Jacob & Esau help explain that you are saved by grace alone. Photo: Vidar Nordli-Mathisen via Unsplash SINCE WE LAST LEFT OFF: Sarah has died and Abraham needed to purchase land to bury on, since he still has no land of his own. Isaac is given a wife, Rebekah, through God’s clear providence, and Abraham’s life closes with God’s promises firmly established through Isaac rather than Ishmael. The passage ends by listing Ishmael’s descendants, showing that God was faithful to bless him as promised, while still preserving the covenant line through Isaac. Genesis 25:19–34 (NIV) 19  This is the account [the generations ] of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20  and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram  and sister of Laban the Aramean. 21  Isaac prayed to the L ORD  on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The L ORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22  The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the L ORD . 23  The L ORD  said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” 24  When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25  The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.  26  After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.  Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them. 27  The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. 28  Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29  Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30  He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.) 31  Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” 32  “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?” 33  But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. 34  Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright. Canons of Dordt Point 1, Article 10: Election Based on God’s Good Pleasure The cause of our undeserved election is exclusively the good pleasure of God. This does not involve His choosing certain human qualities or actions from among all those possible as a condition of salvation, but rather involves his adopting certain particular persons from among the common mass of sinners as his own possession. As Scripture says, “When the children were not yet born, and had done nothing either good or bad..., she” (Rebecca) was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (Rom. 9:11-13). Also, “All who were appointed for eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). Summary Today's passage begins with a literary device, from which the book of Genesis derives its name, which signals the beginning of a new story line. Abraham is now dead and buried, but the covenant promises God made to him will be carried on through the family line of Abraham's son Isaac. So the passage begins this is the account of (NIV) or these are the generations of (ESV, KJV), an introductory line we see often in this book. Initially, Isaac's story seems similar to his parents. Like his mother, Isaac's wife Rebekah was childless. After two decades of waiting (v26), the LORD finally answered Isaac's prayer and she became pregnant. But right away there's a big hint that something would be different, for the babies jostled each other within her, so much so that she went to inquire of the LORD to find out what was going on . The LORD answered her prayer - quite directly! - but His reply doesn't seem very comforting. These two babies in her womb represented two nations - two peoples, one stronger than the other. The text doesn't give any indication as to how Rebekah received those words, nor does it seem that she passed on this stunning yet troubling revelation to Isaac. But that's to be expected, because the story isn't really about Rebekah. So Rebekah gives birth, not just to a set of battling brothers, but to the Bible's most difficult doctrine. Thousands of years later, the Apostle Paul would use the birth of Jacob and Esau as the primary example of God's saving election, writing that before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad - in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by Him who calls - Rebekah was told, "The older will serve the younger." Then Paul lowers the boom by quoting the prophet Malachi, who recorded the LORD's hard words: Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated ( Romans 9:11-13 ).   Dig Deeper   It's at this point that our deeply embedded sense of fairness kicks in. Because we know that Jacob is God's good guy, we have a tendency to lionize all of his actions and demonize those of his brother Esau. But it's hard to keep a straight face while defending Jacob. From the very moment he was born, he's grasping for something more than he has. He came out with his hand grasping Esau's heel. This occasioned his name, Jacob , which literally means heel grasper, a word that would go on to become an idiom in Hebrew for deceiver. He puts his nature on display has he cons Esau out of his birthright here, as if he could buy his way into God's promises for a bowl of stew . As we work our way through his story, we'll continue to see example after example of his cunning and deceptive character. This is why Jacob is the poster child for God's sovereign election being based on grace alone, for if Jacob needed to rely on his own merits he'd be cooked (as would we). Esau, on the other hand, will often appear to be the more magnanimous of the two, but a deeper dive shows he deserves exactly what he gets. He's not exactly a victim in today's episode, even though Jacob comes away with the much better end of the bargain. The final verse of the passage gives a hint as to why: Esau despised his birthright. He didn't care about carrying on Isaac's line or God's covenant promises, so much so that a bowl of lentil stew seemed more valuable. As the Canons remind us today, the cause of your undeserved election is exclusively the good pleasure of God. Show Him your gratitude in the way you respond to this gift as you live the life He gave you. AAA Prayer (About) A CKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS : Our Father, the sovereign God who chose us to be His own by His grace alone; A LIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you'll neither despise what God's given you nor try to grasp for more. A SK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

