Charting the bible  |  SEVEN THINGS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW
​Jonathan Black

CLICK TO ENLARGE

​​GENESIS

Seven things everyone should know about Genesis.
​
1) Genesis is a book of chronology covering 2/3 of all bible history. A key phrase found 10 times in the book is 'the generations of' This helps us see how God despite man's failure has moved to provide salvation for all.
2) It is a book of creation and explains why God created the world, for His glory, His goodness and in order to set the stage to display his love through the light of the glorious gospel. 
3) Genesis is a book of characters with eight of them noted in the New Testament for their faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Every person in Genesis who believed God was saved on account of the future sacrifice of Jesus Christ just as we are saved on account of the sacrifice in the past.
4) Genesis is a book of covenants but not merely bi-lateral agreements between men and God which are prone to be broken because man can break his word. Gods covenants are uni-lateral and therefore will be kept because they depend alone on God's word. The two covenants God makes in Genesis relate to the planet's well-being symbolised in a rainbow and the people's well-being the covenant with Abraham which promised a nation through which all nations will be blessed. The nation of Israel today cannot be explained without the book of Genesis for there we find it's origin in a man called Jacob who had his name changed by God to Israel.
​5) Genesis is a book of the curse because we find through one man Adam sin entered and death by sin. The Devil was cursed, the ground was cursed and man was sentenced to death physically and spiritually but always with the opportunity to repent. We can never blame God for sin, He made man able to stand but free to fall. Man choose to disobey God with catastrophic consequences.
6) Genesis is a book of the cross which is God's answer to sin. Without the shedding of blood there can be no remission or putting away of sin. The wages of sin is death and therefore the payment for sin must be the death of a sinless victim.
It must be a man because man sinned not animals. That man is the Son of God Jesus Christ. His cross to put away sin is promised as early as Genesis 3v15.
7) Genesis is a book about Christ. Jesus Christ is eternal and spoken of as the second man and the last Adam in 1 Cor 15. He is the light of the world and the lamb of God promised in Genesis 22. He is the Eternal word who was there in the beginning that is why we can trust the Genesis account of creation, we were not there but we know someone who was, the Creator who became the carpenter of Nazareth. I believe in Genesis because Jesus Christ does! 

Ezekiel

​Ezekiel means, ‘God strengthens’, but this young priest taken captive to Babylon in the prime of his service must have felt his great weakness  and that of his people. He would see God’s glory while in Babylon by the river Chebar! Why is God’s glory in Babylon? The first eleven chapters answer that, as Ezekiel’s judgements upon the nation tell us why, while in chapter 11 God gives him a vision of the temple back in Jerusalem in his absence. It is a sorry state of things as Ezekiel watches the glory of God driven away. The book will close with the glory returning, but first Ezekiel must be faithful as a prophet in his condemnation of the nation, the city, and the nations.