Archives for January 2025

OVERVIEW:

Abram and Lot separate; Abram moves to Hebron, builds an altar; Melchizedek’s blessing upon Abram; God’s covenant with Abram.

HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:

After the downward move into the world’s system of evil, and finding himself in the web of its sinfulness in chapter 12, “…Abram went up out of Egypt…” (13:1), and back to the place of blessing and intimacy with God that he had at the first. (13:3-4) It’s the same solution our Lord Jesus Christ identified in Revelation 2:4-5 for those times we find ourselves in the world’s snare, having left our first love. Jesus said, “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works…”Do you need to follow Jesus’ admonition and Abram’s example? Note the simplicity of Jesus’ counsel in Revelation 2:5: Remember. Repent. Repeat.

We might could call the situation between Abram and his nephew, Lot, in 13:5–9, “The curse of God’s blessing!” Sometimes even the blessing of God in our lives forces us to have to make tough decisions. As we observe these two men navigating through this much needed, but volatile separation, Lot illustrates a CARNAL believer, walking in the FLESH, while Abram illustrates a SURRENDERED believer, walking in the SPIRIT.

Notice that Lot chooses the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh. (13:10–11) He chooses Sodom, thinking it is a place of peace, protection, and prosperity, when in reality it was the exact opposite! It was actually a place of conflict, danger, and cursing! Lot illustrates how important it is that we look through SPIRITUAL eyes as opposed to PHYSICAL eyes in order to live the victorious Christian life. Paul said, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”(2^nd Corinthians 4:18)

Chapter 14 illustrates that the Spirit-filled life is a life that is blessed by the Lord Jesus Christ, as Melchizedek, a type of Christ, blesses faithful Abram. Note that Melchizedek, whose name means “Righteous King,” is the King of Salem (Hebrew, “shalom”) or peace, and is a priest of the most high God. Note, also, that this mysterious king-priest of Jerusalem, to whom is given no human biographical or genealogical background, blesses Abram and receives tithes from him. Sound familiar?

Melchizedek is, obviously, a picture and type of our Lord Jesus Christ. Like Melchizedek, our Righteous King, the Lord Jesus Christ, is not of human descent, is the Prince of Peace, and the God and Lord of peace, and will soon take up His throne in Jerusalem to rule as King over all the world. He blesses those who are surrendered to Him, and He alone is worthy of tithes of all that we possess.

Those, like Abram, who are surrendered to Christ’s Lordship, hear the word of the Lord in their hearts saying, “…Fear not,…I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” (15:1)

CHRIST IS REVEALED:

In MELCHIZEDEK, THE KING OF SALEM (Jerusalem), THE KING OF PEACE, THE PRIEST OF THE MOST HIGH GOD – Genesis 14:18-20 (Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 7:1-6, 17, 21; Isaiah 9:6; Romans 15:33; 2^nd Thessalonians 3:16)

OVERVIEW:

The descendants of Noah; Babel: the origin of races and languages; God’s call and covenant with Abram; Abram’s journey to Canaan and Egypt.

HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:

After listing one name after the other in the midst of the genealogy in chapter 10, when we get to the name Nimrod in verses 8–10, all of a sudden God interrupts the list to provide us His commentary concerning him. Once again, it’s one of the ways God uses to arrest our attention because of something He’s trying to get us to see that He knows is extremely significant! Note that God does this same thing in the genealogy in 1^st Chronicles 1:10 when He gets to the name Nimrod!

Interestingly, Nimrod is the grandson of Ham, which, as we’ve already seen, is associated with a curse. His name means “rebel”, and his epithet is that he was “a mighty hunter before (or, against) the Lord.” He was, obviously, a keen hunter of animals in the land of Shinar, but the context lets us know that he was also hunting something else…

…MEN! Men to become a part of a kingdom! (10:10). The fact is, Nimrod wanted to set himself up as a king over a kingdom of rebellion against God!