God's tests are for your benefit. Faithlife.com SINCE WE LAST LEFT OFF: God fulfilled His promise to Abraham & Sarah with the birth of their son, Isaac. He replaces Ishmael as the heir of the covenant, and Hagar and Ishmael are sent away - yet God still preserves them according to His mercy. Abraham once again fibs to a neighboring king that Sarah was his sister, but God protected her and publicly reaffirmed His covenant faithfulness by blessing Abraham and establishing peace at Beersheba, showing that the promise rests on God’s Word, not human effort. Genesis 22:1–19 (NIV) 22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 2   Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” 3  Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4   On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5   He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” 6   Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7   Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8   Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. 9   When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10  Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11  But the angel of the L ORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12  “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” 13  Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14  So Abraham called that place The L ORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the L ORD it will be provided.” 15  The angel of the L ORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16  and said, “I swear by myself, declares the L ORD , that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17  I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18  and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed,  because you have obeyed me.” 19  Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba. Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 33 Q. Why is Jesus called God’s “only Son” when we also are God’s children? A. Because Christ alone is the eternal, natural Son of God. We, however, are adopted children of God— adopted by grace through Christ. Summary I wonder what sort of emotions flooded into Abraham's heart when once again he heard the voice of the LORD calling out to him. After all, this isn't the first time he heard it, and it often came to him with life altering news like when God called out of nowhere telling him to pack up and move away from his homeland. And since Abraham has more than once tried to rely on shortcuts and half-truths rather than on full obedience to God, he had lots of reasons to fear what God would say to him next. Still, Abraham's eagerness to hear God's voice is palpable, masterfully communicated in the text: God said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. There's no hesitation, pause or trying to hide on Abraham's part. And think of all of the different ways Abraham could have replied; he could have simply answered "yes," but then we'd wonder about what kind of tone he used - did he mutter the "yes" under his breath, or call it out excitedly? He could have replied "now what?!?" He'd already done so much in demonstrating his faith, and now God was calling out to him again? But Abraham's reply leaves no doubt about his demeanor. The LORD God was once again calling out to him and Abraham couldn't wait to hear what He said. Abraham didn't just want God to hear his reply, he wanted Him to see it: Here I am!!! Is this what your reply looks like as the LORD calls out to you from His Word?   Dig Deeper   I once had an instructor who referred to tests and quizzes as 'celebrations of knowledge.' What he meant was that the test wasn't just an opportunity for him to gauge his students' knowledge, but for us as students to be able to see how much we'd learned as well. And so it is that God doesn't just show up to test Abraham to see what he knows or how he'd respond, but so that Abraham could tangibly see his faith demonstrated as well. After all, God already knows what we know. The tests He sends us are not for His benefit (James 1:2-3, 1 Peter 1:6-7, Romans 5:3-4). But the test God gave to Abraham was one of the toughest tests ever administered. God said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love - Isaac - and... sacrifice him as a burnt offering." When God speaks to us, we have the blessing of being able to parse each and every word to make sure we understand it correctly. But Abraham didn't read God's Word as we do, he heard it. Had he really heard it correctly? The very next thing we read is that early in the morning Abraham went. It could be that he was eager to obey God's command, but more likely that he couldn't sleep after hearing it. The fact that Abraham went so quickly once again demonstrated his tremendous faith, but it's not even the biggest demonstration of faith in this celebration of knowledge. That would come when Abraham replied to Isaac's very relevant question about the missing lamb, telling Isaac that God Himself will provide the lamb. What amazing foreshadowing! But God wasn't done calling out to Abraham, and the second time Abraham heard his voice called out from heaven, he replied with the same exact words. Only this time his reply was even more instant and eager: Here I am!!!! Imagine the relief that he - and Isaac! - felt when God made his faith visible in the form of a ram caught in the thicket. God has provided the Lamb - His one and only Son, whom He loves ( John 3:16 ) . And the celebration of knowledge God presents to you is far easier than the test He gave Abraham. Will you reply as quickly and eagerly as Abraham did? AAA Prayer (About) A CKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS : Our Father, Jehovah Jireh - the LORD who provides; A LIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you'll respond to God's calls and tests as eagerly as Abraham and Isaac; A SK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

