The Expository

Genesis Chapter 10

2009-10-13T23:29:00.002-04:00

Genesis Chapter 10
vs 1-14

These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations.6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. 7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. 8 Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and 12 Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. 13 Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14 Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim.

I know that it can sometimes not be the most glamorous portion of the Bible when we read alot about genealogy and this guy begot these guys yada yada yada. Let me be the first to admit that I dont pay enough attention to these inspired words of God. I want to remind us first of all that we need to be grateful for having these sometimes long list of people. These are layers of evidence that are just one of many pieces to a grand puzzle that enables us to put our trust in the entire Bible. In other words, we can look back in mainstream history and see that these people, cities, countries , kings etc actually existed, and the Bible is not just a book of fairytale and folklore. In addition and more importantly guys with more degrees than Fahrenheit can trace the blood line of Jesus back to where the Bible says it came from. All this to say every part of our Bible is important to read. And there are some parts that are more interesting than others for sure, but lets not take any of it for granted. Secondly we read about a mighty warrior/hunter named Nimrod. It says that he was the first of the "mighty men". As you trace the descendants of Nimrod they actually become the "mighty men and warriors" of Nineveh in Assyria, who later in history raise up armies and attack and conquer Israel because of Israel's unfaithfulness.

vs 15-32

15 Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, 16 and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 17 the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, 18 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. 19 And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 20 These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

21 To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born. 22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. 23 The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 24 Arpachshad fathered Shelah; and Shelah fathered Eber. 25 To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother's name was Joktan. 26 Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. 30 The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country of the east. 31 These are the sons of Shem, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.
32 These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

Again not the most exciting part of the Bible, but here we do see how the world began to populate again. We start to see how some of the nations of the world begin to come together and we see early foreshadowing of future enemies of the nation of Israel. Put your seat belt on, the story of Christ, Redemption and the coming King is about to heat up! Stay tuned!!!!

Genesis Chapter 9

2009-09-25T15:01:00.003-04:00

Chapter 9
vs 1-4
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

Here again we see God telling Noah in a similar way to "Be fruitful and multiply". Its not just enough to have lots of children, but to be Fruitful in the process. We are given a huge responsibility to raise our children to know Jesus Christ. One interesting difference between Man's relationship with the animal kingdom with Adam is that there seemed to be a sense of relationship with Adam and the beasts. With Noah, God tells him that the animals will fear and dread humans. We know this is true today. Sometimes we see videos where animals attack humans. Most of the time the experts tell us that the animal is either scared, or protective. In the New Earth man will once again have fellowship with the animal kingdom. We also read in the these opening verses of chapter 9, that God allows Man to eat animals for food. He forbids the consumption of their blood as God wants Noah and all of us to know that all life is precious. In addition there were health reasons and sanitary issues that God knew would be hazardous to humans. We will revisit this topic in the future as we get further into the Old Testament.

vs 5-6
5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.

6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image.

God gives us orders to invoke death, on anyone who murders another human being. No other part of creation has been created in the image of God except humans. God HATES murder, and demands that anyone who kills a person unjustly should be put to death! I have had many debates with Christian brothers and sisters that do not believe that God would want even a murderer to face death, but God clearly feels differently. Some might say well that is the God of the Old Testament and we don't listen to the Old Testament anymore. First the God of the Old Testament is the same God in the New Testament. Secondly this predates the law of Moses. The only part of the Old Testament that we do not live by in the New Testament era is the Ceremonial portion of the law(as Christ has already fulfilled that for us on the cross ex. sacrificing animals,the washings etc Christ did this on the cross!). So we absolutely abide by the Old Testament in principal, and in practice when it comes to the commands of God. Here are a few examples of justified killing
1.Executing a murderer
2.Times of War
3.Defending your family or yourself from a life and death situation
4.Giving your life to save somebody in danger
5.Defending and protecting as a vocation(Police,Security etc)

vs 7-17

7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, teem on the earth and multiply in it.”
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Here we see the very first covenant between God and man recorded in the Bible. God in his infinite knowledge knew He would one day destroy this world. That the sin of man would come to an end, and that we would all stand before Him to be judged. And that the New Earth would be our eternal home. Thinking about how devastating it must have been from the prospective of Noah to see the entire Earth flooded, and EVERY person, animal and everything on the Earth totally and utterly destroyed, I believe God makes this promise to Noah that this will never happen again. He gives a sign in the sky to remind Noah of this promise, and for us today to show us that our God can be trusted. That when he makes a covenant with you He will ALWAYS keep it. That gives us all great hope and joy, because anyone who belongs to Christ NEVER has to worry about losing their salvation, or God just being tired of working on us, He will never let you go!

vs 18-19

18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.

So here we see the end of the story of the great flood, and now life is beginning to get back to normal once again. The entire Earth is full of people even to this day that stem from Noah, and his children.

vs 20-28

20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,

“Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”

26 He also said,

“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem;
and let Canaan be his servant.
27 May God enlarge Japheth,
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,
and let Canaan be his servant.”

28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.

So after the flood, Noah begins a new life, in part symbolic of an almost new creation , and he plants a vineyard. Its important to see that Noah is still sinful, and still totally depraved apart from the grace of God. He apparently starts to drink way too much, and becomes drunk enough to pass out and lay naked in his tent. It is not a sin to drink alcohol, but time and time again throughout the Old and New Testaments we read that God forbids drunk us to become drunk. God wants us under the influence of the Holy Spirit, not drugs, alcohol etc. In any event Noah's youngest son seeks to humiliate his father. Instead of honoring his father and covering up Noah's shame, he goes to his other two brothers and begins to laugh and scorn Noah. God is very angry when children do not honor their fathers and mothers.(Even when our parents sin, we are to love them, pray for them and forgive them. It is easy to trash them especially if they are in a place where we totally disagree with decisions they are making, but it is not for you to be their judge, Christ will judge them, you do what you can to cover their shame and bring them closer to Jesus!) I think it is key to note how Noah's other two sons treated him, and the curse that was held over Canaan. God will not be mocked, and again we are to never be happy when anyone falls into sin.

