As we kicked off our year-long series on the book of Exodus, I tried to provide us some background on the book that stands as its foundation, Genesis.
Many of you have requested a copy of this summary, and I’m glad to provide it. Please note this includes the high points and the major themes of the story, but in no way does this cover the entirety of the book of Genesis… You’re going to need to read it to get that!
There is a downloadable PDF version at the bottom.
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Genesis - The Cliffs Notes
In the beginning, there wasn't a thing, that's when God made everything. Out of nothing God made things simply by speaking them into existence, we call that Ex Nilo creating out of nothing and God did it, birds, trees, stars, galaxies, He said, let there be light and there it was, it was all good. But God wanted to make something better, so he made a perfect garden, scooped up some dust, and made one creature in His own image… Then he stepped back and said, “That's very good!” A little bit later, as he watched that young man bounce around the garden, he thought he could use some help, and out of this man God created a counterpart, a woman, and once again, God said, "Now that's very good."
All the world was right, paradise on earth ensued, and the future was so bright, Adam and Eve needed to invent shades. God had established one tree out of all the trees on the planet, and asked these two humans to stay away, just as a means of respecting Him as creator and loving Him as their Father. But, a fallen angel, who hated God and wanted to hurt him by hurting us, tricked this young couple into eating from that tree, and literally all hell broke loose. Time and space torn in half, peace on earth was shattered and those who knew no pain, suffering or death; were now destined to all of it.
But once again, God came down and intervened. Because of their disobedience, there would need to be repercussions. Men would work and hate it, but be drawn to it, women would have pain in childbirth, and the fallen serpent would become a snake crawling in the dust of the Earth, and we were told it's OK to hate snakes! To get us out of this mess, God said, One would come someday, a statement we call the Protoevangelium, or the first promise, in which He said out of broken humanity, will come One who will one day crush the head of the serpent, even though the snake bruises His heel. He will set it right, He will reboot the system, and one day we'll be able to come home… But not yet.
Humanity continues, and Eve has the very first painful birth. A couple of her boys are named Cain and Abel, one is a rancher one is a farmer, and during church one day things went bad. Cain was jealous of Abels offering, so he killed him in the parking lot, hid the body and lied to God about it and thus begins the downfall of civilization. And if you think it couldn't get worse, it did day after day, year after year, until the time of Noah, in which the entire world was so corrupt, God was going to wipe it clean and start fresh with the one last righteous family: Noah, and sons, Boat Builders, Inc.
God promised he would flood the Earth with water from above and below. So the first cruise liner was built, but its cargo was two of every kind of animal on the planet. Years after construction started it was about time, and as Noah was putting the finishing touches on the SS “We're Out Of Here” animal pairs started showing up, miraculously water started coming down, water started coming up and GOD closed them up in the boat.
A flood cover the Earth, every evil person on the planet was no more, and a long time later after the water receded, Noah, his family, and all the animals began to repopulate the Earth. God established a covenant with Noah, and promised never to destroy the Earth by water again but, he reserve the right to use fire.
Noah passed away, and his boys started to rebuild planet earth, problem… They were broken humans just like before, and it didn't take long for things to get out of control, again. Generations later humanity was building incredible towers, impressing themselves and patting themselves on the back talking about how God-like they were.
They seemed ripe for another flood, but this time God chose to shake it up a little differently and caused the human work crews to stop understanding one another, and gave them each different languages literally turning their project into a tower of Babel, this is also the creation of the worlds first pun, which should be noted.
Once again, the world was reeling from a global event focusing them to rebuild, and God, once again chose another, generations later, who would become the seed of faith for all of us his name was Abram.
He was in the region of Mesopotamia with his family, a common sheep herder, when God spoke to him and said go west, I have a plan for you. He didn't argue, but left his family, taking with him, his immediate kin and wealth, and went to a place that God would show him.
Abraham does follow God but is confused in the process, as God promises to make him a mighty nation, even though he has no children and promises to give him land that doesn't belong to him even though he says everywhere you see and everywhere you look, and everywhere you step will one day be yours. He gets all twisted up in Egypt, has a fight with his nephew Lot, has to defeat a couple of city-kingdoms, make some mistakes in family planning, trying to get ahead of God, and finally is visited by a theophany… That’s God literally showing up in his tent who tells him to calm down and just trust Him.
