claiming Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, as his own. Later he speaks of each child. Which son does Jacob place as the next in line for the Abrahamic covenant (i.e. the promises given by God to Abraham that included descendents, land and the Seed who would redeem man from sin) ? (hint: it is the one from whom the scepter shall not depart) Does it surprise you that it is not Joseph? - Judah is the recipient of the Abrahamic covenant. Once again we see that God chooses whom He chooses. Normally we would see the oldest son inherit the blessing. As we read Jacob's last words about his sons we understand that the oldest three were all disqualified because of the great sins which they committed. Reuben had committed incest with his father's wife (not Reuben's mother), Simeon and Levi were called cruel and angry, and charged with the murder of a man and hamstringing an ox. Judah was the next in line. We see in his life that he certainly was far from perfect. He fathered a child with his daughter-inlaw, who at the time he believed was a prostitute (chapter 38). However there does seem to be indication that Judah repented of this sin when we read: "So Judah acknowledged them and said, "She has been more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son." And he never knew her again." (38:26). Perhaps he was not disqualified as his older brothers had been because of his repentance and the change that took place in his heart. Whatever the case, God showed mercy on Judah by choosing him to be in the line of Christ. - It certainly would not have been the custom of the day for the second to the youngest to receive the blessing and be the next in line for something as significant as the Abrahamic covenant. However neither would it have been the custom for him to be put in charge of his brothers as Jacob had done earlier. God certainly could have chosen Joseph. We know that Joseph was a great man of God. The Bible does not tell us why Judah was chosen instead of Joseph. But we know Judah was chosen, and that God in His sovereign mercy chose whom He desired to choose.
5.
Once Jacob died Joseph's brothers were once again afraid that Joseph would make them pay for the evil they did to him. What was Joseph's response? - Joseph reassured his brothers. His forgiveness had been genuine. His faith in God was strong, and his love for his family was real.
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had already - This request after Jacob’s death was truly an affront to Joseph. Here Joseph had told him that he believed that God had sent him ahead of them to provide for all of their families during this time of famine (45:4-11). (45:4-11). Joseph had then spent spent 17 years (47:28) providing for the needs of his family. family. He had proved to them over over and over that he loved loved them and had forgiven them. No wonder Joseph Joseph wept when messengers messengers brought word from from his brothers. Even if what they said had been true (and there is no record record that it is), for them to question the motives behind the actions over the past 17 years was a true affront to the character of Joseph. Their question itself could could have angered angered him. But he did not defend defend himself or all he had done for his brothers. He did not question the truth of their their statement, though there was was certainly reason to question. question. He did not demand that the brothers brothers come talk to him face to face instead of cowering in the background while messengers made sure everything was was alright. He simply answered answered them them humbly. He showed compassion on them them and loved them. "Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in in the place place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones." And he comforted comforted them them and spoke kindly to them" (50:19-21)
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6. What Joseph taught us about living for God as an imperfect man facing many trials, Jesus taught as a perfect perfect man facing many trials. trials. Look through the chart below taken from John MacArthur's study notes in in the MacArthur study Bible. Bible. Then think through your your own life. We are supposed to be conformed into the image image of Christ. Where would people looking at your life see Christ in you? When trials come into your life, what what do you need to change so that you reflect Christ and honor God the way Joseph chose to do?
37:2 37:3 37:4 37:13,14 37:20 37:23 37:26 37:28 39:7 39:16-18 40:2,3 41:41 41:46 42:24;45:2,14, 15;46:29 45:1-15 45:7 50:20
Joseph – A Type of Christ Joseph Parallels A shepherd of his father's sheep His father loved him dearly Hated by his brothers Sent by father to brothers Others plotted to harm them Robes taken from them Taken to Egypt Sold for the price of a slave Tempted Falsely accused Placed with two other prisoners, one who was saved and the other lost Exalted after suffering Both 30 years old at the beginning of public recognition Both wept Forgave those who wronged them Saved their nation hat men did to hurt them, God turned to good
Jesus
John 10:11,27-29 Matt. 3:17 John 7:4,5 Hebrews 2:11 John 11:53 John 19:23,24 Matt. 2:14,15 Matt. 26:15 Matt. 4:1 Matt. 26:59,60 Luke 23:32 Phil. 2:9-11 Luke 3:23 John 11:35 Luke 23:34 Matt. 1:21 1 Cor. 2:7,8
God's Word in My Life As we read about Joseph’s life we are struck by how how well he handled trials and temptations. It is amazing to me me that Joseph’s life shows so many many characteristics similar to Christ. We also are supposed to become more more and more like Christ. Romans 8:29 tells us, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many many brethren.” That is a big task, one that requires requires the rest of our lives. lives. I am thankful that it is God who works in us to make us like Christ. I am painfully aware of how sinful my thinking and responses are so many times. Yet God is still willing to work in me to mold me into the image of His own Son. Oh, what great mercy from our amazing God! 1. Where would people looking at your life see Christ in you?
