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:

Genesis 3 isn't just about man's fall, it's about God's grace. Picture: Unsplash Genesis 3 (NIV) 3  Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2   The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5   “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6   When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9   But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring  and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” 20 Adam named his wife Eve,  because she would become the mother of all the living. 21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. HEIDELBERG CATECHISM Q&A 7 Q. Where does man's corrupt nature come from? A. From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise. This fall has so poisoned our nature that we are born sinners— corrupt from conception on. Summary What’s so shocking about this sad slide into sin is its subtlety. We often refer to this episode as  the fall , a word that implies violent collapse. Falls are rarely gentle—whether it’s a person slipping on ice, an airplane dropping from the sky, or an empire crumbling under its own weight. But this—the greatest fall in history—unfolds through a quiet, ordinary conversation. No shouting. No force. It begins with a wild animal the LORD God had made, one more crafty than the rest. As the NET Bible puts it,  the serpent was shrewd . Adam, God’s image bearer entrusted with dominion, should have driven it out to keep the garden holy—but he did not. Notice the serpent’s strategy. He doesn’t force sin or even directly tempt. He simply sows doubt and twists the truth. And it works—which is why he still uses the same tactic today. The serpent exploited the woman’s weakness: theology. She didn’t know God as she should, so he asked, “Did God really say…?”  God had forbidden only one tree, but that command had first been given to Adam, and it was his job to teach it to those who came after him. He failed. The woman added to God’s word, saying they couldn’t even touch the tree. The serpent had succeeded. Once it became apparent to the woman that she couldn't trust her intellect, she handed over the decision making reigns to her lower senses. And since the fruit seemed good, pleasing to the eye  and desirable, she took some and ate it.  All while the man stood passively and watched it all unfold. Until she gave some to him - who was with her -  and he ate it too.   Dig Deeper   Most English Bibles title this passage The Fall , an accurate but incomplete description. Genesis 3 doesn’t only recount humanity’s rebellion—it also introduces God’s grace.  That’s why we keep coming back to this passage so often. The LORD God  comes searching for His fearful, ashamed image bearers. Instead of crushing them with deserved wrath, He covers their nakedness with garments made from a sacrificed animal. Even as He pronounces curses, He does so in a way that points forward to the gospel—the serpent-crushing promise. Even Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden is an act of grace, preventing them from cementing themselves in their rebellion for eternity by taking from the tree of life and living forever.  This sets forth the story of the Bible from this point on until Revelation 22, when access to that Tree is finally restored for all those who are in Christ. AAA Prayer (About) A CKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS : Our Father, who came to find His fallen image bearers; A LIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray for strength and wisdom to see past the serpent's ongoing lies; A SK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

Genesis 2 tells you what you are & what you're for. Picture: Alexey Demidov via Unsplash Genesis 2:4–25 (ESV) 4   These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. 5  When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6  and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7  then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8  And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9  And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10  A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11  The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12  And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13  The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14  And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 15  The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” 18  Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19  Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20  The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21  So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22  And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23  Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24  Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25  And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. HEIDELBERG CATECHISM Q&A 6 Q. Did God create man so wicked and perverse? A. No. God created them good and in his own image, that is, in true righteousness and holiness, so that they might truly know God their creator, love him with all their heart, and live with him in eternal happiness for his praise and glory Summary Today's opening verse helps explain where the book of Genesis gets its name: These are the generations of the heavens and the earth... . This phrase will be repeated eight more times before the book is over, each time introducing a new phase in the ongoing story. While the famous first chapter laid out God's sovereign creation poetically in a rhythmic fashion, chapter two slows the pace down and adds a few more details, although they're still pretty scant. But it's this often overlooked second chapter that sets the stage for the rest of scripture as it introduces us to ourselves - man and woman, and the importance of these revelations can't be understated. It's here, right at the beginning of the Bible, that you find out both what you are and what you're for. The first thing you find out about yourself here is that you're holy. Now this word has many senses depending on its context, the most familiar of which is being pure and faultless. Although man was this upon his creation, this isn't the aspect of holiness that this passage emphasizes. The word holy also means separate - literally: cut apart. This is the first thing you learn about yourself as you read the Bible: you're different from everything else that's been created. Yesterday we read of God speaking everything from nothingness into being , today we read of Him forming the man of dust from the ground and then stooping down to breathe into his nostrils the breath of life. Whereas God verbally ordained the universe into existence like a mighty King, He intimately formed His prize creation into His own image like a loving Father.   