Coming to Grips with the God of the Old Testament 2

In the beginning God created man in his image and likeness. What are the implications of this important truth, and how was that image twisted and distorted after the fall? What was so significant about Adam and Eve’s transgression in the first place, and how do the effects of that original sin continue to echo […]

In Genesis 3:15, God promises that one day a seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head. What would happen if we began to read the rest of Scripture in the light of this promise? What would result if we stopped to consider whether subsequent Bible characters and heroes qualified to be the one […]

The story of Abraham is a record of both faith and doubt. While we’re told in Genesis 15 that “Abraham believed the Lord and it was counted to him as righteousness,” in the very next chapter we find him agreeing with his wife Sarah to attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promises by […]

In his Genesis commentary, Walter Brueggemann notes that in chapters 16 to 18, Abraham and Sarah “are not offered as models of faith but as models of disbelief.” In this part of the narrative, he says, “the call is not embraced, but is rejected as non-sensical.” This helps to explain why the couple sought to […]

Why did God call Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac? Why would he ask a loving parent to even consider such a thing? Is this story a kind of object lesson meant to show us how much we should be willing to give up for God, or is something else being revealed in this unsettling […]

The story of Jacob and Esau raises a number of important questions. Why did God choose Jacob in favor of Esau? Was it due to some kind of foreseen virtue on Jacob’s part? In reality, that approach fails on a number of levels, since Jacob is presented throughout Genesis as a schemer, deceiver, and master-manipulator. […]

As we saw last week, difficulties arise when we attempt to read the story of Jacob and Esau as a traditional morality tale. In reality, the book of Genesis does not present Jacob as a hero to be emulated, but as a great sinner in whom God’s mysterious grace is richly on display. And as […]

Many people today think of religion as a metaphorical stairway that leads to heaven. Basically, it’s an upward path that all of us are meant to ascend by our own good works. In Genesis 28, however, Jacob encounters a great stairway between heaven and earth, but he’s not invited to climb it. Instead, God graciously […]

In Genesis 29, Jacob the deceiver is himself deceived. Though he had intended to marry Rachel, he was first tricked into marrying her older sister. Later, as she struggles with infertility, Rachel gives Jacob her maidservant to be a kind of surrogate mother. When two sons are born to her in this way, Rachel believes […]

As Jacob returns to the promised land in Genesis 32, he’s attacked in the middle of the night. As the two men struggle until the breaking of day, it slowly begins to dawn on Jacob that there’s something special about his wrestling partner. In fact, by the end of the encounter it’s revealed to Jacob […]

Even though John Calvin has been dubbed the “theologian of the Holy Spirit,” his theological heirs, Reformed Presbyterians, are sometimes maligned as giving the Holy Spirit the short shrift. I remember visiting a friend’s charismatic church during college and being told that I “didn’t have much of the Spirit” because I did not speak in tongues …

What do you say to the Maker of the Universe when you’re exhausted beyond words, burdened to your bones by your own sins, heavy-laden with sickness or sorrow, or simply feeling far away? How do you draw near to God in prayer when praying is hard?

Jesus prepared his disciples for his departure by telling them about the Holy Spirit, who would take up residence in each one of his people. By his Spirit, he would stay near to his people. And by his Spirit, he would bless his church throughout the world in all generations.

The Holy Spirit is active. God still works powerfully. But Scripture also helps us see how, when, and why he chooses to act—so that our confidence rests where it belongs: on Christ, on his Word, and on the Spirit who applies that Word to our lives.