[0:00] what we now call the Old Testament, what they called in the first century, simply the Scriptures. Okay, you want more specific?
[0:12] Turn to Genesis chapter 12. It's probably a good place to start, Genesis. I'm going to talk about the Old Testament. The desire today is to, and over the next several weeks, is to make sense of the Old Testament.
[0:30] Not that it doesn't make sense on its own, but we look at such a big, vast, foreign to us history, and we feel lost.
[0:44] We're kind of not sure where to go. We know many of the stories, but most Christians are lost in terms of knowing the story, the purpose of the Old Testament.
[0:59] How it unfolds the drama of redemptive history. How it lays the rich foundation for what we know as the New Testament.
[1:13] The New Testament gives us all the answers. The Old Testament gives us the questions. So this is our desire.
[1:24] So we want to put it in a, in a, in a, in a nutshell, but in a, in a, in a concise way so that you can kind of have a sense of where the Old Testament goes.
[1:36] How is it flowing? What's the story? How, how is it pointing forward to Jesus Christ? Yeah, that's my goal. So, with that, we're going to start, so it's like, what do we read?
[1:51] Well, let's read from Genesis 1 to Malachi 4. Zach asked me this morning, what's the text? I said, Genesis, Gen 1, 1 to Mal 4 or 5.
[2:03] He said, no, really. So, okay, Genesis 12. Genesis 12, the call of Abraham is probably a good synopsis for today of what we're looking at overall.
[2:19] This first call of Abraham, the story, the beginning of Abraham, and then his follow-up to this promise really sets the scene for everything.
[2:32] Okay, for everything God's going to do. So if you're able, please stand as I read from Genesis chapter 12. In your pew Bible, I'm assuming it's probably about page 12 or so.
[2:45] I don't know where it is. Huh? Eight. Eight? Okay. But chapter 12. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation.
[3:12] And I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you, I will curse.
[3:28] And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So when Abram, so Abram went as the Lord had told him and Lot went with him.
[3:41] Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered and the people that they had acquired in Haran.
[3:56] And they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh.
[4:09] At that time, the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, To your offspring, I will give this land. So he built there an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him.
[4:24] From there, he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.
[4:38] And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negev, which is the south. Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.
[4:54] When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai, his wife, I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance. Better her up. And when the Egyptians see you, they will say, this is his wife.
[5:10] Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. So say that you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.
[5:24] When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh.
[5:35] And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. And for her sake, he dealt well with Abram. And he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
[5:53] But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
[6:05] So Pharaoh called Abram and said, what is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, she's my sister?
[6:17] So that I took her for my wife. Now then, here's your wife. Take her and go. And Pharaoh gave orders, gave men orders concerning him and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.
[6:36] A pre-exile. Let us pray. Father, grant us wisdom and insight as we look at your word, especially as we take this big, broad look.
[6:49] We want to know your story, Lord. We want to know how you have dealt with humanity all the way through that brings us to this point, brings us to the point of sending then your son to answer all the problems.
[7:08] And so help us understand what you have done from day one on that we might better appreciate what we have.
[7:20] This we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated. So, have you all been on an airplane?
[7:35] An experience of the airplane? Yeah, you get in the airplane and you take off and you get that, you know, feeling as it lifts up into the air, into the wild blue yonder, level out at 30, 35,000 feet or so, whatever they tell you.
[7:55] I don't know how they measure that. Have they got a plumb line going? So, then, especially if you have a window seat, you look out the window and what do you see?
[8:07] you see everything differently. You see things from a high, literally an overview. You see the cities and the highways, you see the rivers and the hills, right?
[8:24] You see the fields. You see, you can see a long ways. You see Denver and you see, I ain't much around that.
[8:36] You take off from O'Hare, O'Hare, I'm in Colorado now. Colorado now, they call that something else, DIA. If you're in Chicago, you take off from O'Hare.
[8:48] Yeah, done that. You know, and you see, hello, somebody got that. You hear things, too. You hear bells going off and you wonder, what is it?
[9:02] So what you have is a bird's eye view. A bird's eye view. In the Old Testament, we have a document that is quite large to us.
[9:20] An unknown document. We're familiar with some, but a lot of it we're not familiar with. It's vast. I mean, look at this puppy.
[9:31] Okay. Here's the Old Testament. Here's, let's see, where's Matthew 1? Okay, let's see what's Matthew 1. That much of the Bible is Old Testament.
[9:46] Of course, okay, take concordance out of there. Okay, there you go. It's huge. It's huge. And so we can feel overwhelmed.
[9:58] I mean, the Old Testament to 21st century, 21st century now, right? 21st century people, the New Testament, talking about first century things.
[10:09] That's a long time past. Now we're talking about another 2,000 years past. That's a long way. And so it's foreign to us.
[10:21] And other than maybe the stories of Abraham and Noah, the stories of Jacob and Isaac and story of Moses and a few other stories, maybe Daniel, you know, we kind of know Daniel's story.
[10:36] But man, a lot of it is, who's Hezekiah? who's Amos? Who's Amos? I mean, there's a lot of things we don't know.
[10:53] So most Christians abandon the Old Testament for the most sake. Most churches abandon the Old Testament for the most sake. Because it's so foreign.
[11:04] Because it's so overwhelming. It's so unknown. And yet, it is the rich background for our New Testament. It is the Scriptures of the first century.