Genesis Ch 8

2009-09-15T14:43:00.002-04:00

A New Beginning
vs 1-5
But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, 3 and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, 4 and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

One of the most well known and cherished stories we read in the entire Bible is the story of Noah's Ark. In chapter 8 we see the aftermath of the wrath of God. Again as we have said before that this flood is a great foreshadowing of a greater world wide judgment that is coming to every sinner on Earth. God is LOVE, and God is HOLY. And God is Just, and will judge sin and sinners at the return of Jesus Christ. I also love the story of Noah's Ark because it bring such validity to the word of God. We are almost certain that we have found the remains of the Ark on the same mountain that the Bible says it landed on. Here is a brief article on what archaeologists believe is Noah's Ark! http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2133311&page=1

vs 6-12
6 At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made 7 and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. 10 He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. 11 And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 12 Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore.

We can learn so much by seeing the obedience of Noah,and his patience in waiting for God to lead him. You can only imagine how it must of felt to be drifting aimlessly for such a long time in a boat the size of an air craft carrier and knowing that you, and the other seven people on board are the only people left living in the entire Earth. Yet Noah does not try to rush God's will, or the plan that God has set before him. He waits, uses Godly wisdom to determine when it would be safe to move forward with his life. We need to do this as well. Sometimes after a really challenging season in our life we just want to rush ahead and forget about everything that you just dealt with. We need to know that God is in control, and we need to be in sync with His timing, His will, His desires for our lives!

vs 13-19
13 In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. 14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. 15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark.

My mind goes back a few chapters to when God told Adam and Eve to "be fruitful and multiply". God tells Noah and his family, in addition to the pairs of animals that had joined them on the massive ship to do the same. God is not just looking for numbers, but fruitful numbers from His people. That is a huge responsibility to us as Christians to be teaching our children who Jesus Christ is. And to be training them in the knowledge and wisdom of Christ.

vs 20-22
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

You can understand why God chose to save Noah and his family. The very first thing Noah does after leaving the Ark is worship the Lord Jesus with a burnt offering. Even from the very beginning of the Bible that God smells the aroma of a blood sacrifice and it pleases him. In the Old Testament the blood sacrifice of "clean" birds and animals was pleasing, but not totally satisfying for God. It is only the once and for all blood sacrifice of our great God and Savior Jesus that completely satisfies the Father. As we read in verse 21, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. we see the total depravity of mankind, and our total dependence and NEED of a Savior. That is the gospel in a nutshell, we are sinners, we need a savior, and His name is Jesus Christ!

Genesis Ch 7

2009-08-19T22:00:00.004-04:00

The Ark

vs 1-5
Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3 and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” 5 And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.

I love the story of Noah because I believe that all throughout Scripture we see applications that we can apply that fit in this story. The Bible is about Jesus Christ. He is the Lord that we read about in the Old Testament. From Genesis to Revelation Jesus is the hero, Jesus is the main character and the big E on the eye chart. It is about humanity, and how utterly depraved that we are. We read about this in the previous chapter, that God saw nothing but wickedness in the heart of every man on earth. The story of the Bible is Jesus, loving mankind, and desiring to save us from our sinful, helpless selves. Those who come to faith in Jesus Christ enter the proverbial "Ark"of Christ. There is a greater judgment coming to this world than a flood of water. The flood of the great wrath of almighty God is coming. Here we see some serious foreshadowing that those who are righteous before God(those who are in Christ) are protected and saved from God's wrath.Again we are all wicked and sinful, it is the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ that makes us "the Righteousness of God"! Noah was not righteous because he was any less sinful or depraved, but he chose to walk with God, and to trust him in faith.

vs 6-10
6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, 9 two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

As a child I would read this story, or listen to it being read and just get chills. I think it is important to understand how much God hates sin, and that he is a loving God, but he also fully intends to issue out serious judgment on those who reject His Son Jesus. I still as an adult sometimes wonder if God will show us these awesome stories unfold when we are living with Him in eternity. Maybe on a grand highlight reel, or a big DVD compilation set that we can watch as we worship God for all eternity! In addition as we have been studying through Genesis, I am almost positive that I am going to put together a preaching series on the "Great Bible Stories" of The Old and New Testament! We have many people at our church that are recent converts and I just think that it is awesome to show new Christians these amazing acts of God!

vs 11-16
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, 14 they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. 15 They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.

The Bible says that the Lord, Christ shut Noah and his family into the ark. What a personal God that we serve and love. The God of the universe wanted to ensure the safety of those who have placed their faith in Him. And we see why. If we were to watch what is about to happen on the Earth, we would be shaken to our core. The Bible says that the fountains of the great deep burst forth onto the land. And that the windows of heaven were opened. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights straight. Water coming from the ocean, engulfing the dry land. And an absolute terrifying amount of rain coming from the sky. Nobody on Earth could have survived for very long. Again we need to have in the forefront of our minds that our God is an awesome God that does not turn a blind eye to sin! He does not think that it is cute or a game. God is angry with sin and sinners. Thank God for His great love, in sending Jesus Christ to reconcile us to His Father!

vs 17-24
17 The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

Pretty self explanatory,Water filled the Earth. The highest mountains on Earth were completely covered with water. Noah and company, and only the animals that were on the Ark survived. God makes it completely clear that nobody survived this catastrophe.

Genesis Ch 6

2009-08-13T23:56:00.004-04:00

The Wickedness of Man

vs 1-4

1When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

In the beginning chapters of Genesis we see God telling Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. This was seen as something positive and ordained by God. Well as we get into the story of Noah we see that humans for the most part multiplied, but forgot about the fruitful part. I believe that is pleases God to see families with many children(one of the reasons Adoption is SO awesome!) but we must always remember that God calls us to be fruitful as well. Raising these children in the fear and love of Jesus Christ. Another thing we need to see as we study through Gods word is that he is disgusted by sin and sinners. That He fully intends on judging the ungodly, and that He demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. So out of his great love, He does send Jesus to appease this great anger that he has for sin and sinners. And outside of Jesus there is no forgiveness or redemption. Now real quick the sons of God that are mentioned in these opening verses. There is quite a bit of speculation as to who these "sons of God" are. Here is a good overview of this topic real quick.