Hagar's tragic story points to God's faithfulness. The Bible never presents men's passivity in a positive light. Genesis 16:1–16 (NIV) 16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2   so she said to Abram, “The L ORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3   So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4   He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5  Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the L ORD  judge between you and me.” 6   “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. 7   The angel of the L ORD  found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8   And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. 9  Then the angel of the L ORD  told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10  The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” 11  The angel of the L ORD  also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael,  for the L ORD  has heard of your misery. 12  He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” 13  She gave this name to the L ORD  who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” 14  That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. 15  So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16  Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael. Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 26 Q. What do you believe when you say, “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth”? A. That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, who still upholds and rules them by his eternal counsel and providence, is my God and Father because of Christ his Son. I trust him so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and he will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends me in this sad world. He is able to do this because he is almighty God; he desires to do this because he is a faithful Father. Summary Sarai's decision to give her Egyptian slave to her husband to be his wife seems creepy and wrong to our modern ears, but in the ancient near eastern culture that formed her context, it was actually quite acceptable - the right thing to do, even! The fact that our narrator specifies that this took place after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years isn't just a helpful timeline, it indicates that the ten year threshold of infertility required by the surrounding culture had been met, justifying Sarai's decision to build a family through Hagar. Sarai almost sounds pious in her rationale. This was all God's will, she indicates. After all, the LORD had kept her from having children. Sarai wasn't wrong here, for Hagar's quick conception indicates that the issue wasn't with Abram! Clearly, then - according to Sarai's thinking, at least - God expected her to solve this issue on her own, and the culture of the day provided the perfect mechanism to do so. Notice the parallels with Genesis 3 . Just like Adam, Abram stayed silently passive through this whole process, abdicating his responsibility to be the godly leader of his household. His only words in this passage drip with irony: do whatever you think best . Sarai also emulates her predecessors. After bending God's will to align with her own design, she shifted the blame to everyone but herself when everything imploded. The prevailing culture of the day always has, and always will, offer shortcuts that promise to deliver the blessings it seems that God has either forgotten about or is unable to deliver. When you're tempted to follow them, remember how well the shortcuts worked out here in Genesis 16. Instead, trust that God will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends me in this sad world .   Dig Deeper   Hagar is one of the Bible's most fascinating characters. She was likely a gift from the Pharoah to Abram as he left Egypt in shame, and she's likely still a young girl. Her youthful immaturity is evident in her arrogance upon becoming pregnant. Yet our sympathy is with her as she flees Sarai's mistreatment trying to find her way back to a homeland she never really knew. It's out there, in the middle of nowhere in the barren, inhospitable wasteland between Canaan and Egypt that she joins the very small club of people who've met the Angel of the LORD, who had found her (again, notice the parallel to Genesis 3 ! God comes to find His wayward people). Unlike nearly everyone else who encountered this mysterious Angel, Hagar shows no fear. In fact, she gives Him a name! She calls Him El Roi - The God who sees me. The Angel has difficult words for her. She's to go back to her mistress and submit to her. How could God order such a thing?!? And her son would be a wild donkey of a man; his hand would be against everyone, and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers. Muslims consider Ismael their father, and his hostility has been evident through all of history. Despite being told all this, Hagar obeys the LORD. She went back and bore Abram a son. What tremendous faith! AAA Prayer (About) A CKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS : Our Father, the God who sees (El Roi) and the God who listens (Ishma El); A LIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you'll not fall for culture's shortcuts and that you'll have faith like Hagar; A SK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

Though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet! Don't let the talking heads get in your head. Psalm 2 (NIV) ¹ Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? ² The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the LORD and against his anointed, saying, ³ “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” ⁴ The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the LORD scoffs at them. ⁵ He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, ⁶  “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” ⁷ I will proclaim the LORD's decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. ⁸ Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. ⁹ You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” ¹⁰ Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. ¹¹  Serve the LORD with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. ¹²  Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Belgic Confession of Faith Article   36: The Civil Government And being called in this manner to contribute to the advancement of a society that is pleasing to God, the civil rulers have the task, subject to God’s law, of removing every obstacle to the preaching of the gospel and to every aspect of divine worship. They should do this while completely refraining from every tendency toward exercising absolute authority, and while functioning in the sphere entrusted to them, with the means belonging to them. They should do it in order that the Word of God may have free course; the kingdom of Jesus Christ may make progress; and every anti-Christian power may be resisted. Summary Today's Summary & Dig Deeper are reposted from November 2024 . The second Psalm, along with the first , set the tone for all of the Psalms that follow them. Psalm 2 sets forth two competing realities, but it also makes clear that only one of these realities will ultimately prevail. You didn't need Psalm 2 to tell you about the existence of the first reality: that all of the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain... banding together against the the LORD and His anointed one (mā·šîaḥ ) . The kings of the earth rise up against the very God who established them ( Romans 1 ). You didn't need Psalm 2 to tell you this because you see evidence of it everywhere you look, whether it's 'kings' operating at the local level or 'kings' who have tremendous geopolitical power. What you need Psalm 2 to be reminded of is what's in store for these wicked and corrupt rulers. You need to be reminded often that despite how much you worry about policies and proclamations that seem so backwards, the One enthroned in heaven laughs and scoffs  at them! He's not laughing because He thinks their attempts are so funny, but because He knows their rebellious efforts are so pathetic. The One enthroned in heaven  can be so confident because He knows who the true King is: the one He installed on Zion, His holy mountain , and He knows that this King  - His Son - will  break the rebellious nations with a rod of iron and will dash them to pieces like pottery.   