Mike Patterson Ministries

The last couple of readings in Genesis have been somewhat entertaining for me. I feel like I am watching a good soap opera or drama. Now that work and campus ministry is back in session for me, my updates will be more thoughts about the readings and some general nuggets and I hope you will continue to share yours as well. The one consistent theme that I see is the promise of God that originally was with Abraham consistently reinforced to his children as well. God is always faithful to his promise; it is us that sometimes aren’t. God promised Abraham that through his seed a great nation would form (Israel) and eventually the Messiah. Even when God makes promises, we can lack faith in them. Jacob and his mother Rebecca felt it was necessary to deceive Isaac in order to get the blessing and inheritance when God had already promised it to him! This was not necessary. God is sovereign and will hold to his word despite our sin. God still kept his promise but there would be consequences to Jacob’s decisions to practice deceit. His name can also mean “deceives” and it show that this was a pattern sin that became his character. It led to hiding from Esau, flattery, shame, and strife amongst brothers. It made me think of my life at times and how deceit was so much a part of who I was without God. Deceit is always a by-product of a deeper sin. It is simply used to cover something up. It doesn’t necessarily have to be telling a direct lie, but can come in the form of presenting to someone something that isn’t what it really is. Is there sin in your life that you are covering up by practicing deceit? Consider 1 John 1:5-10. If we claim we do not have sin and come to church acting as if everything is great, we practice deceit. I remember hearing an old saying long ago “what goes around comes around.” Jacob’s sin would come back to haunt him. Laban would deceive and manipulate Jacob in order to get him to work for him a total of 14 years in return for his two daughters. Jacob was under the impression that he would only have to work seven years for Laban’s daughter Rachel and ended up with Leah. There is a spiritual law that I have noticed, what goes around comes around. Jacob practiced deceit and now he became the deceived and these consequences would break him to become a more godly man. I can remember hiding a certain sin and deceiving someone who was very close to me and it shattered that person. Later on that same year I was deceived by someone close who hid an even more intense sin and it shattered me. As hard as this experience was this story came to mind and I was grateful to God because I learned how sin hurts other people, especially deceit. For you personally, are you learning from the consequences of your sin? These are just some quick reflections on the readings. I will post some interesting theological points very soon. Tithing is another theme we have seen in the readings I want to write about. Have a great Friday the 13^th!

MP

Genesis 10 list the generations of the sons of Noah and is foundational in us understanding the world. Shem the second son of Noah was mentioned last in this table of nations perhaps because his seed was to be the important subject of the remainder of Genesis as well as the Old Testament. This line is the line of which the Messiah would come. Genesis 10 is parenthetical as an introduction to the story of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their offspring. Chronologically, this chapter should follow Genesis 11:9 but it is positioned here to complete the story of Noah’s 3 sons.

Genesis 10:25 shows the earth was divided at this time. This means that at one point the earth was one big continent! This matches what Genesis 1 shows us that God made the land one big mass with the waters surrounding it. TheBabelincident in chapter 11 would occur and following this scattering during the days of Peleg. The earth would be divided into continents and islands after various nations were scattered abroad on all the one land at the time of the God’s judgment (Gen. 11:1-9). Many wonder how Native American Indians arrived in theAmericas, but this passage helps us understand how they got here.

Chapter 11 literally is a day that would change the world. A commentary said “the term ‘mighty hunter”’ in Heb. could refer to a hunter of animals or of men to enslave them. Nimrod was a hunter of both men and animals.” The term mighty is also used of the giants and it is likely he was a Nephilim (see previous post). Tradition says he established the first great kingdom (that would becomeBabylon) and the first false religion that openly opposed God (thus “before the Lord”). Josephus (Roman/Jewish historian) wrote that Nimrod had the tower built to protect them from if God decided to flood the world again, he would be high enough. God would then come down to take action to counteract the rebellion of Nimrod.

Tradition and some history say the original language of man was Hebrew. The whole earth spoke one language. We see the power of unity in the fact that God said if they speak one language then nothing they imagine to do will be impossible for them.

AncientMesopotamiahad a structure called a ziggurat that dates to a time after the flood. Interestingly, these structures are seen all over other parts of the world! This is what is believed theTowerofBabellooked like and why similar structures were found all over that were similar.

I find it amazing that atheism didn’t really begin until recently. All religions practiced common things in ancient times such as tithing, animal sacrifice, etc. This is proof that there was one universal people at one time. God is awesome!

Man builds his tower, and God comes down to see it the bible says. This shows us how high God is compared to what we think is great.

Notice once again, God says, “let us…” This referred to the divine council of the Trinity. God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit worked in unity to make divine decisions and judgments.

