Session 1: The Beginnings

Session Overview

Key Elements

• Key Passage: Genesis 1-50, Job 1-42
• Scripture Memory: “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Romans 8:22-23
• Catechism: Q: Where should we start to understand reality? A: Beginnings.

Introduction

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.” Psalm 8:3-5

“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign Lord of all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’” Abraham Kuyper, Sphere Sovereignty

The first book of the Bible, Genesis, opens as a story of beginnings. The initial chapters in the biblical narrative serve not only the beginning of the biblical story but also tell the beginning of the world’s story. These cosmic origins build a theatrical stage upon which the rest of God’s redemptive plot unfolds. At its outset, the Bible introduces us to the eternal God in all his sovereign might, the regal prestige of his human creation, the menacing adversary of the devil, the vexatious predicament of human sin, and the hopeful whispers of redemption and restoration. The Bible does not ease into these waters. Perfectly on cue, the biblical script brings every one of its readers back to the start, compelling them to reckon with the very origins of existence itself, origins which hold a demand over every single human life.

As it concerns a Christian worldview, the opening pages of the Bible shed much light on our current lives. Returning to the story of creation is a sort of homecoming, explaining with vivid realization our makeup as humans and the pulse behind the deepest stirrings of our soul. It gives substantive answers to probing questions about reality (metaphysics, or ontology): Who is God? What does it mean to be human? How did I get here? Why is there something rather than nothing? How did things go so terribly wrong? What is wrong with the world? Can fallen creation be recovered? What is the nature of faith? These questions probe very basic worldview inquiries about reality, identity, humanity, creation, God, and human tragedy.

The treacherous collapse in the fall of Adam and Eve strikes a moral nerve with our deep frustration over evil’s apparent dominance in the world. The violent tension between Cain and Abel keep our own relationships in check while the epic story of Noah and the flood reminds us that God is simultaneously a God of judgment and grace. The tower of Babel humbles the arrogance of mankind and eschews any doubt that God’s purposes in the world will be fulfilled, even if God must accomplish it through his disciplinary judgment on the human race. It is only by understanding the origins of existence—coming to terms with reality—that we can make sense of our present lives.

In the era of the patriarchs, God extended his saving work by making a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. We gain encouragement as we consider the realistic portrayals of the patriarchs expressing faith in God’s promises. We witness the venturesome trust of Abraham as he experienced God along a series of uncharted travels. Astounding was his yielding submission to God’s sovereign plan. We garner renewed vigor as we read of the unbending resolve by which Jacob anchored himself to God’s covenant blessings. Still inspiring to this day is the way that Joseph was able to interpret his own personal suffering in light of God’s sovereign plan. During this era, we meet a man named Job who endured unprecedented suffering and through his life offers us a clue as to how to suffering righteously in a broken world today. Along with bold leaps of faith in Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Job we too are invited to root our faith in the reliable promises of God.

The story of Genesis and Job—that of origins or primal reality—has an unparalleled way of setting the record straight. It decodes our frustrated angst that the world is somehow awry. It silences the human demand for autonomy and reproves human schemes for oppression. It asserts God alone as eternal and ourselves as finite. It finalizes the verdict that we are accountable to a Maker. It enables us to celebrate the goodness in the present world, even if only vestiges remain of a bygone creation. Meanwhile it rallies us to see the horizons of the promise of a future world of renewed creation where paradise is fully and finally restored.

Like rays of light invading a darkened forest, the story of beginnings shows how God’s promises lay siege on the sin-cursed world, bringing life to those ready to accept his invitation. Genesis commences with a divine decree by which all creation will be measured, and invites us to find reconciliation with the God who made us. Job teaches us how to endure suffering in the reality of a broken and fallen world. Together, these stories of primordial history provide a myriad of ways for us to reckon with our cosmic reality, our present world, and our personal lives. In this very ancestral way, the story of the world’s beginnings is a sacred script, a stirring narrative by which we live!

Biblical Interpretation: Hearing the Word

Study the Text: Christian disciples ground themselves in God’s inspired word. In this movement, you will study the details of the biblical text in order to accurately understand what God’s word says.

Observation Questions

Read (or listen to) the whole passage of Scripture. Discuss the questions below for each section of the story. Pay attention to the details of the text to recall what the passage is saying. Use the focus verses to guide your conversation.

Storycraft

Theological Dialogue: Discussing the Plot

Explore the Text: We grow as Christ’s disciples when we root our lives in the truth. In this movement, you will explore the important teachings of this biblical passage.

Discussion Questions

Biblical Commentary

Read the following commentary of the biblical passage. Use this explanation to help gain a better understanding of the biblical narrative and important biblical principles that the passage teaches.

Key Idea

God created a good world out of the overflow of his goodness, crowning it with the human race who soon after rebelled, fracturing the world in sin; all the while God continued to work out his sovereign purposes for hopeful redemption and restoration.

Introduction

Too soon after God created his good world, everything fractured. The first humans—the crown of God’s creative work—rebelled against God and ate forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden. Exiled from the garden, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, and the Tower of Babel all show the continued, downward spiral of the sinful world. After Babel, the population of mankind continued to grow and fill the earth. The human race was still viciously burdened under the curse and perilously infected with a condition of sin. Rather than filling the world with God’s blessing, it seemed like humanity was vandalizing the world under the direction of a sinister tyrant. At cross purposes to God’s design and held hostage to sin, how would God rescue his creation?

In this portion of the narrative we meet Abram, called out by God from his native country to begin a new people. On the frontiers of this journey, God promised him land, offspring, and blessing, making him a conduit of God’s blessing to all nations. Eventually taking on a new name, Abraham and his wife, Sarah, bore a promised child Isaac. God tested Abraham and Sarah by asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac back to God. Having proven his faith, God spared Isaac of the sacrifice. Isaac grew up and married Rebekah who gave birth to twins, Esau and Jacob. The conflict these twins experienced in the womb would be indicative of their battle for blessing as they grew. Although Esau would be the expected child to inherit the blessing, Jacob’s less-than-admirable schemes would be used in God’s sovereignty to cause Jacob to endure as God’s chosen line by which the promises of God would be transmitted.

