MANY Christians confess that they have never read the, Bible through, and this is sad because their loss is great. May these few thoughts on some of the treasures therein serve as an encouragement to do so. It may be said, “We know all the important parts, does the rest matter?” It does matter indeed.
Every word of God is pure, and every word is for our profit. Can it be thought that anything which God has caused to be written for our learning can be unnecessary for us? Moreover, no one who has not carefully read the Old Testament will understand the New; and equally it is true that no one who neglects the New Testament has a right understanding of the Old. There have been times in all our lives when we have had to own that we knew not what to do, and whilst it may not always have been the case, yet it is very possible that our difficulty has arisen from our not knowing the word that would have directed us.
We will not in these short studies follow the great lines of typical teaching, which have been so ably unfolded by others, but with the Lord’s gracious enabling will consider some of the little touches of beauty which are like the flowers in the garden.
Let us first take creation. Many questions are asked now-a-days and the Genesis account is often scoffed at; but we do well to remember that “by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” (Heb. 11:33Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (Hebrews 11:3)). Suppose a person were intellectually convinced he would be still unsaved, but the one who understands by faith has had to do with GOD, and is the subject of His great salvation. A well-known writer has said that there must be in creation, time, force, space, matter, motion. Yet apparently he did not see that these are all found in Genesis 1:1, 21In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:1‑2).
Many of the wonders which have been discovered in our times were always in that same chapter but not understood; as, for example, that there was light before the sun, that the lower forms of life came first— the moving creature that hath life, brought forth by the waters — that there was progression toward the higher, even to man; and that, not as developing one from the other, but each created after its kind. It was stated recently, as a reasonable account of creation that “millions of years ago aeons were” but who could for one moment compare this with the majestic utterances of Genesis?
It is often said that Genesis is the seed-plot of the Bible, and that the doctrines of Christianity are all illustrated therein.
In the life of Abraham, for instance, we are shown the call of God, and in him faith, hope, and love are set forth. In Genesis 12:11Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: (Genesis 12:1) we read of the call; Stephen tells us in Acts 7:2 That the God of glory appeared to him, and Hebrews 11:88By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. (Hebrews 11:8) adds that “he obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went.” Here we may surely say is “the obedience of faith.” In Genesis 15:55And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. (Genesis 15:5). the Lord tells him to look at the stars, and says that “so should his seed be” when as yet he had no son, “and he believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness.” Here is faith resting on the sure word of God.
Years passed away and the fulfillment of the promise tarried until all human hope was over, but against hope, he “believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be” (Rom. 4:1818Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. (Romans 4:18)), and “God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were,” brought it to pass, and Abraham became the father of the faithful, and has been the example for the saints ever since of what it is to hope in God.
Once more his faith was to be exercised. It was the supreme test of his life when God bade him offer up Isaac on Mount Moriah. He might have pleaded that this was a sore ending to the life of the boy who had been named “Laughter,” but no, he accounted “that God was able to raise him up even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure” (Heb. 11:1919Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure. (Hebrews 11:19)). But God who bade him, “take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest” (Gen. 22:22And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. (Genesis 22:2)), knew the depths of his heart, and put this honor on His servant, that love is mentioned here for the first time in Scripture, and that through him we should see as in a picture, the great love of God the Father for His well-beloved Son. It is very beautiful to note God’s estimate of His servant’s faith — see, Genesis 22:16-1816And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (Genesis 22:16‑18).
In the promise made to Abraham we have an intimation of the three circles of the New Testament, the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God, thus: — the “dust of the earth” (Gen. 13:1616And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. (Genesis 13:16)) —the Jew; the “sand of the sea” (Gen. 22:1717That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; (Genesis 22:17)) —the Gentile nations; the “stars of the heaven” (Gen. 15:5; 22:175And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. (Genesis 15:5)
17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; (Genesis 22:17); Heb. 11:1212Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. (Hebrews 11:12)) —the church, the heavenly people.
We shall now, for the moment, pass by Isaac and Jacob, and think a little of Joseph. In his life the story is told in figure of Him who was hated by His brethren, delivered up to death and raised from the dead, and who, rejected on earth, is, in resurrection, made both Lord and Christ. Joseph was made lord over all the land of Egypt and was the dispenser of blessing to all who came to him. His name, given by Pharaoh, the Revealer of secrets, the Saviour of the world, speaks to us of our Lord Jesus who came to reveal the secrets of Divine love, and to make known to us that “the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:1414And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. (1 John 4:14)). Those who own Him Lord, find Him all-sufficient for their needs, and anticipate the day when every knee shall bow to Him, and every tongue shall confess His Name.
In the days of famine in Egypt, it was a great thing to have provision for the need, but it was a greater thing to be brought into Joseph’s household. He had an interpreter, a ruler of his house, a steward and evidently other servants, and this may remind us of our great privilege and responsibility as His servants, who loved and gave Himself for us. Rich and poor, high and low, must all bow the knee to Joseph, and his household servants must do his bidding, but there was one who had a nearer and a dearer place, even Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On, who was given him by Pharaoh to be his wife. She bare him two sons, Manasseh, forgetting, and Ephraim, fruitful, and Joseph said, “God hath made me forget all my toil” (Gen. 41:5151And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house. (Genesis 41:51)). And thus it is with our Lord Jesus Christ. God has given Him, out of the strange land, the place of His rejection, one who shall be through eternal ages the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And we have our part in this, for His joy and ours. May we more and more rise up in soul to dwell in the place He has won for us with His toil.
There is one word more. Joseph had a golden cup, and we are shown how it was used to bring sin to remembrance, but what a contrast is here! The cup which the Lord Jesus took from His Father’s hand was such a bitter cup that He prayed that if it were possible it might pass from Him. And this cup was not to bring sin to remembrance, but He drank of it that He might put sin away for evermore.
Now He waits for the day when He shall drink the cup of joy in His Father’s Kingdom; He gives us the privilege of waiting with Him, and shall we not with glad and thankful hearts seek to be faithful in His absence, and treasure greatly, and read constantly the precious word of God, through which we have the knowledge of Him.
L. R.