Dig Deeper   We let the media get us so spun up and uptight. Whether you get your information from sources aligned with the political left or right, understand that both have the exact same goal: to work you up into a tizzy, because angry people consume more and more of their content. It's certainly not wrong for you to be upset about things you think your government are doing that are contrary to God's Word. In fact, you have an obligation to warn your neighbors that God's wrath can flare up in a moment  against ungodly governments. You also have a duty to encourage the ' kings ' in your life to be wise, and to serve the LORD with fear and celebrate His rule with trembling.  This is what our Confession means when it states that good governments completely refrain from every tendency toward exercising absolute authority , but instead function in the sphere entrusted to them, with the means belonging to them. But you must resist the continual anxiety the media wants you to have. Remember that your Father in heaven is laughing  at the feeble efforts this world musters in rebellion. So every so often be sure to just sit back and chuckle at the silliness of it all as well, knowing that He has installed His King on Zion , and that blessing comes to all who take refuge in Him. AAA Prayer (About) A CKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS : Our Father, the One enthroned in heaven; A LIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that your faith in the LORD's anointed One will overcome your anxiety about the kings  in your life; A SK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

God credits your faith as righteousness. Photo: Klemen Vrankar via Unsplash Genesis 15:1–21 (NIV) SINCE WE LAST LEFT OFF: Roughly 5-10 years have transpired since we left off yesterday. After receiving God's call, Abram lives as a pilgrim who worships God but still struggles with fear and failure. But God preserves and prospers him. Whereas Lot choose to settle in a prime area near sinful cities, Abram choose to trust the LORD. Abram rescues Lot from captivity and rejects earthly reward, showing that his confidence and blessing come from God alone. 15 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield,  your very great reward. ” 2  But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3   And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” 4   Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5   He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6   Abram believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. 7  He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” 8   But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” 9   So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” 10  Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11  Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. 12  As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13  Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14  But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15  You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16  In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” 17  When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18  On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19  the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20   Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21  Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.” Belgic Confession of Faith Article 23: The Justification of Sinners We believe that our blessedness lies in the forgiveness of our sins because of Jesus Christ, and that in it our righteousness before God is contained, as David and Paul teach us when they declare that man blessed to whom God grants righteousness apart from works. Summary Today's Summary are written by Rev. Joe Steenholdt, reposted from July 2023 . God first revealed some of the most incredible promises of His saving grace to Abraham. In Genesis 15, God assures Abram (before he is known as Abraham) that his reward will be greater than he can imagine, including becoming a great nation and possessing a great land. Abram struggles to believe at first. He wonders, ‘How can this be? I have no children, no heirs to give this great reward. I don’t see how this will work.’ So the Lord turns Abram’s gaze to the night sky and the vast array of stars. The blessings to come would be beyond Abram’s ability to count them, which leaves Abram speechless. All he could do was believe God’s word for it. This leads to one of the most profound theological statements in the Bible: And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. Abram had not done anything for the Lord to deserve these promises. These covenant promises were given before Abram was circumcised and before he and Sarai miraculously bore a son. He would have his times of faltering, but he was credited with righteousness that was not his own through faith alone. In Romans 4:2 , Paul drives home that it was faith, not works, that declares one legally right before God (justified), For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.   