The beginning of languages is at the heart of this text. God allows man certain freedoms as the tower was built, but he had to react and stop the building of the city as it was being built to glorify man.

PRACTICALS:

• Unity is a powerful tool. Consider Genesis 11:6. This unity was used for evil. How can you use unity for good? Are you completely united with your ministry, leadership, and with God?
• At the heart ofBabelwas pride and rebellion. Man wanted to glorify himself. What towers are you building in your life that God wants to demolish?
• Man is very powerful in skill, technology, imagination, etc. How are you going to use these abilities to glorify God and not yourself?

Mike Patterson

It has been a long day and I am feeling under the weather so today’s reading post won’t be as long. Excited for the Winter Workshop this weekend as evangelist from all over the world will be flying here to LA to gear up for the New Year! I got a preview of the weekend’s festivities at our church staff meeting this morning and I believe the Holy Spirit is going to make a powerful move!

There is a lot to glean from the Flood account. Noah finds favor with God and it doesn’t take long to see why. He is obedient to the minute detail of God’s plan. It challenged me because I know I can compromise in certain areas that I don’t feel are as big of a deal. I had to ask myself, am I fully obedient to the word of God and promptings of the Holy Spirit? Do I have a walk with God that would cause our heavenly father to look down on me with favor?

One of the most intriguing parts to this story is 6:4-5. It tells of a group of people called the Nephilim. The KJV of the bible accurately translates this word “giants”.  The word “rephaim” could also be translated giants in the bible. Isaiah 26:14 teaches these giants have no resurrection. Who were they? The bible says the “sons of God” slept with the “daughters of men”. “Sons of God” is found in the bible five times and always refers to angels (see Job 1-2). Fallen angels slept with human women and produced an offspring of giants. Remember, angels usually take the form of humans throughout the bible. This explains where much of the mythology of ancient civilizations came from. I personally believe it was the Nephilim who helped build the ancient pyramids and were some of the “gods” these Egyptians worshiped. Only Giants of enormous size could lift such stones. These giants are found in Numbers and also try to stop the Israelites from entering thePromiseLand. In Numbers 14 the Israelites bring back enlarged fruit! Some believe these giants had the ability to genetically engineer. The book of Enoch (a non-inspired or non canonical book) speaks of these fallen angels teaching the people of Noah’s time how to make advanced weapons and violence.

The bible says Satan was a murderer from the beginning. Remember the prophecy of Genesis 3:15? That Satan’s offspring would war against the woman’s offspring? Could it be these giants are the offspring of Satan? The fallen angels would be Satan’s children just as non-disciples are Satan’s children (John 8). Their goal would be to mess up the line of the coming Messiah by infiltrating the daughters of men to mess up the seed-line. God would save Noah and protect the seed of the Messiah. David fought Goliath who was a giant/Nephilim as well. If you notice carefully in 2 Chronicles 20:6-8, David and his men kill off the last of the giants (Goliath’s brothers). The very next verse in 2 Chronicles 21:1 says, “Satan rose up against Israel and incited David…” The word Satan is used only 3 times in the Old Testament. It is significant that right after David kills “Satan’s offspring” he himself raises up against David.

There is much more I could say about this subject. I find it interesting the Nephilim were on the earth prior to the flood and after. Did one of Noah’s family members have the fallen angel seed in them? Did the giants somehow survive the flood (since they technically aren’t considered mankind- I’m doubtful this view)? This subject is very interesting to me. Most scholars put the flood around 2300 BC. Many ancient cultures have a similar world-wide flood story proving the Bible validity that this event did take place, not to mention all the sediment deposits found around the world.

PRACTICALS:

• What areas are you not fully obedient in with God’s word?
• Think about the ridicule Noah must have faced and the persecution he received. Do you still obey God’s word in the face of persecution? When what your doing doesn’t make sense to your family or friends?
• 1 Peter 3:18-22 compares the Flood to our baptism. Every inclination of man is evil because of sin in the world but because of the flood of our baptism we can have a pure heart! Reflect on when God saved you!

I wasn’t able to take the time to write as much as I could on this powerful story so I would love to hear your thoughts on the Flood. Please pray that I feel better. God bless.

Today was inspiring to learn from the very first God-breathed humans to have existed. God had given Adam His word to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil before Eve was created. This shows that man is responsible to lead woman in delivering the word of God. Man has the office and the woman held the influence. Sadly, the man gave into Eve’s influence and both sinned by disobeying God. This encouraged me personally in my dating relationship that I must always lead my girlfriend in the ways of God and put Him first before anyone else. Below are quick notes of what I learned from my reading.