[11:16] Paul talks about the Scriptures. Right? He's talking to Timothy about Genesis through Malachi. Or for a Jew, he would have been thinking of Genesis through 2 Chronicles.
[11:35] It is the great story of the unfolding drama of redemptive history. Now remember Jesus, after His resurrection, He's speaking to His disciples.
[11:47] Remember? He's now raised from the dead. He's talking to them. And do you remember what He says to them? He said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken.
[12:06] Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into His glory? And beginning with Moses, Moses, which means Genesis.
[12:21] And all the prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
[12:35] Did you know all of this is about Jesus? Did you know that? Wait a minute. When He's talking about that king, really? That's about Jesus?
[12:46] Yes, it is. So why did they miss it? How did we miss it? I went to seminary. They didn't tell me how to read that Old Testament to find Christ.
[13:03] I had to find out later. Start reading Acts and all they talk about is, well, what Jesus said to His disciples.
[13:14] Here's what we learn from that. That it's possible to know the Bible stories. Peter, James, John, Bartholomew, they all knew all the stories of the Old Testament.
[13:25] It's possible to know the Bible stories and miss the Bible story. The whole point. The one big story.
[13:37] The Gospel of Matthew. It begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ. And it starts with who? Abraham. Why Abraham?
[13:49] Then Isaac. Then Jacob. Then Judah. All the way down to David. And then Solomon. all the way down to Joseph. The husband of Mary.
[14:07] In Acts 7, Stephen is defending himself and the Gospel. And you know how he does it? He starts with Abraham.
[14:20] And then he talks about Joseph. Then he talks about the Exodus. And then he talks about the wilderness. And then he talks about Joshua. And then David.
[14:30] And he talks about the prophets whom the fathers were still rejecting just like their fathers did. And they missing the Messiah.
[14:44] You see, and then Paul, Acts 13, Paul does the same thing in the synagogue. He's asked to speak in the synagogue. He starts with Abraham and tells the story leading up to Christ.
[14:56] This is how they understood it. Jesus didn't come out of nowhere. Today, churches and pastors and we, Christians, tend to tell the Gospel the good part of the Gospel.
[15:16] Remember, the Gospel is four words, right? God, man, Christ, response. We talk about Christ and response.
[15:28] We might mention man as a sinner, you know, we don't really get into that because, you know, that's negative. So we talk about Christ died for our sins and the response is faith.
[15:39] But if we leave God out as to why and then who man is in response to God, we don't really understand the need for Christ.
[15:54] You can talk to people today about Christ. They'll know, oh yeah, He died for your sins. Do they understand that? Why that's important? Oh yeah, we're sinners. Yeah, okay, big deal. They don't understand.
[16:06] The Old Testament shows us comprehensively our need for a Savior. If we read the Old Testament wrongly as stories about heroic people, then we'll think, oh, I should be like Abraham.
[16:25] I should be like Joseph. I should be like Moses. You know, kill people. I should be like Noah. Be a drunk.
[16:36] I should be like Abraham. A liar. Who do you want to be like? Jonah. Jonah. I'm already a Jonah.
[16:50] Yeah, run away, run away. All right. Joseph though, Joseph, man, he's, he's, he was pretty amazing, right? I want to show you another side of Joseph today.
[17:01] Paul's defense in Acts 26 when he's going before the governor, he says, I'm on trial because of my hope in the promise by God to our fathers.
[17:20] He didn't say, I'm on trial because of God's promise about Jesus. He said, I'm on trial because of God's promise to the fathers which brought me to Jesus which put me on defense today.
[17:37] See, the gospel begins with the Old Testament. It begins with the Old Testament. As Paul Harvey used to say, it's the rest of the story.
[17:52] Right? So, how do we make sense of the Old Testament? So, here's what I'm going to try to do. Something quite, probably too big. On the, on your, in your bulletin you have an outline and on the back of the outline you have a chart.
[18:03] I love charts. I confess. I love charts. I like putting things in, in order. It's kind of an OCD thing. I got to have it, you know, all nice and laid out. So, in the chart, so we're not going to go through the chart today but I just want to explain it.
[18:17] This is where we're going. So, at the top it says, making sense of the Old Testament. Underneath that it says, a bird's eye view. The unfolding drama of redemptive history.
[18:28] Under that it says, one story. Okay, this is one story of the whole Bible. One theme. Man's total ruin and sin.
[18:40] God's complete remedy in Christ. That's it in a nutshell. That's every book of the Bible. That is the theme. That's what God is showing.
[18:52] That's what we learn absolutely through the Old Testament. Man's total ruin in sin and there's a promise of one coming. There's a promise of an answer. So, laid it out.
[19:05] So, basically, we're going to look at one major event each week. Right? One major era. So, you could break the whole New Testament or Old Testament down into eight areas.
[19:17] That's my choice. Others have done more, but I want to keep it simple. Okay? And then you see the timeline. You see the books where that event happened.
[19:28] You see the key people of those times. And then, on the right column, I think the most important fact to put in, which is often left out in history books.
[19:40] I got a bunch of books on Old Testament survey, and, you know, and they're like, come on. Summarize it. And so, what you will find in each section is a promise of God.
[19:57] It starts with Genesis 3, and it goes all through Genesis. It goes into Exodus, and then it goes into Numbers, and it goes on and on and on all the way through, and all of them are pointing to Jesus Christ from the beginning to the end.
