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BEGIN… start… commence… open… There’s something refreshing and optimistic about these words, whether they refer to the dawn of a new day, the birth of a child, the prelude of a symphony, or the first miles of a family holiday.  Free of problems and full of promise, beginnings stir hope and imaginative visions of the future.  Genesis means “beginnings” or “origin”, and it unfolds the record of the beginning of the world, of human history, of family, of civilisation, of salvation.  It is the story of God’s purpose and plan for his creation.  As the book of beginnings, Genesis sets the stage for the entire Bible.  It reveals the person and nature of God (Creator, Sustainer, Judge, Redeemer); the value and dignity of human beings (made in God’s image, saved by grace, used by God (Wall) in the world); the tragedy and consequences of sin (the fall, separation from God, judgment); and the promise and assurance of salvation (covenant, forgiveness, promised Messiah).

God (Wall). That’s where Genesis begins.  All at once we see him creating the world in a majestic display of power and purpose, culminating with a man and woman like himself (1.26, 27).  But before long sin entered the world, and Satan was unmasked.  Bathed in innocence, creation was shattered by the fall (the wilful disobedience of Adam and Eve).  Fellowship with God (Wall) was broken, and evil began weaving its destructive web.  In rapid succession, we read how Adam and Eve were expelled from the beautiful garden, their first son turned murderer, and evil bred evil until God (Wall) finally destroyed everyone on earth except a small family led by Noah, the only godly person left.

As we come to Abraham on the plains of Canaan, we discover the beginning of God’s covenant people and the broad strokes of his salvation plan: salvation comes by faith, Abraham’s descendants will be God’s people, and the Saviour of the world will come through this chosen nation. The stories of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph which follow are more than proof that he is faithful.  The people we meet in Genesis are simple, ordinary people, yet through them, God (Wall) did great things.  These are vivid pictures (image)of how God (Wall) can and does use all kinds of people to accomplish his good purposes… even people like you and me.

Read Genesis and be encouraged. There is hope!  No matter how dark the world situation seems, God (Wall) has a plan.  No matter how insignificant or useless you feel, God (Wall) loves you and wants to use you in his plan.  No matter how sinful and separated from God (Wall) you are, his salvation is available.  Read Genesis… and hope!

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VITAL STATISTICS

PURPOSE: To record God’s creation of the world and his desire to have a people set apart to worship him

AUTHOR: Moses

TO WHOM WRITTEN: The people of Israel

DATE WRITTEN: 1450-1410 B.C.

SETTING: The region presently known as the Middle East

KEY VERSES: “So God (Wall) created man in his own image, in the image of God (Wall) he created him; male and female he created them” (1.27). “ ‘I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you’ “ (12.2, 3).

KEY PEOPLE: Adam, Even, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Joseph

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THE BLUEPRINT

The Story of Creation (1.1-2.3)   God created the sky, sea, and land.  He created the plants, animals, fish, and birds.  But he created human beings in his own image.  At times, others may treat us disrespectfully.  But we can be certain of our dignity and worth because we have been created in the image of God.

The Story of Adam (2.4-5.32)  When Adam and Eve were created by God, they were without sin.  But they became sinful when they disobeyed God and ate some fruit from the tree.  Through Adam and Eve we learn about the destructive power of sin and its bitter consequences.

1. Adam and Eve
2. Cain and Abel
3. Adam’s descendants

The Story of Noah (6.1-11.32)  Noah was spared from the destruction of the flood because he obeyed God and built the ark.  Just as God protected Noah and his family, he still protects those who are faithful to him today.

1. The flood
2. Repopulating the earth
3. The tower of Babel

The Story of Abraham (12.1-25.18)  Abraham was asked to leave his country, wander in Canaan, wait for years for a son, and then sacrifice him as a burnt offering.  Through these periods of sharp testing, Abraham remained faithful to God.  His example teaches us what it means to live a life of faith.

