Soul Rejoice

This article is part of a series of articles that resulted from my time preaching through the book of Genesis. The commentary on the passage is my own, resulting from hours of research and exegetical study. It is my intent to draw a biblical theology chapter by chapter through the book of Genesis that places the events of the narratives into the broad picture of the entire Bible, demonstrating the progressiveness of theology and the sufficiency of every Word of Scripture. It is my prayer that these articles are helpful to those seeking a better understanding of the book of Genesis and of the Bible as a whole. The sermon series and other resources can be found at www.fbcroxana.com . God is patient toward those whom He loves. Just as He called Abram to leave Ur (11:31) and then later to leave Haran to complete the journey (12:1), so God was patient with Jacob. Jacob had delayed in obeying God’s command to go to Bethel, and he had suffered greatly for it. His daughter, Dinah, ...

The blessed Scriptures open with a simple assertion of the existence and works of God. His existence is not argued for but is simply stated. Nor does the Bible spend a thousand pages describing the character of God, like many have done in collating the Bible’s information to systematically present who God is. Rather, the first chapter of Genesis gives a striking presentation of who God is: the eternal, almighty, Creator of heaven and earth who is dependent on nothing, who is the standard of goodness and the source of all blessing. Genesis opens with the famous words: 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. It could not have been stated more simply. God created the heavens and the earth. Yet from subsequent verses, we learn that He did not bring the heavens and the earth into being in their fully completed state. Instead, right at the first moment of time,   2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, a...