Through a dramatic debacle with a man named Laban, Jacob ended up marrying two wives, Rachel and Leah. Together with their maidservants, they would birth twelve sons who would become the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. The younger of these children, Joseph, was the favored child of Jacob, prompting his brothers to sell him into slavery out of jealousy. Moving up the ranks in his new Egyptian home, from slave to leader, Joseph would fortuitously become a person of influence in Pharaoh’s courts. In a dramatic turn of irony, he would be used by God to rescue his brothers and family from a harsh famine that severely assaulted the land. Now with the family brought to Egypt and the family reunited, the chosen family multiplied in Egypt. Over the years, this people would become numerous. They would eventually become slaves in Egypt, setting up the next era of sacred history, that of Israel’s emergence as a nation.

During this time, a man named Job experienced the painful realities of this fallen world. A man of blameless character, Job was afflicted by Satan and lost possessions, family, and health. After grappling with the reality of suffering, the nature of suffering, and the character of God, he was eventually restored to blessing that eclipsed his former life.

As we trek alongside these patriarchal figures, we learn about the heritage of faith, a life of courageous trust, and the unassailable hope of God’s promises. The legacy of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Job is a far cry from a perfect legacy. Their foibles often caution us as much as their audacious displays of faith inspire us. Nevertheless, through their story we see what life can be like when we build our life upon God’s promises. We stand warned about consequences when we wander from God’s promises. And, we get invited to affix our lives to this unique heritage of faith. The story of beginnings is the first great key to unlock a distinctively Christian way of viewing the world. In this way, this epoch of beginnings is a faith-building epoch, a script by which we live our lives!

Back to the Start: Seeing How Much Was Eventually Lost by What Good Was Originally Made

Biblical Narrative (Genesis 1-11).

The story of the beginnings of the world is told in Genesis 1-11. Held in these chapters is a cluster of stories, flawlessly arranged, that serve as a sovereign blueprint by which we can make sense of reality. Although other segments of the overall metanarrative will be longer in length, the brevity of this first act is not a critique on its profundity. In a superlative way, the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood, and the Tower of Babel each serve as a clue to decipher the world in which we live.

Before the beginning there was nothing but God (Genesis 1:1-3). In his act of creation, God spoke things into existence. He embarked upon his creative work on day one by speaking and commanding light into existence, giving definition to evening and morning (1:3-5). On the second day, he separated waters above and below, making sky (1:6-8). During day three, God separated the dry land from the seas (1:9-10) and filled the dry land with vegetation (1:11-13). Helping to define daily, seasonal, and annual rhythms, he hung the sun, moon, and stars (1:14-20). This happened on the fourth day. God spoke on the fifth day and filled the water and sky with living creatures (1:20-23). On day six, God filled the earth with land creatures (1:24-25) and created humans as the crowning achievement of his creative work (1:26-27), intended to fill and steward the earth as God’s divine representatives (1:28-31). Finally, on day seven, God rested, not because he was weary, but because he had finished his very good work of creation (2:1-3). Echoing the opening preamble (cf. 1:1-2), God demonstrated his unmatched creative ability. His generating word displayed its perfecting power as it brought creation into existence. To the formless substance, God brought structure and design. Void and emptiness were met with a lush and full creation. God blitzed the cavernous darkness with light. The chaotic waters deferentially yielded to God’s order-inducing word.

God created Adam out of the dust of the ground and made him alive as he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (2:7). He planted a garden in Eden and set the first humans there to take care of it (2:4-14). As they worked the garden, Adam and Eve were given the freedom to enjoy all the fruits of the garden except the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (2:15-17). Not wanting man to be alone, God put man into a deep sleep, took one of his ribs and made woman to be a suitable helper for him (2:18-23). Although the first humans were without any shame (2:24-25), they were seduced by the crafty and duplicit words of a serpent. This serpent enticed the woman to eat a forbidden fruit in the garden (3:1-7). When the man ate the fruit also, God confronted the human couple (3:8-13), brought a curse on God’s good world (3:14-20), and evicted the couple from the garden (3:20-24).

Removed from the garden, Adam and Eve started having children (4:1-2). With the effects of sin so strong, their eldest child Cain killed his younger brother Abel (4:3-7). Cain became a fugitive, alienated even further from God and his promise of paradise (4:8-24). Yet God still planned to provide a child to deliver the fallen human race (4:25-26; cf. 3:15). The curse continued to burden the human race (5:1-32). The human race continued to multiply, but so did their violence, corruption, and sin (6:1-8). Things got so bad that God decided to wipe out the entire human race (6:5-13). There was one righteous man at this time whose name was Noah (6:8, 9-10). God instructed Noah to build an ark for him, his family, and chosen animals (6:14-22). When God destroyed all living things with a massive flood, God kept Noah, his family, and the chosen animals safe in the ark (7:1-8:12). After the flood, God would use them all for a new, fresh start (8:13-9:17).

The human race continued to grow (10:1-32) and still spoke one common language (11:1). Although it was given a new start, humanity also continued in evil (9:18-28). They gathered together instead of spreading to the corners of the earth (11:2). They tried to make a name for themselves by gathering at the plain of Shinar to build a tower that would reach the heavens (11:2-4). As a result, God brought judgment on the human race, confused their languages, and spread them over the face of the earth (11:5-9). Eventually, a man was born named Abram (11:10-32). It was through this man that God would do a new work on the earth, a work to restore the fallen human race from the blight of curse and sin.

_Biblical Principles. _ These hallmark stories—primeval history if you like—explain the origins of the world, account for its tragic collapse, empathize with human suffering, warn of spiritual realities, and anticipate redemptive restoration. All in the span of eleven chapters, the stage is set for receptive readers to understand cosmic history, and thereby to make sense of our their lives. Like an overture to an orchestral performance, this ancient history sets out the foundational themes for the rest of the story, which as it builds, progresses, and peaks, chronicles the story of the world—the script we live by.

In addition, each episode from this sacred script of cosmic origins profoundly resonates with our deepest humanity. The dazzling display of God’s creative work, birthing an ordered and celebrated world through divinely spoken words, calls us beyond ourselves to find meaning and significance in God’s transcendence (Genesis 1:1-2:3). In the newly constructed garden, God’s self-involved and intricate fabrication of the first humans—Adam and Eve—explains our inner desire for vocational significance, meaningful relationships, and unadulterated nobility (2:4-25). The underhanded ruse of the serpent, coaxing our first human parents to their (and our own!) disastrous rebellion, strikes a conscience-level chord every time we ourselves give in to the enticements of sin (3:1-24). We join the blood cry of Abel in a choir of protest decrying all injustice, especially crimes levied against us (4:1-26).

