On the way to Laban’s house, Jacob has a dream where he sees a stairway to heaven and angels of God are ascending and descending on it. Then the Lord gives Jacob the same promises regarding land and descendants that He gave his dad, Isaac, and grandfather, Abraham. And when Jacob wakes up, he leads a totally godly life! 🎉🎉 Just playing. 

Jacob arrives at Padan Aram where he is accepted in by Laban, Rebekah’s brother. Jacob falls in love with Laban’s younger, beautiful daughter Rachel and works seven years for her hand in marriage. But Laban, a schemer himself, tricks Jacob into marrying the not so beautiful, older daughter, Leah. When Jacob wakes up to Leah, he protest to Laban. Laban tell Jacob that he will also give him Rachel after he fulfills a week with Leah and agrees to serve him another seven years. So Jacob now has two wives. 

Leah and Rachel become jealous of each other and the baby making contest begins!🤰🏽One thing leads to another and eventually Jacob father’s 12 sons and 1 daughter by 4 different women. 😳 Leah has Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and a daughter named Dinah; Leah’s servant has Gad and Asher; Rachel has Joseph and later she will have Benjamin; and Rachel’s servant has Dan and Naphtali. 

Well, this family drama isn’t too much for our Lord to use to accomplish His awesome purposes. The Messiah is coming out of this mess and it isn’t through the favored beautiful one Rachel…good looks don’t get ya everything! Keep your eye on Leah’s son Judah. He has a pretty colorful story and we will get to him soon…so keep reading! 

(Genesis 28:6-30:24)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Today we see how lying, scheming, and manipulating ruins a family. Starting with Jacob talking Esau, a man driven by the flesh, into selling his birthright for a bowl of stew. “And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.”

When a famine hits the land, Issac trusts the Lord and doesn’t flee to Egypt as his father Abraham did. However, Issac does follow in the footsteps of his dad by lying to Abimelech about his wife saying that she was his sister for his own protection. 😏 But, the Lord protects Rebekah, as He did with Sarah, and restores her back to Issac. See, God is also growing Issac into a man of great faith like his father Abraham and using his wife in the process.

We see spiritual maturity in Issac when disputes arise with the herdsmen of Gerar over wells they dug. Instead of fighting, Issac trust the Lord and simply keeps moving and digging more wells until the disputes stop. Then Issac says, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” So the Lord blesses Issac saying “‘I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.’ So he built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.”

But later, when Issac falsely assumes that he is dying, Rebekah and Jacob scheme and steal Esau’s blessing from Issac. As a result, Esau wants to kill Jacob so Jacob flees to his uncle Laban’s house (it‘s possible that Jacob never sees his mom again). Rebekah tells Jacob to stay with her brother a few days but it’s 20 years before he comes back home.

Scheming never works out well for anyone and sin always cost more than we want. So currently this family is severely broken but overtime we will see the Lord grow Jacob’s faith and restore the brokenness. However, before that happens, things get a little crazy. More family drama to come and out of all this chaos we will meet the 12 tribes of Israel. (See, all families have problems but no problem is too big for God.) Keep reading!

(Genesis 25:27-28:5)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Abraham marries Keturah, has 6 more kids, and he has more children with his concubines. “And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had; and while he was still living he sent them eastward, away from Isaac his son, to the country of the east.” 

God keeps His promise to make a great nation out of Ishmael. He lives “one hundred and thirty-seven years; and he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people. (They dwelt from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt as you go toward Assyria.) He died in the presence of all his brethren.”

But the Story continues through the promised son Isaac. Isaac and Rebekah have two sons, Esau and Jacob, who begin fighting as early as the womb. The Lord tells Rebekah that the older, Esau, will serve the younger, Jacob. We will learn that this family is a wreck but keep your eye on Issac’s son Jacob. 