[20:15] So, that last column is what makes sense of it. It's why that era occurred, and what God is redeeming out of it.
[20:28] So, we go from promise. So, today, we're going to look at just the first major event, promise. That's called the time, the era of the patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
[20:38] Okay, that's what we'll look at today. Next week will be redemption. What do you think redemption captures? What event happened after the patriarchs that causes redemption?
[20:53] Any guesses? It's in a certain book. It's the same as a certain book. Exodus. The Exodus, right? Their freedom, the redemption, right?
[21:05] So, redemption, Exodus. Then, what happened after Exodus? They get to the promised land, right? They go right in, right? No, they rebelled.
[21:16] And so, they stayed in the wilderness for 40 years. What came after that? As next generation comes along, what happens? They finally get to the land. And God has kept his promise.
[21:29] The end of Joshua says it over and over and over. He has kept his promise. not one word has fallen.
[21:42] Big theme. Then, after the land, what happens? Well, they become part of the whole thing and start looking around at the other nations. What do all the other nations have that Israel doesn't have?
[21:54] King! We should have a king! You do have a king. His name is Yahweh. No, we want one like all the other nations. Okay, fine. I'll give you Saul.
[22:05] How's that working? Okay, I'll find one as a man after my own heart. His name is David, which Susan read of today.
[22:16] David. David. Well, there's a guy. We should all be like David, right? I mean, he is the cream of the crop, right?
[22:29] He is the hero, is he not? He is a man after God's own heart. No? You don't think we should be like David?
[22:42] Like Jesus. There you go, brother. Yeah. Even David, he's the best of us and the worst of us, isn't he? We need to have a better king than David. As great a king as David was and he was the best, wasn't good enough for God's people.
[23:03] So you have a united kingdom. What happens after the united kingdom? He, David, puts it all together. He makes it happen. He creates safety all the way around, turns the kingdom over to his son, Solomon.
[23:18] Solomon doesn't have to do any work. Always put the temple together, but David put up, gave him all the plans, all the materials, you know. Here, it's all you got to do, son, just put it all together. Just put it out. What did Solomon do?
[23:31] He was great for a while, wasn't he? Then he became apostate. So a divided kingdom, which led, which was apostasy, which led eventually, in the next 400 years, to the fall and exile of the nation.
[23:53] And by then they're down to one kingdom, right? There was a divided kingdom north and south, and then you have wrath. God exiles them to Babylon for 70 years.
[24:04] After the 70 years, they start to return to the land. So there's hope. There's hope. And 400 years after that, comes the Messiah.
[24:15] The whole point. So there's your nutshell thing. Now I'm going to attempt to give a bird's eye view of Genesis. Genesis. So in Genesis, how does this story begin?
[24:31] Genesis shows us God's determination, absolute determination, because it all depended on Him. God's determination to bless humanity in one descendant.
[24:44] One descendant. There are two beginnings shown to us in the book of Genesis. The first 11 chapters is the beginning of the world and the nations. You've got creation, God's work of creation, and then in chapter 3, you have man's ruin.
[25:05] So you have the beginning of the creation of the world in the first 11 chapters. The rest of Genesis from 12 to 50 is about the beginning of God's people. It's about God choosing, God promising to be, promising to make a people for himself through a seed, through an offspring.
[25:30] So quickly, the first part, the first 11 chapters, wrap it up in a nutshell. Creation of the world and nations, chapters 1 and 2, God creates the world. You have light, heaven, earth, vegetation, fish, beasts, man and wife.
[25:44] God creates a perfect environment for man. Everything he needs. Chapter 3 comes around and what happens?
[25:56] Oh, the serpent's more crafty than any of the beasts of the field. How'd the serpent get in there? I thought Adam's job was to guard the garden.
[26:10] He let the serpent in and then he let the serpent speak. And the serpent spoke and spoke and spoke to Eve and Eve dialogued with the serpent and Adam just stood there.
[26:26] Just stood there. So, man's ruin and sin, it begins with Adam's rebellion. Eve was deceived.
[26:37] Adam chose to sin. Understand that? Adam bore the responsibility, not Eve.
[26:52] Yeah, women are going, yay. Oh, yeah, well, you had consequences too, right? Adam rebels. What happens after Adam?
[27:02] Cain murders his brother. What happens after that? Violence everywhere, which we read today, that led to a worldwide flood. That's how bad it got.
[27:12] And they start over again with Noah and his family, you know, part two. And it still led to the Tower of Babel where God had to confuse the languages because man was uniting as a one whole thing for themselves.
[27:34] I won't get into that. So, that's the first 11 chapters. That's not our focus. Our focus, the real focus begins to happen in chapter 12 of Genesis where God calls Abraham and begins to give promises.
[27:48] Promises that he will say to Abraham, he will repeat to Isaac, he will repeat to Jacob, he will repeat to Judah, that God will keep his promise.
[28:01] So, the patriarch story involves sons. We're just going to hear about sons, sons, sons, descendants, offspring. Okay? It's going to be the story of sons.
[28:12] Abraham has sons. Isaac has sons. Jacob has bunch of sons. Judah has sons.
[28:25] And it's all through these sons. Some sons know, some sons yes. Right? And the one God chooses is often not what we think would be chosen.
[28:37] Abraham was not a firstborn. Isaac was not a firstborn. Jacob was not a firstborn.