Meanwhile, the intermittent genealogical records, interspersed throughout the developing plot, prod us to honestly probe the impact of our own family heritage and stir us to live with foresight for future generations, all the while forcing us to confess our own conspicuous “link” to our first culpable parents, Adam and Eve (4:17-24, 25-26; 5:1-32; 9:18-19; 10:1-32; 11:10-32). Hoping for God’s mercy to cascade upon our own lives and craving for God’s justice to terminate the torrent of tormenting evil, the flood narrative exhibits God’s grace and judgment side-by-side chastising anyone who would seek to put them asunder (6:1-9:17). In a mix of upended heroism, the embarrassing blunder of Noah and his sons sobers us about the deep fault lines of shame that still burden the human race (6:18-29). The penetrating narrative of the Tower of Babel checks our pride for anyone who would want to make a name for themselves, competing for prestige and honor only due to God (11:1-9).

Additionally, these stories anticipate a greatly awaited culmination, the climax of human history. What God inaugurated in the beginning by creating the heavens and the earth (1:1), he will perfect in the end with a new heavens and new earth (Revelation 21:1). The tree of life originally placed “in the midst of the garden” (2:9) for the blessing of humanity is barricaded after the curse (3:24) until it is given a center stage in the final creation “for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2). One cannot help read about the fall of Adam (3:1-13) without anticipating the redemptive work of the second Adam, Christ (Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 15:22, 45). Embedded in God’s divine curse over creation (3:14-24) is, in embryo form, the promised, messianic solution assuring the removal of world-puncturing sin (3:14-15; cf. Galatians 3:10-14; Revelation 22:3).

Cain’s blood-spilling, murderous rage against Abel (4:10) only whispers of the crowning work of “Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24). Along with this, the new humanity and new world enacted through a covenant with Noah (9:1-17) is only a foreshadow of the redeemed humanity (Revelation 21:3) and restored creation (21:1) depicted in the end. The contemptible construction of Babel’s tower “with its top in the heavens” (11:4), schemed by a haughty humanity aching to “make a name for [themselves],” is upended in the biblical finale with a superior temple, “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” (Revelation 21:2; cf. 21:10) with worshippers from every nation bearing God’s name “on their foreheads” (22:4).

We read with bated breath about infants being born. As children enter this sin-cursed world—children such as Abel, Seth, and Noah—we long for the promised-child who will be the agent of God’s deliverance: the one who would rescue God’s people from Satan and the curse. When each child fails to be the longed-for hero, our appetites are whetted for the true Savior to appear.

Occurring in miniature cycles of creation, fall, and hopeful redemption, these chapters of primordial history sketch in vivid detail the messy predicament we all find ourselves in. As we tread into these ancient currents, let us allow the ancestral echoes of the world’s beginnings to awaken us to our own life’s responsibility before our Creator God and fellow mankind.

Abraham, the Forefather: Sojourning with the Father of Our Faith

Biblical Narrative (Genesis 12-23).

God fashioned a heritage and legacy of faith through a Gentile man named Abram. God called Abram, promising to give him land, multiply his descendants, increase his renown, and bless him to be a blessing to the world (12:1-3). At seventy-five years of age, Abram followed God’s call and set out for the land of Canaan. Upon arriving, he built altars to God (12:4-9). The hope of this promised legacy lay before him.

As Abram ventured forward in faith, God’s favor was upon him. Once there was a famine. Abram traveled to find relief in Egypt, and as a means to protect himself, lied and said that his wife, Sarai was his sister (12:10-13). When Pharaoh took Sarai as his wife, God afflicted him with plagues. Eventually the truth came out about Sarai and Pharaoh sent them out of the land (12:14-20). Abram grew very rich in possessions and livestock to the point that he and his nephew Lot could no longer both live in the same land (13:1-7). Lot chose the land east of the Jordan, leaving Abram with the land of Canaan in which to sojourn (13:8-18). When a war broke out among the kings of the land such that Lot was captured (14:1-12), Abram traveled as far as Dan to defeat these enemies and rescue Lot and return the spoils (14:13-24). God’s favor brought Abram divine protection, plentiful provision, and military victory.

Even though Abram had no child by which to realize his promised legacy, God made a covenant with Abram as a guarantee (15:1-6). Abram cut animals and laid them over against each other (15:7-11). Then, Abram fell asleep and God spoke to him, promising to give his offspring the land of Canaan (15:12-16). A smoking pot and flaming torch went in between the pieces of animals (15:17). In this way, God had made a covenant with Abram that his offspring would possess the land of promise (15:18-20). The fulfillment of God’s promises rested upon God’s trustworthy and reliable character.

When Sarai did not bear any children, it seemed like God’s promises were threatened. So Abram decided to sleep with Sarai’s servant Hagar at his wife’s suggestion (16:1-3). He was eighty-six years old at this time (16:16). When Hagar conceived a child, Sarai mistreated her, causing her to flee (16:4-6). Although Abram and Sarai had betrayed faith, God showed compassion to Hagar and her son, Ishmael (16:7-15) as God protected them in the future (21:8-21). Abram’s scheme to expedite God’s promised plan was unsuccessful, and only complicated his own experience of God’s favor.

At ninety-nine years of age, God appeared to Abram establishing his covenant, changing his name to Abraham, and promising him land and offspring (17:1-8). Circumcision would be the sign of the covenant for generations to come (17:9-14). God changed Sarai’s name to Sarah and promised that she would give birth to a son in a year’s time (17:15-21). Although Abraham initially laughed at this in disbelief, he trusted God and circumcised the males in his family (17:22-27). God sent messengers to Abraham to reinforce the guarantee of a promised child (18:1-21).

