An Experiment, Part Five: Reading Genesis Through the Jesus Lens
Abraham, Isaac, Jesus, and UsThe narrative about Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22) is one of the most enthralling, heart-breaking, and important texts in the Bible. We need to see the story against the background of the promises to Abraham and the beginning fulfillment of those promises. When God called Abraham, God promised him, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 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 shall be blessed” (Gen 12:2-3). So God promised that Abraham would

An Experiment, Part Four: Reading Genesis Through the Jesus Lens
"As It Was in the Days of Noah"Genesis 6-9Most of us have heard the story of Noah’s ark for as long as we can remember. A little background is in order.The flood narrative is set against a backdrop of ever-increasing sin. Note these themes:1. Sin threatened to infect the entire creation (6:1-4).2. Sin was rampant among humankind (6:5).3. Sin provoked God to bring judgment on the earth (6:6-7). Note, though, the pain of God. 4. Sin and the judgment on it did not negate the grace of God (6:8).The flood narrative depicts the righteous judgment of God. Note these themes:

An Experiment, Part Three: Reading Genesis Through the Jesus Lens
Women and MenWe are presented with two different creation narratives in Genesis 1-2 which nonetheless have a thematic unity.In the first narrative, the creation of humanity is pictured as just that—the creation of humanity in the generic sense, the creation of humanity as a group (1:26-31). In that text, the Hebrew word adam clearly refers to collective humanity; after saying “Let us make adam in our image,” the text refers to adam with plural pronouns—“let them have dominion”; “God blessed them”; “God said to them.” Again, then, the picture of the creation of humanity in Genesis 1 is a picture of the