THE START
Genesis, and the Bible, starts with those marvellous words (1v1) “In the beginning God”. God had the amazing power to speak things into existence and it soon became clear that man, who was privileged to be made in God’s own image,  was the pinnacle of His creation (v26). Although made from the uninspiring dust of the earth, God breathed into man something special, the breath of life (2v7). That life was enriched by a wonderful friendship between God and man until man chose to walk his own way. Then we see the consequences of that dreadful decision (3v16-19). Life was never going to be easy again and  it would be filled with pain and death. Even so, the speed of the fall was shocking for It was not long before the first son, Cain, killed his own brother in a premeditated fit of jealousy (4v8).

AWAY FROM GOD’S PRESENCE
The Lord warned Cain (4v7) that sin is “lurking at the door” and we learn that this sin problem has consequences.  In (4v16) Cain had to, reluctantly, go away from God’s presence to the land of Nod and you could say that so starts the theme of the whole Bible. We do wrong and are separated from God but, thankfully, Jesus, through the cross,  made a way back for us. At the end of the Bible, in Revelation, we read that  when this world ends God’s people will be back enjoying His presence once again.

GOD STILL INTERESTED IN PEOPLE
Adam and Eve had another son, Seth (5v3), and the important family line is through him rather than Cain. You soon see that God is still interested in people and Genesis is full of people; some we know a lot about and about some we know nothing apart from their names. It is the odd comment about these people that, sometimes, is significant. The oldest person to have ever lived was Methuselah (5v27) who at 969 years did not quite make the 1,000. “Enoch walked with God” (5v22). “Noah (6v9) was a righteous man… walked with God”. God has not changed and he is still looking for people to have friendship with him, walk with him and lead good lives.

PRESSING THE SELF-DESTRUCT BUTTON
And then we see the tendencies of people to do wrong. Left to their own devices there is a tendency for people to become more and more evil and violent. We read in chapter 6 v5 that “every inclination of the thoughts of the heart was only evil all the time” and in 6v6 are those classic words “God’s heart was filled with pain”. God is emotional about us and our sin pains him; so much so that he almost gave up on us and put an end to the world by a flood. Only the righteousness of Noah gave God a semblance of hope. Often the history of the old testament is used as a picture for us as Christians. So the floodwaters, at the time of Noah, speak of the drowning of our old life in baptism and the ark of Noah our hope of salvation through faith in God, in our case through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3v20,21).

COVENANT OF ALL COVENANTS
We find out in Genesis that God loves covenants. Covenants are agreements with people when God promises things, sometimes on certain conditions. The first of these was to Noah when he promised, with a rainbow, that he would not totally flood the earth again (9v12-17). Watch the family lines and how good and bad things come down the generations. There is a main family line in the Bible and this continues through Shem (ch11), one of Noah’s 2 sons, down to Terah (11v27) and more significantly, Abram his son. Notice that the family was in the wrong place-living, not in Israel but way East in the Ur of the Chaldees, modern day Iraq. Terah decided to go to Canaan but only ended up half way there at Haran, farther up the Euphrates river, and it was there he eventually died (11v31-32).  It is to Abram that God makes another covenant (12v3) which is so significant that it shaped the future of not only Abraham, but the birth of a great nation and finally blessing for the whole world:

1. God would make Abram, and his descendants, into a great nation, blessed by the Lord.
2. Abram would personally be great and a blessing to others.
3. Those who blessed him would also be blessed.
4. Finally all people of the earth would be blessed through him.

So Abram then became the father of the Jewish nation, historically. If we read Galatians 3v6-9 we see clearly that the last promise means that we Gentiles would be included and if we believe, like Abraham, the man of faith, then we will also be blessed. Praise God, that includes me and you. We the church are now God’s blessed and favoured people, both Jews and Gentiles. And in terms of personal blessing, Abraham accumulated massive possessions (13v6), flocks and entourage, as did Isaac and Jacob after him. We also know that those who blessed God’s people, like Pharoah blessed Joseph, were also blessed.

