Based upon this principle, the story about Jacob is even more interesting. His name means “heel holder,” one who grasps the heel, and he was surely a grasper. When his uncle charged him to shepherd the flock, he took the opportunity to grasp his uncle’s cattle (Gen. 30:25-43). Here you can see that although one of God’s chosen people was so cunning, God was working on him to change him from being a grasper into being a prince. Formerly, he was Jacob, but eventually his God made him Israel, which means “a prince” (32:28). In his youth this Jacob seemingly robbed everybody in his contact with them—his father Isaac (27:1-29), his brother Esau (25:29-34), and his uncle Laban. But when he was old and matured, he blessed others everywhere he went. What seemed to be stealing hands became blessing hands. When he met Pharaoh, the top king on the earth, he blessed him (47:7). In the Bible there is the principle that the one who blesses is greater than the one who is blessed (Heb. 7:7); hence, Jacob was greater than Pharaoh.

Genesis 5:22 says that Enoch walked with God for three hundred years. This also means that God walked with Enoch, a man, for three hundred years. These two friends never changed. After three hundred years God took His very intimate friend from the earth and away from death. Is this the story of Enoch or the history of God?

In Genesis 3 we read that after man fell, Adam and Eve were afraid. Then God came and called out to Adam, asking, “Where are you?” (v. 9). This seems very human. The righteous God talked to a sinner in a very intimate, friendly way. Without such a story, how could you know God? Is this the record of Adam and Eve? Apparently it is, but actually it is even more a record of God’s history. It shows us more about God than about Adam and Eve.

If you pick up this principle and apply it to the entire Bible, you can see God on every page. The Bible is not mainly a record of men but a record of God. Furthermore, it is not a record of God in creation; rather, it is a history of God in His dealing with man, who is on His heart. In His dealings with man we can know Him, and we can see what kind of God He is.

You need to read Genesis again according to this principle to see what kind of God is there. Genesis is the first book of God’s history. By reading Genesis in this way, you can see this God manifested and shown to us through all the stories of Him with man. When you add all these stories together, you see His history. Without Genesis you cannot know God very well. Some people say that the New Testament is more important than the Old, and some would even say that we do not need the Old Testament today. But I must tell you that without the Old Testament, you cannot know God so well. Without the story in Genesis 32, could you believe that God wrestled with the man Jacob and that He was not able to prevail against a man (v. 25)? In His wrestling He had no way to put Jacob down, but He exercised His almighty, divine, omnipotent strength and touched his thigh. Then Jacob was crippled, and from then on he limped when he walked. Without such a story, how could you know that God would even wrestle with His people? Perhaps you think that this is the story just of God with Jacob and that today He would not wrestle with anyone. But you are wrong. He may have even tried to wrestle with you this morning, but perhaps you were not ready. Jacob was ready that night because he was desperate, because his brother, whom he had cheated, was coming. He was afraid, so he sent his wife and his children ahead while he remained there. Then he began to wrestle with God, and he would not let God go, for he had one thing to solve with God.

God is this kind of God, but without the Bible we cannot know God in this way. We have heard all the terms about God, that He is righteous, faithful, kind, loving, merciful, and so much more. But we do not know how He is all these. If you would pick up this principle when you read the Bible, I believe that from today the Bible would be a different book to you.

God is omnipotent, but apart from the Bible there is no record about Him in the whole universe. It is even hard to find a record concerning some of the false gods. But we do have a record about God, that is, the Bible. The most wonderful thing on the earth among the human race is this record.

The Pentateuch, which the Jews call the Torah, was written by Moses. Moses was not very early; rather, he was at least four hundred years later than Abraham and at least twenty-five centuries later than Adam. Here then is a marvelous question: Where did Moses get all his facts for the writing of the Pentateuch? Genesis is a record written by Moses, but you cannot find Moses’ support for his record. Therefore, people wonder where Moses got the material for Genesis, the account of Adam to Joseph. Sometimes Moses gives us a very detailed record, as in Genesis 3. Moses tells of man’s fall through the serpent and even gives us the conversation between the serpent and Eve in much detail. But where did Moses get this material?

From my youth I was told that the verbal record went down through the generations to Moses. But a verbal record is terrible. It is sometimes like a snowball: As it goes through the generations, it becomes a big ball with little fact and the rest myth. But if you study Genesis carefully, you cannot find myths. It seems that everything is a fact. That conversation in chapter 3 is very reasonable and very much like fact. Therefore, we must believe that while Moses was writing, he was under the moving of the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21). No doubt, there is some verbal tradition, but I believe that the main source of Moses’ writing was the move of the Holy Spirit.

THE HISTORY OF GOD REVEALED 
THROUGH HUMAN STORIES

The best Bible teachers say that Genesis is a book of history. But Genesis is also a book of stories. If Genesis were just a book of history, the record concerning Joseph, for instance, would not need to be as long as it is. It is strange that only three pages of Genesis are about God’s creation, while many pages are about this one man Joseph. Of the fifty chapters of Genesis, thirteen are about Joseph.