This problem is exacerbated by the coming together of the sons of God and the daughters of man (6:2). The identity of both groups is uncertain, and various solutions have been advocated, although none has gained universal support. Various scholars have proposed that the “sons of God” are (1) fallen angels (cf. Job 1:6; some, however, suggest that this contradicts Mark 12:25, though the reference in Mark is to angels in heaven; see also 2 Pet. 2:4–5; Jude 5–6); or (2) tyrannical human judges or kings (in the ungodly line of Lamech, possibly demon-possessed); or (3) followers of God among the male descendants of Seth (i.e., the godly line of Seth, but who married the ungodly daughters of Cain). Though it would be difficult to determine which of these three views may be correct, it is clear that the kind of relationship described here involved some form of grievous sexual perversion, wherein the “sons of God” saw and with impunity took any women (“daughters of man”) that they wanted.

So there are a few different views on that topic. I figured the scholars could do a better job giving us some insight on that topic than I could! God also makes a bold statement. My Spirit will not live in man for ever. 120 years is the number that he gives. Some believe this is talking about life span. Although we know of people in history that have lived past 120. So this is either a general rule that most people will not live past 120. I believe the main idea with this is that it will take 120 years for Noah to build the ark, and after that time period God is going to practically restart the human race because of the wickedness of man.

vs 5-8

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Verse 5 is true of all humans without Jesus Christ. those who surrender to Jesus struggle with all of those attributes, and through sanctification will someday, when we enter into God's eternal rest be freed from the wickedness, the bad intentions etc. As Christians we need to have a very high view of God, and a very low view of man. We are sinful, we are in need of a savior. And there is a coming judgment greater than a flood on those who do not have the forgiveness of Christ.So in the great and eternal plan of God we see Christ almost hitting a rest button, things went from Good in the garden, to horrible. The Lord Jesus was sorry that he created mankind. B It did grieve him to see how humans crave sin, and ignore God. As His anger and grief burned, we read that Christ saw one man that had favor with with God. This is a beautiful story because we see the true heart of God. His anger towards sin and sinners, and His grace and mercy all wrapped up in to one. Christ would not destroy Noah and his family, they belonged to God, and found favor. So God tells Noah of his plan, and "saves" Noah from the impending judgment that is about to come. Christ is our savior! Any who love Him, will never face God's wrath.

vs 9-10

9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Noah and Moses are the only two people in the Bible to be found with Favor with God. Noah was righteous because he belonged to God, and he walked with God. Not perfect, but blameless. This is the beauty of Christianity. We are blameless because of our perfect Savior who covers us! You have heard it said before that if you were the only one that would have accepted Christ, God still would have sent him, this story always comes to mind as God sees one man Noah, and says ok, he and his family are worth saving from my judgment.

vs 11-13

11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Imagine that you are Noah and you get this message from God. This had to be overwhelming at first to hear from the God of the universe. The God who by the power of his thoughts made this world. And as our parents told us many times, I brought you in this world, I can take you out! God is essentially saying Noah, the game is OVER for everyone but you, and your family. In the next few verses we see the plan of salvation for Noah and his family.

vs 14-16

14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. 16 Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.

The story of Noah and the Ark is one of the most beloved and honored stories in all of Scripture. Most children memorize the main parts of this story in Sunday School or Children's church by the time they are 4 or 5 years old. This story is also one of the first places a skeptic will point too when they try to show the Bible as an ancient book of myth and fairy tale. How could you actually believe that God could fit two and in some cases seven of each animal on earth in one boat? And I have heard people say this as if the Bible describes the Ark as if it were the size of a fishing boat, or a modern day cruise ship. My friend the dimensions the Bible gives for the Ark are HUGE. No wonder it took Noah 120 years to get this thing built! Check this out:

In modern measurements, the ark would have been around 450 feet (140 m) long, 75 feet (23 m) wide, and 45 feet (14 m) high, yielding a displacement of about 43,000 tons (about 39 million kg). The inside capacity would have been 1.4 million cubic feet (39,644 cubic m), with an approximate total deck area of 95,700 square feet (8,891 square m).

Yeah there is never a reason to doubt your Bible! I LOVE that the Word of God gives these dimensions, just another piece of evidence that you can trust your Bible, and that what you are reading is fact, not fiction. It is also interesting that the Bible tells us what kind of wood Noah was to use. And as we read further into this story we read what mountain the Bible says the Ark landed on. In modern times this same mountain has been explored, and there is an enormous wooden ship on top of this same mountain. Made of the same wood the Bible says it was made out of!

vs 17-18

17For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you.

Not to beat a dead horse, but in verse 17 we see that God is no wimp. God does not turn a blind eye to sin, and that He will pour out his judgment and wrath on sin and sinners in His due time. Make no mistake that our God is a God of love, and a God of Holiness and Righteousness. The Cross of Christ was where these two attributes of God meet in perfection. Verse 18 God establishes a covenant with Noah, and tells Noah that he and his family will be spared from the punishment that is coming.

vs 19-22

19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. 21 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.” 22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

Noah is told how big to build the ark, what to make the ark out of, what to put in the ark and to store food for the 8 people aboard, and for the animals that would be with his family. 120 years sounds like a long time to people in our day and age. But could you imagine having the responsibility of doing all of this? Making basically a floating city, and enough food to feed 2 of every kind of animal on earth? I am sure that Noah and the rest of his family stopped everything they were doing, and from that point on served God by working very hard to get all of this accomplished in this 120 year time span. As Christians we know there is a day of judgment coming to this planet again. I want to encourage every Christan that may read this study, please be diligent. Please work very hard to get the message of Christ out to the entire world. Talk with your church leadership about how you can have Jesus the focus of everything in your church. We have SO much work to do before Christ's final judgment begins to rain down on this earth!

Genesis Ch 5

2009-08-05T21:10:00.002-04:00

From Adam To Noah

vs 1-2
1This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.

A brief recap on the creation of Christ, restating that men and women both bare the image of God. From here on out we will begin to see the descendants of Adam until we get to another familiar name, Noah.

vs 3-5
3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. 4 The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. 5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.