We end the reading with the death of Abraham. Abraham dies having 8 named kids plus other children, a piece of burial land, and promises from the Lord that He would make him a great nation, kings would come from him, and all the families of the earth would be blessed through him. Remember, God always does what He says He is going to do BUT we might not see it played out on this side of heaven. However, we are fortunate enough to get to read His promises so keep reading!! 

(Genesis 25:1-4, 1 Chronicles 1:32-33, Genesis 25:5-6, 12-18, 1 Chronicles 1:28-31, 34, Genesis 25:19-26, 7-11)

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Today we see how much Abraham’s faith has grown as he listens to the Lord regarding Hagar and Ishmael by sending them away per his wife’s, Sarah, request. But God reassures Abraham that he will care for Ishmael – “Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.” And God, once again, sees Hagar’s distress and comforts her and her son, Ishmael, as He had promised. “So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.”

Then the Lord tests Abraham by instructing him to “Take now your son, your only son Issac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” Abraham now trusts the Lord so much that he is willing to sacrifice Isaac, believing that God would even raise him from the dead (Hebrews 11:17-19) to fulfill the promises made to him. But God doesn’t make Abraham sacrifice his son. No, that’s not the Lord’s plan. God is going to be the One that has to sacrifice His Son, Jesus Christ, for us.

So Issac is spared but Sarah dies today “And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.” This will be the only piece of property that Abraham will own during his lifetime. Abraham will die having to trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises through his descendants. And we see God’s plan unfold as Abraham’s and Sarah’s son Isaac marries Abraham’s brother’s granddaughter, Rebekah. 

So the Story continues… Will Isaac make the same mistakes his dad made? Keep reading to find out.

(Genesis 21:8-23:20, Genesis 11:32, Genesis 24:1-67) 

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Today God lets Abraham in on His plan to destroy wicked Sodom and Gomorrah. Then Abraham goes to bat for his nephew, Lot, because Abraham knows God does not destroy the righteous with the wicked. We saw this with the flood when the Lord spared Noah and his family who were deemed righteous because of their faith in the Lord. And we see it again here when God graciously answers Abraham’s request and spares Lot and his daughters. But unfortunately, Lot’s wife does not trust the Lord and clings to things of this world and perishes. 

So Lot and his daughters are now living in a cave in a mountain. And this is when Lot’s daughters come up with an interesting plan. They decide to get their daddy, Lot, drunk and have sex with him. 🤔 Hmm…wonder if they learned to do that in the wicked city where they were living? Needless to say, these kiddos from Lot and his daughters don’t turn out so great. They become the Moabites and Ammonites and will show up later in the Story. 

And yes, Abraham pawns Sarah off AGAIN to a foreign ruler but God protects her AGAIN. The Lord is maturing Abraham into the man of faith that he will one day become, and He is using his wife Sarah in the process. So we see that the faith journey isn’t always a smooth and easy road but as the Lord told Abraham yesterday, God is our shield and our exceedingly great reward and that’s all that matters!

Lastly, the promised son, Isaac, has arrived on the scene. This boy is in for an adventure! Keep reading. 

(Genesis 18:1-21:7)

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#chronologicalbibleteaching

After Abram rescues Lot and refuses an award from the king of Sodom, the Lord appears to him in a vision saying, “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” Then the Lord tells Abram once again that he will have numerous descendants. “And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”

Then the Lord puts Abram into a deep sleep and says to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.” And this is exactly what will happen. Abraham’s descendants will be slaves in Egypt for 400 years…that’s coming up in the Exodus Era.

Meanwhile, Sarai is growing impatient after waiting 10 years and still no child. So she decides to help God out with His plan by having Abram sleep with Hagar, their servant that they likely picked up while in Egypt. This does not go well!

Afterwards, Sarai deals harshly with Hagar. As a result, Hagar flees to the wilderness where the Angel of the Lord appears to her and instructs her to return to Sarai and submit to her. The Angel goes on to tell Hagar that she will have a son named Ishmael. “Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, ‘Have I also here seen Him who sees me?’” See, the Lord doesn’t immediately change Hagar’s situation. She will have to trust that He will see her through it. And He will! Abram and Hagar have a son and Abram names him Ishmael.