Meanwhile, God used Abraham to intercede for others around him. When God had set to destroy Sodom for its wickedness, Abraham interceded and Lot was rescued from its demise (18:22-19:38). Returning to the Negeb, Abraham again lied about Sarah being his sister (20:1-2). God closed the wombs of Abimilech’s house because he took Sarah (20:3, 18). God appeared to Abimilech, warning him about dying if he took Sarah as his wife. After Abimilech returned Sarah to Abraham, Abraham prayed God would heal Abimilech, his wife, and the other females in his house (20:3-18). In fact, as Abimilech noticed God’s favor on Abraham, they later made a treaty (21:22-34). As God’s chosen instrument, the budding faith of Abraham made him a mediating instrument in God’s hands.

One year later, Sarah bore the promised child, Isaac, just as God had said (21:1-7). His promise of a legacy was coming true. When Isaac grew up, God tested Abraham again as a means to test (and grow) his faith. God told Abraham to take Isaac and sacrifice him on Mount Moriah (22:1-8). Once again, it seemed like God’s promises were threatened, this time by God himself. God was commanding Abraham to offer the promised child on the altar. When they arrived, Abraham prepared the altar, bound his son, placed him on the wood, and was set to slay him. Just then God told him to stop and provided for him a ram to sacrifice instead (22:9-24). Eventually, Sarah died and was buried in a property in the land of Canaan owned by a Hittite (23:1-20). Abraham had shown his trust in God even when the very promised child—the embodiment of God’s covenant promise—seemed to be at risk.

Biblical Principles.

Abraham’s sojourns are a story of the journey of faith. He leaves his family and homeland in venturesome faith. He makes a covenant with God in hopeful trust. He circumcises his household in determined belief. In perhaps the riskiest display of all, he lays Isaac on the altar in an exemplary show of daring conviction. Yet, Abraham’s faith is encouraging precisely for its imperfection as much as for its genuineness. Abraham’s blunder with Pharaoh, the bungle with Hagar, his laugh of doubt, and a deception of Abimelech show a man who required growth in his fidelity to God.

As it did with Abraham, faith touches every aspect of our lives. Faith was a fundamental aspect of Abraham realizing his life purpose in his call and commission. His faith was a means of God granting Abraham a people and a place in which to belong. Trusting God on his journeys, he found God’s strong (and sometimes invisible) protection envelope him, covering him from external foes, family conflict, and personal failures. Through faith in God, Abraham experienced abundant blessing, to the envy of those around him. The surety of a divine covenant and the birth of a promised child granted Abraham an enduring legacy in God’s economy. Genuine faith in God gives purpose, belonging, safety, blessing, and legacy that cannot be found elsewhere.

All this means that a worldview which insists on removing faith from the equation is destitute and destined to despair. Faithless worldviews are hollow facades that feign reality; faith, on the other hand, is the substance of reality that may not be readily visible (cf. Hebrews 11:1). One cannot understand reality—the working of God in the world—without the faculty of faith. But, generic faith will not suffice. It takes a specific faith in God’s specific promises to understand the specific shape of God’s work in his world. Toward this end, Abraham commences what is continued in his son Isaac.

Isaac, the Promised Child: Entrusting God’s Promise to the Next Generation

Biblical Narrative (Genesis 24-26).

Isaac was to continue the promise of God’s blessing to the next generation. Abraham had experienced God’s rich blessing (24:1) and sent a servant to find a wife for his son Isaac among his own people (24:1-9). The servant arrived back in Mesopotamia and met Rebekah, the sister of Laban, at a well. When she offered him and his camels water, he knew she was the one for Isaac (24:10-28). After staying with Laban and confirming that this was from God, the servant and Rebekah returned back to Abraham and Isaac took her as his wife (24:29-67). With God providing a spouse for the promised child, the legacy of the patriarchal family could grow.

Passing the faith to the next generation was important but not easy. Eventually, Abraham died at 175 years of age and was buried with his wife (25:1-18). Moreover, Isaac’s wife Rebekah was barren. Abraham’s death and Rebekah’s barrenness once again challenge God’s covenant promises.

In a display of dependent faith, Isaac prayed to God and Rebekah conceived (26:19-21). She was pregnant with twins who struggled in her womb, and God promised that the older would serve the younger (26:22-23). At the time of delivery, Esau was the firstborn and came out red and hairy while the second born Jacob came out grabbing his brother’s heel (26:24-26). Esau grew up to be a hunter in the field and Jacob was a quiet man who like to stay at home (26:27-28). One day Esau came in exhausted from the field and asked for some stew (26:29-30). Jacob said he would give Esau some of the stew if he traded it for his birthright (26:31-34), which Esau did. In fulfillment of God’s promises, the status of birth order had been reversed: the younger was in the position of privilege over the older. Although in an unexpected way, the promise given to Abraham and Isaac was now continuing to the next generation.

God gave a promise to Isaac that he would be with him, bless him with the promised land, and multiply his descendants (26:1-5). This is the same promise God had given Abraham (cf. 12:1-3). Despite a heritage of faith upon which to depend, Isaac did not always act in faith. At one point he followed in the way of his father Abraham and lied about his wife Rebekah being his sister, nearly bringing punishment on the people of Gerar (26:6-11). However, God continued to bless Isaac in riches and possessions to the envy of the Philistines (26:12-16). Even to the point where he established a peace treaty with Abimilech, God continued to show his favor on Isaac (26:17-35). The tenuous work of passing divine promises from one generation to the next was secure in God’s hands.

Biblical Principles.

Generational flaws can inhibit future generations as much as generational faith can inspire. Isaac’s faith in God’s promises continues the legacy of Abraham. We learn from Isaac that each generation must take responsibility for its own faith. The failures of our parents are not an excuse for present faithlessness any more than their faith is a substitute for our own duty to put trust in God. Although the biblical narrative devotes less time to Rebekah’s barrenness, conception, and birth, her journey parallels in miniature that of Sarah in an instructive way. While the past generation can be an example of faith and a warning against unbelief, each must experience the journey for themselves. At the core of this faith journey, God works on our hearts to transform our lives by redefining our values.

Jacob, the Heal Grabber: Learning to Value God’s Blessing Above All Else

Biblical Narrative (Genesis 27-36).

Isaac’s children were also concerned about God’s promised blessing. By now, the patriarchal family had repeatedly experienced God definitively come through on his promises. As each generation became a custodian of the covenant in a new era, they were also put on a unique journey by which their faith in God was tested, exercised, and strengthened.