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2. When trials come into your life, what do you need to change so that you reflect Christ and honor God the way Joseph chose to do?
We are now at the end of our study of Genesis. As we look back upon the lessons learned we see how truly foundational this book is to understanding all the rest of the Bible. In Genesis we learned how God created the earth and man. We saw where sin and evil came from and its resulting punishment. We came to understand at least in some measure how merciful merciful and loving God is. We learned about sacrifice and the coming sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and why that was the only way to pay for for sins completely. We learned about marriage marriage and God’s best plan for that union. We saw God use sinful men men who were willing to give their lives to Him. Him. We read about handling trials and temptations in ways that make us more like Christ. Is it any wonder that the world would try to discredit and eliminate the power of this foundational book? As we understand understand Genesis properly we see our sin, and and the response to God we must make. Man in his sin does not want to be be faced with that responsibility. So he has has come up with with his own alternatives of evolution, divorce and self-seeking self-seeking life styles. Should it come as a surprise surprise that we hear the world debate Genesis so loudly and long? No, it is not surprising. It is however however important that we as Christians stand firmly on the foundation God has given us in this book of Genesis. Let’s see sin as the awful thing it really is, so awful that it separated all of mankind from from God. We must must understand how much God wants that relationship with man to be restored. “For God so loved loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes on him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This book book demands a response. We dare not read it it and continue life as we have always lived it. Please take a moment to end this study by prayerfully considering what response God would have you make as a result of what you have learned in the book of Genesis. 1. Because of what I have learned as I studied Genesis my response must be:
2. These are the steps I need to take to incorporate that response into my daily life:
I pray that the God of mercy who sent His only Son to save sinners like you and me will do His work in your life to mold and make make you more more into the image of Jesus Christ. Amen. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Additional Resources The Sale of Joseph and the Son of God – sermon by John Piper http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByScripture/12/2387_The_Sale_of_Josep h_and_the_Son_of_God/
76 Memory Verses
Lesson 1 - (Isa 45:18 NASB) For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, But formed it to be inhabited), "I am the LORD, and there is none else. Lesson 2 - (Rom 5:12 NASB) Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned-Lesson 3 - (Rom 5:15 NASB) But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. Lesson 4 - (1 John 1:8-9 NASB) If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Lessons 5 & 6 - (Mat 24:37-39 NASB) "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. Lesson 7 - (Luke 1:51 NASB) "He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. Lesson 8 - (1 John 4:9 NASB) By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Lesson 9 - (John 1:29 NASB) The next day he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Lesson 10 - (Eph 2:8-9 NASB) For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. Lesson 11 - (2 Cor 5:20-21 NASB) Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Lesson 12 - (Gen 50:20 NASB) "And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. Lesson 13 - (Rom 8:28 NASB) And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
77 Additional Resources
Much of the material in the study is based on information learned from the following sources. The Answers Book – Revised & Expanded by Ken Ham, Jonathan Sarfati, and Carl Wieland, Ed. Don Batten, Master Books (1990) This updated book addresses the most common questions that Christians and non-Christians alike ask regarding creation/evolution and Genesis. Answers with Ken Ham Seminar Series (video) by Ken Ham, Answers Media (2001) Specially filmed and formatted to run in 30 minute segments, the entire series is ideal for use in classroom or Bible study setting. Science and Creation Seminar Series (tape) by Dr. Donald E. Chittick The Genesis Record by Dr. Henry M. Morris, Baker Book House (2000) A verse-by-verse scientific and devotional commentary on the book of Genesis
The Genesis Flood by Dr. Henry Morris & Dr. John Whitcomb, P&R Publishing (1998)
This is the classic that started the modern creationist movement over 30 years ago. Contains various scientific and Biblical aspects of the creation/evolution issue, particularly centered around the topic of the worldwide Flood of Noah. Answers many questions about the Flood: Where did the water come from? Where did the water go? How could Noah fit the land animals in the Ark? The Early Earth by Dr. John C. Whitcomb, Baker Book House (1972)
The Puzzle of Ancient Man By Dr. Donald Chittick, Creation Compass (1998) A fascinating and intriguing book that shows that man has always been highly intelligent. From ancient maps, ziggurats, and pyramids, to startling inventions, the evidence shows that the Bible explains the true history of man, not evolution.
Refuting Evolution by Dr. Jonathan Sarfati, Master Books (2000) Refuting Evolution is a general critique of the most up-to-date arguments for evolution to challenge educators, students, and parents. Darwin's Black Box