When Abram is ninety-nine and Sarai is ninety years old, God tells them once again that they will have descendants and He changes their names to Abraham and Sarah. The Lord makes a covenant with Abraham and his future descendants. He promises them the land in Canaan and says great nations and kings shall come from Abraham’s descendants. And as a sign of this new covenant, the Lord has Abraham circumcise all males eight days and older “born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant.”

In the Kingdom and Divided Kingdom Eras, we will meet kings from Abraham’s descendants pointing us to the arrival of the Ultimate King, King Jesus! But before we get there…tomorrow, God destroys wicked Sodom and Gomorrah. Will Lot and his family survive? Keep reading to find out.

(Genesis 15:1-17:27)

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#chronologicalbibleteaching

Back in Egypt, all of Joseph’s family has died off but the Israelites have grown exceedingly mighty. The new Pharaoh knows nothing about Joseph and sees the Israelites as a threat. He puts them to hard labor and orders that all Israelite boys who are born be tossed in the river. This is when we meet Moses, a descendant of the Levite tribe. The Lord is working behind the scenes and spares the life of this baby boy but before the Lord uses Moses, Moses endures some hardships himself. Moses was raised in the house of Pharaoh. He is a protector at heart and took matters into his own hands when he killed an Egyptian who was beating up a Hebrew. As a result of his sin, Moses fled to Midian in fear for his life. Moses married Zipporah and they end up having two sons. He spent 40 years in the wilderness where he was stripped down to no longer depend on his own abilities and he learns to depend on God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has heard the cries of His people and is about to take action using the now 80 year old Levite boy Moses. But Moses responds, “Who am I…” and God responds, “I will certainly be with you” AND that makes ALL the difference in the world! So God is about to send Moses and his brother Aaron off to Egypt to display His mighty power to the world! Keep reading to see the action unfold.

(Exodus 1:1-2:25, 1 Chronicles 6:1-3a, Exodus 3:1-4:17)

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Today the story of Job concludes. Job responds to the Lord saying “…I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know”. “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.” This is what it is like walking with the Lord. His Word reveals our grossness which leads us to repentance and ultimately closer fellowship with our God. The story ends as it began, with Job at the altar. This time Job is interceding for his three friends who spoke incorrectly about God. After Job prays for his friends the Lord restores Job two-fold. “So Job died, old and full of days.” Patriarch Era done! 🎉 Next up, Exodus Era. Remember we left the Israelites (Jacob’s descendants) over in Egypt multiplying like crazy! Keep reading to see what happens to them.

(Job 40:6-42:17)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

14 Eras:
Creation Era (Adam-Noah)✅, Patriarch Era (Abraham, Issac, Jacob and book of Job)✅, Exodus Era (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) up now!
Eras to follow: Conquest, Judges, Kingdom, Divided Kingdom, Captivity, Return, Silent, Gospel, Church, Missions, and End Times/New Beginnings

The Lord appears in a whirlwind and tells Job “Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you and you shall answer Me”. The Lord’s questions reveal that He is the God of ALL creation and He is sovereign over ALL things. The Lord ends His challenge to Job by saying “Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it”. Job responds by saying “Behold, I am vile;”. This is what happens the closer you draw to God through His Word. He becomes more magnificent and you become more disgusting.🤢 Now I know that doesn’t sound like a good thing and it probably isn’t really encouraging you to keep reading BUT it is actually a wonderful thing! This is what makes the Good News such Good News! The more we see our sin problem, the more we see our need for a Savior, and then the deeper we fall in love with the Lord! Jesus is coming to die for us so that we can be made righteous through faith in Him! So keep reading bc we only have one more day of Job left.

(Job 38:1-40:5)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching