Throughout our time at the spiritual workshop (Polishing the Pulpit) we attended a few weeks ago, I was challenged to become a better student of God’s Word. I needed that challenge, and I’m thankful for the blessing of the challenge to dig deep into God’s Word. A ladies Bible study Facebook group has grown from the challenge of digging deeper into God’s Word, and I’m excited to be a participant (by the way, feel free to join in!). During the month of September we are digging into the book of Genesis with a few goals in mind: 1) read through the entire book of Genesis and note every promise God makes; 2) be able to tell the story of Genesis in sequence; 3) memorize Genesis 3:15 and Genesis 12:2; and 4) understand that the theme of the Bible from Genesis 3:15 forth is “redemption.”
I’ve decided that I will document my notes about the promises on my blog. Documenting these promises here will not only keep me accountable to myself, but hopefully be beneficial to others as well. I’m sure that I won’t get every promise, but I am trying to do my best to consider the book of Genesis with the perspective of “promises” in mind.
Genesis 2
The promise that there are consequences to trespassing God’s Law:
2:16-17: ”16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”'
Genesis 3
The promise of the serpent’s punishment; the promise (prophecy) of enmity between the serpent and woman; the promise (prophecy) that Satan will bruise the heel of woman’s Seed (Christ), but that Christ will bruise his head (ultimately the promise of redemption through Christ); the promise of difficulty in childbirth for the woman; the promise of hard/difficult work for the man; the promise of man returning to the dust of the earth:
3:14-19: “ 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent: “ Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” 16 To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” 17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “ Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 4
The promise of Cain’s punishment:
4:10-12: “10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. 11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.””
The promise of Cain’s protection:
4:15 “15 And the LORD said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.”
*All Scripture references are taken from the NKJV unless otherwise noted.