Near the end of his life, Isaac’s eyesight grew poor and he told his son Esau to hunt some game in the field and make a meal so he could be blessed before Isaac passed away (27:1-4). Isaac’s wife Rebekah heard about this and told Jacob to take some of the flock so she could make a meal and Jacob instead could be blessed by Isaac (27:5-13). Jacob had already taken Esau’s birthright (cf. 25:29-34) and now he was after the privileged blessing typically reserved for the firstborn.

Desirous of God’s blessing, Jacob followed his mother’s scheme. He took two young goats from the flock, brought them to his mother, wore Esau’s best garments (to seem dressed like Esau), and put the goat skins on his hands and neck (to seem hairy like Esau) (27:14-17). When he brought Isaac the meal which his mother had prepared, Jacob was able to convince his father that he was Esau. When this happened, Isaac blessed Jacob with the blessing meant for the firstborn (27:18-29).

At that time, Esau returned from his hunt. When he discovered that Jacob had stolen the blessing, he cried bitterly and asked his father to bless him (27:30-40). Although he received an alternate form of blessing, Esau hated his brother Jacob because he stole the special blessing of the firstborn. Upon the advice of his mother, Jacob fled to her brother Laban (27:41-46). Now the son of blessing, Jacob brought God’s blessing in a type of exile. Isaac pronounced the covenant blessing of Abraham over Jacob, instructing him not to marry a Canaanite woman (28:1-5). Because the Canaanite women displeased his father, Esau took another wife from his extended family, from among Ishmael’s kin (28:6-9).

On his way to Haran to take refuge with Laban, Jacob fell asleep with a stone under his head and had a vision of a ladder reaching heaven and angels going up and down (28:10-12). In the vision, God was above it and pronounced the Abrahamic blessing of land and offspring. Jacob knew he had met with God (28:13-17). The next morning Jacob made a vow that if God would preserve him along his journey, God would be his God (28:18-22). With the blessing being attached to Jacob, God’s promised would depend upon God’s protection as Jacob became a refugee from his own family.

When he finally arrived at Laban’s house, Jacob met one of Laban’s daughters, Rachel, at a well. After discussing things with Laban, he agreed to work for him for seven years in exchange for his daughter Rachel in marriage (29:1-20). After his seven years of service, Jacob was set to marry Rachel, but when he woke up in the morning, he surprisingly discovered that Laban had switched the wives and given him Rachel’s older sister Leah instead (29:21-29). Some of Jacob’s deceptive ways were returning upon his own head. Even though God preserves his covenant promises in the midst of human failure, we are still vulnerable to experience consequences for our sinful ways.

Despite being deceived, God’s favor was upon Jacob. He had to work another seven years to marry Rachel (29:30). Because Leah was hated, God opened Leah’s womb but made Rachel barren (29:31). Leah gave birth to six sons (29:31-35; 30:14-21; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, and later Isaachar, Zebulun), Rachel’s servant Bilhah bore two sons (30:1-8; Dan and Naphtali), and Leah’s servant Zilpah bore two sons (30:9-13; Gad and Asher). Later, God opened Rachel’s womb and she eventually bore a son called Joseph (30:22-24). During his time with Laban, Jacob also prospered in his business dealings (30:25-43). By God’s grace, the blessing was flourishing in exile.

Eventually, Jacob fled Laban’s presence to return home to his family (31:1-55). Fearful about seeing Esau again, Jacob sent an entourage of gifts ahead of him to appease his alientanted brother (32:1-21). The night before he crossed the river to meet Esau, Jacob wrestled with God, insisting on the blessing. In the struggle, his hip was dislocated so that as he walked with a limp he would be a living parable of dependence upon God (32:22-32). Ever hungry for God’s blessing, Jacob was now being humbled. Jacob’s schemes, ploys, and tactics were not the causes of God’s favor. In fact, God had blessed Jacob in spite of his devious ways.

When he saw Esau coming, he divided his family and went before them bowing before his brother (33:1-3). Surprisingly, Esau embraced his brother, saying he did not need his gifts. Rather than revenge or retaliation, Jacob and Esau experienced a reconciliation of brotherhood (33:4-20). Esau settled in Seir and Jacob built a home in Succoth (33:15-17). Esau had many descendants (36:1-43). Arriving in Shechem (33:18-20), Jacob’s daughter Dinah was violated and her brothers took vengeance on the Canaanites (34:1-31). God blessed Jacob and gave him a new name, Israel (35:1-15). His name would become the name for the nation of Israel, reminding them that faith comes when we yield to God in our struggle for his blessing. Rachel gave birth to one more child, Benjamin. Then, Rachel and Isaac died (35:22-29). God’s covenant promises are the foundation upon which the work of reconciliation and the cause of justice are built.

Biblical Principles.

Faith is a matter of deep-seated values. Through the controversial figure of Jacob, we learn how faith which is pleasing to God requires us to cultivate our affections for God’s blessing. When we value God’s favor above all else, we merge into the heritage of the patriarchal tradition. Although Jacob’s saga highlights his foibles, it also underscores his ardent desire to be in God’s favor. There is nothing more valuable in life than God’s favor. No money, no relationship, no prestige, or no influence can surpass the value of God’s blessing.

But, Jacob’s deviousness is still a caution to us. God’s promise had guaranteed the blessing to Jacob, the second born of the twins. Jacob’s deceptive ways, however, made his pathway to God’s blessing rife with tension and pain. His heel-grabbing beginnings gave way to a heist of Esau’s birthright and blessing. Although God would still bless him, Jacob became an alienated fugitive from his family. The son of blessing was now in exile from his family. Jacob was deceived by Laban more than once. His fear over Esau’s revenge stirred up great anxiety. Although God’s promises are guaranteed, our disobedience can encumber our own enjoyment of God’s blessing in our lives.

Deception is in opposition to faith. The need to control and manipulate circumstances will betray one’s unbelief. One cannot remain proud and self-reliant and express genuine trust in God. On the contrary, faith requires humility and brokenness. It is from a position of lowliness, when we come to terms with our own limpings, that we can express a true faith in God. When we possess this genuine faith, it enables us to endure incredible suffering and still maintain sure confidence in God’s immutable promises.