1. God promises a nation to Abram
2. Abram and Lot
3. God promises a son to Abram
4. Sodom and Gomorrah
5. Birth and near sacrifice of Isaac
6. Isaac and Rebekah
7. Abraham dies

The Story of Isaac (25.19-28.9) Isaac did not demand his own way.  He did not resist when he was about to be sacrificed, and he gladly accepted a wife chosen for him by others.  Like Isaac, we must learn to put God’s will ahead of our own.

1. Jacob and Esau
2. Isaac and Abimelech
3. Jacob gets Isaac’s blessing

The Story of Jacob (28.10-36.43) Jacob did not give up easily.  He faithfully served Laban for over 14 years.  Later, he wrestled with God.  Although Jacob made many mistakes, his hard work teaches us about living a life of service for our Lord.

1. Jacob starts a family
2. Jacob returns home

The Story of Joseph (37.1-50.26) Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and unjustly thrown into prison by his master.  Through the life of Joseph, we learn that suffering, no matter how unfair, can develop strong character in us.

1. Joseph is sold into slavery
2. Judah and Tamar
3. Joseph is thrown into prison
4. Joseph is placed in charge of Egypt
5. Joseph and his brothers meet in Egypt
6. Jacob’s family moves to Egypt
7. Jacob and Joseph die in Egypt

MEGATHEMES

Beginnings

EXPLANATION: Genesis explains the beginning of many important realities: the universe, earth, people, sin, and God’s plan for salvation.

IMPORTANCE: Genesis teaches us that the earth is well made and good.  Mankind is special to God and unique.  God creates and sustains all life.

Disobedience

EXPLANATION: People are always facing great choices.  Disobedience occurs when people choose not to follow God’s plan for living.

IMPORTANCE: Genesis explains why men are evil: they choose to do wrong.  Even great Bible heroes failed God and disobeyed.

Sin

EXPLANATION: Sin ruins people’s lives.  It happens when we disobey God.

IMPORTANCE: Living God’s way makes life productive and fulfilling.

Promises

EXPLANATION: God makes promises to help and protect mankind.  This kind of promise is called a “covenant”.

IMPORTANCE: God kept his promises then, and he keeps them now.  He promises to love us, accept us, forgive us.

Obedience

EXPLANATION: The opposite of sin is obedience.  Obeying God restores our relationship to him.

IMPORTANCE: The only way to enjoy the benefits of God’s promises is to obey him.

Prosperity

EXPLANATION: Prosperity is deeper than mere material wealth.  True prosperity, and fulfilment come as a result of obeying God.

IMPORTANCE: When people obey God, they find peace with him, with others, and with themselves.

Israel  

EXPLANATION: God started the nation of Israel in order to have a dedicated people who would (1) keep his ways alive in the world, (2) proclaim to the world what he is really like, and (3) prepare the world for the birth of Christ.

IMPORTANCE: God is looking for people today to follow him.  We are to proclaim God’s truth and love to all nations, not just our own.  We must be faithful to carry out the mission God has given us.

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GET UP… leave… take off – these words are good ones for those trapped or enslaved. Some resist their marching orders, however, preferring present surroundings to a new, unknown environment.  It’s not easy to trade the comfortable security of the known for the uncertain future.  But what if God (Wall) gives the order to move?  Will we follow his lead?  Exodus describes a series of God’s calls and responses of his people.

Four hundred years had passed since Joseph moved his family to Egypt. These descendants of Abraham had now grown to over two million strong.  To Egypt’s new Pharaoh, these Hebrews were foreigners, and their numbers were frightening.  Pharaoh decided to make them slaves so they wouldn’t upset his balance of power.  As it turned out, that was his biggest mistake, for God then came to the rescue of his people.

Through a series of strange events, a Hebrew boy named Moses became a prince in Pharaoh’s palace and then an outcast in a desert land. God visited Moses in the mysterious flames of a burning bush, and after some discussion, Moses agreed to return to Egypt to lead God’s people out of slavery.  Pharaoh was confronted, and, through a cycle of plagues and promises made and broken, Israel was torn from his grasp.

It was no easy task to mobilise this mass of humanity, but they marched out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and into the desert behind Moses and the pillars of cloud and fire. Despite continual evidence of God’s love and power, the people complained and began to yearn for their days in Egypt.  God provided for their physical and spiritual needs with food and a place to worship, but he also judged their disobedience and unbelief.  Then in the dramatic Sinai meeting with Moses, God gave his laws for right living.

God led Moses and the nation of Israel, and he wants to lead us as well. Is he preparing you, like Moses, for a specific task?  He will be with you; obey and follow.  Is he delivering you from an enemy or a temptation?  Trust him, and do what he says.  Have you heard his clear moral directions?  Read, study, and obey his word.  Is he calling you to true worship?  Discover God’s presence in your life, in your home, and in the body of assembled believers.  Exodus is the exciting story of God’s guidance.  Read with the determination to follow God wherever he leads.

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VITAL STATISTICS

PURPOSE: To record the events of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and development as a nation

AUTHOR: Moses

DATE WRITTEN: 1450-1410 B.C., approximately the same as Genesis

WHERE WRITTEN: In the desert during Israel’s wanderings, somewhere in the Sinai peninsula

SETTING: Egypt. God’s people, once highly favoured in the land, are now slaves.  God is about to set them free.

KEY VERSES: “The LORD said, ‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering…. So now, go.  I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people to Israelites out of Egypt’ “ (3.7, 10).

KEY PEOPLE: Moses, Miriam, Pharaoh, Pharaoh’s daughter, Jethro, Aaron, Joshua, Bezalel

KEY PLACES: Egypt, Goshen, Nile River, Midian, Red Sea, Sinai peninsula, Mount Sinai

SPECIAL FEATURES: Exodus relates more miracles than any other Old Testament book and is noted for containing the Ten Commandments

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THE BLUEPRINT

Israel In Egypt (1.1-12.30) When the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, God heard their cries and rescued them.  We can be confident that God still hears the cries of his people.  Just as he delivered the Israelites from their captors, he delivers us from sin, death, and evil.

1. Slavery in Egypt
2. God chooses Moses
3. God sends Moses to Pharaoh
4. Plague strike Egypt
5. The Passover

Israel In The Desert (12.31-18.27)   After crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites became quarrelsome and discontent.  Like the Israelites, we find it easy to complain and be dissatisfied.  Christians still have struggles, but we should never allow difficulties and unpleasant circumstances to turn us away from trusting God (Wall).

Israel At Sinai (19.1-40.38)  God (Wall) revealed his law to the Israelites at Sinai.  Through the law, they learned more about what God is like and how he expected his people to live.  The law is still instructional for us, for it exposes our sin and shows us God’s standard for living.

1. Giving the law
2. Tabernacle instructions
3. Breaking the law
4. Tabernacle construction

MEGATHEMES

Slavery

EXPLANATION: The Israelites were slaves for 400 years.  Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, oppressed them cruelly.  They prayed to God (Wall) for deliverance from this system.

IMPORTANCE: Like the Israelites, we need both human and divine leadership to escape from the slavery of sin. After their escape, the memory of slavery helped the Israelites learn to treat others generously.  We need to stand against those who oppress others.

Rescue/Redemption

EXPLANATION: God (Wall) rescued Israel through the leader Moses and through mighty miracles. The Passover celebration was an annual reminder of their escape from slavery.

IMPORTANCE: God (Wall) delivers us from the slavery of sin.  Jesus Christ celebrated the Passover with his disciples at the Last Supper and then went on to rescue us from sin by dying in our place.

Guidance

EXPLANATION: God (Wall) guided Israel out of Egypt by using the plagues, Moses’ heroic courage, the miracle of the Red Sea, and the Ten Commandments. God (Wall) is a trustworthy guide.