Again, his cousin Lot gets in trouble, and he hast to plead for his life and the life of everyone in Sodom and Gomorrah, but Abraham succeeds in rescuing his family, as well as creating partnerships with some local kings… And all the while he's getting richer and stronger, being blessed by God, even if he can't see it.
Then it happens, in their old age. Abraham and Sarah have a baby his name is Isaac and he is the beginning of everything. The one connecting back to the promise in the Garden of Eden and the one that is tied to each of us who are like the grains of sand on the seashore numbering, those who follow God even today.
Then Abraham is epically tested, asked by God to sacrifice his own son, who he's waited so long for, but he is faithful. Yet, God does not require him to finish the task. But through this episode God shows all of humanity that He/God is willing to sacrifice his own son, and one day He will follow through, even though he did not require that of Abraham and Isaac.
Eventually, Abraham and Sarah pass away and are gathered to their fathers, but Isaac remains as the seed of promise, and he has two boys, named Jacob and Esau. They fight a lot almost like Cain and Abel, and even though Esau is the first born and the likely heir, his trickster, younger brother, Jacob gets dad to bless him and firstborn ownership is transferred to him… the fighting gets worse. So, before a murder can take place, they send away Jacob. It's in a distant land that Jacob meets the love of his life named, Rachel, he marries her and her sister, Leah… Don't ask it's complicated, and he has several children. After some family conflict in that distant land, he decides it's probably safer to go home even if his brother still hates him, so he packs up his family and moves to Beverley.
On the way there, he's alone one night and encounters a stranger who wrestles with him all night long. He's unaware in the moment, but he's actually wrestling with God, who met him in the same way he showed up in Abrahams tent generations before. As they wrestle all night, he demands a blessing before he lets the Lord go, and he receives it… He's given a new name, and a continuation of the promise from the garden. That through this line, would one day come a rescuer, until then, they would be known as Israel, which means wrestles with God.
Then Jacob does go home and God miraculously buries the hatchet with his brother. They start to live life once again. Jacob has a mess of kids, and they start fighting with one another… Almost like it's genetic with this family. One of the kids named Joseph is obviously the one that God has chosen to pass the promise through, but his brothers will have none of it, so they fake his death and sell him into slavery, and he ends up in Egypt.
In circumstance, after circumstance, the hand of blessing is upon Joseph, even though he continues to be drugged down by circumstance after circumstance. In one home, he rises to head of household, only to be thrown in prison. In prison, he rises to the top of the ranks there only to be forgotten. Then from the depths of the dungeons, he's called before the pharaoh, and by God's great design, he was given the wisdom and skill sets to be made second in command of the most powerful country in the world that day: Egypt.
By the wisdom of God has given him, he literally rescues that country from a season of famine, and the pharaoh is very appreciative. So the Egyptian king gives him a new role and there is none in the country that can question this Hebrew outsider, who becomes only one step away from the top spot in all of Egypt
Then one day comes a band of sheep herders from the north, looking for scraps in the midst of a famine. Joseph recognizes them, though they don't recognize him, it's his brothers. They assume he's long dead, and gone, or groveling in some slave household.
There is quite a bit of back-and-forth as Joseph tries to keep his cards close to his chest yet find out as much information as he can. He runs his brothers through the wringer just a bit but eventually gets them to bring the entire family down to Egypt. That's when he revealed himself, that's when he revealed that God protected him, that's when he revealed that everything that had happened had been a part of God's plan. That's when he was able to share that nothing he had been through had been in vain, but God had protected them all through him and his sufferings.
Because pharaoh really loved Joseph, he loved on his family and they all became residents of Egypt. They were all blessed, they all prospered, and even in the midst of famine, and despite family human brokenness, God had proved he could take care of them… and that the seed he had promised was still growing.
Joseph speaks words of blessing over his family, and then he dies.
The book of Genesis ends with the hope of which it began… God is in control, and his promises never fail. The seed that was promised is still growing… through Abraham, through Isaac, through Jacob and through Joseph we see pictures… God is sending one who will save us all.
Many blessings, my friend!
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