Keep in mind as we consider Nimrod and his kingdom, that the THEME of the Bible is all about a KINGDOM in which our Lord Jesus Christ will rule and reign over all the earth from His throne in Jerusalem for a period of 1000 years. (Genesis 2:3; 2^nd Peter 3:8; Revelation 20:1–5) As we’ve seen, the history of mankind, and God’s record of it in the Bible, is really nothing more than God moving to put His Son on that throne, and Satan doing everything he can, not only to stop Him, but to put himself there! (Isaiah 14:12–14; 2^nd Thessalonians 2:4) Note that the first mention of “kingdom” in the Bible is in reference to a king whose name means “rebellion,” who is seeking to establish a world empire. If you are unfamiliar with the principle, or what is sometimes referred to as the “Law of First Mention” in terms of Bible study, it is simply this: God has so orchestrated the revelation of His word that the first time a key biblical word or principle is mentioned in the Bible, the usage of the word foreshadows its future scope. For example, the first time “love” is mentioned in the Bible is in Genesis 22:2. The context is that of a loving father offering his only begotten son as a sacrifice. The future scope is obvious! (John 3:16) If the future scope of the first mention of “kingdom” is not obvious to you, just realize that during the Tribulation Period there will be a king of rebellion referred to biblically as the antichrist, or the beast (1^st John 2:18; Revelation 6:1; 13:1–18) who will come on the scene, seeking men and women to be a part of a world empire that is set in opposition to all that Christ and His kingdom is and shall be.

Note that the first mention of “Babel” is also in 10:10, and is likewise connected to the reign of the antichrist. From this point in the Bible, Babel or Babylon (Hebrew = Babel, Greek = Babylon), will always stand for that which is in opposition to God and His people, and its ultimate demise is not recorded until Revelation 17 and 18, near the end of the Tribulation Period!

Nimrod recognized in Genesis 11:1–4 that to establish a world empire, he would need to unify the people, both GOVERNMENTALLY and RELIGIOUSLY, and thus, the statement in 11:4, “…let us build us a city and a tower…”The “city” is the governmental symbol, and the “tower” is the religious symbol. Practically speaking, the “city” and “tower” of Babel was Satan’s attempt to unite the people of the earth in a one-world government, one-world religion, under one king. Obviously, Nimrod is a forerunner and type of the antichrist who is a king of rebellion who seeks to establish a world empire by unifying the people of the earth in a one-world government and religion.

Begin to learn the principle of Ecclesiastes 3:15: “That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been…” In other words, if you want to understand the things that are happening in the PRESENT and the things that will be happening in the FUTURE, you must understand the things in the PAST. Or, as the old saying goes, “History repeats itself!”

In striking contrast to rebellious Nimrod, chapter 12 introduces us to faithful Abram, a man who symbolizes submission to God. God’s call to Abram was: “…Get thee out of thy country…unto a land that I will show thee…and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him…” (12:1-4) Without hesitation, consideration, or deliberation, in faith, Abram left his homeland and all that he knew and loved for an unidentified and an unspecified land. (12:1) For his unwavering faith, God holds up Abram as a shining example. (Hebrews 11:8)

Even though Abram exercised such great faith in God on one hand, when famine struck in chapter 12 and verse 10, rather than exercise that same faith and trust in God, it says that “…Abram went down into Egypt…” This is the first mention of “Egypt” in the Bible. Note that Egypt is always a “downward” move in scripture, and will always be associated biblically with the world and sin. The point of 12:10 is, rather than trust God, Abram looked to the world to meet his needs.

Abram exemplifies the fine line between walking by FAITH and walking by SIGHT… and between walking in the SPIRIT and walking in the FLESH. (Galatians 5:16-17)

CHRIST IS REVEALED:

As the PROMISED SEED OF ABRAHAM – Genesis 12:3 (Genesis 18:18: Matthew 1:1; Acts 3:25-26; Galatians 3:16)

In ABRAHAM – (Abraham is a type of Christ in that he leads the way to a better land of promise – Hebrews 11:8-11, 13-16)

OVERVIEW:

Noah, his family, seven pairs of every clean living creature and one pair of every unclean living creature enter the ark as God had commanded; the great flood; the Rainbow Covenant; the new beginning; the curse upon the descendants of Ham (the Canaanites).

HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:

“The Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark…”(Genesis 7:1) It is the first invitation extended by God in the Bible. Hallelujah, it certainly won’t be His last! In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said, “Come unto me…and I will give you rest.” In Acts 16:31, Paul said, “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”The Bible ends in Revelation 22 with God extending a similar invitation: “…Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”(Revelation 22:17)

Notice here in Genesis 7, that the ark was God’s secure refuge from the judgment that was to come. Just as Noah was saved from the wrath to come and found rest within the ark, Colossians 3:3 says to those of us who have called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, “…your life is hid with Christ in God.”

People constantly want to call Noah’s world-wide flood into question. The fact of the flood is proven by God’s record of it here in Genesis through MOSES (Genesis 7:1–8:22), as well as by the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:37-39; Luke 17:36), the prophets (Isaiah 54:9), the apostles, (1^st Peter 3:20), along with the ancient historical records of virtually every civilization on the earth!

The flood teaches us at least two key practical principles that we will see repeated throughout the entire Bible:

1) God will punish sin!

2) There must be death to the old before He will establish the new.

Notice that after the death of all mankind, God begins again with eight souls (Noah, his three sons, and each of their wives). From this point in the Bible, we will discover that eight is the number of “new beginnings”.

In 8:15, after 370 days, God speaks to Noah and tells him to take his family out of the ark along with all of the animals. Recognize, God is starting over. Just as He had given King Adam the 1^st dominion over the earth and had given him the commission to “…be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth…” (Genesis 1:28), God starts over with King Noah the 1^st, likewise giving him dominion over the earth, and commissioning him to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” (Genesis 9:1–2) One of the principles we need to learn early on in our journey through the Bible, is that anytime we find God moving in a significant way, we need to train our brains to be looking for Satan to counter, especially when man’s commission is involved! Noah is no sooner off of the ark before Genesis 9:20–21 says, “And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.” This is usually what happens when people get drunk! They usually end up taking their clothes off which usually leads to some kind of sexual sin. Which, in this case, it did! Though God thankfully spares us the gory details, Ham, Noah’s son commits an act of sexual perversion with his father and perhaps also with his father’s wife (Leviticus 18:8; 20:11). We discern that from the fact that in Genesis 10:19, Ham’s children settle in a place that becomes known for homosexual activity, a place called Sodom and Gomorrah!

But recognize, here is the man to whom God had extended grace, and had chosen to give the earth a new beginning, and he’s lying drunk, naked on his bed, in a perverted, sinful, and unnatural sexual relationship! From here, the whole earth begins to be filled with corruption once again, as we will see demonstrated as we move into chapter 11 of Genesis.

From an extremely practical standpoint, let us learn that just as Satan sought to come against Adam because of his commission, and just as that slithering serpent came against Noah because of his commission, Satan will likewise come against us because of our commission! (Matthew 28:19–20; 2^nd Timothy 2:2) May God help us! Notice, in 9:8-17, that God enters with Noah what verse 16 describes as an “everlasting covenant”. This is the first of five covenants in the Bible that God refers to as “everlasting”:

• The NOAHIC Covenant. (Genesis 9:16)

• The ABRAHAMIC Covenant. (Genesis 17:7)

• The PRIESTLY Covenant. (Numbers 25:10-13)

• The DAVIDIC Covenant. (2^nd Samuel 23:5)

• The NEW Covenant. (Jeremiah 32:40)

As God replenishes the earth through Noah’s three sons (9:18-19), note that through Shem come the Asians, through Ham come the Africans, and through Japheth come the Europeans.

CHRIST IS REVEALED:

Through the ARK – Genesis 7:1,7 (Acts 4:12; 2^nd Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 3:3; 1^st Thessalonians 1:10)

Note: To be delivered from the wrath of God to come, you must be “in Christ,” the only “Ark” of safety.