[28:48] He wanted to be, but he wasn't a firstborn. Judah was not a firstborn. Huh. The only firstborn that gets credit in the whole Bible is Jesus. He's the firstborn. He's the real one.
[29:00] Because all the other ones are, okay, different thing. So, okay, Abraham, I want you to notice now in your outline, you'll see this chiasm, right? You see the recognize the chiasm there? See the structure that looks like half of an X?
[29:15] Okay, a chiasm, that's the Greek word chi, is the Greek word for X, key, key. Right? So, it looks like what we call an X.
[29:26] So, if you take out just the first part of the X, then you have a chiasm. So, that's why the Abraham story is structured in a chiasm. The Jacob story is structured in a chiasm, and the Joseph story is structured in a chiasm.
[29:41] When I did Genesis years ago, I was just flabbergasted that there's so much structure to this narrative. It's not just, oh, they wrote the story down.
[29:54] A chiasm is a theme that is presented, or ideas presented, they are presented in the flow, and then they're repeated in reverse.
[30:09] So, let me show you the story of Abraham. So, it starts, see, Abraham, oh, do you have a blank line there? You notice? Abraham goes there. In case you missed it, he's number one, he's the first patriarch.
[30:22] Abraham. So, his story begins, point A, promise of a son. Story ends, in chapter 21, the birth of a son.
[30:35] Okay? Promise, birth. Part B, Abraham, right after his promise, and we just read it, right? Abraham lies about his wife. Right? Tell them you're my sister, so that I can live.
[30:50] You put yourself in jeopardy, you put yourself in danger, Sarah, so I can be okay. Man, what a husband, right?
[31:02] And, such a godly man, he's lying. So, what happens? God protects him and saves him, right? Sarah's in the harem.
[31:13] she becomes Pharaoh's wife. What's going to happen with the promise? Abraham's just jeopardized everything.
[31:26] So, God rescues. That's a familiar story, isn't it? Sinners get in trouble, God rescues. And, if God didn't rescue Sarah, there would be no more story.
[31:38] So, then you go on, Lot settles in Sodom. Oh, by the way, Abraham lies about Sarah at the very beginning of the story. Go down to chapter 20.
[31:50] Oh, he did it again. He lies about Sarah again and again. God rescues them. So, you know, he's a pattern liar. What do they call it? Whatever. After they get into the land, Lot settles in Sodom, and then later Lot will flee from Sodom because God's going to destroy it.
[32:09] D, Abraham's interceding for Sodom and Lot in battle. Remember, that's where they met Melchizedek, remember? And then D, later, Abraham's going to intercede again for Sodom and Lot in prayer.
[32:23] Remember, will you kill all of them? Remember? The heart of the story, the very middle of the story, the turning point of the story is about two statements of covenant. Chapter 15, there's a covenant with Abram.
[32:37] And then introduction of Ishmael, the son of the flesh. Remember, Abraham says, where's my son? Where's my son? It's been a lot of years. Where's my son? Sarah's not going to have a son.
[32:48] Sarah gives Abraham Hagar, Hagar, and Abraham has a son.
[32:58] His name is Ishmael. God hears Ishmael because she's crying. Remember, she's crying and God hears Hagar and he has mercy on her.
[33:12] And then we find out a little bit later than another covenant in chapter 17. Abraham, that's not your son. Well, he's your son and I'll bless him because he's your son, but he's not the one I'm talking about.
[33:25] That's the son of flesh. Look over to chapter 17 in Genesis. Chapter 17, 1, when Abraham was 99 years old. So how long has it been?
[33:37] When did he start? 75? Now he's 99? It's been a little while. No son still. The Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him, I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless that I may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly.
[33:55] And Abraham fell on his face and God said to him, Behold, my covenant was with you and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. Okay, he's promised me a son. Now it's a multitude of nations.
[34:07] No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham. For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
[34:20] I will make you exceedingly fruitful. I will make you into nations and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring, your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
[34:41] It's about being God to you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God.
[34:55] Go down to verse 15. God said to Abram, as for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarai shall be her name.
[35:07] I will bless her and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her and she shall become nations. Kings of people shall come from her.
[35:20] She's barren. Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?
[35:34] And shall Sarah who is ninety years old bear a child? child. And Abraham said to God, oh, that Ishmael, I have a son.
[35:52] Ishmael, may Ishmael live before you. God said, no, but Sarah, your wife, shall bear a son and you shall call his name laughter because you laughed because it's a joke.
[36:12] you should call his name laughter, which isn't really a joke at all, but it will be joy. And I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him, for the seed that shall come through him.
[36:30] Okay, that's the story of Abraham. The promise, twenty-five years later, the birth of that son. Oh, and by the way, the story wasn't over with that, was it?
[36:44] Oh, and the son's a nice age of about twelve, thirteen. Okay, Abraham, why don't you take your son, your only son, your only son, your only real son, the one through your wife, Sarah, that one, why don't you take him and slaughter him?
[37:01] Really? Okay, now his faith comes in. Abraham, yes, is a liar. he has great failings.
[37:14] He's not a perfect man, but at times he had incredible faith. Okay, Lord, I'll take him up to that mountain and I'll get to the point where I raise the knife and I'm willing to go through with it.
[37:36] Right? Because he believed that God would bring him back to life. that's as far as he had to go. Because God said, okay, don't put that knife down, put that knife down.
