To their newly stated national definition, thirsty, hungry, and temperamental Israel was instantly resolute in her response: “All that Adonai has spoken we will do” (Exodus 19:8). And with that resounding, unalterable voice of conviction and commitment, the people consecrated and washed themselves, complied with the instructions not to touch or approach the mountain, and quietly awaited further instructions from their God.
The Creator of the universe had been long at work to restore mankind from their self-induced separation from Him. Having chosen a people through whom He would make that Way, God set the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob on their promised path. The following four-century journey of salvation and pain would lead them down to foreign Egypt in favor. And though it would also permit their oppressive enslavement there, God would still remember and fulfill His unbreakable covenant to Israel’s fathers, and multiply His people ten-thousand-fold. Out of their misery and suffering, God raised up reluctant but faithful Moses to confront Pharaoh and deliver Israel from bondage through powerful, supernatural acts and wonders. And by the shedding of the innocent blood of the lamb, the God of Deliverance saved Israel from Egypt’s national, deathly judgment and mightily set His people free.
While Moses, having fled Egypt, came to dwell in the land to the east, God still heard the cries of Israel, and did not forget His covenant people (Exodus 2:23-24). After forty more years, when Moses was eighty (Acts 7:30), he was out, as usual, shepherding his father-in-law’s flock on what turned out to be the mountain of God (Exodus 3:1). All at once, Adonai suddenly appeared to Moses in a burning fire, engulfing a nearby bramble in flames—though the bush was not consumed. And there for the first time, Adonai spoke to His servant Moses from out of the blazing bush, declaring,
“I am the God of your fathers, God of [Abraham], God of [Isaac], and God of [Jacob]…. I have seen, seeing the affliction of My people… and I have heard their cry… for I have known their pains. And I come down to deliver them out of the hand of the [Egyptians] and to cause them to go up out of the land… to a land flowing with milk and honey…. [S]ay to the sons of [Israel]: ‘I am’ has sent me to you.” (Exodus 3:6-8,14 mjlt)
Having dispersed Noah’s descendants to form a world of nations, God continued His reconciling work through obscure, unremarkable Abraham. God covenanted with Abraham that He would make him into a great nation, give him a great name, and make him a blessing to all the families of the earth. God also promised Abraham a land as a possession for the generations that would miraculously be born through him. And even though he had no children, and was personally given no inheritance in the land—“not even a footstep” (Acts 7:5, mjlt)—Abraham believed God. The covenant made by the God of Promise was renewed with Abraham’s son Isaac, and again with Isaac’s son Jacob…
…the promise, however, would not come without pain. Read more
Before he died, Abraham found a wife for his son from among the people of his father. He was determined to maintain his line’s distinction while still sojourning in that promised, yet foreign, country. Isaac loved Rebekah, who, like Sarah, had been barren. But Isaac prayed to God, and his prayers were abundantly answered—Rebekah conceived, and had not one child, but twins. From the womb, the two boys contended with one another, for God, indeed, had already made His plans. Esau, ruddy and hairy, came out first; and clutching his heel was relentless Jacob, the supplanter. Read more
Sealed by the covenant of circumcision, the birth of Isaac marked the beginning of Abraham’s promised line, and the distinction of a set-apart people. Until this time, Abraham had proved himself most malleable—willing to appease the command of both God and wife alike. But now, with the coming of his son Isaac—the promised progenitor of his name—would Abraham continue to obey, even in the face of great personal loss? Read more
Because the descendants of Adam had become earth’s sinful citizens, God destroyed the world. Oath-bound and grief-stricken, the Creator washed away His creation, cleansing it in the waters of a purifying, violent Flood. Yet above that deluge, God lifted up Noah to save a remnant of life from off the earth. Through the narrow doorway to a lifeboat of grace, God had preserved humanity in one righteous soul. Adonai was initiating His redemption plan for the heart of sinful man, and with a covenant, He began to prepare the way by which anyone could be saved. Read more
Adam had brought sin into the world, soiling God’s pristine creation. The misstep of the one man caused death to reign for all—the result of disobedience and self-separation from the Creator. Forced to follow through on His covenantal obligation, God enacted His judgment and barred mankind from everlasting life by way of the garden tree. Through his own disobedience, the man was cast away from the presence and provision of God. Read more
The foundation of the Good News was laid when the God of creation made the heavens and the earth. He filled the world with life that sprawled across the land, sea and air—beautiful and pristine, it flourished. As His crowning achievement, God created a caretaker for His creation who would multiply, bless the earth and be blessed by it in return. God made man in His very own image and likeness to be the sentient recipient of His abundant goodness. For the moment, all things were in total harmony and peace. Read more
The opening words of Scripture, found in Genesis 1:1, speak precisely to the beginning of the message of the Good News. Before the very spreading out of the heavens and the foundation of the earth, there was God, and nothing but God. This fact cannot be glossed over or underestimated in its fundamental importance to sharing the Good News. It establishes the framework of God’s message, giving context and meaning to everything else that will follow. We cannot simply assume a communal awareness or agreement of how life on earth came to be, nor can we merely stipulate that life exists, and suffer all manner of theories and presumptions about its beginning. If we cannot openly attribute all life to God, then we have no basis for the Good News.
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