Investigation. Perspiration. Dedication
is required to rightly discern what God has spoken to us. The Holy
Word of God is a treasure of wisdom for living and thriving in this
ungodly world. When we open up His Word we are immediately confronted
with eternal truth – the knowledge of the Holy One. But how did
this come into being?
For thousands of years each generation
told the creation story, the fall, the flood, the call of Abraham and
the creation of the nation of Israel – God's chosen people.
According to the historical record of the Bible, there was no one
writing the Creation account or the Flood account or even the
Covenant account until approximately 2800 years later when the Lord chose the time
and appointed the messenger – Moses.
Moses sat in the presence of God as He
told him what to write as the true and accurate record of God's work
with the people of the world. We have the benefit of complete council
of God, because God wanted to set the record straight.
Genesis is the account of how all
things came into being, the first people and the tragedy of
disobeying God. The first recorded murder and the miseries that
accompanied that decision. The genealogy of those who knew God and
their relationship with Him prior to the flood. The evolution of the
sin nature to incredible levels in less than two thousand years
after the garden, God could not find anyone, except Noah, who
listened to His voice. After the destruction of the flood, (by the
way, all cultures have a flood story) it was a time of renewal.
Within a few generations, evil was back to pre-flood levels.
As tragic as it all seems, God in His
wisdom had plans, but He just needed someone to get on board with
Him. After the flood, people were blessed by God to be fruitful and
multiply – God want's Kids! More importantly, He wants kids that
will listen to His voice.
In a seemly insignificant incident
where Noah in a moment of indiscretion was found naked by his son Ham
who disrespected his father by snickering, resulted in a curse. Ham's
descendents did not receive the blessing that Shem and Japheth
received. Talk about 'Watch your attitude!”
The Bible continues to list the tribes
of each of Noah's sons and through Shem came Abraham, the one God
chose to reveal His plans. God established a covenant (contract) with
Abraham, that He would care and establish his descendents in their
own land.
Digging into the Word of God, I've
discovered that prior to establishment of the Nation of Israel, there
was no such thing as “religion”, it was relationship with God.
There were those who listened to God and those who did not. According
to Romans 1:19, people have always had an intuitive knowledge of God,
but refused to worship or honor Him in any way – so God in His
mercy, let them believe their own foolish ideas. It wasn't until the
establishment of the written Law that God began to hold all people
accountable.
The beauty and perfection that God
established through the nation of Israel is unsurpassed. A family
line that God chose to reveal himself through to bless all people. The family line that God Himself would enter into His creation. The law gave them the standard of living that pleased God, so that He
could bless them in every way. God's blessing and promises reveal His
love for all people and through this one nation, He wanted to draw
all people to Himself.
The story revealed in the Old Testament
is one of triumph and tragedy that continues to this day. Instead of
accepting God's gracious favor and becoming a blessing to all
generations, their hearts were hard towards Him. God constantly
struggled with the decedents of Jacob/Israel, but they are His
beloved people. God keeps His promises as you can see that God
brought Israel back to their homeland, after centuries of being put
in “time out.”
What a love story! What an awesome
Father of us all! How patient and long-suffering He has been with
everyone. Through Jesus God established the final covenant so that He
could give us, all those who would believe Him and accept His
gracious love - More!
We are so important to the Father, that
He will not leave one stone unturned. He gave us the evidence of His
power through creation, and He gave us His eternal Word in a tangible
form and in these last days He has poured out His Spirit through His
Son to further move in the hearts of those seeking to know God.
Next in this series: Know the Word –
Breaking Ground
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