[37:51] Right? And there we have another picture, a son, the only son, laying down his life, right? Taking the sacrifice. So Isaac, that's his big moment.
[38:03] man, I mean, surely he could have overpowered 112-year-old man. Right? I don't know.
[38:15] Abraham lived to 175, so maybe he still had some. I don't know. I don't know. That was an awkward scene, right? Daddy, where's the lamb?
[38:26] God will provide, son. Just keep walking. man. So then we go, so Abraham is the first big story, so we see this drama.
[38:37] The purpose of that story is not, let's all try to be like Abraham. That's never going to be the point of the story.
[38:49] The point of the story is God's promise that God fulfills In spite of Abraham! Because Abraham jeopardizes it. God makes it happen in spite of Abraham and Sarah.
[39:06] It's about God. Isaac. Okay, we go to Isaac. Okay, his story goes from chapter 25, 19 through 35, 29. Unfortunately, he's only mentioned a little bit.
[39:21] His high point was back there in chapter 21 when, or chapter 22 when he went with daddy and he voluntarily laid on the rock, let himself get tied up and get ready to be slain.
[39:35] That was his big point. From then on, mostly we see Isaac in a bed. In a bed.
[39:46] I don't know what the issue was. He was old and dying and blind when Jacob left the land. 20 years later when Jacob comes back to the land.
[39:59] He's still old and dying and blind. I don't know. So the story of Isaac, his promise is reaffirmed in chapter 26.
[40:12] God says to him the same promise. Chapter 26 of Genesis, there was a famine in the land besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. So we see a repetition.
[40:23] Abraham faces a famine now. Isaac will face a famine. This time though, Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech, king of the Philippines.
[40:35] The Lord appeared to him and said, do not go down to Egypt. Remember, daddy went there, it wasn't good. Don't go to Egypt. Dwell in the land in which I shall tell you. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
[40:46] Sojourn in the land and I will be with you. Now watch, the same words again, like he said to Abraham, I will be with you and I will bless you. To you and to your offspring, to your seed, I will give all these lands and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham, your father.
[41:02] I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the heaven. I will give to your offspring all these lands and in your offspring, singular, in your one particular descendant, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because Abraham obeyed my voice.
[41:22] So that's Isaac's story. It starts back in chapter 25, 19. These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son, and it begins to talk about Isaac.
[41:34] But as you read through the next several chapters, you'll find out it's really not about Isaac at all, it's about his sons. It's the story of two sons. And the story begins here in 25, 19.
[41:48] Look at verse 25, 19. These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham fathered Isaac, and Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the Aramean of Paramaram, the sister of Laban, the Aramean, to be his wife.
[42:07] And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren. Another wife barren. Right? And the Lord granted his prayer and Rebekah, his wife, conceived.
[42:24] The children struggled together within her and she said, if it is thus, why is this happening to me? And she went to inquire the Lord and the Lord said to Rebekah, two nations are in your womb and two peoples from within you shall be divided.
[42:44] One shall be stronger than the other and the older will serve the younger. Prophecy. Firstborn shall serve the secondborn.
[42:57] Esau shall serve Jacob. Right? As they're born, the first one comes out all hairy and red. They call him, hey red, Esau. The other one comes out holding on to the heel of his brother, right?
[43:12] They call him? Heel grabber. Jacob, which also means deceiver and trickster and trip him up kind of guy, which is exactly who he turns out to be, right?
[43:28] So again, notice in this Jacob story, again, we're not learning to be like Jake, right? A trickster, a deceiver, yet he's given a lot of space from chapter 25 to 35.
[43:42] What's the point again of this story of Jacob, who's quite the character, quite the ungodly kind of person, not the person you want your sons and daughters to emulate, right?
[43:56] Yeah, tell lies and try to trick people. Deceive your father. It's about God's promise to sinners. Now we're standing, now the story is standing out, whereas Abraham's was the promise and then his faith.
[44:12] We have Jacob who's just a wrestler. He's going to wrestle with his brother in the womb. He's going to wrestle with his brother for the birthright. He's going to wrestle with God.
[44:25] He's going to wrestle with his father-in-law. He's going to wrestle with his wives. And with his children, he's a wrestler.
[44:37] Until one day he physically wrestles with the angel of the Lord. Right? And everything changes. He becomes a new man.
[44:49] He's a broken man, but a new man. So again, the story, it starts, notice, Jacob starts in chapter 25, the prophecy is declared, two sons wrestling in the womb for the birthright, and then right afterwards we hear the story of how Jacob tricks Esau to get his birthright, right?
[45:08] For a bowl of stew, right? I'll give you stew. He's famished. Oh, no, give me your birthright. Okay, fine. So he deceives his brother for that.
[45:20] So it begins with a prophecy declared. It ends in chapter 35 with a prophecy fulfilled. That son has the blessing. His name's been changed now.
[45:30] His name's been changed from deceiver to wrestler. His name's been changed from Jacob, the deceiver, to what? What does God call him?
[45:41] Yisra'el. He who wrestles with God and men and prevails. He who wrestles. Loose translation.
[45:54] And what is true of Israel all their history? They wrestle with God and men, right? So I want you to know it's not going to go through his whole outline, the whole chiasm there.
[46:09] But notice some important points. In part C, Jacob fears and flees. He deceives his brother. He's already deceived him for the birthright. Now he's going to deceive for the blessing. Remember he goes in Esau's coat, right?
[46:22] He puts a hairy coat and daddy's so blind he can't tell. So if he just touches the coat, right? And that's a beautiful picture isn't it? Of the going in the coat of the older one to get the blessing.
[46:36] We go in the coat of Christ to get the blessing of God. I love that picture. Though we're not deceiving. Christ gives us his coat.
[46:48] So he deceives in part C there for the blessing. Then when he comes back into the land he returns and he's fearful but now he reconciles with his brother. Beautiful picture.
[47:00] Beautiful picture. Then notice that he encounters God twice before he leaves the land. Chapter 28 he encounters God. He gets a promise of protection and then part D later when he returns to the land he will encounter God again and literally wrestle for the blessing.
[47:19] And remember he's wrestling I won't let you go until you bless me right? Okay let me do a little chiropractic on your hip there. Let me break you.
[47:32] There's a man that he wanted. He wanted everything else now he wanted God. And he was a different man from that point. Broken man. So and notice after he encounters God on the way out chapter 29 he's in exile in a foreign land basically.
[47:49] He's running from Esau. He's in exile for 20 years over there. He works 20 years for his two wives and for his crops and his flocks.
[48:01] And then when he comes back into the land he's exodusing that land into the promised land again. It's just beautiful pictures. And the turning point of the whole story right?
[48:13] Notice the middle of the story that the chiasm points to the point to the turning point of the story. God remembers Rachel. And who is born?
[48:25] Joseph. Remember Joseph's Joseph's loves I mean Jacob loves Rachel. That's the wife that he wanted when he worked for seven years.
[48:36] Remember he goes into the tent and he's expecting Rachel and who does he get? Leah. Leah. He didn't want Leah. But his father's his father-in-law is as much of a trickster as he is probably a little above him.
[48:52] And so he has to work for another seven years to get Rachel. And Rachel's the one that he loves and that's the one he considers his first wife but it wasn't. Leah's the one God blesses and most of the six I think of the sons come no it's what did we figure out?
[49:09] It's four. Yeah it's six. Okay six. Six of the sons of the twelve tribes come through Leah. Only two come through Rachel, Joseph, and Benjamin.
[49:21] And then the other four come through the concubines right? So but God remembers Rachel that's the highlight of it. So then then everything turns for Jacob.
[49:34] When Joseph is born everything changes. Joseph begins to work his way back to the land. He begins to God gives him prosperity with his flocks right? And then he basically escapes from his father-in-law's clutches to go back to the land.
[49:52] So that's the story of Jacob. Again it's not about Jacob. It's about God's promise to a sinner. To an unworthy A very self-oriented man.
[50:04] All about me kind of guy. God transformed him. Then our final story is the story of Joseph. Again. So when you hear stories of Joseph what do you think about?
[50:17] What is known about Joseph? There's even musicals about Joseph right? I mean it's about his technicolor coat right? He's daddy's favorite.
[50:29] Is that what the story's about? That's how it started. Right? He's the favorite son. Now again it's about God's promise that he fulfills through an unworthy one.
[50:44] Here's some what we always have is twists in these stories and that's what's so wonderful about the drama that is being portrayed here. Again notice Joseph's story begins with an introduction.
[50:57] God's chosen ruler is rejected. Remember God gives Joseph these dreams and then he tells his brother about his dreams. Remember there's 12 stars and 11 of the stars bow down to the one star.
[51:10] Guess who's the one star? right? His brothers loved him. You know they're out in the field doing all the work.
[51:24] Joseph's wearing the fancy coat and he comes out to spy on his brothers and report to daddy. We love Joseph. He's our favorite. He's our favorite. So when he reveals the true dream from God to his brothers brothers that basically says I will rule over you they reject him and they sell him.
[51:50] There was some dialogue about killing him outright probably Simeon and Levi because they're the blood blood guys. Reuben is the firstborn steps in and says no we're not killing him but we can sell him.
[52:02] Let's sell him. And then we'll get his multicolored robe with more colors of blood on it and we'll give that to daddy and tell daddy he's dead. They're good guys. These are good guys.
[52:13] Real functional family. Old Jacob did a good job with his boys didn't he? I don't know.
[52:25] So the ruler's rejected at the end we will see this ruler who's rejected becomes exalted and becomes the ruler. Does that theme sound familiar?
[52:36] does it? No? The chosen ruler of Israel is presented before Israel and they reject him and kill him and then he's exalted.
[52:52] Same story with Moses. Same story with David. It's a story repeated through the scriptures that foreshadow the story of Jesus. Jesus says how are you so slow of heart to believe all that the scriptures have said?
[53:07] It's all pointed to me. Didn't say your name. No. The name might have been Joseph. The name might have been Moses, David. But that's me. They're that shadow of what I am in the full color.
[53:23] So notice here in the Joseph story. Okay. He's the ruler rejected who becomes the ruler. Right. All of that. But somebody else comes in and becomes the real story in the Joseph story.
[53:40] Because we have Joseph introduced, right? And then there's this interlude in chapter 28, 38, excuse me, of Genesis. It's kind of like we got the story of Joseph. What happened to Joseph?
[53:51] Oh, we're going to go back and talk about this guy named Judah. Who, right, had sons and the sons didn't want to, you know, he had a daughter-in-law named Tamar and, you know, the sons were supposed to fulfill their kinsmen and redeemer responsibilities with their brothers.
[54:13] The brother had died and so their daughter, sister-in-law, they're supposed to fulfill it so that she can have children and keep the name, right? They wouldn't do it. So God just kept killing them off.
[54:26] So, well, they had one more son left and Judah kept hedging and hedging because he didn't want to lose all his sons, right, because God's just going to kill them.
[54:41] And so he puts Tamar off, puts her off, puts her off, puts her off. Finally, he's on a trip and Tamar's thinking, I got to take things into my own hands, make something happen. I know what Judah's going to do when he gets over there down to wherever and he's going to shear the sheep.
[54:55] I know what he does when he's over there. Yeah, because his sons tell me what he does. He goes to prostitutes. And so I'm going to play the part of a prostitute, Tamar.
[55:10] And so Judah does come in and has relations with his daughter-in-law unknown. And then later she's found pregnant and he's condemning her.
[55:24] Oh, she's played the harlot. And she has a couple of things that she's held ransom from Judah. His ring and his staff, I think, something.
[55:35] So when she comes out to be condemned by Judah, she produces Judah's articles. And Judah says, she's more righteous than I am.
[55:48] So he confesses. But did you know that the line of Christ comes through Judah and Tamar? Tamar. Just like it came through other scandalous names like Bathsheba, Ruth.
[56:06] Now, Ruth? She's a godly woman. Yeah, but her heritage wasn't godly. Then there's another scandalous name in Jesus' genealogy, Mary.
[56:19] Mary. Was Mary scandalous? Well, yeah. It wasn't Joseph who's the husband.
[56:38] Mary lived with that scandal, though innocent, lived with that. Right? So did Jesus. Scandal.
[56:48] Abraham. So what God is doing, he's taking, Abraham lies and gets Sarah in trouble. God rescues them out of their sin.
[57:00] Judah lies with his daughter-in-law. Scandal. Sin. And God uses, redeems that very thing to bring grace.
[57:15] It's incredible. God. So, so we see Judah's sin highlight in 38. We see Judah's descendants will rule in chapter 49.
[57:29] So surprising again, right? When, when, when Jacob in his old age gives the blessing to all 12 sons, right? We expect the blessing to go to the firstborn.
[57:42] No, the firstborn blew it. the next two blew it to Simeon and Levi. Remember, they avenge the rape of their sister and their men of bloodshed so they don't get the blessing.
[57:56] Reuben doesn't because Reuben slept with Jacob's concubine. So Judah, number four, becomes the one. But we would think Joseph should be the one, wouldn't we?
[58:07] Shouldn't Joseph be the one? Because that's the whole story. Why does Judah get it? Why Judah? I mean, especially since we know in chapter 38 he's a sinner and he goes to harlots.
[58:22] What kind of man is that? Well, I want you to know, so remember Joseph's in this time when there's a great famine in Egypt that he knew ahead of time, right?
[58:35] There'll be seven years of plenty, seven years of famine, right? So God works through Joseph to plan, okay, for the seven years of plenty we're going to store it up, we're going to store it up, build great storehouses, we're going to store it up, store it up, store it up, so that we'll have enough for the seven years of nothing.
[58:54] Okay? Oh, but this is government, so it's not free. Oh, you get it free, but you're paying it back, right? Our economy's paying it back, big time.
[59:06] Understand, things don't go for free. So, when the seven years of famine come, what happens? How do they get the grain?
[59:20] Well, you sell yourself to me, Joseph said. You sell yourselves and all of your possessions to me, and I'll give you grain. Joseph becomes the enslaver.
[59:34] That's how he saved Egypt. right? He was enslaved in Egypt, right? He gets exalted.
[59:46] Now he enslaves all of Egypt. Chapter 47. So, all of that. So, remember, here's the story.
[59:57] what about, so Joseph's in Egypt. All of his brothers and his father are back in the land, and now they're going through the famine too, so how are they going to survive?
[60:08] They come to Joseph. They come to Joseph, and Joseph's got personal questions for these guys. Do you have a father? Yeah. How's your father? They don't know Joseph is Joseph.
[60:21] He's bald, and he's got the, you know, whatever the Egyptian headwear and everything, right? He speaks another language. So, how are they going to pay, because they don't have anything, how are they going to pay Joseph for their bread?
[60:39] Leave one of the sons. I'll take Simeon. Well, he didn't call him Simeon, I'll take that one. Probably because he remembers 20 years prior, it was Simeon who said, let's kill him.
[60:56] Probably. Because he's already killed. or he would kill later. So he keeps Simeon for a year, then they come back the next year, what are they going to give him?
[61:11] Okay, this time I'll take, is this all the sons? Is it just the 10 of you? Is that it? No, there's one more. Oh, who's that? Oh, you can't have him.
[61:23] That's daddy's favorite. His favorite was this other son, but he was murdered, and now he only has one son left from Rebecca, his wife, and if we took him, he'd die.
[61:37] He would just die. Can't take him. Joseph says what? I want him. You're bringing him. Right?
[61:51] So they bring him and he's going to hold Benjamin. So let's look at chapter 44. I want you to see the drama here. This is the most amazing picture.
[62:10] So in Genesis 44, this is the last part I'll read. I just want you to see the picture of Jesus in this. Chapter 44, verse 14. So remember, they're standing before Joseph.
