Old Testament Intro Course 2: Foundations (1)

WELCOME TO THE BANQUET! What we’ll to try to do in the rest of this course (and what you can try if you’re reusing it) is to act like a cook: Try this! This is why you’ll enjoy it! So then, this week the Bible’s two first, foundational books, Genesis and Exodus…

It’s tragic to meet believers who have been Christians for years and still have never read Genesis. For this, above all, is the book of the basics! It’s been marred by the long wrangles over evolution; but they aren’t what it’s about. If we want to learn what God is like, Genesis 1 is a great place to start.

In last week’s exercise we imagined Genesis’ profound first four verses were all the Bible we had; what would we learn there about God? If you want to try that now, you may like to compare your answers with those in last week’s post, https://petelowmanresources.com/old-testament-intro-course-1-the-big-picture/ . We saw five wonderful realities there, each of which we can turn into fuel for heartfelt worship! And there’s more in the rest of the chapter: we could have added, for example, that the God of Genesis is a God of creativity, detail, even humour – think of him as the God who enjoyed making the giraffe, the tapir, the duck-billed platypus (vv20-25). And he is a God of rest, relaxation, variety and joy (2:2). (Dallas Willard calls him `undoubtedly the most joyous being in the universe’!)

And then, almost as fundamental: FOUNDATIONS – What do Genesis 1 and 2 tell us about what it means to be human?

If we want to know what it means (for us) to be human, Genesis shows us a confident, attractive vision of humanity `as we were meant to be’, before the Fall, before everything went wrong. We see Adam, God`s creation, as an explorer and adventurer (look at the interests expressed in 2:10‑14); a worker (2:15); a scientist called to discern and define the nature of each member of the animal creation (2:19); an artist with words (2:19‑20 again), capable of taking language and using it to create something new, that will give expression to what is present in God’s created reality; a poet who bursts out in exuberant song as he encounters his lover (2:23); someone built for friendship and companionship ‑ a lover, a sexual being (2:18, 22‑24).

And again there’s much more! (It’s good to be human!) Human beings, we read, are actually created `in the image of God‘ (1:26‑27) – an astounding phrase! God has created us to be visible expressions of what he is like! If we dare to believe this, it helps a lot with our identity and self-worth; and it means that every human being, fallen as we are, still has absolute, intrinsic worth and dignity, and deserves respect, care and love accordingly. And on the other hand, the more we grow like God and like Jesus, the more we become truly human…

We learn there too that we humans are responsible before God to steward, care for, and develop the world and its resources (1:26-28, cf 2:15). Alongside that, we’re called to `be fruitful and increase in number’ (1:28); family life and growth are likewise very basic to being human.

And there’s still more! God made us with an aesthetic sense ‑ enjoying beauty, what is ‘pleasing to the eye’ or `good for food’ (2:9). So the love of artistic beauty, or good Chinese food!, isn’t just an accidental by-product of evolution; it’s something deeply human (and related also to the nature of God, who is an artist too who creates and enjoys what is `good’ (1:4)). We’re beings called to make use of the earth’s wealth for beautiful and practical purposes (2:12). And most importantly, we have genuine, responsible freedom; we know God’s commands, and can obey or ignore them (2:16‑17). We can be in real relationship with God; God is not hidden from us (2:16, and see 3:8).

Here are things worth living for – things we were made for. So when our hearts respond to the skilled craftsman, the Arctic explorer, the brilliant guitarist, the creative developer of natural resources, the campaigner for the environment, the loving parent, the innovative microbiologist, the imaginative novelist, the good cook or the exuberant lover ‑ when we sense joy at seeing the glory of the human being expressed in these ways, we aren’t just being sentimental; we’re relating to what it is to be authentically human as God created us. Indeed, doing these various things before God and for his glory (giving thanks for our work, for good food, for a good TV comedy, for travel, for friendship), is an aspect of 24/7 worship; it is being what God has put us on this earth to be. The biblical vision isn’t shrunken and shrivelled, rather it takes in every part of life; `everything God created is good’ (1 Tim 4:4), a gift we receive thankfully as from his hand. The more we grasp Genesis 2 deep down, the more our entire life becomes a unified act of lived-out worship before him. It is good to be human!

However, the story goes on. Something went horribly wrong…

FOUNDATIONS: If we want to be able to explain why God’s world has gone so wrong (and we must) – and if also we want to be forewarned about the classic ways Satan tempts and deceives us – then we need Genesis 3.