Dig Deeper   If you were to ask someone you pass on the sidewalk, “How are you right with God?” they may give you a puzzled look. For many, this is not a question that keeps them up at night, and it likely doesn't seem relevant. They may respond, “Well, God knows I try my best, and I try to do more good to outweigh any of the bad in my life.” This question becomes a concern only after realizing the devastating nature and condemnation of sin before a completely Holy God ( Eph. 2:1–10 ). There is no balancing of the scales between good and evil when perfection is required, which is why the good news is so surprising. God does not lower His standards or grade on a curve but grants and credits Christ’s perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness to those He saved. The only way to receive it is by faith, because you know it is not something you can achieve and claim for yourself. Abram could not achieve the promises that God gave to him. They were too great and lofty. Generations as many as the stars of the sky when he was already old, and his wife was barren? All he could do was believe God’s Word and trust the Lord would come through on His promises. Yes, faith includes knowledge, but as we see in Genesis 15, it also takes wholehearted trust that God has given you all you need to appear before Him blameless by receiving Christ’s perfect record in faith. AAA Prayer (About) A CKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS : Our Father, who is our shield and very great reward; A LIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for granting you righteousness, and pray that the faith that through which it it was given to you would increase each day; A SK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

Find out how God's promise to bless Abraham applies to you. Logos.com Genesis 12:1–9 (NIV) SINCE WE LAST LEFT OFF: About 300-400 years have elapsed since God dispersed the people from Babel. 12 The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2   “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  3   I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” 4   So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5   He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. 6   Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7  The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8  From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. 9  Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev. CANONS OF DORDT Point 1, Article 7: Before the foundation of the world, by sheer grace, according to the free good pleasure of his will, God chose in Christ to salvation a definite number of particular people out of the entire human race, which had fallen by its own fault from its original innocence into sin and ruin. Those chosen were neither better nor more deserving than the others, but lay with them in the common misery. He did this in Christ, whom he also appointed from eternity to be the mediator, the head of all those chosen, and the foundation of their salvation. Summary It's hard to overemphasize the importance of of this passage to world history - especially the first three verses. Three of the world's primary religions - Christianity, Judaism and Islam - find their basis here, which is why they're often referred to as the Abrahamic religions. The first eleven chapters of the Bible reveal an ugly cycle: man sins against the LORD, and the LORD inflicts consequences. First, Adam rebelled and was evicted from the garden; soon, man's wickedness on the earth became great, so God destroyed the world in a flood. Subsequent generations tried to usurp God with a tower reaching to heaven, so God scattered them by confusing their language. But here in chapter 12, a new cycle begins. This time God initiates it, calling Abram seemingly out of nowhere to go somewhere. This time reward isn't predicated upon obedience, rather it precedes it. No longer is God's blessing tied to a tree or enclosed in an ark. Through Abraham, the LORD promises, all the families of the earth (ESV, NET, LSB) will be blessed. And no longer is mankind dependent upon the obedience of one man to gain the promised blessing. Six times over the LORD makes clear how it will come about: I will make you into a great nation; I will bless you; I will make your name great; I will bless those who bless you; I will curse whoever curses you; All peoples will be blessed through you (by the LORD's power) .   Dig Deeper   Bam. We just ran into another interpretive problem in our second week of our year long Bible study, and it's a big one! It comes in verse seven: The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” Does this mean that the land described here in Genesis - the land that's come to be known as Palestine - belongs exclusively to God's people? Lots of good Christians would say yes, an idea that has shaped American middle eastern policy for decades. While we're not going to hash out all of the difficult nuances of foreign policy here in a short blog post, we can sharpen our theology by reading the Bible - especially the Old Testament - through a typological lens. That is, we look for key concepts called types that foreshadow how the LORD's promises are fulfilled in the New Testament. Today's passage introduces us to two big types: Offspring - Salvation comes to the seed of Abraham. One of the most controversial issues the young Church faced in the New Testament is how Gentiles could be considered sons of Abraham. But the Hebrew word that lies behind offspring is singular, not plural - it points to one Man, Jesus Christ. So all those who are in Christ are offspring of Abraham, and heirs to his blessing. Land - God certainly did give the patch of ground that Abram surveyed in today's passage to Abram's offspring for a time, but the New Testament helps us understand that God's future plans are not geographically limited. Today, in the light of Christ, we understand the Old Testament concept of land typifying the coming Kingdom of God. We will see these two types over and over again in the coming months as we keep reading the Bible together this year. AAA Prayer (About) A CKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS : Our Father, who will bless the offspring of Abraham (that's us, in Christ!); A LIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you would respond as faithfully to God's call as Abram did; A SK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