Dig Deeper   Just as this second chapter explains what you are - a holy man, created imago Dei - it also unpacks what you're for. The first clue comes early and is easy to miss: Before Adam, there was no man to work the ground . Certainly this work includes the aspects we commonly associate with it. It's good to be reminded that although our work is miserably cursed because of sin, the concept itself came before the Fall and is one of the principle reasons you exist. So do your work well! Because work is such a fundamental aspect of your identity, it gets repeated in one of the Bible's most important verses: 15  The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. It's that second verb - keep - that helps us understand that work involves much more than tillage. But there's a grammatical conundrum here: we're created to work it - we get that, and we're good at it! - and we must keep it, but keep it what? Clean? Well maintained? Taken care of? Yes! But that's not all. This humble little word keep keeps showing up in critical passages of Scripture. So as the Bible unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear that your primary purpose is both to work to expand God's glory and to keep both God's created world and your intimately formed life the way God made it: holy - pure and faultless. But you already know you haven't fulfilled this purpose and you're hopeless unable to do so. So starting tomorrow, and, Lord willing, each weekday for the rest of this year, we're going to see how it is that your Savior restores your holiness and enables you to fulfill the purposes you were created for. AAA Prayer (About) A CKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS : Our Father, who formed us and breathed the breath of life into us; A LIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that, having been redeemed by the blood of Christ, you will fulfill the purposes for which you were created. A SK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

Your Creator's sovereign power is clear from the beginning. Picture: Benjamin Voros via Unsplash Genesis 1–2:3 (NIV) 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2   Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3  And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4   God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5   God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. 6  And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7   So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8   God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. 9   And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10  God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11  Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12  The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13  And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. 14  And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15  and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16  God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17  God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18  to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19  And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. 20  And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21  So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22  God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23  And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day. 24  And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25  God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 26  Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27  So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28  God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 29  Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30  And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31  God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. 2 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2   By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3  Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Belgic Confession, Article 12 We believe that the Father created heaven and earth and all other creatures from nothing [ ex nihilo ], when it seemed good to him, by his Word— that is to say, by his Son. He has given all creatures their being, form, and appearance, and their various functions for serving their Creator. Summary It makes sense for a book to start in the beginning. But every other book and every other story finds its beginning within the confines of an already existing context. Even the ancient creation myths from various cultures begin with some sort of cosmic force that itself must operate within predefined physical laws, working with some sort of pre-existing matter. But the Bible is different. The Bible's beginning takes place when all that is now was not. Not even light itself existed, much less the fundamental elements that comprise our physical universe. All that was in the beginning was the God who instructs us to call Him I AM . The Bible's first claim is purely theological: there is a massive distinction between the Creator and His creation. The Creator has always existed, complete in His Triune self. His creation - that is, as the Belgic Confession puts it, heaven and earth and all other creatures - came about when He spoke in the beginning. And His creation didn't just creep into place as the result of slow motion naturalistic processes; rather it suddenly and instantly sprang into being as the Word rang out. The LORD's royal nature becomes evident just a sentence after the beginning - like a King, he issued a verbal fiat. God decreed Let there be light - and there was light.   