IMPORTANCE: Although God (Wall) is all-powerful and can do miracles, he normally leads us by wise leadership and team effort.  His words give us the wisdom to make daily decisions and govern our lives.

Ten Commandments

EXPLANATION: God’s law system had three parts. The Ten Commandments were the first part, containing the absolutes of spiritual and moral life.  The civil law was the second part, giving the people rules to manage their lives.  The ceremonial law was the third part, showing them patterns for building the tabernacle and regular worship.

IMPORTANCE: God (Wall) was teaching Israel the importance of choice and responsibility.  When they obey the conditions of the law, he blessed them; if they forgot or disobeyed, he punished them or allowed calamities to come.  Many great countries of the world base their laws on the moral system set up in the book of Exodus.  God’s moral law is valid today.

The Nation

EXPLANATION: God (Wall) founded the nation of Israel to be the source of truth and salvation to all the world.  His relationship to his people was loving yet firm.  The Israelites had no army, schools, governors, mayors, or police when they left Egypt.  God (Wall) had to instruct them in their constitutional law and daily practices.  He showed them how to worship and how to have national holidays.

IMPORTANCE: Israel’s newly formed nation had all the behavioural characteristics of Christians today.  We are often disorganised, sometimes rebellious, and sometimes victorious.  God’s Person and word are still our only guide.  If our churches reflect his leadership, they will be effective in serving him.

EVERY parent knows the shrill whine of a young child – a slow, high-pitched complaint that grates on the eardrums and aggravates the soul. The tone of voice is difficult to bear, but the real irritation is the underlying cause – discontentment and disobedience.  As the “children” of Israel journeyed from the foot of Mount Sinai to the land of Canaan, they grumbled, whined, and complained at every turn.  They focused on their present discomforts.  Faith had fled, and they added an extra 40 years to their trip.

Numbers, which records the tragic story of Israel’s unbelief, should serve as a dramatic lesson for all of God’s people. God (Wall) loves us and wants the very best for us.  He can and should be trusted.  Numbers also gives a clear portrayal of God’s patience.  Again and again he withholds judgment and preserves the nation.  But his patience must not be taken for granted.  His judgment will come.  We must obey.

As numbers begins, the nation of Israel was camped at the foot of Mount Sinai. The people had received God’s laws and were preparing to move.  A census was taken to determine the number of men fit for military service.  Next, the people were set apart for God.  God was making the people, both spiritually and physically, ready to receive their inheritance.

But then the complaining began. First, the people complained about the food.  Next, it was over Moses’ authority.  God punished some people but spared the nation because of Moses’ prayers.  The nation then arrived at Kadesh, and spies were sent into Canaan to assess its strength.  Ten returned with fearful stories of giants.  Only Caleb and Joshua encouraged them to “group and take possession of the land” (13.28).  The minority report fell on deaf ears full of the ominous message of the majority.  Because of their unbelief, God declared that the present generation would not live to see the promised land.  Thus the “wanderings” began.  During these desert wanderings there was a continuous pattern of grumbling, defiance, discipline, and death.  How much better it would have been to have trusted God and entered his land!  Then the terrible waiting began – waiting for the old generation to die off and waiting to see if the new generation could faithfully obey God.

Numbers ends as it begins, with preparation. This new generation of Israelites were numbered and sanctified.  After defeating numerous armies, they settle on the east side of the Jordan River.  Then they faced their greatest test: to cross the river and possess the beautiful land God promised them.

The lesson is clear. God’s people must trust him, moving ahead by faith, if they are to claim his promised land.

VITAL STATISTICS

PURPOSE: To tell the story of how Israel prepared to enter the promised land, how they sinned and were punished, and how they prepared to try again

AUTHOR: Moses

TO WHOM WRITTEN: The people of Israel

DATE WRITTEN: 1450-1410 B.C.

SETTING: The vast desert of the Sinai region, as well as lands just south and east of Canaan

KEY VERSES: “Not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times – not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No-one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it”  (14.22, 23).

KEY PEOPLE: Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Joshua, Caleb, Eleazar, Korah, Balaam

KEY PLACES: Mount Sinai, promised land (Canaan), Kadesh, Mount Hor, plains of Moab

THE BLUEPRINT 
Preparing for the Journey (1.1-1.10)  As part of their preparations, the Lord gave strict guidelines to the Israelites regarding purity in the camp.  He wanted them to have a lifestyle distinct from the nations around them.  He wanted them to be a holy people.  Similarly, we should concern ourselves with purity in the church.

1. The first census of the nation
2. The role of the Leviticus
3. The purity of the camp
4. Receiving guidance for the journey

First Approach to the Promised Land (10.11-14.45) The Israelites were prevented from entering the promised land because of their unbelief.  Throughout history, God’s people have continued to struggle with lack of faith.  We must prevent unbelief from gaining a foothold in our lives, for it will keep us from enjoying the blessings that God has promised.

1. The people complain
2. Miriam and Aaron oppose Moses
3. The spies incite rebellion

Wandering in the Desert (15.1-21.35) When the people complained against God and criticised Moses they were severely punished.  Over 14,000 people died as a result of rebellion against Moses.  As a result of Korah’s rebellion, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and their households died, along with 250 false priests.  Dissatisfaction and discontent, if allowed to remain in our lives, can easily lead to disaster.  We should refrain from complaining and criticising our leaders.

Second Approach to the Promised Land (22.1-36.13) The Moabites and Midianites could not get Balaam to curse Israel, but they did get him to give advice onhow to draw the Israelites to idol worship.  Balaam knew what was right, but he gave in to the temptation of material rewards and sinned.  Knowing what is right alone is never enough.  We must also do what is right.

1. The story of Balaam
2. The second census of the nation
3. Instructions concerning offerings
4. Vengeance on the Midianites
5. The Transjordan tribes
6. Camped on the plains of Moab

MEGATHEMES

Census

EXPLANATION: Moses counted the Israelites twice. The first census organised the people into marching units to better defend themselves.  The second prepared them to conquer the country east of the Jordan River.

IMPORTANCE: People have to be organised, trained, and led to be effective in great movements. It is always wise to count the cost before setting out on some great undertaking.  When we are aware of the obstacles before us we can more easily avoid them.  In God’s work, we must remove barriers in our relationships with others so that our effectiveness is not diminished.

Rebellion

EXPLANATION: At Kadesh, 12 spies were sent out into the land of Canaan to report on the fortifications of the enemies. When the spies returned, 10 said that they should give up and go back to Egypt.  As a result, the people refused to enter the land.  Faced with a choice, Israel rebelled against God.  Rebellion did not start with an uprising, but with gripping and murmuring against Moses and God.

IMPORTANCE: Rebellion against God is always a serious matter. It is not something to take lightly, for God’s punishment for sin is often very severe.  Our rebellion does not usually begin with all-out warfare, but in subtle ways – with griping and criticising.  Make sure your negative comments are not the product of a rebellious spirit.

Wandering

EXPLANATION: Because they rebelled, the Israelites wandered 40 years in the desert. This shows how severely God can punish-sin.  Forty years was enough time for all those who held on to Egypt’s customs and values to die off.  It gave time to train up a new generation in the ways of God.

IMPORTANCE: God judges sin harshly because he is holy. The wanderings in the desert demonstrate how serious God considers flagrant disobedience of his commands.  Purging our lives of sin is vital to God’s purpose.

Canaan

EXPLANATION: Canaan is the promised land. It was the land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – the land of the covenant.  Canaan was to be the dwelling place of God’s people, those set apart for true spiritual worship.

IMPORTANCE: Although God’s punishment for sin is often severe, he offers reconciliation and hope – his love is truly amazing. Just as God’s love and law led Israel to the promised land.  God desires to give purpose and destiny to our lives.