Each year I get the privilege of welcoming freshman students to the Moody Bible Institute. In those first weeks they want to know what they are required to do for class. They also want to know the consequences if they fail to do what they are supposed to do. As we turn to the book of Numbers, we learn that disobedience to God carries consequences. While we have just learned that God provided a way for forgiveness, we also know that God is willing to hold the line even if it means punishing His people. This is a significant theme in the Bible.

After meeting God at Mt. Sinai, the nation made its way to the land God had promised. Along the way He tested them to see if they would obey Him. Often their living circumstances were difficult. They were in a desert without the food and comforts Egypt had provided. Often, they complained bitterly (v. 4). Ironically, they forgot they were slaves in Egypt!

On their desert journey, God had provided miraculous food in the form of manna (v. 9). Still, they complained. We see that, more than just a sign of displeasure, their complaining signified a deep spiritual problem. They refused to trust that God would bring them to the promised land. They doubted He would care for them. They even suspected He meant ill for them. All of these were deeply displeasing to God. He made promises to them based on His character. Their behavior implied He was unreliable. They were committing the sin of unbelief (Heb. 3:19).

As tragic as these narratives are, they taught Israel and teach Bible readers today an important lesson: God judges unbelief. We learn that unbelief, like other sins, has consequences. God has made promises to you. Trust Him!

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At most places of employment there are rewards for success: public recognition, a raise, maybe a promotion. And when a job is done poorly, the penalties are equally clear. But what happens when someone repents, apologizes, and commits to do better? Will their employer forgive them or write them off as a liability? How many times can they be forgiven before their prospects for advancement are diminished?

At Mt. Sinai, God reminded Israel that He knew they would disobey. They had already done so several times, and He knew they would do so again. So, He created a system that would allow them to confess their sin, receive forgiveness, and find their way back to fellowship with Him. Leviticus describes a series of sacrifices that Israelites could offer, which would help them express their desire to be close to God.

The Guilt Offering was about covering sin (v. 15). This sacrifice was an act of worship, a way for an Israelite to humbly declare his love for God by acknowledging he had done wrong. The act of confession was not about informing God; He already knew the Israelite had sinned. Rather, confession required sacrifice, in this case a ram without defect (v. 15). This was a physical act that provided the Israelites an opportunity to acknowledge that sins needed to be covered and to receive the comfort of knowing God had forgiven them. It cost something.

Sin is not without cost; it mars relationships. And because God loved Israel, He offered forgiveness so they could enjoy Him. Centuries later the Psalmist would express his delight when he said, “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered” (Ps. 32:1). Later still, God would offer the final sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, and make a way for our sins to be covered!

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When someone moves to a new location, they often need instructions on how to fit in. There are customs, expectations, and ways of thinking that might need to be adjusted for the newcomer to enjoy fellowship with this new community. In the same way, Israel needed to learn how to live God’s way.

God brought Israel out of Egypt so they could be free to worship Him and enjoy His fellowship. But to be in that kind of relationship, they would need to become the kind of people who could enjoy a holy God (v. 6). So, He took the initiative to prepare them. Step one: teach Israel what holiness looks like.

After the Exodus, God met the nation at Mt. Sinai (v. 1) and gave instructions on how they should live. We first encounter these teachings in the book of Exodus. The purpose of these “rules” was to prepare Israel to be the kind of people who would enjoy fellowship with God. These instructions reflect His character. If the people want to be with Him, they must understand what He is like and change appropriately. They needed to become more like Him.

How could a mass of human beings who had lived without God’s revelation for 400 years attain that standard? God didn’t leave them to guess or figure it out on their own. Instead, He clearly told them how to behave. In the Ten Commandments and the many other instructions we find in Exodus, He taught Israel to value what He valued. He expected them to change the way they thought and acted (23:13). It is important to realize He was not imposing rules for His sake. Rather, He was showing them His character for their sake, so they could have fellowship with Him. Not surprisingly, they agreed to do it (19:8).

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If you’ve ever told a child, “I know I promised, but…” you probably remember their look of suspicious disappointment. The next time you said, “I promise,” you knew they might not believe you. As we turn to the book of Exodus, we come to an important event that shows us why we can always trust God’s promises. Seeing this clearly displayed in the Old Testament increases our ability to trust God today.

