Because the great themes which come from people’s stories are so well woven into the God Story, I will add an extra passage now and then if you have the time. Each will help you as you enjoy your panoramic view of the Bible!
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Genesis 11:6-9 The Strategy
The LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
God’s intention was that man would populate the earth. Here they were doing the opposite. Why was this at the same time breathtaking and dangerous for mankind ?
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Genesis 11:31-32 The Selection
Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there. The days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.
Roots seem to be important to our Creator. If Israel is any indication, we can be certain that every link in our family chains will be evident and significant. We all come from one!
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Genesis 12:1-3 The Blessing
Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives – And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you,
And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
The nature of faith is to GO. We are sent into the world for the glory of God, and because of that, we are covered by the favor of God. Our choice, like Abraham’s, to live by faith and not merely by sight, energizes and defines each of our spiritually experiences – whenever God calls us!
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Genesis 12:7-8 The Response
The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him. Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD.
Each of us has our own personal encounter with God. And each of us is provided a change to “build our altar” to the Living God!
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Genesis 14:17-20 The Priest
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.
He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;
And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” He gave him a tenth of all.
Read Hebrews 7 – it will animate the prophetic nature of what happens here.
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Genesis 15:12-13, 17, 18 The Covenant
Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.
It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates…”
Read Hebrews 13:20-21 for woven context.
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Genesis 18:12-14 The Promise
Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?’ “Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
Read Hebrews 6 for a little added fun and insight.