The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Genesis 46:1-4a,
"So Israel [Jacob] set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, 'Jacob! Jacob!' 'Here I am,' he replied. 'I am God, the God of your father,' he said. 'Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again.'"
Here is the culmination of the activities of Joseph that we read about in Genesis. God used Joseph in very unique ways to facilitate the moving of Jacob and his family down to Egypt to grow them into a "great nation".
This passage tells us Jacob stopped at Beersheba where God met him in a vision and announced himself as the "God of your father". His message to Jacob was to not be afraid. Beersheba was the same place where God (who announced himself to be the "God of your father") actually met with Jacob's father, Isaac with the same message, "Do not be afraid, for I am with you...", Genesis 26:23. To Isaac God said "I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham." - a promise God had given Abraham. To Jacob God said, "I will make you into a great nation there [Egypt].
When God promised Abraham to make a great nation of him, Genesis 15, he also told Abraham that his offspring would be going to Egypt, "Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions... In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure." Genesis 15:13-16.
"So Israel [Jacob] set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, 'Jacob! Jacob!' 'Here I am,' he replied. 'I am God, the God of your father,' he said. 'Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again.'"
Here is the culmination of the activities of Joseph that we read about in Genesis. God used Joseph in very unique ways to facilitate the moving of Jacob and his family down to Egypt to grow them into a "great nation".
This passage tells us Jacob stopped at Beersheba where God met him in a vision and announced himself as the "God of your father". His message to Jacob was to not be afraid. Beersheba was the same place where God (who announced himself to be the "God of your father") actually met with Jacob's father, Isaac with the same message, "Do not be afraid, for I am with you...", Genesis 26:23. To Isaac God said "I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham." - a promise God had given Abraham. To Jacob God said, "I will make you into a great nation there [Egypt].
When God promised Abraham to make a great nation of him, Genesis 15, he also told Abraham that his offspring would be going to Egypt, "Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions... In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure." Genesis 15:13-16.
It is fascinating to me to see how the account of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is so tightly interwoven. Each of the patriarchs are visited by God with the same message, a message of the coming nation, the nation through which God would bring both the Scriptures and his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world.
This is the account of the great nation God created of Abraham (the man of faith) through which he brought his redemption into the world for those who are willing.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know. A blog with all my posts can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know. A blog with all my posts can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
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