Dig Deeper   Since the Bible starts in the beginning, in makes sense that our enemy's attacks begin in this same exact place. No other chapter of the Bible has been subject to as many withering attacks as this first chapter has. You've been taught and told that you can either trust the science or blindly put your faith in a Creator. This false dichotomy isn't at all true. This lie is part of a coordinated effort to sow mistrust not just in these opening words of scripture, but in every word that follows this first chapter. As Screwtape explains to his protege Wormwood , “If you can make the patient believe that all his choices are really just the inevitable results of heredity and environment, you have robbed the Enemy of His greatest advantage.” We don't have the space to hash out all of the myriads of ways to properly interpret the Beginning or sort out the orthodox views from the unorthodox. God is purposefully sparing of details in His creation account, yet our sinful nature longs to fill in the blanks. As Calvin famously wrote , where God has closes His mouth, we must desist from inquiry. Just keep these two important concepts front of mind as we read through the 1,188 chapters of the Bible that follow this one in this coming year: Our God, the great I AM, has always been sovereign and in control, creating everything out of nothing. And He pronounced that His creation was very good. This is the epic story that we begin to day: How it is that this good creation, now stained and cursed with our sin, will be made new and very good once again by our sovereign God and King. AAA Prayer (About) A CKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS : Our Father, Creator of heaven and earth; A LIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you faithfully obey the One who sovereignly spoke all things into existence and who is making all things new; A SK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

As you begin a new year, pray for full šā·lôm. Faithlife.com Psalm 72 Of Solomon. 1  Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. 2  May he judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. 3  May the mountains bring prosperity [ šā·lôm ] to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness. 4  May he defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; may he crush the oppressor. 5  May he endure  as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations. 6  May he be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth. 7  In his days may the righteous flourish and prosperity [ šā·lôm ] abound till the moon is no more. 8  May he rule from sea to sea and from the River  to the ends of the earth. 9  May the desert tribes bow before him and his enemies lick the dust. 10  May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores bring tribute to him. May the kings of Sheba and Seba present him gifts. 11  May all kings bow down to him and all nations serve him. 12  For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. 13  He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. 14  He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight. 15  Long may he live! May gold from Sheba be given him. May people ever pray for him and bless him all day long. 16  May grain abound throughout the land; on the tops of the hills may it sway. May the crops flourish like Lebanon and thrive like the grass of the field. 17  May his name endure forever; may it continue as long as the sun. Then all nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed. 18  Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. 19  Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen. 20  This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse. 2026 Unfading Truth Season Preview Canons of Dordt Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election Point 2 - Limited Atonement Point 3 - Total Depravity Point 4 - Irresistible Grace Point 5 - Perseverance of the Saints Article 15: Contrasting Reactions to the Teaching of Perseverance This teaching about the perseverance of true believers and saints, and about their assurance of it— a teaching which God has very richly revealed in his Word for the glory of his name and for the comfort of the godly and which he impresses on the hearts of believers— is something which the flesh does not understand, Satan hates, the world ridicules, the ignorant and the hypocrites abuse, and the spirits of error attack. The bride of Christ, on the other hand, has always loved this teaching very tenderly and defended it steadfastly as a priceless treasure; and God, against whom no plan can avail and no strength can prevail, will ensure that she will continue to do this. To this God alone, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be honor and glory forever. Amen. Summary We often remember King Solomon as the richest man who ever lived. Even the Queen of Sheba had traveled a long and difficult way to come and see his vast wealth (2 Chronicles 9). But don't forget that the LORD gave Solomon such tremendous wealth precisely because he didn't ask for it. God had invited Solomon to ask Him for whatever Solomon wanted God to give him. Rather than ask for financial and material blessings as most people would, Solomon had asked for wisdom and knowledge (2 Chronicles 1). The wisdom God lavished upon Solomon is evident in what Solomon prays for in Psalm 72. He prays that God would enable the king to rule with justice and righteousness, that he might defend the afflicted and save the children of the needy. He prays that he may rule from sea to sea and that he would endure as long as the sun and moon. Perhaps such surface level requests don't seem overly saturated in wisdom, and maybe even a bit self centered. In fact, if you're like me, these aspects of Solomon's prayer seem pretty familiar, since those are things that I - and so many other people - pray for often, though our 'kingdoms' are substantially smaller than Solomon's. But it's the overall context of Psalm 72 that demonstrates Solomon's wisdom: he realizes his entire kingdom is wholly dependent upon the LORD, and therefore His entire prayer is for the LORD's endowment. And Solomon isn't praying just for ordinary material prosperity - the good life that everyone wants. In his wisdom, Solomon prays for šā·lôm - the condition in which everything is the way it ought to be, both physically and spiritually - that his kingdom would not just have a good economy, but that that they'd be able to enjoy not just God's blessings, but His presence. As you begin this new year, pray for the same šā·lôm in your 'kingdom' that Solomon prayed for in his!   