ABRAHAM GOES IN FAITH
When God told Abraham to leave his country and home in Haran to go in faith (12v1), he ended up next to the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. Notice Hebrews 11 (v8) says that Abram’s faith, and his trust in God, was exceptional because he went at God’s prompting, not even knowing where he was going. It was there that God, now, gave him the final part of His covenant promise (12v7). This was the land that He would give to Abram’s offspring even though it was, currently, occupied by the Canaanites. Sometime after this Abram, in rescuing Lot (ch14), courageously won a battle against 4 kings and, afterwards, came across the mysterious king called Melchizedek who Hebrews tells us was a picture of Christ, an eternal priest (Hebrews 7v16,17).

JOSEPH
In chapter 15 God appeared to Abram again and this time he was told about the future enslavement in Egypt for 400 years (v13). So why was God to allow that to happen? Exodus, the next book, will be all about Egypt, slavery and their escape. Genesis ends with Joseph, in Egypt, along with the party of 66 (plus son’s wives  46v26) of Jacob’s family that had come from Canaan. Did God want them to go there? Did God want Joseph to be sold to Ishmaelites to be taken as a slave into Egypt, to be humiliated and imprisoned for many years. Ultimately though, he became, next to Pharoah, the most important person in the land. What did Joseph himself think? In Genesis 50v20 he says to his brothers- “you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives”. Yes, a lot of Egyptian lives would be saved during the seven year famine but more importantly, the lives of Jacob and his family were saved. I have no doubt in natural circumstance they would have died. They were out of food in the second year of the seven year famine but God had promised to bless the whole earth through their family line and so was determined to keep it going.

Interesting that when he was to die, chapter 49v29 Jacob wanted his bones taken back to Canaan. Egypt was not the place of God’s promise, only a step along the way. The last verse in Genesis talks about Joseph dying at the age of 110 but his bones stayed in Egypt (v26). More about that later. So what can I say about all the chapters from Genesis 15 to Joseph in chapter 37. None of the patriarchs, personally, saw the great nation promised but they certainly saw God’s personal intervention in their lives. Isaac (ch26) and Jacob (ch28) were in the same family line as Abraham and God repeated his promises to them. Eventually, Jacob’s 12 sons with Joseph’s 2 sons became the 12 tribes of Israel. Notice that makes 14-Simeon and Levi were left out of Jacob’s blessing (49v5-7). Levi’s inheritance was not going to be in land but his inheritance was in the Lord.

FAMILY INTRIGUE
Abraham had faith in God and in his promises, including that of a son in his old age, Isaac. We read about all the family issues, jealousy between wives (Sarah and Hagar), squabbles between children, choosing the right wife (Isaac and Rebekah; Jacob and Rachel). There is Jacob and his deception of Esau, Laban’s deception of Jacob and rape in the family (Dinah). Also, Abraham and Lot, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the tower of Babel. Genesis is a great book of family intrigue, yet amongst it all we see God in sometimes the most unlikely circumstances working out, slowly by slowly, his purposes for the world. Remember from one of Jacob’s sons, Judah, would come the lineage that led to many kings including King David, but would, finally, lead to our Saviour Jesus, the king of kings.

GOD’S FRIEND
Although, in Genesis, Joseph probably had the most remarkable life, it is Abraham who shines out as a man close to God and James 2v23 mentions that Abraham was called God’s friend because he believed God and he credited it to him as righteousness. You see Abraham, in his trust and faith, actually believed the promises of God. Remember, when asked to sacrifice his son, he did not doubt because he believed God’s word was so certain that God would have had to raise Isaac from the dead, if necessary. And God wants people like us today to have faith in Him, just like Abraham did and if we do, we will be known as a friend of God. We will inherit God’s blessing promised to Abraham and his descendants. Furthermore we will become a blessing to others. If you feel uncertain, unsure of your life and its future, you can take important encouragement from Genesis. Our lives may not always be easy, even though God delights to bless his people. Actually, we are involved in a greater purpose than our own lives in isolation. God is building his kingdom, he is building his church and the gates of hell will not be able to prevail against it. Matthew 6 says don’t worry about your life (v25) but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well (v33).