Why is the record of God’s creation so short and the record of this youth named Joseph so long? You must realize that the history of God is not a history related much to the creation. If Genesis were a full record of God’s creation, fifty chapters would not be sufficient. Scientists today spend not pages but books to tell us about the existence of the universe. But the Bible is not that kind of history. The Bible is a history of God in union not with the stars and the heavenly host nor with the beasts. The Bible is a history of God in union with man. Joseph occupies such a long portion of the record because God wants to show us how much He is there in Joseph’s situation. In the creation God only said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. There is no more detail than that. But when the same writer comes to Joseph, the record is in much detail. Because of the detail, you cannot read the story of Joseph without your affections being touched. Therefore, from reading these details we see that our God in His history is very much related to humanity.

Acts 7 says that when Abraham was still in Chaldea, the God of glory appeared to him (v. 2). Do you know in what way God appeared to Abraham? Genesis 18 gives us a clear record of this. One day Abraham sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. Then suddenly three men came. Of these three, one was Christ, who is called Jehovah in this chapter (vv. 1, 13). When the two angels who came with Christ left, Christ remained with Abraham, and Abraham talked to Jehovah face to face as he would to another person. This chapter is clear, but it presents a big problem. Christ was there in the human form, with a human body. He even ate Sarah’s cooking, and Abraham brought Him water so that He might wash His feet. This seems to contradict John 1:14, which says that at the time of the incarnation God became flesh. How could Christ already be in the flesh long before John 1:14? This is God’s history. Moses’ writing is very human, yet in this human record you can see God. God lived in this record. We may think that only God’s creation of the heavens and the earth is worth recording and that there is no need to have a long record about a youth like Joseph. But do you like to read Genesis chapters 1 and 2 more than chapters 37 through 50? Even if you read chapters 37 through 50 ten times, you will not get tired of them. These chapters are humanly very interesting, but you can see God there. This is God’s history in a human story. Chapters 37 through 50 of Genesis are a man’s story, but that story comprises God’s history.

CHAPTER TWO

GOD’S HISTORY IN TIME 
(FROM THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE 
TO THE FINAL JUDGMENT
AT THE GREAT WHITE THRONE— 
GENESIS 1:1—REVELATION 20:15)

(1)

CREATING THE UNIVERSE AND 
JUDGING SATAN AND THE UNIVERSE

OUTLINE

1. Creating the universe:
   1. God created the heavens and the earth—Gen. 1:1:
      1. God created the heavens with all the living things in the heavens:
         1. Stretching forth the heavens—Isa. 42:5a; Zech. 12:1a.
         2. Creating the stars—Job 38:7a.
         3. Creating the sons of God—the angels, one of them becoming Satan—v. 7b; 1:6.
      2. God created the earth with all the things on the earth:
         1. Laying the foundations of the earth—Zech. 12:1b; Job 38:4.
         2. In the proper measurements with the solid bases and the marking cornerstones—vv. 5-6.
         3. Spreading forth the earth and what springs up from it—Isa. 42:5b.
         4. The morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy at God’s beautiful building of the earth—Job 38:7.
   2. God’s initial creation of the universe before Satan’s rebellion.
2. Judging Satan and the universe:
   1. Satan was the Daystar (translated in Latin, “Lucifer”), son of the dawn, indicating that Satan was one of the early angels created by God at the “morning” of the universe—Isa. 14:12.
   2. He was in Eden, the garden of God, upon the holy mountain in the heavens, and was anointed by God to be the chief archangel (Jude 9) above all the angels—Ezek. 28:13-14:
      1. As the ruler of the world (proved by the musical instruments—v. 13b)—John 12:31; Luke 4:5-6; Eph. 2:2.
      2. As the cherub covering the Ark, close to God as the high priest serving God—Ezek. 28:14-15a.
   3. He rebelled against God—vv. 15-16:
      1. His heart was lifted up because of his beauty and his brightness—v. 17.
      2. He said in his heart, “I will ascend to heaven; / Above the stars of God / I will exalt my throne. / And I will sit upon the mount of assembly / In the uttermost parts of the north. / I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; / I will make myself like the Most High”—Isa. 14:13-14.
      3. One-third of the angels of heaven participated in his rebellion—Rev. 12:4a.
      4. The living creatures in the preadamic age also joined him in his rebellion.
   4. The issue of his rebellion:
      1. He became God’s adversary (Heb., Satan—Zech. 3:1-2; Rev. 12:9a; 20:2a).
      2. He and his subordinate angels became the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies, of which he is the ruler—Eph. 6:12; 2:2b; Dan. 10:13, 20.
      3. The living creatures of the preadamic age became demons (Matt. 12:43-45), working for his kingdom of darkness—v. 26; Acts 26:18a; Col. 1:13a.
      4. God judged Satan so that he will be cast from the heavens to the earth and to Sheol, to the uttermost parts of the pit—Ezek. 28:16-17; Isa. 14:15.
      5. God judged the heavens and the earth, which were polluted by Satan’s rebellion, and thereby the entire universe became dark—Job 9:5-7; Gen. 1:2a.
      6. God will execute His judgment upon Satan, step by step, until he is cast into the lake of fire—Luke 10:17-19; Rev. 12:9, 10b, 13; 20:2-3, 7, 10.
      7. Before the completion of the execution of God’s judgment upon him, he can still enter into the presence of God to accuse God’s people (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7; Zech. 3:1-2; Rev. 12:10b) and, as a roaring lion he walks about, seeking someone to devour (1 Pet. 5:8).
      8. Christ, in His flesh on the cross, destroyed him, in his person and nature, as the one who has the might of death—Heb. 2:14.