God spoke to and through the prophet Isaiah about 700 years before Jesus came and so over 2700 years ago. Yet those words spoken millennia ago still resonate powerfully today. Ultimately, it is a message of hope as Isaiah points to Jesus but he had many tough things to say too. The question today as… Continue reading Listen up
Category: Bible Study
What do you want to see?
Many Christians use the 40 days in the lead up to Easter as an opportunity for prayer, fasting and reflection in order to grow their love for the Gospel. The season is known as Lent. I belong to a less liturgical strand of Christianity so I don’t tend to follow church calendars. There is nothing… Continue reading What do you want to see?
Names
When the writer provides the generational records for Noah’s sons, he reverses the expected order. We are told first about Japheth’s sons the Hams. The line of Shem is delayed into chapter 11 and before that we have some further detail about what Ham’s descendants get up to. This will enable Moses to go on… Continue reading Names
Nimrod
It’s tempting to skip over the lists of names in the Bible. We’re not too sure what to do with them but they are worth pausing and reading. In Genesis, when we get to the words “These are the generations” as we do at the start of Genesis 10, it provides a marker to indicate… Continue reading Nimrod
Shame and curse
Has The Flood dealt with the problem of sin and evil? Lest we are tempted to think that righteous Noah has brought an end to sin, guilt, shame and curse, there is a follow up to the Flood narrative. Read Genesis 9:18-29 We are reminded again of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, all humanity… Continue reading Shame and curse
Signed, sealed, delivered
How can we be sure that we have peace with God and are safe through and from judgement. Ultimately our assurance and security are found in what the New Testament teaches us about being justified with God (Romans 5:1-2). However, there are some important clues in the Old Testament pointing towards this. Read Genesis 9:9-17… Continue reading Signed, sealed, delivered
Dignity
Do ethics matter and where do Christians get their ethics from? Read Genesis 9:1-7 God’s blessing of Noah’s family mirrors the original Genesis 1 blessing as they are commanded to be fruitful and re-fill the earth (v1). In contrast to Genesis 2 where the animals were brought near to Adam to be named, God causes… Continue reading Dignity
Jonah’s type
In Luke 11:30, Jesus says: 30 For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation. This was in response to demands for a sign by insisting that the only sign the people would be getting was that of Jonah.[1] The other Gospels flesh… Continue reading Jonah’s type
Sacrifice
Why did God choose to save Noah? When we read the description of him as righteous and blaeless, we might assume that it was because he was a better person than others, that it was down to his morality, his good works. Read Genesis 8:20-22 Having disembarked from the ark, Noah builds an altar. We… Continue reading Sacrifice
Action
Noah has now been waiting some time for the end of the flood and to return to the land in order to start populating the earth again. How will he know when it is time to act? Read Genesis 8:6-19 Forty days after the mountain tops become visible, Noah opens up the window in the… Continue reading Action
Faithroots 