Circumcision was the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham (Genesis 17:9-27). What relevance does it have today?
As God Shaddai establishes his covenant with Abraham for the generations to come, he asks for a response. All the males are to be marked as belonging to him, and it is a very personal marking: circumcision (17:10). It’s the sign of the patriarchal covenant (17:11).
We’ve seen the Hebrew word ʾôṯ (sign) three times: Continue reading “The sign of the covenant (Genesis 17:9-27)”
How do you take a book that tells you everything is meaningless?
How would you respond if a mature-aged person told you that everything is meaningless? You might conclude, “Well, I guess the poor cynic is right about himself.”
So, is the book of Ecclesiastes meaningless? Or is it a sharp tool to carve away the meaningless layers and sculpt something of significance from our existence? Continue reading “Ecclesiastes: a meaningless book?”
The covenant with Abraham is all about God’s reign.
The ruler is establishing his covenant with his nation, as yet unborn. He reveals his name: God Shaddai. He gives his servant a new name, a new identity: he is now Abraham: Continue reading “God’s commitment to rule (Genesis 17:4-8)”
God revealed himself to Abraham as El Shaddai (Genesis 17:1-3). What does this mean?
Abram has already passed through a covenant ceremony that installed him as the earthly servant of the heavenly sovereign (Genesis 15). Abram and Sarai then tried to establish the family through human means, but ended up oppressing Hagar—as human power tends to do (Genesis 16). Following that diversion, the sovereign resumes the business of establishing his covenant with Abram. Continue reading “Revealing the ruler: God Shaddai (Genesis 17:1-3)”
What happens to those who’ve never heard of the Saviour?
YHWH planned to restore the blessing of his reign to the nations by creating his own nation through Abram and Sarai. But Hagar did not see God in their household: what she saw was the abuse of power that is so typical of humanity in rebellion. How will the nations ever see God when his people are so unloving? Continue reading “What about those who’ve never heard the name? (Genesis 16:13-16)”
Humour: it’s so easy to get the future wrong.
We all have some misunderstandings about how the story of God restoring his world will come together in the end.
Hopefully we don’t err at so many points that we miss the point completely. 🙂 Continue reading “Where’s it all headed?”
We saw that Abram and Sarai were culturally blind to issues like polygamy and slavery. They were still hurt by these issues.
Whenever humans have power over other humans, we end up abusing that power. Watch the power struggles that develop in this story: Continue reading “When God’s people don’t love (Genesis 16:4-12)”
It’s been a decade, but Abram and Sarai still have no child. In their culture, this was a source of great shame: without an heir, their name would die out. They had no future, so God must have been displeased with them. That’s how they (and others in their time) interpreted their childlessness. When someone had a child, God had given them a child; when someone could not have a child, God had thwarted them. Either way, it was understood as an act of God. That’s how Sarai described her situation: “YHWH has kept me from having children” (16:2).
What are we to make of Sarai’s statement?
Why does Abram have sex with someone other than Sarai his wife? Why do they have a slave in the first place? And why does Sarai blame God for her childlessness?
What are we to make of a passage like this? Continue reading “Why couldn’t they see it? (Genesis 16:1-3)”
How should we feel about having this car parked at our church? Continue reading “Pleased or disturbed?”
Update 2021-02-07: old links removed.
Who is Holy Spirit? How do we relate to him?
These are live sessions (not blog topics), over the next six Monday evenings: Continue reading “Free course: Holy Spirit and You”
Abram has persistent questions. How can he know that YHWH will establish Abram’s descendants as his nation in this land when Abram will be long dead before this ever happens? YHWH responds by offering to commit himself to Abram with a covenant: Continue reading “Covenant with Abram (Genesis 15:7-21)”
Genesis 15:6 (ESV)
And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
This verse is quoted in Romans 4, Galatians 3:6, and James 2:23. If you’re familiar with how the NT uses it, you may find it difficult to see how the verse functions in its original setting. Continue reading “Faith as righteousness (Genesis 15:6)”
Throughout the Old Testament, the word of the Lord came to prophets—both the former prophets (such as Samuel, Elijah, and Elisha), and the writing prophets (Isaiah – Malachi). But it is Abram who first hears the word of the Lord: Continue reading “Was Abram a prophet? (Genesis 15:1-5)”
The Book of Acts opens with a key phrase in the mouth of Jesus, and closes with the same phrase in the mouth of Paul.
I was recently in a small group that asked, “So what’s the theme of the Book of Acts?” There are many ways to answer such a question, but let’s just look at how it opens and closes. Continue reading “Theme of Acts”
So what is the significance of Abram’s meeting with two Canaanite kings, Melchizedek and Bera? Continue reading “How will the nations respond? (Genesis 14:21-24)”
Melchizedek has always fascinated readers and fuelled the imagination of heretics and secret societies. As long ago as the second century, Theodotus of Byzantium venerated him above Christ. Even before Jesus’ time, some of the Qumran texts treated him as an angelic figure. So who was Melchizedek? Continue reading “Who was Melchizedek? (Genesis 14:17-20)”
If you love high-drama action stories, you’ll love this! Abram left everything for the land where God promised he would establish his nation, yet the whole project is constantly under threat: Continue reading “The threat of war (Genesis 14:1-16)”
What would it take to distract you from the hope of the restoration of God’s reign over the world? Continue reading “Lot’s distraction (Genesis 13)”
YHWH called Abram to found his nation. Abram obeyed, leaving the Babel region behind, travelling to the land YHWH chose. There Abram constructed altars—symbols of YHWH’s authority.
But there are constant threats to the fulfilment of YHWH’s promise. A famine drives Abram out of the land, into the jaws of Egypt—the most powerful kingdom of the region (12:10). Abram knows that the rulers of earthly kingdoms take whatever they want, even if they have to kill to get it. He fears they will kill him to take Sarai (12:12). Continue reading “What if we’re unfaithful? (Genesis 12:10-20)”
Seeking the kingdom 