Approximately 400 years after God made a covenant with Abram, He fulfilled that promise by bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. Exodus describes this as God remembering His covenant (v. 5). Now let’s be clear, God doesn’t “remember” because He forgot. While He may take His time, He always “remembers.” But from Israel’s perspective, it must have felt like God had forgotten them! Imagine waiting for 400 years to see if God would do what He promised. This feeling would have become more pronounced as the Egyptians began to enslave the Israelites. Forced to do hard labor, they suffered greatly. Then, as their population increased, they faced genocidal threats (Ex. 1:22). But in His time, God decided to take action. He had witnessed the oppression of His people at the hand of the Egyptians (6:6). He would free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt with powerful demonstrations of His might (v. 6). He did this because he made a covenant with Abraham and reaffirmed it to his descendants (v. 8).

The exodus proved that God’s promises can always be trusted. This is important because God has made promises to everyone who trusts in Him. He promises that He will deliver us from bondage to sin (Acts 26:18). It may take a lifetime, but He will do it as He promised!

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Have you ever used the “pinch and open” method to zoom in on a picture on your cell phone? Today, we will zoom in on one man, Abram, and his relationship with the God of creation.

In Genesis 12, God made Abram a promise. He told this man, older and childless, that he would have many descendants who would inherit the land of Canaan. More importantly, God promised that Abram would be a source of blessing to the whole world. And Abram believed Him!

Often students of the Bible use the word covenant to describe a promise made by God to a specific person or people. While the idea of such a promise, or agreement, is not unique to God (people make covenants with each other too), God’s covenant is special because His character is perfect. He will never change His mind, change the deal, or go back on His word. The covenant God made with Abraham involved promises that would have long reaching implications.

To Abram, a man without children into his 90s, and his wife Sarai, the promise of many children sounded preposterous. Yet their descendants, the Jewish people, would become the focus of God’s plan of redemption. Inheriting the land of Canaan was also difficult to imagine as they had spent their entire lives in tents without a land of their own. Yet in due time their descendants would move into Canaan and settle there. Finally, the idea that the whole world would be blessed by one of his descendants was incredible. When the time was right, God brought Jesus into the world, a son of Abraham, to save the world (Matt. 1:1). The Abrahamic covenant is a foundation of our faith!

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The beginning of a story sets the stage for what is to come. It is where we are introduced to the characters and where seeds of conflict are sown. For the first two months of this year, we will do a fast, fly-over study of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. While we cannot cover every moment or book of the Bible at such a fast pace, we hope you gain a broad understanding of the complete story from start to finish.

Let’s start in the Book of Genesis: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (v. 1). God spoke and the universe came to be. He filled the space with living things, the best of which were humans, male and female, more like Him than the animals. These individuals were “made in the image of God (v. 27), that is to say, they represented Him on earth. They were given authority to rule and enabled to make decisions that would reflect their Creator. To be made in God’s image is a fact that has awesome consequences for the story of the Bible. This passage explains why human beings have such value in God’s eyes. Every person is an image bearer!

As the story continues, these image bearers will disobey and suffer devastating consequences (2:11–19). But God will forgive and cover them (2:21) and institute plan to undo the effects of their disobedience. He promised that a future Image Bearer would defeat evil (Col. 1:15). The hope of this promise, made at the very beginning of the Bible, is the thread that binds the entire story of Scripture together. As the scope of humankind’s disobedience is made plain, the scope of God’s plan to restore His relationship with His image bearers becomes even more grand. What a wonderful God we love!

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“All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name” is one of the great hymns of the Christian faith. It’s significant that evangelist Billy Graham chose it as one of six songs to be sung at his funeral, and as only one of two hymns to be sung by the congregation on that occasion. As one verse proclaims: “Let every kindred, every tribe, on this terrestrial ball, to Him all majesty ascribe, and crown Him Lord of all!”

This month, we’ve answered the life-changing question, “Who is this Jesus?” One day, every person will answer with this confident statement: “Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (v. 11). Today’s reading, most of which may be an early Christian hymn, walks us through the basic points of Christology.

The first three verses describe Jesus’ first Advent, namely, His Incarnation and the mission of redemption (vv. 6–8). Despite being God, He stepped down to become human, then down again to be a servant, then down again to dying a convict’s death. These deliberate steps of humility were also steps of obedience to His Father and of love for us. Jesus is the perfect example of valuing or esteeming others above ourselves (v. 3). In this and other ways, we’re to “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” (v. 5).