Dig Deeper   Psalm 72 is so endearing, not just because it captured Solomon's wise prayer for his brief moment in history, but because it's not really about King Solomon at all. Psalm 72 is classified as a messianic psalm. It's a prayer for God to send the King of Kings to rule his people. Psalm 72 is all about Christ. This is evident in the way two different hymn writers have adapted Psalm 72 for the psalter: First, James Montgomery: Christ shall have dominion over land and sea, earth's remotest regions shall his empire be. Second, Isaac Watts: Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does his successive journeys run; his kingdom stretch from shore to shore, till moons shall wax and wane no more. As we've worked our way through the Canons of Dordt this year, we've seen how it is that our God and Savior sovereignly exercised His dominion to bring total šā·lôm to every aspect of our lives, both here in this kingdom, and in the Kingdom to come. Let's close our time out with Psalm 72's awesome doxology: 18  Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. 19  Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen. AAA Prayer (About) A CKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS : Our Father, who will judge His people in righteousness, His afflicted ones with justice; A LIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Sing your prayer! Pray that in this new year: Let ev'ry creature rise and bring peculiar honors to our King; angels descend with songs again, and earth repeat the loud amen! A SK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: 2026 Unfading Truth Season Preview

As you begin 2026, cast all of your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you! The Bible App 1 Peter 5:6-11 (NIV) CONTEXT: For this final week in our year long study of the Canons of Dordt, we will be reading some of the Bible's greatest doxologies - words of praise & glory given to our Sovereign God. Today's passage is both a doxology and a benediction - words of blessing. 6  Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7   Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 8   Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 10  And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11  To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. 2026 Unfading Truth Season Preview Canons of Dordt Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election Point 2 - Limited Atonement Point 3 - Total Depravity Point 4 - Irresistible Grace Point 5 - Perseverance of the Saints Article 15: Contrasting Reactions to the Teaching of Perseverance This teaching about the perseverance of true believers and saints, and about their assurance of it— a teaching which God has very richly revealed in his Word for the glory of his name and for the comfort of the godly and which he impresses on the hearts of believers— is something which the flesh does not understand, Satan hates, the world ridicules, the ignorant and the hypocrites abuse, and the spirits of error attack. The bride of Christ, on the other hand, has always loved this teaching very tenderly and defended it steadfastly as a priceless treasure; and God, against whom no plan can avail and no strength can prevail, will ensure that she will continue to do this. To this God alone, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be honor and glory forever. Amen. Summary Peter begins this benediction with an imperative; actually, a command. In order to fully experience God's blessing in your life, you must first humble yourself under God's mighty hand. Literally translated, you need to lower yourself so that God may lift you up. But God's exaltation of you (as every other major translation puts it) isn't instantaneous, as we often expect it to be. It comes only in time. Translators all felt the need to supply an adjective there: in due time (NIV / NET); at the proper time (ESV / LSB); at the right time (LEB). Unsurprisingly, none of them rendered it that God will lift you up according to your time. What's perhaps the most surprising about Peter's benediction is not just that blessing begins with humiliation, but how it is that you're commanded to lower yourself: It's not by thinking less of yourself or some other sort of self oblation. Rather, it's by realizing the sovereign power of God. The NET Bible captures this nuance well: you must humble yourself by casting (literally: throwing or loading ) all your cares on Him! (1984 NIV). From this perspective, the act of humbling yourself is a blessing in and of itself as you cast all of your cares on Him! The NET translators explain, "Humbling oneself is not a negative act of self-denial per se, but a positive one of active dependence on God for help." It's humbling in that rather than trying to solve all of your issues in your own strength, you instead let go of your own limited ability and fully rely upon your Father's strength. Indeed, this has been the primary lesson we've learned this year as we've studied the Canons of Dordt: Since God's grace is stronger than you, you can cast all of your care and anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.   Dig Deeper   Peter's benediction takes on a more doxological feel in the final two verses. Working our way through them clause by clause is a good way to end our year, being reminded of what we've learned in 2025: The God of all grace... Not only is God's grace unconditional (not dependent upon anything we have done to earn it), it's unlimited (there's no amount of sin it can't overcome). ...who called you... Our immutable, unchanging God called you to belong to Him before the dawn of time, so nothing can ever separate you from Him. ...to His eternal glory in Christ.. . Your identity has been completely transformed. You were conceived and born in Adam, and therefore deserving of God's wrath. But the God of all grace has placed you fully in Christ, so now you share in His eternal doxology! ... after you have suffered for a little while... John Stott writes , "We are not to be surprised by painful trials, as if something strange were happening, but rather to rejoice that suffering gives us the privilege of sharing in the sufferings of Christ and so of participating in his glory." ...will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. This is exactly what we've learned in this wonderful doctrine we call the Perseverance of the Saints. Peter began this passage in full benediction mode, then began to mix in some doxology, and then ends it in full doxology: To this God of all grace be the power, dominion and might for ever and ever. Amen. AAA Prayer (About) A CKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS : Our Father, the God of all grace; A LIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: As you end 2025 and begin 2026, cast all of your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you; A SK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: 2026 Unfading Truth Season Preview