Moses’ people have been redeemed from slavery, but this does not mean they are ready for life on God’s mountain. They need healing, and the healing begins with a test. As Israel’s physical journey away from slavery begins in earnest, God leads his people into a second crisis and reveals that their spiritual journey away […]
Near the end of the Book of Genesis, God allowed a terrible famine to sweep across the greatest empire in the world at that time: the Egyptian empire. And as the story goes on, it becomes clear why God did this: he wanted to provide Egypt with a messiah, a saviour, a man who would […]
Back in Chapter 13, Moses told us that Abraham pitched his tent in the midst of a grove of sacred trees, near a Canaanite city called Hebron. And there he built an altar to the Lord. And at that time we noticed that Hebron was a very significant place for Abraham to settle: it was […]
What does it mean to be a human being? Or, another way of asking that question is this: when does a human being cease to be a human being? Now, these questions sound very philosophical. Most of us do not go through our daily lives wondering, “Am I truly human, or not?” But the truth […]
The Christians in ancient Rome had a problem: they were a diverse congregation. They had members from several different races, several different languages, several different cultural backgrounds. Now, the Church is actually supposed to be diverse in this way — our diversity is actually the strongest evidence that the Holy Spirit lives among us, that […]
Early in his career as a prophet, Ezekiel had a terrible nightmare of a vision: the Spirit of God lifted him up between earth and heaven and carried him to the temple in Jerusalem. And the first thing he saw there was the glory of God shining from the very center of the temple, shining […]
When Noah was born, his father said, “At last! This one will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.” For many generations — perhaps even thousands of years — mankind had lived under the tyranny of the sons of Cain. The sons of […]
The world came to an end last week with a great earthquake and hailstorm and the utter collapse of Babylon the Great, the capital city of Satan’s bestial empire. But the end of the world left us with a few unanswered questions. For instance, during the time just before the end, God removed the protective […]
So, by this point in Genesis, we have discovered that Moses structures his writing very carefully, and that his structure actually adds to the meaning behind what he is writing. As part of his structure, Moses has organized Genesis into a series of Books — what we, today, might call “Parts”. So far, we have […]
In the Old Testament, God’s people were really first born as a nation under the rule of the Egyptian empire. Now, their relationship with the Egyptian government actually began really well — but when God really blessed them and they grew into a population numbered in the millions, the Egyptians freaked out and adopted a […]
Once upon a time, in a faraway country, there was an empire that ruled the world from Pakistan in Asia to the Sudan in Africa. This was the Persian empire, and it was ruled by a famous king named Xerxes. — actually, no: he was not famous yet. He will become famous later on, for […]
On the day God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden, death came to mankind. But even as death began to gain power, God made a promise that one day one of Eve’s sons would rise up to crush the serpent’s head, defeat death, rebuild the garden, and lead God’s people back […]
The Problem of Friendship Have you been disappointed by your friends? Do you disappoint your friends sometimes? Everyone wants friends. Companies try to sell you soda or beer or toothpaste with happy images of cheerful friends having a good time together. And have you ever seen an advertisement for a resort which did not show […]
After God rescued his people from slavery in Egypt, he led them toward the east into the deserts of Arabia. He led them to Mount Sinai, which became known as the Mountain of God. There, he made a covenant with them. Moses made the proper animal sacrifices. He baptized the people with the sprinkled blood. […]