Genesis 3 Notes:

“Serpent” is translated from Hebrew either “snake” or “shining one”. The bible teaches Satan is an angel who masquerades as an angel of light (2 Cor.11:14). The bible describes this serpent as cunning or crafty. I believe this was a shining one or angel and not in the form of a snake. The snake description just depicts who he is as a powerful symbol of a cunning angel. For example, Jesus is called the Lamb of God. Of course we don’t ever think it is a literal Lamb, it is descriptive of who Jesus is. In the same way “serpent” is descriptive of who Satan is. He would have appeared to Adam and Eve as a beautiful figure (Isaiah 14:12ff).

Satan’s tactic is to interpret God’s word. The Bible never needs interpretation (2 Peter1:21) but Satan is the first one to bring “private interpretation” into the world by questioning God’s word. “Did God really say…” He introduced a false doctrine.

My girlfriend pointed out to me that Eve now saw the fruit apart from God’s will and it now looked pleasurable. When sin looks desirable, it is because we have separated it from the will of God!

Sin appeals to the senses. Satan has always used the same 3 fold method of temptation we find in 1 John 2:15-17 kjv. The lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life. She saw the fruit looked pleasurable. What in your life are you desiring? Is it in God’s will or not?

Knowledge isn’t always a good thing. Knowledge of evil steals our innocence. I have found in my life that once I have done a certain sin, it is always easier to do it again and more challenging to see things with a child-like heart.

Sin ALWAYS brings shame and makes you want to hide. Immediately they hid and tried to cover themselves. God would later SACRIFICE animals and cover them with wet-animal skin’s to cover their sin. This is the only explanation for how Cain and Abel later knew about animal sacrifice. God taught Adam and Eve and covered them and they in turn taught their children. God showed compassion on them. When you sin, do you hide your sin or run to God’s mercy and covering of blood in the act of confession (1 John 1:9)? When we were baptized, God covered us with His blood. He took our shame and like Adam and Eve there are consequences we must face for our past choices but we are still covered by Jesus’ blood.

Notice they heard God walking in the Garden. This shows as we talked about in the last posting, God has a bodily form and it was evidently large to be heard walking in the Garden.

God being omnipresent already knew their sin, but notice he gives them the chance to confess their sin. He asks questions to draw them out. God is the master discipler! Do you ask questions to draw out your fellow Christians or just jump to conclusions? Even though God already knew the sin, He still asked probing questions that would reveal their hearts.

Adam blames Eve for his sin and also God! What excuses are we making for our sin? Do you place blame on others or even God?

Eve takes somewhat responsibility but still softens the effect by saying Satan deceived her. This may be true, but God desires that we take full responsibility for what we did wrong. We cannot blame Satan. He can only lie to us and not force us to sin.

The serpent/Satan is cursed in a symbolic way of going to be brought down to ashes (symbol of defeat) by the woman’s offspring/seed Jesus the Messiah! The verse (3:15) sets up the whole stage of the Bible. Satan now knew God’s plan to bring the Messiah through Eve’s seed and he would now try to stop the lineage through the rest of the Bible.

I believe v.16 and later in v.20 prove that Eve had many children. Verse 20 (NIV84), the word “would become” can be translated “was” as most other translations put. Adam and Eve had many children in the Garden. That is why v.16 says her pains would “increase” in child-birth implying she had, had children before! This is where Cain would later get his wife. Cain was the first man I believe she had.

The curse was not only upon man and woman but the entire earth. Any sign of death, weeds in the ground, etc. is all because of Adam brining sin and death into the world (Romans 5). Woman would now desire a man, and the man would rule over his wife. Equality was found in the Garden prior to the fall.

The tree of life had to be guarded. God was worried about them eating from it in a sinful-state since they would live forever and thus sin would be dominate forever! The end when he covers them with animal skins shows that God knew evil prior to the fall. He never practiced evil but he knew of it from Satan’s rebellion and now man had this knowledge as well. Anytime we want to be like God it spells disaster. It is what Satan wanted and he fell, and it was what appealed to Adam and Eve and man fell. How is your pride?

Interestingly, Adam was told to go out of the Garden where he was originally formed from the ground and to work the ground.

For the first time in the Bible we see Cherubim. They are one of five classes of angels found in the bible. They protect the throne room of God and here one is placed to protectEden.  I personally believe Eden was wiped away after the Flood of Noah.

