Genesis 1-24 : God creates and continues to intervene

For this coming week, the READ SCRIPTURE mobile app will take us through Genesis 1-24 and Psalms 1-7. You will be covering 4-5 chapters a day - this may seem like quite a lot to take in but here are four tips to guide you so that your "Emmaus journey" remains a heartwarming one.

1. The mobile app comes video narratives that introduces the flow and themes of the book. Watch it for an excellent "10,000 feet perspective" before you dive in.
   
   
2. Consider listening to the audio version of the Bible - letting the sound of Scripture fill your waking hours sets you in the right "hearing mode." Your driving time can also be another opportunity for listening and reflection.
   
   
3. Spread your reading throughout the day - a chapter before breakfast, another one after lunch, one after dinner and the final one before bed time. Going through the Word of God should be a  regular conversational journey with the God of the Word. It is not a "check-list" event.
   
   
4. If by this time next week, you are a few chapters behind, don't worry about it! Just start afresh with the reading schedule of the following week. As mentioned previously, our goal is not perfection but progression. Guilt is not the motivation for Bible reading, delight is.

Connecting the dots
As you read Genesis 1-24 this week, note that God did not only create the heavens and the earth but how He continues to intervene in the history of the world to unfold His drama of redemption. Look out for the following connections as you read or listen through the 24 chapters:

• We know that Methuselah is the longest living man at 969 years old but do you know that his lifetime overlaps with Adam by 243 years? And with Methuselah being Noah's grandfather, it is conceivable that records and accounts of the creation narrative is handed down accurately for future generations. The last 150 years of Shem's life overlaps with Abraham. Hence, we see a strong continuous lineage of the redemptive line (Gen 3:15) and if you consider the genealogical overlaps, we have a high degree of confidence in the narrative of Genesis 1-11. Click here for a download of a genealogical "overlapping" chart.
  
  
• Pay attention whenever the word "covenant" appears. It reveals not only God's intervention but also His initiative to enact His redemptive agenda through the lives of called individuals with the goal that "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Gen 12:3). 
  
  
• Do you know which is the longest chapter in Genesis? This particular lengthy chapter demonstrates such a beautiful portrayal of redemptive love in action. Answer to be revealed next week!

Activity idea

Check out the actual dimensions of Noah's ark in Gen 6:15-16 and you will be surprised and how it is grossly misrepresented in most biblical illustrations (especially in Sunday school materials)! In order to house the representative species of animal life for repopulation (plus the food and water storage), you certainly need a sizeable vessel. Click here for a fun-fact comparison.

The genealogical record of Luke 4:23-38 traces the lineage of Jesus Christ all the way back to "the son of Adam, the son of God." In the Genesis narrative, we see how "through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned" (Rom 5:12) but we praise God that Jesus Christ as the last Adam (1 Cor 15:45) has procured for us gift of righteousness (Rom 5:17). "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive." (1 Cor 15:22). Yes, Genesis accounts for the beginning of Creation and the Fall but it also contains the seed for the unveiling of God's grand Redemption as well.

We welcome your comments, feedback and questions - please post them in the comments below.