Joseph’s Testing Of His Brothers
At this point in Joseph’s story, he has become the Prime Minister in Egpyt and is in charge of food during a severe famine. Much to his surprise his brothers, who sold him into slavery, come to get food from him in Egypt. After a series of tests, we see the beauty of reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers, ultimately pointing us to our need to be reconciled to Jesus.
Judah and Tamar
Often, texts in the Bible are more risque than we feel comfortable with. This is one of those texts. The author gives us a look into a rather shocking episode filled with sin, death, judgment, incest, and gender oppression. But God shows his grace in that, in the midst of this messy situation, this continues the lineage that would one day lead to the coming of his Son.
Bless Me Now, Isaac
When the time came for Isaac to bless his firstborn son, Esau, Jacob does what he does best and deceives his father by impersonating Esau, and thus getting his father’s blessing. This reveals to us the weight of blessing, as Isaac cannot take back the blessing he pronounced over Jacob, but his words set the trajectory of Jacob’s life, even the nation of Israel. Ultimately, we see the way of blessing in Jesus, our older brother, who became a curse for us so that we could experience true blessing.
Where Is The Lamb?
Abraham hears the call of God to take Isaac and sacrifice him upon the mountain. So Abraham obediently gathers the wood and takes Isaac with him, but last minute is kept from killing his only son. It’s easy for us to interpret this text as a call for moralistic sacrifice, but instead this is a beautiful narrative pointing us to when God would truly sacrifice his Son for us on the mountain and we, like Isaac, can go unharmed.
The Covenant
In this text, we get a look at the story of God covenanting with Abraham and his offspring. God demonstrates to Abraham that God will fulfill and uphold this covenant alone. He then gives Abraham the sign of the covenant—circumcision—as a display of God’s work.
Making A Name For Ourselves: Babel
Genesis 11:1-9 tells the story of a people who build a city and a tower in order to make a name for themselves and to not be dispersed throughout the earth. But God, in love and judgment, comes down to graciously destroy their project by confusing their languages. As the narrative of scripture goes on, we see the Spirit come down to reverse the judgment of Babel and eventually all the peoples of the earth being reconciled to one another under the name of Jesus.
Sin’s Clutch, Canaan’s Curse
After the narrative of the flood, we see the man we might be tempted to make into a hero get drunk and shame himself. This is a powerful and needed reminder that though we’ve been redeemed and called by God, we are still in continual need of his grace. Ultimately, God gives us grace through Jesus not to make us heroes, but to make us trophies of his grace.
Friday’s Sorrow Gives Sunday’s Joy
Easter is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. Even if we know the story of the resurrection, sometimes we have a hard time connecting it to our every day life. One of the ways Easter invades our lives is by giving us joy that can’t be taken away. Not that we don’t experience joy and sorrow, but even in the midst of sorrow and weakness, Christ’s resurrection gives us a solid foundation of unwavering joy.
The Flood of Noah
In the story of Noah we see a world overwhelmed by sin and depravity and Noah is not an exception to the rule. But God gives Noah grace. So when God floods the earth in judgment, he instructs Noah to build an ark to preserve the seed of the women (Gen. 3:16) and the animals of the earth. This narrative leads us to see the seriousness of sin, the surprising nature of grace, and God’s righteousness in the salvation of his people.
Paradise Failed
Genesis 3 tells us of the catastrophic event that caused the world to change from paradise to the fallen world we live in. We see Adam and Eve give in the temptation and disobey God’s loving command, but we also the promise of the defeat of sin and it’s effects in the seed of the woman.