Salvation comes by listening to God, not to each other. Photo: Jon Tyson via Unsplash CONTEXT: After the flood, God reaffirmed His covenant with Noah, promising stability in the created order and commanding humanity to spread out and fill the earth. Yet instead of dispersing in faithful obedience, Noah’s descendants remained united in one place—setting the stage for prideful rebellion. Genesis 11:1-9 (NIV) 11 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2  As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 3  They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4  Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” 5  But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6  The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7  Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” 8  So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9  That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth. BELGIC CONFESSION Article 13: The Doctrine of God’s Providence We believe that this good God, after he created all things, did not abandon them to chance or fortune but leads and governs them according to his holy will, in such a way that nothing happens in this world without his orderly arrangement. -- In this thought we rest, knowing that he holds in check the devils and all our enemies, who cannot hurt us without his permission and will. Summary It quickly becomes clear that it will take more than water to wash away the stain left by Adam's sin. Sin had reached a zenith in the generation that led up to Noah, prompting the LORD to cleanse the earth with a flood. But here, only five generations after God set His rainbow in the sky, sin's dominion seems secure once again. Our narrator notes this descent both ominously and slyly, reporting that the people moved eastward. Moving east is never a positive direction in the Bible. Adam and Eve had been booted out of the east gate of the garden. Cain had fled east after killing Abel. Jonah would be sent east to prophesy to Ninevah, and he himself would move away from God by setting up camp east of the city to view what he'd hoped would be God's judgment upon it (we'll see later on why it's such a big deal, then, that the Magi came from the east to visit Jesus!). Technology had certainly improved since Adam and Eve had sewn fig leaves together to cover their shame. Now the people had moved on from constructing primitive buildings with whatever stones they could piece together and had set out to build a tower that reached to the heavens using bricks they'd baked thoroughly. But, as is almost always the case, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The motivation that gripped these conceited men in the plain of Shinar is no different than the one that sank Adam and Eve, who'd followed their desire to make themselves like God. These men set out to storm the gates of heaven so they could make a name for themselves rather than be scattered over the face of the whole earth as God had commanded them.   Dig Deeper   You need to really appreciate irony to be a good student of the Bible, because it's full of it. These men had developed an elegant strategy to bridge the gap between earth and heaven in order to prove to God that they could make a name for themselves, rather to submit to God's naming rights ( 'name' here represents their own sovereignty). But even as they furiously baked their bricks to reach the heavens, the LORD simply and calmly came down to see the city and the tower the sons of man were building. And the LORD was impressed with what He saw! If as one people speaking the same language they've begun to do this, the LORD said to Himself, nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. But then irony quickly sets in again. The same people trying to engineer their way to heaven failed to notice when the LORD came down to see them. The more things change, the more they stay the same. So the LORD simply frustrated their ability to communicate. He confused their language so that they would not understand each other. This confusion runs deeper than the linguistic differences between English, Spanish or Dutch. Literally translated, the people would not listen to each other. This frustration the LORD brought was an act of grace. He limits the damage we can inflict upon ourselves. As we'll see in the coming chapters, His intention is to unify all nations and give them a name, but it won't be a name baked in rebellious conceit. It would be delivered by the one who will be given the name above all names. AAA Prayer (About) A CKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS : Our Father, who will always accomplish His will; A LIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that your language would be aligned with God's will; A SK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

The flood account demonstrates God's just wrath and faithful mercy. CONTEXT: Last week, we left off Genesis at a time where man had become "exceedingly wicked." Today, we pick up with God's just response. Genesis 6 - 9 (NIV) 11  Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12  God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13  So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14  So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. -- 18  But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19   You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. -- 22  Noah did everything just as God commanded him. -- 7... 12   And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. -- 17  For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. -- 21  Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. -- 8 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. -- 13  By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. -- 9... 8   Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9   “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10  and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11  I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12  And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13   I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. HEIDELBERG CATECHISM Q&A 11 Q. But isn’t God also merciful? A. God is certainly merciful, but he is also just. His justice demands that sin, committed against his supreme majesty, be punished with the supreme penalty— eternal punishment of body and soul. Summary It seems odd that it's gained the traction it has... using this tragic story of the flood as a decorating motif for children's nurseries, that is. It does make for a cute theme, for sure! Cartoonish but cuddly lions and sheep and cattle line the decks of a wooden ark, gracefully bobbing on the calm blue sea. Don't forget the couple of giraffes sticking their long necks through a skylight from within the ark! The reality of the situation was anything but cartoonish. The earth had become corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence . Notice the very first thing that God says to Noah: I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth . And, as always, God does exactly what He said He'd do. For forty days and nights the flood kept coming. There was no relief, nowhere to hide. Imagine how man and beast battled against one another for high ground! But no ground was high enough, for the ark was lifted high above the earth. Nothing that was not on the ark survived. Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind . We live in a society today that always sees those who suffer misfortune as victims of oppression of one sort or the other. And it's so easy in this account to think of those swept away by the flood as victims, helplessly perishing under the wrath of their Divine oppressor. But they weren't. What God did was perfectly just. They got just a fraction of what our sins, committed against God's supreme majesty, deserve.   Dig Deeper   Of course there's really good reasons to decorate with cheery renderings of Noah and the Ark. We do need reminders of the carnage that precipitated it - even to the extent that descriptions of it elicit gasps and horror - but this story is not just about the manifestation of God's just wrath. Quite the opposite. This story is arranged in Genesis using a literary technique that we'll see employed often by ancient Hebrew writers called the chiasm . Rather than put the story or poem's primary emphasis at the end, which is what we tend to do, they would place the primary point right smack in the middle. So all of the details about mankind's wickedness, the lists of dimensions and materials from which Noah constructed the Ark, the animals reporting two by two, the doves disembarking to find dry ground, and all of the other elements we read of are interesting and important, but they're not the primary point. Rather, the primary point - the sentence that finds itself exactly in the middle of this three chapter long narrative - is not just the main thesis of the flood narrative, it's the big idea that is central to the entire Bible: 8:1  But God remembered Noah... Despite the fact that you and I deserve what the sinful drowning pagans got, God remembers us, His covenant people. He provides salvation for the coming judgment. Whereas believing Noah and his family were lifted high above the carnage in a ark, you and I are lifted up in the cross of our Savior, Jesus Christ. AAA Prayer (About) A CKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS : Our Father, who is perfectly just and merciful; A LIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will have faith like Noah did (Hebrews 11:7); A SK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

The Psalms teach you how to attain a blessed life. Faithlife.com CONTEXT for our new readers: every Friday this year, we'll be reading a Psalm. We'll get back to Genesis on Monday. Psalm 1 1  Blessed is the man who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2  but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3  That man is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever He does prospers. 4   Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5   Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6  For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction. BELGIC CONFESSION ARTICLE 29 As for those who can belong to the church, we can recognize them by the distinguishing marks of Christians: namely by faith, and by their fleeing from sin and pursuing righteousness, once they have received the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ. They love the true God and their neighbors, without turning to the right or left, and they crucify the flesh and its works. Though great weakness remains in them, they fight against it by the Spirit all the days of their lives, appealing constantly to the blood, suffering, death, and obedience of the Lord Jesus, in whom they have forgiveness of their sins, through faith in him. Summary The first Psalm in the Psalter didn't end up in that spot randomly. This opening Psalm sets the tone and context for the 149 psalms that follow it. It's sort of like a prologue to the poetry that come after it. So the first word of this first psalm plays a big role: the word blessed introduces the primary purpose of the Book of Psalms: to show how you can experience a life of profound happiness. Jesus began His public ministry with the exact same word, sharing the Beatitudes at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. One commentary describes "those who are blessed as being in a state of total well-being: They lack nothing, are delivered from trouble, and are wealthy and have successful children. No wonder they are so happy! The Psalms are about how to experience this profound happiness." Certainly the world offers many facsimiles of this blessedness, but this first psalm offers the only route to genuine, lasting blessedness . Notice the progression described in the opening verse - maybe it's better described as degression! The blessed man does not slowly slide into sin. Sin often strikes slowly - it begins when you simply walk in step with the wicked. In other words, you just go with the flow, even when it's flowing away from what you know to be right. Next, you find yourself standing firmly in the way sinners take. Before you know it, you're sitting in the company of mockers. You're fully immersed in their world. It's eerie how well this describes what happened to the man & woman when the shrewd serpent slithered into their lives ! But the blessed man looks far different. He delights in the law of the LORD! That is, he makes God's Word the center of his life - it's the primary purpose and priority of his day. Your work, family and hobbies are certainly important, but a truly blessed life only comes to those who meditate on law (Word) of the LORD day and night. Consume scripture voraciously, and then chew on it all day long as you do your other activities, just as God commanded His people long ago .   Dig Deeper   Read in isolation, Psalm 1 makes the blessed life seem hopelessly unattainable. As will quickly becomes clear as we read through the subsequent psalms, not even the various psalmists could even come close to the ideal that this opening psalm sets forth. You and I don't stand a chance, then! That's why it's important that we translate scripture as closely as possible to the exact words the original language used. In recent years, using a gendered word like man to represent all people has fallen out of fashion, and modern Bible translations often follow the trend to use more inclusive pronouns. It's not really a big deal to append the word sisters to the brothers that are often addressed in New Testament letters; it's likely what the author intended to convey anyways. But it doesn't work as well to render the first psalm as blessed is the one rather than blessed is the man. Whether you're male or female, Psalm 1 definitely prescribes a pattern you must endeavor to follow, and the more you do so, the more blessedness you'll likely experience (although it will probably look much different than the fake blessedness the world promotes). But Psalm 1 is pointing you away from yourself, and towards the one and only Man that accomplished what this Psalm describes. It's only in Christ that you too will attain the true blessedness you were created for. AAA Prayer (About) A CKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS : Our Father, who created us to live blessed lives and made it possible for us to have this in Christ; A LIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you'll be able to resist sin's slow tug and that you'll make the Word of the LORD your top priority and delight; A SK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