There is a little speculation about what the Bible means here when it says that Adam lived 130 years, then fathered Seth. We just read a chapter back that Seth was born to Adam and Eve as a replacement for their son Able who was killed by his brother. Does this mean that Adam had lived in the garden for less than 130 years? Or did age and time start being counted as soon as the fall happened? I dont believe we can ever land on a 100% solid answer, but my view is that Adam and his family began counting their years after sin entered the world and in their hearts. I have had many skeptical friends say that the Bible is chalked full of fairy tales and one of their biggest examples is the age span of the earliest humans talked about in Genesis. I have had well intentioned Christian friends try to explain this oddity in the next couple of chapters when God tells Noah that
3 Then the Lord said, z “My Spirit shall not abide in [1] man forever, a for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”
We will unpack this more extensively in the next chapter but this does not mean that God will only let people live to be 120 years old. And is not an adequate answer to give to a skeptic that says the Bible is a fair tale because of Adam and his first descendants living hundreds of years on the Earth. What is the right answer? Here are the main points to bring up when a skeptic asks this question
1.Tell them that this is a fair and reasonable question to ask. And there are reasonable answers to these questions
2.The main reason we believe any of the Old Testament, especially that it is the word of God is that Jesus affirms many of these stories and people. Jesus speaks from the Old Testament and talks about Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jonah etc. The Bible and its authority rests on Jesus, and if He is a liar, lunatic or Lord. IF he rose from death than we can be certain that what we read in the bible is trustworthy. The real question always comes back to Jesus!
3.From a scientific and logical stand point it would stand to reason that the human gene pool was not tainted in the early years and centuries of life. This is also why in the beginning God permitted brothers and sisters to pro create, but later in the Law forbids this and demands this to stop. The same logic can be applied here. There was less time for sickness, disease, infections etc to spread and develop and destroy the human body. Therefore making it easier to believe that the life span would have been considerably longer in the beginning of the human race than it is today.

vs 6-24

6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. 7 Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.

9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan. 10 Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11 Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.

12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel. 13 Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died.

15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. 16 Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17 Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died.

18 When Jared had lived 162 years he fathered Enoch. 19 Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.

21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

So as we watch the beginning of human history unfold we run into a very interesting person. We dont read much about Enoch, but he is one of the most interesting people mentioned in the Bible. Apparently one of the men that walked the closest with God as well. Enoch is one of two men in all of history to never die. The Bible says that every one of his ancestors lived this long, had this son and he died after living this long. It says in verse 21 that Enoch was 65 when he had Methuselah he lived 300 more years, it says he walked with God, and he was not for God took him. Many have speculated that Enoch will come back to this Earth with Elijah as the two prophets spoken about in the book of Revelation. If you believe in a 7 year tribulation period end times theology(I am not sure what my exact view is on the end times other than Jesus is coming back and you better belong to Him when He does!) Either way Enoch was a mighty man of God that never tasted death.

vs 25-27
25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech. 26 Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27 Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.

Methuselah is the son of Enoch, and lived longer than any other man in history. 969 Years

vs 28-32

28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son 29 and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.” 30 Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31 Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.

32 After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

The story of Noah is fascinating and full of faith building principals. We will study the life of Noah and the building of the ark in the next chapter. The story of the flood is the first picture that we see of God's love and protection of His people, and the coming judgment on sinners that will not submit to God!

Genesis Ch 4

2009-07-30T12:37:00.002-04:00

The First Martyr

vs 1-2
1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.

I have often wondered about how long Adam and Eve lived in the garden before the fall. I have had skeptical friends say the Bible is not accurate because it never mentions dinosaurs, then I thought what if Dinosaurs were just reptiles that never stopped growing over hundreds, or even thousands of years in the garden? Other skeptics have said that the earth is millions of years old, you can do carbon dating etc. Then I thought well what if Adam and Eve lived in the garden for a long long long time. I feel that any question that you can ask can be answered by using the Word of God, and by following thoughts to their logical conclusion. Here in chapter 4 I believe this is the first instance of a child being born. There is a possibility that Eve could have had other children before Cain before the fall, but I believe that Cain was her first born. "I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord". SO, as we unpack this we have to keep in mind that Adam and Eve may be hundreds, thousands or even millions of years old(I dont think millions but it is possible I guess). Here is the beginning of mankind and "society". This I do believe can be dated back to the 6-10 thousand year ago time table. Cain seems to take on the jobs dealing with the ground, doing the "grunt" work. Able seems to follow more of his father's trade in working with animals and tending the sheep. Nothing wrong with what either was doing, as we read along we will see the difference between the brothers is an attitude of the heart.

vs 3-7
3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

As we read this portion of scripture keep in mind that...
The Law was not even in the mind of anyone back when these things were happening. I do not believe the Bible is telling us that God rejected Cain's offering because it was not an animal sacrifice. I believe again that it is the attitude of Cain's heart, he brought this offering to God either out of duty, pride, to compete with his brother, or this could be a primitive act of religion that God to this day is just not impressed by or happy with. Able brings to Christ the first of his flock, and their fat portions. It was the very best to give to God. The word sacrifice is sometimes used when talking about acts of worship. You give your money because you know that there are other things you could buy, but instead you want to give the first of your fruits to God as an act of worship. I think the over lying idea is this: We do not come to God under our circumstances. We do not come to God outside of Jesus Christ. There is one way to worship and come to God, and that is worshiping , and loving Jesus Christ. I believe this is found way back here in the opening chapters of the Bible, and is the running theme throughout the rest of the bible new and old testament. God does not accept, or "regard" false worship. He very simply is a narrow God, who demands worship in Spirit, and Truth. Cain failed, and was very angry that what he offered to God was not good enough. Does this change God's attitude towards Cain? No, God is not worried about how you feel, or what your opinion is. God is first and for most for God, and if He wasnt,well that would be what we call idolatry. So God comes to Cain and says why are you angry son? Do the right thing and I will accept you, and your offering. But know one thing Cain, sin is coming for you, its desire is to consume you, you must take control and rule over your sin. That is a paraphrase but this is HUGE. Satan, the father of sin, and the father of lies is already hard at work in Cain's heart and mind. We will see in the next few verses he results of the person who hears the warnings of God, and ignores them

vs 8-12
8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” 10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”