Joseph, the Slave Leader: Taking Confidence in God’s Ironclad Purpose

Biblical Narrative (Genesis 37-50).

As Jacob shows an ambitious faith hungry for God’s blessing, the life of Joseph depicts immense suffering forging a faith of sterling character. Joseph embodied a man of godly character, who clung to God’s promises in faith despite most precarious situations. In the process, he became a blessing to those around him, even his oppressors. God would show his sovereign capacity to preserve his promised covenant blessing to Abraham in the person of Joseph.

Joseph was the favored son of Jacob and was given a multicolored coat as a sign of this favor; this privileged status caused his brothers to hate him (37:1-4). To make matters worse, when Joseph had a dream in which it showed his brothers, mother, and father bowing down to him, it caused his brothers to be jealous of him (37:5-11). One day when Joseph went to get a report on his brothers’ work with the flocks, they conspired against him, threw him into a pit, sold him to a Midianite caravan, and falsely told his father he was killed by a fierce animal (37:12-35). Eventually, Joseph was sold as a slave in Egypt (37:36). Recipients of God’s favor often become targets of the world’s hostile jealousy.

During Joseph’s enslavement in Egypt, God’s favor and presence did not leave him (39:1-2). Joseph had success in whatever he did. Eventually, this caused his master, Potiphar, to put him in charge of all of his affairs (39:3-6). This position did not last long, however. Joseph being a handsome man, Potiphar’s wife attempted to seduce Joseph to sleep with him on a number of occasions. Every time Joseph demonstrated integrity and refused her sexual advances (39:6-10). This was in stark contrast to the immoral behavior of Joseph’s elder brother Judah (38:1-30). One day, Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph by grabbing his garment, only to have Joseph flee the house and leave the garment behind (39:11-13). Potiphar’s wife concocted a false story, wrongly accused Joseph, and Joseph was put in prison when word got back to Potiphar (39:14-20). We see through Joseph that the life of faith is tested through difficulty, hardship, and temptation.

Even in prison, however, Joseph found favor with God and with others around him (39:21-23). Eventually, Joseph was put in charge of all the prisoners (39:22-23). Some servants of Pharaoh—a cupbearer and a baker—were put in prison. They had corresponding dreams related to their fates but had no one to interpret them (40:1-8). When they told their dreams to Joseph, however, he rightly interpreted that the cupbearer would be restored to his position and the baker would be hung on a tree (40:9-19). Although Joseph asked the cupbearer to remember him when he was returned to his position, he forgot about Joseph (40:20-23). Prison cells do not inhibit God’s covenant program. The pathway to God’s blessing often involves seasons of suffering and pain. The confinement we experience in such seasons might actually be a means of us experienced and mediating God’s blessing.

After two years, Pharaoh had a double dream which no one could interpret: seven plump and attractive cows eaten up by seven thin and ugly cows, and seven plump ears of grain swallowed up by seven thin ears of grain (41:1-8). Eventually, the chief cupbearer remembered how Joseph interpreted his dream. This prompted Pharaoh to send for Joseph who told Pharaoh that the dream meant that seven years of plentiful harvest would be followed by seven years of famine (41:9-32). Joseph also counseled Pharaoh to put someone in charge to gather the grain during the years of plenty so there would be enough during the years of famine (41:33-36).

Afterward, Joseph increased his influence in Egypt until he became second in command, overseeing all the affairs of Egypt (41:37-45). Joseph was thirty years old at this time and he married and had two sons: Manasseh and Ephraim (41:45, 50-52). During these years in Pharaoh’s service, Joseph gathered grain to the extent that it could not be measured (41:46-49); when the seven years of famine came, people from all over the land came to Joseph to find relief from the harsh foodless condition (41:46-49, 53-57). In due time, God was vindicating his faithful servant. True faith rests upon God’s impeccable timing, even when his timing might differ from our own.

Among those who went down to Egypt were Joseph’s brothers. They were sent (except for Benjamin) by instruction of their father to purchase grain (42:1-5). When the brothers arrived, they bowed down to Joseph. Joseph recognized them and remembered the dreams of his early years that predicted how his family would bow down to him (42:6-11). Joseph put them to a test. He accused them as spies (42:9-11), put them in custody, filled their sacks with their money. When they were convicted of theft, Joseph eventually released all of the brothers except one. He instructed them to prove themselves innocent by returning home and returning with their youngest brother, Benjamin (42:12-25). When they returned home, they told their father Jacob and discovered that the money had been returned in their sacks (42:26-35). They were terrified but Jacob would not let them go back to Egypt with Benjamin (42:38).

When they needed more grain, however, they eventually convinced their father, Jacob, to let them go to Egypt with Benjamin (43:1-15). When Joseph saw his younger brother, Benjamin, he had a meal prepared for them (43:16-17). The brothers tried to return the money to Joseph, but he insisted that God had blessed them with it (43:18-25). They presented a gift to Joseph bowing down to him on the ground (43:26-27). Joseph was overwhelmed with compassion and tears when he saw his younger brother and had to take time to compose himself (43:28-31). They ate together and Benjamin was served fives times more than anyone else (43:32-34).

Joseph sent his brothers back home with food and money but planted his silver cup in Benjamin’s sack (44:1-2). When they left on their journey home, Joseph had his steward chase after them and found the silver cup which had been planted in Benjamin’s sack. They were brought back to Joseph’s house. He told the brothers to return home while Benjamin alone would be kept in custody (44:3-17). Knowing the pain this would cause Jacob and how Jacob had entrusted Benjamin into the brothers’ care, Judah told Joseph that he should stay back in Benjamin’s place (44:18-34).

Joseph was overcome with emotion (45:1) and finally revealed his true identity to his brothers (45:1-3). He told them not to be upset with themselves that they sold him to Egypt but to be reassured that God had planned this to save many lives (45:4-8). He then told them to return home, tell Jacob that Joseph was actually alive, and to bring his father to Egypt where he would be cared for (45:9-20). The brothers returned home, retrieved their father, and brought Jacob’s family, all seventy of them, to Egypt (45:21-46:27). When we build a worldview with faith on God’s promises, we prepare ourselves for reconciliation and forgiveness. Able to see God’s purposes from an aerial view, we can treat individual wrongs against us with grace and mercy.