Genesis 4

Why was Cain’s sacrifice not acceptable to God? We saw earlier that God taught Adam and Eve to sacrifice animals by covering them with skins God made. Hebrews9:22 teaches us that without blood there can’t be forgiveness of sins. Adam and Eve and their children now knew about the coming Messiah and every sacrifice would now pre-figure this. Able sacrificed from the livestock (blood). It cost something! Cain just gave from the ground that was already cursed. Cursed offerings won’t remove the curse! A commentary I read pointed out that Numbers 18:12-14 and Leviticus 27 teach that crops were only to be used to support the ministry and priesthood and never as atonement for sin. Abel’s was one of faith (see Hebrews 11:4) in the coming Messiah and a blood sacrifice. It was a costly grace Abel received. Cain’s was a cheap grace. Since the consequence of sin is death, something must die for atonement.

Cain allowed anger to form in his heart because he wanted God’s favor. Religion started the first murder and has been the source of wars from this point on yet God wants a relationship. The result of anger, jealousy, and bitterness was murder. We must grasp that mortal sins begin in the heart. Lust produces adultery. Anger produces murder. Greed produces theft. What is in your heart?

Cain’s sin was obvious because his face was downcast. It is important that we notice who is down in the fellowship because it could be an indicator of sin. Even God being the great discipler ask him questions to draw him out even after the murder.

It seems there was a tabernacle at this time or a place of worship. In 4:7 it says sin was crouching at the door (most likely door of tabernacle). In 4:16 Cain is driven away from God’s presence most likely in a tabernacle.

One thing I love about reading these chapters is seeing God’s heart and compassion. He took care of Adam and Eve even after they sinned. He also wanted Cain to be accepted and told him what he needed to do. Master his sin! Are you mastering your sin or has it mastered you? Even after the murder, God still protects Cain.

One note is that God’s presence is lost when we are in sin.

There was no death penalty for Cain since the law hadn’t been given yet. There wouldn’t be one until chapter 9.

By4:14 Adam was 130 years old (4:25,5:3). At a very moderate rate of increase there could have been 500,000 people by this time. Cain built a city (4:17). Every son of man had sons and daughters and started branches of the race (4:15-24; 5:1-32; 6:1-2). Cain took his wife from either the children had in the Garden (see above) or could have easily taken one from children after the fall.

v.22 is interesting because a child was named after Cain. In Jewish culture this met someone had a good reputation. Cain most likely was a good person after his sin even though there were severe consequences for his sin.

Genesis 5

This whole chapter shows the line in which the second Adam (Jesus!) would come. Gen. 2:4 shows the family history of the heavens and the earth and here we have man’s family history.

Enoch didn’t start walking with God until Methuselah was born. Something about Methuselah caused him to turn to God. Upon further study Methuselah’s name means “when he is dead it shall come”. When he died, the flood came! Enoch new God’s judgment was coming! Methuselah along with Adam lived during the same time and Josephus says they knew of the coming Flood. Everyone was depraved and in sin except a few.

Enoch, not Methuselah is the oldest man in the bible. Since he has not died yet and Hebrews 11:7 says all men must die at some point. He would be around 5,500 years old today. He walked with God so closely God took him in bodily form to Heaven. Many believe he will die at the resurrection just to be resurrected with his new spiritual body with the rest of the saints.

PRACTICALS:

• There are consequences to sin. Confess any known sin and don’t blame anyone else, God, or Satan.
• Now that you know how Satan tempts men, how can you up your battle plan to overcome temptation?
• What kind of offering are you giving God in your life? One like Cain’s of cheap grace or a costly grace like Abel’s?
• How does understanding the fall of man and God’s plan of redemption help you make sense of the world we live in?
• Please post your thoughts and remember tomorrow is Genesis 6 through 9 as we read through the Bible in a year together!

Mike Patterson

I typed these up as my random thoughts from my quiet time this morning and will try and do this daily (maybe not to this extent since I had more time having the day off being new years day and all lol). Please put your comments and thoughts below so we can mutually encourage one another!

Genesis was written by Moses around 1688 BC either while a sheep herder with Jethro or at Sinai as an introduction to the law. It is a book of beginnings and explains the origin of the: world, creation, man, sin, and redemption.

