God’s big story – Genesis.
Highlights…
Creation – God made everything… and it was good…humans were very good! But The Fall – humankind seeking to be God themselves / disobedience resulting in distance from God.
God longs to restore relationship. Seeking faithful and righteous ones.
Drastic measures – chooses Noah. Big flood, new beginnings, but doesn’t get rid of human sin and rebellion against God.
Call of Abram/Abraham
Genesis 12: 1-4
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.
God’s promises:
Land
Descendants – a great nation
To be a blessing
Abraham had to trust and obey…he and Sarah childless – many years before Isaac born. Then God asks him to sacrifice Isaac. God provides the sacrifice…a ram, later the final sacrifice Jesus…
Jacob/Esau twins– sons of Isaac – God chooses the younger one to lead.
Jacob has 12 sons.
God chooses second youngest Joseph…brothers jealous, sell him to slave traders and he ends up in Egypt. Then goal, God’s plans at work. Joseph able to interpret Pharoah’s dreams and save the nation and surrounding nations from famine.
He says to his brothers…
Genesis 45:7-8
7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.
Genesis 50:19-20
19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
(Where do we see this pointing to Jesus? What people meant as harm – death on the cross, God meant for good – to save us all)
Exodus: God’s big story
Israelites not living in promised land but in Egypt. Joseph dies, Pharoah who had protected them dies.
Israelites are numerous…God’s blessing and promise to Abraham being fulfilled. New pharaoh frightened of their great number and seeks to kill off baby boys and has also oppressed the Israelites, using them for slave labour. The Israelites need a saviour…
God chooses Moses! Saves him from death, brought up in the palace.
Moses tries to defend an Israelite and kills an Egyptian…has to flee. Becomes shepherd in Midian.
God calls him from burning bush.
Exodus 3:1-10
3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
God is faithful – hears his people, committed to his promises – land Moses says not me! I’m not eloquent, what if they don’t believe me etc. God chooses the unlikely. And he gifts, gives the words to say, provides support like brother Aaron. God is the one who saves. Moses is just his instrument. God’s power – plagues.
God’s protection – the Passover – the blood from the lamb, points to Jesus.
Delivered from slavery.
God parts the sea, leads them to safety on the other side
Provision – manna and quail.
Humankind – grumble and forget God’s faithfulness.
God gives Moses 10 commandments for the good of all.
People follow other idols – the golden calf.
Moses meets God up the mountain – radiant from God’s presence.
Instructions to build the ark of the tabernacle. God’s presence to travel with them.
Numbers 13/ Deuteronomy 1 Spies sent out to survey the land…aside from Caleb and Joshua the others are afraid of the people in the land and give bad reports. Don’t trust God.
Continued rebellion leads to the Israelites wandering the desert for 40 years. That generation will not enter the promised land. The next generation will cross over, not even Moses. But Joshua and Caleb will…
God is faithful to his promises.
He desires our love, trust, and obedience.
Deuteronomy 6: 3-5
3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Death of Moses
Deuteronomy 24
34 Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the Lord showed him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan, 2 all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea, 3 the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar. 4 Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.”
5 And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. 6 He buried him[a] in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. 7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. 8 The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.
9 Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit[b] of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the Lord had commanded Moses.
10 Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11 who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. 12 For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
The next chapter – tune in to Joshua 1 next week…
A new leader and a continual faithful God longing to bless his people and bring about his promises.
Jump forward to New Testament. God’s big story – Jesus!
God’s promises finally fulfilled in Jesus…he is the ultimate saviour for all people.
Luke 9:28-33
28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. 31 They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)
Jesus, often referred to as the new Moses. (Nice to see Moses standing there with Jesus, he may not have been able to cross over into the promised land, but he did enter into the final eternal promised land!)
Jesus is the greater Moses, (prophet like Moses, but more than just a prophet, risen in Israel) who delivers us from slavery to sin. He is the Passover lamb in whom we have salvation.
God’s story continues with us.
Like Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, and many more we are called to follow, trust and obey God and to be a blessing to the nations. We are to declare his faithfulness, his love for all. His desire to bring all into the promised land.
We are to be his instruments, even like Joseph, feeding the hungry – both literally and spiritually.
But we don’t do this on our own. Like Moses, God will gift us with what we need. He sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in us.
Next week we will begin the story of Joshua with the message to be strong and courageous…for the Lord our God is with us!