When Jacob and his son Joseph finally met, they embraced for a long time (46:28-29). He went in and told Pharaoh about his family (46:30-47:2) and they were given safe haven in the land of Goshen to live and tend their flocks (47:3-6). Jacob blessed Pharaoh and they settled in the land of Egypt (47:7-12). The famine was severe and Joseph flourished in the business dealings with those who needed grain; he was a wise and generous overseer (47:13-26).

Jacob grew near his death and made Joseph promise that he would be buried back in the land of his fathers (47:27-31). After this, Jacob blessed Joseph’s children (48:1-22) and all his own children (49:1-27). Eventually, Jacob died, there was a period of mourning and embalming, and Joseph went back to Canaan with his family to bury his father (49:28-50:14). With Jacob dead, Joseph’s brothers feared that Joseph would deal with them vengefully (50:15). However, Joseph reassured them that what they intended for evil God had planned it for good, and he cared for his family tenderly (50:16-21). Eventually, Joseph died and prophesied that God would take his family out of Egypt one day back to the land of Canaan, and when this happens they would take Joseph’s bones with them (50:22-25). Joseph died, was embalmed and put in a coffin in Egypt (50:26). Joseph’s faith exemplified a trust in God’s ironclad purposes and promises.

Biblical Principles.

Joseph’s journey through immense suffering and mistreatment is hardly unique to his own life. Many humans have been wrongfully imprisoned, shamefully abused, and unjustly oppressed. On many occasions the Bible does address the origin of evil and suffering. However, while many get stuck with the question of why evil exists in the world, the Bible offers a substantive way on how to endure suffering. No more is this exemplified than in the life of Joseph. With such a faith, personal tragedies are turned into moments for God to display his faithfulness.

Joseph’s faith hung to God’s ironclad promises. Throughout Joseph’s story, we see him advance in harrowing circumstances, experience blessing despite human conniving, and extend grace to others when personally wounded. When we allow our circumstances to dictate our faith (let alone our worldview), our trust in God will be meager at best. However, when we focus on the integrity of God’s promises—reinforced with the steel of his inviolable character—our faith finds firm footing. The maturity of our faith does not rest on our ability to trust, but on how much we have given ourselves to God’s trustworthiness. In this sense, faith is a letting go: a holy surrender into the reliable arms of a sovereign and good God.

Joseph’s story is also inspiring because his expression of genuine faith paves the way for forgiveness, reconciliation, mission, and blessing. Without faith in a sovereign God, you will be hard pressed to extend forgiveness to your persecutors. Imprisoned by the emotional traffic of bitterness, anger, and jealousy, you will struggle to reconcile alienated relationships. Without trust in God’s purposes, you will hesitate to risk your own safety for God’s overarching purposes. You will hardly envision a life of blessing for your enemies until you can see how God’s redemptive work has graciously transformed you from God’s enemy to God’s friend. As a capstone to the patriarchal narrative, Joseph displays the heritage of faith as a key to unlock a distinctively Christian worldview.

A Case in Point: Grappling with Painful Realities in the Journey of Job

Biblical Narrative (Job 1-42).

During the time of the patriarchs, there lived a man named Job. He was a righteous man who enjoyed prosperity, reputation, and favor with God (1:1-5). One day Satan came before God (1:6-7). When God told Satan how incomparably righteous Job was (1:8), Satan responded that Job only feared God because he was showered with blessing (1:9-11). God allowed Satan to test Job (1:12) and in one day Job experienced devastating loss: servants, animals, and children were tragically taken from him (1:13-19). Amazingly, Job responded in grief, confession, and worship of God (1:20-22).

Satan appeared before God again and claimed that Job was still worshiping God only because he himself was not harmed (2:1-5). God gave Satan permission to afflict him but not kill him (2:6). Satan struck Job with painful sores all over his body (2:7-8). Even though his wife incited him to curse God, Job received his affliction with trust in God (2:9-10).

Some of Job’s friends—Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar—visited Job to share in his grief and suffering (2:11-12). Because Job’s suffering was so great, no one said a word for seven days (2:13) until Job spoke out a lament in which he grieved for the day he was born (3:1-3). Then, his friends began to engage Job in a cycle of conversations about his grief and suffering: Eliphaz (4:1-5:27; 15:1-35; 22:1-30), Bildad (8:1-22; 18:1-21; 25:1-6), and Zophar (11:1-20; 20:1-29) gave speeches with Job responding to their claims (6:1-7:21; 9:1-10:22; 12:1-14:22; 16:1-17:16; 19:1-29; 21:1-34; 23:1-25; 26:1-31:40). These speech cycles are rich with insight about matters such as the nature of evil, the defense of the righteous, the confusion of pain, the misery of grief, the essence of hope, the call to repentance, the imminence of death, the fear of God, the certainty of judgment, and the character of God. As these speeches are read with a discerning eye, they give God’s people wisdom to navigate the reality of a fallen world, even revealing harmful misperceptions about the essence of suffering.

Eventually, his friends had exhausted their challenge against Job and it was determined that Job was suffering not as a wicked sinner, but as a righteous man (32:1). Angered that Job had sought to vindicate himself rather than God, a man named Elihu, younger than the other three friends, spoke to Job (32:2-5). He brought a censorious rebuke upon Job and sought to vindicate God as righteous, mighty, and majestic (32:6-24). After this, God himself spoke to Job in all his complaints (38:1). To all Job’s complaints, God asserted himself as the sovereign creator (38:1-39:30; 40:6-41:34). He did not have to answer humans; rather, humans were obligated to answer to God. God confronted Job, asking, “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it”? (40:1-2). Before God’s decisive word, Job responded with silence (40:3-5), confession (42:1-5), and repentance (42:6). In the end, God reprimanded Job’s friends for their misplaced words to Job (42:7-9). After this, God restored Job to twice the position of favor and blessing that he had prior to his affliction (42:10-17).

Biblical Principles.