1:1-3

• From the dateless past until the end of the 7 days of 1:3-2:25 can be called the Ante-chaotic Age or the “Age of Angels” as I call it because the angels were created along with the heavenly host prior to the six days. They ruled various planets (Isaiah14:12-14; Ezek. 28:11-17; Col. 1:15-18- called “stars of God” many times).
• Gen. 1:1 is creation of the original heavens and earth. “Created” is in Hebrew “bara” which means created out of nothing, it was an original creation. Only used of the original creation and man/animals on day six. The angels rejoiced in this creation (Job 38). Isaiah 45:18 says the earth was created to be inhabited. Angels or a pre-adamic race may have originally inhabited the earth of vs. 1.
• Gen. 2:2 is destruction. The earth was now “formless” and “empty” (could be translated “vain” and “chaos”). A flood had deluged the world. Many scholars believe as do I  that there is a gap of time between verses 1 and 2 of billions of years. The earth was created originally in perfection, yet in verse two darkness is now here meaning some sin occurred. Ezekiel 28:11-17 and Isaiah 14:12-14 teach us that Satan who was originally an angel (Cherub) sinned during this time by leading the angels and pre-adamic race astray and filling them with violence and also by pride in his heart in trying to invade heaven to take the throne of God. God cast him out of heaven and the earth became a waste land. This is when dinosaurs roamed and death and destruction became the norm. Our fossil record proves this to be true. Any “human-like” bones (ie Neanderthal) are not human but creation from the original earth that was led astray as the Bible teaches Adam is the first God-breathed human. The earth was finally destroyed with a flood (Satan’s flood- this is why the story of Noah assumes the earth had been flooded before).
• Gen. 3:3 – is restoration/re-creation. Death and destruction had now existed for millions of years and the water that deluged the world froze since the light had gone out. (Jeremiah 4:23-26 chronicles this event). This is where the ice-age took place. God says “let there be light”. This is a permissive word, not one of creation. The Light is allowed back and the Spirit hoovers (Hebrew- “broods”) over the water/ice. Science shows the earth warmed up around this same time 6000 years ago. Besides man and land animals, from this point on the word for create is “made” which in Hebrew is “assa”. This word means it was already in existence and not an original creation. The six days then show the restoration or recreation of the world. Not it’s original creation. If disciples and people understood this, it would clear up any apparent contradiction with science.
• SIX DAYS OF CREATION
• It is important to point out that sin was already in the world from Satan, not Adam yet. Adam would bring sin into the new world and to humanity with the consequence of spiritual death (Romans 5).
• God’s creation always had a purpose. I like how the lights in the sky were created to govern the time. Does what we do as disciples have a purpose?
• God’s word spoke creation and sustained it. Do we have the same kind of faith God has to speak into existence?
• I thought the expanse in the sky was interesting. In the KJV it is called a firmament and is called “Heaven”. Gen. 1:1 shows us God created “heavens” plural. Jews have always believed there were three heavens and the bible confirms this in 2 Corinthians 12:2. The first heaven is the sky in our atmosphere. The second heaven is space (were the galaxies/stars exist). The third heaven is God exist and the heavenly host. “Expanse” can be translated “vault”, “firmament”, “dome,” etc. We see the sun and the moon were put in it as well.
• I believe this “expanse” was put as a block between the third heaven and Satan & his fallen angels. This expanse is called “The Sea” else places in the Bible and is before the throne of God. See. Ps. 148:14, Rev. 4:6; 21:1. Notice, it is removed when the New Earth and New Heavens begin after Jesus returns.
• Some have tried to say there is a contradiction between chapter 1 and 2 because of some of the ordering. This is cleared up when one understand “earth” should be translated land in chapter 2 and refers to the garden in most cases not the whole earth and creation as chapter 1.
• Adam was made from the dust of the earth. Science shows we have the same particles as dust. Then God breathed into him his soul/spirit which was who Adam was.
• Man was created in God’s image. “Let us make” shows the divine Trinity (God the father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit) were at work to make man. Man is a triune being like God having a body, soul, and spirit. It also shows us that each member of the trinity has a body, soul, and spirit. We will see God has a bodily form later in Genesis (yet is Spirit and omnipresent).
• Adam was created to do what Satan failed to do, rule over the earth and have dominion.
• The genesis of marriage is found in chapter 2. The goal was pro-creation and unity. Notice homo-sexuality was not apart of God’s original plan.
• The mission was to fill the earth (Heb: “replenish” this implies there was a prior creation before as stated earlier).
• The tree of knowledge of good and evil I don’t believe was created by God since God can’t author evil, but put there by the serpent which we will talk about more tomorrow.
• The tree of life was met to give them eternal life. Adam and Even had natural bodies but would be kept alive for eternity.

PRACTICALS:

• Physically man was to fill the earth in the physical Eden. God now desires the kingdom to be an Edenof sorts and we are to fill the earth with spiritual children (making disciples!). For 2012 make some goals of how you plan to fill the earth with disciples!
• God’s faith was that what He spoke happened! With your faith goals pray them into existence today expecting them to happen.
• Please share what you got out of Genesis 1 and 2.