The Tower of Babel

If you have been reading all of my posts on the this Genesis series my posting might start to sound like I'm repeating myself. I am. Don't get me wrong idea about what is going on. My goal in all of these postings is to show you how Jesus is consistent throughout the scriptures. I would be doing a disservice to the writing of the scriptures if I was not showing how Jesus is at the heart of the Old Testament. We see that the people are trying to make a tower to God. Genesis 11:4 is the verse that I want to park at for a little bit. ";i[-Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth." They are trying to build a tower to reach the heavens. They are trying to work their way to God. This might not be looked at as a big deal. Sometimes we look over verses as if they are just little details in the scriptures. This is not just a little detail. We are reading an essential piece of our faith. We must live out of our faith and not out of our works. They are doing some thing that only God can do through Jesus. This is what we do practically everyday. We try to save ourselves. It is Jesus that saves us. If we go to verse 5 it talks about God going down. Does God come down to us from the heavens? Yes, Jesus came down to us. Jesus came down to unite us. He made us one nation. In Genesis he confused our speech but, on the cross Jesus makes us a nation united by God. The Tower of Babel is just one more illustration of the Gospel. It is shows us how we can not do this by ourselves. It is by the grace of God. I could go longer but I just want you to grab some pieces to think about. I hope that this has been beneficial for you. 

The Sons of Noah(Genesis 9:18-29)

This is a portion of scripture that I have never heard anyone teach about so here we go. This is the story about the sons of Noah. I think I need to state this before I continue further. As I write this I assume that you have looked at or have some basic understanding about these scriptures. I am not really providing an outline or back story on most of these.  So, as we see Noah has become drunk off of  wine. This is a repeated theme that happens throughout the bible. God blesses someone and starts new but they then can not walk completely in that blessing placed on them. Adam did it and now Noah is continuing the cycle. This further illustrates our need for a savour in Jesus. Because Noah could not sustain the covenant that he made with God, his sons had to cover his nakedness(SIN). Noah's sons are being like Jesus by covering him up. Jesus blood covered all our sins. Sometimes I really have to search long and hard to see Jesus in all scripture, but this one really stands out.

The Flood

      The topic now is the flood. This is not the first promise that God gave us but it is one that we often remember. The story of the flood is more that just a man and his family in a boat for months on end. It is a story about the gospel. Yes, the gospel is in the old testament. If you don't learn anything while reading this Genesis series I want you to learn that there is no real difference between God in the New or Old Testament. Our God is the same yesterday today and forever. So lets jump in. I really struggled about writing this post. Should I break this up into chapters, themes, or should I just do a character study. I decided to just take this massive chunk of scripture. There are two pieces of this story I want to focus on. It is Genesis chapter 6 and Genesis 9:4-6. In chapter 6 he starts to talk about the bloting out of man a whom he had created. So, God was so grieved that he was willing to sacrifice the thing that he created in his own image and likeness. But, as soon as that verse was over it says in Genesis 6:8, "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord." This is the thing that puts us, you and I into the place that God has put us in. But, Jim found favor, but Alex found favor, but Leah found favor. This favor is not just because that particular person is special; this favor is grace. The grace of God fell on us but not on Jesus on the cross. God placed our sin on Jesus. We receive the favor/grace that did not fall on Jesus. The covenant that God makes with Noah is not just a covenant with him and for that time and place. It represents the new covenant that Jesus talks about at the Last Supper. The cleansing of the earth is not just killing all of the wicked people. It shows us how by the grace of God he will cleanse us of all iniquity and sin in our life.

     We also see in chapter 9 starting at verse 4-6, God is talking to Noah about the covenant again that he promised to Noah. What we don't realize is that the reckoning God is calling for is what he will do on the cross by reckoning his son in our place for our sins. His life blood will cleanse us from our separation with God. The lifeblood that we will drink of is the new covenant. Walk in the new covenant that was paid for us on the cross by Jesus. Drink from his cup the cup of life, not death. 

Cain and Abel

I am going to be going through the whole book of Genesis and pointing out all of the parts that point to Jesus. Now, I'm not the greatest at doing this but I will try to do my best by the grace of God. Today we are in chapter 4 of Genesis. Looking at the story of Cain and Abel. This is the first recorded murder in the Bible so we have to take great detail in looking a these two people. The story of Cain and Abel is about two brothers that give an offering to God and God accepts one offering and not the other. So, Cain murders his brother out of rage. But, what we don't see is how this murder spells the Gospel out to us. Both of them go to God and present offerings but, Abel's offering is received by God and Cain's offering is not. It is because Abel brought the first portion of everything as the offering whereas Cain did not. So, Cain becomes mad and kills his brother. The best part of this is that God already knew what Cain planned on doing but still gave him a choice to decide what to do. And so we know that he murders Abel. Abel's blood cried out to God as Jesus' blood cleanses us while crying out on the cross to his father. Abel is just a depiction of how the blood of Christ washes us. We, you and me, are Cain killing Abel and Jesus out of our anger and discontent towards Jesus and each other. Now God in his mercy and love gives GRACE to Cain by allowing him to live as a restless wanderer on the earth. We are restless wanderers on this earth until we meet our savior Jesus Christ. Till next time let the peace of Christ dwell in you richly. 

The Fall

Hello everyone I said that my goal was to post something once a month. Now I have this constant urge to start writing again so, I'm not going to hold myself back. I'm going to be continuing on my new favorite thing to talk about the Old Testament. I want to focus on the book of Genesis. In the book of beginnings would be the best place to begin. Chapter three will be my main focus. This chapter is all about the Fall. At the end of the chapter we see the first sacrifice. It is never mentioned that God had to sacrifice an animal for the garments for Adam and Eve. But, if we think about this a little more we have to realize that this animal was most likely without blemish. That animal had to cover them from the nakedness that they were ashamed of. Not just that but the sins that they had committed. God covered them in more that one way. He covers us from our shame, our sin and our nakedness. This is just a foreshadow of Jesus. The one that cleanses us for all of those things. I think that the idea of God covering them from their nakedness is very important. We must try to be naked spiritually. He wants us to be free to be the people that he created us to be. Without that we are just covering ourselves in a mask. We are all participants in the grand masquerade party. But, God is asking us to come from behind the mask and come to the real party. The great banquet that Jesus talks about in Luke 14.