Set within the context of the patriarchal period, Job’s story is a relevant narrative to the experience of humans in all generations. Job’s righteous character is an inspiration for our own spiritual pilgrimage. His lament teaches us how to honestly and humbly come before God with our pain. The finale of his story reminds us that God is just, good, and sovereign. Satan’s sinister presence is a clue to the origins of evil in the world. The insensitivity of Job’s friends warns us about how we care for our suffering kin. Job’s journey from righteousness to affliction to lament to restoration is a portal into God’s plan to establish a new reality. As much as Job’s narrative is a clue of the way things were (paradise in Eden) and a lament for the way things are (brokenness in the Fall), it is a vision of what things will one day become (glory of restoration).

Conclusion

The story of the world’s origins sets the stage for God’s redemptive work in his world. God is Creator, Sustainer, and Judge to whom all creation is accountable. Human rebellion brings devastating and ruinous effects into God’s creation as we continue in league with the enemy. Left to ourselves, the human race is ensnared in this morass of sinful mutiny and will only bring about its own destruction. God, however, is unerringly working out his plan (because of, in spite of, and even through human rebellion) for redemption, reconciliation, and restoration.

These opening clusters of stories about human origins form a prism by which a Christian worldview is developed. To know that we have a beginning is the first great act in humbling human pride. Seeing the truth, goodness, beauty, freedom, justice, and nobility instilled in God’s creation should awaken us to God’s sterling character and remind us that all good in life is found when we synchronize our lives after God’s intended design. Further, that human rebellion (and Satan’s preceding rebellion) lie behind the full sum of human misery and catastrophic tragedy should cause us to reconsider the way in which we conceive of sin and disobedience. Moreover, to see that God is a God of immense grace and redeeming love, combined with fierce and unrelenting judgment, means that we should not presume upon his patience but readily accept his invitation for forgiveness and redemption.

In the patriarchal narrative, God invades the sinful world with an indestructible promise to recover, restore, and rescue his fallen creation. Though their flaws appear to threaten God’s covenant plan, God selects one extended family that he will use to mediate his blessing to nations and demonstrate his faithfulness as the foundation of all his redemptive program. Through Abraham, God highlights his creative power to make a special people out of a pagan background. The briefer but no less profound narrative of Isaac accentuates God’s ability to extend his promise from one generation to the next. It calls us to guard against an affection for God’s blessings that eclipses our affection for God himself. Jacob proves that God uses the most unlikely characters for his purposes and honors hearts that pulsate for divine blessing. As a peerless pinnacle, Joseph reinforces God’s ability to turn evil purposes into good outcomes through his sovereign omniscience and transformative power. As a passageway into the true nature of reality, Job’s painful ordeal and eventual restoration colors in fuller invisible realities behind visible existence.

In Christ, we can enter the Abrahamic blessing. If we place our faith in Christ, God’s amazing promises to Abraham can become our own: unequalled blessing can be our eternal inheritance, a worldwide community of faith can be our place of belonging, and the restored world can be our future homeland. Jesus is the saving link that initiates us into these riches of the Abrahamic Covenant. With Jesus, however, we can experience the Abrahamic Covenant in fuller ways than Abraham ever could have imagined. Abraham’s covenant inheritance points us to the culmination of the future hope superlatively fulfilled in Jesus. In fact, in Christ, we can continue the Abrahamic sojourns recognizing that there is a better homeland, a city which God has prepared for all those who follow in the lineage of faith cut in covenant with Abraham (cf. Hebrews 11:13-16).

The story of the patriarchs is a heritage of faith, calling us to enter into relationship with God. The epoch of the patriarchs—from Abram in Ur to Joseph and the seventy in Egypt to Job in the land of Uz—invites us to take confidence in God’s inviolable plan. When we yield ourselves to God, we can find a sturdy hope in a fallen world. As we ride the mounting crest of God’s culminating promise from one generation to the next, we cannot help but envision the scope of God’s promise being accomplished in the world around us. God’s unique interest in particular families, a certain lineage, and specific human lives should encourage us that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is a personal God interested in an ongoing relationship with us.

Personal Reflection: Entering the Story

Apply the Text: God calls his people to follow what the Bible teaches. In this movement, you will discuss how to apply God’s word to your lives.

Reflection Questions

Spiritual Practice

True Confessions

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” Romans 1:19-20

“The drama is all about a relationship. It is the thorny, conflicted, seductive, unpredictable unfolding epic of a covenant relationship between Yahweh and Adam, Yahweh and Abraham, Yahweh and Israel, Yahweh and humanity. The real story concerning creation is about the creature/Creator relationship, not about creatures as such as if creation were to be considered an autonomous, independent, underived value in itself.” Thomas C. Oden, The Living God

God is the God over all creation. God made everything. God governs everything. God cares for everything. God provides for everything. All things are accountable to God. The opening epoch of human history is an era of beginnings and new beginnings. God speaks the world into existence while things are formless, void, dark, and chaotic. God makes his world good and humankind brings it to ruin. God grants children to Adam and Eve but the older ends up murdering the younger. God multiplies the human population but humans multiply their violence against one another. God restores the world through Noah but Noah and his son Ham give in to immorality. Humankind has become great but they arrogate themselves and built a tower for their own renown. The human race is together but fails to fulfill God’s command to spread throughout the earth. The journeys of the patriarchs tell of God’s covenant plan to restore his relationship with fallen creation through faith in God’s promises. Job exemplifies endurance and gains wisdom through suffering and affliction. In this era of beginnings is a tension of God bringing newness into the world while humankind corrupts God’s world in their sin. In the following exercise strive to express a twofold confession to God: confession of God’s goodness as a Creator and confession to God of your sin.

Take a moment to reflect on the greatness, glory, and grace of God to create his good world. Consider the way human sin has continually brought ruin into God’s paradise. Write a reflective prayer of confession in which you confess God’s glory and goodness as Creator and confess your guilt as a sinner before God.

Ministry Practice: Rehearsing the Script

Minister the Text:_ God wants us to use his word to edify the Christian community. In this movement, you will utilize this biblical passage to minister to other believers and build them up in their faith._

Reflection Questions

Look at the infographic below. Use the questions to think about how to minister this text to other believers.

Missional Outreach: Publicizing the Truth

Witness the Text: In word and deed, God calls his people to testify about the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. In this movement, you will utilize this biblical passage to reach out to unbelievers.

Reflection Questions

Look at the infographic below. Use the questions to think about how to use this teach to reach out to unbelievers.