Bible Reading - II

The Book of Genesis - A Must for Bible Reading

In our last lesson we summarized the first eight chapters of the book of Genesis. We will now look at the remaining chapters and some of the reasons for our understanding of this book.
After the flood Genesis tells of the procreation of our current races of man from the family of Noah, of the tower of Babel, where God gave the various foreign tongues or languages to man, thus dividing them up into various races of peoples.
Genesis covers much of the history of the time of the Babylonian Dynasty, of the Egyptian Empire, the time of the great pyramids; during which time Abraham lived. Genesis tells us of Abraham in Chapters 11-14. Abraham lived in a time when most of man worshiped idols, but not Abraham.
The New Testament refers to Abraham and his Seed, which was Christ. (c.f. Romans 5) Even in the first book of the Bible, we see the importance of the prophecies regarding the coming blessing which would bless all nations of the earth, the Messiah.
In Genesis, we see Abraham receiving the call from God and he believed in 1 God, not the many false idols. We read of Lot and his separation from Abraham's fellowship. Lot went to live in the city, where he finally had to flee because of the coming of God's wrath on Sodom and Gomorrah.
Genesis tells of a battle between Abraham and his forces and the Babylonian kings to rescue Lot, who had been captured. In Genesis 14, we read of Melchizedek. Without reading this, you will not quite have a good understanding of the New Testament passages that compare Christ to him. (Heb.5-7)
Genesis tells us of the miraculous birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sara when they were both old beyond the age of having children. We read in chapters 20-21 of Ishmael, who was born of Hagar and Abraham. The New Testament mentions both Ishmael and Isaac in Galatians 4.
Abraham and Sarah are mentioned in Hebrews 11 and other places, such as in the sermon of Stephen in Acts.
Genesis tells of the offering of Isaac upon an altar to God in Chapter 22. See in the New Testament of this in Heb. 11.19. This event happened on the same mountain, where 2,000 years later the Son of God was offered as our sacrifice for sins. This account in Genesis 22 is so important for you to understand.
Genesis 24 tells us of Isaac taking Rebekah for his wife. They had twins, named Jacob and Esau (chapter 25) These are also referred to in our New Testament.
In Genesis 29-30, you can read the love story of Jacob for Rachel, for whom he had to work for 20 years to get, but her daddy Laban deceived Jacob and gave him Leah instead.
In chapter 37, Joseph, the son of Jacob was sold into slavery into the country of Egypt. You must read and understand this story to understand much of Christianity.
The book of Genesis ends with the death of Jacob and also Joseph. The great family of Jacob, his 12 sons, and all of the descendants of these and servants are now in Egypt, from which in the next book they will be rescued. This is to fulfill one of the promises and prophecies given to Abraham in chapter 14-15.
The entire Bible rests upon Genesis. Jesus gives it credibility by quoting from it. The apostles refer many times to the events that are recorded there. What we are as God's people today was planned from the very beginning of time.
I greatly encourage you to read again the book of Genesis and study it. If you have a reference bible, look at how many references are made to the New Testament.

This lesson has been adapted and expanded from a lesson on Bible reading written by Joe McLure and is used with his permission.