Here we watch temptation come to Eve in just the same ways that it will come to us: `Did God really say…?’ (Will you trust and obey his Word?) (v1); `You won’t really die…’ (God wouldn’t judge you, and especially not for so trivial a thing as a fruit) (v4). And, underlying these, we see the huge, fundamental question that faces us all: will we worship God as God, submitting our lives to his lordship and his commands about good and evil; or will we seek to ‘be like God’ ourselves, deciding for ourselves what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ (v5)? Who rules – God or my ego? And we watch those first human beings snatch at an independence that shatters their relationship with the God who comes seeking them (v9); and how then their other relationships disintegrate in turn – with each other (v 12), with nature (v17); a breakdown spreading out into the general relational collapse (familial, sexual, racial) that ravages our world today.

By chapter 4 the process gets as far as the first murder. That leaves Cain separated from God’s presence, radically alienated and lonely (4:14). We watch him (and doesn’t it seem a mirror of contemporary social reality?) seeking to hide from his loneliness, starting a family, building a city. But human relationships don’t ultimately work when that central relationship with God is gone. As the chapter moves on, human creativity – in agriculture, music, use of metals – produces a more advanced culture (vv20-22); but it’s all built on the wrong foundations, and slowly the earth becomes ‘full of violence’ (6:11), fit only for judgment and ecological catastrophe. (Whether or not it was a global flood – personally I think not, but that topic belongs in our Genesis 7 post!) If we want brothers and sisters we’re caring for to understand our twenty-first century predicament, we could hardly do better than start from these profoundly realistic chapters.

And there’s much, much more; see the more thorough posts in the Bible intros#1 section of this site. Most importantly (and again foundationally), in 3:15 we get the first gospel hint of how God is going to put things right at colossal cost to himself; when he declares to Satan that the woman’s offspring `will crush your head; and you will strike his heel`…

FOUNDATIONS: Abraham’s story that follows (Genesis 12>25) is equally foundational. Why?

It always helps to see what the new testament chooses to emphasise about an OT narrative; and in the NT we see Abraham presented as the classic example of a life of faith (Romans 4:3, Hebrews 11:1-2,8-10). Living by faith is as fundamental in Genesis as it is for us. So Genesis depicts Abraham venturing out from all his security, trusting God for his safety and his ‘name’ (12:1-2); it’s an obvious contrast with the egoists of Babel in the previous chapter, anxious to build their own reputations and seeking security in their own tower (11:4) – rather than obeying God’s command to trust him and spread out across the earth (9:1-7). (It makes so much sense when we put it all together!)

Then we watch (and this could make a preaching series?) as Abraham slowly learns this faith-life: grappling with the relative importance of possessions and relationships (what changes through 12:14-16, 13:2,6, and 14:22-23?); struggling with uncertainty and the frustration of his deepest longings (15:2-3, 6-8); foolishly trying to fulfil God’s purpose by his own efforts (ch 16); learning to wrestle with God in prayer (ch 18); and, in a final lesson in faith, being challenged to sacrifice the very son on whom his dreams were centred (ch 22). (Reminding us, perhaps, of another Father who, centuries later, went further, indeed went through to the very end with the sacrifice of his Son.)

(And fascinatingly, this apparent foreshadowing of the cross is the moment God chooses for his promise of future blessing through Jesus in 22:18, which Gal 3:8,16 and Acts 3:25 focus on as a `gospel’ verse (Galatians’ word): `Through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed’!)

FOUNDATIONS: The heart of the gospel is God saving us, God rescuing us. What do we learn about how God rescues us as we read the history of Jacob the trickster? What do we learn about how God rescues us as we read the history of Joseph, the conceited ass who gets what he deserves, but is rescued & glorified & made Christlike & used to bless the world? (Again, please see the posts in Bible intros#1 for more on these!) And especially: what do we learn about how God rescues us from the biggest rescue of all – Exodus?

Because Exodus is the story of how God sets people free. Passover: there’s the stunningly prophetic picture of Israel divinely delivered because, when God’s judgment comes on evil, they are sheltered under the blood of the lamb (ch 12); just as Christ is our passover (that’s what 1 Cor 5:7 says), the `lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world` (John 1:29). Then comes the Red Sea, where God’s preceding rescue goes public (think about baptism as a parallel to the Red Sea, says Paul: 1 Cor 10:2). This is how God rescues!

But, importantly, the rescue doesn’t end there; its purpose is that God, amazingly, wants our company (Ex 29:45-46)! (More about all these passages in Bible intros#1.) Look how Exodus finishes (40:33-38): God wants `a people for myself` (Isa 43:21). So there are two issues in Exodus: how to get the people out of slavery in Egypt, and how to get Egypt’s ways out of the people so that God can live among them. So we watch how God prepares a people for himself, revealing his ways; principles, but not merely principles, because Exodus doesn’t end with that, it ends with relationship! In the book’s closing verses, God comes to live among them, and the overpowering divine glory fills the human tabernacle… Do we want that? Better read Exodus…!

So Genesis and Exodus: two foundational books that will ENRICH us! And will provide ample fuel for our WORSHIP (let’s do it!)!

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