Its crazy how over thousands and thousands of years some things never change. There are some things in this life that all people, from all time periods from all cultures can relate too. Sibling rivalry is one of them. Able is a man after God, he is regarded by God, which is huge, and Able has a heart to give worship and praise to God out of a pure heart. Cain has no true love for God. He has a whole lot of religion, but no true love. That is the difference between Christians and everyone else. If you do not love Jesus Christ, you will become in love with your religion, and your good deeds, but never know Jesus. Some people would rather not even think of Jesus, and just love their church, religion etc. We need to know that Paul tells us that even works for "Righteousness" do not save us, (let alone evil deeds or works of legalism) That the only way a person is saved is by grace through faith. Cain did not love God, and HATED the love he saw in his brother for Christ. That jealousy, and bitterness ate at him to the point of murder! I find it interesting as well that after Cain murders his brother God comes along very similarly to the way he did with Adam and asks, "Cain where is your brother?" These questions that God asks are not because God doesnt know the answer! God is our Father, THE Father. And when we make mistakes we need to know that the first person we need to RUN to is Him. When God rebukes his children its not in the same way as a harsh mean supervisor at work.It is a loving Father that sits his kids down, looks them dead in the eye and says stop it now, I know best, I will not let you hurt yourself. What we think is suffering, sometimes is Fatherly discipline that is refusing to let us play in the proverbial street. He sees the on coming traffic and what it will do to us. I titled this chapter the first martyr because Able really is the first person ever killed because of his love for God. In the book of Revelation we read about the voice of those that have been martyred asking God how long will it be until you avenge us? I sometimes wonder if there is a connection between Able's blood crying from the ground, and those martyrs voices.

vs 13-16
13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 Behold,you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” 15 Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. 16 Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

God disciplines those that He loves. And as angry as God is with sin and sinners, He still shows an element of mercy to all mankind. Here Cain throws himself on the mercy seat of God and says that I cannot handle this punishment. God assures Cain that He will protect him. I wonder who exactly Cain is talking about when he says that who ever finds me will kill me, other than to say that by this time there had to of been many sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, who married each other, and continued to pro create. This was not forbidden until the law of Moses came in the book of Leviticus. That being said God puts some kind of marking on Cain, basically protecting him from anyone who would try to hurt him or kill him. We have no idea what this mark looked like, other than a physical marking that meant something to people back then. I see God here treating Cain as a son, and even though there are serious consequences for our sin, God still forgives and loves his people.

vs 17-24
17 Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. 19 And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 20 Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 21 His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. 22 Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.
23 Lamech said to his wives:
“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say:
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for striking me.
24 If Cain's revenge is sevenfold,
then Lamech's is seventy-sevenfold.”

Enoch is a man that we will read more about in the coming chapters. A great man of God that never tasted death. By the end of this list of the descendants of Cain we get to a really wonderful man named Lamech. I think the thing to "get" when reading about Lamech is you see the total depravity of mankind. You see that in our day and age, and again we realize that we have advanced in many ways as the human race, but there are some ways that we are just like Cain, just like Lamech. It seems as if he is mocking Cain and really God by saying that I killed a guy for hurting me, and if Cain is protected seven-fold, then my protection is seventy - seven fold. No regard for God, for his sin and for his father Cain at all. Make no mistake humans are totally depraved, and without the righteousness of Christ covering us, we are no different than the murderer, the rapist or the sexually immoral. What is in the heart of Cain, Lamech and all of us is pride, and a resistance to God and his law. Thank you Jesus for taking our sin away, and giving us your perfection!

vs 25-26
25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” 26 To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.

So what Able began by being a lover of God, it appears that Seth took up and continued with his offspring. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord, sounds like the very beginning of the people of God coming together and worshiping Jesus in a very primitive church setting! You see the difference between Cain and Seth and their offspring. I do not believe the Bible teaches that there are generation curses, but that as the heads of families the Men need to set the example and many times effect the outcome of how their children view God. Its a huge calling for men to love Jesus, to raise their children in the fear of God. And to be the pastors of their homes. Seth does this, Cain it does not appear to me as if he does so. Its a big calling, men lead your families to Christ!

Genesis Ch 3

2009-07-23T23:53:00.002-04:00

The Fall:
vs 1-5
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

There is SO much to unpack in this chapter of the Bible. Everything from the first foreshadowing of Christ's death on the cross, to husbands being good Bible teachers for their wives. Here in this first section I find several interesting things. First we are introduced to Satan. He approaches Eve, manipulates God's word and fools her into disobeying God. It is of the utmost importance that Christians know their Bible!(One of the main reasons why I started this blog, as a pastor and teacher of God's word I want to be as sharp as I can for my people!) The Bible says that God's word is liked unto a Sword, and if we do not know how to handle our swords properly, Satan, who is extremely crafty and calculated, will actually take God's word and "run us through with our own weapon". Lets look at a couple of examples.

1.Satan comes to Eve and says, Did God really tell you that you could not eat of ANY of the fruit in the garden? God NEVER said that! So Eve(as her cowardly husband just sits there) begins to talk with Satan and says that we can eat of any fruit of the garden, except for the one in the midst. And we can't even touch that tree. Now either Adam was a bad bible teacher, or Eve just flat out adds to Gods word. Either way Adam was never forbidden to "touch" anything, only not to eat. Guys I dont mean to over state my case, but as the men of your house you NEED to be good Bible teachers. You are the pastor of your wife and children. This can be intimidating for many men, but it is your God given duty as the head of your home to be students and teachers of Gods word.

2.The oldest lie in the history of mankind is the lie that Satan tells to Eve. "You can be just like God Eve! Liberate yourself, you dont have to be under God, or any man, if you eat this tree, why God just doesnt want you to be informed." Oddly enough this lie is basically at the heart of every human souls all throughout history and even still today. Without a doubt there would be many more followers of Jesus if he was one way to God. Or if he just gave us great suggestions instead of great commandments and commissions. God gives us rules, commands because he loves us. As a human father or mother who sees their little child heading for danger, God sees what sin does to a person. Do not see God as some lofty mean grumpy boss that is never happy or satisfied and lays down rules to show how much he cant stand us. Rather think of God as your father, who knows more than you, and his commandments are to protect us, and to bring us closer to Him!

vs 6-7

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Men this is very plain and simple, we need to be Godly husbands and fathers. It is so interesting to me here that Adam is letting Eve run the show, and he sits back and does nothing to guide or correct her. Many times in our day and age we see the same thing. Men are cowards and afraid to speak up if their wife is in error. Or they let their daughters do and wear things they should not. I in no way suggest that men be harsh or demeaning to their wives, but you are the head of your home. God lays a HUGE charge to us men that we are to lead, guide and provide for our families. Spiritually, financially and physically as well.