The next three verses describe Jesus’ second Advent, in other words His Second Coming and (again) mission of redemption (vv. 9–11). The previous steps lead down and now they step up: God the Father “exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.” Jesus will take His place as King and rule over all. Throughout the material and spiritual realms, every knee will bow and every tongue confess these truths!

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Theologian Jonathan Edwards said in “The Excellency of Christ”: “[Jesus Christ] is the Judge of the world, and the infinitely just Judge of it, and will not at all acquit the wicked, or by any means clear the guilty…Yet how wonderfully is infinite mercy towards sinners displayed in him! Though he be the just Judge of a sinful world, yet he is also the Savior of the world.”

When He returns, Christ will judge the world. When Peter spoke in the house of Cornelius, he summarized Jesus’ life and ministry as “the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all” (v. 36). Peter began with the ministry of John the Baptist (v. 37), continued on to Jesus’ miracles and other good works (v. 38), then the Crucifixion and Resurrection (vv. 39–41), and finally the mission of the apostles and the church to preach this good news “and to testify that [Jesus] is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead” (v. 42). The bottom line: “Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (v. 43).

When we stand before the Judge, the basis of His judgment will be faith in Him. There will be no favoritism or injustice in any form (v. 34). There will certainly be no ethnic or cultural prejudice (v. 35), a lesson Peter learned from the “sheet vision” (vv. 9–23). Everyone who trusts in Christ will go to heaven, and everyone who doesn’t will go to hell. Thankfully, Cornelius’s household responded in faith (vv. 44–48). As we come to the close of this study and this year, consider whether or not you have placed your faith in Jesus.

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Are you eager for Christ’s return? Evangelist Billy Sunday once preached: “The mission of the church—the bride of Christ, or body of Christ—is to be ready to meet the bridegroom. When the body of Christ is completed He will reveal Himself to the members who are alive and in this world at that time, and at the same moment they will be caught up to meet those who have gone on before in the air, and from that moment they are forever with the Lord.”

The “Rapture” is the name we use to talk about meeting Christ in the air, as described in today’s reading (v. 17). This will be followed by the Tribulation and then Christ’s Second Coming. From the moment Jesus ascended to the Father, the church has been looking forward to His return: “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

The Thessalonians believed in Christ’s return, but it seems they thought everyone had to stay alive until that time. As pagan Gentiles, they saw death as the end, and therefore, any believer who died before His return would lose their chance at eternal life. Paul corrected that error, teaching that when Christ comes back, the dead will rise first (vv. 15–16) and those still alive will meet Him in the air (v. 17). No one who trusts in Jesus will miss out!

One day we will hear “the trumpet call of God” and “the voice of the archangel,” and our waiting will be over (v. 16). We long for this day: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 11:15).

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When we characterize something as “glorious,” we mean it is spectacular, amazingly beautiful, almost defying description. The English word “glory” has its origin in the French gloire (c. 1200) meaning “the splendor of God or Christ.” Jesus is the Lord of Glory, both kingly and divine (Ps. 24:7–10). The Hebrew word for glory refers to brightness, splendor, magnificence, or majesty. What a stark contrast to His death on the cross!

Paul says the gospel is a mystery that was previously hidden (v. 7). Why? Because if the powers of evil, both human and supernatural, had understood God’s plan, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (v. 8). Since by Him we are saved, we, too, are part of this mystery. The resurrected Christ proved to be truly God. And one day the entire “earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord” (Hab. 2:14).

You and I were destined to share Christ’s glory from eternity past (1 Cor. 2:7; Rom. 8:17; 2 Thess. 2:14). The blessings of salvation are such that no one has ever seen anything like them and no imagination can reach the heights of what “God has prepared for those who love him” (v. 9). Our eternal future is certainly glorious!

The Spirit has revealed what was previously hidden and inconceivable: God sent His own Son to become a man, die for the sins of the world, bring in the Gentiles, and make eternal life possible for all who believe (vv. 10–12). We have seen this glory! By this same Spirit, we’re empowered to preach the wisdom of the gospel to a foolish world (vv. 6, 13; 1 Cor. 1:20–25).

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