[62:22] They don't know it's Joseph. It's just some mean Pharaoh guy. Right? So when Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, this is 44, 14, he was still there.
[62:34] They fell before him to the ground, prophecy fulfilled. Joseph said to them, what do you, previous part of that, okay, Joseph sent them away.
[62:44] he secretly put a piece of his silver or his cup, his golden cup or something like that in Benjamin's bag, right, to set him up.
[62:56] And they capture him, they find, oh, it's in Benjamin's bag. Oh, nuts. I'm sure they had a stronger word.
[63:07] Now we're dead. So Joseph confronts them. What deed is it that you have done? Did you not know that a man like me can indeed practice divination?
[63:17] I know what you're doing. And Judah said, Judah, how come he's the spokesman now? Judah said, what shall we say to my Lord?
[63:30] What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God, watch this, God has found out the guilt of your servants. Behold, we are the Lord's servants, both we and he in whose hand the cup has been found.
[63:49] But Joseph said, far be it for me that I should do so. Only the man in whose hand the cup was found shall be my servant. But as for you, go up in peace to your father.
[64:00] And Judah, Judah went up to him and said, O my Lord, please let your servant speak a word in my Lord's ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself.
[64:16] My Lord asked his servant, saying, have you a father or a brother? And we said to my Lord, we have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age.
[64:28] His brother is dead. Speaking of Joseph standing in front of him. His brother's dead, and he alone, this last child, Benjamin, he alone is left of his mother's children, and his father loves him.
[64:44] Then you said to your servants, bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him. And we said to my Lord, the boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.
[64:56] Then you said to your servants, unless your younger brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again, or get food. When we came back to your servant, my father, we told him the words of my Lord.
[65:10] And when our father said, go again, buy us a little food, we said, we cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down, for we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.
[65:24] Then your servant, my father, said to us, you know that my wife bore me two sons, one left me. And I said, surely he has been torn to pieces, and I have never seen him since.
[65:38] If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol.
[65:51] Now, therefore, as soon as I come to your servant, my father, and the boy is not with us, then as his life is bound up in the boy's life, as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die.
[66:02] And your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to Sheol. For your servant, now Judah is speaking of himself, your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, if I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.
[66:27] Judah interceded. And then he makes the next step, verse 33, now therefore please let your servant Judah remain instead of the boy as your servant to my Lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers, for how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me?
[66:49] I fear to see the evil that would find my brother. And with that statement, Joseph had to leave the room. He could not control his emotions anymore.
[67:03] He broke down. Why? Why was Joseph so bound up emotionally? Do you think he had a problem with his brothers?
[67:19] Do you think he bore a grudge? Yes. Big time. Big time. He's been in power for over seven years.
[67:29] Now, eight, nine years by this point. Why didn't he ever send for his father? He's the most powerful man in Egypt. Most powerful man in the world.
[67:40] Save Pharaoh. Why doesn't he send for his father and brothers? Why does he put them through torment? The Bible says he tested his brothers.
[67:51] Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm going to get you back. you think Joseph is such a holy man? He's understandably angry.
[68:09] And what breaks it? What breaks his bondage to this anger and resentment that has taken a place in his heart that he won't even look for his father?
[68:26] What breaks it? One man, Judah, who acts like our Savior, who humbles himself, puts himself, excuse me, and says take me instead.
[68:48] I was sent by my father. I made a promise to my father.
[68:59] Take me. And that's what broke it. That's what broke it. Broke Joseph. Because in the next chapter, he just lays it all out.
[69:10] It's me. It's me. I'm the mean guy. And then there, really scared. Okay, now we're going to pay for our sins.
[69:24] And he shows grace. Do you see the story of Jesus here? Can you see the story of Jesus all the way through Genesis?
[69:36] It's in pictures. It's in themes. Right? And in the promised one, it's all about this promise one to Abraham, the promised seed.
[69:49] In you, all the families of the earth will be blessed in that one seed that comes through Abraham. It came through Abraham and then it went through Isaac and then it went through Jacob and then it went through Judah.
[70:00] And to Judah is promised not only that the seed will come through him, but that through Judah will be the one who's the ruler, who will hold the scepter between his feet.
[70:10] and to him, all the people will give obedience to Judah and his offspring. Now we're talking Messiah.
[70:23] Not just a son, but a Messiah. That's the story of Genesis. He foreshadows Christ, intercedes, Judah does as a substitute.
[70:37] Do you know this story? It's very familiar if you've read the Gospels. It's the same story. It just raises more of the question than the answer.
[70:51] Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your incredible telling of the story. I only wish I could do it justice to show how you laid it out from the beginning.
[71:10] And even as man and wife fell in the first act in Genesis 3, even as they fell, you were there. They blew it.
[71:23] They ran away from you in that you came searching for them. And then in their feeble attempt to cover their shame, you gave them a majestic way to cover their shame.
[71:36] shame. You killed an animal in their place to cover them with skins, to cover their shame. And Lord, you're doing it.
[71:47] You're still doing it to us. We blow it. We're the Abraham who lies. We're the Jacob who deceives. We're the Joseph with the grudge.
[71:59] We're the Judah who who looks for pleasure elsewhere. And you then you take us and redeem us and you make us full of hope.
[72:13] And like Abraham, we still blow it. But you continue to rescue us. Thank you, oh God. Show us how big you are. Show us Jesus through the Old Testament.
[72:26] We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.