vs 8-13

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Again as Jesus walks through the garden in the cool of the day, who does he call for? Not eve, he calls for the man, Adam. Men hear me good, being the "head" of your home does not make you a mean nasty dictator to your wife, it means very simply, you have a great responsibility laid upon you. And as Christ is the head of the church and took upon Himself the responsibility of things he did not do, you as the head of your homes will be held accountable for the ongoings of your marriage. I also find this SO interesting, and profound. The difference between Christianity and every other religion is this: We cannot come to God, he comes to us in Jesus Christ. Here Adam and Eve seriously mess up. They have scarred all of creation with sin, and yet it is God who comes walking in the Garden looking for His people. Other religions teach that we need to clean up our own mess, be good enough, and pay God back. Jesus says that I love you, you can't clean yourself up, and you cannot come to God, I will come to you, looking for you, and we see this analogy in chapter 3. Lastly here we see the classic blame game. God asks Adam why he disobeyed him, and he says "God it really is your fault, this woman that YOU gave me made me do this". Again a coward and blaming everyone buy himself. Then God turns to Eve, and she turns and blames the serpent. The proverbial "the devil made me do it" argument. I think it is important to mention that Satan can tempt us, he tempted Christ, but it is our choice to give in to sin. Satan cannot make us sin, and we cannot blame him for our mistakes. Again, had Adam and Eve followed God's teaching closely, and had His word in their hearts, they could have resisted Satan, and he would have fled.

vs 14-15

14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”

I am going to throw a big word at you,“Protoevangelium,”which means- the first announcement of the gospel.

This is the first glimpse of God's overall plan for redemption will be. We read in the gospels that Jesus, who is the offspring of Mary, who ultimately is the offspring of Eve is bruised by Satan. He was brutally beaten and killed for all of our sins. But when Jesus rises from death, he crushes Satan's head. He destroys Satan and is given ALL authority from His Father. This verse here in Genesis is early foreshadowing of Christ, conquering Satan at the cross.

Revelation 12:9 says this:

9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Rev 20:2

2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,

So we read about Satan from beginning to end in the Bible, we see him finally crushed and defeated at the end, PRAISE GOD!

vs 16-19

16 To the woman he said,

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.”
17 And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”

We serve an awesome loving, forgiving God that holds no account of our sin against us. If you come to Jesus, give him your sin, worship him and love him, there is no condemnation for you. There is however the consequence of our sin. Jesus pays the ultimate price, and took the eternal punishment for our sin on the cross. This does not mean that the earthly consequences are erased as well. If you rack up $25,000 in credit card debt before meeting Jesus, dont call up your creditors and expect to be debt free ok? In all seriousness Adam and Eve are forgiven by God, but will bare the consequence of their disobedience for the rest of their lives, and to this day we are baring the consequence of their sin and ours. God tells Eve
1.I you will bare children and I will increase the pain greatly.
2.You and your husband will contend for power in your relationship, but he will rule over you.
Women you need to know that God has given you a great honor, and responsibility to bare and raise children. Just as God has ordained men to pastor and lead His people, he has ordained women to bare our beautiful children. Such a high calling and one that you should take as seriously as any pastor does his church. But there is pain in this calling. Sin has messed everything up, and we will suffer with this until we see Jesus face to face. In addition there will always be strife in the relationship between a man and his wife as to who will have the authority and lead in the relationship. And it is God's will for the men to lovingly lead their families. This is why men are charged to love their wives as Christ loves the church, because we are to lead by
1.Teaching
2.Serving
3.Sacrificing
Women this is not easy, especially in our day and age when it is not politically correct for you to be told to submit to Christ, and to your husbands. But this is the will of God, and men you should take this as serious as anything in your life. You are the head, Teach, Serve, and Sacrifice for your wives

Men our consequence is very simple. You work hard, provide for your family, you will sweat, life may be very hard on you, but you are to provide for your wife and family. Work predates the fall, working is not a sin, or a result of sin. You will work for all eternity on the New Earth, but it will be work that you enjoy. This earth is cursed and you will work by the sweat of your brow.

vs 20-24
20 The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

In the last portion of Chapter 3 we see that God clothes Adam, and Eve with animal skins. I believe this implies some kind of animal being killed, and really the first animal sacrifice in the Bible. Another form of symbolism of Jesus covering His children, but there must be blood shed in order for that to happen. We also see God convening with himself, saying that man has become like US, another indication of God being one, yet more than one. The Trinity! In addition we read that God does not want His people to live in sin forever, so he removes Adam and Eve from the garden, forever so they do not eat of the tree of life. The tree of life reappears in the book of Revelation:

2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

22:2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

22:19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

God has always had a plan of redemption. God was not caught off guard when Adam and Eve disobeyed, His ways are higher than our ways. Someday we will be able to sit and ask Jesus how it all works, we may still never totally understand everything(I am sure we wont!) But God's desire is for His people to be reconciled unto Him. He takes Adam and Eve away from this Tree of Life so that a day in the future, thousands of years from then, His Son Jesus would die, and bring that restoration between sinful man, and God.

Genesis Ch 2

2009-07-17T23:26:00.002-04:00

Genesis Chapter 2
vs 1-3
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

One of the Ten commandments is to "Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy". Why is this so important to God? First I think it is important to note that God did not rest from all of his duties as God when it says that he rested on the seventh day. It's not like God told Michael the Arch angel to take over for the day and God went off to go fishing or something silly like that. Here God rested from "all His work that He had done in creation." The one thing that is so amazing about our God is that he knows us better than we know our selves. And God loves to set good examples for us to follow. Jesus tells us to love our enemies, and Christ loves His enemies. Jesus tells us to be baptized, Jesus sets the example and is baptized. God tells us through is servant Moses to rest our physical bodies, and Christ here rests from the work he had been doing. In the American culture we don't appreciate the Sabbath as the Jews did that first heard these words. Those people would literally have worked themselves to death seven days a week if God had not mandated that they take one day off to rest,and worship him with their family. In our society we work 40 hours and are done, 60 hours is brutal. Ancient Jews worked sun up to sun down 6 days a week. No paid vacations, no 401k's no pension. God is glorified when His people work hard and diligently. We are to work as if Christ is our employer, but God does insist that we rest our bodies and take a break from our work. As Christians, we have great freedom in Christ. I don't believe that we need to be legalistic about this issue and say that your sabbath has to be Sunday, or has to be any set day. Really we should rest in Christ every day and be renewed by his Spirit. That being said, we do need to make sure that we are not working so hard, that we burn our selves out to where we are useless to our families and most importantly God.(I HOPE MY FELLOW PASTOR FRIENDS HEAR THAT!)

vs 4
These are the generations
of the heavens and the earth when they were created,
in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

Interesting that this is the first time in our Bible(of course we are only in chapter two) that we read the "Lord God" as apposed to just "God". Could also be translated Yahweh. We know in the New Testament that Jesus is referred to as "Lord", So when we read about the Lord in the Old Testament, this is again evidence that Jesus is God, eternal and involved in all of the Bible not just the New Testament. The word Genesis comes from the word Generation.

vs 5
When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground,

We just talked a minute about working, and about how God expects His people to work hard, and faithfully. It is important to note that "work" predates the fall of man into sin and death. God has always designed his creation to have jobs and responsibilities. We will talk more about this when we reach the actual fall a little further down the road, but dont let the preachers in white suits on TV fool you, we have always been designed to work for our God(not toil). And that when we enter into God's Kingdom we will work for him throughout eternity.Not hard work, work that we will love and do with glad hearts!
Rev. 22:3- No longer will there be anything accursed, but^B)"> the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants^a]"> will worship him.

vs 6-7
6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

The creation of man. First we read that Jesus does not merely speak man into existence, rather as a potter shapes his clay Christ picks us up, forms us from the dust of the ground, makes us in His image and breaths mental, physical and Spiritual life into mankind. We are not highly evolved animals. Our great ancestors are not monkeys or tad poles. We are all sons and daughters of Adam.

vs 8-13
8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

I love that we serve a God that values beauty, and takes personal time in His creation to make things just the way he wants them to be. Here we read that the Lord God planted a garden. I have just blown by that verse hundreds of times in the past but when I stop to think about that, our God cares about details. He is artistic and values beauty more than we can know. I believe this is why He shares just a glimmer of His beauty with us here on this earth, and when we enter His Kingdom we will be even more blown away at the awesome beauty of heaven, and of our creator Himself!

vs 15-17

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

In the above verses we saw that in the middle of the Garden of Eden are two important trees that God had made. The tree of Life and the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. In these verses we read that God gives tremendous freedom for Adam, eat what ever you want, but stay away from this one tree. God is not a cosmic joy kill that just wants to make our lives miserable. All sin leads to death. God's love wants us to live abundant fruitful lives. We are to take his commandments very seriously. As a parent with a child who wants to play near a busy street, we know things that child does not know. God as our father knew things that Adam did not know. We will come back to these two trees in the next chapter and see how Satan can twist God's word and try to kill us with it. For now these two trees are at the center of this beautiful garden, and God absolutely forbids Adam to eat of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

vs 18-23

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”

Everything that God had made so far has been "good". Now God says that it is NOT good for man to be alone, he needs a helper. Now this is sometimes an extremely touchy subject in our modern society, but let me say that this is in no way degrading towards a woman and their invaluable role that they play in human history. God sees that man was incomplete without woman. Any married couple if they were honest would say amen to that. This is why marriage is so important because women complete men, and are a huge help in men fulfilling their God given callings.(Women have callings as well, but their first and most important calling is to worship Jesus by supporting their husbands and raising their children. That is a GREAT and awesome calling!) We read here that one of Adams responsibilities was to name all of Gods creation,signifying the superiority of humans over all other creation. We also read that Adam was doing job interviews so to speak in looking for a soul mate, and a helper, and he did not find any animal that was suitable to meet the needs that he had. This is no surprise to Christ, and He already has a perfect plan ready and in place. Now I have heard a joke that the reason why men cannot figure out women is because God caused a great sleep to overcome Adam while He was making woman....I think it goes a little deeper than that! However God does take the rib out of Adam's body, and again the potter goes back to work and creates a suitable helper. Now one of my favorite teachers when he speaks of this passage makes a very interesting point, one worth considering for sure. The first recorded human words are in the form of a song.

"This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”

This is sheer speculation but wouldnt it be awesome if humans "sang" as their form of communication before sin entered the world? All we know for sure is that once Adam saw Eve, he said "woman"(Woe-Man!)

vs 24-25

24Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

This verse is quoted at almost every Christian wedding. This places extreme responsibility on men everywhere. We are to provide, leave our fathers and mothers and make sure that we are able to take care of our wives. The Bible talks here about a wife and husband becoming one flesh. One big misconception in many peoples minds is that God is anti sex. WRONG, God is very much for sex, and created sex for pleasure pro creation and as a great symbol of His awesome Trinity. The two while still individuals, also are one. This is why sexual immorality of any kind whether it be adultery, homosexuality, rape, molestation of a child, or any sexual relationship outside of marriage is sin in the eyes of God(all equally by the way, we need to stop beating up the homosexual community as if they are worse than the "straight" couple having sex before marriage!) God is not anti sex He is pro marriage, and wants there to be no shame when a husband and wife are together in a sexual relationship!

Genesis 1

2009-07-15T14:22:00.005-04:00

The Creation of the World

I am finding more and more as I study the Bible about how much deep theology is found in the very beginning of creation, and in the beginning of our Bibles. I first want to point out that there are many skeptics that say that the story of creation,or the great flood found in the Bible is nothing more than the Jewish version of many ancient tall tales about how the world began. And that this account is so similar to other stories told from different parts of the world that we are really foolish for actually believing that this is "God's Word". Here is my answer to those claims:

1. Jesus Christ talks about Adam, and Eve, and Noah and absolutely believes that this is God's word, and that this actually happened. Everything hinges on Jesus Christ and if he is not God, then none of this really matters. But because He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, then this absolutely enforces that our world came into being the way that Moses , under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says that it did.

2. I believe as well that the very fact that other cultures had some thing similar happen to them is evidence that there was a great flood. Of course as the classic game "Telephone" goes, the more a story is told and retold, the more details get changed and left out. I believe that it is possible that somewhere in those other cultures as they talk about a great flood, it could be rooted in an element of truth, they just have details that were exaggerated, or changed over time. For example, one teaching is that the gods could not stand all the noise that humans were making, so they had not choice but to send a great flood to destroy mankind. We know this is not the reason for the flood we read about in Genesis, but again other cultures may have had knowledge of some kind of world wide flood, and then filled in details as they went.

Lets take a look at chapter one of Genesis.

vs 1

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

The beginning obviously of human history. The Bible says in Colossians 1: 15-16

He(Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

So in the beginning Jesus Christ created the heavens and the Earth. Very important to hit this right off the bat that Jesus Christ is God. Everything that has been created has been created by and for Jesus. To our Jehovah's Witness friends this would be an issue of debate. Jesus was not a created being that became a god. He created everything that has been created. He is powerful and has authority and dominion over everything in the universe. These opening verses tell us of how vast and powerful our great God is. He answers to nothing because he has created everything that is in existence. Jesus is eternal and is fully God, as His Father and The Holy Spirit are fully God.

vs 2

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Here we see the first mention of The Holy Spirit. I could fill up every blog in the world to try and explain the great and awesome God that we love and serve. We serve one God, who has three distinct persons. It doesn't make mathematical sense but this is what the Bible teaches. We love the Father, the Son, and The Holy Spirit for who they are, and what They have done. They are not all the same, or all have the same function. It will never fully make sense in our human minds, or in our glorified minds necessarily either. But this is what the Old Testament teaches, the New Testament teaches and what Jesus taught to His disciples and by faith we believe that God is one, in Three distinct persons.

vs 3-5

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. ⁴And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Here we see that God has the power to speak creation into existence. We serve a POWERFUL God. He is worthy of our worship and for us to fear and respect Him with our whole lives. He does not need anything, and is eternally powerful and awesome. We also see the beginning of His creation of environment and the daily cycles that will eventually be our days,weeks and years etc.

vs 6-8

⁶And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." ⁷And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. ⁸And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

Another example of God's great power by merely speaking what he wishes to happen, and it becomes so. We will read all throughout this first chapter about God speaking all of his creation into being. When we read about God separating the waters from Heaven, this is speaking of what we would see when we look into the sky, not the Heaven that we will go to when we pass away.

vs 9-13⁹And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. ¹⁰God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.¹¹And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so. ¹²The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ¹³And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

God has had a plan from the very beginning. Every detail of life is in some way working out for the good, and working His ultimate plan of redemption out. In verse 11 I love how we see our great God not only speaking into life plants, but also that he desires that life produce life. When you stop to consider something as simple as an apple seed. And you think that inside that tiny seed is the chemical make up to not only give us apples, but also has another seed waiting to drop into the ground and the cycle goes on and on. This is how our relationship with Christ works as well. We plant seeds into non believers, they through faith in Jesus sprout up and not only become Christians, but also have that inward desire to drop seeds into others. As many have said, the fruit of an apple tree is not an apple, its another apple tree!

vs 14-19
¹⁴And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, ¹⁵and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. ¹⁶And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. ¹⁷And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

If you ever want to feel really really really small, study our amazing galaxy. Our planet is so small compared to the sun. The sun is small compared to many other stars. I mean if you put the Earth next to some of these stars, we are not even a speck on the picture! Our God is amazing, powerful creative and awesome! He spoke all of this into existence, and made everything perfect and good. In these verses we see that our God is a God of order. He has designed everything that exists to function in a certain way. He knew that we would use the sun, the stars and other things in our solar system to create calenders and to help us keep track of signs and seasons. And this is true for cultures that do not even know who God is! All throughout human history cultures have looked to the stars and the heavens to make schedules, calenders and many other functions as well. Sadly so many have chosen to worship God's creation rather than worship him.
I love reading about the beginning of creation because this is so powerful, God reveals so much of himself in creation.
Romans 1:19-20
“Because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God
made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible
attributes His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being
understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

vs 20-25

²⁰And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens." ²¹So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²²And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." ²³And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

²⁴And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. ²⁵And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Again if you want to build your faith, and get a glimpse of how great our God is, just look at the animal kingdom. What beauty, strength and diversity our God has! I had my daughter at the zoo the other day and I stand in awe of how awesome some of these creatures look and behave. I cannot wait for the New Earth, when we can go up to Lions and Bears and pet them!

vs 26-27

²⁶Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
²⁷So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

Every human being that has ever lived has been created in the image of God. We are all equal in that sense.Men and Women both are created in Gods image and while there are different roles and functions between men and women(the same is true within the God head) each are image bearers of God. We don't have to "do" anything special to have the value and dignity that God has created us with. We are not animals. Humans were created to rule over God's creation. Now just because we are created in God's image does not mean that every human is forgiven by Christ or that everybody gets to go to heaven when they die. But this does mean that every body deserves to be treated with a certain respect and dignity. Some have asked me if I would torture a mass murderer or a terrorist for no other reason than for revenge. My answer to them is absolutely not, they are image bearers of God, and while I do believe that God grants us permission to put people to death for murder, it is to be done with dignity and respect for the fact that this person is created in God's image. A very hot topic some may totally disagree on a lot of different levels. This is what I believe the Bible teaches on people being created in God's image. In addition God here is giving us our first glimpse into the understanding of the Trinity. "Let Us make man in Our image..." This seems very clear that at least two persons are speaking to each other. We know that this could not possibly be chalked up to Mid Evil kingly speech as some have suggested as this totally predates when kings would give speeches saying "Let us make war with so and so". So again God is one, with three distinct persons.

vs 28-31

²⁸And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." ²⁹And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. ³⁰And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. ³¹ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

God expects his people to fill this planet with God fearing, Jesus loving children. I have seen many families with large numbers of kids and they have told me we are obeying God, we were fruitful and multiplied. Well thats only half true if your children don't know Jesus! Don't just multiply, BE FRUITFUL! We are to raise our children to love Jesus, know God , to worship and obey him! This was the first sermon from Pastor God to his people. We need to hear this and heed this today. God has given mankind dominion over all of creation. Its interesting that this type of "work" predates the fall of Adam and Eve. Its our responsibility to take care of this planet. I am not saying to become a "Green Activist", But we do need to be good stewards of this awesome planet that God has gifted to us.