It would be easier to skip this passage. But don't make that mistake. Genesis 6:1-8 CONTEXT: We left off at the end of chapter 3, with man having fallen into sin. Chapters 4 –5 traces the spread of sin and death after the fall - from Cain’s murder of Abel to a world marked by violence, exile, and broken relationships - yet it also highlights God’s preserving grace through the faithful line of Adam's son Seth, that calls upon the name of the LORD. Even as death reigns through Adam’s descendants, the genealogy underscores that God is still advancing His redemptive purposes, setting the stage for both judgment and mercy in what follows. 6 When man began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2   the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3  Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” 4   The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of man and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. 5   The LORD saw how great the wickedness of man had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil all the time. 6   The LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7   So the LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the man I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8  But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. HEIDELBERG CATECHISM Q & A 8 Q. But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined toward all evil? A. Yes, unless we are born again by the Spirit of God. Summary Today's passage is short, but it packs all sorts of difficulties into its eight verses. We read about the sons of God who become attracted to the daughters of man ( ʾā·ḏām ), an other worldly sounding race of creatures called the Nephilim, and a divine curse limiting the length of men's lives which doesn't seem to consistently take hold for the generations that follow. On top of it all, one of the first characteristics the Bible presents about God is that He regrets decisions and actions He has taken. This passage has produced all sorts of conspiracies about half human, half angelic creatures along with doubters who hold this passage up as proof that God's not really immutable (unchangeable) like our theology claims. These same doubters will also quickly point out that God's decision to wipe man from the face of the earth makes Him look petty and vindictive. Quite frankly, it would be way easier to just skip this passage and move on to something easier to interpret. That's a mistake that far too many people have made throughout history and continue to make today: to just hang on to the passages they really like and set the rest of the Bible aside. But that's not how the Bible is designed. It's true that not every passage of the Bible is of equal importance. You can, for example, latch on to any one of a number of different understandings of what the Nephilim were and still be a solid Christian. But God gave us His Word in the form of an unfolding story, inspired directly by His Spirit, but written over thousands of years by men from massively different backgrounds, cultures and personalities. Every passage - even these difficult ones - is there for a good reason that helps bring definition to the rest.   Dig Deeper   We have two primary lessons to learn from these eight difficult to interpret verses which will be immensely helpful as we read through the Bible together this year - for this won't be the last difficult passage we face! First of all, we don't read any one passage on its own. All of scripture is interconnected, therefore we let Scripture interpret Scripture. So we don't just read phrases like sons of God and daughters of man in isolation, accepting any and every fantastic interpretation that might loosely fit. Rather we see that over the whole of scripture, two distinct types of people are consistently portrayed: those who are in Christ, and those who are not. In that light, we understand here that even the sons of godly men were succumbing to purely sensual attraction as they chose wives for themselves rather than pursuing godly women. Scripture nowhere describes angels as having physical bodies, or a desire to reproduce - quite the opposite, in fact (Matthew 22:30). So we can confidently set aside all of the other worldly claims about the Nephilim as being a race of angel-men. And we don't pit passages against each other, as if only one can be true while the others are something less than. So you don't have to choose between a God who regrets versus a God who does not change like the shifting shadows ( James 1:17 ) . Rather, we seek to harmonize all of the Bible's teaching regarding God's attributes. We look for conclusions that maintain the integrity of each and every passage. Interpreted this way, the hundred and twenty years which God prescribes, isn't necessarily a cap on age at this point, but a countdown until the flood. Secondly, and most importantly, we don't lose sight of the Bible's primary gospel message. Today's passage is a perfect example of this. It's so easy to get caught up in difficulties and theories that you miss the main point: that every inclination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil all the time... BUT Noah found grace eyes of the LORD. This is the Bible's continuing narrative from start to finish: Man's sin is strong, but God's grace is stronger. AAA Prayer (About) A CKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS : Our Father, our unchanging God who is far greater than we could ever understand; A LIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray for wisdom to properly interpret the Bible as you read through it this year; A SK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: