David Pawson - Genesis 6

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THOUGHTFUL THOUGHTS 4.9.26  BY JOHN DUNNING.

GENESIS, Part 6

1). INTRODUCTION

The first 10 chapters cover many hundreds of years, and written as a newspaper journalist might record a story. The first of the main big covenants between God and man was with Noah, which was made for all of us, as it was general and unconditional. God used the rainbow as a reminder of the covenant with Noah, (see Gen. 9:12 ff), which was referred to by Jesus in Luke and Matthew. 

A Chinese film producer made a documentary called “Who Are The Chinese?” The first “Traditional Chinese” language is made up of picture symbols which are 3,000 years old. He showed how some words come from the Genesis creation story and from Noah’s flood. I have provided a link at the end of this Bible study…

2). THE “OLD” COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM

The next of the big covenants was the one God made with Abraham…

The next 40 chapters in Genesis deal with just a few hundred years, covering a few generations. It is written as if ‘Abraham & sons’ were keeping a diary of walking with God. God came up with a plan to save those that would listen to Him, and that all started with a covenant with Abraham, to be passed on down through his family. 

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i). Priorities

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a covenant making God. From the main characters in the Genesis stories we see that it is those who made spiritual choices at the expense of choices of the flesh, who were approved by God. Being the eldest was not the major consideration. Examples in Genesis are;-

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a). In Gen. 25:29ff we see that Esau, the first born, (by a few minutes!), sold his birthright to Isaac. Later on we see that God then said He hated Esau for not valuing what was spiritual, (Malachi 1:3; Romans 9:13). Then we see that God said He loved Jacob, who put God first; (Malachi 1:2; Romans 9:13).

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b). An example of that is when Abraham tried to argue a case for Ishmael, but then God pointed out that Abraham’s inheritance must be passed on through Isaac; (Gen. 17:18-19), called in the NT a child of the promise.
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c). We also see that Jacob blessed Joseph’s younger son first and not the oldest, (Gen. 48:17-20), even though Joseph protested. Jacob also gave Joseph more than than his older brothers, (Gen. 48:22).
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So as we see that spiritual inheritance was not something passed on to the eldest child, like a hereditary title, just because they were the oldest. We see in the Bible that the oldest sons were often skipped for spiritual inheritance (eg in the stories with Saul, David, and Solomon.)

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ii). Faith
Hebrews 11 tells us that the common denominator with all these men mentioned was “Faith”. (It’s worth reading to see for yourself). Notice that Solomon who started off so well, is left out of the list of the faithful in Hebrews 11. The Bible says that his heart was turned away from God by his wives (1 Kings 11:3-4). In the case of Esau, it was his stomach which he put before his spiritual inheritance which caused him to lose it.

Paul tells us God replaced the “former covenant”. The new covenant is on offer to us now – but – what hasn’t changed is the requirement for faith. (In fact Paul points out that Abraham’s faith came first before there was a covenant.) 

In other words, there is so much we can learn from the patriarchs in Genesis 11-50. Here’s some notes for your Bible study… 

a). ABRAHAM

Abraham put God first, and he was the “forerunner” of our faith. He believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

Abraham is stopped by God, who provides a ram for the sacrifice. And it happened where Jesus was crucified for us.

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b). ISAAC

Isaac was in his early 30s when Abraham was about to sacrifice him as his only son, before God stopped him, and showed him a ram caught up in a thorny bush to be the real sacrifice. We know Isaac’s age as Sarah died aged 120 immediately after this event. This means that Isaac accepted his father’s word about God’s testing and didn’t resist, which he could have done. The ram caught in thorns represents Jesus… another “shadow”.
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c). JACOB

Jacob sold what he had in exchange for the spiritual blessing of the eldest son. Having done that, God loved Jacob’s priorities and changed his name to “Israel” and Jacob went on to father the twelve tribes of Israel.
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d). JOSEPH

Joseph was Jacob’s favourite son, and he went on to save Israel and Egypt from starvation. He was tested with temptations involving the 3 “Gs”;- gold, glory and girls, and Joseph passed all of the tests. He was proven to be so trustworthy he was given the top job of running Egypt. He made the Israelites promise to take his bones with them when they escaped Egypt.

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iii). Gentiles permitted to join God’s people by covenant

a). There were even some Egyptians who left Egypt with Moses and became Israelites, but they all had to solemnly join God’s covenant promises with Israel, and become part of the Israelite family, with all of the laws, rules and regulations. That was the deal.
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b). Non-family members (ie Gentiles like “Ruth”), could join in the covenant relationship provided they adopted all the terms and conditions that went with it, but it still centred around the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants.
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c). The famous examples of this are Rahab the former prostitute in Joshua 2, who joined the people of God, mentioned in Hebrews 11:21; and Ruth the Gentile who chose to join the people of God, who married Boaz, (see the book of Ruth). They both ended up in the family tree of Jesus.
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d). The Rechabites mentioned in Jeremiah 35:19 is another example of Gentiles being included in God’s covenant with the Israelites.

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3). THE NEW COVENANT MADE POSSIBLE BY THE CROSS OF JESUS

The Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God. Well, in Hebrews 11 we see these men used as examples of faith, and in that they led the way for you and me. 

In the book of Hebrews these events are called ‘shadows’, (ie to teach us). They point forward to “Who” was to come, (Jesus). -

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Jesus taught His disciples after His resurrection, on the road to Emmaus, (Luke 24:13-25), all about Himself from these “shadows”, so throughout the “Old” Testament, we learn from these “shadows” about our Messiah, which they remembered and told all the other disciples about. 

Further evidence to support the Genesis account is in the old “Traditional” Chinese language! A Chinese film producer made a documentary called “Who Are The Chinese?” The first “Traditional Chinese” language is made up of picture symbols. He showed how some words come from the Genesis creation story and from Noah’s flood. Here is a link to that study… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb4e1dQRJT0

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It was said that the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. In these examples, we see these “shadows”. Augustine said;-

Do share this study with your friends…

This is John Dunning signing off from “Thoughtful Thoughts” for another week.

PS. To help pray for the ‘suffering church’ see;- https://barnabasfund.org/nz/pray/daily-prayer/#previous-dates

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If you would like to know how to find peace with God, listen to the podcasts at this link…

https://www.inspirational.org.nz/pages/johns-devotionals-podcast

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For a message on Hearing God, called “The Cost of Discipleship”, 

visit this podcast link https://share.transistor.fm/s/1263bbab

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